It started out as an innocent slip-up. Hotaru spent so much time around the Yamamoto family thanks to Sword that when it happened, it felt almost natural to call him that.
She accidentally called Tsuyoshi "papa" in his hearing.
Tsuyoshi, rather than look startled, smiled at her fondly and gently ruffled her hair without a second thought.
Takeshi grinned even wider, as he had already thought of Hotaru as his little sister even before she became the official Card Mistress.
Arashi, when he witnessed the event, smiled quietly.
He also pulled Tsuyoshi aside later that night while Hotaru and Takeshi did their homework together.
"I don't know about you, but I think we need to cut off another potential access for the Vongola to reclaim Hotaru."
"What do you have in mind?" asked Tsuyoshi.
"I've always considered Nana's apathy towards the unusual incidents and even her own daughter's situation to be highly abnormal. I think she has untreated depression or something more sinister, except no one has ever looked close enough to notice it yet. And considering how she reacts whenever Iemitsu is mentioned, or even a hint of him returning to visit..."
Tsuyoshi was silent, but his eyes darkened slightly. He could see where Arashi was going.
Hotaru loved her mother deeply, so the idea that Iemitsu would use Nana to force her to follow their plans in order to regain control was far too likely for him to like.
"What do you have in mind?"
"We quietly bring attention to the issue, and claim Nana incapable of acting as her daughter's legal guardian. While Hotaru will likely visit often, I think we need to clarify who actually has her best interests in heart. It might also give Nana a chance to heal from whatever is wrong with her, or at least give them some distance," said Arashi simply.
In short, Arashi wanted Tsuyoshi to be given custody to minimize any potential upheaval over the transition. It would also allow Hotaru to fully bond to him as a daughter, since she reacted around him as if he were her actual father in the first place. If she made a slip up like that while in a calm setting, then it was clear to him that she had subconsciously replaced Iemitsu with Tsuyoshi as a father figure in her life.
Besides, she was practically considered part of the family anyway. This would just make it official and keep the evolving sword style that the family favored "in the family" so to speak.
Tsuyoshi had no arguments to the idea, and he knew Takeshi would be all for it.
Arashi couldn't take it anymore. He had been escorting Fi (Fight) to the Boxing club to play with Hotaru's secondary Sun guardian when he noticed something. Something he should have seen earlier, but had been too busy to track down.
Ryohei was leaking Sun Flames. Actually pouring off would be a better term for it.
He had noticed someone flame active running around all over town, but since it had appeared benign he had ignored.
Being this close, it was impossible to ignore who the source of the flames he had noticed was.
Arashi silently sighed. If left alone Ryohei would be lucky to last past thirty... no human was supposed to have their flames active constantly without some dire consequences.
It would seem he would have to fix this issue before it caused the teen some serious health problems later. Fortunately he had a good idea how to go about it too... Ryohei was clearly in need of a good sparring partner and someone who knew what they were doing in training.
Arashi waited a few days, before calmly entering the ring.
"Mind having a bout with me? My knowledge of boxing is somewhat limited, but I do know something of martial arts," offered Arashi.
The smile Ryohei let off when he realized someone else wanted to spar with him was almost blinding. Arashi felt a pang of sympathy... it was hard to find proper opponents in a civilian setting, especially since Ryohei's enthusiam was quite off-putting.
It only got brighter when he realized Arashi could keep up with him and actually made him work for a win.
Arashi didn't actually know much boxing...but he did know Russian Sambo thanks to Lal and Colonello, and he knew Muy Thai.
Needless to say Arashi won the match, but Ryohei wasn't dissuaded in the least.
"If you want, I can teach you other styles besides boxing. Just relying on one hand to hand style makes you predictable," offered Arashi. "Besides, your little sister is best friends with Hotaru-chan. It would be remiss of me not to offer a chance to improve your skills to protect her and her friend Hana."
Ryohei gave him a long look, before he said "You're an extreme man, Arashi!"
Arashi smiled at him.
"We can start tomorrow. I've noticed your training schedule and I think you can be much more efficient at it. Training for the sake of training is simply going to make you stagnate as a fighter."
Seeing he had Ryohei's full attention, the martial artist side in Arashi smiled pleased. It was nice to have an attentive student.
"You don't mind small children, do you?"
Ryohei shook his head.
"We'll start tomorrow then."
