So, longer chapter, slightly less humorous. Still, have.
Akhlut
(Part II)
One of the stories of how akhlut came to be was of a man who adored the sea, and spent so much time staring out over it even when he was not in a kayak upon it that one day, his very appearance began to change. When he returned to his village that night, his people did not recognize him and, fearful, they turned him away. When he was near-starving alone in the wilds, a pack of wolves took him in and cared for him, taught him to hunt as they did, and he took on a form like theirs. Even so, his love of the sea did not wane. Eventually he ran into the sea as a wolf, and became an orca. When he grew hungry, however, he returned to the land to hunt as a wolf as he had been taught, and his anger towards the people that had turned him away meant he would eat them if he came upon them. And so he was believed to be the first akhlut. Perhaps those there may be are his descendants, or perhaps there is only him, who has been a shape-changing spirit of sea and hunt for so long that he doesn't remember that he was ever anything else. (Or perhaps, when he ran into the sea, he simply drowned… and akhlut are something else entirely.)
xxxx
Colonnello had known Reborn for over thirty-three years. Granted, they didn't exactly spend a lot of time in each other's company, but over thirty years of semi-regular contact meant they at least weren't strangers.
Because of this, and the fact that Reborn didn't exactly pour his heart out to anyone, Colonnello was fairly confident in claiming to know the Arcobaleno Sun better than most. One of the things that he definitely knew about Reborn was that he didn't just take surprises and general chaos in stride, he thrived on them.
It was hard to surprise Reborn. It was harder to challenge him. He bored far too easily, as evidenced by his teaching methods, especially concerning Dino Chiavarone*.
So. What was it about this kid-Vongola that had Reborn seem to be caught somewhere between resignation and plaintive distress?
Fon's presence had been a surprise, too, and the form of address even more so. '-sama'? That didn't seem very Fon, who was a Storm—not an Invert, despite first impressions, but rather one who had worked hard to acquire the level of patience he had—and had a Storm's usual habit of being straightforward wherever possible. Fon leaned towards 'blunt and uncompromising'. Not even the leader of the Triad he worked with earned an equivalent title, so why did the kid? (Especially to the point of aiming Storm-dragons at Reborn?)
And Fon had slipped off after said kid and Reborn with a smile that looked more amused than serene, which was in itself a fair break in character.
What was it about the kid? Fon had claimed a Harmony bond, and while Reborn hadn't claimed one, he hadn't denied one, either.
Which. What the hell?
That left Colonnello with very few options on how to find out more, with said kid Sky heading out to find 'the others', which a quick check with security proved was a fairly diverse group. A diverse group including two girls who were distinctly not Flame-active, the kid's mom (also not Active), two actual toddlers, two Arcobaleno, an up-and-coming Storm bomber that was apparently not going to end up a freelance hitman or dead in a ditch somewhere, three felons whom Vindice-forwarded paperwork had said were in Sawada Tsunayoshi's custody (not Vongola's and, dear god, Reborn hadn't been kidding on the 'Rokudo Mukuro' part), an exuberant Sun, a cheerful Rain, a quiet Mist girl, and Sawada himself.
Two were toddlers and three obviously Flameless. Yeah, Colonnello could see why the kid wanted to keep an eye on them.
That in mind, he told security that the training grounds were closed for the day and whistled for Falco.
Time to join up with Reborn and Fon and see if he couldn't figure out what the fuss was about!
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Fon was intrigued and somewhat impressed when the invasion alarms went off and his Sky (his Sky, something he had never expected to find) grumbled to himself and started making his way through the crowd towards the fortress at the center of the island before veering slightly and intercepting his confused-looking teen Sun and Rain who had obviously been separated out from the main group. As the main language spoken in Mafia Land was Italian, it was clear that the two only knew what was going on because the alert system ran in six languages on a repeating loop.
They both looked very relieved to see Tsunayoshi. "Sawada! I'm extremely glad you're here!"
"Ha, ha… hey, Tsuna, we got a little caught in the crowd…" Yamamoto looked sheepish more than confused, and Fon had already been fairly sure his happy-go-lucky 'Mafia-game' attitude was just to poke at Gokudera, but the 'sorry I failed' implied in the true shame beneath childish sheepishness was confirmation. He knew this was no game, but chose to pretend otherwise.
Tsunayoshi waved off the implied apology, "It's fine, you two. This way. It feels like Mukuro and Gokudera-kun have turned back, but they sent everyone else ahead to the fortress—we should catch up. I don't want the kids and our civilians left with so little protection."
