Under That Sky

by Shivani

Tsuna loathes the man and wants him dealt with, his sins exposed and his twisted desires stolen. He asks for help, but gets sucked into something he could not have imagined. He rolls with it.

8. 08: 2015

Paintball was both frustrating and exciting. The goggles were a pain, but also encouragement to actually do part of what they were attempting. It was also hilarious. Kyōya had various things shipped in (more walls, for one) so they had cover as they attempted to shoot each other in the face (or chest, or back, or wherever) while not similarly getting hit.

Tsuna was working overtime trying to extend his senses to pinpoint the locations of the others in order to figure out where would be safe to take cover, and still be able to shoot one of his family.

Paint splattered his goggles and rendered him blind (for the fifteenth time), so he sat down on the spot. His friends were vicious and always went after him first. He presumed it was to kick his ass into gear on the sensing thing.

Tsuna pulled a stained rag and a squirt bottle of water out of his pocket and began cleaning the water-soluble paint off the eyepieces. At least the breeze was sweet, and an earlier rain shower had made the scent of earth rise up, promising growing things.

While cleaning he again tried to stretch out his senses, and wondered how he could—Tsuna stopped for a moment and closed his eyes, imagining some of his Sky Flames spread out around him so thin that they would be unseen. His family should not detect them? In theory. They were all already so used to the feel of each other's flames, so this idea…

He opened his eyes again and resumed cleaning, then sat there when he was done to put his idea into play. He would not move until the round was won, so he had time to try to create a mist of flames, to pinpoint the others. Mukuro and Nagi, even Kyōya, had an advantage in their Mist Flames, with being able to ghost minds.

Tsuna absolutely had to counter that in his own way. Keeping the image of what he wanted clear in his head, he slowly pushed out a nearly invisible mist of his flames, and got approximately two meters out before he stopped.

'What about radar? Which would be better, an encompassing mist, or something more like sonar?'

When the end of the round hit he had managed three meters, and by the end of their practice had managed six meters.

Over lunch Shoichi said, "We may be seeing a problem. I checked my system and it's looking like the eldest son was killed in a mass shootout."

Tsuna groaned, and he wasn't the only one.

"Also, fun fact, the average sniper is trained to shoot from six to twelve hundred meters."

He groaned again. That was a half-kilometer to just over. He was going to have to really push the idea of a mist of Sky Flames. And figure out how to deal with that much input without driving himself insane. If one son of Vongola was already dead, that meant several things.

One, they might close ranks and protect what was left. Except, Tsuna did not have a high opinion of Vongola. Two, other famiglie might see that as every reason to believe Vongola was weak, and seek to destroy them. Three, that Timoteo, he who had sealed an innocent child who was active, would delude himself and thereby lose another son, or both those remaining. Xanxus was on ice and therefore in limbo, and did not exactly count.

The point being, unless the first option came to pass (and even then), Tsuna would have to keep preparing toward a moment he wished would not come.

As it was Sunday, their last day of break before the start of the new term, they left the mansion after lunch and went for a wander around town. Miura appeared as if she had always been there and started showing off samples of her work, based on the discussion had.

"Do you want to be part of something bigger?" he asked, wondering a split second later why that had come out of his mouth.

Miura stopped dead and looked at him squarely. "Yes."

Tsuna glanced at Kyōya, then Mukuro, then Nagi, all of whom nodded. "Even if it's dangerous?"

"Even if it's dangerous."

Tsuna then steered his family to the shrine. Kyōya sent them in, and Miura took a good few minutes in gaping silence to come to terms with what she was seeing.

"There's a test, of sorts," he said. "To prove yourself. We've all done it."

She nodded. She looked as nervous as she did determined.

"We will go downstairs, then. Expect to be surprised. Expect to have to defend your life." He turned and headed down the stairs, his family following, and they grouped up to wait.

Miura came down last—not a surprise—and looked around in more confusion.

Tsuna pointed at one of the shadows lurching around. "That is what you have to face." The statement, while true, was also a lie, because they all knew you had to face yourself, as well.

Miura walked forward at a snail's pace, eyeing the shadow with no small amount of trepidation, and shrieked when it attacked her. She went through what all of them had gone through, though she was stubborn enough that it was not long before she stood in costume, a mask of purple-threaded green flames crackling around her eyes.

She seemed downright offended when her [Zio] barely scratched the Pixie she was up against, and switched to physical attacks. Miura moved like a gymnast, all agility and ability to dodge. She finally smacked the Pixie into nothingness and just stood there staring at nothing.

"Miura-san," he said, "we need to get you geared up."

"Haru." She turned around, then followed as they all went back upstairs.

"It's not flu season, unfortunately," Tetsuya said mournfully as Tsuna went straight to the first screen to do some shopping.

There were still four blank tabs, with no guarantee they would ever fill in. Tsuna purchased top of the line gear for Haru, then handed it over. "It's not," he said, "but since we're here, we can still work on Haru-san's levels."

"What does flu season have to do with anything?" Haru asked as she kitted up.

"Because the scariest thing you'll ever see in here shows up if we spend too much time on any one floor, and it's insanely difficult to defeat." Tsuna frowned. "Or so we assume. We sort of cheated, because we noticed when flu season hit, a lot of the shadows here were inflicted with Despair, which meant we could just stand there until they keeled over. The same is true for the Reaper, except those give out insane amounts of experience and you level up to max in the space of an afternoon."

She blinked owlishly and nodded, then gushed, "These costumes are so amazing! Haru wonders if—"

Kyōya teleported them to Ikari no Michi and started hunting.

"—it would be possible to do anything half so cool. The masks, though, Haru doesn't think Haru could manage that. Everything else though—"

Tsuna stuck close to Kyōya, if only because he wasn't sure if his senpai was going to bite to death their newest addition for being a chatterbox. 'Oh well, he can always bite her to death during all our spars.'

It took more time in most cases to hunt down shadows and climb stairs than it did to defeat the various shadows, but Haru was up in the sixties when they decided it was a good time to leave. Even if they didn't stumble into another flu season until the end of the year, just being there three times a week would do a fair amount toward getting her closer to max level.

