When Nana first noticed the oddity of her son's linker core, she originally dismissed it. Perhaps he was on the verge of needing magic lessons.

Except she noticed with growing concern the excessive clumsiness, the fact his grades suddenly dropped to below average levels, the difficulty comprehending such basic material when he was a bright child before (it ran in her family), and the fact that his magic now felt stilted and constrained.

When Iemitsu came to visit two years later, she knew something was horribly wrong with her son.

During the visit, it almost felt like Iemitsu was using magic to reinforce something on her son. It was rough, and very poorly done, but Nana could feel the magic in the house.

It was enough that when he left, she took Tsuna straight to Mid-Childa for a visit with doctors who specialized in young mages who had issues with their cores.

What they found had her go cold with absolute fury.

He had put a seal on her son's linker core. It was poorly done and it wasn't working properly, and if it remained on there it would stunt his growth exponentially.

Nana had a choice to make. She could either stay on Earth and have a long overdue chat with her husband, or she could take her son and go live with her sister and her family. She knew her elder sister had a son about the same age as her Tsuna.

Then she remembered how miserable Tsuna was on Earth, and how irritating the neighbors were about the fact Iemitsu was never around.

The clan did move around a lot, but Tsuna would be much happier there. At least they didn't discriminate against women who's husbands were never around. It was normal considering how often someone would leave for months at a time doing research digs for forgotten history.

Nana went to eye level with her son.

"Tsu-kun, how would you like to meet your Aunt Myra and her son Yuuno?" she asked gently. "You might have to leave your school friends behind for a while, but I'm sure you'd get along great with your cousins."

Tsuna tilted his head.

"I have cousins?"

"There's a whole bunch of them. We won't be able to visit home for some time, and I still expect you to stay on top of your school work, but I know the clan would love to meet you."

"What about Papa? Mama is always sad because he's gone...how will he find us?" asked Tsuna concerned.

Nana hugged her son.

"I know Tsu-kun... but I think we'd both be happier staying with aunt Myra for a while. We could use a vacation," said Nana with a straight face.

Besides, she needed time to remember most of her lessons on how to use magic to show Iemitsu exactly how she felt about him putting such a danger and unstable seal on her son.

She would not make it quick or painless. Nice and "friendly" town was what Iemitsu had told her...there was something wrong with Namimori if the people in it were so quick to turn on her innocent son. And the other housewives, they were all quite vicious and cruel with their remarks.

Myra was smitten with her nephew within an hour of meeting him. Yuuno was rather shy, but once he realized that Tsuna wasn't any better they soon warmed up to each other. Myra's other half was on a dig sanctioned by the TSAB, and wouldn't be around for some time. She was more than happy to let her sister stay until she sorted things out.

Either way, Iemitsu was going to be in for one nasty shock when Nana went back to earth...Myra was rather bloodthirsty he had sealed Tsuna's linker core like that, and with such a sloppy one too!

"Hi... I'm Tsuna," said the timid boy behind Nana's leg.

The other boy, with familiar sandy colored hair, smiled shyly back.

"I'm Yuuno."

Seeing a ball nearby, Tsuna hesitantly asked... "Would you like to play?"

The two women smiled indulgently as the boys played... Tsuna was still clumsy as he adjusted to having that horrible seal removed from his core.

The two cousins quickly bonded, and Tsuna would follow the slightly more confident Yuuno like a baby duck. It was ridiculously adorable and the sisters couldn't resist taking multiple photos.

Third POV

He didn't know what to think of his cousin at first. However once Tsuna got used to him, he found the boy an avid listener and eager to please. It was clear Tsuna had been far more lonely than Yuuno was...he at least had his younger cousins there to protect him and play with him. Tsuna had been almost completely isolated shortly after his core was sealed.

However once Tsuna got used to having people who were actually nice and supportive around, it was amazing how quickly he adapted. He was an avid learner and raptly listened to Yuuno showing him how to use support magic.

Then came the day Tsuna was allowed to join in one of the many digs that the clan did to preserve and record history for the TSAB. They were one of the few allowed into the really restricted ruins, like anything that contained bits and pieces of Al-Hazard.

He carefully began to brush aside the dirt, and occasionally brought out a small chisel. The area he had been given was more or less empty...the adults had scoured it before he arrived. But he would be happy finding even a tiny button or bauble. The older mages had patted him on the head with an indulgent smile and told him that if he found out anything he was welcome to keep it... unless it was too dangerous.

