He was deeply unhappy when, on the first day of second term, Shoichi reported that Federico had died, and all anyone found was his bones. Luckily it was a Tuesday, so they'd be going to the Hibari mansion after school, rather than Mementos.
"Right," Tetsuya said once they were assembled as usual. "We need to prepare, because there's every chance the tutor from hell will descend on our city."
Tsuna had never been more grateful for the fact that he had stuck to his training and could now reach twelve-hundred meters out with his sensing. "We need more information on how a famiglia is even run. We don't know that Reborn will teach those things. Fon said he's a troll. That means Tetsuya and Shoichi need to find as much as they can, as delicately as they can. I need to be sensing, Mukuro and Nagi need to be on alert at night with dream reaching. Should we have the Disciplinary Committee be on the lookout for a chibi? Would there even be a point?"
Kyōya shook his head.
"He's probably just as sneaky as Fon, then. Wait a minute," he said, "I don't like this. My mother got away from the defect, but Reborn would just bring the mafia back into her life again. She's clueless and she doesn't deserve that. Damn it."
He was already leaning strongly toward doing something he had not wanted to do, but if a mafia hitman—the world's greatest hitman—was most likely going to show up to make him a mafia boss… No, no, no, no. He did not want his mother anywhere near a trained hitman, a chibi at that, a troll who would probably (if what his intuition was pushing toward) cause chaos in the household.
But what other alternative did he have? Anywhere he was would be Reborn. He could be in the middle of a damn police station and it probably wouldn't matter. Maybe in a house with a clueless civilian woman Reborn would at least pretend?
Because as much as he hated that he loved the idea of having his mother's mind tweaked so he could move into the Hibari mansion, he didn't think he could invite a troll into the house. Kyōya would go spare if the chibi caused damage.
"Omnivore."
He shifted his gaze sideways at the sound, and leaned into Kyōya's side so he could more easily pick up his thoughts. Which, huh? "You're seriously okay with that?"
"The herbivore is at risk either way," Kyōya said, grey eyes boring into him. "Having the carnivore baby right there will only make it worse. There is no right answer here."
He almost swore out loud again, because Kyōya was right. There was no right answer. So for once he would be selfish.
Mukuro nodded, but looked at Nagi, who also nodded.
"Tonight," Mukuro said. "Nagi can do the work itself, because I think it would be better for a woman to do so to another woman, if that makes any sense. But we can pack up your things, tidy up the room, and escort you back here."
He nodded. He had always suspected a woman's mind did not work quite the same way a man's did, so it made sense to him that it would take a woman's touch for something like this. That would leave only three of his family living away from the mansion, as Nagi had made it a habit to be "seen" coming and going from her apartment, courtesy of long-distance illusions. Well, once she had figured out how to manage that.
Tsuna had to wonder if Reborn would just blunder in (which, given his reputation, he would hope not) and assume things, such as where Tsuna actually lived, or if he could scope out the situation before making any kind of move. Worlds greatest hitman did not necessitate that the chibi had conventional intelligence.
"Should we amp up to having one on two spars, or two on two?" he asked. "And if so, better we start now, rather than try to figure it out with a chibi watching."
Kyōya practically purred next to him.
Ω
That evening he acted normally, even knowing that Kyōya, Mukuro, and Nagi were upstairs in his room, packing things away into inventory. The quicker they could be out the window the better once they left.
Dinner was made, eaten, and he retreated upstairs to find the room bare of anything resembling personality, which, good. The less evidence that anyone had lived in the room in recent times the better.
He still wanted to hate his mother, which conflicted with his thoughts of how poorly she had been treated by the defect, but getting away from the situation entirely… He was just a bit of a hypocrite in some ways.
Kyōya pet his fluffy hair to settle him.
Sadly, there wasn't much to do except waste time puttering around on laptops pulled out of inventory. Until his mother went to bed, Nagi couldn't act, couldn't do the delicate tinkering necessary to make things a non-issue. He would prefer to just play a game, but as everything was packed, that was a no go.
He was drooping and seriously considering using Kyōya's lap as a pillow when they heard his mother come upstairs and head into her room. Soon, soon, soon he'd be able to go to the mansion and sleep in his bed there.
Finally, after what seemed like hours and he was dying for his bed, Nagi nodded. "It's done."
Then it was a quiet retreat to the Hibari mansion and off to their rooms, though they all converged on Tsuna's first, so his things could be unloaded. Tsuna resolved to worry about getting everything put away the next evening. He was just too tired to care at present.
Mukuro and Nagi departed for their own rooms, but Kyōya stayed long enough to envelop him in a warm hug that almost had him dozing off right then.
Ω
He woke up to the realization that he likely had dozed off in Kyōya's arms, which, given his state of still being dressed and yet under the covers, only made sense. A shame, if only because he could have stolen some kisses had he been able to stay awake.
He glanced at the clock, then got ready for the day. Having his own toilet and bathing room was such a luxury. Breakfast was in the dining room. Which, odd, given how many meals were taken in the workroom. The table in there was massive and more than enough to fit his family, and once again had him wondering how it was that Kyōya lived alone from such a young age.
If it was important, Kyōya would have told him, so he set that aside again in favor of eating and then heading off to school.
Which, boring, but that was all right. It meant he was more than keeping up, and that was good. He cared about getting into the same high school as Kyōya and Tetsuya, and even then he suspected that those two, or Shoichi, would be more than pleased to make sure he did, along with everyone else. Shoichi and the girls might end up in a private one, but given what was right around the corner, he didn't know if they would bother.
What good would a top-rank high school do any of them? There was almost no chance of most of them doing so well as to get into Tōdai, and even if they could they'd be in Italy. So unless some university allowed distance learning for a degree (that they wouldn't be allowed to use), what was the point?
After school they made their Wednesday visit to Mementos, then regrouped at the house (except for, sadly, Tetsuya, Shoichi, and Haru).
That evening he "took a walk" again, and ended up on the bench seat in front of the window of the hallway that held their rooms. Kyōya showed up five minutes later, and Tsuna wondered if he had waited until he sensed Tsuna's flames settle in one place. He was pulled up and led into the sitting room from before.
