So you all probably want to kill me right? I mean it's been... gosh I don't even know how long since I updated this properly... I'm so sorry!
Well you'll be happy to know... maybe if there's any reader left... that I will most likley be updating more frequently. This story and KTTSTB makes me re-read the Manga and rewatch the Anime, so I can update them at the same time. They may not be updated on the same day, but if one is published you can be assured that the equivalent chapter for the other is on its way.

Thank you in advance for your support and any reviews. I am sorry to all those who support this first fic of mine and I appreciate you so very, very much.
Please enjoy despite the spelling and grammar erros I am prone to... and my habit for switching tenses.

E'la Nostra Ora Incisa Sull'anello.

Lightning quick

"Primo and guardians speaking."

"Tsuna and guardians speaking."

I in all my centuries and my life have not seen a candidate so nervous and edgy about a conflict battle as Decimo. The boy had so little faith in his guardians that I felt insulted for them. Though, I suppose it wasn't a lack of faith in them but maybe in himself? The boy had been subject to bullying as I figured out, so I assume that his self-esteem was rather low.

That didn't mean that he should be so jumpy though.

"The floor is shining!"

I was sick to my stomach watching as the lightning danced and arced around the pattern on the floor. It was ingenious, that was not even up for debate, but it was such an outrageous murder device, and no matter the amount of time I spent in torture/interrogation chambers I will never understand how people could design them.

"You'll be burnt to death just from standing on it!" I just managed to stop myself form leveling Tsunayoshi with deadpan look. The boy was not smart, but I thought he was beyond stating the obvious. Even his Tutor gave him a look of incredulity. Though I suppose Decimo wasn't chosen for his brains.

Lambo, the lightning guardian, saw the flashing and arcing and his eyes lit up with joy. Something about shining electricity caused the child to believe the arena was a playground. Lampo beside him stiffened, realising the same thing.

"Hey Lambo, it's dangerous!" Of course it was, the arena was unknown to Decimo and anyone else. Only the Cerevello truly knew what it was capable of.

And then they arrived, I had known the lightning of the Varia had been waiting for a long time, but the shadows parted and the rest of the assassin troupe appeared as if summoned by the call of an imminent death. It was with some sick satisfaction that the Varia watched the little child playing in Tsunayoshi's grip. The teen had quite the grip on the child.

"If you don't want to go, you don't have to." That was the first time I truly saw the compassion of Decimo. It was obvious in other things, but in those words he abandoned his outward cowardice and allowed just a little of his resolve to paint his every-day persona. I was proud in that moment, because he was protecting those under his care. He was starting- in that moment- his road towards making Vongola Vigilante once again.

"What a weakling." G scoffed, though I noticed that he wasn't on Varia's side. Instead, my red-haired right hand was standing just to the left of his candidate on Tsunayoshi's side. It was nice to see, even if he wouldn't admit to being disturbed by Belphegor.

"Would you have said the same about us all those years ago, G?" I looked into my right hand's eyes, because I wanted the truth, I wanted G's response. I didn't want the Vongola Primo right hand's response; I wanted my friend, my brother's ideas about Decimo generation candidates.

"I would have, and I did. These children are like us, so painfully like us. But this time and that time are different. Vongola isn't new and malleable, it is hardened by bloody tradition; these children can't fight steel tradition. Xanxus and his troupe at least can live the tradition."

I watched him rant for a moment, able to read the panic and- somewhere deep and hidden- the worry for lost lives of the young.

"But is that what you want for Vongola, G, to stick to this bloodied, grim tradition?"
He didn't answer me, and that hurt more than if he had told me yes. He faded away, not looking in my eyes. I simply bowed my head in defeat. That hasn't been the answer I wanted.

A heavy hand settled on my shoulder and I looked over to see Knuckle and Ugetsu smiling softly at me. Both had heavy expressions, but at the same time had a hope in their eyes. One I hadn't seen in quite a few years.

Lightning stuck, and every head shot up to watch the Cow-child and the battle that had just begun. It was sick really, that we were so concerned with watching a child's demise; though for once there were a few that watched on without the morbid fascination.

