I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn!
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"So... come here often?" Yo blinks a few times as he jerks his head up to find someone he recalls from school. The book almost closing as he stares at the son of the local Sushi Restaurant owner, who left to join the junior sports scene, one of many actually.
"Ah... Is that a pick up line?" He asks the maybe seventeen year old curiously. This seems to cause the other to blink before thinking it over with a slight silly grin, replying, "You know, it likely is but that's not how I meant it, though."
"Oh." He relaxes slightly before glancing around the rest of the library. "Sometimes, I try to make it here at least once a month." Yo admits.
"Cool." Silence kind of hangs between them, even about seven years since he picked his gender, he's still not too sure when it comes to social interactions as he's unsure of how his Sky Flames could affect those around him, never mind that his Focus Skills, with the exception of his Flame Skills, change month to month due to his Life Profession being Wild Surge. At times, he doesn't even have a Social Skill marked, but this month, he's got two Social Skills, Lying and Persuasion.
"Toboe Yo." He introduces himself finally and the other seems slightly startled before doing the same, "Yamamoto Takeshi." Then the other seems to have decided on something and pulls out a chair to sit down at the table.
"Toboe?" Takeshi inquires with a slight hint of amusement. "Yes, I know what it translates into and yes, it's really my Last Name." The sixteen year old, soon to be seventeen year old next month, states with a slight sigh of defeat. Seriously, he only has himself to blame for picking that as his Last name and it's long since pass annoying when people keep asking to see if that's really his Last Name.
Only two commonly known ways to change it, it's by marrying someone and taking their Last Name or by getting removed from the Family Registry. He doesn't recall his former parent or parents Registering him into the Family Registry, so that closed that route nor is he dating anyone seriously at the moment so... Yea, there's no chance of that happening anytime soon.
"So... what's keeping you here in Namimori? I mean, I've asked around... Ah, not that I was stalking you or anything, it's just... You don't seem to have an Apprenticeship." Takeshi remarks, adjusting his sling that sports the case that's covering his broken arm.
Yea, I guess it's kind of weird... Namimori isn't that big of a City, so no real influx of Apprentice hopefuls migrating here. "I'm kind of a permanent house guest slash sparing partner of Hibari Kyoya." He admits and there's a flicker of something in Takeshi's eyes at the mention of his Cloud.
"Sparing partner?" Takeshi muses with a slight draw on the word partner and he blinks before snorting. "Mind out of the gutter, I know he's not interested in men." Not after That Incident.
"Sure, are we?" The Athlete muses with a slight mischievous look upon his face and alit in Takeshi's hazel eyes. "Yes." He states in a flat tone, after all, catching the likely tail end of Kyoya's masturbation That One Time...
Takeshi opens his mouth before closing it, eyes going slightly wide at realizing just how sure he is of that fact. "It's just... No offense or anything, it's just, I seem to recall how he isn't a people person so the idea of him allowing someone to actually live with him is..." The seventeen year old trails off and he nods, knowing what the other is trying to convey. It's not like he's wrong... After all, if I wasn't Kyoya's Sky, I believe I would have found myself needing a new place to live a long time ago.
"He's grandfather likes me." He states simply and that's true. Fon has long since Harmonized with his Sky Flames and the Bond often does lean into the Storm Guardian slot, but him being the Storm Arcobaleno, it keeps him from taking the slot of his Storm Guardian.
"And that's enough for Hibari-san?" Takeshi asks and he chuckles a bit. "Well, it helps that Kyoya likes having me around as someone who can keep up with him in a spar and me living with him just makes it easier for him to ensure I'm safe afterwards."
"You guys must go through a lot of First Aid Kits." Muses Takeshi and he merely hums, they did, once, it hasn't become a problem since Kyoya finally gave in and picked Regeneration as a Flame Perk before also taking Battle Regeneration which actually allows Kyoya to heal during Combat, he picked that as his seventh Flame Perk when he managed to earn it. His sixth earned Flame Perk was used to make all his Flame Skills into Profession Skills, meaning they aren't affected by his random Skill switching from month to month.
"So... how long are you in Namimori for?" He asks curiously, he almost asked when the cast was coming off but decided against it. After all, it's likely a sore point for the Athlete.
There is a slight lowering of the corners of Takeshi's lips before the other seems to recover from the question. "Oh, likely when my physiotherapy is done." The other states and he can't help but wonder why Takeshi needs to go through physiotherapy.
"What sport?" Yo asks curiously and there's a slight blink of surprise before that smile becomes a bit more natural. "Ah, baseball is my favorite... You have a favorite?"
"Nope." Kind of hard to get into team sports when your classmates consider you to be part of the background. He mentally reflected. "My parents never cared if I was interested in sports or not." Not a lie, after all, his so called father was never around while his former mother likely wouldn't have been thrilled to have her 'daughter' wanted to try to join a sports team instead of some other activity that would prepare 'her' for marriage.
