There was a paucity of shadows. Damn near every one they saw was purely for the purpose of acting out a short scene only to fade away.
"If nothing else," Shoichi said, "it means we get through this place faster."
"Which means we could finish in one go, aside from the calling cards so we can battle his cognitive self," Tetsuya added.
The place was technically a maze, because there was not only a single path to follow, but as it worked out they ended up on a decreasing spiral inward toward the goal, with tableaux along the way showing more insight into Xanxus prior to being collected by Timoteo.
Either way, they had one-on-one battles to "look forward to", something he was not actually looking forward to. It seemed like such a stupid, almost barbaric idea, to have those, to prove … what? That they could fight? That might made right?
'I can beat the stuffing out of you, so I'm better than you?' he thought, wondering how that even worked. 'It's a good thing I wasn't hauled off to Italy when I was much younger and raised as an heir. I'd probably be a useless idiot.'
Kyōya laughed silently and ran his fingers down Tsuna's neck, transmitting, 'I agree. And I will bite you to death if you start getting stupid.'
'If not an idiot, then dead, considering what happened to the others.' "Do you think we could get away with formal kimono for the 'I have an heir' ceremony?" he asked Reborn.
The chibi looked dubious. "Maybe. I don't imagine the don would send over an army of tailors. He would expect me to handle getting you all outfitted. In suits, naturally."
"Maybe is good enough, if everyone is willing," he replied as they passed yet another locked door. "I would much rather wear the traditional formal wear of my homeland. Suits can wait until we're over there and have to blend in with the herbivores."
Haru bounced happily. "Haru will start looking at fabrics! Haru must figure out what colours each of us would look best in."
Nagi nodded, bumping shoulders with her friend.
"The ones who might be hampered in a fight wearing formals are Haru and Nagi," Tetsuya said. "But more Haru."
Haru paused to frown slightly, then said, "Haru can try to work in something clever to a design, so if it came to that, Haru could move freely."
Yeah, gymnastics would be difficult otherwise, if it came to a fight. Everyone else would be wearing hakama, and Nagi used a trident in addition to her flames.
Reborn clapped his hands, signaling that he was bored with the conversation.
Tsuna scowled at him, said, "It's not like we have to hurry in here," then gestured onward. Eventually they came to the center plaza again, only that time they were able to enter it. The paling had gone missing, which meant they should be able to re-enter for the fight from their starting point, though there was a safe room just outside in the street leading to it, which Kyōya had set as their starting point.
"We've seen enough," Kyōya said after everyone had a chance to thoroughly investigate. "Let us return."
Back in the workroom they immediately trooped off to wash up, then Tsuna and Tetsuya started dinner.
"So," he said as they began to eat.
"We need to get the calling cards in place," Mukuro said. "Mammon is a complication."
"But we can combine our flames," Nagi said. "No idea how strong Mammon is, but…"
"But it might be enough," Mukuro said.
"The first battle isn't until the day after tomorrow, so we realistically want to get the cards in place tomorrow morning, go back in tomorrow afternoon," Chikusa said. "Hopefully it will have an effect in our favor, even if we're not stealing his treasure."
Tsuna shook his head. "I don't see a need to. He's not that kind of twisted. And from everything I saw, I really have to wonder if he's not the fossil's son. If they were just passing through whatever area and the woman was a bit delusional, and/or saw a powerful man, and tried to convince him he was, just so her son had a better life."
"What, and the fossil could tell he was a Sky, so he went along with it?" Ken said.
He hummed.
"If he was pseudo-adopted," Hayato said, "then there's no way he'd be picked to be Decimo, not unless you were dead, plus the defect and his three kids. The fossil'd want to keep it in the actual blood family. Which would make him an absolute asshole for lying to Xanxus and leading him on."
"And it's not like we can get into the old man's stuff, his paper files and off-network computers," Shoichi said, "to verify any of that. But still, what are the odds he isn't related and was only taken because he's a Sky, and the fossil was more than happy when Xanxus went to take over the Varia, because that got him out of the way and presumably content with his lot. It's not like he bothered to censure the defect when he was an asshole in that one scene, so he might be playing them off each other to keep their minds away from the so-called prize of leadership of the main famiglia."
"If Xanxus found out and is angry," Spanner said, "that might be what was behind the so-called coup d'état."
"And what, the fossil didn't want it comin' out, so he iced him?" Ken said.
"Maybe. Would have been kinder to kill him, but maybe he's just as delusional in his own way and thought it was a mercy, and that Xanxus would just brush everything off if he was ever de-iced."
"That's crazy talk, but I could sorta see it. I mean, the fossil sealed Tsuna's flames after he went active. Who knows how much worse it could have gotten?"
He heaved a sigh. "Suicide worse."
Everyone shot a startled look at him.
He shrugged. "I ran across the term 'passive suicidal ideation' while on the internet. Fairly certain that'd describe what I was feeling most of the time. I wouldn't have cared if I died, because at least then there would be no more pain."
Reborn actually looked upset at that, though possibly because those bullets he mentioned might well have had exactly the wrong effect and resulted in Tsuna's death.
Kyōya, of course, wrapped an arm around his shoulders and pulled him closer.
"Not gonna lie and say I wasn't like that. I wouldn't have gone out of my way to get myself killed, but I would have welcomed it if it happened. So it's a good thing the Phantom Thieves became a thing and I went looking out of desperation. Things are a million times better now, despite what we're about to face, now and in the future."
Ω
Kyōya wrapped him a hug before bed, saying all the things he wouldn't say out loud, still without words. Tsuna reveled in that comfort, the warmth of Kyōya's body, and the feelings of love and support that were transmitted, through skin and the bond.
He pulled back after a while and went on his toes so he could kiss his partner, transmitting his love and appreciation, not to mention desire, before ducking into his room so he could ready himself for bed.
Sleep was a little rough. He was fairly certain he had had a somewhat disturbing dream, likely dredged up from his admission, but the next morning he was awake and ready to tackle a boss fight come afternoon.
