Trigger: N/A
Warnings: N/A
Important Stuff:
Small OC Cheat Sheet
Spirits:
Zephyr -The wind spirit that Reborn met in the Spirit World.
Kamikawa - The origami spirit that Reborn exchanged information with.
Engetsu - Silver kitsune that Reborn met in the Spirit World. Knows Ayame.
Meishi - A green falcon that lives in the Sawada Household
Farran - the woman who challenged Fon
Ienari's Guardians:
Matsushita Hachirou - Ienari's best friend. Captain of the Judo Club. Lightning Guardian
Akemi Kaori - President of Ienari's fanclub. Black Hair, Purple Eyes. Sun Guardian
Kakusu Hideki - Former student council president, son of politician. Red Rimmed Glasses. Mist Guardian
Koujin Fuun - Ninja assassin. Dark purple hair, crimson eyes. Kunais as weapons. Cloud Guardian
Inmen Hisen - Mochida's cousin. Ienari's crush. Hime-cut black hair and ocean blue eyes. Rain Guardian
Mochida Kensuke* - Hisen's cousin, captain of kendo club. Storm Guardian
Others:
Hibari Koumei - Kyoya's Father. Interpol Agent.
Hibari Yun - Kyoya's Mother. Deceased. Fon's sister.
Sawada Hidetada - Giotto's son. Twin to Yoshimune
Sawada Yoshimune* - Giotto's son. Twin to Hidetada
* - canon character
Story Stats: 1,016 reviews, 2,265, favs, 2,439 follows
Ahhh! I broke 1k! Thank you so much!
Kinga Corporation
Reborn's brain was about to burst. After all this time, Ayame had just offered up her full name and job after hiding it from him for the last year and she said it in such a causal manner, as if it was common knowledge.
Then to top it off, she was apart of Kinga.
"Wait," Dino said. His eyebrows furrowed together in confusion and bewilderment. "Wait, Kinga?" he asked, voice breaking a little. "As in the international powerhouse, worth over a trillion yen, millions of patents, arguably the driving force of innovation in the technological world. So much so that people are actually worried that Kinga will eventually own and control the entire world's economy at the rate they're progressing. That Kinga?"
Ayame's smile was smug. "Yes Dino. That Kinga," she said, crossing her arms.
Reborn refused to rub his throbbing head in front of all these people. No wonder they weren't worried about Vongola. It didn't matter how legal they were; the fact of it was simple, Kinga was huge. They were everywhere, from markets to toy lines to technology innovations to construction. There wasn't a business revenue that they hadn't touched. No, wait, that wasn't true. The only thing Kinga didn't deal in was weapons.
Still, their common workforce alone, outnumbered Vongola and its allies easily over a 1000 times. The money Vongola made in comparison was chump change, pennies compared to the profit that Kinga brought it. You couldn't walk down a street these days without running into a Kinga owned store. They were everywhere.
That didn't even cover all their subsidiaries. Dino was right. Experts were already forecasting that if Kinga kept up its trends, it would be the controlling international corporation within the next ten years.
Even though they were a legal company with no connection to the Italian Mafia, it didn't change the fact that they had the power, money and technology to back up whatever they want… and Ayame was the one sitting on top of all that.
"How? I thought you were a doctor?" Shamal asked.
"I am," Ayame said. "I do have a medical degree and am a licensed doctor. The perks of being a genius means I have multiple degrees. But to answer your first question, I inherited Kinga about six years ago."
That… didn't quite line up from what Reborn knew. Kinga started its crazy expansion nearly eleven years ago, maybe even earlier, it was too hard to pinpoint the exact moment where they went from doing good to doing great. That meant Ayame wasn't the original point of origin. Which if her age was to be supposed to be correct, would make sense.
Did that mean she was just continuing someone else's legacy?
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Solar Panels
"I know this logo," Hayato blurted out. He pointed to the stylish K painted on the wall. "You own the building I live in!"