Back at the entrance he said, "We normally come here every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, for exercise if nothing else."

"If nothing else being the stuff on that website?" she asked.

He nodded.

"That's how you got those bullies to apologize to Haru, after you knocked them out."

He nodded again.

"So that was why some of you spent so much time looking at their faces, to identify them."

She must have excellent peripheral vision, he thought as he nodded yet again. "The odd thing about this place is that we could spend what feels like a day in here and still exit in time to get home for dinner. So, those three days, after school lets out. The other days are for outside training."

Haru furrowed her brow. "Such as?"

"Well, there is the little issue of people trying to kidnap me multiple times already, plus that sniper, so we spar each other to get used to fighting actual humans, for one. A bunch of us have worked on picking locks."

Tetsuya pulled a lockpick from his ridiculous hairstyle and shook it, then slid it back in.

"Someone might actually succeed at kidnapping me and slapping cuffs on, so knowing how to get out of them could be useful. Also, paintball, to get used to being shot at outside."

She gaped. "Who…?"

He shrugged, absolutely not willing to disclose that without harmonization. She had already picked up [Lightning Flames] and [Cloud Flames], but that wasn't enough. He had no plans whatsoever to even hint that flames could be used outside, not unless she harmonized. "Evenings are for dinner followed by school work. Also—"

"Don't talk about this place to anyone else," she said.

"Right. I imagine none of us wants to end up in a psych ward."

Haru looked at Mukuro, then Nagi, then sort of squinted with one eye, then shook her head. "You all—no, most of you go to Namimori Middle."

"Yes. We meet up there. It's a little unfair to Nagi-chan because Midori is farther away and Yumei is practically next door, but that's how it worked out. But you two can walk together."

"Right. Well, if that's okay?"

Nagi nodded. "Of course."

Kyōya and Mukuro escorted him home (with Haru's eyes lingering on their backs), and Mukuro was once again waiting for him after dinner. He rather hated that Mukuro was having to eat a bento alone up in his room every night, but he was adamant that Tsuna would be guarded in some way. If Tsuna wished it could occasionally be Kyōya sleeping in his room, Mukuro did nothing more than give him yet another amused smile and fondly indulgent look.

"I haven't worked up the courage yet," he muttered, then testily sat down so he could take care of his homework.

Mukuro took a seat, as well, and fetched his things out of inventory. "You'll get there when you get there," he said, reaching over to briefly pet his fluffy hair.

He huffed and got to work.

Ω

Haru proved to be ridiculously agile outside as well as inside. She admitted to having gymnastics training, and made for a slippery opponent. Tsuna's intuition helped him immensely in countering (even inside, his intuition guaranteed he was the first to act, though Haru was now second in line if she was in the battle party).

She fumbled just as much as he had at first. Which, amusing, though he felt guilty about it. Also, she sparred Kyōya first, and most people felt some measure of blind panic when Kyōya came at them with his tonfa, whether they had anything resembling a brain or not, and she did, else she would not attend Midori.

After all the spars were done (and Haru was reduced to a panting mess of exhaustion) it was time for water (both poured on them and into them), and multiple rounds of paintball (though everyone was very careful in their usage of flames as a measure of seeking out those around them).

Tsuna was very much miffed when they went easy on Haru and still tried to take him out as quickly as possible, which only made him more determined to extend his reach when it came to sensing. Six meters was nothing compared to six hundred, and worse, twelve hundred.

By the time they were done he had manged to increase his range to ten meters. If he could only manage four meters per session—he started scratching out the math on the ground—it would take him as much as two years to get that far out. Clearly, he needed to work harder, or at least, not only during outside practices.

If he could get that kind of increase daily he could drop that time down to a little less than a year. Better still, manage more per day and drop it down to six months. And that was without factoring in that every meter out would be harder just due to how much additional territory it would cover.

'Besides, I need to know how flame actives stack up against inactives, and who is already in town,' he thought as he was escorted home, still spamming [Intuition] by reflex. 'That way I could potentially notice immediately if someone wandered in who shouldn't be here. Suppose I could also work on it during school hours, so long as there's nothing particularly interesting happening on any given day. Or at lunch.'

It was going to suck no matter what, because Kyōya and Tetsuya were in their first year of high school, which meant they were separated again.

He started that evening, while doing his school work, still spamming [Intuition], trying to increase his range, all while Mukuro kept a mental eye out for anything hinky headed their way. Not every kidnapper or assassin sent after him would be flame active and stand out against a multitude of barely flickering embers. They would stand out by virtue of getting too damn close to the house, either his mother's or the Hibari mansion.

School, well, that would be a bit harder. But no one should be on the grounds except at certain times of day.

He would figure it out along the way.

Ω

Tsuna cursed under his breath and dove for cover as multiple paintballs splattered right where he was standing. Naturally, that was when Haru dove for cover from the other side, crashing into him and … harmonizing.

"Time out!" he bellowed.

His family members all crept out of hiding to come see what the situation was, then shook their heads.

"What … was that?"

"Ah, you know what, let's table that discussion until we're inside. Tomorrow."

"But—"

"Nope!" he said. "Tomorrow, inside. We only have maybe an hour left before we have to split up, and that conversation will take more time than we have right now. We will talk about it inside, then do our usual exercise, so you can think things through."

Haru subsided. "Right. Haru understands."

"Omnivore."

Tsuna smiled at his senpai and nodded. "Let's restart this round. Everyone back to starting positions."

As he scampered off to his own spot he castigated himself for not having sensed Haru about to dive his way, because that meant both his intuition and his sensing had failed. Or not? Maybe they didn't work because harmonization was welcomed?

It wasn't until the next day, after school, and once they were inside Mementos that they all sat down so he could explain everything. Haru gaped, cried on his behalf, cheered, and basically ran the gamut of emotions as he spilled his … origin story? 'Oh dear kami, now I sound like a superhero or supervillain!'

