Word Count: 3,450


"Hey, Daiki, look at this," Xanxus scoffed, shoving a frog in the baker's son's face, the creature wheezing in his grasp.

Daiki looked up from his book and eyed the frog blandly, his prim, primary school uniform of maroon and yellow still donned from the afternoon classes that he should have been attending at the moment hadn't the Sky slipped through the window and dragged him from his desk. He glanced up at the younger boy for a moment, as if trying to decipher something, but seemed to not find what he had been hoping for.

"I'd put that down. It's poisonous."

Xanxus spluttered and let the creature spring from his hands, shoving the tainted flesh into the murky waters of the pond to clear off toxins.

Daiki snorted and returned to the book of fables in his lap, the tale of The Three Little Pigs depicting itself across the page. Before he had been rather roughly removed from his classroom the young Sun had managed to catch the homework for the next day: to find a fairytale which reflects a relationship they had in their lives.

He hummed and thumbed the corner of the page as Xanxus began rooting around the silt floor of the river again, feet sinking into the muddy edge without care, muck squishing between his toes and getting under his nails. Then the Sky scowled and pulled himself straight, gloves of water and soil reaching to his elbows as he narrowed vermillion eyes down at the disregarding copper boy.

"What're you doing? You've been looking at that piggy page for so fucking long!" he snapped, reaching for the book only to have it pulled out of his watery grasp's range. Xanxus sneered in annoyance at being denied but only scratched an itch on his cheek, knowing about Daiki's severe preference for cleanliness.

"I'm idling on this story because I believe I have found the tale which references a relationship I have," Daiki explained, getting a raised brow of disbelief.

"How?" the wrathful little boy scoffed.

The Sun gazed at him for a couple moments, golden eyes dazed and far off, seemingly examining the very fibres of the Sky's essence and sending a violent chill scrambling up the boy's spine.

"Because," he began suddenly, reaching into his pocket and producing a handkerchief as he gestured the Sky to lean closer. "I am the pig who build their house with brick. Strong and sturdy so that no one can blow it down."

Xanxus bared his teeth at the other but bent to squat before the copper Sun, accepting the hand that grabbed his bicep to steady him as the handkerchief came to his cheek and started wiping away the lines of mud.

"But the wolf still finds their way inside," Daiki continued, idly patting away the mess. "And when he does-"

Xanxus took his chance and leant forward, knuckles pressed to the grass on either side of the Sun to steady himself as he tried his luck with the distance. The red Sky grinned something feral before launching himself forward with the full intention of latching his teeth into the supple copper skin of the baker's son - only to have a brass hand clamp around his throat and slam him back into the ground. Grass and dandelions framed the Sky's form as he was held to the earth, the looming, grinning, sneering figure of the Sun eclipsing its namesake.

"I eat him instead."

Xanxus choked as he clutched at the copper wrist but in no way did the gleeful grin loosen from his lips as he stared up with wide, attentive eyes.

"Go on," he wheezed roughly, sinking his nails into the dark skin. "Just try to eat me then."


Daiki sighed as he let Mao cuddle into his side for the night, the cold of the engagement ring biting his skin as she wrapped an arm over his chest. The season had turned a golden with a fading warmth yet again and in their second year of extended engagement, the woman on his arm no longer wavered when she desired his warmth. He hummed and murmured a good night to her as she let out a breath, nose tucked into his throat.

The rogue Sun fiddled with his phone in silence, screen dimmed and orange-hued as he read the rapid texts from the eager Sawada on the other end. She was happily chattering about her son's second-to-final year in elementary school and sending the man pictures of the boy snoozing at their kotatsu. Little Tsuna was just as awkward as he was depicted in the fictional work from the short glances Daiki had managed to snatch of the child in the years, and the knowledge of what he would become was startling.

From: Sawada.N
Would you like to come to dinner on Saturday? Tsuna wants to meet you!

"Oh dear," Daiki muttered, making the woman with him stir and blink at the light.

"What's wrong? Is that the lady you've made friends with?" Mao asked, still just barely awake.

"Yeah, nothing's wrong. Go back to sleep," he hushed, kissing her hair and holding her as she fell away again.