The sofa in there looked like the kind that was too comfortable and would induce napping in the unwary. It didn't stop Kyōya from sitting down, back wedged between the back and the armrest, and pulling him down to sit as well, back to Kyōya's chest, and enclosed in his arms.
He exhaled a sound between a sigh and a faint groan at how nice it felt. "We've been getting a somewhat biased view from Fon," he said as he reveled in his closeness to Kyōya.
Kyōya made an inquiring sound.
"Because he's Chinese and doesn't spend much time dealing with the Italian mafia, or at least I assume he doesn't. He said he hears some rumors that head that way, but not everything. And I'm not complaining, because that's too much to expect. It's just a little frustrating to not have a contact with Italian news. I don't know if we can count on Reborn to be straight with us if he's a troll."
"We need to try snipers in practice."
He nodded. "I guess everyone will have to get used to climbing trees, then. The paintball games are fun, though. Assuming I don't get nailed five seconds out because you're all vicious creatures who delight in attacking the fluffy one."
Kyōya laughed silently behind him and reached up to pet his fluffy hair. "You're getting better."
He hummed. "Do you think it'll get worse once Reborn shows up? I mean, there's always the slim possibility that there are by-blows from any of the three brothers, but…"
"A carnivore baby in our territory? That sounds like a beacon."
Tsuna scowled. "Knowing the odds would be nice, but let's assume the worst." He reached up to cover his face for a moment, then dropped his hands so he could entwine his fingers with Kyōya's. "I'm having some very violent thoughts."
Kyōya laughed silently again. "Unloading on this encroaching chibi?"
"Yes. Spartan training? A troll? Do we troll him back by vanishing into Mementos?"
"Start by seeing how he starts."
He nodded. "Point. This Varia. What do you think of sending them a letter, asking to see if they'd be willing to help dig out the problems in Vongola?"
Tsuna could feel Kyōya's response flowing through his skin.
"We'd have to explain our situation, yes. Our concerns. Something for a general vote?"
Kyōya's fingers twined with his tightened slightly.
He reached out; the others were still in the workroom. "Shall we?"
Kyōya nodded, so Tsuna got up and walked with him back downstairs, to the workroom, and took the window seat with his senpai and, after getting a chat group running to include their non-resident members, explained the idea.
"Fon said the imprisoned one—Xanxus?—was head of the Varia," Tetsuya said. "We have to weigh the reaction of his people against our need for information."
"Haru thinks they may not take it well."
"Can they even do self-made missions?" Shoichi said. "Because we're technically Vongola at this point."
"And we're talking about asking them for details on problems within. They might decide we're a problem."
"They might consider us rats."
"A group of assassins? Yeah. They might."
The general consensus seemed to be against the idea of reaching out, so he leaned on his intuition to see what shook free. What he got back was curiously neutral, so he shrugged. "Okay, we won't. We'll just keep on with what we can safely get. On both."
Shoichi and Tetsuya nodded.
"There are two incidents we've uncovered, though not all the details," Shoichi said. "The first is termed the Cradle Affair, in 2007. Xanxus was sixteen at the time. Whether it truly was a coup d'état or not, Xanxus ended up dealt with in some fashion. Details are very sketchy, so who knows. Gossip and rumor in online underground can't seem to decide if he was killed or not, because he's not been seen since, and while the defect mentioned him being on ice, we can't really trust anything he says.
"The second is termed the Flood of Blood, from 2009. CEDEF records show that bullets were fired into the homes of bosses who had ties to Vongola. CEDEF investigated and found a connection, to a fine arts dealer, Kozato Makoto. Shortly after that, twelve CEDEF minions were found slaughtered and crammed into a hotel lift. Apparently their blood dripped from the top floor down into the basement levels, which is where the incident name comes from. A gun belonging to Kozato Makoto was found at the scene."
"Sounds awfully sketchy," Mukuro said. "Like a frame job."
"Also of note is that the defect went missing that night, but in what sense wasn't recorded. The same night, Kozato's home was attacked, and he, his wife, and their daughter were killed. The only survivor was the son, Enma. After that it gets sketchier in terms of information. I guess the ninth don questioned the defect, who disavowed any involvement, and the matter was seemingly dropped."
"Because of a lack of evidence, or because the ninth refused to believe the defect was involved," he said.
Shoichi shrugged. "Doesn't say. Could be both."
"And Vongola seems to think itself mostly untouchable, despite evidence to the contrary," Tetsuya added.
"Kami-sama," he breathed. "I kind of get why they're insistent on the whole blood family inherits thing, but… In some ways we brought this on ourselves, with me starting it by breaking the seal. If anyone aside from Fon were to find out about our flames, we'd have no choice. Be involved or die. Or figure out how to successfully hide from any aspect of it. And if Reborn shows up, as expected…"
His family seemed to be caught between determination and resignation.
"You're forgetting to account for the scenario where you didn't break that seal, where you had no clue what might be coming, and still ended up as the only candidate," Tetsuya said. "Just, you would likely have been stuck with whoever Reborn chose. I count the current scenario far better."
He had to nod at that, all of that.
"Vongola has legitimate fronts?" Haru asked. "Because there has to be a way to launder money brought in illegally. And also, Haru does not see how anyone could expect a Sky and his guardians to be the ones out in the open, so we would be leading … divisions?"
"I could see potentially starting negotiations," Mukuro said. "All the stuff necessary before they got anywhere near Tsuna."
"But first we'd need to know how Vongola functions, right down to the service workers," Chikusa said.
Ken nodded. "We can't do anything until we know how it currently runs, what isn't working or lacks efficiency, and what needs to change."
"Right. Without knowing the foundation, anything is on sand."
He would try to figure out this hacking stuff himself, but there wasn't enough time, he would have had to have started far earlier, and even then there was no guarantee he would be any good at it. So, like a sensible person, he delegated to those who were.
What was the point of having people if you tried to do everything alone, by yourself? Vongola was the largest famiglia, with tens of thousands of people, and that did not count affiliates in the "Alliance". It seemed insane to expect the Sky and their guardians to be doing anything other than supervising most of the time, ensuring the cogs in the machine were turning smoothly, and making the big decisions.
