TSUNA – The Realisation Part 1

Tsuna's monthly meeting with the Arcobaleno in the Mansion was proving to be an intensely headache-inducing one; for some reason, it seemed as if every one of the Arcobaleno had gone into the meeting with the sole intention of arguing with each other.

Tsuna inwardly despaired as he realised the meeting would take another 20 or so minutes just to cover what they originally came for; Reborn would kill him, regardless of his newly won status of Vongola Decimo, if he left early.

"SENPAI! How could you-!" Screamed Skull as he flailed his arms wildly, managing to hit Colonello in the face while he was flirting with Lal Mirch, incidentally pushing him into Verde, which knocked the delicate device in his hand over, and caused the chaos to exacerbate ten-fold.

The Vongola Decimo felt the urge to lower his face into his hands as his Hyper Intuition told him it was no accident. Why? Tsuna silently cried, before firming his resolve.

"Come on, Reborn, everyone! That's enough!" His voice came out in a high pitched, panicked tone. Alright, so maybe it wasn't as commanding as he'd hoped. Still, it worked well enough as Reborn spun around to address his insolence.

"What was that, Dame-Tsuna? A boss should be forceful with bickering subordinates," his glare intensified, "Which I certainly. Am. Not!" He emphasised his point with a wave of his Leon-gun in Tsuna's direction. Tsuna Hiiieee!'d, but managed to outwardly project an image of calm.

"Of course not, Reborn, but it's been an hour since the meeting started and we've yet to do anything." Reborn didn't look satisfied but lowered his weapon, much to Tsuna's relief, only to turn it on the poor purple-headed Cloud.

"Oi! Lackey!" Reborn called to the panicked-looking Skull who was inching towards the door as he glanced down at his wrist as if to check a watch that wasn't there.

"Hahaha! Sorry, Senpai, but the Great Skull-sama must go!" Skull's laugh came out as somewhat fake, easily enough for Reborn and the others to pick up on.

Reborn's eyes gleamed dangerously. "Whatever for, Lackey?" By now, the other Arcobaleno were curious enough to pause in their shenanigans, all curious to know where exactly Skull was trying to go.

"Ah-, you see, I was going to go meet with some friends of mine!" Here, his voice dropped to an embarrassed mutter, "Twenty minutes ago." Skull turned, ready to leave and meet his Guardians before they came looking for him, or worse, sent a Patronus asking where he was.

"Oh?" Viper tilted their head, curious. "Who are these friends of yours?" Skull looked as if he was about to try and dodge the question, so they pressed on. "What Famiglia are they from?"

Skull looked away, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly as he answered the second question. "Well, the Great Skull's friends…" He trailed off, mumbling under his breath as if that would prevent the highly trained Arcobaleno from hearing, "They're… civilians, I guess you could say."

If anything, this only increased the group's curiosity, even the tired-looking Vongola Decimo. An Arcobaleno, of all people, friends with civilians?

"Well then," Reborn hummed, "Let's go and meet these civilians of yours, Lackey."

Perhaps sensing that Reborn, and the rest of the Arcobaleno who'd all perked up and started heading towards the door, wouldn't be deterred, Skull didn't try and argue. "Fine," He said, his eyes flashing a faint orange before turning completely purple as his voice became surprisingly harsh, "But if any of you try and hurt them…" He left the threat open, much to the Arcobaleno's amusement. The Lackey, the widely acknowledged weakest Arcobaleno, even gathering the courage to threaten them? It really only made these supposed friends of the Cloud all the more intriguing, if the possibility of harm coming to them made Skull come nearly the closest they'd seen to a true Cloud Rage.

All of the Arcobaleno were aware that Skull was an Inverted Cloud rather than a Classic one, which meant his Territory wasn't a place or property, but rather people. Not in the sense that he owned them – even the thought of trying to take away another's freedom was sickening to him – but rather that he'd protect them, care for them, even at the risk of his own life. But they'd never seen him admit this fact for some random civilians they didn't even know of.

They quickly left the room, Reborn dragging the Decimo out with them. They'd decided to schedule the meeting for another time, much to Tsuna's great despair at the idea of having to put up with this again later that week. It took only ten or so minutes to reach a nearby park, with Skull avoiding answering questions to the best of his ability the entire way.

"How long have you known these friends of yours, Skull?"

A nervous laugh. "Ah, a few years!"

"How'd you meet them if they're civilians, kora?"

"I don't spend all my time in the mafia, Colonello!"

The vague answers didn't stop until they'd arrived at the park. By now, the Arcobaleno were slightly impressed that Skull had managed this long, even avoiding Viper's probing questions.

The Cloud turned as they reached the entrance. "Alright," Skull looked deadly serious, the purple Flames in his eyes only reinforcing the impression. "A few ground rules-," He was cut off.