"Well, what games did you like when you had gym?" Takeshi asks curiously and he does his best not to sigh at the question. He really didn't like remembering his childhood. "Let's just go with the fact that I was something of a wall flower in school and nobody really noticed my involvement in gym class."
"Where did you grow up?" Takeshi asks and he couldn't help but grimace at the question. "So... which sport did you end up in?" He changes the topic and Takeshi looks like he would rather continue on with the previous line of inquiry but seems to think better of it.
"I ended up in the junior league for basketball." Takeshi admits with a slight sigh. "The Kyoto Blue Dragon team at first, I was at their training camp for two years before managing to get on their reserve list. Got traded to the Hakodate's Jade Spears after playing for the Blue Dragon team for two years. Spent a year with them before getting moved into the journeyman's league, team Garden's Shade. I was playing for them when..."
He can't help but be rather impressed that Takeshi managed to graduate that early into the journeyman's league. Usually people get to that point by age seventeen through nineteen, it really depends on the Profession. "Journeyman Athlete at sixteen, that's impressive." Yo states and Takeshi seems to wave it off.
"Anyone with enough drive could achieve the same results." Takeshi states modestly. "Perhaps but the fact you did it in basketball instead of baseball shows you got the right work ethic." He points out. "Not many could say the same in that kind of position."
"Hahaha... Yea, I guess so." Takeshi admits with hints of a more natural look to his face. "So... What book were you reading?"
"This? It's an old fantasy novel by Vincent F. Drake. The Great Flow is the title." He holds the book up, allowing other to get a look at the cover.
"Is it any good?" Takeshi asks and he replies, "Well, that depends on what your interests are when it comes to reading. It's got a lot of dry made up history but that's to be expected, given that the main character is a Priest and is more collecting information for the first act of the book at least, it gets more into action with the second act, I'm nearing the end of the second act actually."
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I can't believe I have to put up with these herbivores. He thinks to himself as he marches the group towards shunned scattered-brained ewe's home as the ewe's ram forgot to give the three directions to said corral. It's a toss up whether the Sun Arcobaleno knows and is pretending not to as to mess with him or none of the three herbivores had the nerve to actually ask to see if the man knows so resorted to asking him to be their guide to said corral.
He is tempted to warn the three off from his Sky but given the likely reason why they are visiting this particular ewe, it's best to let them discover for themselves that their mission of escorting the 'bride' to 'her' intended wasn't going to happen. After all, there's no legal documentation of a Sawada Tsu-chan beyond a Birth Certificate nor did the scattered-brain ewe think to update the Family Registry once her former child supposedly underwent the Ritual. Said Tsu-chan's School Records have likely been destroyed as there wasn't a file for said person within the Hall of Records, no point in keeping around a bunch of useless papers when there isn't anyone living using said name. Only reason the Birth Certificate still exists is due to copies of it being in the files of Sawada Iemitsu and Sawada Nana.
"The scattered-brain ewe lives in that corral." Kyoya states upon stopping before the gate of said ewe's house. He smirks in a very predatory fashion as he states his final words, "Bother me about this issue from now on and I will bite you to death."
With that, he crosses the street and begins to resume his patrol of his Territory, yes, he's using his Mist to help inform him of disturbances and will mark offenders within it by their crimes, but there's just something soothing about doing it physically himself. Never mind the reactions he invokes in those thinking of disturbing the peace within his Territory, oh yes, there's still something to be had by patrolling Namimori in a very physical sense.
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"Bite us to death? Doesn't that fucking know which Sect we belong to?" Aden Benoit, the Sun prospect, growls in his slight accent being a touch more thick.
"He's a god damn fucking Classic Cloud, what do you expect?" Snaps Hayato Gokuderu, the Storm prospect, although given the number of Flames in his possession, even if the smoker doesn't ended up the maybe Sky's Storm, he'll find a slot in one of the other Elements.
Stella Goodwin, the Lightning prospect, doesn't pipe in, but then, that's likely due to the training those with Lightning Primaries go through the moment they are found or Wake their Flames. Iemitsu had wanted the young Lambo Bovino due to the child's looks but the brat is far too young to Wake his Flames let alone them being certain that he's a Lightning. Not hat it hadn't stopped the idiot from setting up a Contract with the Bovine family anyways, likely a bribe for his 'princess' to have a younger child to cuddle and practice being a mother to.
Not that it matters to him, he's merely here to apply the needed conditions to get the 'princess' to Wake her Flames if she's capable of Waking them and then to prepare her for her future as a Don's Wife as she's set to marry Timoteo's adopted son so that Xanxus can inherit that part of the Tri-Ni-Set which will allow him to take over as leader of the Vongola Sect. He pays the pair of young adults little mind as he considers the description of that idiot's wife that the Cloud used and wonders figures that he's got his work cut out for him already. Let's get this over with.
