Skull took in a shallow breath and aimed. There were two buildings between him and his target. That meant that the bullet would have to go through 3 windows, all of them relatively thick, which would slow it down a little. As such, it was absolutely necessary that it did not interact with anything else along its way.
The objects weren't that important. They could be manoeuvred around, calculated, dodged. No, the real problem for snipers were people.
(The real problem, he concluded after meeting Tsunayoshi, was always people, no matter how much Hayato said that Tsuna was God.
(It would be well to notice that Skull actually did entertain that theory for quite some time.))
Nevermind, he wasn't one of the Strongest Seven because of his ability to annoy people to death, no matter what people said. He would never be as good as Reborn (no one would ever, the freak could probably shoot a pinball from a hundred metres while blindfolded) but he was good. People were objects too, in the mindset of a sniper, annoying objects, but objects nevertheless. They could also be calculated.
Some people believe that Clouds are all the same - terrifying, aloof and batshit insane.
Oh sorry, did I say some people? I meant every single fucking Mafioso.
So see, it was easy to understand why Skull was not taken so seriously by people in the Mafia. He only had the last requirement down, in their eyes. Easily scared and clingy people are not Clouds. And Skull honestly agreed with that. He maintained that something had gone wrong when he and Viper were born and that somehow fucked up their flames.(Something which his darling 'Family' tried to correct (*cough*ExperimentOn*cough*) when they noticed how strong and stable both the normally volatile flames in him were when he was a child.) He was much more adept at fucking with his opponent's brains than that emotionless little shit. Had his mist flames been primary ones...oh he could've fucked over the world.
(People's faces sometimes when they came after him as a baby only to shriek when Ookado lazily waved behind him like a tentacle-rape cosplayer were hilariousand nothing can make him stop doing that. No, Tsuna, not even you.)
But I digress. The fact is that Skull was unfortunately a Cloud. So really...did that bastard Boss actually expect that he'd follow his orders? 'The age doesn't matter, you only need to know that this child has caused us many problems, his only known trigger is another child, so just go and capture him?' Really? What kind of shitty orders were that?
Fuck that noise. Even among the Mafia there was a Code. Children were sacred and precious and protected. Sure, Skull might not have had the chance to be a child himself, but if the reports were to be believed, then this target was 6 years old. He imagined himself at six, scared and helpless, tied up in a warehouse as bait for some violent brat with a fetish for animals and saw red.
Trying to chain a cloud was a Bad Idea (TM) and trying to do that to one who had all the mind-fuckery of a the Mist was an even worse idea.*
Breathe in. Out. In. Out. Breathe in...adjust the rifle against your shoulder. Feet apart, calculate for the recoil (you're not as big as you used to be). Put your finger on the trigger and hold your breath.
Exhale.
...and pull the trigger.
He'd gone back to the house that 'I Prescelti Sette' had once lived in and taken a Verde modified silencer from Reborn's room 3 months ago. He was never more glad for that than he was when he watched his bullet rip through his bastard ex-boss' skull.
Reborn frowned as the plane landed in Namimori. So far, so good, the Guardians had only gotten into a couple of (manageable) fights and no mid-air assassins with hang-gliders had shown up mid-flight to throw poisonous asps at Giotto (it wouldn't have been the first time.) So then, why did he feel so...unsettled? It wasn't exactly a foreboding feeling, he just felt that unexpected things were going to be heading this way. Or were they heading towards them?
"Reborn, are you okay?" a concerned voice drew him out of his thoughts. He let a smirk appear on his face as he turned towards his student.
"Stop worrying about me, Giotto," he drawled, "and worry more about the fact that you're about to go into uncharted territory." He really should worry more about that. While the chance of Mafioso being there are low, considering that the Vongola had basically labelled the territory FUCK OFF one could never be too cautious. Sanctuary, after all, applied to all underworlds. For all they knew, the Yakuza might have converted the town into fucking Babylon.
When in a situation without major information, you have to plan for all contingencies. All possibilities need to be prepared for, all cures need to be bought, all preventions need to be thought of. In short, when in doubt, nothing could be left to chance.
He didn't mention this to Giotto. The child would undoubtedly start to take over the entire effort himself. Reborn still had many lessons to teach his dear student, one of them being the fact that he did not need to do everything by himself. He was learning, of course, but was nowhere near finished with that particular lesson.
What was it about Vongola blood that made people such fucking martyrs?