"Hmm yes," Ayame said. "It was a good investment. I hope the renovations were good?"
"It's like a five-star hotel, except I'm paying only enough rent for a motel," Hayato said, looking at her bewildered. "Did you just give me a lower rent?"
Ayame shook her head. "No, besides if I was to charge a five-star hotel rate, you could afford it." She pulled out a folder from her drawer and handed it over to Hayato. "We had to set up a bank account for you."
Hayato flipped open the folder, staggering at the numbers inside. "What is this?"
"Your portion of your cut from the profits as the creator and designer of Kinga's newest Solar Panel line," Ayame said mildly.
"I haven't designed any solar panels," Hayato protested.
"You have," Ayame said, amused. "Tsuna explained to me your idea regarding how to improve solar panels. You gave him detailed diagrams and I went ahead and approved it for prototyping. Upon their success, we set aside a portion of the profits that would go to you. If you check the folder you will also find the patent filed under your name regarding these solar panels."
Hayato quickly checked and yes there was a patent filled out in his name. He dimly remembered several months ago when Tsuna had asked him to explain solar panels to him. Hayato had gotten wrapped up in the explanation, detailing the flaws and improvements that could be made. He hadn't thought anything would have ever come from it.
Tsuna smiled weakly at Hayato. "I hope you don't mind?" he said nervously. "It's just, you were so passionate when you were explaining it to me that I thought it would be better to see it come to fruition."
Did he mind? Hell no. No one ever had any faith in Hayato's ideas before. Not enough to go ahead and make a prototype and sell it.
"This is amazing, Tsuna-sama," Hayato said with pure wonder in his voice.
Tsuna shook his head. "No, you're the amazing one, Hayato. All I did was show it to Neesan. You're the one who designed it."
"It's a very good design," Ayame said. "You should visit the labs with Shoichi and Spanner. They've been making some interesting things."
"It would be nice to have another person around," Shoichi said, nodding.
Spanner drawled. "We could always use an extra brain. The labs big enough."
"There are labs?" Hayato asked.
Shoichi pushed up his glasses, bubbling with excitement. "Yes! About 70 percent of this building is dedicated to Research and Development. We've been coming here after class every day."
Hayato rocked on his heels. Coming to Namimori was the best decision ever.
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Value of an Education
"Speaking of that," Reborn cut in, "how exactly did we get from Namimori to here?" Namimori and Tokyo were relatively close, but not so close that they could have stepped through a door (never mind that said door was Tsuna's bedroom door) to arrive in the city.
"What do you think?" Ayame asked loftily with a wave her hand.
"This is your spiritual ability," Reborn stated. She never did explain what her ability was. "Teleportation?"
"Portals to be more specific," Ayame said. "To anywhere in the world."
The pancakes. There wasn't anyone who slipped into the kitchen without Reborn noticing. It was Ayame using her abilities to warp her plate to her. This was how she always managed to sneak behind him without him knowing. That was infuriating.
"So, what do you want to talk to us about?" Hana asked.
Ayame's smile grew a fraction wider. "I figured it would be good to update everyone at the same time." She pulled out several folders from her drawer. "I'll start with the easiest one. I've enrolled all the kids into Kinga Middle School and I'm not taking no for an answer. Even you, Kyoya."
Kyoya growled.
Ayame waved it off. "I know you like Namimori Middle, but now that Ienari and Vongola aren't looking closely at Namimori, I don't want any of you to stay another day in Namimori Middle. The bullies, the teachers, you're not learning anything there."
That, Reborn would agree wholeheartedly with. The teachers at Namimori Middle, especially Nezu-sensei, were terrible. The bullies, while most of them had backed off, were still influenced by Ienari's aggression miasma and still maintained their hostile nature. Yes, Reborn agreed. If there was a choice, he would not send Tsuna back to Namimori Middle. And where Tsuna went, the others followed.