With that, Reborn opens the gate and walks up the path that leads to the house, the two teens silent now while Stella follows in their wake. Knocking on the door, it takes a few seconds before he gets his first glimpse of Nana Sawada as she opens the door, who blinks at the sight of him and then at the other three. "Oh my, how can I help you?" Nana asks.
"We're here on your husband's behalf to speak with your daughter." He tells her and she is very much like a sheep that the Cloud compared her too as it's clear that she's not all there it seems. "Daughter? Did we... I don't recall..."
And with that, he gets this sense of foreboding that Iemitsu and Timoteo's plans concerning the Vongola Sect's future aren't going to happen. After all, the last time he's encountered this kind of forgetting, it's due to a child Fading from Life. The question now is, who found the body to confirm the passing of the child and whether he'll be the one to kill this scattered-brain ewe or leave that to the neighbors to deal with.
"How could she forget her own damn daughter?" Aden wonders only for Hayato to jab the Sun in the ribs, giving the other a Look while Stella seems to go ram rod straight, clearly alert now that there's serious tension in the air. "Oh..." Aden trails off as it finally dawns on him what this means.
"Of course I would remember my own daughter." States the soon to need a body bag ewe. Thankfully, it's yet to dawn on the ewe about her current situation.
"May we come in?" He asks. "It's been such a long trip and I'm sure you'll want to hear what your husband has been up to since you last saw him."
"Why, of course!" The ewe opens the door wide and they all enter into the building, with a look, Stella knows to slip away and check the upper floors. "What kind of drinks do you prefer?" Hayato closes the front door a little too forcefully but then, it's highly understandable.
+ x - = | = - x +
"Well, the good news, the child isn't Faded." Viper informs him and Reborn lets out a soft sigh, at least the parents' actions didn't result in the death of an innocent. "The bad news is, they must have changed their Last Name and, well, you're likely looking for a young man, not a young woman."
He kind of figured as much the moment his fellow Arcobaleno mentioned the kid wasn't Faded. "So, not only is there not going to be a bride for your boss but the Vongola Sect can't claim the boy as he severed all ties with his parents." Lovely. Reborn pretty much states the obvious. So much for counting your chickens before they hatch.
"Indeed." Viper states and he knows there's a tiny smirk upon Viper's face. "If that is all..."
"That is all, my thanks Viper, I will pay the bill once I have returned." He states and with that, the illusion floating over the mirror fades. The surface of the mirror is now dull and it'll be a week before the Enchantment upon the mirror is charged for use.
Well, this was a big waste of time, but then, watching that idiot try and wiggle out of this situation might break even. He muses as he puts the mirror away. Leon appears near the front brim of his fedora, he scratches under the chameleon's chin before getting up from the chair to inform the others of the news.
"We will be booking our trip back tomorrow morning and hopefully, we'll be out of Namimori by evening." He tells the three. "Leave the ewe alive, the boy's alive so there's no vengeance to enact."
"Wait, boy?!" Aden and Hayato exclaim. He gives the pair a blank look before explaining, "It's the usual reason a child puts off the Ritual, the pressure to pick the 'right' gender can be suffocating and I'm sure you both can figure it out from there."
"But... shouldn't we find him then? I mean, that makes him the son of the External Advisor, which makes him Vongola." Aden asks and it's clear Hayato is of the same mind. Again, the pair show their age and lack of experience.
"He's already rejected the last ties to his parents, thus, he's not Vongola." He states simply. "So he's a runaway, big deal! We find the brat anyway." Hayato snaps.
"Oh? So we should turn you over to the Bocchino family?" He comments and Hayato stiffens, after all, the former Freelance Flame Novice had scrimped and saved to afford one of the few Items that would allow him to change his Name to something that would honor his mother. It hadn't just been the Last Name that got changed but also the First Name, which had been Henry according to Dr Shamal.
Hayato glowers at him but looks away while Aden and Stella look at the young Storm like they were just seeing him for the first time. "At least he's alive." Stella mutters softly and he agrees with that sentiment, at least the young man in question is alive, that's pretty much the only good that could come from this case of semi-Fading.
I wonder who'd be the one to kill that idiot if the child had been Faded? I doubt Timoteo would have the guts to do it. He reflects, this whole case very much caused his respect for the current leader of the Vongola Sect to go down more then a dozen pegs. After all, given how important this betrothal had been to the elderly Sky, better tabs should have been placed upon the ewe and the child.
At least none of them suggested we find a gender switching Item and hunt the boy down to apply it to him. He admits as they slowly drift off to different parts within the house. He doubts he'd resist maiming the one who suggested that course of action.