(Not-so-far-away, a brunet sneezed once again, causing the people near him to back off as his friends started screaming about how "You just got well Tsuna, you can't get sick again, Omnivore, I refuse to let you get sick Vongola, I WON'T LET YOU DIE, TSUNA-SAMA!"Had the town's terror, personified in the form of an animal lover, not been with them, the group would've gotten thrown out of the supermarket for ruckus. As it was, his presence simply allowed them to raid the medical pantry to find a cure for the fluffy-haired teen.)
(We should feel sorry for Reborn, really. If he thought that the 'Don't be a fucking idiotic martyr' lesson was hard to teach to his student, groomed since his birth to grow into Vongola's ideal, how much more would the difficulty level be in Vongola blood that had been allowed to run rampant since childhood? Let's just say, Mount Everest would be easier to scale.)
Namimori's citizens had long since learned the fine art of selective blindness/ and so, when the Vongola plane landed down, most locals didn't spare more than a cursory glance to teens who came down from it- even the one who was waving a bow in the face of his smiling companion who wore an eighteenth century lens.
"This is strange," Giotto muttered as they went to pick up his baggage. "You'd think that security here would be more concerned about the group of murderous, suspicious, gun-carrying teenagers that stepped down a plane."
Reborn agreed. "Keep an eye out, all of you," he curtly told his charges. "This type of gung-ho attitude cannot mean anything good for us."
(The citizens of Namimori were pretty awesome by themselves. Constant contact the TGR_ members had simply enhanced that amazing-ness. Hayato Gokudera said it best-
Boss is amazing to the extent where his awesomeness is infectious- #fact universally acknowledged.)
"Reborn," G whispered a few moments later. "I think there's someone watching us."
All of the teen tensed. "Where?" Reborn asked in a low voice.
"The waiting area towards the left." Giotto replied, his lips barely moving. His shoulders dropped a little as Reborn gave an acknowledging nod, confident that his tutor would take care of the problem.
Well. Maybe he wasn't that much of an idiotic martyr then.
As the Arcobaleno looked to where the threat was meant to be, he felt his lips twitch. "Alaude," he began in measured tones "Your brother has interesting reading choices."
"What?" the blonde spoke. His eyes followed his mentor's gaze until they came upon someone who looked like...
"Amazing," Daemon breathed. "He's like your Japanese evil twin."
"Why the fuck is he evil?" G scoffed, before quickly raising his eyebrows as he noticed the oppressing aura that kept everyone a metre's distance away from the younger Hibari's spot. "Never mind."
Hibari Kyoya had grown from the bloodthirsty little child that had once been present on the CEDEF headquarters screen, in that his blood thirst was no longer visibly present. Instead, with his black jacket cloaked over slender shoulders, the man behind him so obviously keeping guard and a copy of Gomorrah^ clutched in his hands, he looked very much like...
"He's going to grow up to arrest us, isn't he?" Giotto breathed. As if he'd heard them, Kyoya's lips twitched, smoothing out in a smirk. Alaude looked suspiciously proud. G sighed.
"What the fuck is my life?" he asked the person closest to him. The woman, a Namimori citizen, looked at the gang of teenagers who looked amazingly alike to Namimori's protectors and raised an eyebrow.
I don't even know who you are, she thought, but I suspect that the answer is- fucking hilarious.
When he was a child, Hibari Kyoya had half of the police force of Namimori around his thumb and the other half under his boot heel. That had been one of the main facts floating around Alaude's mind when he watched his little brother for what was possibly the last time on the CEDEF headquarter screens. Namimori (and Kyoya) would be fine.
Sure, he thought now, Namimori seemed to be fine. Kyoya seemed more than fine- in the presence of people with ridiculous hairstyles who looked scared shitless and determined around him simultaneously, he flourished. Could the same be said for their relationship?
...not right now, he concluded, watching as Kyoya's eyes flickered up to sweep the newcomers before landing back down on his mobile, fingers flying of his keypad as he texted as a stupidly fast speed. He hadn't a word to them so far. Alaude frowned, he would need to work hard if he wanted even a semblance of the calm companionship they used to share as children back.
Reborn, meanwhile frowned for a completely different reason, as he took in the posture of the younger Cloud. Kyoya was curled up in a strangely feline way, his back resting near the window. His body blocked the window from reflecting the mobile. Is he actively trying to stop us from finding out who his contact is? Reborn wondered. Even if it wasn't conscious, he had a feeling that gathering any information in this town would be...troublesome.
"We'll need to get to the school at least an hour before the bell rings," Giotto murmured, blue eyes sharp and focused on the file of the school in his hands. "That way, we can get all the paperwork out of the way."
"Dammit," Lampo groaned. "As if jet lag won't already be a bitch." All the Guardians winced in sympathy as the normally annoying Lighting put up that point. Reborn tilted his fedora to hide his frown. While he was well known for his Spartan waking methods, he knew well that without proper sleep, his students would not be able to give their 100%.