'Our civilians'? Interesting choice of words, implying heavily that Tsunayoshi had conceded that he wasn't, and that they were under his protection. A side-glance showed Reborn looking proud and Fon smiled a bit, then paused as Colonnello dropped in via Falco, who promptly arced back into the air to keep an eye out for trouble.
Tsuna led them through the mess of people unerringly, sweeping up Gokudera and Mukuro on the way, and they got into the fortress' courtyard just in time to have a multi-directional verbal war escalate to shouting.
It took Fon a moment to parse through the Italian going every which-way, but the inability to decide on a leader for the defense was clear. Tsuna groaned, sounding so disgustingly exasperated that Fon had to stifle a chuckle.
"Juudaime?" Gokudera half-asked, looking torn.
Tsuna sighed and waved him on, "Someone needs to get these idiots to stop and Reborn wants to start getting me a reputation, anyway."
Permission granted, Gokudera jumped into the argument with a declaration that his boss would be taking the lead.
The sudden new voice managed to at least get a united front. "Yeah?" one of the other bosses stepped forward with a sneer, "And what Famiglia are you with?" he demanded in Italian.
"Vongola," Tsuna informed, stepping up beside Gokudera and setting a calming hand on his arm when he bristled at the tone.
Reborn made an odd sound, and Fon blinked twice. "I was not aware Tsunayoshi could speak Italian," he murmured questioningly.
Colonnello gave his own questioning sound.
"He's never learned," Reborn growled.
Every other group backed down immediately, and Tsuna rolled his eyes. "Seriously, just for a Famiglia name? Without even knowing my position? If I was an incompetent gruntling minion, this would end really badly."
"You are neither incompetent nor a… 'gruntling minion', Signore Tsunayoshi," Fon pointed out, altering his form of address for the crowd's benefit.
Tsunayoshi sighed, "Yes, but it doesn't speak well of their competence that they didn't even ask."
Beside Fon, Reborn nodded approvingly at that assessment and Colonnello chuckled softly. Tsunayoshi shook his head, "Well, there will be time for that later. Get all the non-combatants behind the walls with any Mists who are able to defend them—Mukuro, if you and Chrome would handle the organization, that would be appreciated."
"Of course, dear Tsunayoshi," Mukuro purred, knowing full well that Tsunayoshi wanted someone he trusted close to those of his people who couldn't defend themselves.
"Nii-san, I know you're usually front-line, but if you'd organize the non-combat Suns and provide more direct protection in case anyone gets past the walls and the Mists?"
"I will extremely handle it! No worries!"
Tsunayoshi nodded, "You may have to get Mukuro to translate for you. Meanwhile… Get all the Flame-users up here! I want to know who you are and what you can do!"
"Is he speaking in Italian?" Fon asked after another moment, trying to figure out what he was hearing. Everyone seemed to understand him, but Tsunayoshi's group—with the notable exceptions of Gokudera, Mukuro, Ken, and Chikusa—didn't actually speak Italian and it was almost certain that only a fraction of the Mafiosi in front of them spoke Japanese.
"At this point," Reborn informed dryly, "I don't even know."
Overall the scattered groups were coming together wonderfully under Tsuna's direction, listening and obeying without any sort of reluctance despite the earlier slight to their competence. Which made no sense, and perhaps Fon could understand why Reborn was starting to get frustrated with this sort of thing.
Still, Tsunayoshi was preforming admirably, sorting through basic skills and arranging defenses with a bit of input from his Storm and Rain in a quick and efficient manner.
Then the actual attack came.
xxxx
Tsuna went from serious and commanding to utterly disbelieving in less than a second when the spearheading attack group turned up. There was an Arcobaleno with a giant, armored, land-crawling red octopus (purple Pacifier, so Cloud—oh, gods, if this was the Arcobaleno equivalent of Hibari, he was calling for backup); and he changed plans mid-motion.
"Gokudera, Takeshi, Fon!" he didn't bother with Reborn—the Sun had long since told him his contract forbade him to act directly on Tsuna's behalf.
His younger Storm and Rain fell in beside and slightly behind him at his tone while Fon took the way he tilted his head slightly to the side as the invitation it was and landed on his shoulder as he strode forward.
Reborn hadn't been too keen on explaining the Arcobaleno, but Fon had gone over the basics—they weren't children, they were cursed, and they weren't allowed to hurt each other. Not seriously, at any rate. Which meant that there was a chance that the little Cloud would back down.