Since it was his first time excavating, Yuuno opted to help him instead of joining the adults.

Tsuna suddenly perked up as he uncovered something shiny. Considering he had been carefully removing dirt and the odd bit of stubborn rock, anything shiny might be worth keeping.

Yuuno was right next to him as he managed to uncover what looked like an odd rock. It was shiny within, yes, but it also vaguely looked like an oddly shaped broken pacifier. As Tsuna picked it up out of the dirt, the bottom half broke off completely leaving a smooth orb in his small hand.

It almost felt like a device, except it didn't feel like any device Yuuno had used before. Even the adults couldn't figure it out.

Still, the thing seemed to be either broken or sealed, and as far as they could tell it was relatively harmless...so Tsuna was allowed to keep his prize.

It was only when Tsuna went to practice the limited magic he had learned that they realized how wrong they were to believe the device was 'useless'.

Tsuna went to practice a basic spell meant to increase accuracy of a simple magic bullet. It was so basic that any child could use it. It also helped him learn the basic mathematical formulas needed to cast magic...a fact that still baffled him. After all, who had ever heard of casting magic with MATH?

Tsuna jumped when the odd bauble on the necklace Yuuno had helped him to make for it suddenly spoke.

He wasn't the only one to become very startled when the device seemed to latch onto Tsuna's magical circle, turning the form into something completely different. It wouldn't be for at least two months before they managed to identify the circle as something very similar to the Belkan style, with bits and pieces thrown in that was very difficult to identify.

Yuuno could only assume it had something to do with the origin of the bauble itself.

~Synchronizing... Sync complete. What are your orders, Master?~

Tsuna looked at Yuuno helplessly.

"Try asking for it's name," said Yuuno. He was clearly baffled by this turn of events.

"Um... what's your name?"

~My Designation is Soaring Sky, Master.~

Yuuno nudged his cousin. Tsuna was quick to catch on, remembering the brief lesson he was given when coming across unidentified devices during excavation.

"What is your general purpose, Soaring Sky?"

~Primary purpose is Collection, Retrieval and Sealing, Master. Warning... Knight programs have been severely damaged... new Knights are required.~

"Knights?" said Tsuna in alarm.

~Master's core is predisposed towards knight protocol.~

As if that answer explained everything he would need to know.

"I have a headache," said Yuuno. Tsuna nodded in agreement...they seriously needed an adult.

At the church, two and a half months later...

Carim looked at the bauble, or rather Soaring Sky as it proudly declared itself, then at the two boys before her.

"You're saying this woke up during a standard magic exercise and is claiming Tsuna-kun here can use the 'knight protocol'?" she asked.

"We figured since it used a Belkan style circle, and they had a tendency towards calling themselves 'knights', the church was the best place to ask," said Yuuno sensibly.

Carim had to admit, it was a valid point. If anyone knew how to deal with this, they were likely the first place people would consider. Didn't make her headache any better though.

"First let's have a technician give Soaring Sky a proper work over now that it's active," she said tiredly.

What they found had them both amazed and slightly appalled.

Soaring Sky was not a true Belkan device. Not even close. Whoever had made it had taken something very magical...and highly parasitic...and had turned it into a device using the Belkan methods. The whole 'knight protocol' apparently had preset conditions added into it, so that only certain people could access it.

It was very reminiscent to the Tome of the Night Sky in several ways, at least before the corruption. However the original bauble was clearly a bastardized version of the cartridge system that systematically drained and stored magic from the user's linker core... from what the scan revealed, it was highly likely there would be some very severe side effects to having the original version. Sure, it would be quite powerful, but the drain would be crippling and almost certainly life threatening.

In short, it was not something any sane adult would consent to be around a child. Especially one that recently had a seal removed on their linker core.

The only reason Carim didn't immediately confiscate the device... fully bonded or not... was because the original purpose of the bauble had apparently short circuited. It could drain the user, but whoever had turned the horrid thing into a device had added so many fail safes that it wouldn't be life-threatening.

She was still adding several limiters to the thing that could only be removed under the most dire of circumstances.

