Still no dragon yet. One that I'm personally slightly more familiar with, as it was one that was area-related to where I grew up. Granted, I had Athabaskan friends and Inuit are both more scattered and more coastal, but such stories trickle inland. Upon actually looking them up, I could find very little and most out of Greenland instead of Alaska, but the basic idea was the same, so... Also, you may note that I'm multi-culture pulling these things. This is on purpose, and while there will be other more local to Japan mythological creatures included, I am going to aim for no two newcomers in a row coming from the same culture. I can at least pretend that the hou-ou and the tóngshī were from two, since the hou-ou was deliberately swapped to the Japanese naming of it.

Akhlut
(Part I)
Akhlut are an Inuit legend, a shapeshifter of an interesting type. They are described as solid spirits, not unlike Japanese youkai. They belong to the sea, usually swimming in the form of an orca. When they grow hungry, though, they hunt on land—taking the shape of large wolves to kill. If their meals are occasionally human, well. They aren't human, and see little difference between one meal and the next. When on land, they are considered to be inherently… if not outright malevolent, at least the kind of dangerous any starving predator is, as they are only on land to hunt and will take whatever meat they come across first as fair prey.

xxxx

Reborn had wanted to freak Tsuna out by making him and his Guardians think that his Guardians were stowaways on a very nice cruise ship.

Unfortunately for Reborn (at least when it came to pulling things over on his student), the lack of seal and constant practice had Tsuna's Intuition such that Vongola Nono's couldn't hold a candle to it. Trying to lie to his face, even only by implying things up, down, and sideways, simply didn't work.

So, Reborn no longer bothered trying. Instead, he told Tsuna exactly where they were going, why they were going there, and what was expected of him when they got there.

(The reaction was so offended that it was almost worth not being able to spring a trick or ten on him.)

He kind of wanted to get Mafia Land to force Tsuna to meet Colonnello, but he had the feeling that if Tsuna felt threatened for any reason, a myth or four would show up to put the 'threat' in its place. Which meant no pranking the kid into Mafia Land's security telling him to head for remedial training.

Which meant Reborn would have to tell him. Again. And as much as he enjoyed watching the brains around Tsuna implode whenever people saw him casually chatting with mythological creatures, and as much as Shī had sworn fealty (which made Tsuna the—not head, but rather overlord of the First Triad, which was in a similar position in Eastern Assassination groups that Vongola was in Mafia although Vongola was still larger and more widespread) and he had the Sora still rapidly spreading across Japan along with their 'Tsuna is a human deity' cult, he didn't really want to know what someone would end up doing if Mafia Land harassed their 'god', even at Reborn's prompting.

And, Dio, that was so ridiculous. Worse, Vindice. They loved Tsuna, and Reborn was dead certain that the little not-quite-Arcobaleno leader of the Vindice (who had come over for tea with Tsuna and Mamma) was secretly part of the Sora cult. Yeah. No. He wanted Mafia Land to still be floating by the time they left.

(Yes, he was going for the annual attack on purpose. He also hadn't told Tsuna that bit—he'd rather hoped to distract him from it with the whole 'need to get your face known by Vongola allies' thing, and while Tsuna had given him a very suspicious look, he'd let the omission slide. And, good god, Reborn was thinking in terms of 'let' in regards to his fourteen-year-old student when he was not the one doing the 'letting'.)

At least the cruise was nice. Mamma even seemed to be enjoying herself. That was good. Tsuna was always less anxious when Mamma was happy, and when Tsuna was less anxious his Guardians—especially one of his dual Mists—were less easily incited to violence. Considering Mukuro was the Mist in question, and that he might actually worship Tsuna more than Gokudera did (if in a far less obvious manner), this meant the possibility for bystander mental trauma went down exponentially. That generally also meant Tsuna was less anxious. Positive cycle, yay!

(Reborn liked chaos. Reveled in it, even. But he wasn't so sure about the mythological magnetism Tsuna seemed to possess—even the unicorn was kind of scary, not that he would ever admit it aloud. Reborn was honestly glad that Tsuna had told the tóngshī to guard the house while they were gone—he didn't want to know what two-and-a-cub's worth of metal-eating mythological guardians would do to a cruise ship, even a Mafia one. The unicorn hadn't even tried to follow—she didn't seem too keen on large groups of people, which. Okay. Unicorn. As for the hou-ou… it had proven able to teleport since literally the moment it had first appeared, so Reborn would not be at all surprised if it decided to show up at some point.

He was just hoping that nothing else did.)

