The second she heard Shamal was in town, Yue immediately tracked him down.
"Well this is a surprise. What do you want?" he asked a little too calmly considering she had just hit him over the head with a baton. (Borrowed from her brother-in-law.)
"I want you to have a look at my son. Wizards have hurt him."
Shamal winced.
"This son of yours happen to go by the name of Hari?" he asked.
She tightened her grip on his throat.
"How do you know that?"
"Reborn called in a favor. He's not the only one who's been Sealed by Englishmen," explained Shamal.
Sweet, beautiful air...
"Reborn is here."
"Training the Decimo Vongola candidate. Said he had a kid who fit the same symptoms I bitched about after two sealed girls were brought to a mafia hospital and wanted me to take a look at it."
"...When do you want me to bring my son to you?"
"Let me get set up first. Might as well introduce myself so Reborn doesn't shoot me out of hand."
She nodded curtly. Suddenly Kyouya's reluctant protection of the Sawada boy made far too much sense.
Tsuna was following Takashi and Gokudera to the "room" Reborn had found, and when he heard the voice he paled.
Oh kami, please tell him that insane baby didn't...
Kyouya came within a few inches of hitting him with his tonpa. Takashi and Hayato were already stunned and on the ground.
"Little animal, what are you doing?"
Tsuna made a face.
"Blame that stupid Reborn. If I had known he was sending us to the Receiving Room I would have told them not to bother," said Tsuna. "Where's Hari?"
"Mother found a doctor that might give us some answers. He'll be gone for a few days," said Kyouya calmly.
He couldn't hurt Tsuna, because that would upset Hari, and the little animal was one of the few people who could calm him down or didn't treat him like a freak.
Hence why he didn't follow through on his attack.
"Well this is disappointing," said Reborn from the window. Tsuna glared at him.
"I know you're a jerk, but did you have to provoke Hibari-san?" he asked crossly.
Reborn raised an eyebrow.
"This is Hari's brother?" he asked.
"Ow... Jyuudaime!" yelped Gokudera.
"Next time let's ask where Reborn is sending us before we intrude," said Tsuna dryly.
"Ouch. That hurt."
"Leave," said Kyouya annoyed.
Tsuna managed to get the larger two out of the room and away from an already agitated Kyouya. He liked crowds even less than Hari did, but he handled them a lot better.
"Why weren't you attacked?" asked Takashi.
"Hari's his brother. He knows it would upset him if something happened, and if I had known where Reborn was sending us I would have warned you it was a bad idea. The receiving room is one of the few places Hari can go in the school to calm down after the fan girl horde tries to bother him."
"Hari... isn't he the mute kid?" asked Takashi. His dad had told him to be nice to him.
Tsuna frowned.
"He's not mute. I don't know why people think he's mentally ill because he has trouble speaking and relies on writing his answers out. It's not his fault he was drugged by some nut job as a kid," said Tsuna upset.
It had always bothered him that people thought he was slow or possibly disabled, because Hari was really smart. According to Hari, some wacko broke into their home when he was a kid and drugged him.
"Holy shit kid. Whoever did this to you did not want you to fight back with whatever they were planning. I have no idea how to even remotely begin undoing this sort of seal."
The others had been child's play compared to the level this seal was at. Having a Sky who knew what they were doing and had strong enough Flames worked for the two cases he had caught. This? This was on a whole other level.
"So you're saying you can't help," said Yue unhappily.
"I'm saying I can't help...but if you're desperate enough to try anything you could see if Reborn would be willing to give a long shot a chance."
"...What sort of long shot?"
Shamal took a long drag of his Rain-infused tea, before answering.
"Reborn has these special bullets. They forcibly drag someone's Dying Will Flame out. With enough time and patience they could more or less activate anyone's Flame and turn it useful. With this sort of seal, if I tried to remove any of it on my own, it would backlash on the entire hospital. Whoever placed this on him did not want it removed. But... Reborn's Deathperation Bullet might be able to shatter some of the lesser sealing enough that an attempt could be made later to forcibly shatter this."