To: Sawada.N
That sounds fine; what time?

The Sun sighed out a breath as Nana urged him to wait a moment as she went to check her appointments, leaving the young Oyabun to let his gaze travel across the shadowed state of the room.

Golden eyes lingered on the door of the supposed unused room connected to his own, before letting his head fall back into the pillows, a wafting of the sweet fragrance that followed Mao filling in senses for one blissful moment. He relaxed and let the scent of something fresh, floral and sugary touch his nose, taking deep, relaxing breaths that led him to the edge of sleep and comfort.

Daiki yawned and took another breath of the sweet metals and smoke fragrance, holding tanned skin tighter and dropping an hourly kiss to the short-haired scalp, feeling blue-jay feathers tickle his lips and nails sink into his back.

The phone went off in his slack grasp and the Lotus pulled away from the Devotee to press an apologetic kiss to the porcelain pale skin of his sleeping bride. He grit his teeth and brushed Mao's hair from her pretty face, burning the sight of her into his mind in both punishment and a desperate bid for relief.

From: Sawada.N
Does five sound good to you?

To: Sawada.N
Five o'clock post-meridian it is then.

From: Sawada.N
Post-meridian, of course, haha!


Dear sister Lussuria,

Three months have passed since our last correspondence and I ask after your health. Last I heard Bel had been struck by a fever, and while I doubt it will do him much damage, it would be relieving to hear proof of my hope.

I'm happy that Levi has finally begun to talk to me again and seems to be in better spirits. He took it all hard, perhaps the most outwardly expressive of his distress. He asked for some sake, you should be receiving it just before this letter or at the same time.

I've collected Squalo's package without trouble and am very pleased with it; I had been missing Italian foods for a while. Japanese food is great, but nothing can quite replace a good bowl of authentic pasta. I'll be putting it to good use.

A flight has been booked for the end of the next month and as such, I will be seeing you all again soon. I hope you will all be in good health until then.

Your brother,
Daiki.


Sawada Tsunayoshi, at twelve years old, was a strange boy.

Daiki watched as the little Sky peered at him from the top of the staircase, a nervous tension in his posture that proved how uncomfortable new people made him. Normally, Daiki would disregard people who were closed and stiff and let them go about their business, but he had made a promise to Nana attempt to coax her son out of his shell.

"Hello," the Sun started, smiling gently. "I'm Watanabe-Yamaguchi Daiki, but you can just call me Daiki. May I ask who you are, young man?"

There was a moment of hesitation.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi," he squeaked, throat tight. "Call me Tsuna?"

"Well, it's very nice to meet you, Tsuna-kun," Daiki greeted, "Would you like to come and join me in the living room? Your mother is getting dinner ready and has asked me to busy you until then."

Tsuna wavered for a moment before slowly making his way down the stairs, stumbling a bit when his sock slipped from the edge but ultimately catching himself with the railing. When he finally touched down on the landing, he craned his neck to look up at the older man, visibly shaken by the difference in stature and alien nature of this person.

"How old are you, Tsuna-kun?" he asked, gently gesturing for the child to take the lead.

"Eleven," the boy answered quietly, glancing behind him now and then. "What 'bout you, Daiki-san?"

"I'm twenty-one," the man set himself down on a couch across from his younger company and gazed at the boy through his lens, glasses having become a thing of habit to don in the presence of the Sawada family. "Nana-san says that you wanted to meet me."

"Yeah," Tsuna murmured, fiddling with the string of his hoodie in a manner that echoed his mother's desire to tamper when nervous. "Mama was spending more time with someone and...I wanted to meet them."

"Meet," Daiki repeated, his smile knowing. "You wanted to assess."

The young Sky paused at that, his fingers half way through re-knotting the end of the string as he glanced up to look at the other from under his lashes. He pouted his lips a little in shyness and dropped his gaze again, leaving the cord to hang scraggly and undone.

"Daiki-san," Nana cooed, coming into the room with a tray of drinks. "I see you've met my Tsu-kun already. He's such a cutie, isn't he?" she laughed, squishing her son's face in her hands and nuzzling their noses despite how he whined.

