Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Papa, what is this?”

At any other time than in the middle of sealing Tsuna's Flames, Iemitsu would have welcomed the words of the other Sawada son. “Ietsuna, I-”

His throat went dry. “A- Ah-”

“I found this! It makes bang noises and scares chihuahuas away!” Ietsuna chirped. The barrel gleamed in the weak sunlight, and even Don Vongola Nono Timoteo paused, Dying Will Flame gleaming in one hand to watch Sawada Ietsuna hold the gun currently pointed at them.

The old Don's eyes narrowed with unspoken comments about men who regularly left guns around children. “Iemitsu...” his voice was laden with censure.

“Yes,” Iemitsu agreed, his face serious. “Na-kun, put the gun down.”

“What happened to Tsu-kun?” Ietsuna questioned, brown eyes wide in unknowing innocence. The gun wavered, safety off, and Iemitsu could feel the courses on gun safety that Nono was going to put him through. “What is Grandpa doing?”

“We're... we're... carrying him!” Iemitsu smiled brightly.

“Then why is Grandpa's finger on fire?” Ietsuna narrowed his eyes. The trigger clicked tighter. Neither man wanted to use violence on a child, but it was obvious that options were running low at the moment.

“I'm sorry, bambino,” Timoteo put on his best harmless old man smile. Since it was directed at a five-year-old, it also lacked any killing intent. “Your twin fell asleep. We need to put him on a nap. Would you like a nap as well?”

“You're out to kill Tsuna, aren't you?” Ietsuna stated. “I won't let you. I won't let Papa or Maman.”

“Na-kun!” Iemitsu grew more concerned. “Put it down! This is dangerous! What are you saying?”

“No! You'll kill us! That flame will burn, like that fire-!”

The Dying Will Flame extinguished itself and cold began to form over the life-giving flame, and Timoteo would have interceded if Tsuna was not struggling to wake up. “...no? Nonno?”

“Tsuna!” Timoteo edged to intercede.

“I hate...” was Ietsuna's whisper as the gun began to crack. “I hate... for him, I hate all of you.”

Black fire consumed the gun, causing it to explode and for the kitchen's smoke alarm to ring out loud and clear as the black blaze reigned...

“The dreams of reasons produces monsters, Tsuna.”

“Huh?” Tsuna commented, lifting his head from where he'd nearly fallen asleep on the kitchen table to stare at his amber-eyed twin. “Sometimes I don't get what you're saying, Ie.”

“Well, I'm sure Satou-sensei doesn't want illustrations to go along with the essay, so you can't let your imagination run fly on wings of fantasy.” Ietsuna replied easily, looking straight into Tsuna's caramel eyes. “Otherwise you'll end up like Mamma...”

“Ah,” Tsuna grabbed an eraser and set about erasing his doodles. “That's true...”

“You can live your entire life bored like you are right now, or you can live it happily,” Sawada Nana was talking in the background, spinning about the kitchen and happy as a clam. “I want you to live feeling 'it's great to be alive!'”

“So, to live happily, I should let my big brother take charge, yes?” Ietsuna asked. “So Tsuna should have gone with Papa.”

“You shouldn't choose to play the little brother at your convenience, Ie,” Tsuna calmly replied. “

“Actually, Mamma don't know which of you is the eldest,” a small pout formed on her lips as Nana waltzed away from the stove bearing toast, eggs and tomatoes with drinks. “There was a fire in the hospital records room on the day of your birth, and then when everything was done, even I forgot! So until we figure that out, none of you can go with Papa to become a star.”

“Who would choose to become a star, Mamma? Thanks, itadakimasu.” Tsuna questioned, packing away the cleaned essay to scarf down breakfast freshly served by Nana. “If Dad is going to take one of us with him, it'll probably be Ie. He's better academically and at sports.”

“No way,” Ietsuna retorted, grabbing his own plate. “As long as this bond* between us remains, we're not separating. Itadakimasu.”

“Na-kun, this dependence on Tsu-kun can be unhealthy!” Nana admonished. “The two of you may be twins, but you're too dependent on him to be a good big brother!”

“Tsuna's my big brother!” Ietsuna shot back.

“Don't arbitrarily change your family position!” Tsuna sighed, standing up to clear the emptied plates. “Mamma, today the both of us have to stay back because Ie managed to anger Hibari-san, so we're doing extra.”

“I just don't want to wear the band on my left arm!” Ietsuna rebutted, resolutely pinning a red armband on his right sleeve to show the Kanji very clearly.

“Hibari-san said that I'm the only one who can wear it on my left arm!” Tsuna protested, pinning his own armband on his left arm. “To start with, you picked a fight with him and dragged me into this! Don't anger him even more, Ie!”

“I'm sure the flower of the Disciplinary Committee would manage to convince him,” Ietsuna replied and dodged the slap sent his way, but not the bag bonked onto his brown hair.

“T- That was one time!” Tsuna was puffed up in righteous indignation. “I- It was for the Home Economics Club and Kyoko-chan!”

“...Kusakabe-fukuiinchou took the picture and blew it up, Hibari-san bit half the squads to death, and confiscated the rest of them, and the recruitment poster for the Disciplinary Committee is still being requested for at the door first thing,” Ietsuna counted off. “We might share the same looks, but it's not everyday that local demon makes a rule that the Disciplinary Committee general affairs manager must wear his armband on his left arm instead of his right, just to keep him out of fights. Teachers want you in their class as a protective talisman against Hibari.”

“Why is it that, when you say that, it sounds like I'm keeping evil spirits gone?” Tsuna complained, never noticing Ietsuna slowing behind him.

Pensively, amber eyes considered the ground, up to the blue skies above their sleepy town of Namimori, to the whitewashed walls of their suburb and the neatly kept houses and roads laid out in grids and squares. This was the fourteenth year of their daily lives; laid out within the town, unheeded by time or space or distance. One might call it a peaceful fate.

“It's great to be alive...? I don't understand.”

Chapter Text

Given the speed of creation and destruction that met Namimori's infrastructure each day on top of the usually expected usage of roads, construction companies around the town had one gold standard. That standard was currently being sorely tested by one end of a collapsible steel tonfa into the nearest wall.

“There goes the morning's peace...” Tsuna glared at Ietsuna, never mind that he was on the receiving end of one glare from the Disciplinary Committee Chairperson himself. “You provoked him.”

“Explain your choice of attire.”

“Good morning to you too, Buchou. Which of us is the real Tsuna?” Amber eyes flashed in challenge. “You can tell us apart with those carnivore eyes of yours, right?”

Cue barely dodged tonfa swipe. “I mandated the armband placement for a reason: to not get confused between the little animal and the insect.”

“Why does he get 'little animal' and I get 'insect'?” Ietsuna complained, lashing out towards Hibari's still outstretched arm and getting the other tonfa to his ribs for the trouble.

“Ah, Hibari-san...” Tsuna was about to intervene as Ietsuna winced and punched Hibari on the left arm.

“Oh, Sawada!” the strident voice of Kusakabe Tetsuya made itself heard. “Just nice, the both of you found Kyo-san. We got another hit!”

Tonfas withdrawn, Hibari accepted the proffered poster from a deeply bowing Kusakabe with a “Hn.”

He eyed it. Grey eyes slid sideways to glance towards Tsuna, who meeped and hid behind Ietsuna. A swish of gakuran sleeves showed, that the Demon was retreating back into the tower of Namimori Middle School.

“Finally,” the Vice-chair sighed, hands rested on his knees. “Who knew that our accidental 'public indecency' can pacify Kyo-san that much... good work for distracting Hibari-buchou, both Sawada-san and Ietsuna-san!”

“Well, it's my fault that Art Club got subsumed under the Disciplinary Committee in the first place,” Ietsuna gave a weak chuckle. “Who would have known that pictures of Tsuna as our mascot would increase recruitment so much, and piss off Hibari-san...”

“It's not funny, Ie!” Tsuna snapped. “I- It's me!”

Amber eyes regarded him. “...yes, it is.”

“I- I- In... a...!”

“A very nice monochrome sailor uniform paired with Grade D zettai ryouiki of black socks and brogues,” Ietsuna described the very clothes of the photographed mascot while smiling. “I have good taste, and you has good dress sense. We're unstoppable as brothers in terms of art and design.”

“Thank you very much, Tsuna-san!” Kusakabe bowed to the other twin, the better to hide a luminous blush.

“Kusakabe...!” the roar of Hibari's bear-like possessiveness resounded in the air just as the half-hour bell rang.

“...and now Buchou will certainly bite you to death,” Ietsuna continued in the face of Kusakabe's ashen expression. “It's been nice knowing you, Fuku-buchou.”

“Tsuna-san, please save me...”

“Today is rabbit ears,” Ietsuna commented. “We'll be counting on you again, Tsuna~”

Tsuna bristled – much like a bunny, so the two boys considered – and started: “I'm not cross-dressing again for Art Club...”

Stare...

“I'm serious...” He was fidgeting.

Stare...

“...even if it'll save Kusakabe-san from being bitten to death...” A frown marred his face, eyes widening in nervousness and shuddering.

Stare...

“...Hibari-san needs his tea.”

Both twin and Vice-chair flinched at the thought of a Hibari deprived of what separated the self-proclaimed carnivore from becoming a mindless beast. Part of it was protectiveness for small animals. Another was protectiveness for cute things that tried so hard and were unfortunately bullied without help and had rather unusually laissez-faire parents... and caffeine.

Once, in the great rumour mill of Namimori Middle, they said that Sawada Tsunayoshi was actually a zashiki warashi of the school, meant to protect its students from the Demon of Namimori. That belief had reached its peak when producing the infamous 'public indecency' poster that had earned Sawada Ietsuna a true beating earned a day with Hibari more inclined to ignore every herbivore in the greater Namimori area for up to six hours. Until the posters were – very reluctantly – burnt or shredded. News that the Art Club had been forcibly annexed into the Disciplinary Committee did not help abate them.

“Ah, we should go in,” Tsuna commented. “I feel like... something might happen...”

In the demon's den, the roar of Hibari realising that the reception room was out of tea leaves echoed... well, not so much a roar, than a malevolent aura preceded with looming clouds.

“Yeah, it's already happened,” Ietsuna spoke sadly.

Twins presented a unique inheritance problem, whether it be for political, financial or plutocratic power. Twins without confirmation of seniority presented an even greater challenge. Likewise, no context could present more of an obstacle to twins inheriting without partible inheritance than Cosa Nostra.

Reborn curled his left sideburn, still pondering the unique problem. On top of fishing out the Decimo, there had been a hit ordered for the other twin. The root of the problem went back to over a decade previously, when Nono and Iemitsu had found themselves back in Palermo following a blast of black flame. An infamous black flame. A flame that could only be born from hate and despair...

I can't tell which of my sons is he, the CEDEF leader had despaired, and had been about to give the hit when the mess with Massimo and Frederico had started and when the dust had settled, Vongola had been short on all heirs, and was about to lose another potential one. They keep changing their names and personalities...

Judging from the accounts given by the blond idiota and Nono, they had had no chance to seal Tsuna's Dying Will Flame in his youth. The Flame had somehow hidden itself during Iemitsu's subsequent visits. It was almost terrifying, the thought of igniting such potential without any restraints. Like dumping extra sugar into a flour warehouse before throwing in a match. The other...

“Ah, we should go in,” Tsuna commented. “I feel like... something might happen...”

In the demon's den, the roar of Hibari realising that the reception room was out of tea leaves echoed... well, not so much a roar, than a malevolent aura preceded with looming clouds.

“Yeah, it's already happened,” Ietsuna spoke sadly.

Reborn could hardly shake the feeling that they were onto him. Even if the laments of the regent-hairstyle Disciplinary Committee Vice-chair were echoing like funerary wails.

