Chapter Sixty-Eight

(Day Fourteen: New World)

"No luck then." He turned to Kawahira who manifested by the window. Purple eyes gazed at the two figures on the bed. "They're your kind of pair."

"My pair?" He queried.

"If you two are mafia, they're heroes. They save each other from going too deep and lure it out to be victorious, while you two dive and emerge victorious."

"You keep on putting us up like we're something or anything."

"Aren't you?" The man questioned, quirking a brow at him. "I cannot understand you, you humans. Both suns are reluctant to bond with the sky who needed them the most. Even partially bonded. You have the strongest ties, wrapping both of his wrists with thick ropes of fate, each from you. You both are his sanity, he is your saviour. So what's wrong?"

"You're an ancient. Why don't you think of the reason?"

Kawahira looked like he wanted to slap his hand to his forehead. "Rejection? Mio Dio, Reborn. Have you seen how Tsunayoshi sees both of you? If Katsuki Bakugou didn't stop him and Xanxus de Vongola wasn't there, Tsunayoshi would've killed Federico and Enrico without any remorse, scoured the whole of Italy to put it on fire. All for the world to mourn your counterpart. He almost killed Shigaraki Tomura for injuring Shouta Aizawa. If he didn't know he was watching, Tsunayoshi would've slaughtered the Yakuza without a second thought. Just offer your flames and he'll accept you."

Reborn looked away.

"Then you rather him die."

It didn't take a second for him to whip his gun and aimed it at Checkerface.

"Or is it because you are not sure if you have your flames."

He didn't lower the gun.

Reborn wanted to say 'both'. Regardless of how Tsuna sees him as family, he couldn't take advantage of such thing. Tsuna gave him his life again, gave him a family, gave him a son and made him feel loved like how everyone in the family felt. He deserves the world with how selfless he is. Reborn wants to prove himself first before he can slip his want to bond with the brunet.

Another thing is his flames. He's not sure if he still has his sun flames. Yes. He has the healing quirk, but can it help him defend himself? His counterpart died because he can't defend himself from those quirks, heedless of their skills. He couldn't even heal himself. He needs his flames as offense and defense. He doesn't want to be a dead weight for Tsuna, and make him worry again. Hearing him cry in pain of losing both of them at the same time. A crying Tsuna is as painful as a heartache.

He's becoming frustrated though. He found the potential guardians. Damn. They're so nearby. But the fact that Tsuna knows them so well makes it difficult for him to persuade them. The brunet will be so mad if he persuades them to harmonize with the sky. He's pretty much head-on of not pulling his friends with his troubles since they already have troubles themselves. Another case is that his two potential storms are villains. Shigaraki Tomura and Dabi will be difficult to be persuaded nor convinced that Tsuna will need the storm flames in their systems to come back to them. Hell. He doesn't even know if they know Tsuna is in coma right now. Aizawa will not be happy.

Speaking of Aizawa... The man had been thoughtful. Probably contemplating if he can push his flames for a bond to get Tsuna stay with them (Reborn dares to say that Aizawa does not believe that he has flames). As much as Tsuna is 'obsessed' with Aizawa, the latter is the same with Tsuna. Sometimes he just can't stop face palming mentally when both go all doting on each other. They're worse than Iemitsu and Nana.

(Although, to compare, Tsuna is the same with him.)

(Same with Aeturnus.)

(Same with Nana.)

(He's not one to talk, really.)

"You have nine more days before your world cements Tsunayoshi-kun's existence in there." Kawahira informed, walking for the bed. He lowered his gun. "If that happens, it will take a lot of time to yank Tsunayoshi's will to transfer here again. The tri-ni-sette there let him go because he died. Right now, that body of his is made of flames. If his will continued to exist, he will slowly become human there." He put a flame lit hand on Tsuna's forehead. "Until this body dies at the same time as he dies in there, he will remain there and will never be able to come back. By the end of the twenty-third day with his sky flames has no original bond here yet, his existence there will be accepted and he will slowly accept his original bond there."

