Chapter Three: The Cloud Ring and A Private Meeting

"The baseball field!" Takeshi gasped, dashing ahead of the group. "They set it up here?" Said field had been transformed into a circular enclosure with barbed wires and turrets. He stopped several feet behind the wire, looking somewhere between excited and upset. "How come my match wasn't on the baseball field?"

Tsuna snorted at his friend's tone. Joining him at a safe(ish) distance from the ring, he said, "I guess someone wanted to throw a shark into your match more than they wanted to have you fight with guns pointing at you."

Hayato, at his other side, muttered, "Because boobytrapping the fighting ring is a necessary complication."

Tsuna gave him an amused glance. Hayato had been quieter ever since their conversation last night, but he hadn't pulled away. He looked more stubborn than afraid, now, and Tsuna was confident his friend would stay at his side. "When does the mafia make anything less complicated on purpose?"

Ryouhei laughed brightly at that. He had brought another bag with him, presumably once more full of chilled bottles of blood for any thirsty ghouls. Chrome already toyed with the lid of hers, her shortened trident tucked into the crook of her elbow like a beloved child. She gave Tsuna a smile when he looked to her. Hovering nearby her was Chikusa and Ken, protective and curious over the whole ordeal.

"Aw," Takeshi said suddenly, "Hibari-san's opponent isn't human."

Looking in the field it was clear to see Hibari's opponent. "What is that?" Tsuna asked, frowning at the enormous machine. He shifted his shoulder a second before Reborn settled on it, tucking one knee under the other and twisting his small hand in Tsuna's hair for stability.

"It's called a Mosca," Reborn said, "Gola Mosca. A robot assassin utilized by the Varia."

"Mm," Tsuna frowned. He looked at the machine, large even from the distance he was at, and imposing because of its size. "You can have a robot be a guardian? A cloud guardian? Isn't the point of a cloud to be independent of the center and be able to protect the sky and the main family from the outside?"

"Yes. That is one of the functions of a cloud."

Tsuna chewed on the inside of his cheek thoughtfully as the Cervello woman declared the battle to start after declaring that there were mines as well as gatling guns in the field. The ring sounded more like a battlefield than any of the other sets so far, but considering how both the Varia and Cervello knew Hibari's ghoul status, Tsuna wasn't too surprised. A smirk tugged at his lips, though, as he thought the same kind of measures would be taken if Hibari had been a human.

One look to the Varia told him that, despite the fact that Xanxus had dragged along his gaudy chair to lounge in, this match was serious. Xanxus kept one hand at his side, no matter how he shifted. Considering his weapons were guns, Tsuna assumed that Xanxus was keeping them close at hand in case anything happened.

After hearing Reborn talk about Italian ghouls the night before, Tsuna wasn't all that surprised.

What was surprising was the ease in Squalo's posture next to his boss. Gone were the tightly folded arms over his chest from the Mist ring battle. He had one hand on his hip, the other resting casually on the back of Xanxus's chair. Takeshi waved to his boyfriend and got a dismissive head toss in return. Tsuna rolled his eyes at the exchange.

Hibari, tonfas out, approached Mosca with his steps confident. Tsuna gave him his full attention, smiling easily now. Robot or not, he hoped Mosca gave Hibari something interesting to chew on. An unsatisfied Hibari tended to lash out and Tsuna's battle was next. He didn't want to strain himself too much by stepping in as Hibari's stress relief before he fought with Xanxus.

Mosca took off the ground with smoke and fire, barrelling towards Hibari with his hand outstretched. Rockets exploded from his gunbarrel fingertips and flew at Hibari. Tsuna lifted his hand against the ensuing smoke and spray of dirt as each rocket went wild.

Hibari, without seeming to stop his casual stride, ended up on the other side of Mosca, his jacket rippling in the backlash of wind as Mosca landed in the dirt, one arm torn off and sparking and the head split. Without a word, Hibari snapped the two ring halves together. He turned towards the Cervello women, hand outstretched, and opened his mouth to speak.

Whatever he was about to say never came out. The wind shifted at that moment, bringing the smoke that rose from Mosca drifting towards Hibari. His expression went from flat and bored to ghoulish in a second.

