Edited on January 30th

ARC 1 WHEN DOUBTS ARE PUSHED AWAY, BEAUTY COMES OUT

CHAPTER 6


1

The assignment turned out to be harder than he first thought.

His student refused to accept him as his tutor, arguing that he already had someone to help him. But Reborn also refused to be refused by his new student. He occupied a guest room on the same floor as the teenager. However, in the past few days, the teen had been ignoring him.

It was a quarter past seven. Reborn was sitting across from the Varia Assassin, who was quietly eating while listening to Nana's talking. Tsunayoshi was silent as he ate a bowl of rice with a raw egg, chicken, and vegetables. Reborn wasn't used to Japanese breakfast. Skodde was eating natto, which he found disgusting as he wondered how people liked eating natto. Once Tsunayoshi was finished with breakfast, he announced he was going to run in the backyard for the next two hours. Skodde nodded and mentioned they would study together afterwards. As soon as the brown-haired teenager left, the Varia Assassin looked up and exchanged a look with Nana.

"Reborn, while I'm okay with you teaching my son to be a.. Mafia boss, I don't like how you talk to him. My son has been through a lot of things including bullying, and bullying isn't a light thing at all. He's recovering," Nana gave him a stern glare as she continued to speak, "You are a stranger barging in his life, demanding him to obey him like a good pet."

That.. was crude. With the information given by her ex still in mind, he couldn't really imagine her to be so vulgar.

"She heard you treating Tsuna like trash," Skodded commented helpfully, having finished his breakfast, "considering that people have been treating Tsuna like trash for years, your behavior doesn't help at all."

"And this is unacceptable behavior!"

If Vongola ever heard of how he was treating their heir, no doubt he would be summoned for a talk. Reborn still remembered vividly of the time he had been quite rude to one of the late sons of Vongola Ninth.

"My apologies, I'll rectify my behavior," Reborn said bowing his head, "I will apologize to him as well."

"From now on, I'll be sent on missions from time to time because you are here. But I fear it might upset Tsuna."

"I'm sure he'll understand," Nana reassured the assassin with a small smile, "you've helped us so much."

Skodde hummed in response. He turned his head on his right, staring in the eyes of the hitman for a while.

"I'm sure you can help him with a few of his classes. He follows online schooling usually and has every two week classes with an online tutor. He usually wakes up early, eats breakfast and runs for a while or if he doesn't want to run, he goes to the gym. He trains with me twice a week, I'm sure you'd like to have a session with us. And since you're using a gun, you could help."

"He's learning languages. So far, he's doing good despite his difficulties. The seal has so many consequences… Uh, have you read the report?" Nana asked the not baby.

"I haven't."

"Oh."

"I think you should know that sometimes Tsuna has bad days so it'll be useless to force him to get up. Even Nana has bad days," Skodde added while texting something.

"What happens during bad days?" Reborn asked, frowning.

He cursed Vongola for letting him run blind.

"You will see if it happens." No response. But by the way they were both acting, it wasn't something he could do anything about.

Skodde asked for his mail, earning a confused look. He elaborated. "I'll send you his schooling files, perhaps you could help him in a subject."

Reborn nodded, gave him his mail and thanked him for this wistful thinking. The hitman talked during the remaining time with Skodde and Nana about what he would teach Tsunayoshi. Nana talked of before with so much pain in her voice, of what could have happened if Vongola hadn't sent Skodde to them. Reborn was horrified, knowing the basics when it came to sealing since it was a forbidden art. Sealing a flame user resulted in death.

"Would you watch my study session with Tsunayoshi, Reborn?" Skodde asked as he turned to face the hitman as he was going downstairs to join his student.

He nodded. Nana smiled at them and informed them she was going to shop in the shopping district. Reborn followed the assassin upstairs, he glanced at the new message he received from Mammon and gave a look to Skodde. He wondered how the man would react to being sent this early on a mission. They entered the spacious room of the brown-haired teenager. Tsunayoshi gave him a distrustful look like he would always do when he noticed him.

"I apologize for treating you badly, Yamada." Reborn swallowed his pride and bowed down to Skodde's and Tsunayoshi's surprise.

"Apology accepted." The teenager said, not forgiving him. Reborn didn't dream of being forgiven, he understood why the brown-haired sky would not due to his bullied past.

"Tsuna, I'll always be there for you." Skodde suddenly said, facing the teenager with sad eyes. "Now that you have a Mafia tutor, I'll be less present. Sometimes, I'll be sent away on missions."

