The Cloud That Bites The Skies
Summary: A scary person with a fearsome reputation finds Tsuna and Co on a normal, sunny day, bringing news of an assassination plot on Don Cavallone. Insanity ensues.
It started out as a normal day - or, well, as normal as any day can possibly be in Namimori, anyway. The sun was shining, the weather was not too hot despite the approaching summer thanks to a gentle breeze sweeping through the town and people were easily going about their days, completely ignorant of the fact that there was a slowly growing mafia family going back home after a tiring school day in Namimori Middle School.
Sawada Tsunayoshi, more commonly known as Tsuna, couldn't help but sigh quietly, trying not to be heard by his companions. Gokudera Hayato, his self-proclaimed right hand man, and Yamamoto Takeshi, the school's baseball star, both didn't share in his worry, but it was well founded. What may Tsuna be worrying about, some may ask? Well, it started that morning, when the Vice-chairman of the Namimori Disciplinary Committee, Kusakabe Tetsuya, approached them during lunch time, asking for the Chairman.
Now, if it was anyone else, it wouldn't be surprising or suspicious at all that a student had skipped school or left early without leaving a notice with the teachers if the school doctor or nurse sent them home. However, as it was Hibari Kyoya, the Chairman himself, they were talking about, it was very worrying, because the last time Hibari Kyoya hadn't shown up to school, Mukuro Rokudo had had him beaten up and tortured in his hideout. Hibari-san never missed school. He didn't trust anyone not to disturb discipline in his absence and thus tended to be ever present at the school, even during holidays and summer vacation. That he didn't show up to school could only mean that something had happened. Whether it's bad or really bad is yet to be seen.
Tsuna just hoped that there won't be another major fight so soon after the Battle for the Rings. Gokudera-kun was still healing from some of the wounds Bel had inflicted and Yamamoto had only just returned to baseball practice. Ryohei-oniichan was still not allowed to do too extreme training sessions, his healing progress kept under close observation by Colonello's ever sharp eyes. Tsuna himself had only recently fully recovered from his training with Reborn and the fight against Xanxus, from all that time spent in Hyper Deathperation Mode, so he'd rather like a bit of a reprieve. He has no idea how Chrome, Mukuro or Hibari-san are doing and he sometimes worries for them, but Hibari-san was not exactly the type to allow others to fuss over him and he seemed mostly fine whenever they crossed paths with him.
That didn't alleviate Tsuna's worry in the least. Hibari-san may possess a monstrous strength and an unrivaled will power, but he was still human. It is not impossible to hurt or kill him. Tsuna didn't want to think about it, but the fear that something might have happened to someone who innocently got dragged into this whole mafia mess without their consent because of him has been plaguing him since Kusakabe-san brought the matter before them that morning.
His friends didn't seem to see anything wrong in this situation, but Tsuna's been told plenty of times by Reborn that he should trust his Hyper Intuition. If it's telling him something weird is happening, then more likely than not, it is. Which is rather worrying, considering just how fearsome an opponent one must be to challenge Hibari-san.
If Hibari-san went down, then that means they have a serious problem on their hands.
"Oi, Juudaime, are you okay?" Gokudera-kun asked, snapping Tsuna out of his musings and back to his friends. Both the Italian and the baseball star slash swordsman were looking at him in faint concern. Tsuna, while feeling touched, wondered if he should share his thoughts with them. They hadn't been concerned or showed any interest in Hibari-san's possible condition so far ...
"Could it be that you're worried about Hibari?" Yamamato asked, hitting the nail on the head dead on. Tsunade couldn't help but laugh sheepishly at how easily his friends read him.
"I guess I can't help it. Hibari-san isn't one to just disappear like that." The last time Hibari-san had vanished from school, it was to train with Dino-san, but the Disciplinary Committee had been notified to keep things in check at the school. No such note has been left and while it is implied that it must be done regardless of their being or not being any direct orders from the Chairman, Hibari-san usually likes to give orders anyway, because he didn't want people to have an excuse for not doing something right.
"Maa, maa, there's no need to worry," Yamamoto reassured, as easy going as ever. "It's Hibari. Gola Mosca couldn't take him down and he fought half of the Varia members and came out as the winner. Hibari can take care of himself. He probably just found an interesting group of delinquents to discipline and got a bit too carried away. I'm sure he'll be back to school tomorrow already."
"You're probably right," Tsuna admitted with yet another sigh, yet he didn't feel any better than before. Still, the reminder that something inhuman is needed to fight Hibari-san to a standstill reassured him enough that the Chairman should be fine, wherever he is.
"That jerk tonfa freak, making the Juudaime worry," Gokudera-kun grumbled but it didn't last long as they soon arrived at Tsuna's house and called out greetings to Sawada Nana as they took their shoes off.