Hayato jumped at Tsuna's side. Tsuna put his hand on his friend's arm, squeezing it to remind him that he wasn't alone. Hayato grabbed him in return, panting softly. "Fuck."

Hibari's nostrils flared. His red eyes focused on Mosca's collapsed body. A little smile played at his lips as he curled his hand around the ring and dropped it into his pocket.

"What is it?" Takeshi asked, "What does he smell?" He was taking in deep breaths, scenting the air eagerly. The wind blew in the wrong direction, though, and they couldn't smell what Hibari could.

Not that Tsuna needed to in order to know what that expression meant on Hibari's face. There was blood in the air and he was hungry.

Tsuna glanced to Xanxus again. The man sat forward in his chair, eyes widening as Hibari approached the robot. He looked tense from shoulder to foot, coiled like a spring about to bounce up into action.

"Fuck!" Hayato suddenly shouted. He immediately clapped a hand over his mouth to stifle himself as Tsuna looked back to the fight.

Hibari's bikaku swept low behind him, the twin tails jagged like the spike addition to his tonfas. As he approached the robot, the red organs flashed forward. They struck like snakes, cutting off the head and limbs of the robot. Hibari's eyes gleamed as he climbed onto the dismembered robot and dug his fingers into the center of its chest.

Metal groaned and snapped under his ghoulish strength. It peeled back like the skin of an orange, bending under Hibari's hand and, occasionally, his boot. When he'd made a big enough hole, Hibari crouched down and stuck his head and shoulders inside.

"He's-," Hayato whispered, "He's eating. Isn't he."

"He won," Takeshi said like that explained everything. If you understood Hibari, the way that Takeshi sometimes did and the way Tsuna often did, it would.

There was a low growling sound that made Hayato step closer to Tsuna. Glancing over his shoulder, Tsuna saw Chrome staring with rapt attention at the robot and Hibari's body crouched on top of it.

"Yes," Tsuna said gently, "He is eating."

"Is that… Can he do that?"

"Not only are we in Namimori," Tsuna said, "But we're on school grounds. This is the heart of Hibari's territory so yeah. He can."

Hibari drew back slowly with blood on his face that he wiped off with one sleeve. Standing up, he gave a dismissive glance to the Varia, pronouncing his judgement, "Those who do damage to Namimori's grounds will be bitten to death."

He jumped down off the robot and walked towards the edge of the arena. His bikaku receded as he walked and his eyes returned to their human appearance. With a flick of his wrist, Hibari tossed the ring at Tsuna. "I have no need of this."

Tsuna caught it with both hands. "Hibari-san," he began but his voice faded off as he saw Hibari had already turned his back on him. He was looking at the Varia again, tonfas in hand.

"We won?" Hayato whispered.

"Shit," Tsuna hissed, focused on Hibari. He ran towards the ring. "Hibari-san, wait."

"I am going to bite the monkey boss to death," Hibari declared, not taking his eyes off of Xanxus. "I will not leave until then."

"Xanxus is my prey," Tsuna told him. "You can't have him."

Hibari rounded on Tsuna. "You claimed him?"

"Yes." Tsuna said without hesitation. "Xanxus is mine."

They stared at each other, Hibari's eyes black and red, Tsuna's white and brown. "Witnesses?"

Tsuna glanced to Takeshi. But he shrugged and said, "I called my dibs on Squalo. I didn't hear you call any on Xanxus."

Hibari looked to Ryouhei, who rubbed the back of his head, "We didn't hear any claim either." Chrome shook her head beside him.

Tsuna clenched his hands into fists. "I'm calling him now, then. Xanxus is mine."

Hibari lifted his chin, his mouth falling open. He was panting. Tsuna licked his lips nervously. "Then I challenge you for him." That was all he got as a warning before Hibari lunged for him.

"Fuck," Squalo took a step forward, "Fuck, Xanxus, this is bad."

On the other side of the cloud arena, the ghoul cloud guardian had lost his mind and attacked Sawada. His bikaku flashed red, slashing through the air in tandem to the rest of his body. Sawada ducked and dodged and deflected different attacks with flame and his gloves, but hadn't gotten a strike in yet.

