A/N:

@michiko-chan27: I knew it. I was shipping for IraxTsuna too since the first time I wrote their interaction. I'm also into SkullxTsuna. Hahahaha. The mask couple. But why does the chapter give you chills? Hahaha. I hope it's a good chill.

@acertainpasserby: Hoo. Your review made me laugh. Tsuna will be the death of Reborn these days. Your question about the letter is here. The cliff is needed though. Haha. Sorry about that. Peace.

Thank you for the reviews! I'm just gonna drop this second update of the week.

Anyway, onwards!

Chapter Forty-Nine

'Greetings T.S. and Arcobaleno,

You are gradually invited to the annual Giglio Nero festivities. In which all are to enjoy the night of new moon from twilight to midnight. To the comfort of temporary peace among existence in the beautiful castle in Noerim. With respect and heartfelt expectation of your presence in such gathering, we're hoping for your attendance.

May both lives prosper as what yearned are granted.

High regards,

Giglio Nero.'

"Hana-chan!" Tsuna called as he walked out of the bathroom and towards his friend who was waiting for him with Kyouya in his room. He grinned sheepishly. "I don't know how to do the tie."

"I would've called you a monkey if I didn't know you're clueless about these things, nor tired from all the adjustments you made for the suit." The lady grumbled while taking both ends of the clothe after unfolding the collars to raise them up. "Chin up, Tsuna."

"Yes Mam!" Then he looked at Kyouya who was already asleep on his bed. "Seriously."

"I even thought he'll help. He just came here to sleep." Hana provided after verifying what Tsuna was talking about. She smirked after. "But he did say you'll wake him up to check your appearance. I didn't know the prefect is a perfectionist."

Tsuna chuckled. "He's not that bad."

"I know." The brunet looked at his friend who stopped moving her hands. The lady sighed. "Do you really have to go?"

"I don't want to go, to be honest. Skull even said he's with me cause he's not interested, but the others were excited. I can't just let them down."

"If you say so."

"I'll be okay, Hana-chan. I'm Tsunayoshi Sawada."

"Right. And your reputation here has reached Fiant." The lady said with sarcasm.

"Wanna bet?"

Tsuna grinned when the noirette chuckled and continued to create a knot with his tie. He kept his expression a happy one while his inside frowned. Honestly, it wasn't the other Arcobaleno's enthusiasm that made him come. There are three things on the letter that bothered him to attend: one, the use of his contract incantation as if the one who wrote the letter was mocking him (he even joked about plagiarism that Reborn laughed at); two, the unmasked challenge of asking him to come; and three, he recalled the memory of Reborn being persuaded by Aria Giglio Nero after reading the invitation.

Honestly, he thinks Reborn gave him the letter personally to remind him of the memory. He didn't ask the hitman if he said anything to the Arcobaleno about it too. His intuition kind of agrees to something his Sun has schemed. It's like a small agreement of something important. And Skull got some gist of it, that the Cloud gave him another choice other than attending the occasion. Reborn didn't say anything. Just stood beside him and ready for any of his decision.

When he shared this to Hana, the latter was a lot skeptical about it. It wasn't because there's a threat, but because he'll be the only human in the party and the lady did not want to see him being surrounded by demons wanting to shred him to pieces again (that was entirely not his fault. Good thing he had his pen that day. Ah... Good times). With assurance that he'll be okay, Hana helped him find a suitable formal wear for him. That's where Kyouya comes in.

Tsuna was really contemplating on going with his uniform, but Hana insisted that he should borrow from someone, or at least buy a suit from the mall. As if hearing their problem (he just knew it's Mukuro or Nagi cause they just love to follow him around with their mist aura), Kyouya appeared in their corridor, looking bored and cold as ever. Much to his chagrin, Hana approached the prefect and asked if he had a suit. After a yes, the problem was partially solved (he did point out that he needs to adjust the suit to fit him (Kyouya bopped him on the head too for being shy on asking for suits.)).

Regrettably, he and Kyouya have different shoe sizes (curse his height). With saving grace, Enma walked in, heard what they were saying and offered his shoes (Simoun family, which the redhead was associated, holds parties so its a recommendation to have some fancy suits). After that was arranged, Tsuna said thanks to them and proceeded with the day. He mentioned to Mochida about cutting his hair for the little gathering, and Tsuna almost laughed when his upperclassman (Mochida told him he's not a sempai anymore, but meh. It's already a habit) paled and told him not to do it. He pretended he wants to and got pestered not to do it.