“Hibari-san biting people to death, chance at zero,” Ietsuna quipped as he walked in after his twin. “Having any more of those posters float around would inspire feelings of great guilt in wrong-doers and possibly the whole of Namimori, driving down Hibari's biting quota. Hence, publicly indecent.”

Assessment target(s): the twins Sawada: Ietsuna and Tsunayoshi. No clear hierarchy or which was older – which would have simplified so many things, damn the hospital fire that destroyed the records and messed everything up – and both presumably with their own talents. One was a potential student, one was a potential target, and being identical twins could mean that they could probably switch identities at the drop of a hat.

Reborn grimaced, holding up a glossy recruitment poster for the Namimori Middle School Disciplinary Committee. Its subject, a girl, wore a very nice monochrome sailor uniform paired with knee-high black socks and brogues. She stoodstraight, shoulders thrown back and collar slightly loose to show a peek of collarbone.The red armband of the Disciplinary Committee was the only splash of colour in the otherwise saturated picture, aside from the spark of gold within the subject's eyes. With both hands clasped almost in prayer, the girl was smiling, welcoming-

- or, it would be a girl, if it weren't clear that the subject was Sawada Tsunayoshi.

“Crossdressing is not an activity beneficial to the Vongola Tenth,” Reborn said to nothing in particular. His beady eyes, however, did not leave the beatific visage. One of them was clearly talented in art, at least.

The poster crinkled, and Reborn scowled, Leon shifting into a folder at his bidding. The small poster was tucked away safely, hidden until it could be laminated and framed. The slogan 'Join us in Defending the Peace of Namimori' could be cropped out; the tranquil countenance of Namimori's Madonna *, however temporary, was worthy of that small reminder.

You know what to do.

Twins were problematic; like the legend of the founding of Roma **, only one twin could rule in the end.

“Can I have my hand back?”

“No.”

“Why is Ie always drawing my hands?” Tsuna commented in the middle of free period, which he was spending on checking the DC budgets, and Ietsuna was spending on sketching two different hands.

“Because your tiny hands are a challenge to sketch,” Ietsuna replied without missing a beat. “Like Yamamoto's hands too.”

The owner of the other hand chuckled. “Well, as long as you like to draw, Ie. You're so dedicated, I remember that one time you left Tsuna hanging off my arm just to get a sketch of a monkey hanging off the school roof.”

“You're still sore about that, Yamamoto?” Ietsuna's smile was brittle. “Wonder which idiot was joking about jumping off the roof if it wasn't for Tsuna. I didn't even get a good sketch.”

“Sorry,” Tsuna mumbled to Yamamoto. “Ie is... a bit sensitive to these things.”

“Right,” Ietsuna huffed, blowing aside some rubbers from his sketchpad before arranging the fingers of the hands to almost touch. “Lucky we have such contrast.”

“Contrast?” Yamamoto asked.

“Tsuna's hands are soft and white like a girl's, and Yamamoto's are baked black in the sun from bare-handed batting practice,” Ietsuna noted. “It's not the high contrast of chiaroscuro ***, but it's good enough for practice. One white... one black... say, thanks for lending me your hands.”

Yamamoto smiled, as cold as a freezing downpour. “'Course.”

Tsuna's lips pressed together nervously, and they said nothing.

The school day ended with marginally less people bitten to death and Yamamoto with a bit of art knowledge that would probably be forgotten the next time Ietsuna borrowed his hands as a model again.

“Hibari really trusts you with the work,” Ietsuna remarked on the way back to the Sawada house.

“You challenged the guy to start with!” Tsuna shot back, but nodded as he walked next to Ietsuna. “I... I have no idea why I'm the general affairs manager, but... somehow... your Art Club got subsumed into the Disciplinary Committee because of that picture, sorry, Ie...”

“I know,” Ietsuna replied simply. “Everything went according to my calculations. Well, most of it...”

“...eh?”

“The Disciplinary Committee eats up most of the extracurricular budget, so the annexation just means that I get more funds, especially since we're a failing club,” Ietsuna remarked. “Plus, you can't buy publicity like the Disciplinary Committee's Skylark-repelling posters. Now that I think about it, it's like a protection racket using a human shield against Namimori's Demon for funds.”

“The moment I think that all is right with the world, you open your mouth to say these things...” Tsuna griped. “Then you want to play the twin game even though Hibari-san can tell us apart in a split second and you still anger him every morning...”

The bell was ringing, and the boys shifting back to their places for class with mumbled words. Class blended together into so many teachers and Nezu-sensei being talked into circles by Ietsuna until the end-of-school bell tolled his salvation. Only Tsuna's intervention left the teacher with any semblance of pride left.

“Hibari's always busy,” Ietsuna commented at the end of school hours once they neared the gate. “I'm going to get a complex at this rate if you keep mentioning him.”

“Eh??” Tsuna nearly jumped. “No way! You're my only brother, Ie! That's why I even gave him your last copy of... that poster...”

“Yeah. That's why I'm going to have a complex over Hibari,” Ietsuna snorted. “Over how long until he figures out it's just you in a dress. You didn't have to intervene for that rat ****.”

“Then...” Tsuna pondered. “Yamamoto-kun is going to bring the team to the nationals, right?”

“That'll be nice,” Ietsuna commented. “I'm sure Yamamoto would at least try his best.”

“Well...” Tsuna frowned as Ietsuna started to strip off his shoes. “What do you mean? It's his dream to play in the nationals.”

“If there are too many lights, sometimes you can't see past the false darkness.” Ietsuna shrugged as the two of them entered the house. “We're back!”

“Today there wasn't extra work!” Tsuna added.

“Oh, Tsu-kun, Na-kun, welcome back!” Sawada Nana beamed at her boys from the kitchen, somehow cooking up a storm. “Papa called and he's coming back!”

Silence fell, and Tsuna was the first to react. “Eh??!”

“He found a phone?” Ietsuna commented. “I'm surprised. After all, it's not like being able to call, buy a mobile phone, or even send a text message is cost-prohibitive for him.”

“I wouldn't be able to tell Na-kun from Tsu-kun if he didn't speak,” Nana continued smiling. “Anyway, your papa is worried about your grades. Mama doesn't worry about that sort of thing, but Papa sounds like he's hiring a home tutor for the both of you.”

“D- Dad?” Tsuna bore a shocked expression. “H- He's finally been found?!”

“When did he pay this home tutor?” Ietsuna asked, staring at his mother. “If it's still the cooling-off period, we can still return the service and get a full refund, right? A dead man can't possibly pay for so much stuff.”

“Oh, Na-kun, Tsu-kun...” Nana giggled. “I've kept in touch with him all this time. Then who do you think gets all the funding for your school and food?”

“Welfare payouts/Dad's savings,” was their immediate reply.

“Raising two boys at the same time takes more than that, you know!” Nana admonished. “Anyway, look at this flyer he sent over! 'Will raise your children to be the leaders of the new generation. Grade and subject don't matter.' Isn't it great? I've never seen a promotion like it.”

“Erm, Kaa-san,” Tsuna fidgeted. “We really don't need a tutor... in fact, why don't you do as Ie suggests, and get a refund for the cooling-off period?”

“But there's no money,” Nana added. “As long as they have a place to sleep and meals, they'll teach twenty-four hours for free! And they're young and good-looking!”

“Just for that reason?!” Tsuna was about to continue when Ietsuna yawned.

“Well,” Ietsuna clicked his tongue, “it's not like they're-”

“Ciaossu!”

“...already here.” Lacing his fingers together, Ietsuna studied the fedora-wearing baby in a suit standing on the coffee table, who had just popped out of thin air. “Sure, he's young... sure, he's good-looking in the sense of literally being baby-faced and being smartly dressed... and I feel like I should be giving a more extreme reaction to this.”

“Obviously!” Tsuna did a tsukkomi. “To start with, who is this baby?! Where did he come from?! Is he lost!?”

“Missing children cases are handled by the police, Tsuna, much as our Namimori Middle School is a miniature government on its own,” Ietsuna replied.

“I'm the home tutor, Reborn!” the baby offered his name-card.

“Home tutor?” Nana faintly echoed.

“Oh, just that,” Ietsuna dryly commented. “I thought for a moment that he cheated on Kaa-san and that now we have half-siblings.”

Nana's knife clattered from her hand and onto the floor, followed very quickly by its wielder.

“I'm sorry,” Tsuna told Reborn as the tutor perched atop his head. “Ie is always... with that sense of humour.”

The dark one, as Reborn nicknamed Ietsuna, was carrying Nana up to her shared room with their father – occupied fully for only twenty days in the fourteen years that the Sawada family had held the property – after putting the knife away. No matter what, even if the crude twin had nearly derailed all his plans by calling for a refund via cooling-off period and nearly discovering the ruse, Reborn still planned to shoot him first chance he got. “That's alright.”

“Reborn, was it? I'm Sawada Tsunayoshi. He's my brother*****, Sawada Ietsuna”

“You must have it hard with your little brother.” Reborn nodded. Iemitsu really had a lot to answer for, if the younger could come up with such a horrible idea. Like Reborn would even come close to that gene pool. It produced the dark one, after all. Well, at least this bloodline still had some hope, if one twin was nice and the other twin was rational, at least.

“We're twins,” Tsuna corrected. “There was a fire at the hospital, and at the end the order of our birth was lost, so there's no older or younger between us.”

“I see.”

“We share a sleeping room, if you don't mind,” Tsuna commented. “The other room was supposed to be for Ie, but his atelier takes up so much space that we converted it into a study instead.”

“Your brother is an artist?” Reborn remarked, thinking of all the possibilities as they entered the bedroom. True to form, it contained cabinets and a chest of drawers on either side, along with two single-person beds on both sides of the room, both facing the window.

“Yes. He's fairly good, especially with paint,” Tsuna agreed. “He's also good at photography.”

“But he's part of the Disciplinary Committee, right?” Reborn commented. “You too.”

“Hiiee! Why do you know that?!” Reborn jumped off the rather soft bunch of brown hair.

“Gathering information is a basic skill, Dame-Tsuna.” Almost as soon as the last insult left Reborn's mouth, there was a spike of killing intent from somewhere, and the hitman moved to avoid being struck. A palette knife waved, its blade stuck into the carpet over the spot the baby hitman had been standing on recently.

Amber eyes narrowed, Ietsuna let the bedroom door close behind him until it clicked shut, and then crossed his arms to glare mutinously. Brother complex? Reborn pondered. Sure looked like it; a palette knife with its soft tip and design was not conducive for knife-throwing.

“Ie, violence is prohibited,” Tsuna commanded. The other bristled, before relenting.

“So, what shall we do, Tsuna?” Ietsuna slumped onto the left bed, crossing his legs to stare at Reborn. Tsuna also took a seat on the right side of the bed.

Facing both amber and caramel eyes in the light of the fast-setting sun, it was almost possible to see the visage of the Vongola Primo mirrored in each other, or possibly one student and one copy...

“I'm a hitman,” Reborn started his introduction to eerie, subjective silence. Like he was the one being judged instead of these twins. “I was assigned by the Vongola Family's 9^th generation boss to come to Japan and raise you to become a Mafia boss. The Ninth is getting old and was planning to pass the Boss status to the Tenth Generation. But the most qualified of the Tenth Generation, Enrico, was shot in a feud; the number two, Massimo, was drowned; and the favourite, Federico, was found reduced to bone. So the only candidates left are the both of you.”

“W- Why?!” Tsuna burst out.

“The Vongola's First Boss retired early and crossed to Japan,” Reborn piped up. “That's your great-great-great grandfather, and so the two of you are part of the Vongola bloodline and legitimate Boss candidates.”

“Hiiee!” Tsuna started. “That's... that's... impossible for us!”

