note: "japanese"; "italian"; "english"; "enochian"

. . .

One moment, Hayato was in Shamal's place, taking shelter from the rain; the next moment he was in an unknown house, feeling like he wanted to throw up his breakfast. And in between those two moments was Lupin.

Lupin snuck into Shamal's hideout without attracting the attention of both Hayato and Shamal, which was both a testament to his skills and their lack thereof. They only noticed him when he asked Shamal for his help.

And Shamal agreed.

Sure, he didn't like it; in fact, he was angry about it. As in really angry, uncharacteristically furious about it, when Hayato thought about it. And it wasn't just because Lupin was a male and Shamal didn't treat males; it was something deeper, as if Lupin's very existence offended Shamal.

But despite all that, Shamal didn't put up a fight or turn him away; he accepted the request with a sullen nod. He even denied Reborn's - the strongest Arcobaleno in existence! - request for help.

As they were about to leave via apparition (whatever the hell that was), Hayato held onto Lupin, much to Shamal's disapproval. He wanted Hayato out of the room - out of the building, in fact - the moment Lupin got his attention.

(It seemed that he didn't want Lupin, a teenager who had the moniker of "Jack of All Trades, Master of Death", to meet Shamal's failure of a student.)

But Hayato has always been stubborn and barely listened to his mentor on a good day, so Lupin let him come along. And they apparated, which felt more like squeezing through a tiny tube (maybe they went through one of the strings that held on to time and space?), and ended up in a room filled with teenagers and Reborn.

Though he was feeling nauseous, thanks to their mode of transport, he was a Mafioso and he knew better than to drop his guard, especially in an unknown location. So he didn't miss Shamal's diagnosis on the pale sweating kid and how to cure it.

The kid was rejecting his flames, which was ten kinds of odd because flames are part of the body, like flesh and blood; so he might as well be rejecting his own flesh and blood. And to top it all off, he was rejecting his own Sky Flames, which was the rarest and strongest type of flame, which has the property of harmonization. (And the irony didn't escape his notice.)

As soon as Reborn and Lupin disappeared, most probably to get the Cavallone Don, he was about to ask Shamal a very important question but one of the teens, who have been quiet the whole time, beat him to the punch.

"What's wrong with Sawada to the extreme?" the white-haired teen asked loudly in Japanese

"Who's Sawada?" he replied in Japanese since it seemed that it was their mother tongue. Both the teens gave him an odd look.

"What the fuck are you doing here then, if you don't know who you're treating?" the black-haired teen replied to him.

Before Hayato was about to retort, Shamal spoke up, "Sawada? The kid's name is Sawada?" He looked pale and was trembling a little, much to Hayato's confusion.

"Yeah!"

"Do you know his father?" Shamal asked, obviously panicking though he showed no outward signs. But Hayato knew Shamal long enough to see through his calm facade.

"Course not. His dad hasn't dropped by in years. The drunkard's probably dead or something," the brunet teen shrugged and Shamal let out a long string of curses under his breath.

"Shamal?" Hayato asked unsurely because his mentor was acting very out of character at the moment. He was usually a calm laid-back pervert, but now he was anything but.

"Lupin is bad business," he said seriously, looking at the three of them with narrowed brown eyes. All three boys straightened their stance, especially Hayato. The last time he looked even remotely serious was when he tried to teach Hayato how to use dynamites.

"Who the fuck is Lupin?" the brunet asked and Shamal blinked in surprise.

"The teenager with shades," he elaborated.

"You mean Ryuujin?" the white-haired teen asked loudly (gods, doesn't he know how to speak in a volume other than "deafen they neighbors"?).

"Probably," Shamal shrugged. "God knows how many aliases he has. He probably got as many as Reborn," he sighed before continuing, "Anyway, he's bad business. The worst."

"Is it because he's an UMA?" Hayato finally got a chance to ask his very important question.

"What is an UMA to the extreme?"

"An unidentified mysterious animal," Hayato explained, his eyes no doubt shining with excitement as he added, "They resemble humans and are very intelligent. But they don't usually harm others."