Tsuna's storm, rain, and sun looked on with total, unwavering worry, and I could see Tsunayoshi's hands clench in complete horror. There were a few things that Tsunayoshi wasn't; strong, brave, a Boss. But there were a few things that Tsunayoshi was heart, soul, and flame; resolved, protective, and loyal.

All three children watched on, ready to intervene regardless of the consequences. The storm, so much like an immature G, and he was immature. G had to suffer the life on the streets with me, by fourteen he was already a man; but this candidate wasn't. He was genuinely worried about the lightning child, after all with the storm comes the lightning they are brothers even if they have never met. It's instant kinship.

The rain watched on with disgust, a complete civilian. He was becoming aware, very slowly that the 'game' his friends were involved with was not a game. It was real, the blood, the training and the consequences were real. Ugetsu had tried to explain to me how the boy thought, because he enjoyed the boy's presence- the purity mostly. Though, I still didn't understand. How could the boy see it all, experience it all, and still not understand that what he was involved in was not a game.

"That's how he sees things seriously Ieyasu, he takes games more seriously than life. He is trying to rationalise what he is doing."

"Will it help him survive? Will playing this 'game' ensure that he lives to keep Tsunayoshi alive and well?" I had almost demanded my rain answer, because something in me said that the rain and the sky had to keep each other together. The mist and the cloud keep the sky from being lonely or forgetting his purpose, the Storm and lightning were ever loyal, but the rain seemed to connect everyone together. Without the rain there was no way for the cloud and storm to connect with and understand the mist or thunder.

Ugetsu simply looked on with worry, an expression he had taken to wearing when he couldn't play a piece of music, and since meeting Takeshi.

Then there was Knuckle. With both sides of his ring in the bright-dull-boxer's possession he resided on Tsunayoshi's side indefinitely, and he seemed for the most part, settled. His guardian candidate had a steely look on his face, but he was a brother, it was to be expected. The boy seemed the most understanding, even if that didn't seem possible. He had moments of completely comprehension, his eyes would harden and his stance loosen in that deadly way of a cobra gearing to strike. This boy would be a problem in the future. My intuition purred, this boy would be the most adapted to being a Vongola Guardian. After all, every time he stepped into the ring he accepted that he may die if his opponent is under-disciplined and he careless.

Then the lightning ceased and the young child fell. Varia's guardian landed on the ground, having jumped up just before the strike, completely unharmed with a almost disappointed look. He was a guardian; he enjoyed the thrill of a fight. This fight though, had given him nothing.

"He's okay, he's alive!" The pure relief in Tsunayoshi's voice sent waves of power crashing off of his body. It was as if his flames were flowing out of him, hitting everyone. It relaxed everyone somewhat, because they became brutally aware of the risks Tsunayoshi would take to protect them; how much he cared for them.

The lightning child seemed to somehow have survived the initial strike, something about his genes and a resistance to lightning from prolonged exposure. I didn't really pay attention to the Sun Arcobaleno, having no faith in him as a tutor or a man. After all he chose the cow child –special characteristics or not- to be a guardian, and that was to me worse than being a Varia member.

I couldn't fault the Varia lightning. He was a trained assassin. His job was to follow his boss' orders with a grim, one-track mind direction; no questions asked no hesitation. He had killed children before, many times- for his boss and others- so this young child untrained and without any kind of awareness of what he was doing would be an easy kill. But Levi wasn't completely bloodthirsty, for the child's sake –and the brats watching on- he would end it quickly. It wasn't in his tastes to watch children suffer when they could be ended swiftly.

It was brutal to watch a grown man kick around a defenceless child, but on the streets of Italy in my youth, before my Vigilante group could protect the innocent, I had seen worse. Mafioso were nothing if thorough and ruthless. Levi was simply another Mafioso, though was more brutal because he was trained to kill instead of conditioned to.

Lambo surprised us all though when he pulled out a large bazooka and aimed it at himself.

"It's fine. It'll be fine now." Lampo has mumbled. The young teen had been completely distraught during much of this battle. He had been wringing the edge of his shirt, and only when Tsunayoshi had spoke up to Lambo had my young lightning been quelled.

