My Storm, My Cloud, My Sun, My Sky
Summary: Reborn met Fon, they became Arcobaleno and went separate ways, not seeing each other for years. Kyoya was born, Fon had to leave to protect his family and they didn't see each other for years. Tsuna met Reborn, the adventure starts. Hibari met Reborn, craziness starts. Dino met Kyoya, Fon returns and secrets are revealed. Better than it sounds, I promise! D18, RF, LalCol possible others.
Ever since he was four years old, Hibari Kyoya had known he would be different from other boys as he grows up.
And no, it had nothing to do with the pretty purple fire he was allowed to talk about only with his uncle or the fact that he could red adults as easily as he could books, or the fact that he seemed to be a natural born fighter.
It was because he was a Hibari, plain and simple.
His mother and grandaunt had to explain it to him before the changes in his biology became obvious, mostly because he can't go to outsider doctors for checkups anymore and only someone from the Hibari Clan can monitor his health. And even besides that, it is tradition that he should know as soon as possible, so that he'd be ready to deal with it later in life.
Hibari boys are born with usual boy parts like any other boy in the world, except almost all boys born to the Hibari bloodline have something extra as well, something usually only girls should have. It won't make him necessarily stronger and it doesn't make him weaker, either. It's simply an additional biological system that should not be there but was because one of his ancestors was silly - stupid, idiotic, herbivorous, he'll claim later, when he's older and understands the history of his clan better - and it turned into one of the Hibari Clan's unspoken treasures, because it allowed them to love whoever they want without having to worry about continuing the bloodline.
Four was rather young to have the so called 'the birds and the bees' talk, and it was even younger to have the 'bees and the bees' talk as well, but it is tradition and it is a good thing his relatives had insisted to educate him in these matters so early on, because not a year later, there were only two Hibari left. Both he and his uncle were scrambling to get their new life together and had no time to discuss such matters. Fon had to find a way to keep Kyoya from being taken by child services considering neither of them were adults - well, Fon was but he didn't look like one, was the problem, instead appearing even younger than Kyoya - and Namimori was slipping out of what little control the Hibari name used to hold over the town.
Thankfully, there were still a few 'hideouts' for the two of them, one of which was an entire compound which was truly much too big for only two people even if it was one of the smaller properties they'd once owned. They had to set everything up, make sure their information and privacy can't be breached, stock up on food supplies for everyday use, check on the finances they still had, see what of the archives can be saved and where they can be stored for safekeeping and so on and so forth. The first year was actually pretty rough on them both. They both grieved but they also both took great solace in each other.
Fon had to take even greater precautions that the Triads won't come looking for him as he had no intention of taking on any jobs now that he has to act as parent for the last Hibari child. Kyoya almost resented him for it, but he had still been a child and selfishly glad that someone cared enough to put aside their own life to take care of him.
His mother had tried, bless her soul.
His father might have wanted to try, at some point, but Hibari was pretty sure the man had grown bitter that Kyoya wasn't a cuddly kid who sought for his father's approval as the man had imagined and instead seemed to prefer the company of an uncle who rarely visited.
But Kyoya had always had a keen mind, an understanding of people despite being rather antisocial - shy, his mother had insisted whenever someone looked on in confusion at him for not running off to play with kids or for not replying to their stupid questions like most children would, but he instead found irritating because he may be little but he wasn't stupid and didn't need to be baby-talked! - and he knew that out of all of his relatives, it was Fon who understood him best, in a way none of them ever could. Like he had said, his mother had tried. That didn't mean she was all that successful.
She'd tried to make analogies with Fon, and while there were similarities beyond the fact that they apparently could pass off as identical twins save for the color of their eyes, there were also different characteristics that were a part of Kyoya that she couldn't possibly hope to understand. Not that she'd known her own brother as well as she'd liked to tell Kyoya. He knew for a fact that Fon had been sent away to China for martial arts training when he was around five years old.
Kyoya pretended that she knew him as much as she'd like to believe and waited patiently for his uncle's next visit so he can actually have someone who understood him.
Fon knew he wanted to learn how to fight.
Fon knew he wanted to learn more about the pretty fire.
Fon knew Kyoya was smarter than his age suggested.