Mukuro and Nagi slipped in a little late to breakfast, both looking tired.
"You don't seem upset, so it went well?" Tetsuya said.
The siblings nodded.
"We combined our flames to get the cards into position," Mukuro said, "and I may have used my Animal Path to cause a small distraction to help divert the others who were already awake. We only stuck around long enough to be sure that Xanxus didn't just blow off the warning that he was being targeted."
Nagi nodded. "He seemed to recognize the logo, got a certain look on his face."
"Okay. I have to wonder if there'll be a gimmick to this fight," he said.
Chikusa shrugged. "He seems like a pretty straightforward person, so maybe not. It might just be a slugfest. My question is, would you freezing the flames of his cognitive self hurt his outside self?"
He frowned in consternation. "I hadn't even thought of that. But I did it to the defect."
"And I haven't seen anything in any communications that'd suggest he can't use them outside anymore," Shoichi said. "Though I wouldn't expect that to be in an email or text."
Kyōya pressed his leg against Tsuna's to pass on a message.
"Yeah, if the defect couldn't subvert our bonds, I don't imagine Xanxus could, either, assuming he'd try that as a tactic. Maybe I could try freezing just his Storm Flames? He uses guns, so I wouldn't expect him to get up close and personal. Not sure there'd be a point for me nailing his feet to the floor."
"Definitely the dome, though."
He nodded. "That cut damage by half for all of us, and let me absorb any flames into my own reserves. I see no reason not to use it, along with any buffs we have which increase evasion or attack power. Preferably we get through this quickly."
There was minor muttering about how "boss battles" and "quickly" did not belong in the same sentence, but everyone nodded anyway.
"I have to wonder if the only reason he has a Palace is because he's willing to battle us," Shoichi said.
"At this young age in comparison?"
Shoichi nodded. "Well, I mean, twisted also in the potential sheer anger involved in what happened to him and why. But yes. Xanxus might have missed out on eight years, so in some ways he might effectively still be sixteen, but the others? The only other one who is near our age is Belphegor. He's around sixteen."
That afternoon they went back in. Xanxus' cognitive self was there in the central plaza, looking superior and confident and menacing. It made him realize they'd not heard any of this thoughts during their run of the Palace the day previous.
Clearly, not every shadow self felt the need to.
The fight itself was a straight-up slugfest. Tsuna took the risk of freezing Xanxus' Storm Flames before using his next turn to blossom a dome around them for protection (in addition to the usual buffs, and debuffs on their "enemy").
"We were speculating," Hayato said rather brashly from the back row, "if the reason you're so hacked off is because the old fossil lied to you about being his son."
"Fuckin' trash!" Shadow Xanxus roared.
"I'm thinking that might be a yes," Shoichi said quietly.
"And when you confronted him about it," Hayato continued, "he iced you so his duplicity wouldn't get out, and he wouldn't have to face your justified anger?"
Xanxus hit like a truck on his next attack, which was an answer of sorts.
"And then he added insult to injury by lying about why you were iced? By claiming you were attempting a coup d'état? Making you out to be the bad guy, when it's really him who's fuckin' incompetent, a liar, and a hypocrite?"
The main line kept whittling down Shadow Xanxus' health, while the back row speculated loudly enough to be heard about a number of things, and Tsuna noticed as the fight progressed that Xanxus seemed to be calming down, like being understood or heard was changing his focus.
Tsuna was certain there would be no need to steal the treasure. He couldn't say just how much the fight (and the lack of stealing the treasure) would affect things in the conscious world, but he knew it would be for the better. As in, the Varia wouldn't be aiming to kill.
Still wouldn't get him out of being Decimo a few years on.
Once Shadow Xanxus was defeated (Tsuna was starting to appreciate boss fight gimmicks over lengthy slugfests) Tsuna said, "I don't know how much of what's been said or will be will resonate in your conscious mind."
Shadow Xanxus adopted a narrow-eyed look.
"Everything we've seen or heard so far says that you are not our enemy, and we are not yours," he said. "But if you do try to take your anger at the fossil out on us, I don't have an issue with obliterating every last one of you, barring the Mist Arcobaleno. I will not die for their mistakes. If my anger and yours are aimed at the right target, though? I can see us fixing the multitude of problems in Vongola, that people like the fossil and the defect have let fester because they're their too delusional and hypocritical to see reality and their own glaring faults. I am never letting go that the defect and fossil sealed my flames when I had only just gone active, at five years old. It took almost six years for me to stumble over a way to break it and finally get my soul back. And while I'm at it, if you have anyone in the Varia who can be trusted to become the External Advisor? Think about it, because the defect is scheduled to at least have his flames frozen and his mind wiped and his ability to reproduce removed. That is, if we don't just kill him instead of leaving him a drooling vegetable."
Shadow Xanxus continued to give him a narrow-eyed look, so Tsuna nodded and turned to leave.
"We can hope," he said quietly, once they were back in the outside.
Ω
The first Ring Battle turned out to be Sun. And the second the "arena" was revealed, they all whipped out sunglasses to wear. After a fixed game of jan-ken to "determine" who would even fight that battle, Ken (and everyone else) was creeped out by Lussuria's creepy necrophilia comments, but it was mostly shoved aside mentally while Ken showed he was not a callow, wet behind the ears, too-young ignoramus, nor was he a stranger to combat.
Case in point, his avoidance of Lussuria's armored left knee, except for the moment when he nailed it with liquid nitrogen and then jacked the other knee with his foot to cause the man to tumble and shatter the guard.
Needless to say, Ken won the fight.
Tsuna was just as interested in Xanxus' reaction, not to mention eyeing up that damn robot. They left after getting instruction to return the next evening at eleven, for the Lightning Ring Battle.
"That went well," he said.
Haru and Spanner began to go over her strategy the second they were safely ensconced in the mansion, which was probably wise. Even so, they would have time after they slept to continue to do so.