The next morning...
Ryohei was surprised to find Arashi and a small child about five or so on his shoulder.
"This is I-Pin. She's my father's adopted daughter and former apprentice. I've taken up her training since he no longer can."
"It's extremely nice to meet you, I-Pin!" said Ryohei cheerfully.
I-Pin waved from her spot on Arashi's shoulder in a happy manner.
Ryohei followed Arashi quietly...for him...while conversing the with the other boy.
If he was surprised that the first thing Arashi had them do was sit down, relax and meditate, he said nothing.
Arashi made sure Ryohei was in a loose, relaxed state before he calmly spoke to the other boy.
The first thing he wanted to fix was the 'leak' Ryohei had on his flames, because that was something that could hurt him long term if he didn't fix it sooner rather than later.
"Ryohei, I want you to focus inside of you and look for a blazing ball of fire that's like the sun. It's warm and fills you up with energy. Can you do that?" said Arashi in a calm, soothing tone.
Ryohei's breathing stayed at an even pace, even as he nodded.
He knew what Arashi was talking about. It was the sunny warmth that allowed him to keep going even against the older kids. The same warmth that had allowed him to fight off the teenagers who took his sister hostage the day he got the scar on his face.
It was right there, blazing merrily like a ball of sunlight in his chest.
"Focus on that warmth. I want you to draw it inwards, until it forms a sphere. It doesn't have to be perfect, but it has to at least shrink a bit."
"Isn't it supposed to be like that?" asked Ryohei, opening his eyes and looking at Arashi confused. He thought the sun was supposed to blaze brightly as it could.
Arashi smiled indulgently at him.
"Imagine an engine going at full blast constantly, every day all day. What do you think is going to happen to it if it doesn't take a rest?" asked Arashi.
"It's going to burn out and need maintenance."
"That warmth in your chest has had you going at 'full' ever since it woke up. For now it hasn't done any harm, but once you get older it's going to wear out and make your body wear out that much faster. Wouldn't you rather build up endurance to handle longer fights, instead of going as you had been until now?" asked Arashi.
Ryohei thought that over. Now that Arashi mentioned it, he did notice something was weird about him. He was always so restless, and had to exercise a lot to get rid of the excess energy in him. Was it because that warmth had been going too strong all this time?
It would be nice to actually relax for once. He knew he made his sister worried with how much energy he had all the time and his inability to sit still for long periods.
"How do I draw it in?" he asked.
Arashi's smile was warm and gentle.
"It's your energy. Imagine compressing the warmth in you chest until it becomes a sphere. It's not going to be easy, and it'll probably take a bit before it settles down, but you'll notice a major difference once we're done."
Ryohei eagerly listened to Arashi's soothing instructions. He wasn't kidding about it being hard.
Arashi sighed when he checked the time.
"We should put a stop for now. It's almost lunch time."
"I can extremely keep going!" said Ryohei. He felt frustrated because he almost had it.
"Doing something like this might not be physically exhausting, but it is mentally exhausting. Besides, I can hear I-Pin's stomach growling already."
Ryohei winced. He had forgotten they weren't alone.
He paused by I-Pin and silently offered his shoulder. The little girl was surprised, but smiled brightly when Arashi nodded and happily sat on the white-haired teen's shoulder.
Ryohei felt something in him relax when they entered TakeSushi and he saw Hotaru in there, with Hana and Kyoko.
Something about Hotaru made him feel happy and relaxed every time she was around. He knew it wasn't anything romantic... being around her was more like having a second little sister around. He felt an arm sling around his shoulder and found Takeshi there grinning.
"You guys hungry?"
Ryohei nodded. He hadn't realized how tired he was until then.
Arashi put I-Pin with the other girls, with Hotaru happily allowing her to sit in her lap.
He went over to Tsuyoshi with a calm smile on his face.
"Where have you been?" asked Tsuyoshi quietly.
"I'm going to try and fix the 'leak' problem Ryohei has with his flames. It's not healthy for him to go full blast like that," commented Arashi.
Tsuyoshi eyed the louder teenager, happily comparing sports with Takeshi. He could feel the secondary bond the teen had with Hotaru, so he dismissed him as a threat.
"By the way, the papers will be finalized next week."
Tsuyoshi was rather calm about the entire thing, though inwardly he wished Hotaru didn't need to be put through all this.