"You don't fucking say," Xanxus snarled, rising out of his chair. "Isn't that the ghoul you say runs this fucking town?"

"Yeah," Squalo nodded. "That's what I was told, anyway."

"Fuck," Xanxus spat. "What got him started on Sawada? Goddamn it, they won didn't they? What's this about?"

"The ghouls in this town are pretty fucked up, aren't they?" Bel asked, grinning. "What's gonna happen if that one takes out the heir? Won't that make the Boss the Decimo by default?"

Xanxus grit his teeth. He hadn't wanted any of this to fucking begin with. If Iemitsu hadn't opposed Nono's decision-

"Hey Squalo! And everyone else. Mind if we hang out over here?" Yamamoto was trotting over to their side of the field. He held onto the arm of the storm guardian and the others were trailing behind him. Even Reborn was following, although, from his perch on the sun's shoulder, he could still watch the fight between the other two.

"Voi!" Squalo shouted, "What the fuck is going on between your boss and cloud? Didn't that damn ghoul just fucking eat? Why is he attacking Sawada?"

"There was a claim dispute," Yamamoto said. "Hibari said he wanted to fight Xanxus and Tsuna said that he couldn't because he'd claimed Xanxus. But he didn't actually claim him until after Hibari had called it out."

"...claim dispute?" Xanxus asked, looking to Squalo. His right hand had spent an evening in the company of Namimori ghouls specifically to understand their insanity so he expected him to know something.

Squalo bit his lip and then muttered, "It's a part of the Namimori hunting rules and regulations. A ghoul can lay claim to any human in Namimori for whatever purpose they want, designating that human as under their protection for their use. A dispute over a claim means the two ghouls have to fight over the rights to the human."

Xanxus's stomach churned at those words. He swallowed, hard. His gaze flicked away from Squalo to the two teenagers fighting over him. "But Sawada isn't a ghoul… I've met his parents. He's not a ghoul."

Gokudera, perhaps the only sane one of Sawada's guardians, sank down to the ground and put his head between his knees. "Oh my god," he moaned out.

"You're remembering wrong," Yamamoto said, crossly. He walked right up to Squalo and poked him in the chest, "You're saying it like ghouls take humans as food slaves or something, Squalo. That rule only applies like that to those who come from outside Namimori and have been determined already to be destructive to the town. You and Xanxus and the rest of the Varia falls under that category because you've destroyed town property and you're foreign."

Abruptly, he turned to gesture to the crouching Gokudera, "Someone like Gokudera, who's a resident here and hasn't done damage to Namimori, can't just be claimed like that. He could have a ghoul be his protector without his consent, but he can't have his body rights taken from him." He folded his arms across his chest and looked to Xanxus, frowning, "Consent is important. A ghoul can call dibs all they want to a Namimori resident, but if the human doesn't consent, it's only a protector's clause. That ghoul can't eat that human or harm them without being considered a criminal and getting charged for it."

"You're missing the point entirely, kid," Squalo said sharply. He grabbed Yamamoto by the shoulder and turned him back to yell at him properly, "They can't fight over the boss because Sawada isn't a fucking ghoul. His father and mother are human."

There was a series of explosions that caught their attention. Half of the cloud field's mines had gone off. Dirt and dust filled the air in a cloud. Wind swept it across the ground towards them and Xanxus lifted his arm to block out the worst of it. Through the haze he saw two bodies standing, the ghoul with his bikaku still extended standing on a piece of Mosca's broken body and Sawada down to one knee on the other side of the barbed wire fence.

The dust cleared slowly and Xanxus could see blood down the side of Sawada's face and dampening a patch on his shirt. The boy's gloves blazed with orange flames and his expression was wholly serious as he regarded the cloud guardian, Hibari.

"This is so fucked up," Xanxus whispered. He hadn't come to Namimori for this. Hell, he hadn't wanted to come here at all. "They're going to kill each other over nothing."