The next evening, after another fixed game of jan-ken, Haru stood up as his Lightning, and promptly showed what a vicious little monster she could be by not only using her flames to rip out every piercing Levi had, but, as he was reacting to that pain and the sheer amount of blood coating his face, slammed him so hard in the testicles that Tsuna honestly wouldn't be surprised if she'd shattered them and effectively rendered him sterile.
(And for someone who was reported to be slavishly devoted to Xanxus? Well, maybe someone like that just shouldn't be allowed to reproduce.)
She followed up by taking out both knees, breaking his arms, and then giving him the mercy of unconsciousness. Only then did she take his half of the ring and say, "I win."
There was a distinct feeling of "I'm impressed" coming off Xanxus, which Tsuna was happy to sense.
"If it weren't for the fact that they skipped Storm," he said back at the mansion, "I'd think they were being lazy enough to go in colour order."
"…Yeah," Shoichi said. "And Storm is next."
The next evening, another fixed round of jan-ken was done, with Tetsuya "winning" the right to present as Storm for the fight. Tetsuya did not waste time, despite the obstacles the Cervello put in place (allegedly to hamper the both of them). He methodically tracked down Belphegor, using his Storm Flames to disintegrate the nearly invisible wires the other had strung everywhere, and then used his Storm Onibi to drain Belphegor into unconsciousness.
It was the first hint shown of any of their inside techniques. The half-ring was then claimed.
And, by the looks of him…? 'I don't think he'll be feeling well for some time,' he passed on to Kyōya. 'I wouldn't be surprised if that did organ damage in addition to leeching his flame reserves.'
He could see in his peripheral vision Kyōya tilted his head slightly toward him and nod. Xanxus continued to give off an air—to Tsuna, anyway—of "I'm impressed", which made him wonder how long it took for what they did in his Palace to cause a change in attitude. The first fight had caused a vaguely surprised feeling to emanate. But after that?
Rain was next, which meant Chikusa. And if he won, if they were all playing by the rules, the battles would be over. Tsuna's intuition wasn't giving off any warnings, which was welcomed. He just hoped things did not suddenly change. He had no idea if Xanxus could somehow manage to trick it, or if the man knew he had it, or how strong it was.
Chikusa, once he was up the next evening, baffled Squalo by producing yo-yos pre-fight and idly flipping them around, "walking the dog", and other such tricks. What Squalo did not expect, he of the sword swishing and jabbing, was to be turned into a veritable pincushion of ice needles tainted with the poison Chikusa bore as a result of the experimentation.
It made the man so woozy he almost dropped his sword (which, difficult, considering it was attached to that prosthetic hand), and Chikusa had little difficulty in then freezing him into place with more ice so he could secure the half-ring.
Clearly, either the Varia were definitely not out to kill them (any longer), or they simply had never run across people who used their flames creatively. They seemed to think weapons first rather than "anything goes so long as it works".
With that, the Cervello declared that Sawada Tsunayoshi had won and was confirmed as the incipient tenth don of the Vongola.
Xanxus stared at the two "twins" for a long moment, then jerked his chin at Mammon who, while looking entirely put out, promptly collected and bussed over (on an illusion cloud, of all things) the Mist, Cloud, and Sky half-rings.
"So what poor jerk do you have in that robot, anyway?" he asked. "Is it the fossil?"
Xanxus grinned, bloodthirsty and vengeful.
The defect, who had been "supervising" the battles, started squawking in alarm. Mammon went over to the robot and did something to cause the front to open up, and a dehydrated-looking Timoteo toppled out and hit the ground to splay like a puppet with its strings cut.
The defect and his minions rushed over to grab the man and hustle him away, all while squawking dire threats.
Tsuna rolled his eyes. "Good fucking riddance. Now if only they'd do us all a favor and accidentally fall into a trash compactor." To Xanxus he said, "We should sit down, talk, someplace neutral, make plans, to deal with the shameful mess Vongola is." To the Cervello he said, "Why the fuck are you still here? Battles are over, you're irrelevant."
Those two blinked, exchanged a look, then left.
Tsuna looked at the two halves of the Vongola Sky Ring and frowned, then snapped them together.
"Tomorrow morning, ten," Xanxus said. "Hotel conference room."
He nodded, looked at his family, then bailed.
Ω
"What a mess," he said as he examined the completed ring. "And there's no chance I'm gonna believe these things have been sitting in a vault somewhere for years on end if they're so damn important. The fossil should have been wearing this the whole time, and his idiots the other rings."
Reborn shrugged. "I repeated what I was told. Whether I believed it or not was immaterial."
"I don't even want to put this thing on. It's ugly, for one."
Reborn rolled his eyes and sighed. "Yes, it's ugly. Also irrelevant. Put the stupid ring on."
He slipped it onto his left thumb, because it was too big for any other finger, and he didn't want it to interfere with writing. He felt a weird almost shock when he did so, as if something was examining him. "That's creepy," he muttered.
"It is," Mukuro and Nagi said as one, then Mukuro said alone, "And that right there says it has some form of sentience, which means there's no way the fossil hasn't been wearing it the whole time, until these battles."
Tsuna eyed the ring distastefully and pulled it back off so he could string it on a chain and wear it that way. "I don't need a perverted ring watching everything I do. The only people who get to ghost me are Kyōya, Mukuro, and Nagi." That he was sensing pouting and annoyance from the damn thing was even more creepy. "Shut up," he said.
Mukuro and Nagi eyed the completed Mist Ring before Mukuro slipped it on. He squinted, then shook his head. "Same thing, just not nearly as pronounced."
The others also slipped on their completed rings, and had very little issues with them. Except for Kyōya, who looked as if he was having a knock-down, drag-out mental fight with his. After reaching what looked like an uneasy détente, Kyōya pulled it back off and slipped it onto a chain to wear, like Tsuna had with his.
"So, these rings hold some … impressions … of past bearers?" Haru asked. "Because mine seems lazy and cowardly."