Emotions flowed on the teenager's face, Reborn recognized sadness and anger among them mixed with fear. Skodde wrapped his arms around his shoulders.

"Listen to me, kid. I'm angry to be forced away from you even though they know that we're not compatible. I'll be there with you when I'm not on missions, be sure of that. Nana and I spoke with Reborn, he is not there to hurt you, he is there to make you rise above those motherfuckers." As the assassin continued speaking, Reborn listened and watched how Tsunayoshi reacted.

"Okay." It was a baby step but that was okay in Reborn's books. "As long as I can choose my own guardians."

"I'll never force you to harmonize with someone you don't want." Reborn immediately said.

With the words spoken, the promises done, they began the study session. Reborn was taken aback by the hard work that Tsunayoshi was doing, he only could the potential of his student. He never thought he would actually like this new assignment.


2

If someone had told him that dimension travel was possible, he wouldn't have believed them.

Charlotte Raisin remembered very clearly what happened: when searching an island for a lost sister, his sister Myukuru and himself had stumbled on the ruins of a temple. But their arrival had triggered something. The ground had exploded: the pair was swapped away by the power blast that shook the entire building.

Raisin woke up, alone. He slowly came to his senses. Reflexes kicked in, and he stood up and looked around while reaching for his sword. He was in a forest. Immediately, he activated his Observation Haki and searched for his sister. However, she wasn't there at all. He settled on walking to the nearest place of civilization while wondering how he had ended up in a forest. He truly hoped that Pine — his loyal bird — was going to survive the large journey from the island to his crew's territory. He had never sent him out for a long period of time before.

When he looked up between the leaves, he noticed in the distance a building on the top of a mountain. It was different from the one on the island. Raisin began to worry about his current location.

"Better than nothing." He mumbled to himself, looking for a good path to reach the mountain.

Minutes went by, and finally he found a path of dirt and began to follow it. His Observation haki spread around him, but so far, nothing. Raisin found the atmosphere quite different as he avoided a fallen tree. It was similar and yet he could pick up the differences from the atmosphere he was used to. The pirate reached the end of the path and saw a sign. He didn't fully understand when he read it the first time, however it read 'Namimori temple'. It was strange, but the man didn't bother himself with such a thing. After all, he had two sisters to find.

He came across a few people that just gave incredulous looks due to his clothing. Snooping around, he was able to fish out information. It turned out that people used a Japanese somewhat similar and different at the same time from the Japanese he knew. He decided to follow people that might lead him to a village, instead they took him to a town. He frowned and continued gathering information as his day went by.

He stole some money from a man who tried to steal his sword after beating him up. He left the unconscious man in an alley. His haki picked up someone familiar. The town was larger than Raisin thought, so it could be a problem. A quick glance to the sky showed him that night was a problem. Using the money he had stolen, he went to an inn — called a hotel by the locals — and rented a room for the night. Food wasn't so different, so it was okay. .

Japan was certainly not an island he knew of. His older brother, Mont d'or, would probably know about it as the man loved to expand his knowledge. Wandering in the strange town, he carefully watched the other people and the strange vehicles that he came across a few times. He bought in a bookstore a map of the world and another one of Japan. He sat down in a park and frowned.

"By Davy Jones, in what shit are we?" He growled to himself after looking at the two maps. There was something wrong. Where was Grandline?

He wondered what would be their siblings' reactions upon learning of their disappearance. When learning about their little sister's disappearance, Big Mom had sent Myukuru and himself to investigate the matter. Lù's crew had been slaughtered. The only evidence of her being alive was her new wanted poster. He stood up and flared up his haki, he walked through the streets earning confused looks from the inhabitants of Namimori. He followed his sister's presence quite easily, he found in a coffee shop talking to a kid.

"Raisin! I'm glad you're here!" Myukuru said, embracing him in her arms.

"Me too. Where did you wake up?" He asked in another language, not wanting to have a kid ask uncomfortable questions.

Myukuru frowned for a time and then answered in the same language. "I woke up in a park. And you?"

"In a forest near Namimori." The kid just watched them confused with a pensive face as if he were trying to understand what they were saying. Otherwise, he didn't say anything.

"Oh! This is Yamada Tsunayoshi." Myukuru seemed fond of the boy, which seemed pretty weird to him. "Tsunayoshi, this is my brother Raisin."

The teenager politely nodded to him with a small smile. He narrowed his eyes as he stared at the kid, picking up the unfamiliar energy rolling off from him. He exchanged a look with his sister, they would speak later, now they would spend time with the kid. Building up a false story was easy enough to keep the kid away. Raisin however could see the teenager eyeing them as if he didn't believe them, therefore the pirate decided to keep an eye on him.