And that brought up another issue. Bloodline inheritance. He had every intention of marrying Kyōya. They had already discussed it, if in a roundabout way, and no one was going to make him back down from what he wanted. That meant he would still have to find a way to produce an heir if none of the defect's hastily-legitimized, born-to-a-mistress-turned-wife children had Sky Flames.
Kyōya's hand moved to rest on his shoulder, his thumb brushing against the column of Tsuna's neck (and not so incidentally sending a shiver of pleasure through him).
Surrogacy? He supposed that could be arranged. Finding a surrogate who could be trusted was something else entirely. And the last people he would look at would be Nagi and Haru, if only because they deserved to be happy in their own right and find a love of their own. Technically any child he had would be born in wedlock, even if the mother in the equation wasn't part of the marriage in question.
How was that even going to work? They'd all be dragged off to Italy to head Vongola, as Japanese citizens? Was citizenship going to be pushed through via underground means for them all (preferably dual citizenship, because Tsuna saw no reason at all to give up what he had) rather than adhering to any existing legislature?
He rolled his eyes. So many questions.
Well, Nagi had just pulled a laptop out of inventory, so perhaps she was looking that up.
That was even assuming he wanted a child, because any child he produced would be subject to the same nonsense as the fossil's or the defect's. He didn't know if Kyōya wanted any. After a brief pulse of meaning he nodded. Something to worry about later. They were still quite young, and this wasn't the Dark Ages.
Before he went to sleep that night he paused outside his door to hug Kyōya, then kiss the corner of his mouth. Kyōya responded by advancing that to a kiss full on the mouth, which sent a sweep of tingling (dare he think it, sparkling) warmth through his body.
Ω
Tsuna grimaced as they walked toward the shrine. "He's in town," he said, having spotted with his sensing the chibi nosing around his mother's house. It had to be him, because he was a raging inferno of Sun Flames. "Yeah, he's strong, like Fon level of strong, in flames. And … now he seems to be headed to the school? I'll keep an eye on him. I may have to up the frequency of pings if he got that far in without me noticing."
Mukuro slipped off, and Tsuna "watched" as his Mist hastened over to Nana's house to investigate.
"Presumably he'll notice the changes to your records at the school and try here next," Shoichi said.
"He moves really quickly for being a chibi," he said, taking hold of Kyōya's arm in order to steady himself, seeing an imagined overlay of his "radar" with the brightly-glowing Sun moving far faster than he expected. "We need to decide on tomorrow's activities. Do we stick with normal, because that's outside, or do we—actually, maybe we should be headed to the mansion?"
They paused at the foot of the steps leading up to the shrine. "If he can sense the way we can, there's every chance he knows where I am right now. So he might get real curious if I suddenly disappear off his radar. And then he'd be waiting when we exited?"
A look of dismay flashed around.
"Mukuro votes mansion," Nagi said, her head tilted slightly to the side in a listening pose.
Not seeing any disagreement, Tsuna nodded. "Have him meet us there," he said, then started walking again, letting Kyōya lead him so he could continue to sense. They stopped inside long enough to drop off various things for those who lived there, then went back outside to the practice yard.
"He's heading this way," he reported, seeing the bright flame moving again. "At least, as the crow flies."
"Haru thinks we should start the sparring."
"Hopefully he'll only observe today, and wait until tomorrow to actually make contact," Tetsuya said.
Kyōya gestured at Tetsuya and Chikusa, so they got into position as the rest moved to the benches. A number of water bottles were pulled out of inventory ahead of time and placed in the cooler, even though it had no ice. No sense in letting Reborn know how special they were so quickly.
Mukuro sidled in a few minutes later, holding a flyer in his hand, which he handed over.
Tsuna read through it and scowled. "What is this nonsense? 'Will raise your kid to be the leader of the next generation. Grade and subject doesn't matter. Reborn.' What kind of an idiot would go for this?" He chucked the flyer into inventory and checked his radar again. "You know, aside from my mother. He should be here in about … five minutes, tops, at that speed."
Kyōya nodded and hauled him onto the practice field. Tsuna got his Sanction fist weapons out and fitted them on, then took position. A second later he and Kyōya were going at it. It was quite the thing trying to both spar and keep his flame senses on Reborn's progress. 'He's here,' he thought in Kyōya's direction, as well as to Mukuro and Nagi. They probably sensed Reborn as well, but he wasn't going to be stingy in alerting his family to the change.
As best he could tell, the chibi had taken position in a tree on the outskirts of the field.
Haru pulled Ken onto the field to spar, then Nagi and Shoichi, leaving Chikusa and Tetsuya, with Mukuro floating and sending various illusions in, or even actual creatures, depending on how he felt like using his Six Paths to complicate things.
Tsuna and Kyōya had to pause their own spar when a bunch of feral dogs targeted them. Tsuna really rather disliked those, because the yelps they made when hit made him wince. He never could quite decide if they were actual creatures or solid illusions, despite being able to do actual damage if you let them.
Still, they were there, they could hurt him, and he had no plans to be maimed or eaten, so they had to die so he could get back to his spar. Ten minutes in they shuffled partners and kept going, with Mukuro tagging in to replace Nagi.
Her illusions were not quite the same as Mukuro's, not having been tortured the way Mukuro had been, but she was still skilled at warping perceptions. But as they were getting better at filtering out what wasn't real, they were more of a distraction than a real threat. Which, good, because they needed to be able to do that.
The better they got, the harder she and Mukuro tried to up their game.
The ultimate test would be to see how they stood up against the Mist Arcobaleno.
Ten more minutes in and they switched to two on one, with Kyōya taking on Tsuna and Chikusa, Tetsuya taking on Nagi and Ken, and Mukuro taking on Shoichi and Haru. Ten minutes of that ended the session, with everyone just stopping at once. To an outsider it might seem odd, but with Mukuro and Nagi able to insert a signal into their heads, well…
Tsuna grabbed a bottle of water and upended it over his head, then grabbed a new one to drink from. With his other hand he reached out to touch Kyōya's free hand, mostly to send, 'When we switch to sniper mode, I wonder what Reborn will do.'