He groaned softly. "Let's get some sleep. We have a meeting in the morning. We should be refreshed and on alert in case something goes sideways, or this turns out to be a trap of some kind."
Ω
It wasn't. A trap, that is.
Beating Xanxus' cognitive self and revealing everything they suspected, plus what Tsuna said before they left, had apparently gotten through.
"We did consider contacting the Varia some time ago," he said, "when we realized where things were headed. We wondered if the Varia could help us with the mess that is Vongola. However, some of us were concerned that we might be seen as 'problems' to be 'dealt with', so we held off. That and we had no idea where to find you, Xanxus-san, to even attempt to get you free."
Xanxus sort of shrugged. "What do you plan to do with Sawada?"
"Freeze his flames, wipe his mind completely, remove his ability to procreate, and stick him in a psych ward or something. Or all that and kill him. He cannot be allowed to remain second in command out of peace-time. He is completely delusional and rewrites reality in his head to suit his perception of how things should be, and cannot be trusted. That and he's a dick, an abusive dick."
Xanxus snorted.
"If you've got anyone in the Varia who might suit the position of External Advisor, someone who will do the job for Vongola and not to fuel their own delusional fantasies, I'd like to look them over. Won't happen for a bit, so there's time. I'm not going anywhere for a couple of years."
"And you think you can handle people looking to kill you, brat?"
It was his turn to snort. "Yeah. We've already handled numerous kidnapping attempts, and multiple assassination attempts, starting from when I was barely eleven. With the exception of the first one? Well, who better to practice techniques on before leaving them to the bears as a nice meal? Reborn informs me we can't get away being that, uh, nice, once we're in Italy, so we'll just straight-up kill them, as a message to anyone else stupid enough to try."
Xanxus looked at least moderately satisfied with that answer, and nodded.
All in all, the meeting went quite well. Everyone behaved themselves (facial expressions aside, because Levi was harboring a serious grudge against Haru, if nothing else), and plenty was hashed out.
It was, therefore, not a happy moment when a certain pink-haired young lady showed up to be a poisonous menace. Hayato got one look at her (there to allegedly deliver a pizza they most certainly had not ordered) and keeled over in what sounded like agony from stomach problems.
Haru and Nagi took that in with blank looks, then nodded and proceeded to kick the shit out of whom Tsuna presumed was Hayato's older sister, with Nagi mind-fucking her so Haru could physically take her on and practically catapult her outside the property boundaries.
"Haru apologizes if Hayato thinks Haru was too rough, but Haru isn't honestly all that sorry."
Hayato looked like he had just won the lottery, however, so clearly he wasn't exactly upset at his sister being owned.
"Well," Mukuro said. "We need to see about some kind of anchored Mist construct to keep her out."
"We do not need this kind of drama," Nagi said primly.
Kyōya nodded.
"She thinks she's in love with me," Reborn offered up. "She used to terrorize Dino because of it, while I tutored him. Kept trying to kill him."
Tsuna stared at the chibi for a little too long, wondering why this hadn't come up already. He was probably getting revenge for not being able to indulge in his chaotic tendencies? If so, that espresso machine that had mysteriously begun inhabiting the kitchen might just have to suffer an unfortunate and tragic accident.
Reborn gave him a sharp look, then shrugged innocently. "How was I to know?"
"We'll see," he said, still pondering the logistics of an unfortunate and tragic accident for a certain espresso machine. "But, perhaps we should just start early on the killing. Be in practice prior to moving to Italy for real. She'd be a good start. She even volunteered."
Reborn hesitated, then capitulated. "All right. Yes, I should have warned you all. Please don't kill her. She's a stupidly romantic young girl, and yes, she tried to kill Dino multiple times and will likely try it on you, but she's not a real danger. To you, anyway."
"And you put up with this nonsense, why?" Spanner asked. "It is because it provides training for your student?"
Reborn nodded. "Not that you lot need it in that sense."
"And maybe anchored Mist constructs to push her away from all of us," Nagi said, "like a ring or something similar, for when we're not on the grounds."
"Hayato?" he asked. "You doing all right now that she's gone?"
Hayato nodded, though he continued to clutch his stomach. "Yeah, mostly. I see her face and my stomach flashes back to the torture it was put through from the poison cooking. I'll have to work on it. I've not seen her in ages, so this was a shock. I wasn't prepared at all."
"It's going to sound like an empty platitude," he said, "but I believe you can do it."
Hayato gave him a faint smile.
He had her flames recognized now, at least. He could keep an eye out. He knew that his Mists would be watching, even as they came up with a Mist construct to prevent her entry to their space.
Ω
Come break they were off to Italy, to Treviso, shiny new passports in hand. They were met on the other end by half of Dino's guardians, along with some of the upper-ranked men. Everyone was being terribly discreet, though, so as not to make people wonder about who exactly these foreign teens were.
They were ushered off to cars and driven to the Cavallone estate, where they were shown to rooms. But more importantly, Dino said, at dinner (in which Tsuna had real Italian for the first time), "Already have a judge lined up. We've, uh, worked with him before."
"Good to know," he said, smiling. He would get married to Kyōya even if he had to kill people to make it happen. If Dino was willing to help things go more smoothly, that was wonderful. He might still have no idea what one actually did in bed with a spouse, but it would get figured out along the way. Marriage first. He would return to his homeland a married man, and move into Kyōya's master suite at the mansion.
Then, question marks, and a blissful married existence, because Kyōya could ghost him, could see him, and it was really difficult to have misunderstandings when that was a thing. That and Kyōya would bite him to death if he ever started turning stupid for some reason.
Mukuro and Nagi were sharing those amused looks again, trying not to laugh at his thoughts.
Kyōya maintained a blank expression, but Tsuna could feel the amusement radiating off him.
"This is really interesting," he said further, indicating his appetizer. "What is this again, please?"
"Carbonara arancini," Romario said.
"May have to pick up some cookbooks while we're here," he murmured.
Kyōya hn'd, but it was not a scornful one.