The mafia thing? She didn't even seem to care, but he had to wonder how much of that was her glossing over her real reaction so she had a chance to assimilate. He knew that had to be the case, assimilation, because she was exceptionally quiet during their hunt for shadows as exercise.

Not that it would stop Kyōya from biting her to death in their spars.

Which, whatever, right? Haru had harmonized, she had not started screaming, and neither had she started giving anyone funny looks. He refused to believe he could harmonize with someone who would go off the deep end after learning the backstory.

As a side thought, he remembered to give her the ring he had in inventory, dropped by Oregano in the defect's Palace, given that she was a Lightning.

As they were getting ready to leave she said, "Haru may just have to bring Japanese costume design to Italy, if that's where things go."

Ω

The second son died before they even made it to the summer break, which caused another round of groaning.

"This is awful," he said. "Vongola is incompetent."

"They are," Tetsuya said, but he looked deeply worried as he did. "If they go after the third, what says they won't come after you next?"

He felt a moment of blind panic before he settled. All their training was with the idea of protection and defense. He ran his hands over his face and sighed. "What do you think are the odds of, should we end up there, of finding another entrance to Mementos? And, still being able to deal with the big ones in Palaces?"

"Hopefully damn good," Ken said. "A good fight is one thing, but I'm not exactly keen on killing people if it can be avoided."

Chikusa nodded. "The same. Though I will kill in defense of your life, or any of ours."

"I'm warning you all now, if I have to kill outside, I'll probably lose my lunch. It'll be awful," he said. "But I suppose most people are like that. I can't imagine that a police officer forced to shoot someone just walks away from that like it's rainbows and kittens, especially not the first time."

"Well, Haru has more bad news."

Tsuna eyed her wearily.

"Haru and Nagi-chan agree that Sato-sensei is being extremely slothful as the Social Studies teacher. Haru can report that Sato-sensei just puts a few notes on the board and expects us to do all the reading, and occasionally gives us a test. There is no teaching involved, no discussion, and near zero engagement with Sato-sensei."

"So you're having to basically self-study everything," Chikusa said.

The girls nodded.

Nagi said, "I was contemplating putting Sato-sensei up for consideration, and then Haru-chan joined us, and she agrees. Sato-sensei is a detriment to the education of everyone she 'teaches', and we have exams coming up second term for high school entry. Getting a new teacher will be bad enough for the disruption, but as we're having to learn on our own, and it's a private school…"

"So she's doing the same to everyone, okay," he said, leaning on his intuition out of habit. "This sounds as bad as Nezu, just in a different way. So we need to figure out that keyword. It might still be school for the place, or even classroom, but…"

"Haru is a little nervous," Haru admitted.

"Palaces are … odd," Mukuro said. "They reflect something of the target's unconscious mind. Nezu's palace was a maze, then a labyrinth, but all of it was gated by math puzzles, except for the one path with Morse code. Sato… We'll know when we figure out the keyword."

"…Is there a time limit?"

Tsuna shook his head. "Only self-imposed ones so far, aside from the thing with the defect. He was only here for a week, and we were trying to get his treasure while he was on a plane out of the country. That didn't work out quite right as far as timing went, but it still worked in the end."

"Maybe because it takes the target a bit of time to actually … be properly affected," Shoichi suggested.

"Yeah," he said. "Wasn't willing to ask, even that second time. So, ideas?"

Shoichi started jotting down the suggestions.

"Uh, what's Sato's given name?"

Shoichi paused, then grabbed his laptop to go digging.

Ω

The Palace, when they entered it, was a descending spiral, like the world's longest ramp or water slide. The lowermost point he expected to be the boss arena, though all he could see was a flat disc with a squat cylinder atop it.

Tsuna sighed just seeing it laid out before him. 'At least it's technically fewer floors than the defect's?'

Ken made a noise something like derision. "What is this, some weird form of hell?"

Tsuna could see shadows patrolling, as well as what looked to be decent hiding spots, as there were buildings all the way down, what looked like pot plants, and oddly, benches that looked comfortable enough to nap on.

'Then again, if Sato embodies Sloth…' he thought, then said, "I have to wonder if all those plants are plastic, just so no one would have to water them."

Tetsuya shot him a look. "Maybe outside."

"As amusing as I think it would be to slide down to the bottom," Mukuro said, "let's not. There are no guard rails."

"The slope isn't steep enough anyway," Shoichi said, "not unless we—no, not even going there."

"The fact that Sato even has a Palace says plenty, so…"

"Let's go," Kyōya said, then prowled off down the stairs leading to the spiral.

They met shadow teaching assistants by the legion, school office staff, and even got to see the odd scene. Entering yet another building on the smoothly curving slope downward (this one a triangle) revealed a tableau much like ones in the defect's head, with a glass wall and a door at the center.

Tsuna zipped into a hiding spot to spy, and felt Kyōya right behind him. His senpai's warmth felt wonderful against his back.

"Kyaa! Sato-sensei is so cool!" a female teaching assistant said to her fellow assistant. "We get so much experience handling this stuff!"

What those two could not see, and Tsuna only could due to a reflection in a window on the back wall of that room (a wall that did not conform to the actual shape of the triangular building they had entered), was someone who was presumably Sato staring into the room, a lazy smile of smug satisfaction on her face. He did a double-take the second he noticed it, and looked to the right. All he could see was his own family, though.

The male nodded. "I even asked her if there was more I could do and—she smiled at me! Smiled!"

"Kyaaaa!"

Tsuna winced as his ears were assaulted again, and Kyōya twitched as if he wanted nothing more than to bite the woman to death for being a fangirl nuisance.

"Let's get through this as quickly as we can," the male suggested. "Then we can see if there's more Sato-sensei will let us do and learn from."

"Kyaaaa!"

Which, okay, Kyōya had just stood up and barged through the door, revealing a mid-boss to deal with.

"I can't exactly blame you," he murmured, gently knocking into his senpai as he got into position.

The mid-boss was a normal one, for a given definition of normal, a souped-up version of a shadow they already dealt with in Mementos, just with different reactions and stronger attacks. Normal shadows were a walk in the park, as Tsuna could frequently just nail them with an attack from Yoshitsune if they didn't null (or worse) physical attacks.