Kyōya shot him a look, then drank some of his water.
It had become unfair in the sense that Tsuna could always tell where the sniper was, just by where his family's flames pinged, but that said nothing of when they chose to act, to try to snipe him, so he still had to be on the alert for positioning and with his intuition. The others on the ground counted, too.
Tsuna finished his water, set the bottle aside, and clapped his hands.
Everyone immediately grabbed their gear, put on their goggles (though Shoichi, Haru, and Tetsuya also pulled on jumpsuits to protect their clothing, as none of them wanted to explain coming home paint-splattered to their parents) and secured their guns.
Haru was sniper for that round, having been the one to randomly pick the sniper rifle version of a paintball gun. She scampered off into the tree line, nowhere near Reborn, while the rest found their own places to start from.
Tsuna was kept very busy diving or darting away from the incoming attacks he could sense, leaving him little time to get in his own attacks. He was getting better at avoiding being hit and, in theory, if an enemy were to target him primarily, it left his guardians open to attacking back and scattering the assault.
He did manage to take down Ken during one of his dives, having spiraled around and shot before hitting the ground, rolling, and coming back up on his feet behind one of the walls, only to jink sideways to avoid being shot by Mukuro.
Tsuna was taken out fourth, but at least it hadn't been Haru who got him.
No, she took out Kyōya, which seriously miffed his senpai. But at least Kyōya came over to sit by him, so they could lean into each other as they waited for the round to end.
"I kind of hate that we had to mix up our usual," he said quietly, "but at least it's evidence that we aren't… He might think it's all just a game, though, that we don't know anything."
"Hn."
"What if he spies on us tonight?" 'What if he sneaks into my bedroom?' was what he didn't say out loud.
Kyōya scowled.
It was suddenly a downside that only he and Kyōya were in the family wing. Tsuna blinked when Mukuro let himself be taken out, then came to sit down on Tsuna's other side.
"We could arrange for two futons in your room, and have Tetsuya and Shoichi stay the night," Mukuro softly suggested. "And Nagi and I will be on dream duty. We're assuming that's Reborn due to his flames and the flyer, but if it's not… And if he's a troll, well."
He nodded. "Why don't we only do the one round, and repair to the workroom to discuss, even if we have to do it all via Mist in case he gets close enough to listen in. Get the plans worked out. Haru can ask her parents if she can stay or we give her the usual escort home."
The game wrapped up a few minutes later, with everyone gathering on Tsuna's location, Haru being the last simply due to the distance she had to travel. Mukuro and Nagi pushed the change in plans through. Everyone put their gear back in their containers, jumpsuits were stripped off, and into the house they went.
Clothes were changed, phone calls were made, and they regrouped in the workroom. Tsuna could sense Reborn drawing closer to the house through all that, and that he had come to a stop under the window.
He rolled his eyes. "What does everyone want for dinner?"
A number of suggestions were tossed out, debated, and coalesced into gyūdon. Tsuna glanced at the clock, then got out his work for the day to get a start on it. Gyūdon only took about twenty minutes to cook, so he had time.
Mukuro joined along when he and Tetsuya headed for the kitchen, while the others headed for the dining room (if only to force Reborn to change his spying position). Tsuna noticed a plant outside the kitchen window that absolutely had not existed previously, and wondered if the chibi was a master of disguise to go along with his fearsome reputation as the world's greatest hitman.
He turned away and rolled his eyes again, which gained an amused smirk from Mukuro, then went back to preparing the beef and onion mixture while Tetsuya dealt with the rice.
Dinner featured the plant having mysteriously moved to outside the windows for that room plus a lot of unimpressed looks going around, but happiness at the meal. Either Reborn wasn't taking them at all seriously, or he was trolling them for kicks. It was difficult to say.
Conversation was generic, and once they were done and the dishes rinsed and put in the dishwasher, it was back to the workroom to finish up any school work for the day.
Tsuna was creeped out when Reborn took position outside his window when it came time for bed. He at least had the comfort of the windows being covered on the outside with bamboo slats, which greatly reduced vision for anyone trying to look in, and his bed was off to the side making it impossible to see. The door to the balcony was on the other side of the room, and also did not have a clear line of vision.
As he laid down to sleep he wondered if he could get away with accusing Reborn of being a pedophile. He was startled almost off his bed when Mukuro cackled from where he was getting under the covers of his futon, and Shoichi giggled a second later from his.
He resolutely shut his eyes and trusted in his Mists to keep a watch out, even if through dreams, and went to sleep.
Ω
The next morning they all had breakfast, got ready, and headed off to their respective schools for the half day. And yes, he could feel Reborn trailing them again, like an unwanted creeper. They assembled outside the gates once classes were over, welcoming first Shoichi, then the two girls, and headed off to the shrine.
Tsuna snorted softly when he sensed Reborn zipping along ahead of them as they began to climb the steps, though the chibi clearly had to take the less conventional route in order to stay out of sight.
Kyōya waited until the chibi was within range (which they had tested once word of the third son dying had come to them) to push them into Mementos via the left tōrō, and then immediately teleported all of them to Taida no Michi and engaged a shadow.
Reborn was left to flounder (not that Tsuna could tell, so the guy obviously had plenty of practice keeping his cool) as Tsuna, Kyōya, Haru, and Nagi beat the stuffing out of the first group of creatures. It took a full hour of roaming between floors and annihilating every shadow they found for Reborn to finally say something.
"So, this is unusual."
Tsuna snorted, eyeing the chibi, who was decked out in a bespoke suit, fedora, and flaming yellow mask. "Really? How do you figure? Doesn't everyone get in their exercise this way? Let's take a break, given that the creepy stalker mafioso wants to talk."
Reborn looked almost affronted. Which, bonus.
Kyōya stalked off to the safe area where they all took seats and got out snacks and water to refresh themselves with.
"Is this the part where you've come to tell me I'm the last hope of the Vongola?" he asked, opening a bento and getting the hashi from the inside cover.
Reborn was silent for a minute. "Yes."
He rolled his eyes. "Because Vongola is too incompetent to keep it's Skies alive, clearly, so they sent Reborn—you—to, uh, what, teach me all about being a mafia boss. The clueless, helpless, and brainless civilian."