"You're not nothing," Yamamoto said, giving Xanxus a strange, half lidded look. "I see what Tsuna meant by you being sweet. I don't have as good a nose as him or Hibari, but up close, I can smell it too."

Xanxus stared at him. "...the fuck?"

Yamamoto gave a broad smile and stepped closer to Squalo, patting him on the chest with his palm, "My type is much more like this guy here. He smells like metal and salt. But you're sweet smelling, Xanxus. Like a sweet meat. Tsuna and Hibari have similar palates, so that's why they're both interested in you." He reached up for a lock of Squalo's hair and got his hand swatted away. "Aw, c'mon, we're dating Squalo, lemme touch your hair."

"Fuck you," Squalo snarled, "Can't you take this seriously? Your friends are killing each other!"

Gokudera laughed shakily from where he sat on the ground, "Good fucking luck getting him to be serious!"

Xanxus looked at the clearly traumatized kid and then up at the ghoul teen who was sheepishly shaking his slapped hand. "...Fuck. I have to stop them, don't I."

"I would not!" the sun guardian suddenly said. "That would be an extremely bad idea! It is best to let them fight it out until Hibari is tired! That is the only way to curb his extreme anger. Believe me, I've fought him many times until he got bored and that is the best option here."

"...and how long will that take?" Xanxus asked.

"Ah. A few hours?" the teen said. "I am unaware of how much energy Hibari still contains this evening. He looks like he is ready to fight to the extreme!"

"He was planning on a Hunt after Tsuna's battle," Yamamoto said, "So he's probably hungry too."

"Really?" Bel suddenly interjected, strolling over. He leaned into Yamamoto's space, grinning, "Even after he ripped open Gola Mosca and ate out its heart? You ghouls are hungry even after feeding?"

Yamamoto blinked at Bel, "Hello." He gave a sniff of the air, "Belphegor, right?"

"That's right. The prince is pleased that you remember his name." He laughed, "Are you going to answer the prince's question?"

"Hmm?" Yamamoto blinked again. Xanxus narrowed his gaze. Was the kid dazed by something? What the fuck? "Oh. Hibari didn't feed for very long on whoever was in the robot. He probably only ate enough to kill them. He's picky about his food." Yamamoto laughed, "Actually, a lot of us are pretty picky. We've all got different types, except for those two."

"Bel," Squalo shoved the young man back with a hand to his shoulder, "Fuck off."

"Aww, c'mon, can't the prince talk to your ghoul boyfriend? I want to know more about him!"

"I can't fucking believe I'm doing this," Xanxus said, interrupting their stupid banter. Watching the battle, he saw that Sawada was favoring a leg, now, and still was only keeping his fists up and defending himself. "That old fuck owes me big time for stopping this stupidity and saving his son's life."

He began to walk towards the fight, drawing his gun as he did.

"Hey!" Yamamoto called to his back, "Wait! You can't be going into the fight! That's against the rules!"

"Shut up," Xanxus snarled. "I only came to take the goddamn rings from this brat, not to get him killed by a fucking ghoul!"

"Don't do that!" Yamamoto shouted.

"Don't bother," Xanxus heard Squalo say, "You won't be able to stop the boss once he makes up his mind like that."

Xanxus's heart was pounding as he approached the two fighting.

No matter what those kids had said, he couldn't believe Sawada was a ghoul. He'd met with Iemitsu several times. The man was the external advisor to his father, after all, and attended plenty of Vongola functions where there was human food and drink available. The man was human, through and through, and everyone knew that a ghoul and a human couldn't have a child.

There were stories he'd heard as a kid, things he'd seen before Nono had taken him in, that proved to him that it was impossible. Either the infant would be absorbed or they would starve to death or the pregnancy would kill the mother. There were no other options. There was no way to have half a ghoul and half a human.

(But there was the girl, the girl named Chrome with one ghoul eye and Xanxus couldn't quite put her out of his head.)

Besides, Sawada fought like a human, without any kagune, and he was clearly injured while Hibari looked almost untouched. It was clear who had the upper hand and who was the ghoul.