“First time I've seen a crime family inherited through blood,” Ietsuna commented flatly at the crudely drawn family tree Reborn held up. “One question: if we're Boss candidates because of our blood, then our... father... is also part of this bloodline from...” he glanced down, “...Ieyasu-jiisama, right? He's still alive, and he's not a minor, unlike us.”

“The two of you have no choice,” Reborn replied, a touch sadly despite the unwavering plasticity of his features. “Because you are twins, one day you might have to fight each other for the seat of Boss, and... well, I'll be training you until then.”

“What do you mean...?” Tsuna worried his bottom lip. “How did we end up like this? I- I-”

“...Why don't we have a choice?” Ietsuna frowned.

“Because of your blood,” Reborn simply replied. “It's Mafia blood.”

“That's a fallacious statement,” Ietsuna reasoned, calm and cool, almost like a portrait of the Vongola Primo dated to around the belle époque era that hung somewhere in a mansion in Palermo. “It implies that all of our bloodline are fated to become involved in the Mafia, presumably Sicilian. That can't be true, since we have our ancestors that also descended from this first Boss, and they all lived and died here. Furthermore, doesn't it make more sense to pursue the only adult amongst the known candidates? Why us? And then, why make us fight?”

“To prevent a succession dispute later,” Reborn replied, adding before Ietsuna could continue arguing, “Your father is the external adviser of the Family, so he can't be Boss.”

“I...” Tsuna spoke up, staring at Reborn. “Erm... can we have some time?”

Reborn nodded to both twins and hopped out, listening to Nana's harsh scolding of Iemitsu and 'Reborn-chan' and cheating, and pondering.

Kill the spare, Iemitsu had said in an uncharacteristically harsh voice. That's no son of mine.

One problem; Reborn realised it too late, was that he had no idea which was the spare.

Chapter Text

Iemitsu found himself greeted by his wife and a knife, and then Reborn with guns akimbo. Dinner was barely eaten in the middle of surviving, and then now, in the early morning, he'd barged into the twins' shared room only to find them missing.

Snot-bubble popping, Reborn yawned at him from a sitting position. “They'll need some time to get over the ignorance you've put them in, idiota. Don't bother them.”

Iemitsu had gone downstairs to the sight of his wife frying sausages, and promptly burst into tears.

“Darling, my little tuna-fishes are avoiding me!”

Nana patted his shoulder consolingly. “Don't worry, dear. I'm sure Tsu-kun and Na-kun miss you in their hearts. They just... don't know how to reach out to you.”

“You think so?”

“Yes,” Nana smiled. “Besides, today is Tuesday, so they're surely at school for their club.”

“Their club?” Iemitsu echoed blankly. “Ah, right, Na- Ietsuna is in the Art Club. So... only Tsuna is avoiding me?!”

“Actually, Na-kun and Tsu-kun joined the Disciplinary Committee,” Nana intervened before her husband could burst into tears once more. “Their chairman came to our house to explain matters. It seems like they need our sons for a... design overhaul? I wasn't actually sure about the details...”

From a certain point of view, everything she said was true.

“Mafia babies,” Ietsuna was still muttering to himself. “Why babies? It sounds like a bad set-up for a magical girl animé.”

“Is that so?” Tsuna scribbled down a few figures and squinted, yawning. “Ah, Hibari-san's going to push all the balance into the Disciplinary Committee. I'm going in later.”

“Leave them,” Ietsuna waved. “It's not worth your intervention. Were you disturbed last night?”

“There was a series of explosions,” Tsuna agreed. “Do you think it's Nakamura-san from down the road?”

“...probably,” Ietsuna nodded. “...Are you intending to go home later?”

“I... I don't feel like facing Dad right now,” Tsuna confessed.

“I just know that if I face him, I'll probably punch him in the face,” Ietsuna admitted, turning his head. “So... Hibari-buchou, we need a place to stay for the night~”

Having only just swept into the Reception Room in a swirl of black sleeves, Hibari snorted. “The little animal can stay here to continue his work. You may find your own place.”

“Eh? That's unfair!”

“There is nothing fair about you joining the Disciplinary Committee,” Hibari snapped back. “It must be fate that I have found you here. I'll bite you to death.”

“Please don't do it here,” Tsuna intervened with a steaming handle-less kintsugi cup, which Hibari hid his tonfas to accept quickly. “Welcome back, Hibari-san. I hope that the... hunt went well today.”

“Mmm...” Hibari paused. “Not the usual black tea.”

“Today is summer, so...” Tsuna fidgeted. “I thought hot mugi-cha* might be more cooling, because Hibari-san does a lot of physical work...”

“...continue with your attentiveness, little animal,” Hibari swept towards his desk with only a stray swipe towards Ietsuna.

“Why don't I get barley tea?” Ietsuna complained. “Tsuna, you dote on Hibari-san too much!”

“Sorry, Ie, but I know who's the bigger predator here.”

“Hn,” came the answering reply from the desk. “You're on patrol rotation until classes start, Sawada Ietsuna.”

“Right,” Ietsuna stood up. “Let's go, Tsuna.”

“The little animal will be helping me with this herbivorous organisation,” Hibari stated flatly.

Ietsuna reached down. “I'm going to-”

“Violence is prohibited, Ie,” Tsuna pouted. “If the two of you fight here and destroy my work... I'll... I'll...”

Hibari smirked at the bristling little animal who was trying to grow up.

“... I'll feed the both of you tea dust for a month!”

The smirk disappeared. “What did you say, little animal?”

“H- Hiiee...” Tsuna swallowed. “I'll... I'll... tea dust... I...”

“That's... not very effective,” Ietsuna pitiably told his twin.

“...Hn,” Hibari turned away. “Get lost, Sawada Ietsuna. Little animal, I need the reports for the last two weeks. And, a refill of the barley tea.”

“And I'll be off,” Ietsuna scoffed. “Tsuna, don't get too cosy with that big-teethed carnivore, Mum wants grandchildren!”

“D- Don't imply that of Hibari-san!” Tsuna yelled as the twin ran off. “Sorry, Hibari-san, Ie likes to make these sorts of jokes...”

“It is understandable,” Hibari acknowledged. “Older brothers must look out for the younger ones.”

“...Hibari-san, we're twins...”

“So...” The black-haired prefect drawled.

“No, Hibari-san, I will not poison Ie,” Tsuna smiled as the plastic tray he had been holding blocked a tonfa. “He's an able partner for sparring, or so you decided that day, right?”

Hibari drew the tonfa back. “If that tray breaks, Kusakabe will be sad.”

“It's your fault, Hibari-san!” Both halves collided with the floor. “Hiiee! What do I tell Kusakabe-san?!”

“That I'm bored, and the tray is a casualty,” Hibari drawled. “Entertain me, little animal.”

“I'm not a performing animal!” Tsuna dodged the tonfa to the ribs and skidded back, loosening his tie. “Are you hunting me now that Ie isn't here?! Being headstrong has a limit too, Hibari-san!”

“Hn.”

A green slipper flew in from the open window and smacked the chairman, sending black locks flying. Hibari's back straightened, thunderous as he made for the open window and leapt down towards the amber-eyed prefect. “I'll bite you to death.”

One leg lifted to block the oncoming tonfa in a side kick turned hook kick, and rubber soles dug into the sandy as Ietsuna grinned. “As you wish, Hibari-buchou~”

“Ah...” Tsuna closed his mouth, sat back down, and kept scribbling until the bell rang. He then packed up and walked to class, most students giving him a wide berth at the sight of the Disciplinary band on his left arm. The bullies had especially given a wide berth the first time Kusakabe's personal squad turned up.

“It seems like you've settled quite nicely here.”

“Reborn-san?” Tsuna cocked his head towards the baby disguised as a hydrangea. “What are you doing?”

“As your tutor, it is my duty to observe your school life,” Reborn admitted.

“Well... try not to disturb the peace,” Tsuna paused. “Have you spoken with Dad?”

“Your idiot father was supposed to explain it to the two of you, but it looks like you'll be out to avoid him,” Reborn observed. “This fate cannot be avoided.”

“...I see,” Tsuna pensively reflected. “If you'll excuse me, Reborn-san, I'm late for class.”

“You crossdressed for promoting the Disciplinary Committee before, yes?” Reborn teased, or tried to.

“Well, if it can give everyone a bit of joy, I don't mind,” Tsuna pondered. “Men are all unreliable, after all.”

As Tsuna left, Reborn hefted Leon, who had turned into a green and black sniper rifle. Iemitsu had a lot to be responsible for Tsuna's attitude towards the male gender on a whole, but that could be solved well enough. Now was the other twin's surprisingly competent fight against Hibari, who was tremendously skilled for a civilian.

Ietsuna's head snapped back and he scowled, spitting out a bullet. “What the-?”

The bullet fell to the ground as Hibari launched an assault that prompted a boxing straight and scissor kick to defend against. Reborn, though, frowned as the Dying Will Bullet failed to take effect, loading another bullet to shoot.

Ietsuna struggled with a handstand and flipped away from Hibari, shaking his head as he spat out another bullet. “Is this a bullet?”

In response, Reborn shot him again.

“Oi!” Amber eyes turned in his direction as Ietsuna grimaced. “What are you doing?”

Reborn stared at the frozen bullets in his palm. Ietsuna looked down to the palm, and then at Reborn. Honest confusion was writ large on his face. Ietsuna barely noted the bell going off until Hibari's tonfa descended onto his skull with a kiss of steel.

“Ow!”

“After lunch, the roof,” Hibari challenged. “I'll bite you all the way to death.”

“If I'm dead, I'll haunt you! There's no way I'll let you near Tsuna!” Ietsuna shot back, running off with the bullets, and leaving Reborn to ponder that one of the Sawada twins was immune to Vongola's Dying Will Bullet.

The evidence... Reborn would have to get the bullets back, though. Well, the candidature was clear; that is, if the other twin was able to use the Dying Will...

The red pellets bounced in his palm, half-frozen like dry ice as Ietsuna slumped on the roof. “Bullets...?”

“Bullets?” Tsuna paused, handing Ietsuna one of the three bento boxes next to him. “This is Japan, right...?”

“It's special,” Ietsuna barely turned his head to watch Reborn. “That's the Vongola Family's special Dying Will Bullet. Usually, a person who is shot with this bullet will resurrect with the Dying Will after dying. Your Dying Will is based on what you're regretting as you die. I say usually, idiot-Ie, but you showed nothing after being shot three times with the bullet.”

“It's your fault!” Ietsuna pouted. “What does Dying Will even mean anyway?”

“Dying Will is a state wherein all safety switches are off,” Reborn explained. “So in exchange for risking your life by breaking your limits, you can harness amazing strength.”

“But it doesn't work on me?” Ietsuna echoed. “What does that mean?”

Reborn remained silent.

“I see,” Ietsuna looked satisfied, amber eyes glittering as he turned back to lunch. “Until you resolve this problem, you can't risk our lives with that bullet. Means that you can't shoot Tsuna.”

“I'm an assassin,” Reborn stated as Leon transformed into a gun. “We might share a relationship as teacher and students, but we also share the relations of hitman and targets. The sooner you realise that your lives can be snuffed out by me, the sooner you can accept your fates and let me find the next candidate.”

Ietsuna smiled, and somehow he ended up in front of Reborn, hand laid directly over the yellow pacifier. The baby hitman eyed him, beady eyes flicking down to the pacifier before glaring at Ietsuna.

The Sawada twin flipped back to his bento, smiling. “We'll keep that in mind... Reborn.”

Pacifier dangling with a cold weight, the assassin eyed Ietsuna and Leon shuddered. The smiling amber eyes were colder than winter, it seemed, especially as it proved that one of the twins had no compunctions and a definite ability to instantly terminate anything using Flames. A walking plague of cold...