He gripped his hat and tipped it.

"If you're not gonna push your bond, then what do you plan for the other elements?" Kawahira questioned while sitting on the edge, facing him a little while caressing Tsuna's hair.

"Those children you saw here are potentials." He said. "The only problem is Tsuna will get angry if I talk them to it."

"So you're waiting for them to volunteer." The Ancient nodded. "I think one of them will. He just needs a little prompting."

His brain raced thought of who is he thinking before nodding. "I think he will."

"Well then," Kawahira smiled as he moved his hand to Tsuna's free one and squeezed it. "As long as there is hope, I won't complain. I'll come back again after seven days. Keep my warning in mind."

"Yes." He shooed away.

"You could get another bed for you three, you know." The white-head geezer grinned as he slowly fades away. "This hospital is quite used to your antics now."

He rolled his eyes and pulled his blanket higher before sleeping. "Let me sleep, bastard."

The Ancient only laughed before he completely disappeared.

"Asshole." He mumbled before closing his eyes.

(Day Fifteen: Old World)

"Let's go kidnap someone." He voiced as they walk in the hallway while avoiding meeting some maids.

Aeturnus hummed. "How many?"

He chuckled. For someone who's full of KJ virus years ago, Aeturnus is following all of his thoughts since he came. The day before yesterday, he thought of bungee jumping, and the young man immediately agreed and searched up the nearest place that offers bungee jumping. They had a great time. They were laughing when they got out. As someone who flies often, falling from a height doesn't really scare him, but it has that kind of thrill since he doesn't have his mittens and things.

Anyway... Who to kidnap... Hm...

"Oh." He blurted as his intuition pointed him to a door. He took Aeturnus's sleeve and pulled him. "Come on. Someone is near."

When they got near the appointed captive, Aeturnus immediately whispered. "That's Lan, Mukuro's youngest son."

Tsuna blinked. "His doppleganger?"

The hitman chuckled. "Yes. Remember when he commented about taking over your body?"

"Oh yeah!" He nodded, remembering it. "I was going for that one time he cried because I won't carry him and he wanted to snuggle with me for the rest of the day, taunting his Padre about it."

"Do you think he'll remember that?"

"How do you think he gain that phrase from Mukuro?"

Grey eyes blinked. "Plausible."

Tsuna grinned. "Let's go."

Since mist are pretty slippery in all sense, Tsuna thought of attacking Lan by taking him in all sides before Aetu gave him a tranquilizer. It was cute seeing the betrayal look on the kid. They stuffed the teen inside an empty room before walking around to see who to kidnap next.

They were turning around a corner when they stumbled on a young girl. His intuition cheered as caramel met caramel. Tsuna took in the long brown hair, caramel eyes, familiar face with baby fats and the cheeky smile. He can't help laughing as he went down on one knee and stared at the little girl. She looks like Nana Sawada, and has the nicest sunshine in her. Nana, his late mother, had always been a sun. No wonder she stuck with Tsuna even though he's a dame.

"Hi!" The girl greeted with a beam. "Hi Ae-kun!"

Tsuna doubled over in laughter.

"Oi!" And bam.

"Ow!" He pouted.

"Aw." The girl pouted too and puffed her one cheek. "Bad, Ae-kun. Don't hit people. It's not nice!"

Tsuna smiled while rubbing his sore spot. "I'm fine. Thank you. What's your name?"

"I'm Nana! Nana Sawada Bovino! And I'm a sun!" The girl cheered.

He chuckled. "I'm Tsuna. I'm a sky. Nice to meet you."

"Oh!" Small hands cupped his cheeks as the girl gasped. "You look just like me! You're pretty!"

"We're both pretty." He agreed.

Nana nodded and let go. "Are you Ae-kun's friend?"

"I'm his Dad." He answered without a beat. He missed the shock look Aeturnus shoot at him. "He's my son."