"He's a very charming boy, Nana-san. You've raised him well," Daiki agreed, letting his lips quirk as he was regarded from the corner of the Sky's eye.

"Oh, Tsu-kun, you messed up your jacket again," the mother scolded gently, taking the string in hand and quickly doing it back into its knotted form, straightening the lengths to even. "Ah, I left the pot boiling. Dinner will be done soon!"

"Take your time, Nana-san, we'll survive."

With a nod and a giggle, the woman was gone again, leaving Daiki and Tsuna to quietly drink at the chilled water that had been brought out to them.

"You make my head hurt," Tsuna said after moments of silence.

"Do I?"

"Yes," he murmured, staring unabashedly at the Sun.

"Can you tell me why?" Daiki hummed, lowering his cup to pay attention to the youth's plight.

"It's like," Tsuna began, touching his temple and tried to decipher the chaos in his mind. "It's like something's telling me to stay away from you. That I'm not allowed near you."

The Sun leant back into the couch and hummed a low note, eyes drawn to the painting that hung over the child's head, the sky painted red with afternoon and a sinking sun. Arms wrapped around him from behind and pressed through his copper skin as a chin rested on his shoulder, light as air but enough to make Tsuna flinch back into the couch like he had been struck.

"Are you okay, Tsuna-kun?" Daiki asked evenly.

"Headache. It got worse."

Daiki let out a sigh and fingered the rim of his cup before closing his eyes and doing what he hadn't done since his youth. The Flames of Cloud and Sun bloomed on the back of his eyelids and danced about at their calling, touching his core in greeting and complaint at having been discarded for so long. They pawed at his walls and caterwauled for the vermillion eyes of Sky, but were quick to hush themselves at his gesture, simpering down into embers of light.

"What did you do?"

"I hushed them," Daiki answered the boy, Tsuna's hands had fallen from his temples. "Is it better?"

"Who'd you...hush?" he asked slowly, very much perturbed by his mother's new friend.

The Yakuza man smiled and said nothing further as he finished his glass of water and stood, the Sky drawing his shoulders in at the movement, watching him from under his lashes.

"I suppose dinner's just about ready, Tsuna-kun."

"But Mama hasn-"

"Dinner's ready you two, come on in," Nana cooed, peeping out of the dining room before zipping away.

Daiki flashed the stunned boy a smile which spoke of nothing but everything.

The phantom was left sitting on the couch beside his shadow, and Tsuna shivered as he ran past to follow.

Daiki remembered when he had last in the Sawada dining room, a cooling cup of tea sitting before him as he had listened to Nana shudder her way through dialling Iemitsu's number. He had sipped the sweet tea and smiled supportively when the woman glanced at him, her face pale in hesitation and anxiety.

He has listened quietly, not making so much as a sound as Nana had put the phone on loudspeaker to allow his to hear and keep her on course. Twice the Sun had to catch the young mother from falling under the Mafia's word-webs, and three times he had to reach across the table and gently grasp her hand.

Iemitsu and Nana had come to the agreement that he would be more active in his son's life by coming home more often - or at the very least, calling more to talk to Tsuna. It had been a bitter-sweet victory, and one Nana had to fight near tooth and nail for as her husband pulled near every trick to wriggle his way out. But when her requests turned to demands, even the Young Lion of the Vongola knew that he wouldn't get away without a loss.

Daiki sighed as he helped Nana put the plates into the sink as Tsuna swept the floor under the table with his little handheld sweeping pan. The dinner had been a faux-sanguine with the youth ducking his head at all moments but to address his mother, and the conversation between Daiki and Nana being quiet thoroughly censored of all mention of the stray father or the Sun's illicit background.

"So, how's it been between you and Iemitsu-san?" Daiki finally asked after the youth had dashed off to his room at Nana's dismissal, more than willing to flee the presence of the strange man and return to his entertainments. "Last we heard he was still coming short in keeping up his end of the bargain."

Nana hummed into her cup, the glass fogging upon her warm exhale as she was gently pulled from the mood to stand before the leering elephant in the room.

"I've spoken to him about the issue - or, well, I tried to. He was in the middle of something pretty important, I think, and we had to cut it short," she admitted, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "But he's promised to come back over the school holidays, so we'll be able to talk face to face. It's not going to be pretty, though."