"Relax, Skull," Fon tried to reassure him, "We all know not to speak of Omerta or the mafia…" He trailed off as Skull had looked away.

Deciding to trust them, Skull took a deep breath. "My friends… they know about the mafia, and, well, Flames-,"

"You told them about Flames!" Lal shouted, looking exasperated.

Fon looked worried. "Skull, you could have been taken by the Vindice for that!"

"Lackey…!" Reborn growled, a wordless threat as Leon crept to his hand.

Viper, however, stared narrow-eyed at the Cloud. "You didn't tell them, did you?" their voice cut off the others, who turned, confused by what the Mist was saying. "They have active Flames."

Skull nodded, jaw clenched, looking determined. "They aren't a part of any Famiglia or even the Mafia." He shared, "And if I have it my way, they never will be."

The former chibi Arcobaleno's eyed widened. It was rare to activate one's flames and not be quickly absorbed into a Famiglia– there were entire groups whose whole purpose was finding and recruiting – forcefully if necessary – the new Flame users into established mafia Famiglia. For more than two or three people, as Skull had implied, to go completely unnoticed or undetected? While it wasn't unheard of, it certainly wasn't common.

This did explain why Skull was so protective though. As an unaffiliated Cloud himself, he knew well the lengths many would go to in order to recruit him.

Skull turned to Tsuna, who had gotten more and more nervous the closer to the park they'd gotten. "If I find out that my friends, any of my friends, have been attacked because of me introducing them to you…" His eyes gleamed with Cloud Flames practically scorching the Vongola Tenth where he stood. "Then you and your Guardians won't live long enough to find out who killed you." The Arcobaleno nearly gaped at the audacity of their weakest member uncharacteristically threatening what was one of the most powerful men in the world so blatantly.

Tsuna nodded, looking earnest. "I promise, Skull." His Intuition pinged faintly as he began to realise there was more to this than just a Cloud, no matter how strong, protecting his friends.

Skull turned, pausing only a moment as if to gather his strength before he entered the park, quickly making his way over to one corner, shaded by trees. He could sense through the Guardian bonds he shared that his elements were alert, some of them faintly nervous and all of them anxious to see him. It'd been ages since he'd met up with one of them, let alone all of them together, and it had killed him inside even as he knew it was necessary to keep the mafia off their backs. Hopefully, that would no longer be necessary, what with the curse having been broken and finally establishing a reputation of being a part of the Strongest Seven. Sure, the weakest of them, but still the weakest of the Strongest Seven in the world.

The Arcobaleno followed as Skull slowly made his way over to the somewhat strange-looking group. There was a collection of people, a red-haired man conversing with a bushy, brown-haired woman. Next to them, two similarly red-headed twins appeared to be attempting to provoke a blonde man who was firmly ignoring them as he leaned against a tree, scanning the park. He paused as he noticed the Arcobaleno and turning to say something to the others. He looked uncomfortable standing there, even in his finely tailored, expensive-looking clothes. Sitting on the grass beside him, a pale-haired woman with a strange-looking stick stuck behind her ear paused her conversation with a larger brown-haired man, standing up to skip over to the Arcobaleno. "Skull!" She cheered, grabbing him in a tight hug.

"Luna!" Skull picked up the slight woman, spinning her in large circles as he laughed. It felt great just being close to his Guardians again.

Luna refused to let go, so he simply continued walking over to the others with Luna held in his arms, much to the Arcobaleno's amusement. Viper, however, slowed to a stop as soon as Skull shouted the woman's name, breath turning into a choked gasp as they noticed the stick – no, wand – tucked just over her ear. "Luna…?" Their voice, quiet though it was, was easily picked up on by the other Arcobaleno.

"Is something wrong, Viper?" Fon asked, arms tucked into his sleeves in a deceptively innocent movement, surveying his surroundings in an attempt to identify the source of Viper's out of character reaction. He was ignored, as Viper gave Skull's friends a second, sharper glance, noticing things they'd disregarded before – the Lord's ring on one man's finger, the ear missing on one of the twins – coming to one impossible conclusion.

"Skull… what would you say if I asked who You-Know-Who was?" Viper subtly asked if he was aware of his 'civilian' friend's connection to the Wizarding World.

Skull's eyes nearly popped out of his head, disregarding Viper's attempt at being covert. "Ehh? You know about magic, Viper?" At the question, Viper managed to shake off most of their surprise, returning to their usual aloof demeanour.

"Of course, I am the World's Greatest Information Broker."

Poor Tsunayoshi, on the other hand, was surprised – he'd only known about magic for a few weeks, having been told after becoming Decimo about the other secret society with powers.

"Are your friends wizards, Skull?"