So, positive cycle meant Mukuro was less likely to do something that had people realize who he was, and that meant there was less likely to be the kind of chaos that Reborn wouldn't have much of a handle on. If someone actually managed to kill one of Tsuna's Mists before Reborn could stop it, he didn't really want to know what would happen. (Tsuna was kind and sweet and gently accepting. He was also a ferocious kind of protective, and Reborn respected that. Tsuna would allow Reborn to discipline Lambo, but undeserved thumps were very much a bad idea. And he was thinking in terms of 'allow' again; there was something wrong with the whole situation.)

Now, hopefully Tsuna would be up for meeting Colonnello without, you know, bringing in anything else that shouldn't exist.

xxxx

Tsuna had known Reborn was up to something. Even so, he had a point—if word got out that he lived in Namimori but people didn't actually know who he was, it could put innocent people in danger. Using a place that was deemed a standing neutral ground that was run and mostly used by allies would minimize the immediate risk of outing himself as Vongola heir.

There was something more to it, Tsuna knew that, but Reborn hadn't been able to pull as many of the stunts he clearly enjoyed lately, so Tsuna might as well let him have his fun. With Takeshi, Gokudera, Mukuro, Chrome, Ken, Chikusa, Lambo, I-pin, Ryohei, Ryohei's sister and her friend, Kaa-san, Fon, and Reborn along (Hibari had refused on principle—if he wasn't allowed to 'bite people to death' he wanted nothing to do with 'crowding') Tsuna had fairly little to worry about. Chrome, I-pin, and Lambo claimed they wanted to stick with Mamma and the other two girls, which meant Mukuro would keep an eye on them and between those four, Ken, and Chikusa (who would stick with Mukuro), he didn't need to worry about their civilians and the kids.

Oh, gods. He'd been spending too much time with Reborn. He was thinking of his mom, Kyoko, and Haru as civilians. Not that they weren't, but… since when had he started thinking of himself as not civilian!? (Oh gods. He wasn't a civilian. He had a near-national yakuza group, the fealty of Fon and a large group of Chinese assassins, and he was the heir apparent to the most powerful Mafia in the world. Oh, gods, why?)

"There's another Arcobaleno I want you to meet," Reborn announced approximately fifteen seconds after they'd gotten through security.

"Colonnello?" Fon asked, looking vaguely interested through his usual serenity.

Reborn nodded and Tsuna tilted his head questioningly.

"The Rain," Reborn grudgingly conceded. "He has a training course on the other half of the island."

Tsuna snorted, "Of course he does. Is it anything like what you did with Death Mountain?"

"The people sent to him for training aren't Vongola," Reborn informed primly.

"So, somewhat, but not as much as you'd like it to be, then?"

Fon chuckled even as the real kids ran ahead with gleeful energy, the girls and Nana jogging after them with indulgent laughs. "Tsunayoshi-sama knows you quite well, it seems."

Tsuna very carefully did not twitch. Fon calling him '-sama' had initially been a serious mark of the fact that he had sworn fealty, and was thus addressing him 'properly' in his native language. It hadn't taken long for the Storm Arcobaleno to grow comfortable with him, though, and it—due to Tsuna's increasingly exasperated insistence that the suffix was unnecessary—had become a gentle but annoying form of teasing.

Only knowing that there was good-natured amusement behind the address kept Tsuna from protesting too seriously. Sure, it annoyed him, but… well, it was a good sign, that Fon was willing to tease. Even if he made sure to do it in a way that would point out to any who overheard that Fon held Tsuna in high esteem.

(Which was probably why he'd chosen that as a method of teasing, come to think. He didn't do it quite so obviously in Namimori, but this was a Mafia-only institution. He was making it obvious that Tsuna had personal allies.)

Reborn didn't bat an eye, but Tsuna just knew he was pouting internally.

"Juudaime?" Gokudera hesitated with Takeshi while Ryohei stopped a few more paces down the street, visibly torn between following after his little sister (he was a bit overprotective) and staying with Tsuna, Mukuro already having vanished after Chrome as they'd previously discussed.

In turn , Tsuna just waved dismissively. "It's fine, guys. I'll have Reborn and Fon with me, and if I end up needing you, Moeru can probably grab you for me."

Takeshi tilted his head, "Oh? The hou-ou has a name, then?"

Tsuna shrugged, "He keeps lighting himself on fire. And then he started answering to it. Anyway, go have fun, but make sure you keep each other safe, okay?"

