The whole ordeal with Bianchi and Lambo wasn't that hard to take in; the chaos they bring was nothing out of the ordinary considering that Tsuna has a literal high-ranking demon who can show him more chaos than anyone could ever see around him on a daily basis.
It also didn't surprise him that much to hear that the two mid-ranking demons decided to stick around the human realm for a while - and lounge in his and Reborn's house. Bianchi's reasoning was, unsurprisingly, to watch Tsuna and her beloved Reborn's contract expire and the former getting his soul eaten while Lambo was simply so he could be around Tsuna more, claiming that he wanted to bring the brunet back to the underworld so they could play more after taking an interest in him, but was reminded of the rules that an alive human cannot ever step foot into the world of the demons unless they want the balance to be disrupted and incur wrath of the heavenly realm and start another bloodbath.
If he was being honest, with them around, the house became more lively than it had ever been, and perhaps too colorful for his sanity partly because of Bianchi's artsy cooking mania.
"Lambo-san is a strong demon! Lambo-san will help Tsuna with errands!"
"Well, why not? But you must remember not to speak a word of demon-related stuff when we're outside, alright? Big bad humans might just come to take you away," Tsuna grinned when he saw the child nod gleefully and make a 'zipped-up lips' gesture before turning to Reborn, who simply huffed on the sofa before sipping his third cup of espresso. "Do you want to come too, Reborn?"
The other did not respond, but instead stood up and strolled to the kitchen to put his cup away before returning. "Leaving you alone with that dumb cow would just put you in greater danger than you already were," He said as he walked to the front entrance and slipped on his dress shoes.
"I won't! Lambo-san will protect Tsuna, stupid Reborn!"
"Alright, that's enough. You too, Reborn; stop picking a fight with Lambo every chance you get," Tsuna sighed exasperatedly, yet the adoring smile on his face was as radiant as the sun.
Tsuna easily lifted the child, who smiled in glee and nestled closer for the brunet's warmth. "If someone sees you coddling a child demon responsible for the deaths of millions, you'd have been branded as a nutcase,"
"It's not as if anyone knows that there are actual demons around me. They'd surely faint if they knew,"
The three went off, squabbling occasionally, but Tsuna was pleased that he got to keep his contracted demon for himself today. With Bianchi around, his time with Reborn was drastically curtailed, with the latter constantly taking him off elsewhere, undoubtedly to provoke the brunet.
Bianchi had been summoned by her human contractee last night and hadn't returned yet, so it was somewhat less raucous; no murder attempts using her aesthetic dishes and no snatching of Reborn's attention every time Tsuna intended to spend time with him.
Tsuna looked up at the sky as they walked along the neighborhood, a small smile on his face.
The weather today was great, and Tsuna had a hunch that the day would conclude similarly. But it appears he merely spoke too soon, as he spotted dynamites flying towards him and Lambo.
Fortunately, the brunet was quick enough with his reaction to avoid it by springing a few feet backward. And the first thing he checked on was his demon, who was, predictably, already out of the way.
"Great job avoiding it but I'll make sure the next one will burn you to a crisp," he heard an unfamiliar voice growl behind the lamppost a couple of feet away. "And you better get your disgusting human hands off that stupid cow brat if you want a more painless death than what I'm about to give you."
"L-Lambo?" Tsuna asked, confused, turning to Reborn with a questioning look.
"Chaos, Hurricane Bomb," Reborn interjected. "It's about time you come and get this brat off our backs. I'm sure you're aware I can only tolerate so much."
"Apologies, Reborn-san, things have been a bit rough with my human,"
Tsuna watched someone shift from behind the lamppost, stepping out and making his presence known. The boy in his arms squirmed as soon as he caught sight of the silver-haired man bearing a tiny black tinge with red wings and a demon tail on his rear, his expression hostile as he scowled at the overly confused Tsuna. It was clear as day that the man was actually a demon.
"Gyahaha! Baka-Dera!" Lambo squealed as he jumped from Tsuna's arms running towards the silver-haired demon, and climbed up his legs. "Baka-Dera, I've made a new friend! He's kind, and Lambo-san wants to be with him forever!"