"There." Hana said while stepping back. "Go get your vest and coat. It's nearing six pm."

Tsuna walked back to his bed and took the vest from the unoccupied part. "It's okay to use this dress shirt right?"

"It's okay. Orange looks good on you."

The brunet looked back to the lady and smiled appreciatively. "Why thank you."

Hana rolled her eyes. "Your ego is gonna blow."

"At least it's my ego. Not like it's ever filled with air anyway." Tsuna put on the vest and stared at his reflection, blowing away his bangs. "Should've cut my hair."

"Why didn't you?" The lady questioned, settling on his swivel chair. "You'll probably look good with short hair."

"I know. I can tame it if it was short. But Mochida-sempai paled when I mentioned it to him." The brunet was about to turn around and get his coat when he saw Kyouya awake and had his brow raised, telling him to elaborate. "It's a delinquent thing. When I was in elementary, they knew me with my hair style now. But Jii-jii told me I should cut my hair when it gets in the way of my training. So I kinda started my little career-"

"Career?" Hana laughed. Even Kyouya hid his face to the pillow to snicker.

Tsuna blinked his eyes to the two and snorted with a nod. "Yes. Career. Anyway, I started it before middle school and I've been like that since the end. So when bullies describe me to their allies or just saying my name to others, the prominent feature they'll think of will always be short brown hair, brown eyes and small stature."

"Now that I think about it, I heard some rumours about it in elementary. But since it's monkeys' businesses and I went to a different middle school, I didn't dig too deep." The lady shrugged.

Tsuna took the coat from the bed and slipped it on. "When I entered middle school, I got subjected by the disciplinary committee because of my adventures. But since Kyouya is two years older and very much out of my reach that time, they appointed me as the protector of the lower level. But I prefer demon of Namimori."

"But why did you listen to that monkey? All I know, he might even back stab you or something." Hana questioned with a frown on her face.

"The herbivore keeps the omnivore from getting into more troubles. Especially with Madam Cara." The skylark answered for him.

"That doesn't answer everything."

"It's a mutual trust." He reasoned while fixing his collars. "We were enemies in Namimori. He bullies, I hunt him. His family hates us, we always bite them back. But in terms of being company, we knew that we can trust each other since we knew how bad we are when we're picked on. He's also reasonable and has a potential to be a carnivore if he keeps his attitude in check. He was also the proxy protector of Namimori while Kyouya was gone. And he's pretty good at it, keeping those thugs in line at the tip of his shinai. Too bad Kyouya and I are a little greater than him."

"Heh." Hana huffed, smirking at how conceited the two boys were.

"How did you know we were from Namimori?" Kyouya asked as he sat up. "We didn't know you live there if you didn't tell us."

"I checked your informations." The two noiret(te)s stared at him in deadpan. "That time I went hunting the first time which led me to being detained by the committee and long hours of sermon under Headmaster Angelo. I got curious of your informations so I checked them while I searched along the lines. Then I realized that Kyouya was my senior in Nami-middle. But I don't remember any interaction with Hana-chan. But it's fine. Nothing changed at that time too because I was just getting to know you."

"You're a sly omnivore." Kyouya huffed.

"That's an understatement." Hana argued.

Tsuna chuckled before twirling around to give them a look of his appearance. "How do I look?"

The young man blinked when his companions only stared at him. It took seconds before the two looked at each other. Hana gave a nod to Kyouya who went out of the bed and approached the lone plastic chair in the room. Tsuna tried not to fidget when the prefect took the black clothe he didn't notice being hanged there and approached him with it. He waited as Kyouya let the clothe flutter when it went around him. He watched those dexterous fingers fix the 'cape' on his shoulders and chest before clipping the chains to keep it in place.

When the noiret stepped back, Tsuna inspected himself. He's wearing a three piece suit with orange dress shirt (he hates the classic white), black cape and black shoes. The cape feels light regardless of how heavy it looked. By the way he appeared, he looks like a royalty. But strange... Why does the cloak seem familiar? Did he see it somewhere?

"There. You're complete." Hana praised with a smirk.

Tsuna stared at the cloak, searching in his mind then made a 'click'. "Where did you get this?"

"One of the members found it." Kyouya answered as he sat on the bed with his legs crossed, a hand on the elevated knee and the other hand is by the back, a support from the back for his weight. "He presented it to me, I took it."

"More like you ordered him to get this cloak from the relics room and give it to you so you could see me use it." Brown eyes narrowed at the skylark who smirked in response before the owner sighed. "And you supported it?"