So while he hated and mourned what had happened to his family, Kyoya didn't let it haunt him like normal kids would. He had no reason to. He had Fon and Fon would train him, make him stronger, stronger than anyone so that he can make sure something like that could never happen again.
Of course, then he'd asked one day about the Arcobaleno curse and then he'd given himself a sort of life goal to hunt down the Man in the Iron Hat and to make him free his uncle and in the name of that goal, he aimed to become even stronger. He started taking back Namimori because he needed the practice and then grew territorial of the town, especially when it turned out that holding a territory means he'll occasionally be challenged for it, which meant he gets to continue sharpening his teeth for the day he finally finds a way to break his uncle's curse. He somehow ended up gaining himself some subordinates and then took over a school to make it his 'base of operations' and that was the origin of the 'demon prefect' of Namimori and his Disciplinary Committee, the strongest 'gang' in town.
Fon moved out and went back to China to put the fear of the Storm Dragon back into the Triads since he was now sure Kyoya could take care of himself, but they stayed in touch. Then years passed with nothing truly interesting happening and Kyoya didn't exactly have a reason to contemplate the particular gene he had inherited through his bloodline.
In fact, he hadn't thought about the Hibari Clan for years until the Baby - who was like Fon, Pacifier and all, even if it was of a different color - entered Sawada Tsunayoshi's life and then Gokudera Hayato came seemingly out of nowhere and started blabbering about the mafia. For the first time in a while, Hibari had entered his clan's archives and read up a bit about the Vongola and his own Clan's interactions with them. He wasn't as interested as he thought he'd be, but the little part about the Vongola Rings drew his attention, mainly the part that said they held great power and the way they were named like Flame types. He considered them for a while but brushed it off as particularly impossible to be a solution - or even a part of it - to his uncle's curse.
More things happened that he didn't particularly care about, though he kept running into Sawada Tsunayoshi, the Baby and the herbivore's cohorts. Rokudo Mukuro was the first interesting thing to happen in a while and while the illusionist might have 'won' in their first meeting and Kyoya despised him for it, he had never wavered in his own belief of his own strength, because Mukuro would have been a smear on the wall had that sketchy doctor not injected Kyoya with that stupid disease. He'd practically proved as much with his body all but broken and rather bad blood loss two days after he'd been 'defeated', though he's still disgusted with himself for having passed out.
The only good thing that came out of that encounter was Hibird, whom he rather liked and was grateful for. The little bird had distracted him while he had been alone in the dark, his body begging him to sleep, to rest, to eat, to drink, none of which he could do - he refused to fall asleep and be even more vulnerable than he already was because the mere sight of sakura made him paralyzed, even as he knew they were not there, even as he could feel the Mist Flames at work - and distracted him from his thoughts that threatened to drive him insane because, for the first time in years, he truly had nothing better to do than debate how and if he truly could save his uncle or if one of them would have to watch the other die in the most painful way possible. Because he had Hibird around, he could focus on teaching the bird the Namimori Middle School anthem, the only song he had ever bothered to remember, except after the yellow fluff ball of feathers had learned all the words, another had come to mind.
A lullaby he only half-remembers, perhaps more of a nursery rhyme than anything.
Vongola ... Italian for Clam ...
Just like Arcobaleno was Italian for Rainbow ...
Seven Flame Types ...
Seven Vongola Rings, seven Arcobaleno Pacifiers ... Two thirds of a greater whole that made up the Tri-ni-sette the Arcobaleno were meant to ultimately protect ...
He had later brushed off the thoughts as a consequence of a concussion, blood loss, mild starvation and dehydration as well as a possible shock his body had gone into from all the injuries, the disease that perverted doctor had injected him with and the cold basement he'd been stuck in when bleeding out, a delirious rambling his brain had come up with to entertain itself, perhaps out of years long obsession with finding a cure for the Arcobaleno curse.
Then a Vongola half-Ring with the obvious symbol of a Cloud appeared in his shoe locker and it all came back to him with startling clarity.