(Not if he was like Hibari, but hopefully there was only one of Hibari.)
The octopus-riding mini-Cloud flailed his arms and Tsuna recognized the type of gesture, immediately finding himself less worried.
"Fon, you're here!? Why are you following a kid's orders?"
Fon scowled and jumped down in front of Tsuna, "Tsunayoshi is both my liege and my Sky," he informed sharply, "Reborn and Colonnello also stand in defense of this island. Stand down, Skull."
Skull's helmet hid his expression, but Tsuna could guess, "I'm under orders! The Carcassa want me to take the island, so I have to try!"
Tsuna frowned. This Cloud—he didn't seem like he really wanted to be doing this. Also, the way he said that, 'so I have to try'… "Fon, the Carcassa. Excluding the Vongola, would I have the manpower to make them back off?" he asked quietly.
"Excluding the Vongola?" Fon frowned, matching his tone. "Yes. Sora and the First Triad would be more than a match, even if we left it entirely to them."
Tsuna nodded thoughtfully, and one of the Carcassa men shot at him without an order.
Tsuna had people behind him, and his response was instinctive and even faster than Fon's—a wall of Sky burst up in front of him just as the others also started shooting at the sound of the undisciplined guy's shot.
Bullets pinged against his Flames, half-melted metal plipping to the ground, and Tsuna heard Skull squawk in alarmed protest.
Then something else.
"Fon, can you grab Skull while we deal with the minions?"
Fon tilted his head, "'Grab'?" he asked.
"Yeah. Get him over here? I don't think he actually wants to do this."
"Ah," Fon stated. "Of course."
And, quite suddenly, the shooting was joined by screams, and then stopped entirely.
Alarmed, Tsuna dissipated the vision-impairing wall of Flames and stared.
Reborn stared, too, not quite sure what to make of what he was seeing. A fair number of the Carcassa were dead, the others injured or unconscious. Skull's octopus was barely holding back a massive white wolf, three of its limbs gripping the ground for balance as the other five held back snapping jaws, trying to keep the eerily silent creature from eating Skull.
It looked like someone had taken the colors of a killer whale and reversed them, Reborn noted—black markings above its eyes, a grey streak halfway down it's back visually breaking the line of its body and more black on its chest and belly. Its silence was a little unnerving, and Reborn tensed, Leon dropping into his hold and shifting into a rifle. He couldn't help Tsuna in situations like these unless they became immediately life-threatening, and not at all if they involved internal Vongola affairs, but Skull was still his Lackey and he wouldn't let some oddly-colored oversized canid eat him.
"Ah, wolf-san? Could you not hurt that one?"
… and neither would Tsuna.
The creature stopped trying to get past the octopus and turned its head to stare at Tsuna, making a sound that was nothing like a wolf's. It sounded almost like a whale's whistle with a bit of a growling undertone, sharply questioning.
"Well, I am grateful for the assistance," Tsuna agreed, "but that one—I want to keep him." Keep him? Was Tsuna trying to actually claim Skull or just get the wolf to stop?
A second growling whistle, accepting, and the giant wolf stepped back before turning to face Tsuna entirely, padding closer with a intently curious gaze. It came to a halt in front of him, ignoring Fon still standing defensively in front of him, barely coming up past the thing's ankles. It paused, then dipped its head to stare at Tsuna eye-to-eye, giving a sound between a click and a bark as Fon tensed slightly, clearly wary.
Well, Reborn was wary, too. The unicorn had killed the spiders without a blink, and it was a literal herbivore. He wasn't sure about the hou-ou, but the tóngshī had been ready to fight for Tsuna, and this new… whatever it was… had definitely caused fatalities when it cut through the squad of Carcassa.
Tsuna didn't look worried, though, and nodded back, visibly (to Reborn) appreciative and somewhat relieved. "Thank you, Akhlut-san. I will. Ah… if you're going to hunt on land, though, this isn't the best island. While there are many people, they aren't going to let you eat them without fighting back, and this island is under my protection."
Oh, Reborn did not like the implications of those words. Simplistic and not ones Tsuna would generally use, and the fact that he said 'while there are many people' in immediate reference to hunting, this sounded like something that was distinctively not a guardian entity.
A longer pause, then a grudging click-bark of acknowledgement, immediately followed by a whistle.
"Ah, no. The armored ships are attacking."
