Arashi was looking into how exactly Yue was able to rid him of the curse that had plagued them both for over thirty years. It had taken him a month, but he had finally stopped thinking of himself as "Fon". If anyone asked, he would claim to be Fon's "son" and that he was simply living with his cousin since his father was killed. Since he looked so much like Kyouya, it was easy to claim he they were brothers in public.

Arashi had to smirk slightly at the amusing reactions little Hotaru kept having when she slept over, only to find him acting much more affectionate than Kyouya would around her. He found it very telling that she kept coming over and didn't protest his light courtship of her.

It had taken him close to four months, but he finally pinned down why the removal of the pacifier and the majority of his flames hadn't outright killed him like it should have.

He carefully poked at his flames while meditating. And what he found had him shocked.

For all of his life, he had been a straight Storm. It was still there, weakened considerably after the hit he took when Yue removed the curse...but now there was the distinct feeling of Cloud tied within. Enough that he could claim it as a secondary once his Storm recovered...or a primary if it never did.

It took him a few moments to guess what Yue's "territory" was, before he relaxed. Obviously Yue's territory was the cards and to an extent, the Card's mistress.

Arashi's territory, if one could call it that, was the protection and safety of his Sky.

As the two were in fact one and the same, it meant that some of Yue's natural Flames had been shared with Arashi as a side effect in order to insure his survival. After all, Yue couldn't sustain himself at all and borrowing some of his extra life force meant lowering the amount of power he needed from Hotaru's own reserves.

Since Yue was made with limited knowledge of flame use, that could be difficult for someone without an active source of strong flames.

From what he could tell, Kero was more than just the "Sun guardian" of the cards. He was also Hotaru's Sun Guardian, while Ryohei had a lesser Element bond.

Considering who he suspected Hotaru's father was, and their recent luck with their heirs, he was not about to let the Vongola try to reclaim Hotaru because of their own incompetence.

Which meant Arashi would have to cut off all access before Vongola Nono attempted to use her for his own ends.

And he knew exactly where to start on his search to secure Hotaru's safety from the machinations of that foolish Don.

Hotaru hadn't really used her new staff since becoming Card Mistress. So when Arashi asked her to look into an event during a specific date in her past, she was willing to give it a try.

In order to make it visible to everyone, she was pairing Time's power with that of Mirror. It was an unusual way of "scrying" or "divination" as Kero called it...but it was just a creative application of a skill already well documented. Clow had been very talented at the art, and the cards were originally set up as a 'tarot' deck.

Which meant there was a precedent for the magic to work like it should.

"Time, Mirror, show the events of the past to me!" said Hotaru, touching the large mirror Arashi had brought out with her staff.

The mirror rippled and flowed until it showed a scene from last year.

"I want to you to take the image back to roughly nine and a half to ten years ago. It should be centered around your home," said Arashi gently.

Hotaru nodded, and had a feeling which 'event' Arashi wanted to investigate. She couldn't remember a few of the details, but she vividly remembered every time her father had been around and that would have been around the same time period.

Arashi looked both pleased...and very pissed off by the end of the memory Hotaru had pulled up.

He had suspected they had sealed her for her own safety, as having too strong flames could be bad for a child's health.

He never suspected Iemitsu would seal his own daughter, a newly awakened Sky, simply because he didn't want to train her in how to use it or reveal the lies he had given his wife!

On the plus side, he now had valid reasons to claim Iemitsu and Timoteo had deliberately removed Hotaru from the line of Vongola succession...and to a lesser extent Iemitsu's constant absence also removed his claim over his daughter as her parent.

Now he had to prove that their actions invalidated any claims they had on her as a Vongola.

And he would have to make it iron-clad if he wanted the Honorable Law Keepers to back him up on this.

A few months later...

Hotaru looked at Jaeger and Bermuda. Arashi had been very startled at the appearance of Bermuda for some reason...and highly unsettled, but hid his reaction quickly enough.

"You claim that the Vongola have invalidated one of their heirs. By what right have you reached out to us?" asked Bermuda bluntly.

Arashi took out several records, which upon closer inspection turned out to be her school records.

"When my Sky was around five years old, she went Active. Her father decided without consulting anyone to have his Don seal her rather than train her. All because he wanted to maintain his image with his wife, who is cleared to know about the underworld and flames because of her marriage to him but was kept completely in the dark about what her husband does. The result of the seal caused her to become stunted...emotionally, physically and mentally. Her grades went from roughly average in class to dead last within a week. I have records that the teachers took her to see a pediatrician to uncover the source of her sudden change in behavior, but came up empty."

Bermuda accepted the copies, and confirmed their validity.