"Eh?" Nana uttered before something akin to realization crossed her mind and her eyes widened. "Oh!"

"Tsuna. Cloud on my six." Aeturnus smoothly cut in.

"Na, Nana-chan." Tsuna called as he gave an excited smile. "Do you wanna go to the zoo? See the bears and the lions and the monkeys?"

Delight settled in those caramel eyes. "Yes!"

"Aetu." He called out to the hitman who went attentive. "Knock him out."

"Roger."

Tsuna entertained Nana by asking her questions about the family while the two fought behind him. Nana is pretty much like... Nana. She's pretty naive and a nice little girl. She notices everything from the big thing to the smallest things. Like how Lambo has grape candies in his back pocket all the time. Ipin sometimes braid her hair like how Fon-jii-san does. Or when people go for the museum for different specific reasons. He ought to ask the kid about it later. When they're alone and Aeturnus isn't there to cut in.

He started to ask her what she likes. Like does she want to cook? (A yes.) Does she like helping in the chores? (Yes, because she helps the maids do TONS of works.) What's her favorite food? (Steak!) He also asked why does she call Aeturnus 'Ae'. She said his name is so long and tried to call him 'Aetu', but Aeturnus told her she can't call him that, so she opted for 'Ae' instead. Tsuna chuckled as he stood up and offered his hand to the girl who took it. Aeturnus took Cloud at the back too and promptly dragged him to where they left Lan. With Tsuna's effort (he doesn't have his 'quirk', okay? Discovered so a couple of days ago), he was able to take Lan on his back with Nana leading them to Aeturnus's parking lot. They took the van, dumped the two on the backseat and drove off to the zoo.

"What the-"

Tsuna covered Nana's ears who cupped his hands as well with a giggle. "At least swear in a different language." He chided to Lan.

"Fine." The teen relented, blinking away the pain.

"Are we going for the big zoo?" Aeturnus asked.

He uncovered Nana's ears and looked at her. "Big zoo or small zoo?"

"Big zoo!" The girl cheered.

"Big zoo!" He seconded before taking a candy from the compartment and gave it to Nana. "Here you go, Nana-chan. A candy for a friend."

"Thank you!" Nana expressed, staring at the candy in delight.

Aeturnus's chuckle was amused. "Alright. My treat this time?"

"Yup. I used up all my money. Need to do some street entertainment tomorrow and the next day."

"I could provide the money."

"But it's yours." He argued back.

"Papa has his on it too. And yours."

He blinked then looked at the other. "I have?"

"You did. You split them all into eight. One for every guardians, one for Papa, then one for me. When Papa figured he's dying in old age, he put all of his money, with yours, to mine. So I'm practically rich with Papa's money and yours."

"And that's technically yours." He pointed out.

Aeturnus groaned. "Why are you so hard to reason with?"

"Did you ever think on how on Earth was I able to get all our assets in my favor and lesser on the other end?" He said in a 'duh' voice before opening the compartment again to get the sandwich he put there when they boarded. "Do you want some sandwich, Aetu?"

"Later."

"Okay. More for us, Nana-chan." He cheered, making the kid cheer with him.

"Is that how you can make Papa do your favors sometimes?"

"Sometime." He grinned. "Like wearing pajama so the three of us can do a pajama party. Or to have him let us eat ice cream in the middle of the night cause he catches us even before we can plan it properly." Looking back though, Reborn spoiled both of them rotten. "But Reborn is just Reborn, you know. He never gets himself manipulated. I guess he just loves us that much."

"Maybe."

His head whipped to see the other with horrified expression. "What do you mean maybe, you little eggplant?!"

Aeturnus, with the two other listeners from the back, laughed at him. If he was any lesser, he could've blushed. But because he's so used to his family, he didn't mind.

"Man. I didn't know Tsuna-nii is so hilarious." Lan cackled from his spot.

"I was saying that Dad loves you more." Aeturnus clarified, whizzing a little.

