Chapter Text
The first thing Tsuna did when he saw Xanxus, because he was a hot mess who couldn’t act for his life, was screech, “ Uncle Ricardo, what the fuck?? ”
There was a pregnant pause.
That had been Italian, hadn’t it.
Tsuna covered his face with his hands and screamed a little. He had been doing so well. So well . Pappa had even suggested visiting- making some sort of distraction for the hitmen in the house so he could come by and they could be like a family for the first time in months. Goddamn it.
“Dame-Tsuna-” The sheer amount of questioning and confusion in Reborn’s voice made the teen want to laugh, except he couldn’t because the Ricardo look-a-like had apparently gotten tired and decided to go ahead with his plan to kill Tsuna and what was his life?
Except Iemitsu decided to interrupt so he could declare an all-out inheritance war.
Why hadn’t his mother left this fuck yet?
Reborn, being the gentle soul he was, tried to corner Tsuna when they came home. Blessedly, Iemitsu proved to be a distraction to the hitman, while his mother kept him long enough that there was no time for the teen to be pestered. Technically. She gave him a conspiratorial smile when she pulled him over to help her handle the children, and only let it fade to worry when they were well into the bath.
“Tsu-kun, what happened? You came back so late, and the children...” She glanced down at Lambo, who had bruises from when he had been knocked around running. The boy didn’t seem to notice them, happily splashing at I-pin. Tsuna hesitated.
“I messed up.” Was what he settled on. Nana gave him a skeptical look. “Well, it wasn’t what caused- this- but I did mess up. A little. Iemitsu and Nono disagreed on the next boss, so now there’s an Inheritance war. And they sort of. Tried. To go after Lambo first, because Iemitsu gave him a ring...?” Nana had gone more and more stony-faced while he spoke. He had to hurry before she exploded. “And the other candidate- I think he’s one of Uncle Ricardo’s? He looks like his son, or something. And I may have blurted that out.”
Nana was silent as she washed Fuuta’s hair out. The boy was watching them nervously. He, it seemed, was old enough to pick up on the mood. As Nana stood and quietly left the bathroom, Tsuna smiled reassuringly at the nine year-old. It was not very helpful. The ring half in his pocket was burning, and he winced. Looks like she was really upset. There was a slam from downstairs, before Nana started screaming. Tsuna closed the door and hurried the startled children into the tub.
No need for them to hear that.
When Tsuna woke up that morning, any hints of Iemitsu were conspicuously gone. The alcohol was cleaned up, and the bags that had been haphazardly lining the living room wall were missing. Tsuna peered into the kitchen cautiously.
Reborn and Bianchi were seated at the table, watching a humming Nana as she went about her daily routine of cooking breakfast. The children were already chowing down on their own plates of food.
Iemitsu was nowhere to be seen.
Reborn turned to him when he peered in, watchful and resigned and a tad angry, from what he could read, and Tsuna squeaked, hurrying to go and put his uniform on. No need for that conversation so early in the morning.
Yamamoto and Gokudera were there when he came back down, which was nice, but they were going on about beating the Varia, which was less nice and just worried him? Because these were trained assassins and they were literally teenagers? No-kill, near-civilian teenagers holy lord?
His pleas for them to not get involved were ignored the whole day.
Ryohei-nii being called out to fight terrified him, especially since they boy didn’t appear to be treating this as any more serious than a normal cage fight, so Tsuna let just a little bit more of the act slip. He was already screwed, why not make it worse?
“Ryohei-nii, take- take this, please, it’s, it’s a family- luck charm?” The boxer held the rosary between both hands, eyeing the cross. Thank god for Christianity not being prominent in Japan. “It would make me feel better if you had it on you.” Since it’s like a freaking Sun battery , he didn’t add. Ryohei glanced between it and him before giving a smile.
“Don’t worry Sawada, I’ll be fine! But if it makes you feel better...” He slipped it round his neck, the cross clinking against the ring half, and Tsuna smiled in relief. Watched him walking into a fight he never would have had to do if not for the small teen.
“I am a horrible person.” He said mildly as Lussuria made his first move. The rosary shone like a beacon on Ryohei’s chest as he fought, clear through the glaring fluorescents. There were multiple pairs of eyes burning into his back.
He wondered if this was how Pappa had felt when he used to watch Knuckle fight.
“Dame-Tsuna, where did you get that rosary?” Tsuna gave the hitman a blank look, pausing in the arduous task of sorting through Lambo’s hair. It was like a freakin’ video game’s hammerspace, and constantly made him wonder if the boy was a secondary Mist.
“It’s like I said, it’s a family heirloom.”
“You called it a good luck charm.” Tsuna wibbled his hand a little, grimacing and edging away from the hitman.
“I sort of said that to make him take it? I. Dunno. Um.”
“Why did you give it to him.” Tsuna flinched and released Lambo, who ran off with a screech. One more hour. Could he send a child off to fight a man’s battle? His father would be so disappointed. Good thing he was off visiting graves.