A rustle caught the hitman's attention as the younger Hibari lifted his eyes from the phone to take in the tired expressions of the Guardians. He let out an irritated tch before aggressively setting the device down and opening the bag on the car seat next to him. Lifting papers from the bag, he swiftly threw them at Giotto.
"Ah, Hiabri-san," Giotto frowned, clutching the papers. "What are these?"
"Paperwork, herbivore." Kyoya deadpanned. "I don't expect to see you at school tomorrow."
"Why is that?" Reborn question.
The younger Cloud grinned toothily before unleashing his blood thirst fully. "Because, herbivore," he replied, hunger evident in his voice, "If they fall asleep, I will bite them to death. And because they won't be able to put on a good resistance due to exhaustion, I'll double the biting." His eyes gleamed. The Guardians shivered.
Reborn stroked his imaginary beard. "Point taken," he concluded. Pinning the Guardians with a sharp eye he smirked, "Don't think for a second that getting adequate rest will distract you from getting acquainted with the territory. Watch out the windows carefully, children, you're getting grilled on this when we get home."
Hibari scoffed as the Guardians hastily gazed out the window- simply looking at Namimori would not acquaint anyone with it, because there were layers upon layers in this city. That these strangers thought they would be able to navigate it in such a short time was hilarious.
A ting! distracted him and he looked down and scowled again. That stupid pineapple had taken his rook again. Quickly moving his knight to E4, he smirked as he took out his Mist's queen, knowing from the corner of his eye that Reborn would be memorizing every expression on his face. That was alright. Kyoya had layers upon layers too.
Let these herbivores try to figure him out.
(For the better mentality of the world, Skull of the Arcobaleno was no longer allowed near young Mists or Clouds- #fact universally acknowledged.)
Takeshi hummed as he tossed the onions in the pan to sauté them properly. He could honestly say that cooking was an activity which he really enjoyed- the repetitive motions of cutting, mixing and grinding were comforting to say the least. They reminded him of the katas which he practiced with Hayato or Kyoya every morning (Tsuna normally being too exhausted to get up early.) However he also enjoyed cooking because-
"Here you two, taste this and tell me what's missing."
"Kufufu, perhaps a little cinnamon, Tsunayoshi?"
"Haha, Tsuna, and also some ginger!"
"I knew I made it too bland!"
-it was one of the few times he could spend with his Sky and Mist that was not chaotic.
"Watch out, Tsuna!"
"Wow, you're really lucky, had that knife landed an inch to the left..."
Well, mostly not chaotic. That was okay, with a Sky like theirs, they knew better than to expect complete peace. That would just be boring.
(Tsunayoshi Sawada attracted trouble faster than a colourful flower attracted bees- #fact universally acknowledged.)
After a particularly terrifying incident in which Hayato had gotten himself trapped under a fucking landslide after a train accident, Tsuna had, for the lack of a better expression, flipped his shit. The entire situation ended in Tsuna forcing all his Guardians to carry at least 5 protein bars on their person and teaching them how to cook. They all protested at first before silently looking at the tiny haggard child before them, thin due to puking out whatever he ate as a result of the stress, sleepless due to the visions which haunted him and relenting.
(Two months later, Takeshi created his first ever bento and gifted it to Tsuna, who ate it happily despite his intuition ringing (it was his Rain, he'd probably just put too much chilly) and then slumped over when potent Rain flames settled in his belly. Before Takeshi could jump over to catch him, two arms, slender but firmed, lightly looped around the Sky's waist. Takeshi looked into the approving grey eyes of his Cloud and smiled.)
It was nearly impossible to get Ryohei to settle down enough to actually teach him anything in the kitchen, given that the Guardian promptly ate whatever smelt even remotely appetizing (even if it was sizzling in the pan) and was a bottomless fucking pit. After he ate his half cooked food right off the flame and later exclaimed how EXTREME! it tasted, Tsuna groaned and settled for making soup.
Hayato and Lambo were still occasional disasters in the kitchen. Lambo being young could be forgiven, and Hayato never really grew out of his 'mad scientist' phase. Tsuna found it cute, naturally, right up to where Hayato started experimenting with dynamite in the kitchen .
Kyoya never bothered to learn past the basics, practical to his very core. He maintained that simple bread and pancakes would be of more help if he was truly in a dire situation. "Apart from that, herbivores, I'll keep faith in you feeding me." That statement was probably what released him from Tsuna's mothering clutches. For all that Mukuro manipulates, Kyoya could, at times, run circles around him. Especially when it concerned their Sky.