"Bakamitsu clearly has no idea what's been going on over here," Reborn said.
He smiled coldly. "The defect lives in a delusion of his own making, has for at least a decade, maybe always. And speaking of the useless, idiot sperm donor, he has three other children already by his mistress-turned-wife. Why aren't they being tapped? They're already in Italy."
Reborn shook his head, not even pretending to not understand. "They aren't old enough. The Ninth is getting on in age, so someone has to be trained up now, not ten years from now."
"Figures. Which means there'll now be even more kidnappers and assassins here in Namimori, because the world's greatest neon sign just trolled into town and shined a spotlight on the city."
Reborn frowned minutely. "You think I care about your petty woes?"
"Of course not. You're a murderer for hire and I'm the job, albeit as a tutoring target. You can't honestly expect any of us to believe you worry about the feelings of your targets. They might as well be blow-up dolls or mannequins to you. Why would you care about ruining the lives of children due to the fossil being incompetent? I really have to wonder. Did he refuse to hand over the reins to one of his sons because they were even more incompetent, or—wait.
"Is it because none of them actually had Sky Flames, or they were so weak as to be ineligible? Maybe they died to cover that up. Maybe the youngest raised a fuss because he does have Sky Flames, but making him the heir would have exposed all the lies. Am I expected to shed half my IQ points so as to conveniently not notice all the problems?"
Reborn, of course, chose to ignore that. "And this place? What is it?"
"Tch. It's called Mementos, and it's the collective unconscious of Namimori, and possibly the surrounding towns. The shadows are hostile parts of that, like all the things people try to ignore about themselves. We can also find specific shadows down here, such as those of small-time crooks, bullies, and the like. Defeating them here causes them to confess their sins, often to the police, and be dealt with. I've been coming here since I was ten."
"And big-time crooks?"
"There aren't a lot of those around here, so we don't deal with them too often. But no, we don't go after them in here, but rather in their own personal unconscious, or subconscious. And once we're done they confess, and are fired, arrested, whatever."
"Is it in any way connected to the Phantom Thieves?"
"Peripherally," he said. "We aren't them, but we do use their tactics. They are how I gained the power to come here and the ability to bring others in. I used what little of my intuition I could access to track down their leader and asked him for help with someone. He said no because that person was in Italy, but I was able to stick close enough that I was inadvertently dragged into Mementos in Tokyo.
"They didn't realize I was nearby or got dragged in, and took off to do their thing. I gained two things from being scared out of my mind when I was attacked. The seal on my flames was shattered, and I gained my own version of their power. I wasn't comfortable doing it alone, so I convinced Kyōya to help me, and it snowballed from there."
"Are you why Iemitsu divorced your mother?"
He smiled coldly again. "He made the mistake of coming for a visit, which placed him within our realm of power." He got back up, since everyone was done with their snacks, and tossed his box and empty bottle into inventory.
It was a half hour before Reborn said, "So all of you already know about flames. And, I'll hazard to guess, are active."
"Yes. Being in here has that effect, of making people go active," he said as he smacked a shadow. "Unfortunately, while we can use flame-based attacks here, there's not really much point. The only time it came in handy was when dealing with the defect, because there were flame-active enemies in there. We do experiment in here, though, for new technique ideas."
"Auto-loot would be nice," Shoichi muttered once the battle wrapped up.
"Haru would call you lazy, but we all get too much exercise for that."
Tsuna snickered. "There are other uses, as you well know," he said, "that can be used outside. Some for both."
"Like you using your flames as radar," Reborn said dryly.
"Oh, so you did feel that," he said with a nod, then skipped up the steps to next level. "Our routine went slightly backward because you showed up. Tracked you from the house to the school to the mansion. Figured it might be amusing to troll you by disappearing into here as we would have, but, nah."
Another shadow was smacked to start a battle.
"So, here for general exercise, outside for sparring against people and—you mentioned kidnappers and assassins."
"I did."
A quick look over his shoulder showed Reborn rolling his eyes.
"How often?"
He hummed. "Multiple kidnappers, one sniper assassin. The first kidnapper was beaten down and turned over to the police. The others were beaten unconscious and transported to the mountain to be left there to live or die. The assassin was avoided due to my intuition and Mukuro's abilities, and later on Nagi, Ken, and Chikusa hunted him down to obliterate a decade's worth of memories and compel him to return to Italy. I can only assume the defect hasn't been careful enough when babbling about his perfect family."
"And you think me coming here is going to invite more."
"Anyone with a functioning brain would assume that. We heard you were tutoring someone else prior to this, so for you to suddenly disappear from one job means odds are people would start asking questions and wondering where you were, and go looking. That means we could see an increase in kidnappers and/or assassins."
"You are nothing like Bakamitsu," Reborn said firmly.
"I'm going to bet that the flame-sealing fossil sent you."
"You would win."
"Yay. Where were you planning to stay?" he asked as they prowled over to the next shadow and beat the crap out of it.
"…That is the question. Pragmatism would suggest I stay with you."
He rolled his eyes, again, and picked up the loot. "Not my house, not my decision," he said, deferring to Kyōya.
Kyōya shot him a look that said, "It's your house, too," but then eyed Reborn speculatively. After a pregnant pause he touched Tsuna's hand long enough to pass a message.
"There are rules," he said. "No damage being foremost. No inviting outsiders onto the property without permission from Kyōya, and adequate warning. If you want Italian food or drink you supply it yourself. Otherwise you eat what's offered."
Kyōya smacked another shadow that lurched up, so he could no longer pay attention to Reborn's face.
"Why do I have the distinct feeling there is no espresso maker in that house," Reborn said dryly.
Most of his family laughed at the very idea.
"Part of the reason for staying with you is to be able to protect you from anything you are incapable of handling yourself, individually or with your … family."
That he said "family" instead of "famiglia" was interesting. The hesitation made him wonder if Reborn was unable to sense harmonization. Or was he, but for some reason thought not referring to his family in a mafia sense would…? What? Make him seem more sympathetic?