Arashi had Nana discreetly put under observation by several trained psychiatrists and therapists for over a week. She had simply thought she had been given a minor vacation to a rather nice beach while Hotaru had a sleepover with the Hibari clan with Chrome.
He was entirely unsurprised to learn Nana had untreated depression and was firmly stuck in a delusion regarding her child's health and her own marriage. She was willfully blind to the fact her daughter had been more or less emotionally abused and tormented by everyone around her and the fact that her own inability to process that something was wrong had caused a lot of damage to Hotaru's self-confidence.
Which was why Arashi had it arranged so that Tsuyoshi was registered as Hotaru's "legal guardian". It also cut off another way for the Vongola to reclaim her, as he knew full well Nana would happily go along with almost any demand Iemitsu made in an attempt to keep him around longer.
As it was, Hotaru mostly took an overnight bag when she went to stay at her old home. She practically lived in the Yamamoto home as an unofficial member of the family, considering Nana was still very much alive and Hotaru was quite close to her mother.
It took Arashi two weeks before he pinned down the most efficient way to get Ryohei to meditate and draw his flames inward so they didn't leak all over the place. In retrospect, he should have known a more active meditation style would have suited the teen better.
On the plus side, Ryohei no longer shown like a beacon to anyone who could sense flames. He still had minor slip-ups, but at least he was keeping some of that energy in reserve.
Ryohei honestly had no idea that exercising constantly like he had was keeping his muscles from 'recovering' to a point he would actually get stronger. Being forced to take a break for a day or two revealed a remarkable change in how much strength...he was able to knock the punching bag clear off the chain with three hits, instead of the ten he previously used before!
(Arashi privately suspected Ryohei would only get better under some military style training. It was a pity he couldn't introduce the Sunny teen to Colonello or Lal at this point...they would likely love to train him!)
"Shishishi... You've found a Sky," said a teen with a crown on his head.
Tsuyoshi barely batted an eye at the bloodlust that radiated off the teenager.
"Hello Prince Belphegor. Here for your usual?"
Bel nodded, and went to the private room that Tsuyoshi opened up without a word.
He had just settled in when he heard an odd commotion outside.
"Wait, Kero! Not that one!" said a female voice. He perked up when he felt Sky flames outside the door.
"You can't feel that bloodlust? Who walks around with that being their normal?!"
Belphegor looked at the door curiously. He could feel an agitated Sun outside with their Sky. He grinned and drew one of his knives.
So you could imagine his surprise coming face to face with...
"Shishishi...so the floating bear thinks he can challenge the prince?" sneered Bel.
"Kero! Behave, he's a customer!" scolded the female Sky. She was the one who bonded with the chef peasant who could handle royal requests.
She also looked very familiar.
Belphegor had an epiphany as to why.
"So you're the spawn of that pathetic Iemitsu," spat Belphegor.
Saying that the Varia (from the Elite to the mooks) despised Iemitsu was an understatement. It was a mutual hatred, because Iemitsu had this sense of undeserved superiority over them simply due to the fact Vongola Nono favored CEDEF over the Varia every time.
The girl blinked confused.
"How do you know that deadbeat drunk that pretends he's married to my mother?" she asked slowly.
Belphegor blinked at that.
"You don't know?"
She continued to stare at him confused. He almost missed the presence of a stronger Storm than him appearing.
"Iemitsu apparently operates under the delusion that 'ignorance' and distance is the best safety measure for his civilian family. He hasn't been here in over five years at least and acts as though he works construction in the arctic," said the Storm dryly, though there was a hint of irritation in his voice.
Clearly the Storm disliked Iemitsu.
"Shishishi. So while the External Adviser peasant is living it up in Italy, he's left his wife and kid alone with little to no support?" sneered Belphegor.
Oh to be a fly on the wall when that lie came crashing down.
The Storm eyed him for a moment.
"You're the Varia Storm officer, Belphegor. Has the Ninth bothered to release Xanxus yet, or is he still pretending to keep him under house arrest?" asked the Storm calmly.
Belphegor's sneer dropped and a sense of alert wariness came across his features.
"The Boss is still under 'house arrest'," said the Prince.
"Perhaps we should discuss this later," said Arashi. He had noticed the chef approaching with the food, and he would rather the Prince be in a good mood from having a full stomach than deal with him being cranky from hunger.