Mukuro watches the boy as Trident Shamal does the normal baseline tests on him.
His gaze shifts occasionally to the Arcobaleno watching them closely. Reborn must really be worried if he'd pulled Shamal away from the victims of the event the rest of the Mafia are aren't talking about in polite company. Everyone's certainly plotting to overthrown Vongola in their moment of weakness, but the nature of the Mafia means that certainly no one would be crass enough to come out and openly talk about how Timoteo has obviously lost his mind - and taken out a good chunk of his own Family in the process.
As for the kid he had been asked here to evaluate, Mukuro finds himself reluctantly impressed. Whatever it is that currently resides in that body - Sawada Tsunayoshi or not - has a frankly beautiful set of shields and defenses that Mukuro will admit - if only in the privacy of his own mind - would be hard for even him the penetrate successfully. Even with whole sections hanging inactive, he'd been able to repel the sharp stab that had gotten Mukuro past most of the shields he'd come up against, and repel it well enough to make Mukuro's fingers sting.
And the girl he'd brought with him was impressive as well, though in a very different way. She's certainly a psychic from the way she noticed his first attack, and she'd even been fast and strong enough to bat away Mukuro's second probe. Mukuro wants to test her and see how well che can defend herself rather than another, but he rather thinks that she's good enough to notice and angry enough at him to report any unauthorized move he makes, and much as he hates the mafia, the reputation he's built in this life and the trust it conveys are something he doesn't want to loose.
"Alright, kid," Shamal says. "Your baselines look good, and in line with the ones I did before the Dying Will Flame Mode Test. Any problems with your wrist? Did you start the physical therapy?"
"No new problems with my wrist," the kid says as he offers his wrist to Shamal, and Mukuro feels at the sight of the scars. "I did start on physical therapy, but I've only had two meetings."
Mukuro feels .
Shamal releases the kid and signs. "Alright then. My other tests will take quite a bit longer, so we'll have the other experts go first."
Reborn steps forwards now, drawing attention to himself. "You go first," he says, pointing at the other boy, and Mukuro looks at him again.
A sky, he can tell, and one that feels quite cheerfully insane, at least a little. Despite that, Mukuro can't say he'd expect much else from the holder of the Mare Sky Ring, visible on his finger, and that in fact the other boy is being scrupulously polite about controlling his flames.
"Thanks, Uncle Reborn!" he says cheerfully, rocking a little on his heels as he turns to the kid. "I'm more here to help with getting your flames activating properly than to help with the diagnostics, but everyone figured I should give you a once over first. I'm Byakuran!"
"A pleasure," the kid says. "I am, as you already know, Sawada Tsunayoshi. Please take care of me."
There's an odd dissonance in that reply. Everyone's been speaking Japanese, and the end of the kid's introduction had certainly been very Japanese. But he'd started out more in the way a foreigner would - very formal and using words in a way native speakers don't.
"Likewise! Nice to meet you," Byakuran says cheerfully. "Now, before I do anything, I want to check you comfort levels. The tests I can do are a little invasive. Would you be alright with me hugging you? And if it alright it I try to draw your flames out, just enough to get a feel for them?"
The kid contemplates him for a minute, then nods a little jerkily. "Just be carefull," he says, "Shamal's told you about my flames' automatic reach for Hyper Dying Will Mode?"
Oh is that the issue he's having? Mukuro's eyes narrow a little. He understands why he hadn't been told, but it is once again something that points to a possible possession.
"Yes," Byakuran says. "I should be able to to control what I draw out enough to prevent that from happening. Again, this isn't something you need to -"
"It's fine," the kid says, stepping forwards into Byakuran's space.
Everyone in the room seems surprized by the action.
Then Byakuran smiles.
"Alright," he says softly. He glances over at Shamal. "You have your instruments set up?"
"Yep."
And Byakuran hugs the kid.
It's hard to describe the process he does to draw out the kids flames. Mukuro's done it for others before, and even that doesn't help. Dying Will Flames are one of the most self-sacrificial types of magic he's ever encountered. They're dangerous to activate, dangerous to use, dangerous to keep using. And the physical toll they take is one thing, but the emotional toll they take, the self awareness. What would you die for? What would you do if you thought you were dying?
As a result, flames doen't really sit around waiting in some core like some other type of magic do. They're meant for action. They're there when you need them, and hard to find without very specific training otherwise.
If you can hit just the right combination of triggers, you can draw someone's flames out.
Watching Byakuran expertly test and trigger certain things, Mukuro wonders if his standards have somehow gotten lowered. Even comparing Byakuran to the other holders of the Sky Mare Ring rather than the common denominator of the mafia, Mukuro finds himself impressed. And that's the third person today.
And the Byakuran is coaxing out the kid's flames, using the Harmony of his own flames to keep control, and the kid is shuddering in his arms, alternately relaxed and tense in ways that Byakuran's flames are unlikely to be the cause of.
"Hey, hey, it's okay," Byakuran soothes him, running a hand through his hair and pulling him tighter into the hug. "Ah, Tsunayoshi-kun. You always do give the best hugs."
Hmm. Well alright then.
Mukuro moves possession drastically down the list of possibilities for what's going on with the - with Sawada.
He doesn't trust Byakuran, doesn't know him, but verification of identity from flames is one of the easiest things for the holder of the Mare Sky Ring to do if the person is one they've met before in the myriad alternate universes.
For Byakuran to be so comfortable hugging Sawada - to say that he gives the best hugs - they must be close a lot.
At least, if Byakuran's not lying his ass off.
Sawada ends up bonelessly relaxed into the hug, crying silently into Byakuran's shoulder. Mukuro eyes him, because that's an odd reaction, even is the sky Flames leaking Harmony all over.
Byakuran looks sad, his eyes distant. "It's okay," he says. "You're okay."
Reborn and Shamal both look uncomfortable. The girl, on the other hand, just looks contemplative. Given how she'd bristled when Mukuro talked to Sawada earlier, he'd expected her to dislike Byakuran as well, especially with what he's doing.
Eventually Sawada stops crying and pulls back, wiping at his face.
Byakuran lets him do it. "You're very sad, here," he says.
"I'm trying not to be," Sawada mumbles as Byakuran starts rummaging in his pockets.
Byakuran makes a little triumphant noise and pulls a wrapped lollipop out of his pocket. He offers it to Sawada. "Here!"
"Oh." Sawada takes it. "It's grape."
"I've got more if you-"
"No! It's fine," Sawada says. "I just - someone else always gets to the grape candy before I do, so I don't get it often. Thank you."