It was strange to see the aristocratic teen 'dependant' for lack of a better word on Tsunayoshi, but I suppose that Lambo was dependant on the boss-candidate and often our candidate's emotions rub off on us.

Though I was intrigued, what exactly about pointing a bazooka at yourself made you fine? I wanted to question it, but the projectile launcher was fired and pink smoke enveloped the entire arena.

Finally the smoke cleared. I wasn't the only one surprised by what appeared from within the smoke.

A teen, similar in age to Tsunayoshi and his guardians, he was lazy looking with an air of arrogance and being spoilt. Though, not one person gathered couldn't argue that there was an aura of power surrounding him. Ti was charged, the entire gathered party felt the rush of static in the air as the teen stood and brushed himself off.

Of course, there were accusations of cheating, that Tsunayoshi was playing them for fools. I think it was the rain that said the teen was an intruder, though I know he wasn't. The ten-year bazooka was quite remarkable. So intriguing and so very new to me. I was often amazed by the advances in technology since my reign.

The Cerevello cleared the misunderstanding up, even if the Varia grumbled. They obviously had little faith in their own team member. Though, the principle of the Varia was something along the lines of the strong stay and the weak are killed or used as target practice; a principle of disposability.

"When I need to, even I can be a man." I saw Decimo relax, he may have still considered the fifteen-year-old his brother, but at least this one was a trained one. At least at the same level as each of his other guardians Tsuna was confident to allow the battle to continue. Though his fist did not relax around my ring.

"Thunder set." I was intrigued to say the least. The boy placed the fallen horns that I had assumed to be decoration into his flattened black hair and stood erect. As his whispered the words, some kind of dramatic pause I assumed, lightning arced from the sky as if serenaded from the sky to him. As it struck the aura form before exploded outwards and covered everyone in uncomfortable static charge.

There was something dangerously untameable about lightning, to see it control by a teen made my fight and want to back away.

I had actually though, as the child charged, that he might get a hit in on the assassin. Too bad my expectations and hopes usually outdo the actual result.

Levi took the initiative to attack. Umbrellas circled the battling pair and arced with stored electricity. Even before Lambo could touch the man he was struck down hard by lightning. Now, the only thing that kept him alive was his built up tolerance, but as he started tearing up I knew that even a tolerance couldn't stop the sheer power from ripping apart nerve endings and lighting the brain's receptors up. The boy was hurt.

Then blood exploded from his shoulder, he didn't really have time to react when he was lanced through the shoulder, but you could see the panic and pain make itself known in his eyes. They widened and he took shaky breathes.

I almost felt the blood-lust roll off of Tsunayoshi. No one else noticed, but I felt the coolness in my subconscious of the ring touching the blood in his palm. His nails had broken the skin and driven themselves deep enough to wound the young boy. I was awed again by the sheer protective instinct of such a young boy. It wasn't often you saw it so readily shown.

Then there was another explosion. This time not even the storm guardian knew what to expect, he looked on with confusion, obviously knowing- that logically- a ten year older man should appear, but not really believing it.

Though, the man that appeared was a sight to see. He was scarred; there were subtle light lines on his face and bear arms. He had a strength that rattled through the air, as if he were electricity and didn't simply store it. His hair was shaggy and matured, and there was an aloofness melded seamlessly with his arrogance.

He looked around with interest before his eyes landed on his brother.

"I didn't think I'd get to see you again. All your faces... how nostalgic."

As if synchronised Tsunayoshi and I were spiked with pure intuition. I felt Tsunayoshi pale and his limbs shake as my own head exploded in colour and pain.

Those words, if nothing else, were nightmare inducing. Something had happened in the future. Tsunayoshi may not realise what the lancing foresight is, but I've had hundreds of years to learn to trust it. Something happened in the future, something that caused this grown man to tear up at the presence of his brother –youth not even a matter in the subject.

Of course, Levi was not a patient man, his umbrellas were circled and aimed precisely. He shocked us all with the display of pure power. The lightning arced and laced and honed in on the flesh body of Tsunayoshi's twenty-year-old lightning. I was not hopeful, aged or not, that amount of lightning was going to do some damage.

