Timoteo had a headache, one that was not helped by the fact Iemitsu was giving a very confused Reborn dirty looks and all but hissing like a very irate cat. Nor was it helped by the fact little Tsunayoshi was absolutely terrified of his own father, but had absolutely no issue with using the Strongest Sun as his own shield.
"So just to be clear... young Tsunayoshi wandered into the holding room you were staying in until my schedule cleared enough for our meeting...and you harmonized with him?" said Timoteo, sounding like he would love nothing better than a few stiff drinks.
"The kid was hiding from Iemitsu, and he mentioned something about 'pretty colors'," shrugged Reborn. "I figured it would be a good enough distraction to show him my Flames since he could bring out his own... I wasn't expecting him to stick his hand directly into them."
Little Tsuna curled into Reborn's neck, looking rather sleepy. Reborn quietly adjusted his grip so the boy could nap comfortably on him without even realizing it. The amount of implied trust the seven year old was showing someone as dangerous as Reborn was staggering, to say the least. Especially when he openly feared his own father for no reason they could readily explain.
"Nono, I would like to formally request you seal his flames," said Iemitsu, clearly angry over how out of hand things had gotten.
Reborn stiffened, and looked at Iemitsu murderously. It was very clear he would not take the child's sealing laying down at all and would likely become rather violent if they tried.
Newly bonded Guardians were extremely protective, not to mention clingy. Especially someone like Reborn, who had search for years for a Sky that he could call his own, only to fail time and time again until young Tsunayoshi dropped almost into his lap.
From the sound of things, the boy's Intuition had lead him straight to the World's Greatest Hit Man and had merely waited for the first opportunity to claim his Guardian.
There was no chance in hell Reborn was going to allow them to seal the boy, not if they had truly harmonized.
Timoteo suspected that truly was the case, because Reborn normally only tolerated small children in limited amounts, yet he looked surprisingly comfortable having the child in his arms.
"I'm afraid, Iemitsu, that sealing the child would be impossible. At least for now."
Iemitsu bristled at that, and Reborn couldn't help but feel a measure of disgust at the sight.
The leader of CEDEF looked and acted far too much like a spoiled brat not getting his way.
It gave the hit man an inkling as to why little Tsuna avoided his father like the plague.
Iemitsu tried to get closer to Tsuna, but the sleepy child whimpered and immediately curled closer to Reborn. The look Reborn shot the man could have peeled paint, it was that dark.
"I don't want my son anywhere near the mafia, much less someone like him!" hissed Iemitsu, furious.
Timoteo leveled a Look at Iemitsu.
"You know as well as I do that newly bonded Guardians cannot be separated from their Skies. The damage done to young Tsunayoshi could be irreperable if we tried to seal him with an active Guardian bond, never mind the fact Reborn would almost certainly kill you without hesitation for it," said Timoteo flatly.
He was not pissing off Reborn. Especially not over something as sacred as a Guardian bond.
"Why are you so dead set about sealing the kid anyway?" asked Reborn crossly.
Iemitsu glared at him.
"I don't want my son in the mafia. He deserves to have a normal childhood."
"You're an idiot," said Reborn without hesitation. "His chance at 'civilian' went out the window the second he showed Sky Flames. Normal seals won't do anything for Sky Attraction and without his Flames your son would be a clumsy, uncoordinated mess...and that's without factoring in the fact it could easily seal away his intuition as well. You're just asking him to be bullied."
Iemitsu seethed.
"Besides, who said the kid had to be in the direct line of succession now that he's active? He can still be a spare heir without ruining his childhood," said Reborn.
Timoteo latched onto Reborn's idea, mostly to avoid an even bigger headache.
"What do you mean?"
"The Vongola have areas under their control with schools and the like, don't they?" said Reborn flippantly. "Leave the kid there and give him basic training so he establishes a proper attachment to the famiglia, but keep him out of politics until he's old enough to decide for himself. It also means you can arrange protection until he gathers other Guardians without having anyone try to use him against you."
Timoteo could only feel relief. Iemitsu just looked angry.
"Nono, you aren't seriously considering this?" demanded Iemitsu.
"Namimori is under our protection, and arranging tutors would be simple enough. Keeping the child distant from the line of direct succession while in a controlled territory is better than pissing off the World's Greatest Hit Man," said Timoteo tiredly. "Especially since we can easily pay him to act as bodyguard and tutor to cover up why he's actually staying there for long periods of time."
Reborn would never fully settle into a 'civilian' lifestyle, so allowing him to leave every once in a while to take on a difficult hit was a good compromise. So long as young Tsunayoshi remained hidden, no one needed to know he had bonded with Reborn as his Sun.
Iemitsu was not happy, but the entire thing had been taken out of his hands the second Tsuna claimed Reborn as his Guardian.
Nana not only recognized the man from the island who found her son immediately, but took the news that Reborn would be acting as Tsuna's live-in tutor well enough. The fact he could act as discreet bodyguard for the family until proper protection could be arranged was just a bonus.
The second Fon heard Reborn was settling down in Namimori for the time being, for an unspecified prolonged period of time, he personally came to visit.
It took him a few moments to get over the cheerful seven year old hugging his leg without hesitation.
"I never took you to settle down," he commented in Italian.
Reborn looked a mixture of annoyed and embarassed. It was an odd combination to see on his face.
"The brat managed to harmonize with me a few days after he went active."
Fon's smile openly slipped into a shocked expression.
"The boy harmonized with you?" he said in disbelief. Not even Luce was able to pull off a full bond, though she already had a Sun.
"Stuck his hand right into my Flames when I showed them to him, and didn't even bat an eye at it," said Reborn.
Seeing Fon's disbelief, Reborn easily scooped up the kid and brought out his flames.