Doing that too often tended to make Kyōya grumpy, though.

"This whole place is a testament to Sato's laziness. Even the Palace itself is lazy!" Haru said, almost yelling.

It was. There weren't even any puzzles to deal with. Just building after building of tableaux, or staff rooms with desks overflowing with paperwork and shadows diligently working through them. Until disturbed, at which point they had to be defeated.

If nothing else, it firmed up his already firm decision to deal with this woman, because if left to continue this path, it would only serve to strengthen Sato's use and abuse, not only of the adults around her (though he had no concrete evidence of that), but of the students under her "care".

True, it might mean adults who learned so much, but they would also be learning that it was perfectly normal for the "boss" to be a lazy sod who delegated their every responsibility, but reaped the rewards.

That way lay burnout.

They got—oh, who was he kidding? It was difficult to tell just how far they were on a spiral, with no defined levels. If he counted by the starting position's staircase? They were down four levels on an ever-decreasing, inwardly-sloped path.

"Break," Kyōya said as they entered a building that was clearly a safe area.

Tsuna sat down on a deep couch (clearly designed with sleeping in mind) and was immediately pulled back up so that Kyōya could take that spot and pull him down between his legs. Tsuna's mind went briefly blank, then he mentally shrugged, taking it as an opportunity to almost snuggle with his senpai.

He hummed when Kyōya's arms wrapped around his torso, feeling content and warm and really wanting to kiss his senpai, amused looks from the siblings ignored.

He was in his happy place!

"This place really sucks," Ken groused as he flopped back on another couch. "I gotta wonder what kind of boss battle it'll be."

"Based on everything we've seen so far?" Mukuro said. "The boss sits back on some stupid throne while all the minions are sent in to do the work of attempting to prevent us from getting the treasure."

"Sounds about right," Tetsuya said.

Tsuna closed his eyes and relaxed, tangling his fingers with Kyōya's. The Palace wasn't difficult, it was tedious, and that was its own kind of exhausting. After a hiatus from anything from breathing and feeling he opened his eyes and said, "Are we good to hit the end today?"

"I'd say so," Chikusa opined.

"Haru agrees."

Nagi just nodded, as did the others, though Kyōya's fingers briefly tightened around his in acceptance.

A few minutes later they exited the safe room and continued down the spiral.

They reached the bottom eventually, the flat disc with the cylinder atop it, several hours (or possibly days) later.

"Why is there no door?" Ken asked, then started circling the thing and kicking it occasionally, his head cocked to the side as though listening. "It's hollow."

"Haru needs a boost."

Tetsuya obligingly made a platform by linking his fingers, and she used that to springboard up to land on the top of the cylinder.

"Haru sees something like a faucet tap up here, sunk into the roof. It's all the same colour, so it doesn't stand out."

Tsuna tapped Kyōya on the shoulder, then let himself basically be flung upward so he, too, could get up there and see what it was. Haru blinked when she saw him, but pointed, so he picked himself up and walked over to see.

It was rather like a tap, but one of the ones he might see on an outside garden hose, a wheel.

He leaned on his intuition as he looked at it, then knelt down so he could turn it left. The thing was surprisingly stiff, but it eventually moved, and once he turned it as far as it was willing to go he heard a shout from the disc.

"Got a door down here now!"

Tsuna stood back up. "Right. Now to get back down."

Haru grinned, skipped over to the edge, and flung herself off in a controlled spin that saw her landing lightly on her feet.

He sighed. He would never be that flexible. Instead he turned to face away from the edge and stepped back so he could drop down and catch the edge. Strong hands came up to clasp his legs and convey him to the ground.

"Let's see what we've got," Mukuro said.

Inside the cylinder was another wrongly-shaped space, like someone had put an oblong box inside. It was a paperwork factory, that was the only thing he could think to call it. Directly in front of them was an open area, but then there was desk after desk after desk, stacked ceiling high with paperwork. The chairs were flat and metal, and each had a teaching assistant, each chained to the leg of the desk at the ankle, each with an expression of vacant joy.

"I think I might be sick," Shoichi said.

Beyond that was indeed a stupid throne, on a dais, with Sato sitting there, being served by more teaching assistants, plied with food and drink, with one to either side gently waving palm fans at her.

"…Where's the treasure?" Nagi said, her eyes darting everywhere.

"Haru says … up?"

Tsuna looked upward and saw it, that gaseous sphere surrounded by an oil slick aura. It appeared to be functioning as an impromptu light fixture.

"People don't usually look up," Haru said.

Which, good point. And snipers did not usually perch at ground level. Fuuuuuck. That meant his sensing needed to be more of a sphere than a disc.

"Okay," he said briskly. "Let's get out of here for the moment."

On the way home, escorted by Kyōya and Mukuro, he said, "Thoughts on me spending the night tomorrow?"

Kyōya nodded. "Yes."

"Awesome. I'll let my mother know I have an invite, then. It should have been long enough that it'll be okay, and it's just one night. She has been doing better since she started volunteering. She's starting to smile again."

Dinner that night was okonomiyaki. Tsuna felt he was doing quite well when it came to cooking by that point, and felt a bit proud of himself. He flashed his mother a smile before heading upstairs for the usual.

Mukuro was waiting, as always, and they worked in silence until Mukuro said, "I've developed a new technique, based on the dream sharing thing."

"Oh?"

"Ranging out with my mind while I sleep in order to check for threats. It doesn't have to be a sibling for it to work. Think of it as something like astral projection, but not. I still get the sleep I need, and it's enough like dreams that I get that, too."

"I assume you taught it to Nagi."

"Of course," Mukuro drawled. "Like I wouldn't share with my sister. We are a subtle and vital line of defense, Tsuna."

He hummed. "And a horrifying and mentally-scarring line of offense if you get inside the heads of enemies, presumably."

Mukuro preened.

He laughed softly. "And to think, back when I was ten and tracked down that guy, I was practically scared of my own shadow."