He knew he was being invited to be a Vongola heir's Cloud Guardian. He wasn't even surprised. Clouds were one of the rarest Elements and the stronger the Cloud, the more a Sky would pursue them. Except someone else was doing the pursuing on Sawada's behalf. The Baby had started it, but it became more a thing of respect between fellow predators that eventually made Hibari interact with the herbivores, as rare as it was, because the Baby apparently knew better than to push a Cloud. Someone else was being a lot more forward and Kyoya was almost tempted to throw the Ring away except he knew this would be useful to him, that it will be a great weapon, a tool to finally break his uncle free of the curse if only he plays this right.
Vongola may want him, may want his strength for their herbivorous power plays and inheritance games, but Kyoya was the one who was using them. Because the Elements can reject the courtship for Harmonization from a Sky and unlike Sawada's other potential Guardians, the Cloud was Flame Active and knew how to do so. Fon had made sure of it, had made it one of his first lessons along propagating air and blood and water for survival purposes, because Clouds are always pursued and many Flame users get drawn into a partial or full harmonization with a Sky unwittingly if they don't know how to reject it, Flame Active or not. Kyoya did not want to lend his strength to a herbivore that cannot be strong on his own. It is not just Sawada Tsunayoshi that fits this description. Pretty much every Sky comes to rely on their Elements' strength more than their own.
Kyoya would not allow himself to be bound.
Besides, the only thing the Vongola might have to offer him is the Cloud Ring itself and he does not have to be harmonized with the new Vongola boss in order to keep it.
Kyoya knew he can be a Guardian in name only. His name will be associated with the Vongola, but he will not be one of them. He will always be Hibari Kyoya, the powerful Cloud that people will fear because he is himself, not a part of a pathetic mafia organization that thinks too highly of itself just because they are - one - of the first westerners to learn about Dying Will Flames.
So when the Battle for the Rings comes, he will play his role, he will take the Ring - and hopefully capture one of the Cervello who are said to be the judges of the matches in the few records that mention them - and continue from there. Because he will already be one step closer to at least understanding that which his uncle is cursed to protect, which might lead to a solution. Information is the key to solving any problem. Data. That's the basis of it all.
He had a plan and he was contemplating it in the darkened Reception Room, the shades drawn because he didn't want any distractions, when the door opened and he met, for the first time, Dino Cavallone.
The Cavallone had once been allies to the Hibari. Then, ten years ago, Cavallone Nono had sold them out in hopes to pay his own debts. Now the Cavallone Decimo was standing before him, claiming that the Baby had sent him to be Kyoya's tutor, as though the Disciplinary Committee Chairman needed something so herbivorous. The Baby must have known by now that he was related to Fon, must have realized there was no way the Storm Arcobaleno hadn't taught him how to fight. Just from where he was sitting with his legs crossed and a hand fiddling with the half-Ring, Kyoya could break Cavallone and his subordinate in five different ways within three seconds.
But he was curious. The Baby respected him, acknowledged his strength and definitely at the very least suspected his potential true skill level and yet he had sent a 'tutor', so the blond Don must be at least a little bit strong. Or interesting enough to attempt to get Hibari involved. That was a rather risky move on the Baby's part. He didn't know it, but Kyoya was already perfectly aware of what the Ring Conflict will consist of, but Hibari could have just as easily walked away or refused to listen to the Bucking Horse and instead just fight with him.
In fact, just for the fun of it, Kyoya did just that. He ignored all of Dino's attempts to explain the situation and instead tested out the other's strength and skill. He was not disappointed and made a note to thank the Baby. Fon had always been careful to keep Kyoya well out of the way of all things involving the 'underworld', so Kyoya had to find strong opponents to fight just to alleviate his boredom all on his own and none of them were as strong as Cavallone. The blond was skilled, as befitting the Baby's pupil, and it made Kyoya wonder for a moment if Sawada Tsunayoshi will stop being such a herbivore one day, too.
Of course, there was one difference between the Italian and the small animal.
Namely, Dino could get a rush out of a fight while Sawada Tsunayohsi was squeamish and a coward at heart. Maybe not in the usual interpretation of the word, but Sawada Tsunayoshi was afraid of fighting. How the Baby thought someone like that could be a Sky to someone like Kyoya, who relished a good battle, was beyond him and he found he didn't really care. Even if Sawada Tsunayoshi had been the type of person whom he'd appreciate being around, Kyoya knew there would still never be a bond between him and a Sky, much less a Vonogola Sky. He was in this for the Vongola Cloud Ring, and possibly the Cervello if they made an appearance, and nothing more.