Mukuro, surprisingly, picked up the most from these lessons. The hit-and-run relationship he had with the Vendice had left him with an amazing appreciation for food, and for those who cook it. Despite never being locked up for more than three months before breaking out and coming back to Sanctuary, the frequent trips in and out of the water prison, along with the less-than-pleasing healthcare at the Estraneo Family base where he grew as a child, wrecked hell (no pun intended) upon his immune system. Nana Sawada had been surprised when her son started getting up early to make food for someone in the morning and had then pouted when he refused to tell her who he made it for.
And this is how they ended up- the Rain, the Mist and the Sky, the improbable cooking trio. The Fool, the Criminal and the Saint, all making a 'Welcome Home' meal for the newest generation of vigilantes who toed the line of legality. Their life was fucking hilarious.
As Mukuro yawned fucking again the brunet Sky frowned. "Go to the house and sleep," he told the Mist. "And until the Council makes a decision, I don't want to see you in front of the Vongola." His eyes flashed amber for a split second, "Knowing them, they'd probably rewrite the laws of Sanctuary to exempt blood rights, and then we'd all be fucked."
Letting a fond laugh out, the illusionist moved forward to kiss his Sky on the head and exchange a brief hug with his Rain, who quickly thrust a package of Rain flame infused food onto him, with a gentle but firm, 'In Case Of Insomnia' instruction.
A few moments after, Tsuna's phone rang out a familiar saxophone beat. He looked apologetically at Takeshi, drying his hands and moving outside while picking up the still ringing mobile, only to be stopped by the steel hands of his Rain, who undoubtedly still remember the incident two months ago where Tsuna got a call from their employer and then subsequently vanished for two weeks, before returning with a dislocated shoulder and chain marks around his wrists and ankles. Tsuna huffed but relented, hitting the receive button just as the ringtone pelted out "Oh God, I'm going insane..."
"Skull-senpai, a little late for calling, isn't it?"
"Never too late for my amazing Godson!"
"Sigh. Never mind that one of my parents doesn't even know you exist."
"Oh sweetheart, tame things like parents would never get in our way."
Tsuna shared an amused grin with Takeshi, remember all the crazy unsupervised shit that they had done over the past years. "Truer words have never been spoken, padrino."
The voice on the other end let out a bark of laughter before quietening down as someone else murmured something to the Arcobaleno Cloud. Skull sighed before quietly speaking into the phone, "Shithead over here wants to talk to you."
"Shithead?"
"Hello, Tsunayoshi."
Tsuna let out a heavy sigh, feeling Takeshi's hands grip his shoulders tightly as the familiar voice of their employer rang out from the speakers. "I would say that it's good to hear your voice," he spoke as a means of greeting, "Except that right now, it really, really isn't."
"Believe me, Tsunayoshi-kun, had this not been of the utmost importance, I would have not bothered to call you right now."
"The underworld is in an uproar, Tsuna," the Arcobaleno Cloud continued. "This much is for sure, the Vongola's reason for opening the town up is definitely not budget problems. Whatever it is though.."
"It scared them enough to send their heir to a Sanctuary. I see." Takeshi's hands tighten further on his shoulders. Tsuna absently wondered how badly the Rain will be burnt when Hayato sees the bruises in the morning. Feeling a headache coming up, one of his hands gripped his Rain's while the other massaged his forehead. "Do we have any idea what this might be?"
"No yet." Their employer sounded strangely serious. "The Vongola upper echelon is being amazingly silent about this information."
"More likely than not," Skull continued, "It's an alliance of some sort. According to my sources, they're hell-bent on twisting the Tri-Ni-Sette to their purpose. Last week alone, there have been at least three kidnapping attempts on an Arcobaleno."
The brunet felt his eye twitch. "Tell me again, padrino, who are your sources?"
A tense silence emerged, which was broken seconds later by the nervous laughter of the other Cloud. "Hahaha...I kinda...let myself be kidnapped to get the info?"
The headache bloomed into a full-blown migraine. "Padrino..."
"Oh shut up. They sent fucking rug rats after me, Tsuna. I mean, I get that I'm the weakest Arcobaleno and bullshit, bullshit, bullshit, but my kidnappers wouldn't have been able to touch even Lambo at their level. Tell me that I'm not supposed to seek vengeance after such an insult!"
A giggle caught his attention. "Wow, senpai, I don't even know if that's an insult or a compliment."