Still, Tsuna got the impression that any offerings of Italian cuisine in their house would be uncommon at best, and that was fine. He loved his homeland's food, and he wasn't about to replace it with some other country's. For that matter, the kitchens at the Iron Fort would need a serious upgrade once they had to take over.
If they were so incompetent that they had to rely on a civilian-raised Japanese Sky to take over? They could damn well learn to grin and bear Japanese food. He was fairly certain once they wrangled the finances into order—and even before that—the famiglia's fortune could handle importing everything from Japan. He was going to be an absolute little shit about this.
'Huh, maybe we should be hiding most of our assets in offshore accounts?'
Mukuro nodded even as he carried on a conversation with Brizio about Mist Flames.
'So if they're offshore, we can't exactly be taxed on all that money,' he further thought.
Mukuro nodded again.
Tsuna hummed and was just as pleased when the starter was swapped out for osso buco with citrus gremolata. "Oh, I quite like this." The gustatory qualities were most enjoyable, even if the meal did feel a bit heavy. Also, whoever cooked it was clearly not a Sky, or possibly even a flame user, because it was just food.
Kyōya snorted very softly and pushed over, 'You do realize you will not have much time to cook for us once we are stuck.'
'I will rue the day. But some things we could still have, assuming we get a floor to ourselves. Er, well… From what Shoichi found, the Iron Fort is an open square, with a separate building in the center. I have no idea how that will work.'
'Ni-san and I will just have to come up with Mist constructs to keep interlopers out of our area,' Nagi inserted into his head. And Kyōya's, by the looks of it.
The existing Vongola were not blood (all but six people), not family (that was reserved for Tsuna, Kyōya, and their family), and those people had spent too many years listening to the fossil, or in the case of CEDEF, to the defect. None of them could be trusted, because odds were, they would look at him and immediately deem him too young, too stupid, and to need every single decision or even expression be examined a dozen times over before even considering extending grudging acceptance.
'Might end up being a lot of dead,' Mukuro inserted. 'Or a lot punished. Though that might just breed resentment and spite.'
He hated the idea of it at first glance, but it was probably the only way. They—he, as the tenth don—would have to make examples of people, of Vongola personnel. And that wasn't even getting into any famiglie or freelancers thinking to make names for themselves coming after the new, young don. All of it made him want to scream at the heavens in frustration for being forced into this mess. At least he had his family, his loved ones, and his soon-to-be husband.
He got through the next few days with an amazing hold on his negative feelings, even enjoyed sightseeing in Venice, though he was worried that the entire city would just randomly slip under the surface of the water to drown like ancient places of old. What he did not like was the preponderance of tourists who gawked and squawked and were entirely too rude. Feeding pigeons? Walking around in bathing suits? Riding motorized surfboards in the Grand Canal?
Tsuna did manage to convince Kyōya to take a gondola ride with him, becoming one of "those people" briefly.
On Saturday they dressed in suits, went before a thoroughly mind-fucked judge, and gained permission to marry, as they were both of age to do so. And then they got married, in a quiet little ceremony that did not come close to resembling anything from their own country, but was "legal" and documented. (And if there was more mind-fuckery involved…)
They got a half dozen certified copies of that marriage certificate, just to be on the safe side, outside of the one to be filed with the government.
As ceremonies went, Tsuna found it boring and alien. But that didn't matter. He had a husband, his adored Kyōya, and the fossil could step off, as many times as it took to either sink in or he fell into a convenient grave.
'Or we simply do not tell him,' Kyōya pointed out.
He blinked. 'Well, okay, yeah, there's that. I'll still tell him to step off if he so much as raises the notion of arranging a marriage for me. It's not like he insisted on it for his actual sons, so it'd be awfully hypocritical.'
'And maybe he would if he does have the idea to use you as a puppet don,' Nagi shot his way. 'That would in theory keep you distracted and open to "suggestions" about how to handle famiglia business.'
It was speculation, but it was not entirely out of the realm of possibility for the fossil's way of thinking. Tsuna clearly needed to practice kicking people over property lines, even if only verbally. There was no way on Earth he would stand for some fossil to backseat drive, never mind one so incompetent that he allowed his sons to be murdered, after he iced his "youngest" and refused to give up his cushy power position to one of those same sons who was more than old enough to take on the reins.
'No, you know what? We just got married, and I am going to enjoy this day.'
'And this night?' Mukuro sent slyly.
Tsuna managed to not blush crimson. 'I do hope that you and Nagi have enough decorum to not ghost.'
Meanwhile, Dino's eyes kept flicking between Kyōya, Tsuna, Mukuro, and Nagi, clearly wondering just what was going on under the surface.
Nagi, wonderful person that she was, elbowed her brother in the side, all while smiling sweetly.
Ω
Reborn was treated to a scowl and a glare before he and Kyōya retreated into their bedroom. Of course, once inside, Tsuna was just a little … uncertain. That is, until Kyōya wrapped his arms around him and soundly kissed him.
"Omnivore, we move at your pace."
He couldn't help but smile. "I'm nervous, but I want to figure this out. I trust you, I love you, and I'm very curious. It's ridiculous how little I know, how innocent I somehow am. We've figured everything else out so far, I broke my seal, found my courage…" He kissed his husband.
That led to edging into the en suite for a shared shower, blushing (on Tsuna's part, anyway), once again mourning the fact that these people did not have soaking tubs, and some time with towels to dry off. Then bed, where nothing happened except more kissing.
Tsuna could feel it, Kyōya's thoughts, and he agreed. Their first time figuring this out would not be in a bed in Dino's home. It would be in Namimori, in their home, in their bed.
Kyōya nodded when that hunger was satisfied for them both, and said, "Our home." Then he pushed the rest through skin contact. 'I will … devour you. I will make you die and live again.'
He couldn't wait.
Ω
They left a week later, back to Namimori, their home, their life. Mukuro, for all his teasing, was polite, so there was that. Neither he nor his sister were ghosting his brain at night. No, they were doing the usual, which was watching for incoming threats via dream-ranging.