...which was accepting another kaaragefrom Tsuna, smiling a genuine smile.

“Ietsuna can't use the Dying Will Flame,” Reborn started without even a greeting. Namimori's sun was hanging low in the sky, and it was a sweltering late afternoon tempered only by cool summer breezes that wafted through the town from the oncoming monsoon rains. The yellow pacifier was held by Leon, the chameleon shivering from its proximity to the cooled pacifier.

“...that can't be right,” Iemitsu frowned. “Nono and I were about to seal Tsuna's Flames, but Ietsuna barged in on us with a spare gun... and then he used black Flames that sent us to Italy.”

“Black Flames?” Reborn echoed. “What colour of Dying Will is that? How did a toddler get a gun? Iemitsu-”

“Yes, that is the question,” Iemitsu admitted. “I got the lecture on firearms safety from Nono already.”

“Did you know that your son can freeze Dying Will Flames?” Reborn abandoned the subject of firearms safety with a frown on his baby features, sideburns made even more prominent.

“He is?” The blond External Advisor started.

“The Dying Will Bullets froze on contact,” Reborn confirmed. “Rather than say that he is immune... I would say that Ietsuna neutralises all Dying Will Flames near him with Vongola Primo's Zero Point Breakthrough.”

“How do you know?” Iemitsu demanded.

In answer, Reborn produced the three bullets stolen from Ietsuna. They were cold and heavy in his palm, and Iemitsu hissed as they contacted his skin on the handover.

“Yes...”

“However, he is only capable of that technique,” Reborn considered. “If you have changed your mind, Ietsuna would be a rather powerful anti-Mafia fighter.”

“Only against Flame-users,” Iemitsu pointed out. “I see your point, but Ietsuna is too dangerous to exist. We'll have to use a non-Flame method. Do you... already have something arranged?”

“Yes,” a shadow from his fedora hid Reborn's eyes. “Another hitman from Italy.”

“Mmm,” Iemitsu agreed. “All in a day's work. Anything else?”

“Well, both of them can take care of themselves in a fight,” Reborn admitted. “And they're in the Disciplinary Committee under a powerful fighter.”

“If you say so, the boy must be ridiculously strong,” Iemitsu chuckled. “I wish I could be- Reborn?”

Reborn had disappeared.

“That baby...”

The children were back before Iemitsu, as the chain-bolt proved. Iemitsu rang the bell, and amber eyes greeted him with a severe expression.

“Yo,” Ietsuna stated.

“Don't be so cold, Na-kun!” Iemitsu chuckled. “A- Anyway, hurry up and open the door. It's almost dinnertime, and I can't wait to taste Nana's home cooking!”

“So, how old am I?” Ietsuna questioned.

“You're thirteen!”

“And how old is Tsuna?”

“Thirteen- oi, you're twins!” Iemitsu yelled.

“And when is my birthday?”

“It's in July!” Iemitsu declared.

At which he received a slammed door. “Wait, Na-kun!”

“Stupid old man forgot our birthdays,” Ietsuna picked up the paint-spattered palette and continued to the rhythm of Iemitsu dancing the hemp fandango on his parenthood. “Tsuna, straighten your legs.”

“That's a bit mean, Ie,” Tsuna frowned, posing on his back on the living room couch. “He's still our father.”

“He missed our birthday by five months.”

Tsuna folded his legs, getting up. “Well, I'll be opening the door. You can sit there and wait.”

Ietsuna scowled, but waited as the door was unbolted and opened, and Iemitsu squealed to his 'cute son' about the 'mean and cruel' twin.

“I doubt I'm cruel enough, old man,” Ietsuna shot back, studying the wet palette he was using.

“You're an artist?” Iemitsu grinned. “Paint me!”

“No.”

“Eh?! Why?!”

“A painting takes two days at minimum even alla prima, and you're never around long enough,” Ietsuna wiped his palette knife with a rag set aside.

“You can make the time,” Tsuna pointed out. “Papa will probably be on the veranda later drinking beer anyway.”

“... I'll consider it,” Ietsuna noted. “We should help Mum.”

Tsuna nodded, walking into the kitchen where the sound of frying dominated. Ietsuna continued cleaning the knife and palette, now just looking at Iemitsu.

“I know you know what you did,” Iemitsu gritted his teeth, abandoning the pretence. “It's for Tsuna's sake. You stopped us from sealing Tsuna's Flames for a reason, right?”

“Hmm?” Ietsuna cocked his head, shrugging like the ignorant teenager he was, despite his amber eyes almost glittering at Iemitsu, hypnotising as the few portraits of Vongola Primo around Vongola main headquarters. “I don't understand, Dad.”

He's a brat... right. How could he? “I see. It's just an old man's dreaming. You and Tsuna, you've met Reborn, right?”

“You left your family for the Mafia, sending back only money, and laze around when you get back, only to tell us that we're joining it,” Ietsuna commented. “I thought they only accepted pure-blooded Italians. I won't pretend to understand your reasons. I won't pretend to care, or expect anything. Wear that stupid grin and laugh and be hated. Just know that, as long as Tsuna needs me, I will be here.”

The amber sharpened. Ietsuna left for the stairs, leaving Iemitsu to ruminate at the thought of amber eyes and hovering Flames... and blood.

Between Tsuna, and between Primo, lay the blood of Iemitsu, two Ietsuna – the late grandfather, and the current Ietsuna – one Yoshinobu, Yoshimune, to Ieyasu... the Blood of Vongola was not one person alone, but continuing through time, a distant past that encompassed and surpassed him and bore their own hate and regrets. It hurt, but Iemitsu had resigned himself to know that one child would be dead to the Sawada family, for the other to live.

Chapter Text

Not a single bullet found itself near Tsuna within the one week after Reborn's entry into the Sawada home – and Iemitsu's very fast leaving. Not from lack of effort on Reborn's part; Hyper Intuition apparently included saving its holders from sudden bullets even when they were so desperately needed and entertaining – for Reborn. In the one week before Reborn's special Ietsuna-handling assassin was here, though, Reborn did manage to piece together a coherent picture of school relations and the Sawada twins; some expected, some unusual, and some...

Yamamoto Takeshi had been expected; what had not been, was the degree that the twins got along with him. The dark-haired baseball ace definitely bore signs of over-exercise, which was being dealt by the twins and their efforts to make sure the field stayed closed after eight. It was a common sight for the two of them to patrol around, red armbands signifying both protection, sanction, and Reborn's annoyance, since they were on duty.

The armbands were identical to those worn by a troop of Elvis-impersonating delinquents, or the Namimori Middle Disciplinary Committee and its Vice-chair, Kusakabe Tetsuya. For a student with supposedly bad grades – and damn Iemitsu for that misinformation, Reborn would be on to Vongola about their information-gathering capabilities – Tsuna was doing well enough as its general affairs manager, and surprisingly well enough to keep a position where he was arguing with Hibari in the club-association meetings to leave more funds for the other clubs and no, Hibari-san, you do not need more tea stocked!

The other twin was regarded as a saint by most of the student body; on hindsight, anyone would be a saint compared to Hibari. Even Ietsuna, the little troll.

Which brought them back to the troubles; most, if not all of which, could be blamed on Hibari Kyoya. Those with strong Cloud Flames were always wild cards to start with, but Reborn had yet to meet a civilian that could inspire such indirect trouble.

It was Tsuna's fault. Definitely. All Tsuna's fault.

“Hibari-san was so cool, the way he stopped Mochida-sempai from stalking Kyoko-chan,” Tsuna was saying, but to Reborn anything involving Hibari – or even mentioning the Disciplinary Committee – gave him the impression that Tsuna was a closet fanboy. “And then he just pushed the organisation for the volleyball competition to me... well, I suppose he's busy. Hibari-san is definitely busier than he lets on...”

“...I'm going to vomit if exposed to any more of this,” Reborn turned to Ietsuna and tried to ignore the storm of dazzles that had Sawada Tsunayoshi at its eye. “Why are we observing the courtship habits of the herbivorous male?”

“Go back to Italy if you don't want to,” Ietsuna drawled. “Besides, Tsuna is not courting Hibari. Who in their right mind would court Hibari?”

“Then what do you call this?” Reborn pointed.

“Cleaning symbiosis.”

“...so the two of you are basically hiding behind the reputation of Namimori's strongest student,” Reborn stated flatly, “and Tsuna is providing domestic services in exchange for protection.”

“Don't let Tsuna hear you say that,” Ietsuna actually sounded alarmed, amber eyes widening as he peered in the direction of his sparkling identical twin. “He joined the Disciplinary Committee because of my bet, but he's found something like a purpose there.”

“What was this bet?” Reborn pressed.

“...” Ietsuna pondered, still writing out a few stray reports in the reception room. “...it was a year ago, I think. On the first day of our first year of middle school, I created the Art Club with Tsuna and myself as the founding members. To get funds, I challenged the Disciplinary Committee that I could design a poster enough to attract more members to apply for the Disciplinary Committee. Kusakabe-san might have his fellow former delinquents on hand, but it was a show, you see, to test if there was any force in the universe capable of persuading normal people to work under Hibari Kyoya.”

“And you lost,” Reborn guessed.

“...I won,” Ietsuna smirked at the baby hitman, earning himself the barrel of a Leon-gun pressed to his temple. “In the beginning, I made the bet with the intention of protecting Tsuna. If a freshman could win against the Demon of Namimori, I could get the social clout to protect my brother. The result impressed Hibari so much, that the Art Club got annexed, and Tsuna and I ended up with the Disciplinary Committee.”

More scratching of pen on paper from Ietsuna plodding through homework and Tsuna's Maths assignment before Reborn found his voice. “It's good... that poster. Tsuna cross-dressing. You made that?”

“You saw it, Reborn?” Ietsuna laughed lowly, the other twin having already gone out for another cup of tea. “Most of that was Tsuna trying to get us not bitten to death. I'm grateful for my twin... though I wonder what would happen if I told Hibari that the Disciplinary Committee's flower only has a stamen.*”

Reborn began to smile. It boded well for neither Sawada, and Ietsuna started to inch away from the demon tutor.

The door creaked open. “Ie, I brought more tea-” Tsuna paused. “I feel like something is going to happen...”

“Cross-dress in school?” Tsuna sputtered at Reborn's mandate.

“Of course,” Reborn lied swiftly and without remorse. “A Mafia boss is surrounded by the respect and admiration of all, and is seen as a hero by the children of the slums.”

“You can't!” Ietsuna protested vehemently. “Tsuna, stripping to your boxers and running around is way better than this!”

“It's alright,” Tsuna sighed, turning back to his closet. “At best, I'll be bitten to death. I won't be shot to death, Ie. Just... Reborn-san, I'll need a bit of time.”

“...why are you so happy?” The initial rush of joy and sadism was dying at the boy's passiveness.

“What have you done, Reborn?” Ietsuna moped while slumping on the edge of his bed.

“Well, you said he was-” the words died as Tsuna came back out. “Was...”

“Ie, it's time for school,” Caramel eyes stared at the amber-eyed twin.

“You're too dangerous. Don't come near me,” Ietsuna looked away from the smiling twin.

Tsuna was humming as he walked out of the room, the baby hitman still paralysed there.

“What... did I do?”

“You got Tsuna in touch with his feminine side,” Ietsuna moaned, closing his hands over his face. “This is the logical conclusion of what happens to the saying that men are made of courage and women are made of love, and Tsuna who wants courage to love the world.”

Reborn stared at him. “Basically, I've just unleashed a monster, haven't I?”

“Worse.”

Ietsuna and Reborn rushed out of the house, taking to jump over walls to catch up. The baby hitman might be strong, but seeing Ietsuna climb over walls, run on roofs and jump for telephone poles was amazing. Just before the gates of Namimori Middle was a quaking pair of Disciplinary Committee grunts, and just ahead was a familiar head of black standing out in contrast to the head of brown.