"He loves us both." He protested before turning to the front where they can already see the gates of the zoo. "If I wasn't contented with our family, I could've seduced your Papa and married him."

"You're gay?" Cloud queried.

"In that context I might be, but I know to myself that I'm straight. Just not interested in anything." He huffed before turning to Nana who was munching on the sandwich. "You heard nothing, Nana-chan. Right?"

"What was?" The innocent (yet cheeky) little girl asked back.

He grinned. "Oh nothing."

"Oh God." Lan uttered, shocked with their interaction.

"Oh. I like this." Cloud whistled.

Tsuna only snickered with Aeturnus.

xxx

Tsuna looked around from where they're sitting. It's the food court of the garden. It's right in the middle of it, surrounded with trees all around, but not that tall for them to not see the cage for the birds or the nearby cages for the wild animals. For a weekday though, a lot of people are there with their kids to see the animals. Oh well. Maybe a holiday?

He turned back to his companions. Cloud and Nana stuck to him while Aeturnus and Lan took different routes from him. Unintentional on Aeturnus's side because they've been together for the first half, but since the kid figured out he wanted Leon to see his 'family members', they had to separate because they wanted to see the alligators first before the lizards. Lan went for the rainforest animals. Cloud was all okay, but he did pin on the birds they visited. Hibaris. Nana went for the bears though. They even waved at the Mama bear who waved back.

Their entrance went on without a hitch though. With his and Aeturnus's banter on the way to the zoo and the casual mention of names caused the two to believe that he is the late Vongola Decimo. They didn't even need convincing, saying they saw the teen pictures almost everyday (their fathers' offices contain some of their group pictures.) Nana only stared at him in wonder.

Which reminds him...

"What's with the Vongola museum?" He questioned to the two.

Cloud blinked while Nana beamed.

"We visit your portrait." Cloud answered like he asked something stupid. Ugh. Hibaris. "Almost everyone in the family do, except for the maids and the others. Nana even does so."

Nana nodded.

He frowns a little. "Why?"

"To vent out." The cloud shrugged, looking away to watch the people around them. "We remember how you take care of us whenever we come to you in an emotional state." Bluish-grey eyes went back to him. "Immortal was the one who did it first."

Tsuna didn't dwell on the other name, although he knows who the other pertains. "Aetu did?"

"He was furious about something when he did it." Cloud relied. "Nothing couldn't stop him. Not even Reborn. He tried the firing range, the training rooms. He even tried to walk it off, but he was still angry. It's like he was done wrong by someone. Then when dinner came, he didn't show up. We searched for him with the others and treated it like hide and seek given we were still kids that time. Only to have me see him staring at your portrait in the museum. He was just staring. I thought it lasted for hours before he took a deep breath and sighed."

"When he got his first diploma, he immediately ran to the museum when he got home." Lan said as he appears and sat on the empty seat near Nana, putting her between the two. Tsuna didn't jump since he was alerted by his intuition of the mist's presence. "We kinda peeked on him and saw him just staring before he cried and stayed there for an hour. If Reborn didn't get him, he won't go out."

"Then it became a little tradition." Cloud supplied. "When we feel angry, we'll come to the museum. Sometimes Dad does it too."

"Mine too." Lan nodded with a small smile. "Sometimes Mom. I came there a lot of time when I'm emotional as well."

Tsuna looked down to his hands as he processed what were said. 'I'm sorry.' "I think I became a saint or something."

"I can make you a sculpture if you want." Lan offered with a mischievous smirk. "We'll all go cult."

"Nice one." He laughed before he turned around to see Aeturnus already approaching. He gave a wave of his hand to get smirk. "Aetu!"

"Sneaking up on you will be a challenge." Lan sighed.

"Your Dad barely succeeded." He pointed out. "How will you?"

Cloud snickered with Nana when Lan's expression contorted to sour.

"What food do you wanna get?" The hitman queried to them.