"The only exceptions are Shoichi and Haru who are both still enrolled into reputable good schools that don't suffer any issues," Ayame said. "Also, Shamal if you want to continue being the school's doctor, it's easy enough to get you accepted into the position at a Kinga School. Otherwise, tell me if you want to set up your own practice, work at Namimori Hospital or elsewhere and I'll arrange it."
Shamal stared at her, jaw slacked. "But…"
"You don't have to actually work for Kinga, or any of our subsidiaries," Ayame said. "It's just easier because I can write a letter of recommendation, show them your resume and if that isn't enough, I can order them to hire you. The fact that you are, were, an assassin for hire stays in this room. It's a little trickier if you want to work anywhere else though."
Shamal just continued to stare at her as if she had grown a second head. "I'll… get back to you," Shamal said weakly.
"I'm okay with moving schools," Tsuna said nervously, looking over at Kyoya. "I… really don't care as long as I'm with you guys, but…"
Takeshi laughed, placing his hands behind his head. "I'm okay with it too. Anything to keep Tsuna away from his bullies."
"It doesn't matter to me," Mukuro said.
"I don't mind transferring. I've been reading what Kinga School has to offer, and I actually wanted to go get in there for High School," Shoichi said.
"Same here," Haru chirped.
"Should I enroll too?" Spanner asked.
"It's up to you," Ayame said. "You technically have already graduated back in Italy. You don't need it."
Everyone looked at Kyoya, waiting on his response.
Kyoya huffed irritated, but didn't disagree.
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Filing Papers
"Well, if that's decided, everyone will start after summer vacation ends. It's the middle of the school year, but I think it will be fine," Ayame said. She shuffled the papers and handed over a folder to Nana. "This is a three-part section. First, while Namimori Elementary isn't as bad as Namimori Middle, I-pin, Fuuta and Lambo also have offers to transfer over to Kinga."
The three kids cheered. Nana felt happiness fill her heart. This was wonderful. She had worried over Tsuna remaining at Namimori Middle. But transferring Tsuna and not Ienari was an explosion waiting to happen and as long as Ienari was around, the pattern of bullying was bound to increase. Ayame had mentioned time and time again how she couldn't directly influence the school much to her frustration, until she set out to build her own private school, which unfortunately had run into multiple problems.
At least this way, Tsuna would be safe from his own bullies and hopefully with much better teachers as Ayame inflicted her high expectations of quality on everything, including the newly made Kinga School.
The fact that Ayame made it also possible for the rest of her children to attend was the cherry on top. This way they were bound to get an excellent education.
Ayame hesitated for a brief second, looking over at Nana. "The second… the second is adoption papers for I-pin, Fuuta, Lambo and Bianchi, if they want it."
"...What?" Bianchi said faintly. Her head snapped back and forth between Nana and Ayame.
Nana clutched the folder tightly, tears welling up in her eyes. "Thank you," Nana said fervently. She had asked Ayame once, what it would take to adopt them all to make it official so that no one could ever take them from her.
Fuuta, I-pin and Lambo hugged her in an instant, never even doubting it.
"You want me as your daughter?" Bianchi asked softly.
Nana nodded. She adored all these children (except Tsuyoshi and Koumei might fight her for Takeshi and Kyoya). But she especially wanted to make sure that Bianchi never doubted that she was welcomed, that no one could take Fuuta, Lambo and I-pin from her.
"A copy for Hayato is also in there, but it's a little different for him due to the legal emancipation. It's mostly the equivalent of just adding him to the family registry," Ayame added.
"But," Hayato started. He didn't get to finish before Nana wrapped him in a tight hug. He blushed a bright red at the obvious affection.
Hayato was the other one that Nana worried about. The rest of the children had someone to rely on in some form. Takeshi still had his father. Kyoko and Ryohei had each other. Even Mukuro had Ayame to lean on. Hayato didn't have any one.
"What about you, Ayame-nee?" Fuuta asked.
"It's a little difficult for me," Ayame said. "But well, look at the last page, Nana."
Nana flipped open the folder, looking at the last page. She drew in a sharp breath. There in the folder was divorce papers.