Later on, they found themselves inside of a hotel room. They had stolen money from delinquents that barely could scratch them. The two pirates needed to establish themselves in the town near the port. Myukuru 'had found' clothes and had been gathering information about potential threats within Namimori.

"I don't know how we are supposed to go home without a ship." Myukuru mused to herself while she paced back and forth in the bedroom.

"We won't be able to be home for a while." Her brother told her as he was sitting on one of the two beds.

"What do you mean, Raisin?" She asked, eyes widened in shock.

"Somehow, we are not in our world." He gave her the maps he had bought and waited patiently for her.

"Fuck." It resumed her thoughts about their situation. It wasn't something they knew beforehand, thus they didn't know how to deal with this situation.

"We can still search for a way back but now, what we need to do is to have a decent home. To stick to our background story. That kid, I don't know how but he knows we're lying." Raisin said to his sister.

"Right. Yamada? Here, it's weird to call someone by his first name as a stranger. Let's just call the kid Tsunayoshi. He's our best bet. I found out that he was a big shot, in this world the mafia is a prominent thing." Myukuru stopped in front of the window with a frown on her face.

"Best bet? I won't fool myself right now. But I'll stay with you."

"He has a weird aura. He seems strong, could even be stronger if trained properly."

"Yes. Lù has the same weird aura…"

His sister raised an eyebrow, surprised. "You think she has the same powers as him?"

"Could be."

"Let's just keep an eye on this kid."

For a few minutes, they stood in the hotel room in silence staring at each other, deep in thought.

"I hope our siblings won't fall in the same trap. It's bad enough that Lù has disappeared, they cannot afford to have another missing person in our family." Raisin frowned. Lù had always been the oddest person of the family, choosing to start her own crew because she felt that it was better. He understood her, of course, compared to the rest of the family that preferred to follow mama.

"Lù…" The news of the slaughter of her crew by unknown forces had been hard to accept. The new wanted poster of their sister was still freshly printed in their mind. "No one must know about us."

"I agree."


3

His studying session finished, Tsunayoshi quickly left his bedroom excited to meet his friends. He saluted his mother as he put on his sneakers.

Reborn had mostly helped him with math and science. He had also offered to practice with him in Italian. Then, Tsunayoshi had begun to learn about Vongola history.

It had first started with an Italian named Giotto, who had started at first a vigilante group, with his group of friends. Tsunayoshi found their history interesting of how they started as a vigilante group and ended up as a mafia family at the end. Giotto was, according to the sources in the book Reborn had given to him, an orphan that had lived mostly on the streets, stealing when needed and working when he could. He had met his friends and guardians during his childhood and his teenage years, discovering in a near-death experience his flames — and compared to what people said, the Dying Will Flames were not originated from Vongola — and eventually towards the end of his twenties Vongola was an established group that ruled above small mafia families and protected civilians. Vongola had gone deeper in the Italian underground while somehow keeping the original motto of Vongola Primo as the generations passed. However, the books didn't really give details, only facts. If he were to become Vongola Decimo, he would without doubt search for any information in the private library of Vongola.

According to Reborn, he was expected to become the next Don at twenty years old at best. There was still plenty of time for him to find proper people to be his guardians.

"Tsunayoshi." Kyoya appeared suddenly in front of him, a frown on his face.

There was a hint of happiness, the cloud seemed to be content to see him after a few days. Tsunayoshi understood the feeling; he loved being alone by himself sometimes. It was refreshing and quiet.

"Tsuna!" Chrome sounded more cheerful as she arrived.

"Kyoya! Chrome!" Tsunayoshi smiled, feeling his sky flames vibrating in excitement.

The small group began walking towards the center of the town, discussing what they had been doing in the past few days. Chrome had been training with Kyoya's parents in hand-to-hand combat. Kyoya was still himself, patrolling twice a week and protecting his territory surrounding the school. Tsuna could feel his sky flames slowly healing but he couldn't use them in combat. It was best for him to keep them hidden for the time being. Instead, he was learning how to use his cloud flames. Harmonizing with people should help in theory but Vongola Nono wasn't sure about the information and was currently with Mammon searching for any kind of information in the Vongola library.

Tsunayoshi was overjoyed to have real friends at his side. They were his people, he wanted nothing or anyone to harm them.

"Will you go back to school?" Chrome asked, curious.

"No. I'm done with that shit. I prefer online schooling and tutoring, it is way better." The brown-haired teenager responded with an honest smile.