"Do not talk about Mementos with outsiders," he said. "The locals are aware of the website where they can submit requests, but there is no definitive evidence which links that to us, and we'd like to keep it that way. Individuals are only brought in through consensus and my intuition, and even then nothing is ever said about flames until they spend enough time here fighting to gain flame attacks, plus harmonize with me."
"I see," Reborn said. He was being surprisingly low-key aside from the one jab he had made. "And are you willing to divulge who is who?"
'In what sense?' he wondered. 'Flames or names?' When Reborn failed to clarify he asked it out loud. "In what sense?"
"Names, flames…"
He shrugged. "Hibari Tsunayoshi, Sky," he said. Instead of waiting until he was eighteen, when it would normally be legal, they had used a mixture of hacking and Mist to push through the name change with the authorities. Learning that Federico had died had prompted further discussion, and action.
Reborn raised a brow when he heard, "Irie Shoichi, Secondary Sun Guardian" and "Rokudo Nagi, Secondary Mist Guardian." Nagi had opted to get her family name changed, to disassociate herself from a famous mother and to show her relationship to Mukuro (as if the obvious similarity in looks didn't clue anyone in).
"So just how often are you planning to send information back to the fossil, and how untrustworthy are you going to prove when it comes to our secrets?" he asked during a lull in combat, eyeing Reborn speculatively. "After all, you must be highly trusted if you were sent here, alone, to be a tutor, but that doesn't mean trusted by us."
"And I can't get out of here until you let it happen," Reborn muttered.
The words were so low that only Ken could properly hear it, as evidenced by his brief touch on Mukuro's hand, and Mukuro's actions to telepathically impart that to everyone else.
"No less than once a month. And speaking of outsiders, I had already arranged for a potential guardian for you to come from Italy, though at best he could only be a secondary given the situation."
Tsuna scowled, though he could understand to a degree why Reborn would have done it.
"He'll be in your class. Whether he's suitable or not is up for debate. I would tell you about him, but … perhaps it's better to leave it at you forming your own opinion, uninfluenced by mine."
Tsuna got the distinct impression that Reborn was hiding something, so he called him on it.
"Ah, yes, something I will have to correct before he shows up at the school," Reborn said, looking vaguely annoyed. (Annoyed the Tsuna's intuition could suss things like that out? Annoyed that he had done it at all? Or both?) "I led him to believe a confrontation was wise, so he could take your measure. Having seen you for myself, and your family, it would be unwise, and potentially quite explosive."
"Explosive?" Ken said.
"He uses dynamite."
Kyōya growled.
"Yeah, that's not gonna wash," he said, "because unless this kid has the funds to pay for repairs to anything he damages, he'll end up bitten to death repeatedly and then turfed out on his ass with quite a few memories missing. We didn't spend years removing problematic behavior in the population for this guy to waltz on in and act like a hooligan. And even if he does have the funds, the very fact that he did cause property damage would result in being bitten to death."
"Haru is not impressed. Dynamite seems silly and very much not subtle."
"So what exactly do you plan to teach about being a boss that you would report back on?" he asked.
"Mafia culture, etiquette, general duties, territories, affiliations… I was told you were sealed as a child and expected to have to chip that seal away, as well as ensure you got to a proper fitness level and could fight."
Well, that sounded a hell of a lot better (though no less annoying) than bullying and trolling a civilian child who had been fundamentally violated. "And how exactly am I bloodline?"
"You are a direct descendant of Giotto, Vongola Primo. He did not marry or have children until after he retired to Japan and changed his name to better fit in. Secondo was Giotto's cousin."
"Better fit in?" Tetsuya said. "More like attempted to show some respect, because I doubt the average Italian looks anything like the Japanese."
"Well, no," Reborn allowed. "His painting in the portrait hall shows he had light caramel blond hair, for one thing, and amber eyes. Tsuna here looks like he could be the man's twin but for the hair and eye colour, and obvious Japanese features."
His eyelids and skin tone, in other words.
"It's interesting to note that two of you are near twins to Giotto's companions, as is the young man coming, though again, superficial features are different." When no one asked the expected question Reborn continued, "Hibari to Alaudi, who had platinum blond hair and blue eyes, and was the first head of CEDEF. Rokudo to Daemon Spade, and Gokudera to G, though Gokudera has silver hair and green eyes, whereas G had dark pink-red hair and eyes to match."
"Haru thinks that sounds suspicious. Three lookalikes? Haru wonders if there are more in this generation."
"In the short time I've been in Namimori I've found two more," Reborn said. "One Sasagawa Ryohei, who is a near ringer for Knuckle, and Yamamoto Takeshi, who is a near ringer for Ugetsu Asari. All the flames match up, with the exception of Gokudera, because that boy also has Rain, Sun, Lightning, and Cloud Flames."
Tsuna wheezed.
"Gokudera's older sister has pink hair, interestingly enough."
"Haru amends her statement. That sounds deeply suspicious, and almost like a conspiracy."
He thought she had a good point. It was disturbing, the idea that there were people his age who were Giotto's generation's clones. Was it genetic, and should he thereby assume that Kyōya was a descendant of this Alaudi, and Mukuro and Nagi of Spade, and so forth? Because genetic throwbacks, all in the same generation, of the original Vongola? Pfft. Though Kyōya was a bit special there what with him already looking so similar to Fon.
"How does time work in here?" Reborn asked.
"From experience, if we enter before evening, we exit in time for dinner. If we enter in the evening, we exit at midnight. That also applies to a person's unconscious. But that only happened once, the midnight thing. We reserve afternoons for training, evenings for homework, and Sundays for leisure days."
"And the non-use of flames yesterday during sparring?"
"The only reason we can see to do that is to inure ourselves to the effects, and that could backfire, though we are all trying to increase our resistance to harmful illusions, or have used illusions to grind away problems resulting from kidnapping attempts. Some of the things I can do would be pointless, and one thing I refuse to use on my family, because I don't know how to reverse it."
Reborn made an inquiring noise.
"Zero Point Breakthrough. I can seal off flames, or pin someone to the floor with ice. But without knowing how to reverse it, I don't dare use it outside of against actual enemies that I wouldn't care if they died. And even then I'm not sure, because we don't know enough about the Vindice and their policies to know if we'd come under fire for unsanctioned hits."