He had to wait until the next day to actually transfer his things from the bedroom set aside for him to the master suite, but only because it had been a long flight and he was tired. He was mortified to find magazines on their shared bed, with glossy, full-colour pictures showing sex between men, as well as a selection of lubricants, flavored and not.
Reborn, he assumed, probably while he and Tetsuya had been making dinner.
"Oh, dear kami," he whispered. Even though his face was so hot he could probably fry an egg on it, he was a little touched that someone had gone to the trouble to provide somewhat educational materials and not bullshit like "maturation results in increased height and signs of other changes that you will never properly see in this entirely unhelpful class because clothing covers everything".
Kyōya, little shit that he was, paged through everything, paying close attention. If he was being honest with himself—and Tsuna did try to be honest with himself—he was glad his husband was doing so. It was all Tsuna could do not to self-combust on looking at those pictures, even if they were giving him what he needed to know when it came to bedroom activities. Well, positions, at least, and logistics?
Clearly, that lubrication was not just for fun.
Kyōya gave him a clearly questioning look, so he said, "Take all the time you need to … get this … figured out? Then…"
Dear kami, magic as a thing would be so damn useful suddenly, because… Yeah, he didn't think he could use flames to do what he was thinking of, and he sure as hell didn't have Storm Flames, nor the confidence to…
Kyōya's questioning look turned to one of amusement before he nodded. "I will, omnivore."
"Good," he said, because he himself had no real interest in being the, ah, whatever it was, and did not for a moment think Kyōya would be willing to, ah, receive.
Ω
"Okay," Reborn said briskly. "We still have a week left of break, so the usual mafia lessons in the mornings."
Which, boring, but necessary. They were still looking straight into the yawning chasm of leadership of Vongola. Several major things had been handled. Xanxus and the Varia were no longer a danger to them, and he and Kyōya were legally married (even if Japan did not recognize it—didn't matter, because Italy did, and if absolutely necessary, they could have a second ceremony once they were there and both eighteen).
Reborn's insistence on learning meant, well, they learned more, but… They had learned plenty while visiting Dino. It had not all been sightseeing, after all. While Dino would not let him look at the paperwork, he had given Tsuna verbal examples of what he was working on, the challenges his famiglia was facing, or even day-to-day decisions, so he could get an idea of what he would be facing down the line.
Mukuro and Nagi spent the evenings of that week huddled together, working on applications of Mist with respect to their needs, while the science trio did the same, just with more mundane concepts. Haru experimented with various materials in an effort to come up with stylish yet protective clothing and gear that did not look like it could stop bullets. Tetsuya, Chikusa, and Ken were keeping an eye on the city and potential jobs.
Kyōya was studying, of course, all those glossy magazines, and spent some time online.
For himself, he alternately fretted and anticipated, all while distracting himself with manga, video games, and other such diversions.
The night before they were to start up school again, Kyōya struck. He got Tsuna all worked up during his shower and, skipping the evening soak, guided him back to their bed, still naked.
The next morning Tsuna wished like crazy mad he could use Mist to disguise his tendency to blush over the previous night, but everyone was very kind and politely ignored his state. Being very relaxed, a bit sore, and flustered at the same time was a strange state of being.
Thankfully, they were off to school once breakfast was cleaned up, so he had other things to distract him, like boredom.
Ω
The remainder of the school year zipped along, and soon enough it was the break between his first and second year of high school. Sure, there were the usual kidnapping and assassination attempts, but they handled those without too much fuss.
Though… Reborn was starting to give them looks which said, "You really should just kill them. It'll be practice and preparation."
Yeah, he wasn't ready to personally do the deed just yet. He knew he would have to, at some point, but not just yet.
Second year started up, which, while meaning he was that much closer to never attending school again, meant they were that much closer to having to run a crime family. It was depressing. At least their daily training gave him a way to work out his frustration and anger over the whole thing, and he continued to improve in terms of sparring and strength. He still wished he could use Mist, if only so he could be more devious.
Summer rolled around, and with it, break, a welcome reprieve from schoolwork. The heat was enervating as always. They were heading toward the shrine to get in their daily training when his intuition coughed up an oddity and caused him to stop dead.
Kyōya gave him a look.
"This feels familiar. And not, at the same time," he murmured. "Shopping district."
"In a good or bad way?" Shoichi asked.
"Not bad? Possibly good," he said after a moment, then headed off that way. 'Oh look,' he thought as he zeroed in on what his intuition pointed at. 'Joker again. And a friend?' She had long red hair (probably dyed?) and looked to be younger than Joker, though it was hard to tell.
Joker noticed him almost immediately and raised a hand in greeting.
Tsuna continued over, this time with his family, and drifted to a stop. "Hello again. What brings you to Namimori?"
"…We were curious," Joker said after a nod, a nod mostly aimed at Tsuna's family. "About the local … location."
"Ah." He shuffled sideways just slightly so he was in contact with Kyōya.
'He speaks of Mementos. Why?'
'What is your intuition saying?' Nagi inserted into his head.
He pursed his lips in thought as he leaned, and came back with a surprising answer of it being okay.
'Huh,' Mukuro inserted. 'That's interesting.'
"I see," he said. 'And everyone else?'
After an infinitesimal pause he "heard", 'They're all right with it if you are.'
"In that case… If you want to see it, let's go."
Joker and his companion nodded, so Tsuna returned to their interrupted journey to the shrine. "It's our normal day for it anyway," he said vaguely. "For the moment I'm just going to call you Joker."
"Ah, yes," Joker said. "My friend is Oracle."
"It's a pleasure to meet you," he said, glancing at her. "You can call me… Actually, uh…"
"Empyreal," Kyōya said, which said quite a bit and still managed to hide the actual meaning.
"Huh. Yeah, that works."
Once they got to the shrine they gathered around the left tōrō, then Kyōya pulled them all in. It was only then that Joker and Oracle even noticed Reborn, and wondered why a seeming child was involved, and further, why that child was dressed in a bespoke suit.