The woman herself poked her head out of the kitchen, a faint blush on her cheeks. "Welcome home, Tsu-kun! A handsome friend of yours is here to see you. I sent him up to your room so he can wait for your return. You should probably hurry and get up there. He says it was urgent. Also, take these up with you. I promised him some snacks a while ago but I had to wrestle Lambo-kun and I-Pin-chan out before they disturbed his peace. He looked rather sleepy when I left."
The three middle schooners shared a long, confusion written plain on all three of their faces. The last time Tsuna had such a greeting upon arriving home, it had been when he first met Dino-san over a year ago. But there were no men in black suits outside of his house, so it couldn't possibly be his self-proclaimed honorary older brother. And Tsuna didn't know any other adults that could fall into the same level of handsome as Dino-san, so he had no idea who his mother might be talking about. She's never called Shamal handsome before and he was rather ruggedly good looking.
Tsuna just hopes it's not another mafioso. He has enough of those in his life already.
Such hopes are squashed as soon as he, Gokudera-kun and Yamamoto step into his bedroom, where Reborn has apparently went well out of his way to set up a traditional Japanese tea room, with tatami mats, bamboo fountains, incense, rice paper screens and hot, steaming tea just waiting to be accompanied by the snacks his mother had sent up. The hitman himself was dressed differently, not in his usual black suit and fedora, but also not in any of those costumes that could be called a mockery of whatever it is he was dressing up as at the time. The kimono he was wearing was actually respectable and very traditional, making Tsuna feel a bit inadequate at the moment, and Reborn actually had an air about him that said he was treating their guest with seriousness and respect.
Looking at the man, Tsuna could definitely see why both his mother and 'tutor' were treating the man so differently than pretty much anyone else who'd ever set foot in the Sawada household.
The stranger was tall, dark and handsome, mature features with sharp eyes, perfect composure and a slim frame that held itself in such a way it whispered of unspeakable power hiding just beneath the pretty surface. The air of confidence around him spoke of skill and the easy grace with which he performed the tiniest of movements revealed experience. When blue eyes that almost looked like silver reflecting the early evening sky opened and locked onto his own, a part of Tsuna that might just be his hindbrain screamed of danger and a predator that he should definitely run from.
For a moment, Tsuna felt like he was facing an older version of Hibari-san, all lethal grace and concentrated power, but then it passed as the man finished his sip of tea and calmly placed the cup down, eyes closing for a blink and opening back up without that dangerous glimmer in them. Or it was at least suppressed at the moment, which only made the stranger even more dangerous.
Before Tsuna could contemplate further on that, Reborn chose to acknowledge their presence. "Ciaossu, Dame-Tsuna, Gokudera, Yamamoto. Please feel free to join us. Our friend has come a long way and may need our assistance."
The man let out what might have been a mix between a snort and a huff. "You make it sound as though I can't achieve my aim on my own, Arcobaleno. I simply need you lot to act as a distraction. I don't need that wimp getting in the way and accidentally having himself killed. It would mar my reputation to fail such an easy mission."
"Mission? Are you in on the whole mafia game, too?" Yamamoto asks and Tsuna almost facepalms, because he can't believe the taller boy still thinks that everything that's happened to them is just pretend.
"Are you a part of Vongola?" Gokudera-kun asks, sounding both curious and wary. The future Vongola boss doesn't even waste time being exasperated at his 'right-hand man's' irrational feeling of being threatened by any man older than him.
Besides, the stranger's answer is much more interesting, if also a bit worrying.
"Don't be mistaken," the black haired man in a perfectly pressed black shirt and a very nice violet button up shirt says, sounding disinterested at best. "My only real connection to Vongola is that I find them interesting enough to stick around. They give me a lot of potentially strong people to fight, allow me to move about freely as I go about my own business and oftentimes give me challenging near suicidal missions like this one. Or rather, I take them myself before they can talk themselves into sending a pathetic unit out in my stead, as though any number of men can get the job done better than me. You could say I am loosely affiliated with them, but I have no intention of being part of any organization but my own Foundation, where discipline and competency are the true values treasured, instead of just being too nosey to be ignored."
"Why you-" The explosives expert starts, only to be cut off by Reborn.
"Spoken like a true Cloud. I would expect nothing less from you." That shut the teenagers up and they all glanced back at the stranger in a new light. So he was a flame user, like Basil and Xansus and Tsuna.
'Cloud? He's like Hibari-san, then, right? The aloof cloud that protects the family from their own independent point of view, or something like that. I guess it makes sense that he'd get offended by being grouped with others like that. Hibari-san's just like that, too, if a lot more forceful on the 'keeping the distance' part. Maybe Hibari-san is just a bit more, as Onii-san would say it, extreme about it than other Clouds?' Tsuna tried to offer his most welcoming smile to the surprise guest, but the man didn't seem to notice or simply didn't care. Tsuna was willing to bet on the second. "What brings you to Namimori, then? You mentioned a mission?"
