Note: Okay, this chapter is an answer to Dman4869, Mikan18, and guest's prompts! I hope you like it!
Guest: Thanks a lot!
I don't own KHR.
"So, first things first, how much do you know about dying will flames?" Giotto asked him as he stood in front of him. It had been about a day or so since Tsuna and his siblings had voted to stay with the Vongola and as promised, Giotto was now training him. They were currently in the training room, which had a boxing ring, some exercise equipment in the corner, and steel walls. There were also mats hanging on a metal rack attached to the wall as well as a big open space in the middle, which is where Giotto and Tsuna currently were.
"Um...the name and that everyone has them? And that there are different colors?" Tsuna answered, realizing that he didn't know much about the flames at all.
"That is all true," Giotto accepted with a nod. "Dying will flames are a form of energy that is made up out of our life force and is closely tied with our emotions, especially our resolve, or our dying will."
"So...you're saying that the reason I produced my flames when Reborn caught Takeshi was because I was really determined to save him?" Tsuna asked, remembering that night in the woods that seemed so long ago.
"Exactly," Giotto nodded. "And there are seven kinds, each with their own special properities, or abilities. Blue is rain, red is storm, yellow is sun, green is lightning, purple is cloud, and indigo is mist. I will explain all their abilities later but for today..."
Then Giotto held out his hand and a second later, an orange flame appeared on his ring.
"I just want you to remember that the orange dying will flame is called the sky flame. And it's ability is harmony."
Tsuna, who had been gazing at Giotto's beautiful flame in wonder (despite having seen it before), tilted his head at that.
"Don't worry, it's not as cheesy as it sounds," Giotto added before Tsuna could say anything. "The sky flame, out of all the dying will flames, is the most like actual fire, being able to both burn and give out heat. But not only that, sky flames have the power to combine with other flames to make a new one, as well as absorb them. It also has the ability to petrify."
"Pe-Petrify?" Tsuna stumbled in no small horror as he recalled pictures of Pompeii that he had seen in the orphanage. "You mean...I could have accidenly turned Reborn to stone?!"
"Oh no, don't worry, there's no way Reborn would have let you do that to him," Giotto chuckled as he bent over and ruffled Tsuna's hair assuredly. "Not to mention, it's actually not that easy to petrify somebody, especially on accident. But that is why we are here today, so you can learn how to control your sky flame and prevent any accidents like that, right?"
"Right!" Tsuna exclaimed, feeling very relieved and determined already. Giotto just smiled in response as he took his hand away from Tsuna's hair to reach into his pocket.
"Since today is your first day of training though, we're just going to focus on getting you to produce your flame," Giotto informed him before he took his hand out of his pocket and held it out. Tsuna looked at Giotto's hand and couldn't help but lightly gasp when he saw a ring sitting on his palm.
"Is that...for me?" Tsuna asked as he looked at the small ring, which was silver with a small orange gem in the middle. The word Vongola was also inscribed above the gem.
"Yes, it is," Giotto confirmed with a warm smile. "I...as I said before, I knew that that you kids were going to stay with us so I made the call and had this made. And even if I happened to be wrong, I figured that I would still give it to you so at least you had the means to control your flames."
"...Thank you," Tsuna gratefully replied softly as he reached out and grabbed the ring. Upon closer inspection, it was really beautiful and especially well-crafted, even to his untrained eyes. It must have cost a lot for Giotto to had this made.
But he did, and he did it even when it hadn't been absolutely certain that Tsuna and his siblings were going to join the family.
Tsuna almost felt like crying.
"You're welcome," Giotto accepted with a bright smile as he ruffled Tsuna's unruly hair once again, making the nine-year-old smile.
"So...this is gonna help me control my flames?" Tsuna asked as he held his new ring between his index finger and his thumb.
"Yes," Giotto confirmed with a nod. "First, think about your resolve or what you are detetmined to do. Why do you want to produce your flames?"
"...Because," Tsuna replied as he instantly recalled not being able to produce his flames despite Hayato being in grave danger at the time. "I want to be able to protect my family and stop them from getting hurt or kidnapped ever again."
"Okay," Giotto said with a smile that seemed to reek with pride. "Now put on your ring."
Tsuna did as he told and couldn't help but be a bit amazed at how well the ring fit him. Tsuna was smaller than the average boy, and he didn't remember Giotto or anyone else measuring his ring finger. So how did they figure out his correct size? Did Giotto just have that good of an eye?
"Alright, now think of your resolve and imagine turning that into flames," Giotto continued after he gave Tsuna a few seconds to admire his new ring. "And don't feel bad if you can't do it on the first try, most people have trouble producing their flames for the first time."
"Okay," Tsuna replied as he looked at his ring. While he was glad that he wouldn't be the only one if he failed at first, Tsuna still wanted to be successful the first time. The sooner he could produce his sky flame, the sooner he could learn to use it to help protect his siblings.
