Daniela didn't hide her reaction to meeting Xanxus' first Guardian and soon-to-be Right Hand.
She about died laughing her ass off, pounding the table hard as she howled.
"Only you would find the most vicious, foul mouthed Rain in the Mafia Academy and end up harmonizing with him!" she cracked up, unable to hold in her mirth. Her son was going to be appalled and Coyote was going to have kittens dealing with two of them! Eyes glinting with amusement, she grinned at Squalo. "At least you had the good taste to find a Rain that might actually be able to keep up with you. He looks like he'll be a good Right Hand."
Squalo discreetly preened at the praise. It meant a lot, coming from the only female Don of the Vongola who was known as a tough old broad.
Xanxus felt tears down his eye and cursed.
"Dust in your eyes again?" asked Daniela with sympathy.
"Think my contacts slipped during the fight," he grumbled. He went to his room and swapped them out for his frames...much as he loved the convenience of contacts there were times that they were a complete pain in the ass. It was going to take all night before he could put in a fresh pair if he was guessing right.
Squalo took one look at his eyes and blinked. Twice.
"Voi. What's with the color contacts?"
"Actually that's his natural eye color if you can believe it. He was wearing contact earlier... I suppose red is a far less noticeable color than his natural green."
The red could be dismissed after a moment for a rather unusual shade of brown. But eyes that vibrant and bright tended to get remembered very quickly if asked.
They were a striking verdant color that reminded one of emeralds or some other brilliantly cut gem. Not exactly something one forgot, once they saw them.
Squalo ended up spending dinner with his new Sky and the former Vongola Donna. Once he got to know Xanxus, the other boy quickly gained his respect.
There was something about the other boy that had his full attention and he knew it wasn't something as stupid as Sky Charisma or some other bullshit.
Xanxus had the unrelenting fury of a Storm mixed with the unquestionable authority only natural rulers possessed. The kind that, if they weren't royalty already had a tendency to get elevated pretty damn quick to at least noble status before their deaths. The kind of aura that only a true leader would possess.
Squalo had been around other Skies before, and only a few actually had the true charisma needed to pull others in. That wasn't to say they didn't have a natural ability to bind people together...but they lacked a certain Quality needed to not only rule others, but actually be good at it in a way that would last without using others as a crutch.
Daniela Vongola had it. Dino, the idiot he was stuck suffering classes with, had a fraction of it and Reborn was quickly training him in a way to bring it out properly.
But Xanxus? He was not only born into it, but he damn well knew instinctively that to get loyalty you had to show you were worthy of it first.
He wasn't some idiot Sky who'd hide behind his Elements...this was a man who wouldn't hesitate to jump right into the front lines, get his hands dirty and show whatever fucker pissed him off who the true King was. This was someone who expected the best out of himself and out of his men, and he made damn sure that everyone knew it.
No wonder he had harmonized so fast with him. Squalo couldn't wait to see what Xanxus would do once he defeated Tyr.
Daniela's grin hadn't abated once, especially seeing the bloodthirsty shark her grandson had bonded with almost immediately. She could see Squalo Superbi would be good for Xanxus...the poor boy was socially stunted and in dire need of a good conversation partner that wouldn't kiss his ass like half the idiots her son would prefer to saddle him with.
Squalo reluctantly went back to the school, but it wouldn't take long for his new status as someone's Rain Guardian to get out.
An indeterminate time later...
It was a rainy day, the sort of day that made people very much inclined to stay inside with how miserable it was. Xanxus, as per usual for him, was firmly in the library reading something he had recently gotten his hands on. It was a fiction about a prehistoric shark that some still believed might actually be alive today, though no one could actually confirm it.
Something a hell of a lot harder to kill and was far more terrifying than Jaws.
"Voi. What are you reading now?" asked Squalo curious, crashing on one of the many long couches.
"A book about a massive fucking prehistoric that makes a return from the depths of the ocean to terrorize the modern world that's a hell of a lot more terrifying than fucking Jaws."
"...Voi, seriously?" asked Squalo with open interest.
"The opening is somewhat inaccurate, but this particular breed of shark is actually the prehistoric ancestor of the great white. Fully grown it's big enough to eat an adult man whole without needing to bite, and it's teeth are bigger than my hand."
Seeing he had Squalo's full interest, Xanxus smirked. He finished the book and tossed it to the bored Rain.
Within the first chapter (which was where the historical inaccuracy came in... megalodons weren't around in the same general time period as the T-Rex) Squalo was firmly hooked and grinning viciously.
Xanxus wondered how Squalo would react if he knew that his Sky had ordered a megalodon tooth for the Shark's birthday, along with a the full jaw set of a great white shark. Most idiots would give him swords or other blade-related paraphernalia.
Xanxus would rather poke fun at the fact his Rain was a shark in human form. Way more entertaining and he knew Squalo would get a kick out of it, if the way he was grinning at the book was any indication.
"Voi, are there any more?" asked Squalo when he finished the book. It wasn't that long, and it had been fairly entertaining. His grin widened when he saw Xanxus holding up the sequel, along with two others.
He had mostly been re-reading the set before moving on to the fourth book anyway.
Squalo was seriously starting to reconsider his assessment of books being boring as fuck, especially since it was pretty damn obvious his new Sky was an avid reader.
Naturally it was around dinner that Daniela decided to broach what it was that Squalo actually wanted to do with his life, if only to see if it would line up with whatever goals Xanxus had planned.
Only to end up very amused when she found out he was planning to challenge the current head of the Varia and claim the title of Sword Emperor.