The man, Baka-Dera, or Hurricane Bomb as Reborn called him, growled, and Tsuna couldn't help but see some sort of resemblance between him and Bianchi. "Stupid cow!" he yelled, pounding the boy's afro head with his fist half-heartedly before grabbing him by the collar. "Don't you know that the entire underworld is in shambles because of your lack of awareness?! What the fuck are you thinking following us to this disgusting world? The Emperor and your brother as well as mine had practically turned the entire underworld upside down searching for you!"
"H-Hey! Lambo's going to get hurt!" Tsuna cried out, rushing over to try and snatch the child back, only to be stopped by a menacing glare from the demon.
"It's you, isn't it? The rumored human that has been making many demons in the vicinity go crazy?"
With furrowed brows, Tsuna studied the other's face cautiously, evidently unsure of what he was saying. "I'm afraid I have no idea about what you're talking about,"
The demon tossed the whining Lambo to the ground and moved closer to the brunet, leaning in to sniff him. "No wonder they've been letting loose without regard to the Emperor's orders. Just what are you?"
Offended, Tsuna took a step back, his eyes turning wary as he glared at the silver-haired demon. "What are you doing?"
Tsuna jerked up, startled, when he felt an arm snake around his back, drawing him close enough for him to collide with a rock-hard torso. "It seems that news about Tsuna has been spreading around faster," Reborn said. "Tsuna, that's Gokudera Hayato, he's Bianchi's younger brother and that stupid cow's sitter. He's also contracted with someone you're closely associated with."
Tsuna inclined his head slightly, attempting to figure out who else among his closest friends was deranged enough to establish a pact with a demon as rude as this one.
As if to answer his question, a man with an extremely familiar and carefree grin emerged from around the corner, waving at him and...the silver-headed demon, who turned around as if sensing the other's presence.
"Hey, Tsuna, Hayato," Yamamoto greeted, his voice as casual as ever, as if there wasn't an actual demon sporting wings and a tail, in front of him. "And oh, Reborn-san. It's been a while since I last saw you."
"W-Wait, give me a freaking second to wrap my head around this. Reborn, tell me this isn't your doing..." Tsuna looked reproachfully at his demon, a slight rage dancing across his face as he gave him a harsh stare.
It's not that Tsuna doesn't trust Reborn, he does; in fact, Reborn is probably the only creature he trusted enough with his whole life. But be that as it may, Reborn is still a demon, and he knew what the other was capable of doing, whether out of spite or simply out of boredom. "Don't give me that look, dame-Tsuna. I wouldn't waste my precious time playing cupid for these two brats," Reborn's voice was dripping with sarcasm as he scoffed, smacking his charge by the head lightly and taking pleasure in the yelp he received.
Behind the pain (yes, that was already painful because Reborn is a demon who doesn't know how to control his monstrous strength beyond human comprehension when it comes to the brunet), Tsuna breathed a sigh of relief before returning to Yamamoto, who was already by Gokudera's side, squatting to amuse Lambo, who was giggling at the baseball star's hand poking his cheek. "So you mean to say Takeshi summoned him all by himself? And you also know about it but didn't tell me?"
"You didn't ask," Tsuna said, closing his eyes in annoyance before taking several deep breaths in a vain attempt to calm down as Reborn shrugged with a sneer.
"Now, now, Tsuna, don't get mad at your demon," At Yamamoto's remarks, Tsuna almost choked on his spit, dread mounting within him as he struggled to recall if he had a slip of the tongue the night of Ryohei's birthday celebration. "Oh, you don't need to worry about revealing anything about demons and stuff during your drunken state; you were very careful with your words regarding your relationship with him that night...but you did have a quite amusing slip-up." Yamamoto added, an all-knowing smile on his face as he side-eyed Reborn.
Seeing the amused look across his friend's face, Tsuna couldn't help but arch a brow in skepticism. "What kind of slip-up?" but before Yamamoto could even respond, Gokudera interrupted him by stomping on his feet with a fuming expression.
"What are you even doing here, you baseball freak? Didn't I tell you to only show your face when you're ready to finally ask me for something?!"