The knight protocol was loosely based off the records they had for another device which had been long lost. The Tome of the Night Sky. However unlike the tome, Soaring Sky couldn't permanently sustain the knights saved to the databanks. However a minor revival was possible...but the cost was great. Apparently the bauble had a feature that allowed such a powerful and terrifying magic.

In order to use it, the user had to sacrifice themselves to the bauble, pouring every bit of their energy into it to resurrect any knights stored. It would allow them to return, but the odds of surviving it were so low it wasn't worth mentioning.

Carim was almost terrified to meet whoever created the flawed original version, if a damaged one was like this. Hell, she pitied anyone who got their hands on an undamaged version.

That being said, Soaring Sky wasn't a danger to it's user unless Tsuna tried to use the more...intensive...abilities. And from what they could tell of the Knight Protocol, it was more of a symbiotic relationship that allowed the magic of the Knights to feed back safely into the device and into Tsuna. And in return Tsuna's own magic would give back a stabilizing factor into their own core, fixing up all the little cracks and fissures that generally acculmulated when using magic for prolonged periods.

Tsuna's magic was almost akin to a sort of spiritual glue, and once it fully seeped into a user's core it created an unbreakable bond.

It was no wonder only those predisposed to that sort of magic could access the knight protocol. If anything, all it did was add a few extra perks to something that happened naturally.

"Well, let's see what spells are preloaded onto this thing. Either way you might as well get started thinking up a barrier jacket," said Carim.

Tsuna perked up at that.

Some time later...

Tsuna rather liked his new outfit. Admittedly it did look like something out of a mafia movie, but the thing he loved the most were the gauntlets.

Soaring Sky would split into two 'halves' and became a pair of metal gauntlets, because no matter how hard he tried he could never fully get the hang of using a staff to cast magic. It was easier to use his hands, for some reason.

The most baffling thing was the fact that Tsuna was apparently able to use time magic. Speeding it up, slowing it down, temporarily stopping time (which was the most taxing for obvious reasons)... Once he learned the general feel of the spell in question he was able to quickly master it.

This was the official reason Tsuna visited the church so often. The unofficial reason was that Carim was rightly concerned about Soaring Sky and wanted to keep an eye on the adorable child that was able to worm his way into anyone's hearts if they spent any real length of time in his presence.

Tsuna had a natural affinity for certain magics, and none at all for others.

The thing that he wanted the most, however, was a familiar. He had seen the bonds that other familiars had with the mages who created them, and he desperately wanted a friend whenever Yuuno was unavailable. He didn't want a mindless familiar though...he wanted one with it's own personality and could argue against him from time to time.

Yuuno looked at the tiny bunny in Tsuna's arms. He had to admit, a rabbit for a familiar suited his cousin far too well.

"What's their name?"

Tsuna beamed at him.

"Her name is Xiao Wu," he said proudly. "She reminded me of a character I remember reading in a Chinese manwha and I couldn't resist naming her that. It was either than or Shiroyuki, but I think Xiao Wu suits her better.

The bunny squirmed out of his hold and turned into her human form. It was clear Tsuna had given her more magic than most would, because she had a distinct personality that was far more bossy than anything Tsuna would come up with on his own. She was almost like a really bossy big sister type, from what Yuuno could tell.

Xiao Wu had long brown hair that was held in a braid that went down her back. She wore cutesy clothing that made it obvious he had introduced his new familiar to Carim and their mothers before showing her to Yuuno...mostly because he was well aware of Carim's cosplay addiction. She was the main reason Tsuna's barrier jacket looked like something out of a mafia movie after all. She also had a cute little purse that looked like a rabbit on her side and her ears poked out of her hair making her look even more adorable.

All in all, she looked like the unassuming girl-next-door that would have men eating out of the palm of her hands by being cute.

She suited Tsuna perfectly in that regard...even Yuuno had to admit his cousin could be beyond adorable when he turned those puppy dog eyes on you and he was a guy.

And then he found out what Xiao Wu's specialty was, and suddenly she went from 'harmless bunny' to 'devil in disguise'.

Somehow Tsuna had found a rabbit who was perfectly capable of dismembering grown men barehanded and specialised in close quarters combat. The way she used that braid of hers was downright terrifying...and yet Yuuno felt comforted because he knew that at least now Tsuna would have someone to protect him from the large number of perverts out there that wanted to take advantage of him.