Reborn's special bullets were strong enough to break even a Sky Seal, which were a lot less damaging than what the wizard's had tried with Hari. They had attempted to forcibly remove his Flames, and when that didn't work had sealed them up so much that it had damaged him to the point he had trouble speaking.
Shamal wouldn't be shocked if the sudden spate of "sealed Flames" had started with this poor kid. He was Patient "Zero" as it were.
When he heard the news, Reborn was positively pissed when Shamal gave his diagnosis. The idea of someone trying to seal a child's Flames to the point they didn't exist that thoroughly...
He might be a hitman, but even he wasn't that cruel. He would have simply killed the kid.
It took a little fast talking to trick Tsuna into bringing Hari to the roof. He was reasonably sure the boy had enough regret in him to react to the bullet. He just hoped Shamal's theory was right.
He pulled the trigger. Tsuna had only gone along with this because he trusted Shamal just enough to believe this would help his friend.
Two seconds after the bullet hit, Reborn almost starts to worry he had just put the kid out of his misery...when he's nearly flattened by the sheer level of power Hari lets off.
Damn. No wonder they had to put such a hard core seal on him! It was the only way to make their stupidity stick!
Kyouya evidently knew something was happening to his brother, because he burst onto the roof.
What happened next had them all surprised.
"Nii-san!"
He was flattened by a ballistic and happy missile called Hari. His Dying Will flames were burning brightly and he was only in his boxers, but he was babbling like an idiot without a single stutter.
"What."
Kyouya stared at his little brother in absolute shock.
He looked at a startled Reborn.
"What in the hell did you do?" he asked baffled. Because this is the most he's heard his brother speak in...ever, really.
"The effects will last for another four and a half minutes. Whether or not that undid what the wizards tried to do is currently up for debate, but until then enjoy," said Reborn, tipping his hat to Hibari.
Kyouya was struck by the immediate change in his brother. The younger teen was more alive, more vocal than he had been in years. Even if he was in his underwear for some reason.
When the five minutes were up, the seal slammed back into place. But the after-effects of the bullet made a marked difference.
Hari wasn't stumbling when he tried to speak anymore. He could use full sentences, even if they were slightly slurred and his eyes were much more alive than they had been in a long time.
As it turned out, Hari's biggest regret is that he couldn't properly vocalize how much he loved his brother because of that stupid old man.
If said old man were there, on the other hand... well, Reborn would be passing out popcorn for the slaughter of the century.
Shamal looks over him once the show is over.
"The seal took a big hit, but not enough to work with. Maybe in a week we could try again. I bet if Reborn keeps hitting it with his bullets, it'll get weak enough that one good push will break it entirely. But no more than once per week," he said firmly.
The things he did to keep his balls where they belonged.
Thankfully for his sanity, only one of the three girls Shamal dealt with in England opted to come with him. And this one was the one smart enough to get out before they got sealed.
Luna Lovegood was a very odd Mist/Cloud.
Ginerva had fallen enamored with living on Mafia Land, to the point where she was training with Colonello to become a sniper/commando. Apparently she was very much a tomboy, but her mother had tried to force her into a "sophisticated lady/perfect wife" nonsense. Being encouraged to wear combat gear and allowed to shoot people who annoyed her appealed to her greatly.
Needless to say the commando loved her, because she didn't whine half as much as the other recruits about getting dirty or hard work.
Then again, she had been hit particularly hard having her magic forcibly bound because she survived. Her hatred of Dumbledore was pretty high, and she vehemently refused to even consider returning to her home.
Apparently having to listen to her mother bemoan the fact that she was now a "squib" and the looks her parents shot her had been too much for her to take. Hence why she had joined Luna without even asking why.
Finding out she had lost something she had been waiting for her entire life because of a ridiculous fear the headmaster had of people who awakened their Dying Will Flames... she was not happy.