I won't say I like Levi, but he is strong. He is loyal to a fault and will do as he is ordered regardless of his own feelings. In fact, he has conditioned himself to make his orders his belief. It was sheer will and was admirable. But it was also a weakness. He had a boss who didn't care for his life. That would end in tragedy one day. The one thing I can say I dislike about Levi is his close-mindedness. He is strong, he has the right to believe that. He had trained and fought for his place on Varia's squad, but he underestimates his opponents, and that too is a dangerous trait to have.

The baritone of the aged voice smoothed over the tension and fear in the arena, he seemed arrogant, and when he proceeded to reverse and ground the electricity surging through him I suppose he had right to be arrogant. It was strange to see the morbidity in his actions. He was strong, stronger than he was showing. Something must have happened between ten years from now and twenty to change the cry-baby cow-child into something hardened and stiff.

Strong or not, I couldn't believe when the man decided to use a move- not two minutes after the firs time- that hasn't worked. I felt Lampo stiffen when he saw the move. The teen would say he didn't care, but he had grown 'attached' to the child who would eventually take over his position. To know that he was going to be defeated form a reckless move was somewhat disappointing.

I would question myself later, when things had calmed down, when I had been assured that Tsunayoshi and his guardians would be Decimo.

But it worked, Thunder Set had been imported and re-evaluated and the man no longer had to charge. The sweeping electricity had downed the Varia guardian in a felling display of control over a substance that shouldn't be controlled. Or it should have.

In the middle of the attack the five minutes elapsed and left a young boy, injured from his own attack, to fend off an irate assassin who has something to prove now.

I have a feeling, had Lambo never been five and had been the twenty-year old that we had been watching, none of my guardians would have even second-guessed Tsunayoshi's ability to become Decimo. Alas, they still don't believe in him.

As the motionless child hit the ground, like a switch, every single guardian gathered was in a fighting stance. The swordsman was half-way to his sword; the bomber already had dynamites and a lit cigarette; the boxer was in stance. They were already a famiglia; the teens displayed what had taken me and my own guardians years, all in the space of maybe six months. It was sobering to see. Every one of my gathered guardians had the same sobering look. What they displayed in their instinctive movement of protection was potential. A sheer, pure, undying potential that could make them great if honed correctly. The problem was finding someone who truly understood that potential.

That someone- as of yet- wasn't the Arcobaleno. "Wait." Now, I'm not unnecessarily violent, but the Arcobaleno, as he stopped his wards from saving their family member, made me want to punch him in the face.

He was their tutor, he was to mould them and make sure they didn't die too prematurely. But he was also supposed to protect and guide them. He was about to let a child die so that they could at least fight the next battle. I've not felt such fury burn me as when the man tried to tell the teens not to enter the ring. They were a family, not a famiglia. Vongola was a family, not a mafia famiglia!

"I...I have to protect Lambo." To everyone else, his own tutor and father, it was unsure and uneasy. More words than actual resolve. But I felt it. I felt the shattering resolve within the words. Had Decimo understood how- had someone given the time to teach him- he would have ignited his own Dying Will flame. But again he was born to the wrong generation, no one since my own cousin's rein understood how to light your own flame. Not even Nono, as resolved as he was, knew how to truly slip into HDW mode without a medium. Decimo was the closest I had ever seen.

Then things moved quickly, there was a gunshot and a huge crashing as one of the lightning rods was downed in front of Levi. The boy looked up into the eyes of the gathered, resolve and drive burning his irises amber. I've been told that I am a rare, beautiful case, only those utterly resolved will have their physiology changed to accommodate the unyielding resolve of the flames. Eye change is the one proof someone can have that their resolve is unrelenting.

"If I have to watch my precious comrades die with my own eyes...I wouldn't be able to atone for it. No matter how many times I die."

I watched the gathered shiver as Tsunayoshi's words registered with everyone. Now they couldn't deny it. This boy was my heir. I knew then, no matter my argument that I was going to see this through to the end. Should Xanxus become heir and Tsunayoshi die then Vongola would never be saved. This boy was the only one to take my place. But he wasn't ready yet. It wasn't his time and he would die.