The brown continued to the white of a short-sleeved shirt, and a navy blue skirt that ended at the mid-thigh, before continuing on to proportionally long white legs clothed in black socks and shoes. And if that wasn't clear enough, the blue hair decorations made him stand out more.

“Dammit, Hibari's here!” Ietsuna skidded to a halt with Reborn. “He saw!”

“...Little animal,” Hibari was saying, amidst a sea of onlookers, “you are breaking the rules.”

“There is... no rule... against boys wearing skirts to school, Hibari-san” Tsuna pointed out. He sounded sad, or reluctant.

“Bringing weapons to school is prohibited.”

His cross-dressing is classed as weapons-grade?

“I... won't do it again, Hibari-san,” Tsuna bowed his head.

“...It suits you.” A black gakuran jacket was shrouded over Tsuna's shoulders. “Your punishment will be to wear that the whole day. Do not take it off, even to adjust it.”

“Yes, Hibari-san...?”

“It's a saint!” the trembling DC grunt was exclaiming in a motion best described as milking the sky. “I've just seen an angel!”

He died honourably under the righteous tonfa of Hibari Kyoya flung towards him. “Are you herbivores crowding?” the black-haired chairman threatened.

It cleared the crowds fast enough.

“I'm so happy for you, Kyo-san!” Kusakabe started crying in the background. “You've found yourself a tennyo!”

“What... did I just see?” Ietsuna echoed.

One thing was clear, though; the whole school now knew that it was the general affairs manager's hopeful expression that kept Hibari at bay.

“Are you Gokudera Hayato-san?”

“What's it matter-” the words caught in his throat.

“I'm glad,” the angel smiled at him, her black wings neatly folded behind her back and streaked with red on the right. “For a moment I thought you've gone ahead without me. I'm Sawada, and I’ll be helping to integrate you into our student body. Gokudera-san, here is the general rulebook, a few pamphlets about the extracurriculars our school offers, and your timetable schedule. Your class is 1-A, I'll show you there right now. Do you have any questions?”

“Are you a tennyo**? Or a UMA?” Gokudera leant forward.

Cue the sparkly smile. “I'm a guy.”

“N- No way!” Depression overcame the teenage hitman. “But... I can't find it in myself to care...”

“Shall we go, Gokudera-san?” Sawada-san smiled again.

“Yes!”

Which found Gokudera glaring at the brown-haired prefect seated in the same classroom he was in and lamenting that the cross-dressing prefect had an excuse note. Fine, at least he was close to the target of the prospective Vongola heir...

“Students, settle down! We have a new transfer student who was studying overseas in Italy. His name is Gokudera Hayato...”

The heir barely even looked up as his desk was kicked over, to the shocked murmurs of several other students – and fangirls. “Is this a tradition from Italy, Gokudera-san?”

Gokudera tsked, leaning down to the boy. “I won't accept you as Vongola's boss,” he hissed. “I'm more fit for the position.”

“If you have any questions, I'll be glad to help you after school,” Ietsuna continued loudly, in a cheerful tone. “Shall we meet behind the school building?”

“Ietsuna-san, please try to keep Disciplinary Committee matters outside of the classroom,” the teacher murmured. “Sawada-san isn't here to ward off Hibari-san... I'm scared...”

One of the school's most sensible girls, Kurokawa Hana, blinked. “Are you supposed to admit that, sensei...?”

During lunch break, Ietsuna walked into the empty reception room, dropped a form into Hibari's in-tray, grabbed his lunch-box and a shoe-bag from a cabinet, and walked out under Hibari's gaze.

“What is the meaning of this, Sawada Ietsuna?”

“Gokudera brought bombs to school,” Ietsuna shrugged, opening the shoe-bag. “I'll take care of it. You watch Tsuna.”

“Herbivores that threaten the peace of Namimori will be bitten to death,” Hibari noted, reading the form. “Very well. I'll have Kusakabe ready to dispose of the corpse.”

“Have you been taking lessons from Kiryuuin or Suzuki?” Ietsuna dodged the tonfa flung at him, which embedded itself into the far wall by the general affairs desk. He pulled from a drawer the stamp and stamped the form, slotting it into the out-tray. “Ah, that's going to be a bitch to remove... I'm going. Yo, Tsuna.”

Tsuna blinked as Ietsuna walked out. “Why is Ie wearing his savate shoes?”

“He has work,” Hibari murmured. “Biting herbivores to death.”

“I see...” Tsuna trailed over to his desk, rifling through the in-tray and out-tray, frowning at the form. “...Hibari-san, do you pin your jacket to your shirt?”

“Why?”

“I have to stop Ie from killing someone,” The form was tucked away into a pocket, Tsuna pulled a few safety pins and started to thread the shoulders through. “I'm sorry if you don't, but Hibari-san told me not to take your jacket off, right? I'm going out.”

The red of the armband flashed in the light, especially as Tsuna ran for the window and threw himself out. Grey eyes widened at the illusion, almost like there was someone about to fly towards the wide blue skies... like the momentary flight to the blue and inviting sky.

“Ah, Sawada-san isn't here?” Kusakabe walked in.

“He went out to handle something.”

“How rare,” Kusakabe commented. “You don't usually let that Sawada out of your reach.”

“Oh... I gave him a hagoromo,***” Hibari realised. “Little animals need to discover their reach sometimes.”

“Kyo-san... you've reached another stage of maturity,” Kusakabe wiped a tear from his eye.

“But if he's not back in time to finish the day's work...”

“...one step at a time,” Kusakabe backed off at the Disciplinary Committee chairman's blackened aura of demonic wrath.

“YOU'RE NOT FIT TO BE THE TENTH!!”

“I DON'T WANT TO HEAR THAT FROM YOU!” Ietsuna's foot slammed into the silver-haired hitman's middle, sending the Smoking Bomb skidding back but also putting himself at risk of scattering dynamite sticks.

“Dammit!” Ietsuna jumped back.

“Your resolve is tainted by fear,” Gokudera mocked. Where that phrase came from, it was possibly pop-cultural osmosis. Definitely.

“He's a savate fighter,” Reborn noted Ietsuna's lack of hand-to-hand and reliance on his legs. “I'm surprised. Who trained him, I wonder...?”

“You're fairly strong, trash,” Gokudera noted. “I should have gone for the other candidate first.”

“Don't you dare,” Ietsuna scoffed. “And why the hell do you have so many sticks?!”

“It's said that Gokudera Hayato can hide bombs in any part of his body,” Reborn offered. “In short, he's a human bomb.”

“Any part?” Ietsuna frowned, before flipping again and kicking another stick up to watch it explode harmlessly, if somewhat loudly.

“My other name is Hurricane Bomb Hayato,” Gokudera growled as the sticks lit up, almost automatically. “Brace yourself.”

“Bomb...” Smoke billowed out in the resulting explosion and conflagration.

Gokudera scoffed. “His death just proved that his resolve was weak.”

A glint, and Gokudera flinched as the heavy cloth slapped him in the face, followed by a reinforced rubber sole carried by a fouetté figure. Amber eyes shining, Ietsuna panted, shirtless after having flung his shirt at Gokudera.

“At this range, you'll blow yourself up along with me,” Ietsuna looked relaxed despite the prospect of certain death. “I might as well be standing in the eye of a hurricane.”

“I can't say I'm too sure about that exhibitionist getup,” Gokudera wiped the blood off his chin.

“Exhibitionist?” This earned a jab into the liver and a hook punch, and hits in time to the last four syllables. “The fact that you are embarrassed by the value of the masses only prove how small you are! If it means that I can protect my brother, I'll show neither shame nor hesitation, even if I have to strip off everything! My actions are utterly PURE!”

Reborn was aiming already, though he doubted that anything would break the single-minded killing focus Ietsuna seemed to have. Gokudera was sent skidding back, and Ietsuna reached for the pocket of his pants to draw a palette knife.

“What are you doing, Ietsuna?” Reborn started.

“Defeating him permanently.”

“We're from the same Family and you're going to kill me?” Gokudera gaped.

“Yes.” The reply was delivered flat and sharp. “Normally I'll just turn you in, but if you go free, you'll just target my brother. Nothing in this universe is more important than my brother.”

He's really going to kill me, Gokudera tried to move. This guy doesn't care about Vongola or the Mafia or even loyalty in the Familgia-

“Anything to say?” Ietsuna gave a small, innocent smile.

“You're utterly shameless, Ie,” That gentle voice spoke close to them. “Shameless enough to force through an excuse form when I'm not around.”

The knife clattered as it was dropped.

“When did he appear?” Reborn pondered, using a stubby hand to massage his ears as he spotted Tsuna standing between Ietsuna's knife and Gokudera. “Maybe the dynamite...”

Pak. The red armband fluttered as the slap echoed.

Ietsuna reared back, clutching his cheek. “W- What was that for?!”

“Lying on the form,” the form was pulled out from Tsuna's pocket. “'For the crime of bringing illegal weapons to school, Gokudera Hayato is to be administered one biting, and subsequently disposed by the Disciplinary Committee'... That was what you wrote, yes, Ie?”

“That's in accordance with the rules as well,” Ietsuna argued. “He's a hitman out to kill us. We kill him first. End of story.”

“Even so, this does not merit a student expulsion in suspicion of terrorist activities,” Tsuna serenely replied. “I'm sure Gokudera-san will explain himself now, and we will not have to besmirch anyone's reputation.”

“R- Reborn-san called me here from Italy, Sawada-san...” Gokudera bowed his head, sitting on his haunches. “I'm a part of the Familgia.”

“You're in the Mafia too, Gokudera-san?” Tsuna stated. “I see. So, my twin brother filled in that form in preparation for corpse disposal...”

“Twins?!” Gokudera stared. “B- But... he said that I could be the Tenth if I got rid of him... there were two candidates?! Killing a tennin is unlucky...”

“I'm human, Gokudera-san,” Tsuna interrupted.

“So, Tsuna, what will you do?” Reborn asked as Leon transformed back into its usual form. “The one who loses becomes the winner's subordinate; that is the family's rule.”

“Actually...” Gokudera swallowed, bowing his head. “I didn't really have ambitions to become the Tenth. It's just that, I wanted to see if the Tenth had the strength to become a suitable boss. You're much more than I expected, even running out in female clothing to save me! For putting yourself on the line, I'll gladly follow you, Sawada-sama!”

“Ah, I'm Sawada Tsunayoshi,” Tsuna demurred. “You've... met my twin, Sawada Ietsuna. I'm sorry about the scare you got. I'm glad I made it on time from the reception room in five minutes.”

“That's across the school, on the third floor,” Ietsuna sharply interjected, all traces of the prospective murderer gone. “How did you run here?”

“I jumped down and ran.”

“That's dangerous!”

“You're dangerous too, and Gokudera-san was in danger as well,” Tsuna explained, the twins currently ignoring Gokudera. “It's fine, right? Hibari-san and you do it all the time.”

“Hibari is Hibari,” Ietsuna rebutted. “I am myself. What if you broke your legs? You're practically tempting that pervert sadist like this. No, you should go home and change. Like, now.”

“They say men are made of courage and women are made of love,” Tsuna smiled. “So what does that mean for okama? We are invincible!****”

“What are you gonna do, burn them to death?! Hurry up and change!”

“The twins just switched roles,” Reborn wiped his eyes. “I can't tell which is which, except by clothing.” This isn't good...

“I'm fine either way!” Gokudera declared. “Such brotherly love between Tenth and Ietsuna-sama touches my heart! Tenth, if you wish to cross-dress, I'll support you all the way! You're not just cute! You're beautiful!”