Ω

The next morning at the mansion they spent on deciding the wording for the calling card, while Tetsuya printed out cardstock sheets with the template, then everyone slipped on latex gloves and got to work on cutting out what they needed to glue into place.

Tsuna still hated the feeling of washing the powder off his hands once they were done.

Afterward Mukuro and Nagi went off scouting, to figure out the best way to ambush the target, promising to be back for lunch, and Tsuna himself got up, saying, "I'm going to walk around for a bit."

His idea of a walk was to wander aimlessly inside the house to eventually end up on a bench seat in the family wing and gaze out the window. He wasn't the least bit surprised when Kyōya showed up not thirty seconds after he sat down and pulled him back up into a hug.

He hummed and said, "I keep hoping, but I don't like to hope."

"Why?"

"Because I'm superstitious at heart. I keep hoping she finds someone now that she's doing better, but it hasn't even been a year. I have no idea how long it takes a person to get beyond something like that."

"And me?"

He thought about that for a moment, to figure out what that meant, then said, "That's not hope, that's certainty. That's more of a question of when, not if. And you've never once made it plain you'd prefer not to."

"True."

"You make it easy for me to say what's inside me without ever opening my mouth. I don't know enough, though."

"Not yet."

He laughed softly and raised his head so he could see Kyōya's face, then went up on his toes so he could kiss him on the cheek. "Not yet. But I know I will, at some point."

"Certain aspects of education in this country are lacking."

He nodded. "It's not like anyone can learn much of anything by staring at clothed figures. Ooo, wow, people get taller as they age, what a shock. I'm going to get my name changed as soon as I can. I don't want the defect's name."

Kyōya looked approving at that.

"I was thinking of dropping the latter half of my given name, but that's still a maybe. Keeping it as is gives me that extra bit of distance with people given permission to use it, with close friends able to use just Tsuna. For a family name, though, I'm considering options." He looked away for a moment. "You know, I don't even know what my mother's family name is. That's sad."

"If it comes to that, it's banned here."

Tsuna could tell what he meant by what was being transmitted through their skin. "One option I considered was Higashi, but…"

"There's always Hibari," Kyōya said.

His eyes went wide, not in surprise exactly, but something more like yearning or spotting the light at the end of a long tunnel. "It's a strong name, a name I'd be honored to bear."

The corner of Kyōya's mouth quirked in a ghost of a smile.

Tsuna kissed him on the cheek again, closer to his mouth. "I like you."

Kyōya nodded, just once, then kissed him on the corner of his mouth. "Lunch should be ready."

He nodded back, his heart fluttering like it was beating against the inside of his ribcage in an attempt to escape confinement and slam itself inside Kyōya's chest where it would be held in safety.

Kyōya smirked openly and kissed the corner of his mouth again, then dragged him off downstairs.

Mukuro and Nagi seemed deeply amused during lunch. Tsuna pretended it had nothing to do with them ghosting his brain and knowing what had happened, because the world did not revolve around him.

"Since it will be a Monday we'll be able to use similar tactics to what we did with Nezu," Mukuro reported. "We already made certain she was aware of the website and will be keeping a close eye on her mind to make sure she's affected."

Nagi nodded. "Haru-chan and I have her class tomorrow, so we'll see it. Once the day is over we can go in and finish this."

Ω

"Called it," Ken said, glancing at Mukuro.

Shadow Sato transformed into a version of herself wearing a jūnihitoe, which was just plain rude and said a lot about her mental state. She just stood there, holding a hiōgi, which she waved. Four of the closest rank of chained assistants were freed of their bonds and stood, becoming the first wave of enemies.

Wave after wave after wave of those deluded minions were released from their shackles in defense of Sato (or rather, to do the fighting for her), their desks flying off to the sides and vanishing, and all Tsuna could think was that there were so many of them simply because they were all so weak. They weren't even mid-boss strength. It was utterly pathetic.

Kyōya snorted softly in agreement.

When the last rank was finally down and all that was left was the boss was when Sato jumped up from her throne and moved to cower behind it.

Tsuna watched in bemusement (and no small amount of adoration) as Kyōya prowled on over, dragged her out of cover, and bit her to death.

The second she splashed back to her original form, Nagi and Haru lectured her to death. Figuratively speaking. Shadow Sato transformed and exited through the ceiling in a sparkle of white, which left only the treasure to retrieve.

That was still hanging from the ceiling.

Was that another award of some kind, he wondered. It looked like crystal, the kind of cheesy award you would see on some website selling oddly-shaped, engraved doodads that most people with any sense would cringe to receive.

Haru was instrumental in getting it down, what with her gymnastics training and a boost from Tetsuya, and then it was a mad dash to the nearest safe room so they could teleport to the one nearest the exit and keep running as the spiral and the buildings on it slowly crumbled into the void around them.

Haru set the thing on the table once they were back in the workroom, so Tsuna took a closer look at it. Engraved on it was:

With Our Greatest
Appreciation

We Are Proud to Honor
Sato Masuyo

We have gained so much because of you.
You have given us so many opportunities
to learn and grow with your guidance.

We will always be thankful to you for all
the hard work and effort you have put in
to make us who we are today.

Thank you for being so amazing!

He snorted in disgust and disbelief. "Vendor trash!" Everyone nodded, so Tsuna chucked it into inventory. "So much for that."

"We'll let everyone know as soon as we hear word that she's out," Nagi said.

Ω

"More bad news," Shoichi said, which occasioned a round of groans. "Yeah, I know. I think it's bad, anyway. The defect has gotten remarried."

His brow went up. He couldn't tell if that was bad or not, either.

"The definitely bad part is where I've found evidence that the defect has three children in Italy, from his mistress, whom he married to make pretend they're all legitimate because he backdated all the paperwork that got filed. And probably had a Mist mess with people's heads to ensure things."

Tsuna thunked his head on the table and groaned again, not because he had half-siblings who were really bastards, but because it was evidence that the man had the gall to cheat on his wife to the tune of multiple children while she played gullible, delusional, happy housewife in Japan.