Both hopeful and determined, Tsuna closed his eyes and thought of his resolve to help protect his family and not just be a victim or a helpless bystander. Then he remembered the flames he produced the night he fought Reborn for Takeshi, how bright and orange they were. Tsuna then squinched his face as he imagined taking his resolve with both hands and throwing it into his ring like the piece of jewelry was a firepit and the resolve was a bunch of dry logs.
Suddenly, Tsuna heard a gasp.
Tsuna cracked his eyes open only to open them up wide when he saw the small but bright orange flame dancing on his new ring.
He...he did it! He produced his sky flames!
"Wow...you...this is amazing! I'm so proud of you Tsuna!" Giotto praised with a wide, proud smile as he reached over and picked him up before swinging him around. Tsuna laughed in both delight and accomplishment. He really did it! Now he could start-
"Ah, my flame!" Tsuna cried out in alarm as he stared at his ring, which didn't have the small flame dancing on top of it anymore.
"Oh, it's okay," Giotto assured him calmly as he stopped swinging Tsuna around and put him gently down on the ground. "Just try it again."
"Mhm," Tsuna replied, not alarmed anymore as he once more thought of his resolve before imagining it as fuel for the fire. A few seconds later, there was an orange flame on top of his ring once again.
"Good," Giotto complimented with a nod. "Now let's see how long you can-"
Then suddenly, the sound of trumpets filled the air.
"Ah, excuse me," Giotto said as he reached into his pocket and took out his phone before looking at the screen. "Yeah, I have to take this. Why don't you just wait here for a few minutes and see how long you can keeping your sky flames going. I shouldn't be gone long."
"Okay!" Tsuna replied good-naturally, making the Vongola Don smile in return. Then Giotto picked up the call.
"Hello, this is Primo," Giotto greeted whoever was on the other end as he walked all the way to the other side of the training room. Meanwhile, Tsuna concentrated on making his little sky flame stay alive as long as he could.
Jump to the right.
Tsuna, who had been staring bug-eyed at the tiny flame on his ring for just over thirty seconds, quickly obeyed his intuition, though more out of instinct than anything else. Not even a second later, there was a loud bang.
"Nice dodge." Tsuna, startled from the sudden gunshot, looked up at the familiar voice and saw that the first mat hanging on the rack now had four limbs and Reborn's face.
"And you weren't even in hyper dying will mode either," Reborn continued as he quickly got off the metal rack. Tsuna, too shocked to scream or ask what hyper dying will mode was, could only stand there as Reborn walked towards him while taking off his blue mat costume.
"Now, let's see what els-" Reborn said with a smirk as he brandished his green gun while placing his fedora on his head, the costume now completely off to reveal his usual black suit. However, before he could finish the rest of his sentence, there was a bright flash of orange light as Tsuna felt a huge gust of wind rush by him.
"No means no Reborn!" Giotto yelled angrily with a sky flame on his forehead as he threw a punch at Reborn, only for the dark-haired man to dodge it easily.
"But if you really meant that, then you would have realized that I had been hiding here whole time," Reborn countered as he pointed his gun at Giotto with a smirk. "I'm honestly disappointed that you didn't."
"Ugh, you could've seriously hurt him, you do know that right?!" Giotto cried as he rushed, no, flew towards Reborn, orange flames completely covering both of his hands.
"Oh please, it was just a rubber bullet, it woudn't have killed him! Stop being so melodramatic!" Reborn cried as he shot at Giotto, who safely dodged out of the way with little to no effort.
Tsuna, who had been watching this silently with wide eyes, looked down at where he was standing and saw a bullet lying on the ground. Upon closer inspection, it did look more rubbery than real. However, Tsuna also saw a small dent on the metal floor right next to the bullet.
And suddenly Tsuna felt really grateful that Giotto was so against having Reborn teach him.
Tsuna looked back up just in time to see Giotto dive at Reborn from high in the air, his fist aimed for Reborn's face. However, the hitman swiftly jumped backwards, causing Giotto to punch the floor instead. Tsuna's eyes widened as he saw the crater that formed as a result. Despite punching the metal floor that hard, Giotto just glared at the smirking Reborn while kneeling on the ground before going for the attack again, which made Reborn shoot at Giotto once more.
Maybe...maybe he should hide...
Just then, despite the loud and chaotic fight happening right in front of him, Tsuna heard the door open behind him.
Tsuna turned around and saw Alaude and Lampo walk into the training room, coming to a complete and sudden stop once they saw the fight. Seeing his chance, Tsuna ran towards them.
"Hooly cow," Lampo reacted with eyes as wide as dinner plates. "Giotto is really going at it..."
"What did Reborn do this time?" Alaude asked, sounding kind of impressed yet resigned at the same time.
"He shot at me while Giotto was taking a phone call!" Tsuna answered as he finally reached the two adults and quickly hid behind Alaude.
"Ah that makes sense...wait shot at you?!" Lampo exclaimed. "He didn't actually hit you?!"
"No, my intuition told me to jump to the right so I did," Tsuna explained as he peeked out from behind Alaude to look at Lampo while his hands clenched the back of Alaude's black trench coat.