The fact Squalo had next to no interest in actually leading the group meant that Xanxus was likely to get stuck with that role. However he was firmly putting his foot down when it came to paperwork.
He might be an avid reader, but there was no way in hell he was suffering someone else's shitty handwriting when he could simply send Squalo to threaten the mooks into re-writing the damn thing in a legible hand. He was not above forcing a bunch of pissy assassins into learning how to read and write in a way that people could actually read their damn reports if it meant avoiding headaches.
Naturally hearing this made Daniela cackle, because she had wished many a time that she had the ability to do something similar.
There was a reason she adored her adopted grandson, and most of it was for the sheer entertainment he brought to the table.
Xanxus cursed. Ever since that stupid letter showed up to some school he had never heard of, much less applied to his life had been utterly hectic.
"Fucking magical morons," grumbled Xanxus. Thanks to those assholes he was firmly on house arrest until this mess was cleared up. He wasn't even allowed in his usual spot to read, because it was too far away from the house!
Daniela came up to him with a hug. Her other grandsons were too 'old' for such things, but Xanxus more or less humored her since it was either live with his grandmother, or stay with his 'father' and the people he couldn't stand.
Besides, he would never admit it but he didn't mind the hugs. His ma wasn't much for affection considering her condition, and the only time she ever doted on him was in her lucid moments, which were beyond rare that it wasn't even funny.
"Guess who got you a special tutor to get those idiots off our backs?"
He perked up at that.
And managed not to gape when he realized the tutor his grandmother hired was none other than Viper.
"Mu. Time is money, so do not waste mine with frivolous questions or stupid stunts."
Xanxus grinned. He could already tell they'd get along very well.
"You got me the world's number one information broker as a tutor for this magic bullshit?"
Viper blinked, before a slight smirk appeared on their face. They liked this one already, if his first thought upon seeing them was "world's number one information broker" and not "Mist Arcobaleno".
None of them liked being reminded of the curse, which was all they ever got since people took one look at their size and pacifiers before automatically thinking "So-and-So Arcobaleno".
Within the first few hours, Viper was already pleased with their new student. Not only was the former Donna paying them very good money to train her grandson, but the boy clearly had a brain and wasn't afraid to use it. And that was before Viper found out how much magic Xanxus had.
It was enough that the Mist highly suspected the pre-teen wasn't actually Vongola by blood, but someone who had simply developed Wrath Flames and was adopted into the family to hide the truth.
Xanxus, when Viper actually said as much, openly snorted.
"I know the old fucker isn't my father. My ma adopted me when I was still in diapers when she found me in the trash," he said flatly.
Daniela, who had been in the room to watch how training was going, choked on her drink.
"What?!" she said in shock. She was aware Xanxus knew for a fact he wasn't her biological grandson... but this was news to her!
"Ma told me once during one of her good days that she found me in the trash less than a week after her own kid was killed by one of her johns, and in her mental state apparently decided I was her son Alexander. It wasn't like anyone came to claim me, and we moved when I was five after a police raid," shrugged Xanxus.
He wasn't ashamed of the fact he had been found in the trash. His past would not define him...that was something he had vowed a long, long time ago.
Daniela stared at him.
"Your real name is Alexander?" she said incredulous.
"You didn't really think someone would name their kid Xanxus, did you?" he shot back at her.
"Mu... that might explain the size of your core. And why the animagus transformation comes so easily to you...normally only children who are exposed repeatedly to the magic during their developmental years and while still in the womb pick it up so quickly."
"Feh. The tiger was easy enough to pick up...it's the other one I'm having trouble with! Always feels like I'm overusing something when I try to use it past partials," complained Xanxus.
"Definitely have animagus parents. Or you were around one that transformed often enough that your developing mind latched onto the flow of magic, if you can see two transformations. Any idea what the second form is?"
"Dragon, or close enough to one," said Xanxus immediately.
"In that case it's not a problem of the form being locked, but that your core is not mature enough to handle the full transformation. Dragons are magical creatures by nature and would take far more than a simple animal. Stick to partial transformations in different areas so that your body and magic get used to the idea of pulling on your core that way. When you're at least fifteen then you can attempt a full transformation, but sixteen would be better," said Viper. "And if you are already aware of being adopted, then perhaps we should arrange for a simple lineage test to find out who your biological parents are. You might have an inheritance already waiting for you."
"You think so?" asked Daniela, giving the Mist her full attention.
She had sat Xanxus down after one snide comment too many from Iemitsu during Christmas one year to explain about the Vongola Rings being blood locked to the family. Without the blood connection there was a near certain chance the rings would reject him and possibly kill him if he attempted to claim them.
So if he had an inheritance waiting for him, then she would do everything in her power to insure that he received it. Even if it meant culling a few morons from his possible family tree that tried to deny him his rightful heritage.
"...Are you aware that among my skills I am a fully accredited forensic accountant?" said Viper.
"You mean the same way that Reborn guy has several degrees in various mathematics, including a doctorate?" asked Xanxus, raising an eyebrow.
"We all got bored one year and decided to go for it just to kill time," shrugged Viper. "Well, all but Skull who only got a Master's degree in mechanical engineering."
"So where do we go for a test?"
"Gringotts. The goblins have a way to print out a full family tree down to the first 'official' pure blood for a fee."
The trio were entirely unaware that the winds of destiny were beginning to blow ever more erratically, as Daniela began to make plans to help her grandson claim his rightful heritage, even if she also planned to blood adopt him into her family so he could at least claim the Vongola name, even if he wasn't one.