Tsuna grinned and didn't even think twice about sticking his hand in them.
"I suppose it's only natural he would harmonize with you after the way the child immediately took to you on Mafia Land," said Fon, once he got over his shock. "I'm more surprised the Vongola haven't announced the presence of a fifth heir."
"Iemitsu would have thrown a complete bitch fit if they had," said Reborn. He was glad they were speaking in Italian, because Nana would have his head if Tsuna picked up swear words this early. "He was pushing pretty hard for the kid to have his flames sealed... pretty sure that's why he dragged his family to Italy in the first place actually."
Tsuna only had to hear the name before he flinched. Odds were his intuition was the reason he avoided Iemitsu.
Fon looked appalled at the idea. Flames strong enough to hold Reborn as a Guardian would be nearly impossible to seal without ruining the child's life for a very long time, never mind the long term damage it would do. It would be a miracle if the boy would be able to harmonize with anyone if it was removed, if at all.
Children with Flames should be cherished, not sealed away so easily unless there was something very, very wrong with their psyche.
"How did you manage to avert that?"
"Pointed out that no one had to know the kid was a Vongola heir and that it would be easier for everyone if they simply hid him away someplace under Vongola control and train him up until he was old enough to decide whether he wants to be part of the famiglia or not. So long as they let me go on hits occasionally, I'm 'officially' the kid's bodyguard and home tutor until he's eighteen."
Left unsaid was the fact Reborn would have brutally murdered anyone who tried to seal his Sky. He was possessive if nothing else, and recently bonded Guardians were often very twitchy until the bond settled.
Fon had a calculating look in his eyes.
"You know if you're trying to get the kid some decent Guardians I might have a suggestion that could benefit us both."
"You?" said Reborn dryly, only mildly surprised when Fon shook his head. Having enough strength to pull in Reborn was one thing, he wasn't going to tempt fate by trying to see if Tsuna could handle his own Flames as well.
"I have a son in Namimori. Tsuna mistook me for him before, remember?"
"You have a kid?" said Reborn in surprise. This was news to him.
"It was part of an arrangement with the Hibari clan that almost fell through because my cousin was killed off for something stupid," said Fon. "I agreed to help produce the agreed upon heir with limited visitation rights to keep him safe."
Left unsaid was the fact that everyone seemed to think Kyouya was his nephew or something.
"So you want to give Tsuna a chance to bond with your son as his Storm?"
Fon chuckled.
"Not quite. Kyouya has shown several signs of being more of a Classic Cloud with a possible Mist secondary, rather than inherit my Storm flames," said Fon. Now he had Reborn's full interest.
Clouds were notoriously tricky to harmonize with, never mind being the second hardest flame type to find. Getting them acquainted early would make it easier for the two to bond later when Kyouya went active.
When Tsuna heard Reborn was going to introduce him to the scary kid Hibari, who he remembered from his dreams, he asked if he could bring a present.
Fon and Reborn had shared a look and chuckled at the sheer innocence the kid had.
"Have something in mind, bambino?" asked Reborn.
Tsuna nodded. He remembered how much the slightly scary boy in his dreams loved that little canary he named Hibird. Perhaps Hibari would like a friend that wouldn't be scared of his biting habit?
Reborn humored the kid and allowed Tsuna to direct where they would go. He was mildly surprised when the boy went straight to a pet shop.
Considering his own familiar, Leon, perhaps the kid was trying to emulate him a bit?
That thought went out the window when Tsuna confidently bought a cheerfully little canary that was decidedly ball shaped. It look like a ball of feathers, to be honest.
Fon looked at the box curiously, but outside of the fact that the contents was a living creature didn't try to find out what Tsuna planned to give his son.
Kyouya was decidedly antisocial, and hated playdates. The fact his father was bringing someone who was so clearly an herbivore grated on him, because he would be force to be 'nice' and not bite the intruding small animal to death for getting on his nerves.
He looked at the box in Tsuna's hands with disgust. Was that some sort of bribe? He didn't need such pathetic presents.
Tsuna merely smiled at him and chirped "I brought you a friend to keep you company, Hibari-san!"
Kyouya, under the watchful gaze of Fon, opened the box reluctantly.
And stared at the tiny ball of feathers inside.
The tiny canary woke up when the lid was removed, took one look at Kyouya, and cheerfully flew around his head before landing on top of his hair. It looked perfectly comfortable treating Kyouya's head as a birdnest.
Fon looked like he desperately wanted to laugh, but managed to hold his composure. Barely.
Kyouya wanted to glower at him, or at least the small animal...but he didn't really mind the bird. It was small, and rather cute.
"I thought a bird might suit you, Hibari-san!" said Tsuna smiling brightly.
To the surprise of everyone, the canary started chirping in a decidedly human manner "Hibari! Hibari!"
"...Wao. What's the bird's name?" asked Kyouya, a slight smile on his face.
Something that privately shocked Fon, because every time he tried to give Kyouya a gift when he visited the boy would always turn it down or give him a Look.
And yet the little Sky had managed to pick the perfect present for his prickly nephew and give him a new friend that he could talk to.
Tsuna looked rather sheepish at that.
"Hibird."
"Hibird! Hibari!" chirped the newly designated Hibird, flying around Kyouya's head. Fon had to hide his grin when he saw the way Kyouya's eyes softened as the bird landed on his shoulder this time.
On the plus side, Tsuna had made a very big step into making Kyouya his Cloud. Clearly the boy understood Kyouya better than most did, because outside of a little flinch, he didn't back down when Kyouya pretended that he was about to "bite the annoying small animal".
Fon was inordinately pleased by this, as it meant he wouldn't have to worry so much about his son. So was Reborn, since it meant his Sky would have a suitably strong Cloud of good lineage if he was able to keep it up.