Getting a call from Verde in the middle of a match with Fon was annoying. Since they'd all started to grow in fits and spurts sparing was one of the only ways to both get used to their bodies again, and try to ignore the ache that came with too quickly growing bones. Fon was his most common partner since Lal and Colonello had taken.. different measures to get through puberty once more. If his own hormones weren't on such a small trigger he'd have made fun of them for being unable to hold back for a couple of weeks.

Unfortunately, he couldn't even get near them without something awkward happening. It was better for everyone if they just left those two alone.

So getting a phone call in the middle of his only spar of the day? Annoying. If this wasn't important Verde was getting some first hand experience with his own machines when he got back.

Thankfully for Verde's continued life, this was actually important. Reborn hadn't even been able to speak before Verde was yelling through the phone that he'd actually found Skull.

The call drops moments later, Reborn doesn't know if he hung up or Verde did but they had to move. Now. Skull could be slippery at the best of time. With him actually running it would be like trying to grab air with a net.

When he turns to order Fon to grab the others, the man was already hurrying towards the dojo door. "I'll find Viper first, then Lal and Colonello. Well track you through the phone and try to find Verde."

Fon turns to look at him then, it's amusing to Reborn that the Storm he's never seen as anything other then completely placid has a sharp grin on his face, one that's much more reminiscent of his nephew Kouya before a good hunt.

"You have to stall him, Reborn. I don't care how you do it. Grab him, annoy him, fight him. I don't care which, but stall him." Fon doesn't wait for a response, just leaves the room.

Hmph. Fortunately for him, Reborn was already planning to grab Skull, waiting for the others wouldn't be that much of a hardship. If they were too slow to catch up that was their problem. Reborn made his own way out from the door opposite the one Fon left through. It was closest to the street and he'd be able to take to the rooftops once he got into the open.

He knew where Via dei Calzaiuoli street was, and with the way Verde was panting they were probably taking the long way up. If Skull was smart he would try to get lost in the crush of people once they hit the main pathway with all the tourists. He was probably in disguise, if he'd been able to stay so close to one of their bases and have none of them know. It was most likely a very good disguise, one that wouldn't be easily seen through if none of them had before.

So he would have to look for Verde before he looked for Skull. It wouldn't be hard to track who Verde was tracking if they were both running through the streets like mad men.

He scanned the streets below him while he waited, all very normal so far. There was a mother with her child, a young couple being sickeningly cute, a green haired child staggering around a corner, hand wrapped around a phone.

Ah. He'd found Verde then.

A shrill shriek echoed in the air from his pocket. Slipping his hand into his slacks he answered without looking away from the streets below.

"Did anyone else know Skull knew how to do parkour?! Am I the only one who didn't know that idiot could grapple over a 7 foot shear wall!"

Skull could do that? They really didn't know anything about their Cloud, did they? In all the years they'd all been together he'd never known Skull to be able to do anything physical. (But of course he could. He's a stuntman. Why had they never realized?)

"We were running and he just grabbed something and was gone! 7 feet! Over a wall!"

From Reborn's position above Verde, he could see the Scientist was now laying on the floor, panting. People were starting to look over, worried.

If Skull had climbed up then he'd probably still be on the roofs. He couldn't have known Verde had called them yet, and with how panicked he'd be, Skull (hopefully) wouldn't be thinking straight.

"Are you even listening to me?!" Verde's voice over the receiver was shrill in a way only he and Skull could get at times.

"Not really." Reborn ignored the offended yelling coming from his phone and zeroed in on a flash of movement in the distance. A small, plain looking kid was crawling over the rooftops, he was trying to stay low to the ground but with the speed he was using it wasn't working all that well.

A sharp smirk filled his face as he watched the kid stop and rest. If Skull wasn't using his Cloud Flames, (which he couldn't because of how close they were to civilians) then he would be just as tired as Verde was.

"Gotcha."

The ranting over the phone came to an automatic halt. Before Verde could either start up again or ask if he'd found Skull, Reborn ended the call.

Now to catch him before Skull noticed he wasn't the only one using the roofs.

•••

Skull slammed back first into the wall, Reborn's hands shackled around his wrists. Goddamnit, this was not what he wanted when he'd gotten the call that Skull had been sighted. But the rush of finally seeing the other, even disguised as he was, after weeks of searching was heady.

The last glimpse he'd gotten of Skull, before everything had gone to hell had been of the idiots back, that stupidly vibrant purple hair slick with sweat from their flight away from Byakuran's army. Seeing it brown now was disconcerting in a way that raised his hackles but it was the trepidation in those eyes that almost allowed Skull the split second opening to jerk out of his hold.

But he wasn't called one of the Worlds Best for nothing, if Skull thought he'd be letting him go so soon after all the effort they put into catching him, he was delusional.

Reborn always got what he wanted.

And what he wanted right now, more than anything was answers. Answers to why Skull would die for them, why he would even care enough to die for them, why he didn't come back (where they really that terrible?) just why.

(And if he got to look into those expressive eyes, no matter that they seemed determined to challenge all of his pre-assumed thoughts and feelings, no one but him could tell. Eyes he had never realized he would miss so desperately once they were gone forever)

He had to take this cautiously, Skull was always skittish but after having been run into the ground he would be especially willing to fight back, now that he was cornered.

"Where the hell have you been?" That.. had not been what he'd planned to say. Judging by the wide eyed stillness Skull had fallen into, He hadn't been expecting it either.

"What?" Skulls voice was incredulous.

This was fine, they would start here then. Reborn dug Skulls wrists into the brick behind him, the alleyway he'd caught him in wasn't the best place for this conversation but he knew if he tried to shift them somewhere else Skull would run or some concerned bystander would wonder what the two preteens were doing. Here at least they had some small amount of privacy.

"I said." He had to be calm, he couldn't blow up at Skull. Not right now. Not ever again. "Where the hell have you been."

But Skull still looked confused, he'd stopped wiggling around thankfully, puberty had started being a bitch to all of them so it was appreciated, but instead he'd taken to glancing to the sides of both of them. For help or because he was worried about being caught Reborn couldn't tell.

"I… around? I guess?" Skulls breath caught and he squeezed in on himself when he caught Reborn's unimpressed expression. "I don't know what you want me to say!"

After that blurted out confession(?) he had to internally calm himself so that he didn't fucking smack Skull for such idiotic reasoning!

"I want you to tell me what you've been thinking running from us, Lackey!

Fuck. That's not what he meant to say either.

Now Skulls face was closing in on itself, (no no no) his shoulders were straightening and his eyes had gone from vaguely weary to pissed in seconds.

"Get. The FUCK. Off. Of. ME!" Skull shoved Reborn as hard as he could away from him, away from this tiny little ally they were in, his face a conflicting mask of anger and desperation. "I don't know why the fuck you even keep doing this!" His eyes were wild, the purple a glowing toxic color. "I'm done! I'm so fucking done! I'm done with you, I'm done with the Arcobaleno, and I'm fucking DONE being your punching bag!"

Skull was almost growling at him, all bristled up like a cat that had been pet against the grain. (Like something terrified, some animal trying to intimidate a bigger predator)

He could see that Skull wouldn't be backing down this time. He'd hit his edge of tolerance and Reborn had pushed him off over the side of it.

But.. Reborn couldn't fight him. Couldn't even imaginewrapping his hands around that pale neck like he would have at one point. Didn't want to paint that skin in a color that would match Skulls hair. He couldn't, wouldn'timagine it.

But what else could he do? He'd never actually talked with Skull before. All their interactions before were violent. Senpai to Lackey.

How was he supposed to do this…?