Now that Sawada had won the majority of the ring battles and was the legitimate heir, Xanxus couldn't stand aside and let him be slaughtered by a ghoul, not even his own cloud. A guardian could be replaced, but Sawada was Nono's last hope, was Xanxus's only escape from becoming the leader of the Vongola.

The Varia was enough for him. Nono understood that. Xanxus understood that.

Hell, even Iemitsu understood that. It wasn't ambition that had brought Xanxus to Namimori. It wasn't some scrap of duty or sense of obligation to the Vongola, either.

No, Xanxus was much more petty than that.

It was the fact that Iemitsu had knelt in front of him, on the cold stone floor of his office in the Varia's fortress, and had wept, pleading with Xanxus to protect his precious, adorable son from the Mafia life.

"Tsuna's just a little boy, just a sweet child. He doesn't deserve to lose his childhood, his life, to this kind of existence. Please. Please. Become the Decimo and save my son. I'll get you anything you want in return."

Xanxus lifted his gun and lined up his shot to the back of the cloud guardian as he lunged for that sweet little Sawada boy. A cloud could be replaced, but not the Sawada boy. Not if Xanxus wanted Iemitsu to owe him one, owe him anything, for the rest of that miserable fool's undoubtedly short life.

His finger squeezed the trigger.

"Tonight's the cloud battle."

Timoteo's hand hesitated as he lifted his glass to his lips.

He and two of his guardians were in his office, each with a drink in hand. The sunlight was red as it dripped through the curtain of the western window. The normally yellow glow was bloody as it filled the room. Ominous. He didn't like how cold that red light was.

"It is." He finished lifting his glass and sipped the brandy inside. "Three to three, this is the deciding match."

"Xanxus is using his Mosca," Visconti said, looking up from the file that was balanced on his knee. Across the room sat Ganauche, silent still, with his feet up on the low coffee table and his eyes on the far wall. "Tsuna's cloud guardian is a year older than himself, a boy by the name of Hibari Kyouya."

"Mm," Timoteo reached for his bottle to add more to his drink.

"A kid against a Mosca?" Ganauche finally said, "A Varia Mosca?"

Timoteo said nothing. They all knew what a Mosca was capable of. It was a death machine. They used them all the time to scour the sewers clean of ghouls. One on one, they were incredible foes. No human boy would survive. Surely, the cloud match would land in Xanxus's favor and then, well.

"I never thought Sawada would be quite so selfish," Visconti muttered. "Does he think we want to leave the Vongola in the hands of a fourteen year old civilian raised boy?"

"You can't blame him for wanting to protect his family. It's what he's been doing for years, after all. They had no idea what he was until we sent Reborn to teach Tsuna." Ganauche drained his glass after he spoke. He rose slowly, sighing as he walked over to Timoteo's desk. The older man pushed the bottle towards him silently and Ganauche took it. He refilled his drink.

"Perhaps I can't blame him for having that desire," Visconti said, "But I can blame him for acting on it. He's put his personal wants above the good of the Vongola family."

When neither one of the other two men said a word, Visconti stood. "Because of him, civilian teenagers were pitted against trained, experienced assassins. Because of him, a five year old child was put in the hospital. If he wanted so much to keep his family safe, to keep his family out of this life, he went about it in the most selfish and stupid way. Namimori was completely unknown before this inheritance squabble.

"Iemitsu put Namimori on the map and he seems to have forgotten that it is not just humans that have an interest in Vongola dealings. Or did he simply not pay attention to why there is this need for an heir in the first place?"

Ganauche sipped his drink, leaning against the desk, facing Visconti. He glanced down to Timoteo out of the corner of his eye.

His aging boss rubbed at the bridge of his nose, his eyes shut. "If we cannot trust Iemitsu's judgement anymore, then we rely all the more on Reborn. He is the one who has spent the last few months with the boy, training him to take over as Decimo." He lowered his hands and looked up at his guardians, first Visconti and then Ganauche. Then, he turned to look at the blood red sky through the sheer curtains.

"If Reborn says that he's ready, then all we can do is wait and see." He chuckled dryly, with the barest hint of amusement, "Who knows? Maybe the boy's got something that can surprise even Xanxus."