"I just can't be surprised," he said to the table surface. "I mean, why not? Just because bastard children are treated horribly in Italy—and Japan—is no reason not to have them, right? Who cares if those innocent children are spit on or talked about or shunned? It'll build character or something. And of course everyone will just look the other way now that he's married his piece on the side and is pretending everything was aboveboard. Of course."

"You are gonna kick his ass into the Bermuda Triangle if we end up over there, right?" Ken asked.

"Yep," he said, still to the table. "Though that might actually be asking Mukuro or Nagi to kindly do me—or all of us—the favor of twisting his brain so badly he'd he better off in a nursing home. Oh, and freezing his flames, of course. Can't have the civilians harmed if he lashed out. I'm going to pray, for whatever that's worth, that the defect's by-blows have Sky Flames, or at least one of them, because at least then I'll know, if we get stuck there, that there'll be someone in the wings growing up for me to shove the whole mess onto."

The image in his head, naturally, was of himself crying anime tears of anguish and despair.

Kyōya, the little shit, reached over to pet his fluffy hair.

A shuffling of cushions had occurred with additions to the family, so Tsuna had switched sides (giving Nagi his cushion), with Kyōya in his usual window position behind him, and Tetsuya beside him. If he collected any more secondary guardians, they might have to switch rooms, just so they could use a bigger table to handle that many people.

"I feel so sorry for those kids," he said. "I'll guess I'll have to add prayers that the mistress-turned-second-wife has a brain? With more than two brain cells? Is she even in the know?"

Shoichi furrowed his brow. "I'll have to check her image against what I can dig into for the CEDEF files, because all those people use spice and herb names. For all we know she's running around as Thyme, Fennel, or Rue, something like that." He began tapping away at his laptop.

"If he does the same stuff to them he did to me…" He trailed off, scowling and very much in favor of a violent and horrifying death.

Mukuro cackled quietly as a background sound effect to Tsuna's bloody thoughts.

"I don't even want to ask, but I have to," he said wearily, his eyes tracing the wood grain. "How old are they?"

Shoichi swallowed audibly. Which, not good. "Er… nine, seven, and five."

"Oh, good," he said airily. "He spaced them out properly, and even held off having any for a while. That's lovely. I'm developing a sudden love of sarcasm. Right, that aside, any news on the flame metal?" he asked, sitting up properly.

Shoichi looked up from his laptop and said, "I'm getting closer and I think I'm almost there. It's not just the metal or alloy, though. There's something that happens along the way that attunes a ring to a specific type of flames that I haven't quite figured out." He looked deeply annoyed.

"Maybe during the casting?" Mukuro suggested.

Shoichi squinted at nothing and one shoulder slowly raised in a vague shrug. "Possibly, yes. I'll try that next. It's not like we need the things, but it is an interesting project. The only references I've been able to dig up point at someone named Talbot, and he's connected—at least tenuously—to Vongola."

Tsuna frowned, but nodded. "Any news on anchoring illusions?"

"Getting there," Nagi reported. "We think it'd work better if they were anchored off what Shoichi is trying to make, but maybe not required."

"The other issue is a matter of flame strength," Mukuro said, "however that's measured. Something that would fool a non-active may stand up to an active, but with so many things falling under an 'everyone knows' mentality…"

"Such as it's possible I'm 'very strong' due to having secondary guardians," he said, "or maybe that's just normal, but because it's not recorded anywhere we can hack into…"

The siblings nodded.

"And as you brought up," Mukuro continued, "there's always a bigger fish, or thereabouts."

"I feel like I should have asked more questions of a certain someone," he said. "Because if there's one, there would be more, in theory."

Kyōya snorted softly. "There are seven, one of each. That I do know."

"The strongest or…?"

"The strongest." Kyōya looked like he was tasting bile when he said it.

A nudge of his intuition had him saying, "The strongest then, perhaps, but now? We don't know that."

Kyōya's expression smoothed out as he nodded. "True."

Tsuna still hadn't figured out why what was most likely an adult man was in the body of a two year old child and wearing that ridiculous pacifier. And that there were seven? One for each of the flames, he supposed. It sounded creepy and wrong and deeply suspicious.

Sato had confessed and been fired, though it was couched in terms of "an exciting new opportunity" and her given the skant comfort of "choosing to leave" at the end of the first term, mostly so the school could save face. It was as much their fault for not properly vetting their teachers as it was of the woman for being how she was, for her manipulations and abuses and seeking shortcuts to save herself effort.

As for the possibility of flame strengths, well, it wasn't as if they could go around the city deliberately provoking people who felt a certain way into being active, just so they could compare strengths. And none of them needed a trip to Italy so as to seek out actives there, and quite possibly get themselves killed while trying to figure something out.

Kyōya touched his shoulder briefly, and while what was imparted to him was flavored with irritation, it would happen. A call would be made, or a message sent. The end result was the same.

Ω

Fon arrived just in time for their summer break to start.

It was hot, humid, and the kind of day that made a person want to take frequent cool showers, just to get some relief from the oppressive weight of the air and the temperature.

Fon, naturally, looked cool as a cucumber. The man must have spent years cultivating his persona, to the point where it was almost the real thing. Because Tsuna could now see the masks other people wore to hide themselves. To an extent, anyway. Most people were not … important? To certain people in their lives, they were, but in larger sense…? They weren't to him, anyway.

After the usual pleasantries were complete (after all, it had only been Kyōya, Tsuna, and Tetsuya previously) Fon asked, "How can I help?"

Tsuna bit his lip, gnawing over the possibilities in his mind. "I ask with the understanding that you may not answer," he opened with and, when Fon nodded graciously, he continued with, "First, is there such as a thing as flame strength?"

Fon's smile (which had not changed one iota) widened. "Yes. While in theory any person could ignite their flames, most do not, as they do not have the required resolve and will to do so, even in a life or death situation. But for those who do, there is a hierarchy of sorts. You can consider it a matter of strength and purity, and these two factors are related to the level of resolve, will, and … to put it a certain way … breeding."

Tsuna scowled.