So he was surprised to find himself ... tolerating Dino Cavallone and even his right hand man, Romario, and almost welcoming their visits each and every day for another spar with Bucking Horse. The younger of the two Italians still persisted in trying to get him to listen about the Ring Conflict - a boring and unimportant topic if he ever heard one - and even tried bargaining with him, a fight with stakes: if he wins, Cavallone will drop the matter and Kyoya can walk away whenever he wished; if Bucking Horse wins, Kyoya has to listen to what he has to say and become his 'little brother's' Guardian. Completely uneven and unfair stakes, but Kyoya had only cared that such stakes made the blond fight him seriously.
Not that Kyoya went all out, either, to be honest. Bucking Horse didn't deserve to face what might as well be the second coming of the Storm Dragon, only the Cloudy version. Besides, the only time Kyoya really fights seriously is when he spars with Fon, the only person who could survive such a 'spar'. The other Arcobaleno undoubtedly could, too, but the Baby refuses to fight with him and he hasn't met the others yet.
Bucking Horse was fun to play with. He doesn't break or buckle like Sawada Tsunayoshi and his herbivores do. He can take a punch and give one right back and he did have some sound advice to give out, advice Kyoya usually followed in a fight all on his own anyway because it was one of the first things Fon drilled into him when he'd started teaching him. Bucking Horse didn't seem to realize that Kyoya just masked his awareness with being 'rash', though he will admit that he can get a bit ... impatient if he gets an adrenaline rush from fighting a strong opponent. They were so rare, really. It's always a delight when he finds one, though his encounter with Mukuro is tainted with the other's cheating - or more like Trident Shamal's idiocy to just let a citizen of Japan walk away with Sakura-kura when one of their national holidays is sakura viewing in spring.
Things progressed rather quickly all of a sudden, one day, and Bucking Horse took him on a 'road trip type of training'. Kyoya knew something was happening and that this was either Bucking Horse's attempt to protect him from it or to distract him from it. He hadn't cared for the most part, but then he'd overheard a phone conversation that had him decking the Don, hot-wiring a motorcycle and all but flying back to Namimori with how fast he was going. It's been a while since he'd ridden a motorcycle. Technically, he shouldn't even be allowed to have a license or to know how to drive, but he was Hibari Kyoya and age will not restrain him.
After he found out the damage done to his school, he barely refrained himself from biting to death everyone that's been involved, Bucking Horse included.
But his plans - perhaps even hopes - were going as well as they can, because the Cervello were there. But one has already gone down due to 'the Varia's' lumbering umbrella buffoon - their Lightning, if he is correct - so they will react violently, maybe, if another is taken out. He wanted to bite the Varia to death just for the missed opportunity, but there was a hooded, cloaked infant in the big monstrosity's - that was supposed to be his opponent - hand that must be an Arcobaleno, especially if the wary way they kept him in sight at all times was anything to go by, and the Baby promised a proper rematch with Mukuro, as well as more fun later.
He had thought about it, smirked, because while fighting Mukuro would be interesting and he'd like to see if 'Varia Quality' could truly satisfy his own standards, especially if they had an Arcobaleno allied with them, he was more interested in the opportunity to snatch up a Cervello.
Things progressed quickly again, he got hurt, Bucking Horse became an ally, captured him a Cervello and delivered it as a gift, he got hurt again and found out his uncle was in town, interrogated the pink herbivore, found the Man in the Iron Hat, became allies with him, too, got the Baby to find the right calculation that was The Solution to the Arcobaleno curse, delivered said solution and somehow finally managed to break his uncle's curse.
In all that time, he hadn't really given much thought to the Hibari 'condition', not until Kawahira's confusion over for whom Kyoya was doing all of that for, that cow child's strange little 'family' comment and the future version's 'making up for lost time' one and, finally, when Sawada Tsunayoshi's fake carnivore father tried to push his nose into what should be purely Hibari-Cavallone - or more so Kyoya and Dino's private - business.
All but the last made him question his true relation to Fon and he thought he might have an answer. He even had a certain suspicion he'll have to check out later, but he has a moron to deal with first.
Because if it just so happens that Kyoya might have grown to like Dino, then there will be hell to pay for trying to chase him off.