“I'm fairly supportive of Tsuna cross-dressing!” Ietsuna defended as a few third-year delinquents came along.

“Oh, it's Hibari's wife,” one of them teased. “Cutting class? This requires some punishment.”

“...We'll have a truce for now,” Ietsuna started towards Gokudera. A palette and a knife made itself comfortable in his hands. “The small fry grow out of their place.”

“Leave it to me!” Gokudera brought out the really big sticks of dynamite.

Well, normally that would have been the perfect ending. Except that Reborn decided that this was a great time to make Tsuna fight with his Dying Will, after one week of sabotage. The bullet sailed through, hitting Tsuna straight in the forehead between the eyes...

“T- The volcano...” Ietsuna was backing away very quickly. “Come on, Gokudera!”

“What's wrong with Tenth, Ietsuna-sama?”

“Call me Ie!” Ietsuna corrected, amber eyes wide. “And, as for what happened... the volcano woke up.”

Yes, that was a fair estimate, comparing the other potential heir to a natural disaster. Brow furrowed, fists held as if in prayer, eyes flashing amber with the fire of the Vongola blood... some natural disaster had befallen three unworthy delinquents, and Reborn just stared at the... well, it was a bit like watching ripples form on the surface of a very, very deep lake of magma. Or simple desperation.

Only when the last delinquent had fallen that Ietsuna's foot met Tsuna's fist, stopping the spirit of fiery vengeance with two moves. “Tsuna.”

The spark faded, the flames died, and caramel eyes blinked as the sleeves of the black jacket draped around his shoulders fluttered. “I- Ie? What are you doing?”

“...Reborn,” the drawl carried an edge, much like the grind of a glacier.

Tsuna's own morphing expression and answering drawl was very much like the cracking of a summer storm. “What happened?”

“You made like Lunatic,” was the icy reply. “Don't worry, nobody was burnt to death. But we have another problem.”

“We do?” Tsuna looked up, answered by a pair of gleaming grey eyes that stared meaningfully down. “H- Hibari-san! I- It's not what it looks like, we aren't crowding-”

“Sawada Tsunayoshi,” came the breathy reply. “You've been holding out on me.”

Chapter Text

“Uhm... is this Kyo-san's version of a couple game, Ietsuna-san?” Kusakabe Tetsuya leant away from the main compound of Namimori Middle for the third time that week. The poor man looked a bit freaked, to be honest, though whether at the sight itself or at the idea of Hibari Kyoya having sex was debatable.

“...No,” Ietsuna just stared at the scene, one arm holding Gokudera in his place. “Why would you say that?”

“Kyo-san is brimming with... bloodlust,” Kusakabe remarked as Tsuna made a high leap and possibly also flashed his pursuer, if the pause was any indication. “He's also very keen on Sawada-san cross-dressing recently...”

“If it was, it'd be an incredibly violent and one-sided couple game of catch,” Ietsuna made a face. “Say, if Hibari catches Tsuna...”

Gokudera choked. “We must intervene, Ietsuna-sama! The Tenth's virtue is at stake!”

“Drop the '-sama', Gokudera,” Ietsuna instructed, hefting his bag to launch himself. “Shitty Hibari-”

“Sawada Ietsuna,” came Hibari's answer as he paused in his tonfa chase on Tsuna, “I am prepared to return you the Art Club if you stay on the sidelines in this matter.”

“...Tsuna's bride price isn't that low.”

“This is-!” Gokudera gasped. “Don't fall to temptation, Onii-san!”

“I'm the younger brother...” Ietsuna smirked.

“Don't change your standing in the family when you feel like it!” Tsuna hollered, narrowly dodging a tonfa. “Hibari-san, I'm really not up to fighting you. In fact, I'm against violence!”

“This is a game,” Hibari stated. “The rule is easy. As long as you remain within the campus in that scandalous getup, I'll bite you to death.”

“How one-sided!” Tsuna squealed, tugging at the dark blue skirt. “I didn't have a choice! Next time I'm not going to listen to Kusakabe-san!”

“Sorry, Sawada-san...” the second-in-command bowed as Hibari directed a thumbs-up towards Kusakabe. “The peace is more important...”

Ietsuna closed one eye, let go of Gokudera's collar, and the rain of dynamites created a procession of dust clouds that led to the building entrance. “Yosh, we're safe.”

“Gokudera-san!” Tsuna went running back out, dragging Gokudera behind him. “Don't sacrifice other people, Ie!”

“I'm ashamed that you had to save me again, Tenth...!”

“THAT WAS EXTREME, BOTH OF YOU! JOIN THE BOXING CLUB!”

“Sorry, boxe françaiseis totally different from the Queensberry rules,” Ietsuna replied, shielding himself from the extremely loud white-haired boxer. “Besides that, I'm not intending a dojo-yaburi¹, Sasagawa-sempai.”

“So, Tsuna!” Sasagawa Ryohei bellowed. “Join the boxing club as an extreme man!”

“We're already in the Disciplinary Committee, Sasagawa-sempai,” Tsuna demurred as a brown-haired girl approached them. “Good morning, Kyoko-chan-”

“Just in time!” Kyoko started. “We need your help, Ie-kun, Tsuna-kun!”

“Hell no!”

“Why are the two of us accepting your onigiri?” Ietsuna grumbled in the resulting scene cut to after Home Economics class.

“Because, as two monkeys serving as Hibari's admin staff, you're basically off-limits to peer pressure,” Hana remarked dryly.

“Switch with me, Tsuna,” Ietsuna suddenly stated, plopping the white rice-balls from Hana onto his brother's lap and taking away the purple wormy things from Tsuna's hands.

“Ie!” Tsuna exclaimed as Ietsuna bit into the purple wormy thing, which released a purplish gas that had Gokudera keeling over within sight of it.

“Hmm, the rice is overcooked,” Ietsuna stated to the ears of several students, and two hitmen. A crow fell down from overhead, choking to death as its body slapped against the window.

“I- Ie! Those are poisonous!” Tsuna squeaked. “Hurry up and put those down! Spit it out!”

“Arancini would have been a better idea,” Ietsuna continued eating calmly, methodically and uncaring, except that his eyes were on Tsuna the whole time.

“...that boy is shaping up to be a difficult target,” Reborn remarked, nestled within Bianchi's arms on the roof with Leon-binoculars trained on the twins, and Tsuna's increasingly panicked attempts to stop the ingestion of any more Poison Cooking. “Immune to Dying Will Bullets, Poison Cooking, skilled at fighting... if he's working under Hibari, I wouldn't be surprised if the boy can take down full-grown Yakuza bare-handed. He would be an effective anti-Flame opponent.”

“Reborn... just hearing your complaints make me despair that I cannot help you kill one of the Decimo candidates,” Bianchi lamented. “Is there nothing I can do? The twin candidates must be kill- I mean, they must die in horrible accidents for Reborn to be free...”

“That difficulty just increased, since Sawada Ietsuna has a unique physiology that resists Flames and allows him to eat Poison Cooking without adverse effects,” Reborn noted. “Coupled with an absolute lack of hesitation and that battle instinct I saw against Gokudera, he would be the strongest anti-Mafia opponent in history; any police would love to have him. The only thing that holds him back... is his twin brother, Tsuna.”

The baby hitman hopped down to pace, Leon hanging off of his fedora. “From what I recall, the Ninth never got around to sealing Tsuna's Flames because of Sawada Ietsuna's diversions. The black flame, and the ice of Zero Point Breakthrough... a lot of phenomena surround them. If Ietsuna can use Zero Point Breakthrough... that technique extends to passive Flame energy as well, so Ietsuna might be more accurately stated to be a walking negative energy converter; energy that comes into contact with him becomes negative energy. From that little experiment with Poison Cooking, that conversion of energy also applies to his internal environment. So, if Tsuna is a positive-energy individual, Ietsuna is the negative-energy counterpart.”

“You're saying that...” Bianchi's brow furrowed. “...that my Poison Cooking is... being absorbed into the boy's body? Reborn, won't that defy the law of conservation of energy? Where is all the energy going?”

“As we understand it, it is an epistemic impossibility, so in some respect we must have stated it wrongly,” Reborn commented. “The twins do share Primo's bloodline. If we accept that Tsuna is the one who bears the Flames, and Ietsuna the one who can use the Zero Point Breakthrough, then we can postulate that the energy Ietsuna absorbs is transferred to Tsuna via a Maxwell's demon construct.”

“I'm sorry, Reborn, I don't understand,” Bianchi lamented. “The famous thought experiment created by the physicist James Clerk Maxwell demonstrates how the Second Law of thermodynamics can be hypothetically violated. A container of gas molecules at equilibrium is divided into two parts by an insulated wall, with a door that can be opened and closed by an entity that came to be the hypothetical demon. The demon opens the door to allow only the faster molecules to flow through to a favoured side of the chamber, and only the slower molecules to the other side, causing the favoured side to gradually heat up while the other side cools down, thus decreasing entropy. If the Decimo candidates share this sort of link, they must by necessity share an existence, since Maxwell's demon can only operate within a closed system².”

“Yes,” Reborn agreed. “It is impossible as I state it, and therefore I must in some respect have stated it wrong. Two people cannot share the same existence.”

He mulled over the pieces, the amber eyes of Ietsuna always fresh and mocking in his mind. The pacifier hung like a millstone, a grave reminder that one student had, nearly by accident, done what most hitmen had failed: to kill Reborn.

“I took the liberty to remove your bombs from the atelier,” was Ietsuna's welcoming comment on his return to the Sawada house. It was longer than the few courtesies that Reborn exchanged with Tsuna and Nana in the kitchen.

“They were booby-trapped,” Reborn pointed out.

“So they were.” Ietsuna mixed some red with a dark blue right onto the canvas, the dark purple smeared with the gesso already there. The palette knife scraped at the paint, digging lines and spreading out a glossy night to the horizon line. “How was your walk around town?”

“Who are you?”

“Sawada Ietsuna.”

The hammer clicked back, the revolver levelled at Ietsuna's back. “I asked you a question.”

“I am Ietsuna Sawada. 私は澤田家綱です³. Je suis Sawada, prénom Ietsuna. Anything else?” Ietsuna's tone was flat, considering that his life was still at stake.

“Today you met Bianchi,” Reborn started. “You ate her Poison Cooking without any effect, and in doing so saved your brother.”

“Was it?” Ietsuna poured out some turpentine, now using the orange on the opposite end of the palette. “Who's Bianchi?”

“She's downstairs, hopefully not targeting Tsuna,” Reborn grimly stated as the window slid open. The second-floor window.

“Die, Reborn!”

“My capriccio!” the bored look vanished as a bullet hole dug through the round disk of the sun and missed hitting Ietsuna, Reborn whacked a grenade back, which exploded next to a yelling Lambo.

The tree branch he was on broke. “AAAHHHH!”

The palette knife found itself being used as a weapon again, sticking through the boy's curly afro and the trunk and pinning the hitman to the trunk as his weapons fell harmlessly down.

“Gotta... be... calm...”

“Oh, who do we have here?” The palette knife was pried out, and the would-be assassin pulled in through the window with it by its owner. The knife was immediately hefted with a smile. “Your name?”

“I, Lambo-san, a hitman from the Bovino Family, who came from Italy, just got captured!!” Lambo started yelling. “I came here to assassinate Reborn!”

“Your acquaintance?” Ietsuna remarked.

“I don't know him,” Reborn answered. “If it's the Bovino Family, they're a rather small Mafia group. I don't associate with those who rank lower than me.”

“Duly noted. Lambo-san, I am Sawada Ietsuna, your captor. You will be a prisoner until we ransom you back,” Ietsuna decided, grabbing a sketchbook and a pencil case as well. “I'll tell Tsuna and Kaa-san that we'll have an extra guest. Oh, and, Reborn... since our entire family is lower than you, then why are you here?”