"No. He's not an UMA. He's a wizard," Shamal said which led to the three teens giving disbelieving looks.

"What?" all three teens said, simultaneous.

"You know, those wand-waving people who cast magic spells," Shamal explained, waving his hand.

"Magic isn't real," the brunet scoffed to which Shamal countered, "Well then, how do you explain how he disappeared and appeared like that?"

"Ryuujin is extremely fast!" the white-haired teen answered cheerfully and Shamal rolled his eyes.

"We were in Italy, brat. And he was gone for what? Five minutes? Ten minutes at the most," Shamal retorted.

"So magic is real?" Hayato asked, skeptical. He was a child of science and magic was out of its realm.

"Yeah, how else would you explain your magically appearing dynamites?" Shamal said, looking at Hayato with a piercing gaze.

It took a moment before he understood what Shamal was trying to say. "You mean, I'm a wizard, too?"

"Yeah. You probably inherited it from your mother. She must have been a witch, the magical type. As in the female counterpart to a wizard," he added the latter hastily because despite being his mentor, no one was allowed to insult Hayato's mother. He still glared at Shamal but put away his (magical?) dynamites. (And now part of him wondered where did they appear and disappear to? Were they kept in a hammer space? A magical dimension? How was he able to summon them?)

"So wizards are bad business?" the brunet teen asked and Hayato bristled at the accusation.

"What are you implying, you bastard?" he snarled, bringing out his dynamites once more.

"Wizard and witches are just people who can cast magic. There are good wizards and bad wizards," Shamal said as he placed a hand on Hayato's head, and the teen knew better than to throw his weapons when there was a buzzing next to his ear.

"And Ryuujin, or Lupin, or whatever he goes by these days - he's the worst type of person to mess with."

"Ryuujin is extremely nice!" the white-haired teen immediately defended Lupin.

"What's wrong with him?" Hayato asked instead.

"He's the Master of Death."

And Hayato didn't understand. "So what if he's got a fancy title?" He was known as the "Smoking Bomb" despite being only fourteen. So what if the older teen had bloody (bloodier because his own were already bloodied) hands and knew more ways to kill people?

"It's not just a title. It's...his way of life," Shamal tried to explain but he still wasn't making sense to any of them. "I'm here, treating Sawada, because I owe him a life debt. Lupin saved my life. By telling Death to fuck off."

"That only proves that Ryuujin is an extremely good person!" And Hayato wondered if the only word in the teen's vocabulary was extreme.

"So what if he can tell Death to fuck off?" the black-haired teen asked, not getting the point.

"He has control over Death?" Hayato asked, finally understanding Shamal's stand. Shamal nodded solemnly.

"That's why I wanted you to go when he arrived. If he was the Master of Death, then he may as well have control over life," Shamal said and a shiver ran through Hayato's spine. Despite their arguments and Shamal's lackadaisical mentoring over Hayato, he did care for Hayato in his own way.

"I made a deal with the devil, but after this, I'll have paid him in full. And I'm staying the hell away from him," he finished, just in time for Lupin and Reborn to arrive with the Cavallone Don and his right hand.

. . .

Part of Harry wanted to ask what kind of torture Reborn put the Cavallone Don through since he was so enthusiastic in agreeing to Reborn's demands, even without knowing what they were going to do. But at the moment, he didn't care because it got him results; and now he could lend his flames and Tsuna would get better soon.

"Please, lend him your flames," he pleaded and the blonde looked at him then at Reborn, who nodded, before placing his hands on Tsuna's chest.

As the Cavallone's hands glowed with his orange flames, he took that moment to glance around the room to check on his other guests (because they were in his house so they were his responsibility).

They seemed fine though Mochida gave him an odd look before shrugging and staring at Tsuna. Ryohei looked the same before he left while the Smoking Bomb gave him a distrustful look. He knew Shamal must have spoken to them about him and, frankly, he didn't care. He can't please everybody, he knew that now.

"Something's blocking his flames," the Cavallone said as he stopped giving Tsuna his flames.