"How?" Nana asked.
Ayame blinked. "I have access to the best lawyers in the world," she said amused. "Even though he has yet to be arrested, we were able to get your marriage dissolved due to the amount of evidence gathered over the years, the fact that he is never here and the confirmation in the eyes of the law that yes, he is indeed a part of the CEDEF. If you want it gone, all you have to do is sign."
Ayame swiveled her chair away, not meeting Nana's eyes and looking at Tsuna. "And, after that, if everyone wants to, you can all transfer to my family registry."
Tsuna beat Nana to hugging Ayame. Fuuta, I-pin and Lambo all shared a look before jumping in on the pile.
Nana wiped away her tears. "Thank you, Ayame."
"Off, off," Ayame grumbled. Her chair creaked ominously under the weight. "That's the only way I can do it for me. People apparently threw a fit when I originally asked about it."
Then she turned and gave Fon a folder. "Then, while it isn't exactly recognizable due to your physical appearance, this is the paperwork for your co-guardianship of I-pin with Nana."
Fon reverently accepted the folder as I-pin darted forward to hug him. "I don't understand. Why do this?" Fon asked, stunned.
Ayame scrunched her nose. "It's a legal thing. It's official and on paperwork and when problems like the Triad happen, I can intervene without people yelling at me."
Nana frowned. "Why do they yell at you?"
Ayame shrugged. "I'm me. They get nervous whenever I leave the country. It means a greater increase of chaos apparently. I have no idea what they're talking about."
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Accounts
"This is very touching and all," Mukuro said dryly. "But is there a point for the rest of us?"
Ayame waved a couple more folders. "Well, it's just a couple small things that apply to everyone here in the room." She stood, handing them out.
"Primarily for anyone in this room who is a minor, I've gone ahead and started several investments profiles, college funds and a few trust accounts," Ayame said. "And the lawyers are just out the door if you want to ask them any questions. If I don't do it, I'll find someone who will fill you in on everything you need to know about them." She snorted. "You'll never to worry about retirement."
"Hahi, all of us?" Haru asked, alarmed to several degrees.
"Isn't that a lot of money?" Kyoko asked.
"What else am I supposed to do with my money?" Ayame asked. "I've been told I've maxed out what I can donate to charities, all my patents and royalties pay for Shoichi, Spanner and my research. Despite taking care of Chrome, Mukuro, Ken, Chikusa and Lancia, I barely dent my salary. I own a good portion of land throughout numerous cities. I'm earning far more than I actually spend."
"You should save some of it for the future. You never know what can happen," Tsuyoshi said.
"I haven't even touched any of my inheritance," Ayame said dryly. "This was just my monthly salary." She handed him a folder. "By the way, I paid off your mortgage for your restaurant."
"Ayame!" Tsuyoshi said.
She waved him off. "Tsuna gets half of that inheritance when he comes of age too."
"I what?!" Tsuna yelped. "Neesan! Why am I getting half your inheritance?!"
She looked at him, surprised. "I could have sworn we had this conversation," she muttered softly. She cleared her throat, and said, "The half of that particular inheritance is Kinga. Namely, when you become of age, you gain half of the shares of Kinga, placing you on equal part of ownership of Kinga. What you do with that, is entirely up to you. Whether you want start working here in the future as one of the top tier management or to find someone else you trust to run your part of Kinga."
Tsuna gaped. "But why am I getting it?"
"It comes… highly recommended," Ayame said, looking disgruntled.
Tsuna scowled, wounded up and ready to fight. "But-"
"There's precedent," Ayame said softly.
Tsuna flinched, reeling back as if struck. His gaze dropped to the ground.
"Precedent for what?" Dino asked.
"Insanity," Ayame answered dryly.
"Sanity is overrated," Mukuro said.
Ayame blinked. "You know, Mukuro. Despite what you've been through, you're actually remarkably stable."