"Anything that can make mine and Nana-chan's stomachs full." He quipped with a smile.

"I want a burger with double patty." Cloud hummed. "And cola."

"I'd like shawarma. Been craving for it since." Lan replied.

"Can I have a cupcake?" Nana asked, eyes wide to the cupcake in view.

"We can have cake too." He indulged before moving. "Do you want me to go with you, Aetu?"

The young man glanced at the two other. "Rather not. I don't trust these two to be good examples for Nana. I'm taking Cloud."

"Okay." He nodded.

While waiting, Tsuna asked Lan about his life while keeping Nana entertained with different illusions of toys by her choice. If he remembers right, Lan was seven when he died while Cloud was nine. So he kinda wants to know about the kids a little before he goes back. Before everything goes back to normal again.

He can't help sighing mentally at the thought. If he wasn't worrying about people's lives, he's worrying about the future. What will happen to Aeturnus if he comes back to the other world? Hearing those things Cloud and Lan said, Tsuna is finding it hard to leave the kid he nurtured to grow despite the huge difference between the fifteen years old he left and the twenty-seven years old he came upon 'visiting'. To think that his picture in the museum became everyone's solace in their lives after he died. If he was alive, would everything be the same?

Stupid. He died for a reason.

They ate their meals in a good pace, enjoying each other's company. Aeturnus walked with them again, with Lan this time as they rounded the garden. By the end of the trip, Tsuna has Nana in his arms and humming an Italian song to the child as they moved for the car. A tired Lan and a sleepy Cloud climbed the backseat before Tsuna handed them Nana to let her sleep in there. Cuddled with her brother Lan, the latter propped himself on Cloud's thigh while laying on his side as Cloud rested his head to the window. Aeturnus resorted to a slow drive to keep the kids asleep.

"Should we buy some drive thru to at least eat something for the both of us?" He opined.

"We should." The hitman hummed, going for a drive thru of a food chain.

"Have you ever thought of having a family, Aetu?" He casually asked, staring at a family of four. "Like get a wife, have some children, settle down."

"No. Not yet. Why you ask?" The other answered before punching in what he wanted to take on the electronic device by the side.

"Just a thought." He replied. "Your Papa didn't settle down even when the war was done. He won't even have you if I didn't persuade him."

"You're literally my parent, Tsuna." Aeturnus remarked as they went for the other window to get their orders. "I heard the story from Papa. He said you persuaded him until he gave in. Then everyday, you'll visit me and talk to me."

He quirked a smile. "When you were ready, I felt like I got my own child instead of Reborn. I was so excited that he let me be the first to hold you from Verde." He sighed at the memory of holding little Aeturnus in his arms, staring at him with wide innocent eyes.

Aeturnus transactioned with the lady by the window before taking their orders and put it in their middle.

"Did you regret not having a family?"

Tsuna looked down to his hands before he shrugged. "I don't really know." He turned to the paper bag and rummaged through it. "Sometimes I wanted to have one, especially when I see a family. Sometimes I don't, since I'm not confident in some level. Besides, you saw how busy and contented I was when you grew up. It takes Reborn's interventions to yank me out of my office and make me sleep to at least have a rest."

The car got parked by the side of the road. So Tsuna handed Aeturnus a burger he knew the other specifically ordered for himself.

"That's yours."

He looked up in surprise. "Eh?"

"I want you to eat what I've eaten." The other shrugged while taking the other one. "I order two of each burger we like to eat, so it's fine."

Tsuna can't help smiling, heart fluttered with how thoughtful the young man is. "I think I know why I never really regretted that I didn't make my own family."

Grey eyes blinked in mid bite.

"Because I have you." He beamed.

Aeturnus turned away, blushing a little. "Thanks."

"So I noticed earlier about the bears," He chirped, wanting to change the topic, while opening the cover of his burger. "do you think Shoichi will make Nana a bear box animal?"

"Ryohei will be so jealous." The young man pointed out.

He laughed.