"What?" Hana cheekily declared. "You're asking me for some advice, we thought of how to make you presentable and came up with that solution. It's not entirely our fault."

"It's either use it or throw it, Tsunayoshi." Kyouya added on for more impact.

"Fine." Tsuna backed down before messing his hair more with his hands and looked at his friends. "But if Madam Cara finds out, you two are going down with me."

"Of course." Hana rolled her eyes as if what he said was an obvious thing to do. "We won't let you take all the fall."

A portal appeared behind him as he smiled. "I should go. My ride is here."

"Tell us everything." The lady bid as the prefect stood up and went for the other door. "We'll see each other tomorrow."

"Yeah. Thank you, Hana-chan, Kyouya."

"Hn."

With a last wave, Tsuna entered the portal.

Skull knew this was a bad idea. The moment he saw the familiar intricated invitation letter in Colonnello's hand and was forced to read it (the blond was pretty excited that he had to join in for fun), he knew he should've waited for it to come like any other year. Alas, Reborn convinced him to come for their Sky's sake at the end of the day.

After a millennium since the Sins were put into a sleep, Giglio Nero had been occasionally holding up parties up until the recent. It was to commemorate the sacrifice of Luce and the birth of their little family. They had been sending the Arcobaleno letters each year, requesting their presence, and Skull, who had been stuck in the Arcobaleno house while others scattered themselves around the two realms, had been the receiving end and often throws them away because he hates parties even though he was dubbed as the most social among them. Countless years, countless letters, countless trash. Time isn't friendly to demons as others say it.

The only thing he's anticipating on the night of the party is the arrival of his Sky. The warm little human who loves to jab him for being old. Not that he can't see himself retaliating anything, it's just that the brunet will always ask him things that he can only answer amongst the Arcobaleno. Those little gesture will always compensate for those little jabs. Slowly, ever so slowly, he's acting his age with a touch of youth in it with the help of Tsuna's little jokes.

He wonders how Tsuna will look though, as the latter wears a formal suit that day. The brunet already imagined Skull's looks in their late evening chat (that Reborn always joins in cause he's a jealous prick). And Tsuna is the only one who they couldn't imagine because he's too casual for his own good. Will Tsuna look fine? Will the brunet change his manners to fit in? Will he be as regal as his ancestor, Giotto de Vongola, was? Or will he be a replica of his ancestor?

Tsuna's ancestors in the line of Giotto de Vongola are known to be royalties before they became powerful wizards. All direct descendants have hidden grace in them, greatness that no one knew where it came from. The way they talk, walk and move are all with manners. Even Giotto was dubbed as the perfect prince although the regality of his lineage has disappeared a long time ago and his title was known to be the great sorcerer. The way that human charms his client with his smile and personality, also the way he invokes willingness to follow him from his listeners. He's also the greatest sky and leader in the time of war. A reason why Skull is so looking forward for the arrival of one descendant.

"You okay there, Skull?" He looked at Bermuda who asked him that. Purpled eyes landed on the scarf the other is wearing before nodding.

"Yeah. Just bored." He replied as he fixed his right cuff. He feels restricted though.

The Night waved a hand and a portal opened. Colonnello and Lal walked in with Verde in tow. "Tsuna will be the last one to arrive. He's being pampered by Kurokawa and Hibari."

Skull couldn't help his snickers as he imagined their Sky being forced to wear something he doesn't like. "I wonder about that."

"He's probably grumbling and complaining by now." Fon hummed with a small amused smile on.

"We all know he doesn't like this kind of gatherings." Viper pointed out as he floated towards them. "I wonder what made him agree."

Skull glanced at Reborn's way who just arrived after checking the perimeter of the castle with his animal form. "Who knows."

"But isn't this great? We can now see Aria!" Colonnello cheered. "It's been years since the last time we saw that little babe."

"Four millennia, Colonnello." Lal supplied with an exasperated look.

Colonnello stuck his tongue out. "Still years. Besides, you'll never know. Maybe someone amongst us already met her or something in this latest millennium."

Skull kept the frown from touching his face at such speculation. It was possible.

"According to what I've last heard, she already has a husband and a daughter." Verde gave an input while fixing his tie. "Her husband remained unknown but her daughter is known to have the same abilities of Luce."

Skull wondered why Viper glanced at Reborn way before giving out a small moan. "That was expected. After all, they are family."

"Ah. Tsuna is finished." Bermuda said out loud before opening a portal.