Fon hid behind his sleeve for a moment. "Just as there are weak Storms and strong Storms, the same is true for any other flame. Other factors to consider are physical development, training, and health, both physical and mental. The latter is more an issue when it comes to control, rather than strength."

"So my 'there's always a bigger fish' thing rings true," he said.

Fon nodded. "Because thousands of people are born and die every day. Another factor would be intelligence or cleverness. Inventiveness."

"So we keep on as we have been on that front," he muttered. He ran his hands over his face and nodded. Cleverness could do much to overcome a difference in strength between one Mist and another, and he had two very clever Mist primaries.

"The, uh…" He grimaced and glanced at the red pacifier Fon wore around his neck. "Is that even on the table for discussion?"

Fon's smile froze—

Tsuna was fascinated by how he did that, and how it was even possible.

—before, after a few heartbeats of time, he said, "To a degree. I am what is known as an Arcobaleno. I will not divulge my true age except to say I am an adult. There are seven of us, one for each flame. We do not know the purpose. We were tricked into it, as the seven strongest."

Well, that was frustrating, and sad, and Fon did not seem like the type to accept useless platitudes or empty sympathy from anyone who had no clue (which, probably, was everyone except his fellow Arcobaleno). "Arcobaleno… Rainbow. Fitting, I suppose. One of you is connected to Vongola."

Fon nodded. "One is a member of CEDEF, yes, but she is… Technically there are eight, because of an incident. The CEDEF member is not considered a true Arcobaleno because of it, but she is technically still one."

"I don't know how important any of this is to us, but I still find myself curiously curious. What are you willing to say about the others?"

Fon deliberated for a long time, minutes, face almost obscured behind his sleeve. "Three are connected to Vongola. One to the Triads. One to a neutral territory. One is neutral. One heads a famiglia. One part of a … bad … famiglia."

"Three?" he asked in disbelief. "That's disproportionate."

"To break that down, one to CEDEF, one to the Varia, and one to Vongola itself, though in a somewhat independent way."

"One has to deal with the defect. That says one of two things, that they are either defective themselves, or in a perpetual state of frustration with a desire to strangle a certain someone."

Fon hid behind his sleeve, which meant the latter. His eyes crinkled, so it was definite amusement.

Considering that Tsuna did not think the defect capable of actually harmonizing with anyone, and lived in a delusional fantasy land, he had to wonder how much of the work was actually being organized and carried out by the defect's subordinates.

"The Varia."

Fon nodded. "The elite, allegedly independent, assassination squad under Vongola."

"Allegedly indeed," he said, "if they're still 'under' the Vongola. If they're independent, then they should not be receiving funding from Vongola except as payment for missions sent their way, directly from the source, whether that be Vongola or a third party. Plus, funding from missions acquired from outside of Vongola."

"In theory."

He tilted his head toward Shoichi, then said, "Vongola itself?"

"Two positions. One as a hitman, and one as a tutor."

Tsuna furrowed his brow. "So the possibility exists that if the third son dies—for the other two are already dead—that this tutor will show up here."

Fon nodded.

His furrowed brow deepened into a frown. "And I get the distinct feeling it's a he and that he will be a thorn in my existence."

Fon hid another smile. Tsuna thought it was kind of the man to go so far as to show that much, because he had no doubt wheresoever that Fon was capable of maintaining that somewhat creepy smile of bland serenity through anything. To "hide" that he was smiling was as good as broadcasting his amusement.

"I have been paying more attention since our last meeting," Fon allowed. "To that end, I expect you are correct. And, that being the case, I will be more forthcoming on that matter. He goes by the name Reborn and he is the world's greatest hitman. He has been engaged these past few years tutoring a young man who unfortunately became don of his famiglia early. The term 'Spartan training' comes to mind."

Tsuna stared while he rifled through his memories for that reference and came up blank.

Nagi was already looking it up on her phone, Haru's head bent in close. A few moments later Nagi flipped her phone around so he could read.

"I'm going to take that with a grain of salt," he said, noting Mukuro's sly smile.

"Another word that comes to mind is 'troll'," Fon added.

Tsuna groaned and thunked his head against the table. "That's almost worse." The table was always ready and willing to listen to him. It never talked back, it never judged him. Which, perfect, if unable to respond.

"He is also highly resistant to Mist. Fooling him with illusions is next to impossible."

A nap with Kyōya sounded wonderful, curled up together, pretending the outside world did not exist, that there wouldn't (likely) be a troll coming to their city and attempting to cause chaos. "Which flame?"

"Sun. And if it comes to that, he would have tried to fill out your coterie of guardians."

Something about the way he said it, plus his intuition, prompted him to say, "Probably with whoever he noticed first and had the right flames, regardless of suitability. Well, we're well ahead of that, and all of it happened without outside interference, starting before I even knew much of anything."

"I did notice you have more than expected."

Tsuna straightened up and shrugged. "I don't expect to gain all six secondaries, but neither would I complain. But only if it happened organically. No one fucks with my soul again." And there it was, he had descending into openly swearing. He wouldn't apologize, though, just try not to do it again out loud. "It remains to be seen, then, if he does his homework."

"You speak as if it's a foregone conclusion."

Tsuna gave Fon a flat look. "One imprisoned, two dead. No one with a brain would expect the last one to survive, not if Vongola is this incompetent. CEDEF probably only functions because of everyone but the defect. No idea about the Varia beyond whispers, but they seem competent. Clearly, being separate from Vongola, in that case, means they weren't infected, but they are probably prevented from clearing the main house."

Fon hid a smile so fast it was clear he was greatly amused. "The imprisoned was the head of the Varia."

Tsuna thunked his head against the table again. "Oh, lovely. So if he ever gets free we can expect to be invaded and some ridiculous battle to take place, all because an old fossil is so incompetent he can't even protect his own family, the defect is useless when it comes to his actual job of intelligence and, one presumes, identifying threats to said family. I'll be the centerpiece in an intra-famiglia conflict."

"I wonder if any of the Varia took out a brother as payback," Tetsuya said.

Tsuna leaned, hard, then straightened up again and shook his head. "No, it wasn't them. I don't know what."