"I'm glad. Kyoya's parents have been asking me if I wanted to go back to school."

"Pa and ma will not be disappointed if you don't go to a school. Don't worry, baby carnivore." Kyoya chided in.

"I'll tell them that I want to be in the same online course as you, Tsuna." The only girl of the group said as they arrived in the shopping center.

"Great!"

They decided to go to a sushi restaurant. Half an hour later, they left the restaurant with full stomachs. They went to the shopping main area, looked around stores for any items they might like. Chrome even purchased new clothes while Kyoya met with an old artisan. Tsunayoshi bought a few vegetables for his mother. Then, two hours later they decided to head towards the shrine of Namimori.

"If you were a demigod, which god or goddess would you want as a divine parent?" Chrome asked her friends.

"Poseidon is kind of cool. But I would love to have Hades as my father… Or even Dionysus! Dionysus is definitely my favorite god."

"Kyoya's divine parent would be Ares or Mars!" Chrome said with a chuckle.

"True." Tsuna agreed while the cloud raised an eyebrow, wondering about what they were talking about.

"You're just a weakling! You don't deserve to be the Vongola heir!" Someone screamed, interrupting their discussion.

The trio stopped and looked around. They noticed a silver-haired teenager standing a few meters away from them. Chrome narrowed her eyes in anger. Kyoya tensed beside her, pulling his weapons out. The oldest teenager of their group didn't appreciate the insulting herbivore.

Kyoya stared at the newcomer. He was without doubt a foreign teenager. According to Testuya's sources, he was a member of a mafia family in Italy. He had transferred into the school the previous day and was already known as a delinquent. And yet, he was somehow a good student despite his poor understanding of Japanese. He mostly spoke Italian and English, barely any Japanese. His family was keeping an eye on the Italian foreigner as he was prone to throw explosives at people. There were already four people including two minors in the hospital. No doubt his father was pissed off. He wouldn't dream to see his mother's reaction.

"Did he ever hear of Omerta?" Tsunayoshi whispered to his friends, not bothered at all by the insults. He had been called the worst. Now, he didn't react much to insults.

"I'm not sure." Chrome chuckled while their adversary narrowed his eyes in anger, probably wondering why they were laughing.

"Is he an enemy?" Kyoya asked Tsuna, preparing himself to bite the foreigner to death.

Without doubt, he would be banished from Namimori in the next couple of days if he caused too much trouble.

"I'll be the next Vongola boss! Die, pathetic worm!" And with those dramatic words, the silver-haired teenager threw his bombs at them after lighting them.

Using her mist flames, Chrome protected them from being imploded. Kyoya moved with a snarl towards the teenager. Tsunayoshi took out the dagger Anton had gifted to him and attacked. It turned out that the teenager was a long ranged fighter. Fortunately for Tsuna, Anton was one as well (and a better one). He used his senses and sky flames as he moved around his adversary that was kept busy by Chrome and Kyoya, Tsuna appeared behind the taller teenager and threw a kick in his back. The mafioso rolled on the floor to dodge Kyoya's attacks but still managed to be hit by Kyoya. And then, Chrome swung her trident — formed with mist flames — and knocked the guy unconscious.

"Your father in Percy Jackson will definitely be Poseidon." Tsunayoshi commented with a chuckle as he pulled out his phone to send a message to his mother and Reborn.

"You don't have the invisible cap. What a shame." The mist user laughed along with her friend while Kyoya called his family.

With the foreigner out of their hands, they went directly back home. They would go to the shrine another time.


"I'm back!' The brown-haired teenager stepped inside his house with a smile on his face.

"Great! How was it?" his mother curiously asked.

She was sitting with Reborn at the kitchen table, the former having tea and the latter coffee.

"It was awesome," he answered, then he frowned, remembering the strange teenager that attacked, "though someone attacked us."

"Oh?" Reborn asked in wonder, narrowing his eyes as if he knew something he didn't.

The hitman froze when his student spoke of the attack coming from a silver-haired teenager that used explosives as a weapon.

"That idiot!" Reborn groaned, getting the immediate attention of the pair mother-son, "he's the brother of someone I know. I thought he would be an excellent guardian for you. But I called him a few weeks ago to cancel our deal. It seems that he didn't listen at all."

"I see," Tsunayoshi frowned, "well, he's in Kyoya's father's hands since he has been causing problems."

Reborn grimaced at his words. He pulled out his phone and texted his former lover about the behavior of her brother.


