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.
The black haired man, now dubbed Kumo-sama, snorts,taking a cookie from the plate, looking utterly unimpressed. "I will discipline you when I return, Bovino." The teenage Lambo shudders in fear, making Tsuna frown and take a step forward, about to defend his friend, but the guest speaks up again. "However, your presence might come in handy in this situation, so I will withdraw my judgement if you do exactly as I say."
"Of course! This one is grateful for your mercy!"
"Stop sniveling and listen," came the sharp command and Lambo immediately shut up. He sat up straight with the most serious expression any of them had ever seen him wear. Tsuna almost couldn't recognize his permanent little house guest in that expression. Lambo actually looked sharp, for once. Like a true mafioso, a true hitman. "I am in need of more rings, so when you return, that is your first order of business. I don't care from whom you get them, though Cavallone usually has the best high purity ones, so start with him. I don't care how you get them, just bring them to me as soon as possible and as many as you can find. Second, you are to inform Sawada Tsunayoshi not to interfere, or else whoever might try to come after me will find themselves on the receiving end of my steel." Lambo winced at that. "Third, you are to return every five hours to report and to receive my report to bring back. Fourth, if I hear Cavallone got in any way involved or informed of this mission until I can come back-"
"He won't! I'll make sure!" Lambo reassured quickly, wincing at the volume he produced, especially when the man twitched. "Sorry, sorry."
"Finally, you are to look into how long I can stay. The machine is a bastardized version of your family's prized weapon/tool. I expect a report on that to be brought to me by tomorrow. I know I will have at least that much. Also, check if destroying the machine will prevent the switch when the predicted time elapses. If not, destroy it and all plans regarding it until there is nothing left. If I have to undergo a second mission like this-"
"Leave it to me, Kumo-sama!" And, just like that, there was a big pink cloud again, leaving in adult Lambo's place his child version, who was picking his nose. The Bovino frowned up at 'Kumo-sama' when he realized the man had his stolen sweets. "Hey! That's Lambo-san's! Give it back!"
"No," the man replied simply and handed the plate back to I-Pin, who gazed up at him in admiration. Tsuna, for a second, wondered if she'd develop a crush on this stranger, too, and he'd have to throw her out of the window. It wouldn't be too bad if I-Pin got over Hibari-san. Hibari-san lived in Namimori, so the chances of them meeting are very high, while this stranger will be leaving sometime soon and they'll probably never see him again, which means no more bashful I-Pin due to a crush.
"Give it back to the great Lambo-san!" Lambo yelled and launched himself at the stranger, taking out a rifle out of his hair - that was new; he's never used guns before - only for the stranger to calmly tilt a bit to the side, letting Lambo fly right out of the window, crash into the tree in the yard and slide down like a cartoon character. Sniffling could be heard back in Tsuna's room, as well as the usual 'Tolerate'.
The stranger seems unruffled.
"You're from the future then, aren't you?" Gokudera-kun asks, seeming to understand something. "The machine that's based off of the Ten Year Bazooka, it's a time machine, right? You're a hitman for Juudaime when he becomes the official boss of Vongola!"
The man doesn't confirm nor deny. Instead, he introduces himself. "You may refer to me as Alaudi Kumo. Call me Alaudi, and I will beat the snot out of you."
"That's not all that creative on your part, though it does make me wonder where you learned that name," Reborn says, drawing their attention to the fact that the name they were given was actually an alias. "I can guess, though, that you don't usually bother with such things."
"Not in the least, but the fragile balance must be kept, or so that marshmallow freak keeps on insisting. I'm not entirely sure if it applies to how this machine works or not, but it does not matter. Caution and patience is better than rushing into something blind."
Reborn is quiet for a moment, before his lips curl in pleasure. "You've really matured. You must be terrifying." Then, as if he hadn't said something rather disturbing, Reborn easily switched topics. "So, if you're here to protect Dino, why are you actually in Namimori and not in Italy? Don't tell me that baka moved his base just because he wanted-"
"I'm in Namimori because I stalled the enemy's operation until I knew that Cavallone wasn't in Italy. My younger counterpart is in Japan, Namimori, which is halfway around the world from my target, whenever we are to switch. Cavallone, though, likes to visit ... certain people whenever his work allows it. The base of operations I took down is in Italy. The three families are in Italy in this time, too, so the strike team's younger counterparts would be in Italy, too. They would be more than close enough to Cavallone to get to him before I can even buy a plane ticket, let alone get there. So I stalled them enough until I was certain that Cavallone would at least be on a plane heading for Japan and away from immediate danger. I've bought myself a day to prepare everything here so I can take down the assassins without causing a disturbance and drawing unwanted attention to myself."