He’d come soon enough anyways, with the messages his mother had apparently been sending.
“It. Felt right, I guess? Something was telling me to do it, that it would help. Gut feeling, I guess?” He pointedly avoided saying intuition or instinct. Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair. “Um. Could I ask you something? About flames? It’s- they seem so out there, and unreal, and it’s... does using them do anything, I guess? Using such a. Weird. Power.” The hitman tilted his head.
“Can I ask you who your father is?” Tsuna flinched. Fiddled with his hands, nudging some of the things he had pulled out of the child’s afro.
“He’s. Not mafia anymore. Mom, sort of. From how she put it, when she found out Iemitsu was lying, she got really upset? And dad was there, and he explained it all and didn’t treat her like an idiot. And she got pulled in by that, and then I happened.” And he didn’t leave went unspoken.
“That doesn’t change the fact we have two illegitimate candidates going up against each other now.” The mutter was bitter. Tsuna flinched again, nearly giggled at the irony, before straightening.
“Well, you can blame Iemitsu for that. It’s not my fault he’s such a shit husband. But that- the flames thing. Can we focus on that for now since it’s easier.”
“...It depends on what you mean, Dame-Tsuna. You’ve seen firsthand what Mist flames can do after all, and the others have different effects on the body and environment.”
“I mean... long-term.” That garnered a longer pause.
“There are rumors in some circles that strong flames may change the body. Sun users may be a bit stronger and stay younger a bit longer, Lightning users may have skin and nervous system issues. I’ve heard word of people saying Sky users may even.. change, due to how strong their flames are.” His face gained a serious shade. “Why? Is something happening to you, Tsuna?”
Tsuna shook his head. “Just wondering.” The mafia didn’t know, then. No Sky user must survive long enough to make it obvious. Reborn watched him intently for a moment before turning about face, seemingly dropping the issue. Tsuna exhaled shakily, running a hand over his face.
Why did everyone always feel the need to be so freaking intense?
An hour later, peering around the roof and at Leviathan, Lambo completely unaware and prancing around as thunder and lightning hit overhead, Tsuna’s heart sank. His intuition, the force it was, overpowered any anxiety he had. He may worry, but he would know whether or not they were in danger- true, certain danger that would lead to irreversible damage. He wouldn’t have let Ryohei fight yesterday if it hadn’t prickled at his mind and grounded him to the spot.
It was telling him now that sending Lambo into this battle would be a death-sentence. No ifs, ands, or buts.
He grabbed the boy before he could hurry into the arena, expression dark. The Cervello were watching his movements like hawks, the Varia impatiently glaring. “Your Lightning Guardian must enter the battleground, Sawada Tsunayoshi.” One of them intoned. He tilted his head at her, frowning. It was like second nature to slip into Italian, letting his voice project and his flames simmer underneath his skin.
“I’m afraid there’s been a misunderstanding- Iemitsu Sawada made presumptions of my Guardians and incorrectly informed you all that I had a Lightning guardian.” Reborn stiffened beside him. Gokudera and Yamamoto were watching in confusion. Tsuna smiled disarmingly. “I arrived to correct that and forfeit the match, as there is no guardian to fight for the ring in the first place.”
“VOII- ARE YOU TELLING US WE WASTED OUR FUCKING TIME COMING UP HERE?”
“You mean like how you’re going to waste my time during the Cloud match with your walking corpse?” He bared his teeth in a mockery of a smile, remembering the miasma that had come off the Mosca, how familiar and sickening it had been, dragging him back to those months when he was five and sick, dying, barely holding on. His father hadn’t left his side that whole time, picking at the seal and wearing it away until he was bright again, breathing and eating and feeling as though it had never happened. “Would you mind telling me first who you found, that has such familiar Sky flames?”
The Varia members baulked, and Tsuna took the opportunity to throw the Lightning ring half to one of the Cervello. He turned on his heel, grimacing at Xanxus, who had been lurking out of sight. The man looked infuriated. Good thing he couldn’t touch him until the Sky battle.
“You can be angry at me for that, but I’m not going to regret it.” Reborn stayed silent. Tsuna glanced at him, took in the dark expression. Continued. “Sending him out would have been murder. I’m not about to send one of my own out to die.” That got the hitman to sigh.
“A good quality in a boss.” He finally said. Grudgingly. Asshole. “But now the Varia holds the Lightning ring, and you’ve set yourself to having no Guardian. It leaves you at a major disadvantage.” Tsuna shrugged. It was better than a dead kid.
They walked for a bit, quiet. The other teens hadn’t been quite content with sending out Lambo either, which meant they didn’t argue, but the hostility that had echoed throughout the roof was stifling, even then.
“Judaime...” Gokudera hesitated. “You know Italian?”