That was all they needed to finish vanishing, and Tsuna shook his head fondly. Sure, it might have been fun to go on the rides, but… well, he was getting a handle on flying with his Flames and he had the distinct feeling that even the best rollercoasters were going to be disappointing, after that. Might as well meet this Colonnello—Reborn's obstacle courses were traumatizing, but something a little less intense might be a blast.

x

Oh, gods. Arcobaleno in a military outfit toting a… Tsuna didn't know guns, but that was some kind of either semi-automatic or sniper thing.

"Oi! Kora! Reborn, who's the fluff-ball!?"

"That is a rather impolite form of address," Fon noted, smoothly bland, and the other Arcobaleno stopped and blinked at him.

"Fon? You're here, too?"

"Reborn still calls me dame-Tsuna," Tsuna pointed out against the Storm's mild-sounding protest. (There was a little irritation in it, but Tsuna wasn't sure how he knew that.)

"Reborn is your tutor and is quite fond of you. That grants him a certain amount of privilege."

Reborn scowled viciously but didn't deny it, so Tsuna took that as a declaration of agreement. "Anyway, I'm Sawada Tsunayoshi."

"He's impossible," Reborn informed immediately, "and I can't complain about him to Fon or he throws Storm-dragons at me."

Colonnello got a very Reborn-like gleam in his eyes, "Needs to be whipped into shape, then?"

"Not that kind of impossible," Reborn grumped, and Tsuna stifled a snicker at the confused glance the little military-esque blond shot him. "Tsuna, this is Colonnello. I am aware that the area is a training course with some actually possibly health-threatening traps, but please don't do anything mind-bending today."

"It's not my fault you put giant spiders on Death Mountain," Tsuna protested.

"It is your fault that you have a multi-national cult worshiping you," Reborn retorted.

Tsuna pulled up short in horror, "It's multi-national!?"

Colonnello opened his mouth, paused, looked at a visibly amused Fon, and closed it again to watch the show.

Reborn smirked and ticked off points on his fingers, "Sora and all their converts in Japan, the First Triad and anyone they've converted in China, and the Vindice—who are arguably Italian."

"Vindice?" Colonnello sputtered.

"I still say Bermuda's not part of the cult."

"He worships you, Tsuna; it's the same thing."

Fon snickered and Reborn glanced over, saw Colonnello's bug-eyed expression, and looked viciously pleased. "The leader of the Vindice handed three criminals into your custody and dropped all charges against a fourth just because you asked nicely, dame-Tsuna. You have Rokudo Mukuro as one of your Mists."

"And you as one of my Suns, I suppose?" Tsuna shot back. Paused. Thought that one over and facepalmed, "Don't answer that."

"At this point," Fon pointed out, simultaneously teasing and mild, "I am one of your Storms, Tsunayoshi-sama."

"Now, if only you could get another Lightning," Reborn snarked.

"Verde, perhaps?" Fon asked, joining Reborn in 'ignoring' Colonnello's gaping shock though it was obvious the two were enjoying seeing how far they could get before he either exploded or fell over. "Ordinarily I would be more hesitant, but considering Shī and the Vindice…"

Reborn paused, giving that some honest consideration. "We'd have to trick him into coming," he pointed out.

"The real question is, could he be an official Guardian as an Arcobaleno?"

"If we made sure it was clear that he was a placeholder until the cow brat is old enough…"

"Will you stop discussing my Guardians without even letting me meet the candidates first?" Tsuna demanded grumpily.

Colonnello managed to fall over and explode at the same time, arms flailing as he ended up sitting down with the force of his own gestures, "Kora! What the—you're messing with me, kora!"

Tsuna blinked at him, spared a moment to think 'Why not, I have to pick up something from Reborn', and tilted his head, "But they haven't even mentioned the weird things, yet."

x

A very messy training course and a short dip in the ocean later, and Tsuna felt something watching him. It didn't feel… hostile, exactly, but more the alert curiosity of a predator. Not hungry or otherwise intending harm, but interested.

He pulled on dry clothes, ignoring his three-Arcobaleno audience, and decided to hand out fair warning. "Reborn, something is watching me."

"We're all watching you, Tsuna," Reborn told him blandly.

"Something that doesn't feel like human eyes," Tsuna elaborated dryly. "I thought I'd warn you since this time I can."

Reborn dropped his face into his hands. "Tsuna. No more."

"I don't ask them to show up!"

Reborn raised his head to glower, "No more."

Colonnello went a little wide-eyed. "What…?"

"You know what? I'm going to find the others," Tsuna informed. "These things generally only happen when something bad is happening."

Reborn took a slow breath and let it out, eying the area almost plaintively before he started to follow Tsuna, "I don't even want to know."

"Oi, did the kid break Reborn, kora!?"

xxxx