The two gazed around the entrance, noticed the touchscreens, then focused on their masks after taking in that their outfits were not terribly dissimilar to Joker's own garb.
Tsuna, for his part, was eyeing Oracle's gear, which was very sci-fi, and that she did not appear to have anything resembling a weapon. He was getting vague Lovecraftian vibes off the girl.
"How many paths?" Joker asked.
"Seven. A total of…"
Shoichi piped up with, "Sixty-six, or sixty if you don't count the safe areas."
"Omnivore."
He nodded, knowing what his husband meant. "We have a job to do today. You two are welcome to come along."
Joker and Oracle nodded, at which point Kyōya teleported them so they could search the path for the torii they needed. It was a simple enough thing to deal with the latest idiot, lecture them, and be done with it.
"You're a wildcard like me," Joker said.
He nodded.
"And you don't have a navigator," Oracle said.
He aimed a confused look at her. "A navigator?"
She and Joker exchanged a look, then she said, "The navigator keeps track of shadow weaknesses, so they can advise their … team. They also have abilities which help map and show chests…?"
He exchanged a look with his family. "Yeah, no, nothing like that. We just methodically go through levels. And…" He exhaled. "We have something maybe you don't, I guess, because keeping track of weaknesses isn't a problem."
Joker shrugged slightly. "It was interesting to get experience again, for doing nothing but watching."
He blinked. "Oh. You two aren't… Huh. Does that mean flu season wasn't a thing in Tokyo? I mean, we milked that for all it was worth."
"You lost me."
"Oh," said again. "Reapers fall to despair, just like any other down here. We just lingered near a staircase and kept taking advantage of it. Although we'll have to do it again, to boost our newer members. But, we have exercise to get in and chests to loot, so let's mosey."
There was a mild upset in the background when it came out that Shoichi, Spanner, and Hayato apparently knew Oracle, just under a different name, because of hacking. The prompted an enthusiastic conversation over techniques. And whatever Oracle meant by navigator, it was made clear when she automatically did some kind of pulse sweep on entering a floor via staircase, which updated his mini-map to show way more than normal, the kind of information they only got by exploring the level.
It was absolutely handy to know where the chests were, the overall layout, and the staircases.
'She's a Cloud, he's a Rain,' Mukuro inserted into his head while they tracked down another shadow to wail on.
'Kami-sama,' he thought. 'This is like the gods going, "Oh, hey, Tsuna-kun, here are your last two guardians for you to harmonize with." What the…?'
'And the girl gets on quite well with our three mad scientists,' Kyōya pushed over.
"So, would you be willing to…?" Joker trailed off, looking uncomfortable.
"Talk about how many Palaces we've been in?" he asked.
"…Yeah."
He leaned, then nodded. "Five, at this point. One of which was the Palace for the person I originally found you over."
"Your…"
"Yeah, him."
"Did it … work out to your satisfaction?"
He heaved a sigh. "More or less, but it was also highly disturbing. It turned out the man was so delusional we can't even figure how he functions in the physical world. For the most part he's out of my life. And I'm older now, so even if I do have to deal with him at some point, he doesn't have the same power. He is a thoroughly despicable person, but he can't abuse me the way he used to. The only other one that was sickening was a woman who lived here. The things she was doing to her son…"
He knew without looking away from the fight that Shoichi was probably feeling queasy just remembering.
"I was eleven for that one," he said. "The other three weren't as terrible, not like those two. And one? We didn't even need to steal the treasure from them, just talk, during and after the fight."
Joker hummed. "We had one like that. The person in question turned themself around without their treasure being stolen." He looked like he wanted to ask more, but was choking back his curiosity, because it wasn't his place to know, not as a near-complete stranger.
They hit a safe zone and paused to take a break. Joker and Oracle looked surprised when they all pulled bentos out of thin air, and even had enough to share with them. Tsuna preferred to carry extras, in case anyone got extra hungry on one of their trips. It wasn't like it wouldn't get worked off or converted to muscle.
"Were you eleven when you…?"
Tsuna shook his head. "I was ten when I found you, ten when I started."
"We noticed yakuza around here. Are they troublesome?"
He shook his head again. "Surprisingly, the Momokyokai are fairly tame. Besides, they know if they get uppity, the Disciplinary Committee will … slap them down."
"One of the first things we did was crack down on bullies," Tetsuya said casually. "While I can understand older people went through that, ah, rite of passage in childhood, that does not make it right, nor is it right for them to look the other way when their own children are participants. Schools like to save face and sweep things under the rug. We disagree."
Haru nodded firmly. She was being surprisingly quiet, but then, she spoke in the third person, so perhaps she was silent due to not wanting to inadvertently reveal her name.
Joker smirked after a moment and said, "Nice costume, Empyreal."
He laughed. "I took my cues from you. Everyone else took their cues from me. I certainly couldn't see running around in a catsuit.
Kyōya laid a hand on his neck. Tsuna leaned into it, then nodded. "Yeah, time to get moving again."
Once the first person started flagging (Oracle), Kyōya began the upward journey, mostly sweeping the upper paths for chests and their loot, and not going out of his way to track down shadows to annihilate.
At the haiden entrance Tsuna stopped at a touchscreen to sell off all the vendor trash, and then they exited.
"That was interesting," Joker said. "Kind of like a scaled down version of what we dealt with."
"Well…" He took in the mood of his family, pushing the idea toward his Mists about inviting these two for dinner, and got back a tentative agreement. (Even if Kyōya was mildly irritated at the idea, he could see where it might lead.) "You're invited to dinner with us. It's just about that time anyway."
Those two exchanged another look, then Joker nodded. "Thank you. We'd be happy to accept."
"Okay." The entire group headed for the mansion, with Joker and Oracle led to the dining room. "We'll get that started," he said, then vanished into the kitchen.