“Mom had me learn it. I-I think that’s kind of why I have so many problems with Japanese? Kanji and hiragana are just so different. ” The two Italians stared. Yamamoto had a knowing smile, hidden with a hand. Most everyone native to town already knew about his mother’s foreign “beau”. Considering he’d been around as long as the city, they’d be oblivious not to.
“Dame-Tsuna. The only way that could be possible is if it was your first language.”
“Well. Yeahhh. But that’s less important- because I’m pretty sure the Ninth is in that creepy robot suit? Seriously, is that allowed?” The stares deepened. Reborn’s face twitched. “Because it’s putting off flames that feel really like his, and I can’t go near that thing without twitching and feeling the need to destroy it?” He shrugged his shoulders, mindful of Lambo still in his arms. “Might be something to look into, I’unno.”
“And how would you know the Ninth’s flames, Dame-Tsuna?” Tsuna cocked his head, wondering how to answer that.
“Well... when I was younger, there was that old man Iemitsu-” and wasn’t it nice not calling him dad anymore, holy lord, “Well, he said he was his boss? And he was putting off flames like what the robot is. Except less eh, sick I guess? It feels like the ones off the robot are messed with or something, but it still has the same feel.”
“That’s a bit of a leap in logic, Tuna-fish.” He glanced up to where Iemitsu and Basil had appeared, unimpressed. They were standing outside the house gate, just out of view of the front windows. The blond was looking haggard, like he hadn’t been sleeping well. “And a heavy accusation. Even if you’ve got a sense for flames now, that visit was nearly eleven years ago.”
“It was also one of the worst experiences of my life.” Tsuna pointed out, glancing away when the man flinched. “Kind of- kinda hard to forget that when it sucked so much. And that feeling I got around him, it’s the exact same I get around that robot.”
“Tsuna...” Iemitsu trailed off, at a loss. So much was unfamiliar now, twisted compared to his memories. When had Nana learned about the Mafia? When had Tsuna gained an edge to his words? When did he learn about the seal ? Italian ?
Tsuna sighed, rolling his shoulders. “It’s- you, you don’t need to do anything, it’s just a hunch or whatever, I guess. Something’s wrong with it, at least, so you might want to check it out. It’ll be a leg up for this ridiculous battle, at least.” He headed into the house, happy to be finally be home. Paused before turning back. “Oi, Yamamoto-kun, Gokudera, you want to stay over? It’s too late to go walking back.”
Went in and presented an untouched Lambo to Nana, who grinned in pride.
Tsuna, because he valued his life and didn’t need more shit right now, purposefully avoided using his flames again unless Reborn shot him. No one seemed to notice his little tactic last night, but it wasn’t worth being found out at this point. Maybe later, once the mini Ricardo had been beaten up a little bit and everyone was focused on being happy it was over?
But because he loved his friends, he also blew his cover just a bit more and had passed some earrings over to Gokudera the night before. Another heirloom. Hopefully Pappa wouldn’t mind, considering who they were going to. They were simple things, stone studs inlaid in a dull iron. Gokudera acted like they were gold and rubies. They were probably worth more than that, technically, considering what the stone did, but Tsuna just nervously smiled and watched as the punk replaced the studs he had in with them.
He got a few considering looks from Shamal when the pervert showed up to the Storm match, but hey, not his problem right now. Especially since the whole of the Varia were glaring at him, Mosca noticeably absent. When they first arrived, Xanxus had stormed up and grabbed him by the shirt, screaming at him, and would have planted his flaming fist in the teen’s side if it weren’t for intervention.
“If it’s any consolation, whatever you’d been planning wouldn’t have worked anyways. He- he can’t be in the thing forever, and Hibari probably would have had him hospitalized.” He wheezed out, straightening as he scuttled back a few steps. “ I guess that could have been your point? Except I wouldn’t have cared, since I hate the man. And no one would hold us accountable for something we weren’t aware of.” He eyed the fuming man, contemplative. “You’re turning out more and more like Uncle Ricardo, and it’s kind of weird.”
“ WHO THE HELL IS RICARDO? ”
Good thing the Cervello were there. Ha. Haha.
He gave up.
When all was said and done, Tsuna sat on the ground and watched as the lies crumbled around him, the Varia and his guardians watching. The Varia guard that had come bursting in were terrified, screaming about ghosts and atonement, and it made him snicker for a moment.
Everyone realised what they meant when seconds later a burst of orange came from behind, knocking them out and sending one clear across the open space. Everyone gaped, and there were many, many choked off screams at the figure before them, dressed in a relaxed button-up and slacks.
“Tsunayoshi. I leave for a month , and this happens?” Giotto strode over sedately, picking him up from under the arms and setting him carefully on his feet. He smiled wryly, the lines around his mouth deepening. “What am I supposed to do with you?” He eyed the scene before him, before stopping with a frown.
“Ricardo?”
“ WHO THE FUCK IS RICARDO? ”