Tsuna watched Gokudera and Yamamoto argue, although one-sidedly, and was struck by the ease with which the latter handled it. He could tell Yamamoto was brighter than the last time he saw him with just one look; possibly the silver-headed monster had a lot to do with it, but it didn't take away the worry for his friend. Something huge and grave had clearly transpired to the baseball star, prompting him to perform a demon summoning.
There's also the mystery of how Yamamoto knew how to summon one in the first place.
"Demon summoning has become widespread across the human realm nowadays. Initially, only a handful of people knew of our existence. Some were cults who worshipped us in hopes of gaining the Demon Emperor's blessings, and some were humans who accidentally summoned demons due to intense emotions, just like how you were able to summon me," Reborn responded to his unspoken query, his countenance obscured by the shade of his fedora. "But Yamamoto Takeshi and many others are different. These days, demon sigils that should have been kept securely in the Emperor's lair have been laid bare and scattered around by a traitor, both in the underworld and the human realm. Yamamoto Takeshi may have been one of the few who coincidently found Gokudera's sigil and summoned him."
"Wait, wait, wait! You know what? We shouldn't be talking about this stuff here; forget getting groceries, we're going home!" Tsuna frantically exclaimed, looking around to see if anybody else had been listening in on them before sighing in relief and returning his gaze to Reborn, then Yamamoto. "I hate you both for keeping this from me." was the only thing Tsuna could say to them before lifting Lambo from the ground and marching back in the direction of his house, with the others merely following suit.
Since Tsuna could remember, Reborn had never failed to express his hunger and desire for Tsuna's soul, but never actually told him the reason aside from how it had a great scent that could rival the fragrance of the espresso he so loved—the scent of resentment born from watching his mother die unjustly. Hearing that there was more to his soul than Reborn made it appear, as well as the reason he had been subconsciously attracting the attention of numerous demons recently, came as a huge surprise to him.
If there were actual demons currently standing before him, then the existence of gods and angels shouldn't be impossible.
The only response he got from the demons about how gods and angels had any connection to his soul was that someone in his family had been graced by the heavens or was an offspring of a union between a human and a heavenly being. As a result, Tsuna's soul is significantly superior to that of the normal human.
Gokudera watched the brunet with disdain as the other poured him a cup of fragrant oolong tea, his countenance contemptuous.
"If looks could kill, the entire kitchen surely would have been dripping with my blood right now," Tsuna murmured to himself, his voice dripping with sarcasm, as he slid the cup as gently as his patience allowed to the silver-headed demon, whose gaze sharpened, surely, after hearing his sarcastic remarks. Of course, curse all demon's enhanced hearing abilities. "Wh-What?"
Sliding his eyes down the tea he served, Gokudera clicked his tongue, and not even a second passed when the cup exploded, small pieces of ceramic teacups flying randomly along with splatters of hot liquid inside it. Tsuna's body would have been pelted with shattered fragments and burning liquid if he hadn't reacted on time and ducked.
"Don't be too full on yourself. You may be contracted with Reborn-san, but don't think I'd take something from someone like your disgusting kind," he hissed, before stomping out of the kitchen, heading to where Reborn and Yamamoto were conversing.
Tsuna simply sighed and stood, his head turning to where the demon exited, and couldn't help but wonder why Gokudera hated humans so much.
As if to answer his silent question, a voice he never expected to hear, at least not today, entered his ears. "Most demons don't have a particular liking to other beings aside from our kinds,"
He snapped his head back to the kitchen table and saw Bianchi sitting on her usual seat—the one she chose for herself when she decided to freeload in his house.
"Bianchi, you're back? Do you want something to eat?"
Bianchi simply huffed and planted her elbows on the table, her chin resting on her palm as she watched the brunet in pure interest. "What a strange kid you are. No, I don't need food; I'm here to relay the information Reborn asked for,"
"Information? Should I call Reborn for you?" Tsuna asked innocently, making the woman sigh once again but shook her head nonetheless.
"It's about your father, Tsuna,"
Before Tsuna could even react, Yamamoto abruptly entered the kitchen with a horrified expression. "Tsuna, it's Lambo..."
I can't apologise enough for not updating this story for almost a month; at first, I only planned on taking a break to focus on my finals but it got prolonged due to personal matters. I hope this chapter satisfies you all, thought :(