Skull gulped as a familiar, yet unfamiliar figure stepped out of the portal. Tsuna walked toward them with a sense of majestic air. He doesn't look like any perfect prince, more of a dark horse who's gracefully walking with eyes roaming around the vicinity with bored yet alert stance, and an arrogant tilt of his head. The way he dressed reminds him of Giotto in every way. He could even pass off as a twin minus the brown hair and eyes. The delinquent took his strides with purpose and a mission to complete. He looked ready to make the impossible possible.

The Cloud was going move and attach himself on his Sky's side when Reborn beat him up to it and walked up to the brunet, stopping the latter in his steps, took the right hand, bowed a little and kissed the knuckles. The hitman looked up to the surprised brunet with a murmur of greetings. Tsuna went red before smiling and greeted the Sun back.

Seriously. If Reborn doesn't make a move, he's going to confess to Tsuna to keep him all by himself. Reborn has the power but he's not neutralizing it. And it's too damn painful to see the two dance around each other even though they already know the each other's feelings.

Should he make a move? Probably.

"You look dashing, Tsunayoshi." Fon commented, eyes twinkling. "Your cape gives you a good form."

"As you are, Fon." Tsuna expressed back before looking at them. "Who knew all of you can be this beautiful when dressed up?"

"What's with the cape?" Viper questioned as they move along. "I didn't know you have one."

"Kyouya lend it to me." The brunet smiled as he gestured them to come. "Let's go. We have a party to attend."

"I wonder if they have any good facilities." Verde murmured.

"They probably have, Verde." Tsuna assured as they ascend the steps of the porch.

Skull took the invitation from the inside of his coat and gave it to their Sky. "Here. You should give them this."

"Ah, right." The brunet nodded as he took it and smiled at him. "You look gorgeous, Skull. I like your studs. They give you a bad boy look."

"Shouldn't I be the bad one here?" Reborn questioned from their human's right side.

Tsuna sighed fondly. "Why would you want to be bad when you can be dangerous?"

The other Arcobaleno snickered when the hitman made an 'o' with his mouth. "You're right. I am the dangerous type."

The sky led them to the stairs then to the golden double doors where guards are stationed. He gave the invitation to the right guard who took it while staring at the only human among them. Tsuna, without even smiling to the guard, nodded a thank you as the doors opened to give them an entry. When they stepped in, all demons looked at their way, especially to the brunet who straightened his posture.

"Tsunayoshi Sawada and the Arcobaleno have arrived." The guard announced.

Skull almost facepalmed. Yup. This is a bad idea.

'They aren't here yet.'

It was what Aria thought of as her blue eyes roamed the ballroom, surveying the room for the guests who never accepted her invitations for such gathering. She can't help herself from getting restless because it's already been four millennia and they never came to see her. And when she gets a good wind of what they're doing, they're already affiliating themselves to a human sky. Another reason for her to meet them and talk to them face to face.

She shouldn't have put the human's name on the invitation. It will not go well on her side. But she can't just do such a thing because it will offend the others. And besides, she needs to meet the human who turned on their abilities. The human sky who had snared her mother's elements.

The elements that should be for her and her daughter to have since a long time ago.

"Kalex of Noerim has arrived." The guard announced before door closed again and the demon who was at the entry stepped in to mingle with the others.

She sighed before smiling at the demon who gave her a greeting. After sharing pleasantries, Aria looked around for her daughter, only to see Yuni talking with some older semi-demons and Gamma is looking out for her. A smile graced her lips.

"Tsunayoshi Sawada and the Arcobaleno have arrived."

Her attention immediately snapped toward the door. She let her eyes see the Arcobaleno, inspecting them one by one. They all looked the same as she remembered in her childhood. Even Reborn's signature fedora is in place. Colonnello's bandana, Verde's green tie and Fon's white dress shirt. Lal didn't wear her visor, nor Skull wore his bracelet and Viper with his black hooded cloak. There's one demon she doesn't remember, probably a new member of the group. The demon is wearing a black scarf that compliments his suit and hair. Probably a powerful one too, since his miasma is covering his entire body.

She went still at the sight of a young human dressed in a well-pressed suit. Brown hair like mane, brown eyes and humble posture. Just like how Byakuran had described, those eyes held unfathomable will and locked knowledge that seeks to get honed. The way he stood suggest arrogance and power yet still gives off a silent respect. His expression isn't even friendly with it being void from emotions. And yet, she can't feel an ounce of sky aura from him.

Her eyes flickered to Yuni, and noted how attentive her daughter looked before her eyes darted to see her. Their eyes met and then they nodded. It's time to take back what's theirs heedless of what Reborn say.