Hermione had run into Verde, and within minutes had secured herself an apprentice/test subject. She found him a much better conversationalist than her entire House combined. He was just as fascinated having magic to play around with in proper scientific experiments as Hermione was, and he knew how to train her flames without worry.
She had despaired at the lack of any common sense from the wizards, so having someone like Verde teach her was a dream come true. Best of all he could help her achieve a proper education.
Luna however, was left out of said training because she wasn't really interested in it. And she had even less desire to be sealed like her friends because of an old man's silly fear.
She almost wished she could see the look on Dumbledore's face when he found the article she had been forced to sell to Rita Skeeter in order to get out.
Ginny told exactly what happened, from finding a mystery diary in her cauldron with the name of a former Head Boy...and the anagram he later took. She went into detail how she had reached for her magic in a desperate bid to get rid of the parasite on her core, and ended up awaking strange Flames. How when she woke up after her ordeal, having been retrieved by Fawkes after the Flames died down, she was being unceremoniously shipped back home with her wand snapped and told that the "Flames" had rendered her a Squib and not to contact any of her magical relatives ever again.
She went into far too much detail of how her mother reacted to the news the "incident" had destroyed her core when any healer would have been able to tell she had a seal on it that she never consented to. How Dumbledore had looked her right in the eye and she only saw hate and fear from him.
Rita had eaten it up, especially when Luna also brought up a muggleborn who was forcibly removed from the school after a troll got in (she got this from the twins) and her core sealed without explanation.
Naturally the news Dumbledore had sealed a pure blood girl after he failed to notice such a Dark Artifact in HIS school without even consulting the parents first had the entire magical community in an uproar. Hermione was just another casualty.
The headmaster managed to weather the storm, but if more pure blood children were kicked out after being sealed, he was going to be in for it and St. Mungo's would forcibly take over and find out what exactly the old man was trying to hide.
Luna cheerfully sat next to Tsuna, since it was pretty clear Hari wasn't happy being near anyone from England.
Kyouya watched as Reborn shot his brother again. It was hard, not going after the creepy baby for aiming a gun at his brother in the first place.
Hari fell back for a second, the a Flame sparked on his head and he tackled his brother in a hug.
"I still don't get the point of shooting him," Kyouya gritted out.
Hari tilted his head, before he hit upon the perfect explanation.
He used a little Mist Flame to demonstrate for his brother and Tsuna.
"The English dogs sealed away what made me special, right?"
He made a cage with a small bundle of fur that was too big for the bars. Fur kept poking out, and it was clearly uncomfortable for the animal.
Kyouya watched a mini-Reborn shoot at the animal, which made the cage grow bigger.
"So the 'seal' is the cage and you're the small animal stuck inside. And the bullets are making the cage big enough for you to work with."
"Exactly. Eventually the 'cage' will become so weak that Hari-kun will be able to break free and the seal will be permanently broken," explained Shamal. It was a good analogy. "How did you explain the fact you're talking almost normally again?"
Hari smirked.
"Same way Kaa-san explained my sudden decrease in ability and why I have to use a white board. She said some foreigners broke into our home and drugged me with something the doctors couldn't identify and that the side effects had rendered me effectively mute. As far as the teachers know, Reborn happened to recognize the drug and you're the one administering it. With enough 'therapy' I should make a full recovery."
"Smart," said Reborn.
Claiming it was an unknown drug kept the civilians from asking questions they shouldn't get answers for, and involving Shamal made the whole thing look more real. And it wasn't like the local doctors would be able to identify every obscure drug.
Once again, the moment the bullet's effects wear off, Hari is out cold. Kyouya promptly bundles him up with a blanket and has his friends take his little brother to the receiving room so he can sleep it off.
Kyouya is a classic Cloud and detests large groups. But for his little brother, he will put up with it as long as he had to or until he snapped.
He never really forgave himself for being so weak, or for being unable to protect his 'pack' from harm.
And to be honest, it was impossible to hate his little brother. Hari was a sweet kid and a kind, gentle soul to practically everyone. He had more empathy than the entire school put together.