"You did learn how to create things with your flames," Tetsuya pointed out.
He nodded. "Good point. Lockpicks, knives, and such, mostly to be able to get myself out of handcuffs, zip ties, or ropes on the fly, in the event someone successfully kidnaps me and doesn't keep me knocked out the entire time."
"Depending on how someone confined you…"
"Yeah, so it's not a guarantee, but I have every confidence my family can follow the connection to me. I'd prefer not to be kidnapped in the first place, hence our efforts to use our flames as a type of radar, which is part of what's going on during paintball games so we can be aware of where other players are so as to better avoid being hit."
Shoichi wiped his hand over his brow, which signaled that it was time to go for the day. They finished up the current fight, then started the walk upward to collect any chests, then exited. Haru, Shoichi, and Tetsuya were escorted home, then the rest headed for the mansion so dinner could be started.
Reborn ate his portion without complaint, even looked pleased at the taste, then joined them for their evening work. Considering that Tsuna's was still middle school work, it wasn't onerous, even the mathematics.
"I have a master's in mathematics," Reborn volunteered.
"Great," he said, "that means we can bug you if we run into trouble with this stuff. Also, you didn't say what you'd be reporting, only how often at minimum."
Reborn shot him a blank look—Tsuna took that to mean he wasn't supposed to remember the omission—and said, "Whatever is relevant."
"Yeah, nice non-answer. Try again."
Reborn sighed. "It's going to be a bitch to get much past you, isn't it."
He smiled. "How you act now will say a lot about our working relationship in the future. If you prove now you aren't willing to keep our secrets, things the fossil has no need to know, well… Because you might be in good with him, but once I take over, that's a whole different kettle of fish, isn't it." He thought, but didn't state, that in theory once he took over, he would be able to see all the reports given should they be on paper, assuming Timoteo didn't destroy them for some reason.
Reborn sighed again. "How well you are learning the required material, that which I've already mentioned. And the Vindice, which you mentioned."
"And inquiries about my personal life?" he asked, setting aside his maths homework so he could complete a worksheet about Japanese History.
"That you are doing well, and then bullshit like there's no tomorrow if he digs for details. He is going to want to know about your guardians."
Tsuna looked up. "And would he set people to investigating them? Or would he trust your word and call it even?"
Reborn pursed his lips. "It could go either way, but it's safer to assume he'd have someone look into each of them."
He scowled. He also noticed Ken hop on his phone long enough to shoot off a text message or two. "Would he go so far as to arrange hits on anyone he didn't like?"
Reborn exhaled slowly. "He would more likely try to tempt them away from you with offers of jobs, possibly as high as assistant manager of one of the casinos Vongola owns, rather than order a hit."
"Because once in, it's stay in or die," he said. "Why am I getting the distinct impression that the fossil wouldn't know harmonization if you slapped him with it?"
"Considering he's on his third Lightning and second Sun…?"
Tsuna grimaced. "So, okay, either he has no clue or interest in actual harmonization, or he's deadened his heart. That's really kind of disgusting. And so … his other so-called guardians are also fossils?"
Reborn pursed his lips again. "Comparable in age."
He leaned hard, then said, "You have a decent working relationship with him, and he trusts you to a large extent, so I won't ask you to go against him, exactly, but I am firm on the whole respecting our privacy thing when it comes to reports. Though I suppose we can always do more digging on our end to find out all the embarrassing details of his life." 'You know, aside from being an incompetent fuck-up who can't even protect his top-tier famiglia members, or deliberately had them killed to cover up something embarrassing.'
"Any other potential surprises you already had in mind?" he asked.
Reborn rolled his eyes. "Maybe later."
"Huh… Just remember. With permission, and adequate warning. No one has any excuse to mess things up here, and anyone who does think that is clearly dangerously arrogant."
Reborn suddenly smirked, mischief glinting in his eyes.
Tsuna shook his head and finished up his worksheet.
"So what is the life of a hitman like?" Chikusa asked, and that carried them for some time when it came to conversation.
When it came time to head to bed, he let Reborn head on into his room so he could linger behind and give Kyōya a good night hug, plus give and receive a few kisses. And pass a silent message to the effect of, "I'm a little leery of him staying in the same room, but I know Mukuro will be keeping an eye on things." He got one final kiss, Kyōya pressing his lips against Tsuna's, and then it was off to his room.
Reborn had strung a hammock up in the corner on the hallway wall, same side of the room as his bed. Which, okay.
Tsuna just nodded and grabbed sleepwear, then went through his evening routine. He did wonder if Reborn was so high up because people tended not to look up, but it wasn't as if the room height was so high that it would mean anything unless an intruder came in through the hallway door.
He set his alarm, slid into bed, and turned off the light before getting comfortable.
"Why Hibari?"
"Because it was offered to me. Good night, Reborn."
Ω
Just because it was Sunday was no reason to sleep in. Breakfast was had, and Tsuna again thought perhaps they should choose a new room, because they now had Reborn, though he did not take up much space, with the possibility of another secondary guardian. It really depended on what kind of person this Gokudera was.
Kyōya nodded and, when breakfast was over and the dishes dealt with, he led them to a much larger room, with a much larger table at the center, one that could fit twelve people comfortably. And by then, Shoichi, Haru, and Tetsuya had showed up.
The view out the ground floor windows showed the mountains in the distance, the same mountains where kidnappers were dumped off after they'd been bitten to death.
"I need to go make a few things clear," Reborn said before he vanished, "but I'll be back a bit later."
Tsuna kept an eye on his route with his sensing. "We should probably talk about changes to our schedule. If we have to learn all this mafia stuff…"
"I'd like to think we aren't going anywhere until we've all finished high school," Tetsuya said. "So April of 2019 would be the earliest, which gives us four years to learn."
"Maybe take Wednesday off the list for Mementos and use that for mafia stuff?" Chikusa said. "It would depend on how quickly we need to know this stuff."
"So otherwise, Mondays and Fridays," Mukuro said. "It's what and how much."