"From what I can tell, Iemitsu Sawada had her flames sealed entirely because he did not want to add his daughter to the 'official' line of succession as he did not want her to conflict with Vongola Nono's four sons. As Nono was the one to seal her, I would like to present the case that he removed her from the line of direct succession and any claims he attempts to make as the Don of the Vongola family are invalid," said Arashi calmly. "Furthermore Hotaru identifies first as a sorceress, not as a flame user and is therefor a neutral party at this time."

Bermuda was silent. The Storm had presented his case in clear, concise facts that could be easily verified...and they had already confirmed Iemitsu and Timoteo Vongola had been present around the time the seal was applied, and were the likely source.

The Vongola still had two heirs, and the seal was applied before the line of succession was ever brought into question. Besides, the girl was still technically a civilian, since her magic was masking the presence of Sky flames.

"...If you wish to establish a new famiglia, you must file the same forms as everyone else. We will accept the claim that Hotaru Sawada is no longer part of the Vongola due to the actions of the current Don and her own father, and that any attempts to claim her as such are false."

"And Iemitsu's claim as her father?"

Bermuda cast a bland look at the pictures of the house. There wasn't a single picture of Iemitsu anywhere.

"Any claims as her sire are invalidated. Even I can see that his presence here is minimal, if nonexistent at best."

Arashi hid the pleased smile at that. It meant that if Hotaru had Iemitsu's assassinated it wouldn't be considered patricide since the Vindice didn't acknowledge him as her father.

The Vindice disappeared, but a week later Arashi got a copy of the papers declaring that "Hotaru Sawada" was now considered a "free Sky" without a famiglia to tie her down and that she had been effectively "cast out" by the actions of Vongola Nono.

Hotaru happily went to the registration office to have Iemitsu Sawada's name removed from her family register. As far as the Japanese government was concerned, she had effectively erased Iemitsu's status as her father. She would have attempted to get him declared dead, but it would take some time to pull that off and there was a chance Iemitsu would find out and put a stop to it.

Removing her from his control was enough for the moment.

If there was one unspoken fact about Fon (now Arashi), it was that he was a total troll when the mood suited him. He was just far more discreet about it than Reborn ever was, which was why no one ever suspected the polite smiling Storm of being capable of some spectacular chaos.

As far as the other Arcobaleno knew, "Fon" had been killed off. So the presence of a 'son' would throw them off balance and give him a discreet way to troll the hell out of everyone.

Because after all, what were the odds Fon would find a way to break the curse and not inform the others?

Arashi debated on what to make his new username before inspiration hit.

Moonlit_Storm: hello?

ChaosKing: How did you get on this chat board?

Arashi smirked.

KeimanLightning: I would like to know that as well. I had this specially secured for a reason.

Moonlit_Storm: my father informed me of it. He also gave me his passcode to insure I was able to reach out to potential allies.

OodakoRulez: who's your father?

Moonlit_Storm: He went by eye of the storm. I believe you knew him as Fon though.

Arashi sat back and enjoyed the havoc he just caused as the chat board exploded. This was entirely too entertaining.

ChaosKing: how do we know you're Fon's son?

Moonlit_Storm: I cannot prove it over the screen...but I do know one important piece of information he shared with me that can be easily verified.

KeimanLightning: and what information would that be?

Moonlit_Storm: the true whereabouts of the former "World's Greatest Hit Man" Renato Sinclair.

Once again, the chat board exploded. Arashi was having far too much fun with this, but he needed to insure the Vongola didn't try to spring any 'surprises' on him.

ChaosKing: why reach out to us now?

Moonlit_Storm: certain events have caused my Sky to become a 'neutral freelancer' according to the Vindice and I would rather not have any surprises come up due to the major players in Italy attempting to reassert their nonexistent control over them. As far as the Vindice are concerned, my Sky is technically still considered a civilian despite being active.

ChaosKing: ...How can your Sky be removed from the line of succession, and have the Vindice back it up?

Moonlit_Storm: Because they were sealed when there was never any question over who would inherit. However recent events have clearly indicated the Don of that particular famiglia is grossly incompetent and incapable of keeping their Sky line alive. I thought it prudent to clarify that my Sky is not under their control as they assumed because of their own actions.

Which was all true without indicating which famiglia his Sky was from, outside of the fact it was based in Italy.

Still, with how paranoid they all were it was understandable they wouldn't believe his claim right away.

At least he had opened up an avenue of communication, which was what he was aiming for at the moment.

A few weeks later, they reached out again. It was simple enough to send little tidbits to confirm he "knew" Fon well enough to fake being close.

And since all he was asking for was general updates on recent events in Italy, he was quickly updated on all the interesting gossip he had been missing out on.

He hadn't really taken an interest before, but that was because he had been a freelancer in China. He was Hotaru's Storm now and he couldn't afford to be caught off guard by 'common gossip' from Italy.