4

Xanxus had spent eight years imprisoned in ice. It was a harsh punishment he didn't think he would get but it was still better than getting killed. His guardians had gotten a less harsh one. For some reason, the old man also known as the Vongola Nono always came down to the basement to talk to him. He frowned as he felt the ice melting away — which was a good thing as he could now move his arms. He slowly blinked as the ice melted more libering his torso, he tried moving his legs but nothing moved. He paused, thinking of how he would break the rest of the ice. Then, he began focusing on his sleeping flames — he hadn't used them in years, at least with his physical body — and started warming up his body. He felt the bonds of his guardians reaching to him, he let his sky flames wrap them in a tight hug. He gritted his teeth as he felt the pain, the sadness, and the anger rolling off their bonds.

'Those trash guardians are better not to be swallowed by their feelings.' He groaned to himself as the ice finally melted the final parts of his body.

The room was filled up with cameras. No doubt that people had given the alert that he was free. Xanxus slowly walked towards the main doors, hearing light footsteps, his eyes kept on his environment. The doors opened on Visconti and Croquant Bouche, his adopted father's cloud and mist.

"Boss wants to see you." Visconti promptly informed him in a cold voice. And yet, Xanxus could hear the hint of relief in his voice that made him feel confused.

"To talk again, yeah yeah.." Xanxus mumbled, earning two confused looks. He moved forward the hallway towards the elevator.

For the past eight years, he had been living as a ghost within the Vongola Headquarters. He knew every corner of the mansion, which was a good thing for him. He let the two old men, but still powerful of their own, lead him to the office. The assassin watched as people avoided looking in his eyes. They arrived in the office. Visconti closed the doors behind them and leant on them, nodding at Vongola Nono. The old man was sitting on his chair, there was no paperwork on his desk for once. Xanxus stood in the middle of the room, surveyed by all the guardians.

"Xanxus. Good to see you." The Italian finally spoke, watching with careful eyes his adopted son, the one he failed the most.

"Old man." The Varia Boss didn't bother to use his title as he didn't really care.

"Xanxus. I.." The man hesitated for a while, not sure how to word his thoughts while the assassin waited.

"What Tim means is…" Again, Nie Brow. Jr didn't know what to say.

All the guardians seemed to want to say something. He frowned as he waited patiently for them to gather their words. It was unlikely for them to act like that.

"I'm sorry, Xanxus. I should have believed you." Timoteo finally whispered, putting his hands on his cheeks as he lowered his head in silence.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Xanxus asked, calm.

"Eight years ago, before the coup d'état, you went to me, you spoke about secret information you stumbled on. And I didn't believe you, I didn't believe that Federico would be so ingrained with the enemy." Xanxus' eyes widened in surprise, he listened to how the Ninth Vongola Generation told him what happened four years ago.

Federico had always been a threat in his eyes. He had always felt it in his guts since the first moment he had been brought inside of Vongola. Varia had kept tabs on the man running around as if nothing was wrong. Xanxus had found information a few months before he had decided to do a coup. Crucial information that would have doomed Federico from the start, sadly no one had believed him — save from his guardians — and he had been forced to take extra measures. Federico was the one who killed his own brothers, passing their death as a deed done by the enemies. He had been actively manipulating workers inside of Vongola, acting like a good and kind person. He had been close to Xanxus but the assassin had faked little information he was given.

"Months ago, I asked Squalo to send one of their own, an assassin with a good potential but no nickname. Our intelligence from both CEDEF and Varia discovered that Federico had given enough information for the enemy to take out my Heir. Skodde, the assassin sent as a bodyguard, has been ever since fixing all the mistakes we have made." Xanxus couldn't wait to ask Squalo the details of this mission and met Skodde.

"There's still one heir?" Had any of his brothers had a child out there? Perhaps, it was Sawada's child.

"Yes. Sawada Tsunayoshi," Croquant Bouche said, pulling a cigarette out of his packet, "he's from Primo's bloodline."

"Is Sawada his father?" The assassin asked, clearly fishing for information.

"Yes. But he wears his mother's name: Yamada. He doesn't even acknowledge Sawada." The fact that Vongola Nono was using the head of CEDEF last name meant that he was pissed off at him.

Xanxus hummed.

"Alright, I think you need to rest, Xanxus." Vongola Nono eyed his son for a while but didn't speak any more words.

Leaving the mansion, the Varia assassin decided to not go straight to the Varia headquarters, following his instinct. There was someone he needed to see, someone he needed to meet. The last time it happened was when he had met for the first time Belphegor, his last harmonized guardian.