Its head snapped up, ears pricking forward, and it click-barked twice before turning and bounding away, white fur already shimmering to smooth black skin.
Tsuna blinked after it, wincing. "That may have been the wrong thing to say."
Reborn didn't want to think about it.
Someone in the pile of wounded whimpered, and Fon snapped into motion, launching forward to snag the Cloud from Oodako even as Tsuna glanced at his Rain, "Would you get Ryohei to pick us out couple of the Suns? We should patch up the survivors."
Clearly, he was under no illusions that the creature had held back. There were dead amongst those scattered bleeding on the ground, and Reborn regretted that Tsuna knew it. (He was young, and still so new to the Mafia, so innocent. Death was going to become part of what he'd see eventually, but Reborn had not wanted it to be so soon. Still, he was holding together admirably, despite the obvious show of mercy. And the fact that he wasn't batting an eye at the dead—he would, later, Reborn was sure, but for now he was doing well—or showing obvious personal concern would keep the Mafiosi who witnessed this guessing. Weakness or strength? Mercy could mean either. And he wasn't letting Ryohei see. Takeshi had a strange disassociation with reality that meant it wasn't really bothering him and Gokudera was Mafia-raised, but the 'extreme' Sun was still too new for his reaction to be predicted. It was smart to keep him away.)
Takeshi nodded, eyes hitman-sharp, and slipped back to the fortress as Fon dumped Skull at Tsuna's feet, the small form giving the impression of wide-eyed worry despite the helmet.
"Skull, is it?" Tsuna asked.
The Lackey nodded slowly. "Y-yes," he agreed, the faintest quiver to his voice.
"Great," Tsuna beamed at him, sending him visibly reeling. "Wait here, please, Skull-san. Fon, if you would…?"
"Of course, Tsunayoshi-sama," Fon agreed easily, settling in beside Skull with folded arms.
(Somewhere to the east of the island, something exploded and black smoke started rising into the sky. Reborn didn't want to know.)
"Colonnello-san, is Mafia Land declared neutral territory, or only accepted?" Tsuna asked, striding over towards where Reborn and Colonnello stood near the patchy crowd of Mafiosi.
"Uh, declared," Colonnello said after a moment, looking more than a little bemused.
"And Skull-san said he was under orders, but didn't seem to want to follow them. Hm…" Tsuna tilted his head slightly, then pulled out his phone, checked the service, and made a call just as Takeshi got back with three Suns, he and Gokudera instructing them to start healing the worst of the survivors' wounds.
"Ah, Jager-san!"
Jager? That was the Vindice second-in-command, wasn't it? (And how had this troublesome student of his been the reason he knew the names of some of the Vindice?)
"Hm, not sure, you may be able to answer yourself," Tsuna relaxed a bit as he spoke, clearly entirely too at ease with the Mafia's Law enforcers. "The Carcassa sent the Cloud Arcobaleno to head an attack on Mafia Land, which is declared neutral territory."
Another slight pause, then a quick assurance, "No, Skull-san didn't actually make any hostile moves himself, but one of the men with him started shooting against orders and the rest followed suit. The only injuries so far are to Carcassa—I have some of the available Suns patching up the survivors, but there are still some ships out there and they may decide to send in another assault team."
Tsuna shifted the phone on his shoulder while pretty much everyone but the Suns and the wounded Carcassa they were grudgingly healing just listened silently, "No, not as such. They don't seem to be much of a threat and… another one showed up to help. I think he's taking care of at least one of the ships."
Another one. Reborn didn't groan at the reminder, even though he wanted to. Tsuna was impossible.
"Ah, thank you, Jager-san. I'll see you soon."
"Tsuna," Reborn covered his eyes with one hand, "Did you just call the Vindice?"
Tsuna blinked at him, "Why is that a question?"
Because I was vainly hoping I was wrong, Reborn thought grumpily.
Then there were Vindice, and the answer pretty much made itself obvious to all.
Everyone but Tsuna and Reborn at least flinched—Reborn was too cool for that, and Tsuna actually liked Jager for some reason, who was at the head of the little group. "Jager-san!" Tsuna greeted.
Jager dipped his head, "Sawada Tsunayoshi." A gesture had chains plucking up the living Carcassa who weren't in danger of bleeding to death, and he waited a few moments for a Sun to finish patching another before snagging that one, too. "The Cloud Arcobaleno?"