"Yeah, that's probably for the best. Hibari would come after you to bite you to death if you caused a ruckus in Namimori, especially in Nami-Chu," Yamamoto advised and Tsuna noticed that Kumo-san seemed rather amused by his warning for some reason. Then it occurred to him that Kumo-san probably knew how scary Hibari-san can be far better than them, since Kumo-san had mentioned the Cloud Guardian earlier, and Hibari-san was bound to be even more scary when he grows up.
"I am aware. That's why I wanted this to be a covert operation, but I've been fighting the three families for two days and I have run out of rings to use. They break far too easily," the man said with an annoyed sigh.
Reborn frowned at him in confusion. "Why would the rings break? And why not just use your ring?"
"My flames are too intense for the rings, no matter their class or purity. As for why I am not simply using my own ring, it is because it might disturb the balance if I introduce a power like that to a world it does not belong to. Or rather, the time it does not belong to. This is a very delicate situation and introducing a ring that gives me practically limitless power over my flames would not be beneficial for anyone in the long run."
"Um, I don't want to seem dumb, but why are we talking about rings so much? I mean, sure, the kid said they're super important and those Varia guys fought really hard for them," Yamamto said, rubbing at the back of his head in some sort of unease or confusion. "But why do I get a feeling there's much more to them than just some sort of symbolic power? Or something."
"Please don't tell me we'll have to have another tournament for the Vongola Rings?" Tsuna all but begs the stranger from the future.
He swears he heard something that might have been 'weak' and 'herbivores', though it might just be his mind playing tricks on him from his earlier worry over Hibari-san because the visitor only sighed. "Vongola Rings are not the only rings in existence. They may be one of the most powerful sets, but they are far from the only rings on this planet, Sawada Tsunayoshi. There are plenty of weaker rings, from D to A class, Vongola being above A class, depending on the purity of the flames they can conduct when put in use. They are not just pretty accessories." Kumo-san reaches into his blazer, pulling out a strange music-box like cube and a simple ring with a cut purple stone. "Rings are used to activate Box Weapons by channeling Dying Will Flames through them, charging the box and releasing the weapon inside. It can be an Animal-Type weapon, it can be a Battery Box with extra Dying Will Flames or it can contain weaponry made or enhanced by the Flames. Like the rings, the Boxes, too, have rankings depending on their strength and the amount of Dying Will Flames needed to open them. Each ring and Box are attuned to a certain wavelength that differ the Flames, meaning a Cloud type Flame can utilize a Cloud type ring and open a Cloud type box. The same goes for the other elements. People with Sky Flames, like Sawada Tsunayoshi or Xanxus, can open any of the other Boxes, but they can't use it's properties to their full extent or potential."
"So when you say your flames are too intense for your rings, that means..." Tsuna trailed off, unsure of how he should finish that sentence.
"That they break, yes. Even the tiniest bit of my flames being fed into an A class ring breaks it. I usually stick to lower class rings because they are less valuable but can channel more than enough of my flames into a Box for it to open, given the tiniest bit of my flames is required. Occasionally, Bucking Horse would gift me with high purity rings for one reason or another."
"Yes, some inconceivable reason, I'm sure," Reborn mumbles to himself, sounding devilishly amused, but Tsuna figures it'd be best not to find out why.
Instead, he turns to their guest from the future. "So, how can we help?"
Kumo-san frowns but obviously decides he'd rather just finish this conversation as soon as possible and be on his merry way. "I need you to distract Cavallone. He'll be trying to hunt down Hibari Kyoya, and I already have enough to deal with than keeping him off of my case, too."
Tsuna sighed in relief. At least they now knew what Hibari-san was up to! 'Of course Hibari-san would figure out something was going on and try to find out what. He's been rather unhappy with pretty much everything since the Battle for the Rings damaged to school so much, even if it all got fixed later. He probably got wind of trouble brewing and is out trying to find out what it is. Dino-san would surely follow after Hibari-san since he seems quite fond of him and if Hibari-san is indeed trailing Kumo-san, Kumo-san would have to worry about whether two innocent parties got mixed into the conflict from his time period.' "Don't worry, Kumo-san! We can keep Dino-san busy for a few days for you!"
Kumo-san frowned. "I think you are underestimating Bucking Horse and his desire to annoy and stalk Hibari Kyoya. He's known to run away from his men whenever he is in the same city as him, seeking him out even though he knows he'll just have to spend hours on end fighting him on the closest conveniently empty rooftop."