Mukuro quirked an eyebrow up, but Ayame merely ignored it. She distributed the rest of the folders. "Lancia if you want, this is a scholarship to attend college if you want a degree. And then you four, Mukuro, Lancia, Ken and Chikusa, here's your copy of all your new identities here in Japan. Don't get arrested again. If you do, talk to Tsuna about paying your bail."
Ayame turned to Skull and Colonnello. "I have nothing for you two, but if you need a job, just ask. I'll find something."
She then pulled a box and dropped it into Dino's arms. "That-" she said flatly, "is one box of forty you need to fill out, if you're actually serious about being legal. If you don't care about legality and just want to displace the yazuka underground here, that's also fine. But I have every intention of keeping Kinga as clean as possible."
Ayame tilted her head. "I believe that's a good summary of everything as far as the paperwork and legality work goes. I do have a couple more tailored plans for those of you who expressed concrete ideas and dreams. Shoichi, Spanner, remind me I have your recommendation letters already written for whichever college you want to attend."
She grinned, ushering everyone back towards her office door. "I enjoy having you all here, but I unfortunately have a meeting soon, so I'm going to have to throw you all out. Take a seat when you get back to Namimori, let it sink in and try not to freak out too much, okay?"
Everyone stumbled out the door into the Sawada house's living room, still in various degrees of shock and surprise.
Eventually Tsuna broke the silence, cradling his head in his hands. "Neesan," he moaned.
The rest of the room murmured in agreement.
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Meeting
Timoteo hummed as he unlocked the door to his office. He let out a weary but happy sigh. It was good to be back home. He opened the door and stepped inside…
Into a room was clearly wasn't his office.
Gone was the traditional design with dark curtains and lush carpet. Instead, all he saw was the sleek lines of shiny chrome, white walls and a view overlooking a lush green mountain. "Where-?" Timoteo.
The door slammed shut behind him, locking him inside.
"Welcome."
He swallowed thickly, turning. At the end of the room, sitting on a white throne was a young woman with her legs crossed, cheek resting against her hand. A black hood shadowed her face. A silver crest pinned to the black material. His eyes strayed upwards, to the emblem painted on the wall behind the throne, the same emblem pinned to the woman's chest.
Timoteo staggered. "The Shadow Court," he whispered.
The woman's smile was razor sharp, revealing pearly white teeth.
"Correct," she said. "Hello Vongola Nono. We have much to discuss."
A cold sweat down his spine, but he kept his expression even and leveled. "What do I owe the honor?" he asked. There was no mistake, this was most likely the Shadow Queen.
"Hmm," Queen hummed. "Normally I wouldn't have bothered with a personal call. But I have found over the years that sometimes a direct approach works the best. I will make this simple and clear. You, and by extension all of Vongola and its allies, will have absolutely nothing to do with Sawada Tsunayoshi and those under his protection."
Timoteo gripped his cane. "Tsunayoshi-kun-"
The pressure doubled and Timoteo stumbled, struggling to remain upright.
"I'm sorry. Did I give you the impression that you had a choice?" Queen mocked.
"It's very simple. You will not bother Sawada Tsunayoshi, you will not stalk him, involve him in the mafia. You've taken your heir. Sawada Tsunayoshi is closed to you. You will not approach him, those he cares about, in fact you will carry on with your life as if you didn't know he existed."
"You can't-" Timoteo said. He stopped as the feeling of chains wrapped around him, restricting him.
"I can," Queen said, clearly amused. "That's the beauty of this geas. And as you are Vongola Nono, it has the extra effect of applying to all of Vongola."
A list of names materialized in front of Timoteo. Most he didn't recognize, but the few he did, Tsunayoshi at the top, followed by Reborn of all people.
"A small list of people whom Vongola cannot touch," Queen said in a bored tone. The list disappeared in a flash of fire. "Of course, you won't be able to speak of any of this once you leave this room." Her smile grew dangerous once more. "Failure results in the destruction of Vongola."
"But-" Timoteo said, words choking in his throat.
Queen smiled. "Goodbye Vongola Nono."