Tsuna shook his head as Skull went perfectly still. "I don't know what the Carcassa have on him, but I'd like to break his contract with them and offer him one myself. He seems like a decent guy."
Jager nodded acknowledgement, "I will inform Bermuda. The Carcassa have violated Mafia Law repeatedly by intentionally attacking Neutral Ground. Now that the complaint has been filed, we will exact punishment for the infraction. Reparation will be made to Sora and Vongola for the inconvenience."
Tsuna beamed, and it was Jager's turn to falter under the assault of weaponized cheer (Reborn wouldn't ever admit it, but he was impressed by how well that cheer staggered people), "Thanks, Jager-san! You should come by to visit sometime!"
No, he shouldn't. Tsuna liked them and Mamma was somehow just as cheery in their presence, but Reborn's instincts itched when those black Flames were around.
Jager hesitated, then nodded slightly. "I will bear that in mind, Tsunayoshi."
The Vindice took the Carcassa—dead included, both oddly and thankfully, as Mamma and the girls didn't need to see them—and vanished in that unnerving black Flame.
Tsuna sighed before turning back to the smattering of Mafiosi, eying the tired Suns with concern. No one aside from Tsuna's people seemed able to react.
Finally Colonnello turned to Reborn, "You know, Reborn," he started conversationally, though his voice rose with each word, "when you said the kid was impossible, I didn't think you meant friends with the Vindice!"
Reborn spared him a scathing glance (he had mentioned the Vindice worshiping Tsuna) before turning to glower at Tsuna instead, not at all happy with the introduction of not only another presumably mythological creature, but one he hadn't even heard of.
"Tsuna. What was that?"
Tsuna winced, "Uh, he said that people call his kind akhlut? Aside from that, I have no idea."
Reborn gave up, "Well. I wanted you to get a reputation…"
"I have a reputation," Tsuna pointed out.
"Not as Decimo," Reborn retorted, which got several startled sounds from the onlookers as they remembered how to breathe. Good, they'd remember the Decimo as someone whom even the Vindice respected, but just to add to the legend… "The Sora love you and you have a Triad more than willing to act in your name, but you don't have a reputation with Vongola or the Mafia as a whole." He paused, "Or, you didn't."
"You're the one who brought me here," Tsuna pointed out.
"I need to stop putting you in any situation that is even remotely close to interesting," Reborn decided, more seriously than he wanted to admit. "Is that… akhlut going to pull the same stunt as the other four?"
"Um… maybe?" Tsuna shrugged uncomfortably, "He's… well, he was talking like people are a food source, so if he does we'll have to keep an eye on him."
"People, a 'food source'," Reborn repeated flatly, not pleased to have his earlier suspicions confirmed. "You know what? No. No. The unicorn was bad enough; you are not bringing home man-eating monsters."
"I didn't bring home the unicorn!" Tsuna protested, "You're the one who covered the mountain in giant spiders!"
"I'm not the one who had a unicorn stab me in the heart with a meter-long spear!" Damn. He'd thought he was over that, but seeing Tsuna fall, thinking him dead or dying even though it had been a blessedly brief moment… Reborn firmly jerked his emotions and tone back under control.
Colonnello stared, "Are they talking about what I think they're talking about?"
Fon nodded serenely, "The unicorn has become a common sight in the forest or near the Shrine whenever Tsunayoshi-sama is in the vicinity. As have the fenghuang and the tóngshī. He appears to have something of an attractant effect on supposedly mythological creatures."
Reborn ignored them both, irritated and trying not to think about the events of the last hour.
"Anyway," Tsuna stated, obviously also not happy, although Reborn was pretty sure that Tsuna's was more 'trying not to freak out' than 'irritated' no matter how he sounded, "Invasion repelled. Vindice handling punishment. Can we do something not involving combat, training, combat training, Flames, or mythological creatures?"
"Please," Reborn returned, not bothering to hide his exasperation. "No more myths today. And no more speaking in tongues, Tsuna—I have no idea what language you're using, but everyone understands you."
Tsuna blinked, startled. "What?"
xxxx
*Headcanon: The anime subtitles and the manga have different spellings for Dino's name; Cavallone/Chiavarone, respectively. While the Reborn Wiki claims that Chiavarone is correct—it does look more Italian, so who knows—I have decided that Chiavarone is his personal family name and Cavallone is the name of the Mafia Famiglia that his family founded. It gives some differentiation, and since I actually like both spellings, it also gives me an excuse to use them.
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