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"No." Reborn states simple and in a frank tone. "I fulfilled the terms of my previous contract to the word, I will be paid now and do my best to forget your ever suggested That." He states as he sends a dark, threatening look at the blond idiot before looking once more at the older Sky User.
"I see." Timoteo states with a hint of sadness plus slight disappointment, but it only firms up his Resolve to wash his hands of this matter. After all, the very fact that it's clear that Timoteo is clearly considering that immortal course of action that the blond idiot is suggesting proves that the Vongola Sect is very much a sinking ship right now and one that he plans to disassociate with in the future as long as Timoteo is the Don of it.
He does walk out of the office with his money and Reborn heads off, Fon's in the city, left sent a letter about meeting up for supper at one of the restaurants that serves some 'proper' meals in Fon's 'humble' opinion. There's no date but it's implied that Fon will likely be hanging out at said restaurant every evening about supper. So, it's not long before he spies Fon at a booth in a quiet corner.
"Fon." He states to the Storm who's wearing the so called 'Pacifier' so openly. Sliding into the seat across from the calm Storm User upon hearing Fon greet him, "Reborn."
"Your grandson is very blunt." He states. "Called the blond idiot of an External Advisor a ram while the wife a scattered-brain ewe."
After all, this is likely the reason why Fon's even here to begin with, likely to check up on him after his visit to Namimori. "Well, it suits her to a T don't you think?" The Storm remarks and he hums in agreement.
"So, why check on the wife and... 'daughter' now of all times?" Fon inquires after they put in their order, which he is sad to say is also just an order of tea for him. It wasn't surprising that Fon knew of that particular situation.
"Xanxus is the adopted son of Timoteo but he's the most qualified to take over as Don." He states simply and Fon's face darkens with a hint of crimson moving to eclipse the usual color before the Storm calms himself down. That shakens him slightly, after all, his fellow Arcobaleno is known to be the Eye of the Storm so it's clear that Fon did see what the plan had been.
"I doubt they'll give up so easily." Fon remarks with a hint of sourness and he can't help but ask, "Why do you care?"
"I Harmonized with said Sky." Fon states simply after a sometime and he finds himself at a loss for words while his mind is suddenly bursting with the question of How? When? What's it like?
"If not for being an Arcobleno, I would be his Storm Guardian, but as it is, there are times when it clicks just so, even if it unclicks a while later." The Storm admits in an honest way, continuing to explain, as though the Storm read his mind. "My grandson is the one to find him and under two years, Woke his Flames and Harmonized to become his Cloud Guardian."
He's not sure what it says about this Sky that he not only attracted the interest of two members of the same family, but also Harmonized with both and capable of gaining the two as Guardians, even if it doesn't stick with Fon. "No Courting?" He inquires and Fon snorts, "Freshly Woke when Kyoya found him, I ended up being the one to explain things a year after he Woke his Flames."
"Mist secondary?" Reborn notes after their food arrives. Fon merely hums a positive, after all, he had meet the young Hibari. Lovely, a Misty Cloud... Then he can't help but chuckle in dark amusement as he recalls the course of action a certain blond idiot is likely going to pursue.
"Care to share?" Fon inquires and he sobers up after a few seconds. "Well, let's just say that the Vongola Don and their External Advisor plan to pursue the ultimate immortal course of action in regards to your Sky."
The Storm Acrobaleno takes a moment to study him, clearly not believing the pair would be that stupid as to do what he's implying, particularly as it's Wrong on so many levels, crossing the ultimate line as it were. "If this marriage is so important then perhaps Sawada should take one for their Sect for clearly, that man puts the interests of his Sect above all, why not his manhood? It's not like that man cares about his wife beyond producing a child to fulfill this union." Fon states with a clearly dark frown and an oozing tone.
"Well, whatever you decide, see that you are sure to involve an Oath Knight of Vindice as a witness to the interrogation. I'm sure that all the Sects will love to hear how desperate the current Don of the Vongola Sect is and how unfit he is to continue leading the Sect." Reborn remarks, after all, the Vongola Sect is famous as the only Sect to continue to possess the Vongola Rings of the Tri-Ni-Set while the Mare Rings have changed Sects time and time again through a special Ritual while the Acrobaleno 'Pacifiers' are typically monitored by the Gigilio Nero Sect. It's said that as long as the blood of either the Legendary Founder of the Sect, Giotto or his successor, likely his cousin, who records claim to be born to the name Richard or something similar, only he's more known as Don Secondo, at one time the Sect did use numbers instead of their First Name when the became Don but that discontinued after the passing of Don Ventinove, leads the Vongola Sect, the rings will continue to bring prosperity to the Vongola Sect and that the moment the line of succession is disrupted, it will spell the ruin of the Sect.
"Hmm, good point." Fon agrees and they turn the topic a few minutes later.
To Be Continued . . .