"That idiot," Reborn mutters to himself and Tsuna shudders in sympathy for the blond in question. He doesn't want to think of what punishment the hitman might be cooking up right now for his former student. "Should we be on the lookout for the assassins or will you be taking care of that?"
"You as you are," Kumo-san said with a pointed look in the three teens' direction. "Are not ready to fight these assassins, as they have Box Weapons. I forbid you from engaging them unless the situation is desperate. You, Arcobaleno, can do as you please. To doubt your skill would be an insult to the both of us."
Reborn nodded, smiling at the time traveler as Kumo-san gracefully stood up to leave. "Be careful out there. I'd rather like it if I can get a drink with you later."
Kumo-san smirked. "You never change. Waiting for six years last time must have killed you."
"Good company is always worth the wait."
Something seems to change in the man's eyes at that, something almost like fondness, before he turns around and jumps out of the window just as Tsuna's mother opens the door with yet more treats for their guests. "Oh? Where did your handsome friend run off to, Tsu-kun? He didn't even get to try the strawberry ones!"
Tsuna just sweat dropped but Reborn promised Kumo-san would drop by again and that seemed to satisfy Nana. When she closed the door after leaving the cookies for them, Tsuna turned to his 'home tutor' with a curious expression. "Do you think it will be as hard as Kumo-san says to keep Dino-san's attention on us instead of running off to find Hibari-san?"
"Hm, depends on how long he can stay," the baby says with a contemplative hum. "If he can stay longer, then he might not consider it a big deal."
"Won't Hibari get mad at him if Dino doesn't go to greet him?" Yamamoto asked and they all felt the heavy depressing dread at the thought of an angry Hibari Kyoya marching into this very same house, ready to bite them all to death for stealing Dino-san's attention and time that could have been spent on sparring.
"Can't we make sure Hibari-san doesn't find out? I mean, before Dino-san can finally go off with him?" Tsuna asked desperately and Gokudera-kun actually snorts.
"I actually think that's impossible. That tonfa freak controls everything in Namimori and has killer instincts to boot. There's no way that he wouldn't know if Cavallone is here."
"That's what I was afraid you would say," Tsuna said as tears streamed down his face, anime style.
"Leave Hibari to me," Reborn said, drawing the others' attention onto himself. "You guys focus on distracting Dino. Preferably call in the rest of your family, Tsuna, and make a team building exercise out of it. Dino may seem a bit ditsy, but he's not actually an idiot. If he focuses on something, it's very likely that we'll have an actual challenge on our hands."
"Geeze, those two are like a match made in heaven," Gokudera-kun grumbles and Tsuna tries not to read too into it because he's sure Gokudera-kun hadn't meant it like that. Not that he's against having such preferences or anything, it's just weird for him to imagine Dino-san with Hibari-san of all people! Or was it the other way around? Hibari-san usually rather disliked people like the Cavallone boss, what with the crowd of bodyguards always around and Dino-san's usual cheer and noise levels. Tsuna for a brief moment wondered if the Disciplinary Committee Chairman ever saw the blond without his bodyguards around and realized just how uncoordinated Dino-san could be. In some ways, he was almost as bad as Tsuna, better only because being around his men allowed him to be really strong and skilled.
"So it would seem," Reborn commented with a smirk shadowed by his hat, making Tsuna frown suspiciously at him.
"Where do you even know that guy from, Reborn?" He asked, not bothering to hide neither his suspicions nor his curiosity.
"An old acquaintance that I very much respect, despite how much younger than me he may be." The brunet sweat dropped at that, because Reborn was just a baby, two, maybe three years old, no matter how smart or skilled or scary he might be. There was no world in which Kumo-san might be younger than his 'tutor' from hell. "Should you be wasting time? You need to gather reinforcements before Dino actually arrives. It's questionable whether he'll drop by here first instead of just going straight for Hibari at school."
"Don't you usually know the second he comes to Japan?" Reborn was either a stalker or had more insect spies than Tsuna gave him credit for. When silence was his answer, Tsuna groaned, Gokudera-kun cursed and Yamamoto laughed, just as the sound of several cars parking outside the house reached his ears.
"Hahaha, seems like Kumo knows Dino quite well!"
"He could have given us more of a warning," the silver haired Italian groused and while Tsuna agreed, he actually blamed Reborn for them being so caught off guard.
He glared at the hitman when Reborn handed over a cellphone already pre-set to call the Sasagawa household.
Reborn just smirked.