"Can you remove it?" he asked before Reborn cut in. Though, judging by the glint in his eyes, it seemed that the Cavallone will be going through remedial training.

And by the fearful look on the Cavallone's face, he knew it, too. "I don't think so," he said in a small voice, shaking his head. "It was placed by someone more powerful than me."

"All right then," he said as he stepped forward, flicking his left hand and bringing out his phoenix wand from its holster, which was strapped to his forearm, hidden underneath his long-sleeved shirt.

"Unblock, unseal, unleash," he incanted in English and magic swirled from his wand to Tsuna's chest.

"Can you check if it's still there?" he asked as he stepped away and the blond placed his flame-covered hands to Tsuna's chest.

"It's still there," he said and Harry frowned.

He has learned through the years that magic was all about intent. Words and actions only helped amplify the intent, so casting in English with no silly wand-waving shouldn't have mattered.

He stepped forward once more, removing his fingerless gloves. He flicked his right hand this time, the symbol on the back of his hand glowing for a moment, before it died, leaving behind the Elder wand in his right hand.

"Hear my plea, gods of old. Hear my plea, magic of souls. Hear my plea, flames of will. Unblock, unseal, unleash. So mote be," he incanted this time, pointing the Elder wand to Tsuna's chest. Sparks flew and flickered from the wand before dying out. Harry tilted his head in a silent request and the Cavallone understood as he placed his hands on Tsuna.

"Sorry, still there."

"Is that so," Harry replied, blank and hollow, as he took off his shades and placed them in the Cavallone's hands before shoving him away. Green eyes blazed in anger as he raised both his wands, feeling his magic and flames answering to his fury.

He knew he only proved Shamal's point, but he didn't care as his magic and flames surrounded him, swirling around him, painting him as an imposing and intimidating figure. As he pointed both his wands at Tsuna, he chanted, "You bloody seal, restraining Sawada Tsunayoshi: You will lose. You will break. You will release this child whom I claim as my own in mind, in soul, in flames. With the gods of old, with the soul of magic, with the flames of will, I command you: break, shatter, disappear! I refuse to lose to you. I will not lose to you. I will not lose my child to you! You will succumb to my will. You will bend to my demand. You will break at my behest. Unblock, unseal, unleash! So mote be!"

And then, everything was engulfed in flames.

Master of Death - end.

okay. so it's monday again (at least in my timezone). but it's probably sunday somewhere else in the world so i'm probably not late. and replies to those who left a review/pm will be sent tomorrow/later/after i get some sleep.

and yes, i made hayato a wizard because that's the only explanation i will accept regarding his dynamites.

to Guest (and if it's no trouble to you, do you mind leaving a name of sorts since i will reply to your reviews through this fic?), thanks for your review (again?). and well, hibari has already been after him, but now the skylark will be more focused and will actually want to fight against tsuna. and my chapters are generally short so i can update this fic twice a week. and of course i'll update within the month, i'm already guilty for posting a day late. xp

to Guest (who may or may not be the same person, i won't know if you won't leave a name. xp), thanks very much for your review as well.

to KK, thanks as always for your review. x3 and as for their relationship, i'm not sure yet since i haven't written the next chapter though i've already planned it. but then the characters have a life of their own and take over the chapters so i don't really know what's gonna happen next. and by updated, you mean regularly updated, do you? well, ahahaha. thanks. x3

to Guest (number three, so if you would kindly leave behind a name so i can personally address it to you instead of just leaving it for another guest), thanks for your review. and well, i try to be surprising, makes it more fun for the readers. x3 and yes, i used the anime plot/idea of the ninth sealing his flames, congrats for guessing that.
and you're right, the only time he has actually used his hyper intuition was with his fight with hibari and before that, it was only above average intuition, sort of a locked version of his hyper intuition. no, you shouldn't be sorry, in fact, i'm the one who should be sorry, and thanks for pointing it out.

to Guest (number four. really now?), thanks for your review. and i'm kinda sorry that you'd have to wait for the next chapter to see how they will interact with dino.

thank you for dropping by and i hope you enjoyed your read~