"Do you want me to be around when it happens?"

"No, I think I'll be okay," Nana denied, before glancing to where the small Sky had fled. "But would it be too difficult for you to look after Tsu-kun for me then? Just for a couple hours - I don't want him to hear it."

Daiki leant back in the chair and nodded, understanding the woman's plight.

"Yeah, I can take him, just call me an hour or so before and I'll pick him up. Any idea where I could take him that would keep him distracted for long enough?"

"He wanted to go to the theme park that opened recently, but I haven't had the time," the mother hummed, poking her cup a bit and making it move across the table. "That should work for a while."

"And if you're not ready by then?" he urged, "Say things take a better turn for the night and you end up-"

"Daiki-san!" Nana gasped, face red with scandal as she cupped her face to smother the heat.

"It's a possibility," the Sun shrugged.

The mother pouted at him and pegged a tissue at his face, making the young man let out a laugh and dodge it with ease. She huffed as he straightened his glasses without care, before returning to the topic.

"If we're still 'busy'," she glared at Daiki when he snorted quietly. "Then would it be too terrible for you to look after him overnight? He won't cause you trouble."

Daiki gave a noise of thought and rested his cheek on his fist, thinking to the pros, cons and responsibilities that came with the night.

"He could have a sleepover at mine? I'm sure my cousins would love to fuss over him and make him all pretty."

"Oh, I'm sure he'd love that," Nana snickered in a rare show of sadism, getting a huff of amusement from the man across from her.

...

Daiki yawned as he walked through Namimori, the street lights buzzing to life as night swallowed the town with its Westward mouth, teeth of stars blinking into existence overhead. His phone was silenced of its incessant buzzing as the Watanabe tried to get a hold of their wayward Oyabun, glasses perched on his nose in case he were to stumble across a Sawada member.

"I guess, even after all this trouble, I'm still stuck with Tsuna-kun," he breathed to himself, thinking back on his promise to the mother.

Then he paused and turned his gaze down an alleyway, pitch black and unseeable beyond a certain point. He frowned and fingered at the chain hanging from his pocket, brass knuckles clinking together and arm-guards squeezing his wrists.

"Come out," the Sun grunted to the darkness.

He received no human response, but instead, a wheezed bark of pain and despair.

Daiki blinked in confusion before pulling out his phone and tapping on the flashlight, scanning the space of dirt and brick. Another wheeze brought his closer to the corner of a dumpster where a startling flash of dirtied white stunned him.

"Why am I always meeting things in alleyways?" he asked himself as he knelt down and shone the light closer to the white dog's face, hearing its breath come out in pathetic slurs. "Wow, you don't look like you're going to make it past the night."

The pup whined, skin and bones, unable to move more than the muscles in its throat to cry.

Daiki pursed his lips and put his chin in his hand as he stared down at the creature, seeing how sad it was behind the eyes. Empty and tired, lost in both heart and location. Ear gnawed on and rotten, the creature was knocking on death's door and left to wait in the lobby, struggling in pain as the hours ticked by.

"Guess we're both pretty out of our depth?" he laughed pathetically, before reaching out and grabbing the pale pup into his arms. They were both running on borrowed time; Daiki was just waiting for the clock to strike ten and bring down what hell he had built up.

The dog heaved against his shoulder, limp in his hands and jaw lolling as Daiki jogged out of the alley and pulled up his phone.

"Watanabe-dono! Where are you, I'll come immediately."

"Near the arcade, just down at the corner. Fast," he responded, before hanging up and turning to the pup.

Daiki frowned and swiped his hand across its fur, feeling the ridges of each individual rib and notch of vertebrae as he pet it into a calmness.

"It's okay, pup, we found you in time," he soothed, letting Italian roll off his tongue and into the dog's one good ear. "Just rest, rest. I'll look after you," then he smiled and wrapped the creature in his jacket, feeling it settle with the warmth.

Once. Just once, he'd beat time. Burn every time counter until the flames melded with red afternoon skies. He'd beat time, and make it remember who it lost to. But only once, and in an ultimately insignificant way.

"I'll look after you, Mephistopheles, Lord of Time."