"I would prefer it if I didn't have to repeat myself, so either summon all of your Guardians or take notes so you can fill them in later, because I won't explain twice." Tsuna sweat-dropped but Gokudera-kun seemed to be of the opinion to humor the stranger and took out a notepad with a roll of his eyes, pressing the pen in a show that he was ready to dot down any important pointers so that the black haired man won't have to repeat himself. "I guess I should start from the very beginning. Dino Cavallone is the target of an assassination plot. I'm here to make sure it doesn't go through."
"What!?" The teens all yell in surprise and shock, the words struggling to sink in despite their immediate reaction. Tsuna couldn't think of a single person that might want Dino-san ill, mostly because he only knew the man as kind, gentle and very friendly. Sure, Dino-san was strong and obviously smart and a good leader, since he saved his family from bankruptcy a few years back, but it had never occurred to him that the twenty two year old could have such dangerous and bitter enemies. It should have, really, because he knew what the mafia was. He didn't know the details, but he can guess rather accurately how opponents and rivals are dealt with. Varia had given him quite an eye-opener on that during the Battle of the Rings. But Dino-san wasn't Vongola! Surely he can't have-
"The Cavallone is an old, strong family, with close ties to Vongola and enough other, minor allies to be a threat to more than half of the mafia world. Any one of those families, if given the chance, would try to take the Cavallone down, especially if it's through assassinating the boss. He's got strong connections with Vongola X and even the Guardian of the Cloud Ring seems to be somewhat ... tolerant of him." For some reason, Reborn seemed to have to restrain a chuckle at that, which was completely ignored by the visitor as he continued. "Usually, Cavallone wouldn't need any extra outside protection, as long as his men are around, and they always are. However, this time, it is three families that have combined forces to take down the Cavallone and their chosen method is rather ... unorthodox, so to say. I found out and thought it might be an interesting venture." The 'So here I am' didn't seem necessary.
"Unorthodox methods? What kind of unorthodox methods are we talking about?" Gokudera-kun asks, frowning in confusion now. Tsuna kind of agrees with the confusion part. All mafia methods are unorthodox by the rest of the world's standards. How much worse could these three families could possibly be. Then, all of a sudden, the silver haired boy grew tense, a glare developing in pale green eyes. "Wait just a minute! Juudaime is the best boss there is and will be a great Vongola leader, but right now he holds very little sway over how Vongola does things and Vongola has never interfered in another famiglia's matters unless they explicitly asked them to! If Cavallone asked Vongola for assistance, the whole mafia world would know of it. And you said that the Guardian of the Cloud Ring is fond of that Haneuma! But Vongola Nono's Cloud Guardian died eight years ago!"
"In the Cradle Incident, no less," Reborn supplied. Tsuna blanched as he realized where this might be going. There were just too many possibilities and almost none of them were pleasant.
Especially when Gokudera-kun slammed a palm against the low table, his free hand holding lit dynamites in the visitor's face. "Just who the hell are you, where did you come from and what the hell do you want from Juudaime, bastard!?"
The man didn't seem in the least bit disturbed to have dynamite sticks burning away, ready to blow, right in his face. If anything, he seemed even less impressed with them than when he'd first saw them enter the room.
Tsuna all but leaped on the temperamental Italian, holding his waist futilely while Yamamoto grabbed his shoulders to drag him away from the stranger. "Please don't blow up my house, Gokudera-kun!"
"Ahahaha, fireworks are best used outside and when it's dark, Gokudera."
As if the current insanity wasn't enough, the door to his bedroom banged open just then, I-Pin chasing Lambo in, scolding him for stealing the new treats Nana had prepared for the 'handsome visitor' and asked the little Chinese girl to bring up. Of course, in the same crazy way it happens any other time except when Lambo himself crawls in, the purple Ten Years Bazooka somehow ends up swallowing Lambo and triggers the switch of the five year old Bovino with his 'adult' self.
The teenager stands confusedly in the middle of the room, blinking away the minute shock as he takes in the usual chaos that is the Sawada household, catching the plate of treats just as it fell back down from where Lambo the toddler accidentally launched it when he tripped and fell into the Bazooka. "Yare, yare. Never a dull moment with you, is it, young Vongola." Then adult Lambo takes a better look around, finally noticing the new addition to the craziness, who was beginning to look rather irate.
For the first time since any of them have met adult Lambo, they see him blench and pale as though he'd seen a ghost, the way he never does even when Bianchi is chasing him with her poison cooking. In fact, his reaction is so violent that it's noticeable enough to get the other three to stop and look over. Tsuna swears the Bovino is shaking more than when the teenage Lambo had fought Leviathan of Varia during the Lightning Battle when he had switched with his even older self. Tsuna exchanges glances with his friends and they nod, decisively coming to the agreement that maybe this man should probably leave the house and never come back, when Lambo falls into a perfect sieza, extending the plate of treats like an offering to a vengeful god, asking for mercy.
"I apologize for being too loud, Kumo-sama!"
'Kumo-sama?!'