"And how much the fossil will let us know," Ken said. "I mean, how do you figure negotiations if we don't have examples to use as a starting template?"
"You mean aside from me leaning heavily on my intuition? Good point."
With that sort of decided they all switched to whatever was of interest in terms of leisure activities, which meant Tsuna pulled manga out of inventory to read. Though, he was already eyeing up a spot to put in a TV and game console.
Reborn showed up again for lunch, and afterward they returned to the new gathering room to discuss mafia stuff.
"Let's start with Wednesdays," Reborn said. "Once I have an idea of how quickly you're all picking this up, we can change it if necessary. Let's begin by going over territories," he said as he pulled a map out of nowhere and spread it over the table.
Ω
Monday was Health and Sports Day, so they had it off. Which, nice. Even though he was doing so much better and easily keeping up, Tsuna still wasn't all that fond of school. They spent the day wandering town.
Tsuna could feel Gokudera tailing them, but the boy never approached.
Their lazy day was interrupted when Tsuna's intuition spiked, warning of another attempt on his life or liberty. He pulled out his phone and launched Ingress to have an excuse (for anyone who got close enough) to wander into potentially odd places, like the edge of town, in an area where warehouses stood, and where no one much would be present on a holiday.
He could feel both Gokudera and the outsider following.
He also knew that Kyōya, Mukuro, and Nagi were well aware of the issue, as the siblings had briefly touched everyone not Reborn to pass on a message.
The kidnapper and/or assassin felt like a weak Storm to Tsuna, which was not good, but also not terribly alarming. If the person could get off a flame attack he might need a new outfit or to deal with an impromptu exfoliation treatment, but hopefully it would not come to that.
It did, however, mean he had the opportunity to use Zero Point Breakthrough on a real person rather than a cognitive construct.
"Reborn," he said quietly.
"I sense him."
"Right. Your opinion on whether I can use Zero Point Breakthrough on this yahoo? I can tell he has active Storm Flames, but he's weak. I can't tell if he's carrying any weapons, so…"
"If you want to be in the clear to use something like that, I'd suggest confirmation that he is trying to kidnap or kill."
He scowled, because that meant letting the guy make an attempt. He looked at Nagi.
She nodded, glanced at Ken, then the two of them went off to ostensibly get snacks for them all from a street vendor, with Ken as her designated mule.
Hopefully it wouldn't tip off the attacker.
His "eye" on Gokudera suggested that the kid was confused and now wary, but still following.
'Which, good? If he sees us deal with this yahoo, maybe he won't do something stupid himself.'
Shortly before they hit the river on the outskirts of the warehouse district, Ken and Nagi returned to hand out snacks. Nagi made sure to brush skin when she handed over his share, so he knew she had a lock on the confirmed assassin's mind, which meant that Mukuro would, too.
They pretended to look for a suitable place to have said snacks, drawing that out until the assassin deigned to get close enough to shoot at him. (Clearly not a sniper.)
Tsuna dodged, did another sweep on his radar to check for witnesses, then lashed back with Zero Point Breakthrough to seal off the guy's flames.
Mukuro appeared behind the fellow while he was disoriented and snatched the gun out of his hand, then pistol whipped him into unconsciousness with it.
"So, hm," he said.
"He's a freelancer," Mukuro said as he dragged the assassin over.
"Option one, we do what we did last time. Option two, we dump him on the mountain. Option three, we somehow contact the Vindice?"
"Do we want their eyes on us?"
"Haru suggests option four, we combine one and two, and strip him of everything but his clothing."
"That's delightfully cruel," Mukuro said. "I vote for that one."
Everyone looked on board, so Tsuna nodded. "Let's do that, then."
Mukuro got to work stripping the last ten years of the man's memories while Ken divested the man of everything that wasn't clothing (bonus, he had cash in his wallet, though the cards would all be destroyed), and Kyōya sent a text.
By the time they were done a six-man squad of the Disciplinary Committee had shown up.
"Mountain."
They nodded, one of the hefted the assassin up in a fireman carry, and off they went.
"The question, of course, is if that was just a rando trying to make a name for himself, or if he followed Reborn here," Tetsuya said.
Everyone shot a disapproving look at Reborn, who bore it stoically (or he really just didn't care).
"If he was following we should know soon enough," he said. "Hopefully it was just chance, him overhearing something the defect was spouting, though why he'd still be going on about his 'little tuna-fish' I have no idea."
"Maybe his delusion switched tracks and now he thinks you're the son of his mistress," Shoichi said. "We have every reason to believe he will rewrite the aspects of his delusion to fit changed circumstances, though how he'd account for you being here in Japan I just don't know."
"Eldest son learning and living in his native culture and homeland?"
He shrugged. "Whatever. Let's eat our snacks, then get back to enjoying ourselves."
"What shall we do this afternoon considering we have the other stalker?" Haru asked.
A look went around the group.
"It is a holiday," he said.
"There's nothing good available at the theatre," Chikusa said.
"It's been a slow year. What has come out that was vaguely decent was so full of holes they almost weren't worth watching. Unless the idea was to make people hate the characters."
"We'll figure something out."
Tsuna ended up using the afternoon as "me" time and played video games while Kyōya lounged nearby reading a book. Reborn was also nearby, but he was shuffling through a series of folders. Organizing lessons and materials, perhaps?
Ω
Homeroom the next day brought the announcement of a new student, one Gokudera Hayato, as a transfer student from Italy. He ended up seated to Mukuro's right (mostly because none of the normal students were thrilled with sitting next to Mukuro, as he tended to unsettle people).
The kid had silver hair, green eyes (they looked green at a distance, anyway), and had a rough feel to him. The girls in the class all tittered behind their hands, whispered to each other, and annoyed their homeroom teacher.
Tsuna didn't have the best foundation for an opinion of his fellow students, what with them having bullied him or looked the other way while others did, but even he was irritated at the behavior on display. They had done it when the trio joined Tsuna's class and they were doing it again.
Worse, he wouldn't doubt for a moment that if they all packed up and switched to a school in a different city, they'd all be subject to it, based solely on the fact that they were new and therefore "exciting".
It made him want to roll his eyes.