Tsuna looked up from where he was holding his head to see all his elements, except for his Mist and Cloud, tired and half-asleep, head towards where their Sky was sitting and collapse near him. As Lambo crawled his head on Tsuna's lap, the brunet quickly deduced the culprit. "Takeshi..." he growled raising his eyes to meet those of his (freakishly tall) Rain.
A laugh distracted him from hearing his Rain's excuses. "And to think that we never even heard Takeshi-kun while we were talking to you," their employer chuckled. "I can see why you are utterly terrifying as your Mist says."
"What do you want?" Hayato hashed out. The Storm was leaning against Ryohei's shoulder, looking utterly exhausted silently revelling in the warmth of constant Sun flames. An exhausted Storm, they all knew, was a grouchy one. The Sun hummed in agreement, sagging against the wall. Having usurped the Namimori territory contract from his family, Kyoya was left in-charge of a Sanctuary, which was a truly troublesome thing to rule. He managed the territory alright with the help of his fellow elements, but it left them exhausted by the end of the day.
(Paperwork is Sawada Tsunayoshi's eternal enemy, it will haunt him no matter what dimension he lives in- #fact universally acknowledged.)
"Grouchy as ever Hayato," their employer's voice grew serious. "Forgive me for asking this of you, Tsunayoshi, but it must be done."
"What is it?"
"Under no circumstances can the Vongola rings be allowed to remain with the heir. As a component of the Tri-Ni-Sette system, they are in serious risk at the moment. As such, for your next job, I'd like to ask you, the Tri-Ni-Sette Sky to retrieve the rings and inherit them."
After a moment of silence, Skull spoke up again. "I understand that this will be hard to do, Tsuna, but you are the one of the Constants of the Tri-Ni-Sette in the alternate worlds, the only Constant in this world, what with the original owners of the Mare ring and the Sky Pacifier dead. Your brother may inherit the Vongola, but he absolutely cannot inherit those rings."
Tsuna sighed before laughing lightly. "One thing's for sure...we can never be bored with you guys around, huh Kawahira-ojisan?"
On the other end of the line, their employer laughed as he ate his ramen with the Arcobaleno Cloud, fully willing to let his favourite humans run the show.
Skull gasped as he entered the building in which the child was meant to be. Looking at the ruins, he felt his heart sink...had he been too late? A flicker of flames caught his eyes from the corner and he turned to see...Sky flames? There was no chance that any of the goons his dear ex-boss sent possessed them. Ah man...why did he get the feeling that this was going to be a major hassle?
Moments later, looking at the tiny Cloud and Mist, working side-by-side to destroy the bastards that took their Sky (there was no mistaking it, nothing but a Sky could cause such a harmony among the two most volatile elements) he felt his headache slam back full force. As his pacifier began to glow, he slowly, slowly turned to look at the roof of the destroyed complex, heart nearly stopping as the curious orange eyes of his Sky (six years old, already a target for drug lords, already in possession of terrifying elements, so heart-breakingly tiny and fragile) looked at him.
Was this how Luce felt, he wondered, when whatever ominous thing she predicted came to be?
Padrino- Godfather
*Years later, when Alaude and Daemon entered a battlefield together, the best soldiers of the enemy were given as a challenge to them. When Kyoya and Mukuro entered a battlefield together the enemy offered their best as sacrificial lambs.
/it was necessary, the whole town unanimously agreed as they watched Sawada Tsunayoshi get into a fork fight with gun waving Yakuza hooligans and win.
_Again, Yamamoto Takeshi was to blame.
^the book really didn't apply to their world, but both Tsuna and parallel world Byakuran insisted that it made good fiction.
that would've probably also been cute, had Lambo not been in kitchen at the time. Tsuna always had a strange attraction to things which could kill him.
I take a lot of privileges with Skull, I know, but his character is really shady to me in the show and the manga. Being a stuntman can't be what makes him the STRONGEST CLOUD. He could be a really fun character to elaborate or twerk. His customized ringtone was 'Angels' by Vicetone, an amazing song.
I hope you guys noticed how this chapter was buildup too. I put this here because the way that some of the other fics showcased the Tenth Gen really made me uncomfortable. Sure, the Sky might calm the elements down and thus be the most precious, but they all don't just have good ties with him and not each other. This fic could easily have been summarized as, 'Adventures in a world where the Tenth Gen grew up to be amazingly dependent, stupidly awesome and utterly terrifying.'
Thanks for the reviews, follows and favourites guys. The Shimon, Dino, Chrome and the others could also be here (Enma and Cozart will definitely be). I am, however, horrible at writing female characters without overpowering or underpowering them, so don't hold your breath. The last thing I want to do is insult my own gender, directly or indirectly.
Read and review!
Until next time,
Arwana13