Reborn remained quiet as the twin walked out. “Smart-ass.”

“You're a meanie!” Lambo complained.

“I have candy,” Ietsuna muttered.

“I- Is it grape candy?” Lambo's desire and caution warred in his mind.

“Yes.”

Caution died an ignoble death in the face of grape candy. “I'm sorry, you're a good guy...”

“Kaa-san, Reborn made a new friend,” Ietsuna announced, carrying Lambo out. “I'm taking Lambo out for ice-cream.”

“Okay! Be back soon!”

Tsuna poked his head out. “Reborn's friend?”

“Gyupaa!” Lambo stared. “There's two of you! And one's a girl!”

“I'm a boy,” Tsuna wiped his hands on the pink striped apron. “A friend of Reborn, Ie?”

“This is Lambo, a five-year-old hitman from the Bovino Family in Italy,” Ietsuna introduced. “More like a distant acquaintance of Reborn. Apparently he was sent to kill Reborn, so we're holding him hostage againstwhat sounds like a borderline abusive mafia Family.”

“I see,” Tsuna bent down to smile at Lambo, and it was like beholding the smiling face of Buddha. “Nice to meet you, Lambo-kun. I'm Sawada Tsunayoshi, twin of Ie here. Do you have any favourite foods?”

“Grapes and candy!” Lambo was clearly feeling better.

“Ah, that's nice,” Nana poked her head out. “Would you like to stay for dinner?”

Tsuna smiled, again with a beatific aura that manifested in the form of an awed Lambo and a piece of wrapped grape candy. “Can you eat octopus?”

“Yes! Lambo-san loves octopus⁴!” Lambo exclaimed. “You're nice people, unlike that meanie Reborn!”

“That's good,” Tsuna turned around as something imploded in the kitchen. “Ah, Bianchi-san! Sorry, Lambo-kun, Ie, I've got to...”

Lambo was still staring as the angel left. “...pretty Tsuna-nii...”

“Well, you'll see them later at dinner,” Ietsuna carried the child hitman out to the park, the child still munching on the grape candy if the crunches were any indication.

The crunches continued through their stroll, next to a riverbank, and then onto the sloping field next to the river by Namimori. There was a sign next to the river, with a kappa drawn on it. Lambo gaped at the seriously bad cartoon as he swallowed the candy.

“L- Lambo's dream is to become the Boss of the Bovino Family *sniff*... and make all humanity bow down to me...”

“That's nice,” Ietsuna commented, sketching the skyline by the river with a B pencil.

“Lambo-san was sent here on a very important mission to kill the super first-class hitman Reborn,” Lambo continued.

“You met Reborn before?” Ietsuna lifted his hand to check a tree on the far riverbank.

“Yeah! Lambo-san met Reborn in a bar with his Boss,” Lambo continued. “We spoke a lot while Lambo was eating his favourite grapes, and Reborn was blowing bubbles out of his nose-,” “He was sleeping-” “-then, Lambo-san's father told him that if he wanted to make his family proud, he had to kill the number one hitman, Reborn. Lambo-san can do it of course, he just doesn't feel like it.”

“It's a good goal,” Lambo smiled at the thumbs up. “So, you have a contact?”

“...what is that?”

“...” Ietsuna regarded the child hitman, amber eyes boring down on the boy and sketch put down. “...someone who helps you. Sometimes, even Reborn needs help.”

“I'm surprised,” Reborn commented at the dinner table later. “Ietsuna can be good with kids.”

Ietsuna ignored him. “Lambo, you have sauce on your face.”

“He is,” Tsuna confirmed, a touch worried as Bianchi hovered, glaring at Tsuna. Perhaps it was the apron. “He teaches them all the wrong things.”

“Oh?”

“I'm worried that one day he's going to teach them parkour or something,” Tsuna commented, handing a surprisingly compliant and quiet Lambo a napkin. Lambo blew into it, green eyes always watching as he dabbed his face. The corners of Ietsuna's mouth twitched, and Lambo grinned like it meant the world to him. “He's surprisingly good with kids, though...”

“It's a happy family talent,” Nana cooed. “Tsu-kun got all the cooking talent, and Na-kun the child-handling talent. They'll have a happy family between the two of them.”

“I'm not the guy who left us and only sends money back,” Ietsuna retorted, but he looked a bit happy. It was a bit hard to tell. “Kids must have their games as well.”

“So... where is he staying?”

“In my atelier.”

Tsuna's face spasmed, and it turned slightly pale. “He's sharing a room with us. I'm not letting him near those turpentine fumes.”

“Fine,” Ietsuna sighed. “I'll sleep in the atelier tonight. We can figure out some arrangements that don't have the kid scared to death by Reborn.”

“I'm not the bad guy here,” Reborn spoke up. He felt the twin stares mixed with incredulity soon enough. Ietsuna not believing him was bad enough; the sad thing was, even Tsuna didn't believe him, if the twin expressions of you monster was any indication, especially since Ietsuna's face bore an expression of vindicated glee.

“You know, at this rate we're never going to escape the Mafia world,” Ietsuna commented to his brother from his easel. Diagrams and equations littered his half of it, complete with paints and brushes and art materials.

“Ie...” Tsuna was at his small desk, still scribbling away at his homework with the windows open. One turpentine-induced small fire had been enough to institute something resembling safety procedures within the atelier. “...do you regret taking in Lambo-kun?”

“I'm just pointing it out,” Ietsuna replied. “Weirdos and hitmen followed Reborn into Namimori after us. At this rate, our chances at a normal life away from that man decreases. Don't you want that?”

“I'd like that peaceful life,” Tsuna agreed. “You're right. The world of the Mafia must be cruel and cold-hearted... I'm not like you. Right now, my life pretty much revolves around school, home and my part-time job. I can't see the now, much less my own boring future. If it's to protect your future...”

“'What we mean by 'right now' is a mysterious thing which we cannot define and we cannot affect, but it can affect us later, or we could have affected it if we had done something far enough in the past',” Ietsuna replied tersely as a splatter of black littered on the canvas. “The theoretical physicist Richard Phillips Feynman said that. We promised, right, Tsuna? We'll always be together... we promised!”

“We will,” Tsuna comforted, dropping his pen as he whirled around to face his brother. “We will, Ie. Don't worry... could you put the knife down? You've been... tense... since Reborn arrived-”

“It's that Reborn,” Ietsuna snarled darkly at the painting, the bold strokes of grey-white interrupted with tongues of black and its instrument set on the easel rack. “How did we end up like this, Tsuna? How about we become monsters together... and lay waste to this awful world? We'll wipe out everything. All traces of evil, or sadness... just destroy and destroy until there's nothing left. That sounds... nice.”

“Please don't say that, Ie.” Homework forgotten, Tsuna walked over to hug Ietsuna, their bodies co-joined almost as mirrors of each other, and angel and its demented fallen demon kin. “Neither of us... neither of us know what it's like to be alone. This world... this world is a little bit sad, and very cruel. It has its good points too, and it's the only choice we have. The fact that we only have one life to live with each other means that we should treasure it all the more.”

“...I still hate this,” Ietsuna snapped, but less grouchily now as the spark in his amber eyes faded somewhat. “...I don't think the Italian Mafia would accept a cross-dressing Boss.”

Tsuna smiled. “Thank you for worrying about me, Ie. I wish I could say the same for myself.”

“You worry about other people so much, worry more about yourself!” Ietsuna pouted, but the twins were clearly back onto well-trodden arguments. The crisis was over, for now, and no mental breakdown was imminent. Tsuna still made sure to count all the palette knives and watch Ietsuna get into his own bed, far away from Reborn, though. Resilient as his twin was, Ietsuna still had a ways to survive Reborn.

1 overthrowing dojos.

Chapter Text

A few days of disrupted assassinations later, Bianchi had thrown in the towel. Reborn was really tempted to follow her and simply accept that one of his students was pretty much unkillable except by a normal bullet or some weapon, and no 'accident' was going to help accomplish the mission at any time soon.

“The Gyoza Fist is a huge failure as well,” Reborn glumly glared down as Ietsuna was typing on his phone in front of I-Pin.

It wasn't humiliating enough that Iemitsu's brat had somehow displaced the potential Lightning that Reborn had tricked from Italy. The brat now proved that not only did he have a brain – an improvement from his idiot father – and a phone with Internet access, he also had apparently no sense of smell. Reborn cursed himself over that last bit of information. It should have been obvious; all the turpentine must have screwed up the boy's nose that the stinky gas of the Gyoza Fist would not take.

“Looking for this target... why are you squinting? Wait, I'll just use this handy pair of spectacles that got confiscated...”

“Ie, have you seen-” Tsuna, flanked by Gokudera and Yamamoto and, for today in male clothing, stopped at the sight of the glasses-wearing child assassin. “Oh, you've found I-Pin.”

I-Pin glanced from Ietsuna to Tsuna, and back, and wrung her hands, confusion clear as she babbled in Mandarin. “有两个目标?”

Patiently, the letters were typed in and Ietsuna frowned. “Mandarin. 'There are two targets?'”

The twins exchanged looks and sighed.

“Hibari?” Ietsuna offered.

“Hibari-san,” Tsuna agreed.

Since there were some things that Yahoo Babel Fish¹ was unable to translate from Mandarin to Japanese, I-Pin was exposed to the murderously furious Disciplinary Committee, blushed, and nearly blew up the place by attaching herself to Tsuna. Ietsuna picked her up as the Pinzu on her forehead counted down and flung her out of the window. Hibari was still talking to someone in rapid-fire Mandarin of his own phone when Tsuna leapt out to grab I-Pin and Ietsuna jumped out to save them both, everyone landing onto the school grounds safely. Well, more or less.

They stared down at the imploded I-Pin in Tsuna's arms.

“Another one for the house?” Tsuna suggested.

“At this rate we'll probably have practise handling unruly children,” Ietsuna remarked. “Beautiful, great at housework, and love taking care of people, and a vir-”

“Don't say it!” Tsuna freaked. “I'll be sexually harassed!”

“You'll be the perfect housewife,” Ietsuna shrugged.

“Don't you mean house husband?”

Tsuna's reply got both of Ietsuna's hands clapped onto his shoulders. “That's OK. But if you're still set on Sasagawa, that might be problematic. That Sasagawa-sempai looks rather traditional...”

“TENTH!!!!!!!!!!!!” Both of them looked up to see Gokudera hanging out of the window, barely held back by Yamamoto. “I'M SO SORRY FOR NOT IMMEDIATELY JUMPING OUT AFTER YOU!”

“We're OK!” Yamamoto gave a thumbs up, still laughing. “Is this the Mafia game the baby was talking about? Hibari looks rather interested about it.”

“He does look excited,” Ietsuna observed the Disciplinary Committee chairman leap out and land on his feet, tonfas about, advancing on the twins from behind Tsuna...

...stop, stare very hard at I-Pin with brow furrowed, then very decisively reach forward-

“HIIIIIEEEEEEEE!” Tsuna's screech echoed. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING, HIBARI-SAN?!”

“I almost thought I got your gender confused.”

“You bastard!” Gokudera yelled, bright red in the face. “How dare you- how dare you molest the Tenth!”

So I-Pin awoke to this chaos and still came home with the Sawada twins, much to Nana's joy.

“Oh, Tsu-kun looks so much like a mother!” Nana squealed.

Eyes narrowed. “I'm Ietsuna.”

“S- Sorry, Na-kun!” Nana looked flustered, all traces of happiness gone. “B- But, it looks good on you...”

“A- Anyway, Kaa-san,” Tsuna intervened with a meaningful admonishing look at his twin. “We've got another in need of help...”