Timoteo was flung out the room. He stumbled backwards, back in his office once more and mind spinning. He blanched, knowing there was no way he would ever know, no way that anyone would ever know.
Just what did the Shadow Court want with Tsunayoshi?
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Red Moon
In the silence of Tsunayoshi's room, Reborn allowed himself a moment to sigh. Today's events still rattled in his head. It was difficult to regain his balance and not be swept away by the undertow.
Despite the alarming amount of revelations hurled his way, he couldn't bring himself to regret his decision to stay. He turned to look at Tsuna, slumbering away without any care.
He was going soft, feeling fond, warm and safe all at once. It wasn't that bad of a thing, he supposed. Not if the tradeoff was being here, with his Sky.
Reborn climbed up to Tsunayoshi's bed, ready curl up next to him, when the ground gave beneath him.
He fell, spiraling into a free fall. His center of gravity of shifted and he had seconds to realize that he was back in his adult body before the ground approach. Reborn twisted, rolling to the ground. Reflexes honed by years of experience, had him reaching for his gun, eyes surveying his surroundings.
It was an empty field, stretching as far as the eye could see. The sky was dark, pitch black without any stars hanging high above. Ominously, a red moon glowed, casting the area in a soft crimson light.
Reborn blinked as a dark figure dropped from the sky. A woman, with a black hood and a silver crest gleamed. His heart sputtered, recognizing the crest.
"The Shadow Court," he said.
He knew the stories, the dark rumors that the mafia only dared to whisper behind closed doors. There was very little information about them. Only everyone agreed wherever they went, the world shook in their presence. Nono had explained what little he could, his own theories. The reasoning why Ienari had gone to Vongola was because of the Shadow Court presence.
Reborn was confident in his abilities, knew his strength wasn't for show. He had bled and earned his title of World's Greatest Hitman. But everyone thought of the Shadow Court as a different monster all together, as if they weren't even human.
He had survived against a Yatagarasu. Would the experience be enough?
"Welcome," the woman said. She lifted her head, just enough for Reborn to see golden eyes gleaming beneath the dark hood.
Wait. He knew that voice. But... That was…
"Ayame?" Reborn said incredulously.
She pulled back her hood, her braided brown hair falling freely. Ayame smiled, secretive and sharp all at once. There was a flash of silver, seven orbs whirling around her.
"Don't hold back, Reborn-san," she said. "Show me what the World's Greatest Hitman can do."
She attacked.
Ahaha so how many people figured Ayame was the Shadow Queen? There were a couple.
So now you know about Kinga! And all the paperwork has been squared away, for once everyone is on the same page.
See you in a month!
General Notes
See Chapter 4 Wait Patiently for news article about Kinga being worth a trillion yen.
Kinga in general has been mentioned throughout the story. Notable examples:
See Chapter 5 Kyaaa and Chapter 30 Decimo Candidate for Kinga Market
See Chapter 27 Newspaper for Kinga Schools
See Chapter 8 Engrave Those Feelings for Kinga Bookstore
See Chapter 8 Moonstorm for setting up an orphanage
See Chapter 10 Renovation for Kinga Construction office
See Chapter 13 Letter for Hayato's building changing over to Kinga.
See Chapter 14 Solar for the solar panel conversation. See Chapter for solar panels being installed at the Sawada House.
Not sure if anyone noticed, but travel around Ayame is often warped. Unless forced to take the airplane (usually for business reasons), Ayame actually portals to just about everywhere. This is including how she was sneaking in and out of the Sawada Household without Reborn noticing. Also how she got Tsuna off the mountain and to the hospital in Namimori after Ienari had pushed him. Notable examples are
See Chapter 25 Spanner for when she jumped to Italy to pick up Spanner after Shoichi fainted on her
See Chapter 2 Missing Food for her taking the pancakes with her abilities without Reborn seeing her
See Chapter 25 Flustered for an example of how she comes and goes as she pleases in the Sawada Household