"What? Not who?" Kyōya said.

Tsuna shot him a confused look. "I don't know enough. …Why did I say 'what'?"

Kyōya pulled him up and onto the window seat beside him. Clearly he was irritated that Tsuna kept smacking his forehead against the table. Or he just wanted to be able to communicate more easily without words. And—yeah.

"Right, let's move this outside. We need to do practice, but that doesn't mean we can't still talk."

A few minutes later they were all out at the practice field and Tsuna was facing Kyōya. It was the usual dance of exhilaration, blocking, swift hits, dodging, the fire in Kyōya's eyes and the flirtatious manner all of it was conducted in. It was probably something odd to get worked up and cuddly during a spar, but he rolled with it, because he liked Kyōya in that way, and some day it would be a different kind of fight entirely, and one he fully expected to enjoy in a whole new way.

Odd, he noticed Nagi seemed to be blushing for some reason as his orientation changed again and the benches came into view, though he had his eyes back on Kyōya again a split second later.

By the time they drew the spar to a close he was breathing heavily, but couldn't tell if that was from the exertion or something else. He grabbed a bottle of water to pour over his head to cool off a little, then another so he could sip from it. Tetsuya had been kind enough to bring out an actual case of bottled water to cover being unable to pull directly from inventory.

When Tsuna finally did sit down, Fon said, "Not bad."

"It's a definite step up from the first time I sparred him. He can still knock me sideways, but that isn't the point of the sparring. Everyone here has long since gotten it knocked out of them, the idea that anyone is invincible. That any of us would be invincible."

"And him?"

Tsuna sipped more water before saying, "I could easily take him, by cheating. He knows it. Speaking of which, I have another question. No idea if you have any knowledge. When I was five? I think. The old man, who I now assume is the head of Vongola, sealed my flames."

Fon nodded. "You did mention that briefly."

Tsuna shot a look at him before turning back to the sparring. "You have a good memory. I…" He trailed off because he realized he had no way to explain how he broke the seal and how he now could do it to others. "I have to wonder if you know anything about removing one."

Fon shifted, which made Tsuna look back over.

"Not in my experience, no," Fon said. "But you are free of it." His expression showed the vaguest hint of confusion, inquiry, and suspicion.

"Thankfully," he said, not willing to admit anything.

And thankfully, the spar ended, because Kyōya prowled over and grabbed some water. As he drank some, his other hand reached out to pet his fluffy hair.

"Oh," he said. "Are you sure? And the others?"

Kyōya's brow went up.

"All right. I don't have a problem with it. I'm just not sure how that would work." He turned to Fon and smiled. "There's a place we go to. You're invited."

Fon looked positively intrigued.

Ω

Kyōya sent them all into Mementos once they were at the left tōrō outside the shrine, and everyone eyed up Fon to see his reaction. Everyone was subsequently surprised to see that Fon was wearing a mask similar to theirs, but not the costume. His mask was red flames, which, expected in that context.

Fon was running his gaze over everything, walls, ceiling, floor, those screens, the board with fuzzy writing, and the stairs down. Then he looked at Tsuna. "What is this place?"

"This is Mementos. Namimori's version of it, anyway. The seal on my flames? I broke that purely by accident—or pure luck—during a class trip to Tokyo, when I got pulled inside the Mementos there. I was … very confused. Once I got back to Namimori, I went looking, using my intuition to hunt this place down."

Fon processed that for a few moments, then said, "Class trip."

He nodded. "I'll explain, but first I need to check for updates. I haven't done that in a while." He scampered over to the screens and started browsing. When he hit the accessories section he blinked, did a fist pump, and said, "Guys, we got a new one. This is awesome." He promptly bought a bunch of Holy Whisper accessories and handed them out.

"Fifteen percent HP, SP, and FP per round?" Haru said. "This is awesome."

"I wonder which one it was from," Tetsuya said.

"All right, I'm going to explain. Maybe you guys can head down—manually—to get in some exercise, and we'll join you once I'm done?"

Kyōya nodded and stalked off toward the stairs, the others following him.

Tsuna took a seat and was joined shortly by Fon. He then launched into the epic explanation of everything that had happened since something went 'splodie and the universe banged into existence. Or rather, since he followed his intuition in Tokyo and the seal was accidentally broken and the world became something other than misery, apathy, and what was probably passive suicidal ideation.

He tried not to lie to himself, and once that term had floated past him during a session on the internet, he had to admit that was likely where he had been heading.

Fon nodded gravely. "The seal sounds like it was stifling your very soul, so I am not surprised."

"I can only assume you're already masked up because your flames were never locked, and they were already active. There was no need for you to fear dying in here, or face yourself. You seem too … honest … in some ways to need that."

"Honest?" The word was damn near drawled.

"With yourself. So, the whole point of the seal thing. I found a way to do that, to seal flames. I can use that skill outside, though I got the hang of it against an inanimate object. Inside, in that one Palace, I used it against flame active enemies. Figured out a few other things, too. The problem is, I don't see how I could ever use it outside, because I'm not about to go hunt down flame actives, real people rather than, uh, cognitive representations. If I can't reverse it, I can't use it unless it's against a true enemy, someone after my life or those of my family members."

"I understand your dilemma, and should I hear anything I will let you know."

Tsuna beamed at him. "So, would you like to join the others? We come here thrice weekly for exercise. The other days are for outside stuff, and Sundays for whatever."

Fon nodded. "Certainly."

With that he hopped back up and headed for the stairs. "We'll have to get to them the long way. If they're in the middle of a battle, me teleporting us could have weird results."

Fon was not—he was slightly put off? By what he was seeing. That was the best way Tsuna could think to explain his reaction.

"The darker side of the collective unconscious takes odd forms."

Tsuna laughed. "Yeah." They found the others on Taida no Michi, Tsuna having just avoided as many fights as possible so as to not waste time meeting back up. As such, Tsuna was automatically slotted back into the active battle party.

They spent the next few hours-days-weeks wailing the stuffing out of shadows, kicking or picking chests open, and generally getting a good workout.