"...Lucky duck," Lampo muttered before he turned back to the fight in front of them. "...Should we stop them? I mean, you can't really train Kyoya here with them fighting like that...can you?"
"I probably can," Alaude answered matter-of-factly. "But Kyoya isn't going to be here for another minute or so, they might be done by then."
"I'm surprised that you haven't hit me yet, maybe I should train you more instead of Lampo," Reborn suddenly taunted as he fired a series of shots at Giotto.
"You're sure about that?" Lampo asked Alaude as Giotto moved his hands in front of him and amazingly, turned Reborn's flame-coated bullets into ice.
"Whoa..." Tsuna gasped in wonder. Would it be possible for him to do that one day in the future?
"Well, you haven't hit me yet either so instead, maybe I should train you," Giotto countered as he moved his hands in such a way that the ice broke into many tiny pieces in mid-air. "And while I'm at it, I can teach you how to actually make a good tiramisu!"
Lampo took a sharp intake of breath right as the smirk on Reborn's face finally died.
Tsuna couldn't help but shiver as unexplained chills crawled up his spine.
"Excuse me you piece of #$ %! I made that tiramisu out of the goodness of my heart you #$ &%!" Reborn yelled as he fired another round of flame-coated shots at Giotto. Despite the bullets somehow acting like homing missiles, Giotto managed to dodge most of them. For the two that he couldn't avoid, he just turned them into ice as well.
"But how could I or anyone else with healthy taste buds possibly have liked it?! It was so f-" At that exact moment, Alaude turned around and plastered his hands over Tsuna's ears. As a result, Tsuna had no idea what Giotto said next.
"Giotto's not wrong though, that tiramisu was unbearably bitter," Lampo commented after Alaude took his hands off of Tsuna's ears.
"Never mind about that-" Alaude started to say when another familiar voice interrupted him.
"Oh, so that's what the f word is." Tsuna looked behind to see that Kyoya in the open doorway of the training room, an expression of realization and amazement on his face.
"Lampo, take them to a candy store or something! I'm going to go arrest both of them!" Alaude ordered, a cold hint of anger in his voice as he pushed Tsuna towards Lampo.
"Sweet, you don't need to tell me twice! C'mon kids!" Lampo exclaimed as he quickly grabbed Tsuna's hand and started to hurriedly pull him towards the door.
"But-" Kyoya started to protest as Alaude started to rush towards Reborn and Giotto despite the fact that their fight was now way more intense. And scarier.
"First rule of dealing with Alaude, don't blatantly ignore his orders! Especially when he's that ticked!" Lampo interrupted him as he quickly grabbed Kyoya's arm and started to pull him away. "You can train with him when he's in a better mood later, now let's go!"
"Can we get the others to come along?" Tsuna asked as Lampo led them out of the training room (Kyoya didn't look happy but he didn't resist). While he was a bit disappointed that his training session with Giotto had been cut short, Tsuna was also quite fine with getting as far away from the training room as possible.
Especially if there was candy involved.
"If they want to come, sure!" Lampo granted as they quickly walked down the hallway, causing Tsuna to smile. But then the question that had been plaguing his mind ever since Reborn got offended got a bit too uncomfortable.
So Tsuna asked it.
"So what does sh-"
"Don't finish that question!" Lampo quickly interrupted him with panic in his voice as they abruptly stopped.
"Why not?" Tsuna asked with a tilt of head, honestly a bit confused while Lampo finally let go of their arms as he turned around to face them.
"Yeah, why can't he-oh," Kyoya started to ask before his gray eyes went wide with realization. "...Did Reborn curse too?"
"Yep," Lampo nodded with a sigh as his panicked expression got replaced with a relieved one. "Twice."
"Oh," Tsuna gasped with horror as he covered his mouth with both hands. While he had never knew what the curse words exactly were (except for the h and the d words, those were obvious), Tsuna still knew that they were really bad to say. "I'm so sorry..."
"Don't feel bad, Lampo stopped you from saying the words in time, and even if he didn't, it wouldn't have been your fault anyway," Kyoya assured him sincerely as he patted Tsuna's back.
"Kyoya's exactly right!" Lampo agreed before chuckling out of nowhere.
"What's so funny?" Kyoya asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Because for once, it isn't mine!"
Fun fact 1: Kyoya's reaction to learning what the f word is was mine when I first heard it. And I seriously thought it was something else before. Fun fact 2: Giotto's ringtone is Tsuna Awakens unless he accidentally leaves it unattended around Daemon and Lampo, then it's Like A Boss. Fun fact 3, Reborn is a decent cook, he just really likes bitter tiramisu/black coffee/espresso.
And yes, I know that the people at Pompeii didn't exactly get turn to stone, but Tsuna is nine at this point and I like to believe that he wouldn't make that distinction quite yet (especially since pumice is a type of volcanic rock).
So how did you guys like it? Please leave a review containing your reactions and your thoughts and I will post the next prompt shortly. See ya, and have a great day or night!