"The Vongola rings... the position of boss. I cannot battle for such things." He was so resolute, yet these words caused unease to ripple in my guardians, and even in me. Why would he say such things? He made it seem like he was battling for battle's sake. It seemed there was more to his words. But as of yet I couldn't understand them. "I don't want my friends to be hurt."

Again my emotions were rollercostered up and dropped. Those words were the same words that I had petitioned to my guardians when the idea of Vongola being formed had entered my mind. I hadn't wanted the innocent, my guardians or anyone to be hurt. To hear those words again in a voice filled with resolve and the deep baritone of HDW wracked me for a reaction. And I didn't know how to react.

"The brat isn't suited for this world." G's words weren't biting this time. They were genuinely caring. His have had softened a she gazed at Tsunayoshi, obviously cast back to the time I had confronted him about Vongola's establishment.

The next thing I was aware of, still entranced by the burning amber of flames and eyes, Tsunayoshi being thrown across the roof with force enough to shatter the remnants of HDW mode form his eyes. Though that didn't stop him from glaring defiantly at the man who had caused all the problems in his life. I've never felt prouder.

"Are you seriously thinking that you can defeat me and become successor?" Xanxus words were trying, he was aware of the purity of the sky flame Tsunayoshi possessed. It scared him- somewhere in his core- but he was also arrogant and assured. He could kill the brat if he wanted to.

Then a shit eating grin spread on his lips. I felt through my ring his entire body jumping at the prospect of his fight with Tsunayoshi. His words of excitement only proved to send Tsunayoshi reeling. The man was excited about fighting. The man was looking for blood.

But he laughed and giggled like an excited child when words of accusation were thrown at him. He didn't react when the CEDEF leader threatened him, and only felt it necessary to laugh harder when the Arcobaleno had to calm the fool.

Alaude would be ashamed and furious about where the CEDEF had gone without his guidance. I hope I'm not the one to break the news to him. CEFED may not have been what he started, but it is a branch of his original organisation.

Xanxus continued to threaten Tsunayoshi, but didn't really listen, I was far too aware of the fact that I had lost the warmth that came with being in Tsunayoshi's possession. I didn't ever imagine that Xanxus would have me whole. To know my ring was in his possession, that his threat of eliminating Tsunayoshi wasn't an empty one made me nervous.

It was fair to say that I did not truly know how to react to this child's actions. All I could say was that I felt a deep knot form in my stomach as I was handed over to Xanxus with only a light flicker in Tsunayoshi's eyes. For some reason it truly hurt to think that Tsunayoshi thought the ring so invaluable as to pass me off in an instant.

But, I also knew that Tsunayoshi wasn't thinking of the ring. In that instant that the cow-child was in danger, that his elder passed back into his own time, I felt the sheer panic and protective instincts overwhelm young Tsuna and I knew in an instant that he was no longer concerned about anything but his 'brother' and saving him.

It made me, honestly, proud. I've never felt such raw, unbridled pride in a descendent, and G would chastise me for years after the entire conflict was over telling me that I was not suppose to get attached. But I did, I found it so easy to get attached; so easy to fall for Tsunayoshi and his sheer charisma. Even if the boy himself didn't know that he had it.

Of course, this didn't change my mind at all about the boy. He was not Mafia. He was too kind, too compassionate, and was nowhere near fanatical enough about the position of Decimo to get it.

Being a Don isn't just a job, it is a lifestyle. I couldn't help but admit, as I watched Tsunayoshi's retreating form- as I was forced to wait with Xanxus and the whole sky ring- as Tsunayoshi held his young lightning, that the dear brunet was not suited for this life.

He shouldn't, and couldn't be a mafia don.

Even if, dare I admit it to my crushing heart, he is exactly what I was when I started Vongola.

So Primo is starting to see an inclination of the power that Tsuna possesses. I can't help but feel that my writing style has changed. I hope this doesn't throw too many people off... Well I think the ring battled in ENOIS (this fic) are going to start being written more quickly, seeing as KTTSTB also depends on my re-reading the ring battle arc... so hopefully more chapters for you.

I want to thank you so much for your support. I feel horrible for leaving this so long. Sorry, so very sorry.

Thank you so very very much.

~~Bleach-ed-Na-tsu:3