He could hear the murmur of talking from out there, probably more hacking and programming talk. He got the sense that Joker would more than likely observe. He seemed quite thoughtful, and as a Rain (latent or not), would want to understand a situation before trying to mediate anything. At least, that's how Chikusa acted.
Shortly thereafter he and Tetsuya were wheeling out a cart laden with gyūdon. He had not bothered to ask; he had leaned on his intuition, to get a sense of whether either of them would object. Food was served, and everyone settled in to enjoy. Of course, his cooking ran the risk of drawing those two in, but wasn't he already testing them? He wasn't going to lie to himself about it. They could fit into the last two slots. Joker had come back, which meant something, and he brought a friend, who just happened to be a Cloud.
It was, admittedly, just a little strange that no names were ever spoken. Though, if those two had paid attention to the nameplate on the front wall? They'd know the name Hibari.
"Hm?" he said in response to the question Joker had just asked. "Only twice a week, normally. Sometimes thrice. Other days are sparring."
Joker's brow went up. "In case the yakuza get … uppity?"
"Amongst other reasons," he said vaguely.
"You're not…"
His own brow went up. "We're not them, if that's what you're hinting at. We're not yakuza." A very truthful and very misleading statement. "Did you know there are actually human traffickers in the world? There are kidnappers who've done some, ah, shopping here in sleepy little Namimori. They get run off. A person has to know how to fight, to do that."
Their two guests looked somewhat alarmed by that statement, presumably the traffickers part.
'If we invited them for the session tomorrow, we'd have to not use any flames,' Mukuro inserted into his head.
'Yeah. Opinions so far?' he asked while pressing his thigh against Kyōya's to get his directly.
'You already know my opinion, omnivore,' Kyōya pushed over irritably. 'But…'
'Our science trio is delighted with Oracle. She has quite the reputation online, it seems,' Mukuro reported.
'It would be nice to have another girl included,' Nagi sent, 'even as a non-combatant. She has some very useful skills, and while a little arrogant, she seems quite nice. Also, she's been severely traumatized in the past. Both of them have. Having a solid family would do the both of them good.'
'Even as mafia?' he wondered. He wasn't going to ask for details on that, and hoped Nagi didn't go too deep.
'I didn't. I can see the scars, so to speak.'
"That might be interesting," Joker said slowly.
He nodded. "If so, after lunch tomorrow, here. How is university going?"
Ω
The next afternoon Joker and Oracle came calling, to at the least observe a training session, so they were shown to the training area and offered the use of the hastily produced cooler with water in it in case they got thirsty.
Tsuna went up against Kyōya first, as usual. Their spars were even more flirty than before, especially as he knew exactly what the eventual outcome would be, rather than just trying to imagine it on little to no information.
Ten minutes in they switched up, and again, and again, and then switched to one on two, and then two on two. He was out of breath by the time that part of things was over, and gladly poured water over his head, closing his eyes as it ran over his face, then opening a new bottle to sip from.
"That's … pretty intense," Joker commented.
"Fighting people is nothing like fighting…"
Joker nodded. "I can see that."
"Some of it crossed over," he offered. "I was eleven when I challenged, uh, Nuvola to a spar. I wanted his help, felt like I had to prove I was more than just a fluffy little small animal."
"Is that why he calls you 'omnivore'?"
"Yeah. In his parlance, I had only milk teeth and barely-formed claws. I'm fairly certain his reaction was amused disbelief until we actually sparred. I didn't win, of course. But I did prove I was serious. He started helping me. It was very, very boring being limited to those three initial levels, once I got over my initial fear of what might happen. Almost two months of that before I felt I could challenge him."
Joker hummed. "Very different circumstances from what we found ourselves in. But it worked, for you."
"That group was unable to help me, but I could learn to help myself. And I did. And I found allies. Plenty of petty things to, uh, resolve, a handful of big ones. People should be kinder to each other, when possible."
"And push back when they refuse?"
He nodded. "Sometimes, yes. There's that saying…? Something like, all it takes for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing."
"Omnivore."
"Hm? Oh, right. Time for paintball. If we had extra guns I'd offer to let you join in, but…" He shrugged and got up, for the choosing.
Tetsuya pulled the sniper rifle, so he headed off into the trees. Everyone else took their normal guns and found starting positions. Tsuna was knocked out sixth, so at least he didn't embarrass himself. He would just have to keep trying to be better at avoiding the projectiles.
Sometimes the combination of his sensing and intuition were not quite on the ball. He was hampered by using the non-ping version of sensing, which took longer to interpret. He needed to get better at it, and he did not want to risk their visitors feeling the pings somehow.
He rolled his eyes and left the field, sat on a bench, and got out his rag and water to clean off his goggles. He got why they kept going for the face, because they were working on accuracy, but… "Someday," he muttered.
Joker and Oracle both turned toward him.
"I keep trying to get to the end," he said. "Sixth out is my best so far. Someday!"
"Do you ever pull the sniper rifle?"
He shook his head. "Somehow, no. I'd probably be horrible at it anyway."
"As a melee fighter," Oracle said.
He nodded. "I could be wrong, but… I suppose I should try at least once. I do just fine with the normal ones." Which, could be taken two ways, not that he had ever used a real gun on a real person, only shadows. He supposed at some point that might actually come up. He further supposed that he would toss his cookies on doing so.
Letting bears on the mountain take care of pesky kidnappers held him apart from the actual deaths. He didn't have to see it happen, and therefore never truly internalized it. And shadows? Shooting a manifestation of the negative parts of the collective unconscious was just not the same.
He pulled sixth again on round two, but only fifth on round three, which was vexing. The more people he managed to take out, the more the rest of them focused on him as a "threat". He didn't begrudge them that. Out of all of them, he was the one most at risk, always.
"Someday," he muttered as he returned his gun to the container, along with the goggles.
"You're going back in tomorrow?" Oracle asked.
"Yeah. Doubt we'll have a job, as those are once a week on average, but we still go in for exercise."
"Mind if we join again?" Oracle said.
He shrugged. "I'm cool with it, yeah. You two are welcome to come along."