“Oh, Hayato,” was Bianchi's opening statement to the new arrival. “You came.”

“A- Aneki...” Cue Gokudera fainting.

“Oh, nice timing,” Tsuna smiled at I-Pin. “Sorry, I-Pin-chan, Gokudera is... handling some past trauma from his older sister. This is Bianchi.”

“Buon giorno,” Bianchi beckoned. I-Pin nodded, still frowning as Ietsuna gave her a pair of glasses to clutch and see... the broccoli monster...

“Broccoli monster!” I-Pin blasted him with the Gyoza Fist, resulting in a series of events by which both twins gaped at the purple bazooka that had swallowed up both children barely ten seconds later.

Ietsuna blinked, the faster of the teenagers to react. “What in the- how did that fit into his head?”

Pink smoke exploded, two silhouettes forming...

“The Ten Year Bazooka,” Reborn explained. “It's a bazooka specially made by the Bovino Family, that switches out a person's ten-year-older self with their present self. I suppose we'll see how Lambo and I-Pin looks like right now.”

One of them grabbed Tsuna. “Tsuna-nii!”

“Huh, it's been a while,” the lazy masculine contrast to the high-pitched squeal commented.

“I'm surprised,” Ietsuna commented, looking at the Chinese girl with her hair in looped braids hugging his twin. “Lambo and I-Pin aged nicely.”

“Uh,” Tsuna nodded. Lambo was definitely older, and still wore cow-prints as his buttoned shirt, complemented with a black jacket and cargo trousers with brogues. His messy black curls covered most of one eye, and he definitely towered over most of everyone present minus Yamamoto.

“Huh, toys today are so realistic,” Yamamoto smiled with his vacant comment.

Lambo's eyes fell down to Tsuna and Ietsuna, and his face brightened to join I-Pin. “MASTER! TSUNA-NII!”

“Go away, I was here first!” Future I-Pin rounded on Lambo.

“That's... the stupid cow? I-Pin's a girl?!” Gokudera looked disturbed, by which piece of news was still unclear.

“Master?” Ietsuna looked a bit taken aback at the honorific.

“You've certainly changed, Lambo Bovino,” Reborn commented, his face devoid of expression.

Lambo shrugged, letting go of the twins. “You're paying attention to those below you now, Reborn?”

Reborn looked down at the disassembled gun in his hand that he was polishing. Silently, he continued polishing.

“Stupidera, your face is going to stick,” the future Lambo teased before turning back to Ietsuna with a fond smile. “Oh, I can't say much about the future, Master.”

“Ie-nii,” the future I-Pin smiled. “Oh, I'm so glad I'm not on my part-time job yet! Kawahira-san is always complaining about the soggy noodles in his ramen.”

“Her Japanese is perfect,” Gokudera lampshaded.

“Why do you call me that?” “Ie became a hitman?” Two twins, very different reactions.

“So the Ten Year Bazooka somehow manages to track anyone who enters it by their world line through four-dimensional spacetime.” Ietsuna sighed, yawning. “That's quite a targeting system.”

“...yes,” Lambo smiled, still uneasy. “I think I can surprise you, and your past self frightens me. I can't win like this.”

“If I am your teacher in the future, it stands to reason that the you as you are cannot beat me now,” Ietsuna pointed out. “I'm still surprised that you survived.”

“It's thanks to you that the crybaby me lived,” Lambo's arms shook with effort. “You're not alone. You're not alone. You're not alone.”

“Why do you repeat that?” Ietsuna asked him.

“... sometimes, even the greatest hitman in the world needs some help,” Lambo replied, the utmost seriousness and sincerity written on his face as pink smoke began to envelop him. “So... so...”

With a burst of smoke, the future I-Pin and Lambo disappeared, replaced with their chibi confused selves. Green eyes blinked, and Lambo started to cling onto Ietsuna's leg.

“How was your visit to the future?” Reborn asked.

“I- It was night!” Lambo started crying, with I-Pin starting to join in. “I couldn't see anything! It was scary!”

Ietsuna patted the curly head with horns. “So there's a time difference as well...”

Reborn was not satisfied by the reply, but left it at that, since the dark look Ietsuna was throwing at everyone except Tsuna and the kids was rather reminiscent of Hibari's anti-crowding look.

“Ie! Let her go!”

Tsuna's frantic reaction to the following scene on the next day, was revealed to be the steel tip of a palette knife planted very close to the girl's jugular. The knife was held by Ietsuna, who looked bored and with amber eyes alight with hidden malice.

“Do you always hit people you don't know?” Ietsuna continued to ignore the tension, simply staring at the brown-haired girl, Miura Haru, who had made friends with Reborn and proceed to attempt to slap Tsuna because of a misunderstanding. The situation had rapidly devolved from there. “I'm not angry. Why did you do that?”

“B- Because babies are a- angels w- with p- pure h-hearts...” Haru struggled in fear, but stopped as the blade dug deeper. “Let go!”

“That uniform... Midori Middle,” Ietsuna assessed, pulling out his cellphone. “I'm calling this in. Hibari might have something to say.”

Even despite her school being in a different neighbourhood and of a different education strata, the name of Namimori's demon prefect was enough to cause a panic. “W- What?”

“You just tried to attack the general affairs manager of the Namimori Middle Disciplinary Committee,” Ietsuna indicated the red armband as he continued typing. “Plus, since you know Reborn, we can probably assume that you're a stalker.”

“Mafiosi should be gentle towards women and children,” Reborn counselled before Ietsuna would blow this whole thing out of proportion.

“He's right, Ie,” Tsuna continued to freak. “You should get off Miura-san! And put that down, Hibari-san would just make things worse!”

“Why? That sounds like age and gender discrimination,” Ietsuna replied, a touch surprised. Especially since the knife was still there.

“No, it's disproportionate retribution,” Tsuna reasoned. “B- Besides, as the general affairs manager, I process everything. So... you can let go now, Ie.”

Scoffing, Ietsuna let go of her arm and got back up, pocketing his cellphone. “...fine.”

“I'm so sorry for Ie,” Tsuna bowed deeply to her. “My twin brother is always jumping in against bullies, so... sorry!”

“That brother of yours must be pure evil ~desu,” Haru circled him, arms crossed. “Haru thinks that you're nice, though.”

“Tsuna is the nice one,” Reborn butted in. “Ietsuna is the evil twin.”

“Reborn! Ietsuna isn't evil, he's... overprotective.” Actually, Tsuna thought, that title fell to Gokudera. Ietsuna was more inclined to be laissez-faire until something happened to Tsuna right in front of him, at which Ietsuna intervened. Brutally.

“Haru thinks you're cool, standing up to that scary killer!” Haru continued. “Haru will see you around! Bye, Tsuna-san, Reborn-chan!”

“...strange,” Tsuna rubbed his cheek and wiped a bead of sweat off his face. “Ietsuna isn't usually this hair-trigger. I just hope that nothing happens...”

“Does Ietsuna have homicidal tendencies?” Reborn asked.

Tsuna's face morphed into one of worry. “Erm...”

The silence stretched, and Tsuna turned to walk to school with Reborn following silently. Tsuna remained silent until the lunch hour, at which the tutor and student duo shared a bento and watched Ietsuna run rings around Hibari from a few storeys up.

“...when we were six, I was always bullied,” Tsuna reflected. “At studies or sports, I failed. Everyone called me Dame-Tsuna, No-Good Tsuna... Ietsuna is good at sports and studies, but he always protected me from bullies. I worried for him, but he always promised to protect me. One day, I caught him digging holes in the playground. I didn't know what they were for, until I saw him lure one of my bullies in. The spot was far from the playground, so no one heard his cries for help. He couldn't climb out. “Wait, I'll get help,” Ietsuna said as he walked away, and the boy's cries became weaker. “He needs help,” Ietsuna told me. “We should find a teacher,” I said. “If you like, Tsuna,” he said, and he walked away.”

Reborn remained silent, patiently waiting.

“The boy was already crying, and I realised... Ietsuna was really going to leave him like that,” Tsuna's voice shook. “I... there was no teacher around, and no one would listen to me, Dame-Tsuna. Ietsuna just gave me a rope and told me... “As you wish, Tsuna.” I... tied a rope to a tree, and threw it down, and I made sure that the boy got out. He moved after that, because his house burned down.”

“Was it Ietsuna?” Reborn demanded.

“I... I don't know,” his shoulders matched his voice. “It's my fault. I- If I could have been stronger... if I just stood for myself... if I taught him better... Ie wouldn't resort to such methods. I could stop him. People won't die because of me. One time... one time, Kaa-san accidentally called me Dame-Tsuna... I don't know what he said, but his words hurt Kaa-san, and Kaa-san just took it all until I stopped him. She broke down... she had to go to the hospital. I told him to apologise, and he said... he said... “Why? I'm right.””

“So, when you intervened in the duel against Gokudera... you were making sure that your brother doesn't kill him,” Reborn pronounced. “And, Haru...”

“W- Watch the h- house,” Tsuna hiccoughed. “H- He knows the a- address n- now.”

Reborn kept an active scout around the Miura residence at night. He increased surveillance on the twins, especially Ietsuna. When Moretti the Murdered dropped in, and tried to show off the Addio skill, Reborn saved the mafioso from being dismembered just in time for Ietsuna to bring out the bone saw. Thus, one month was spent like this, Tsuna grew slightly more proficient in using the Dying Will Bullets – sadly, without enforced streaking in boxers – and Ietsuna remained as essentially unkillable by fist, blade, bullet, poison or explosive.

“Japan's labour laws might have something to say about your part-time jobs, Tsuna and Ietsuna,” Reborn commented two weeks after another blow-up on the thirteenth of October.

“Well, I learn some things at the nail salon to perform hand maintenance,” Tsuna smiled. “It's really helped!”

“You got a problem with working reception at a gym, Reborn?” Ietsuna drawled.

“You're both fourteen,” Reborn pointed out lamely as they reached the porch of the house. “How did you manage to convince the proprietors?”

“Hibari/Hibari-san.”

The door opened, and Tsuna barely held back Ietsuna's reflex kick, unfortunately bowling him in over the pop of champagne poppers.

“Happy birthday!” everyone announced.

“Thank you,” Reborn spoke up. “I appreciate that you guys gathered for me today. I'm one year old now.”

“...happy birthday, Reborn,” was Ietsuna's flat reply, in contrast to Tsuna's “That was it?!”

“Tenth/Tsuna!” came the twin exclamations.

“Gege!” I-Pin called. “Broccoli monster mean!”

“Haa, tail-head!”

“Lambo, that's rude.”

Nana, I-Pin, Lambo, Bianchi, Gokudera and Yamamoto had been expected; Haru had not been, but Tsuna smiled and greeted her, and made sure that Ietsuna did the same. “It's fine, Ie. Today is Reborn's birthday, so it must be... festive.”

“Thank you,” Reborn's eyes twinkled as he curled one sideburn. “Why don't we start the Vongolian birthday game?”

Everyone looked at each other. “Huh?”

“Each of you will compete for points awarded by the birthday boy with a 'present' or 'performance' before we eat cake and open presents,” Reborn elaborated. “It's a time filler. The participant with the highest score earns an elegant present.”

“...and the lowest score?” Gokudera asked with trepidation, though whether from his proximity to his sister or to the prospect of losing was debatable.

“The one with the lowest score will die.”

“No way!!” Tsuna screamed.

“Since Yamamoto brought the sushi, he gets eighty points,” Reborn placed a Yamamoto sticker onto a fancy gold-filigree scoreboard.

“Since Reborn-chan is always wearing black, I've made a white suit,” Haru pulled out her creation. “It's target-patterned.”

Tsuna clapped a hand on his twin's shoulder. “He'll be targeted too easily!”

“I like these kinds of thrilling clothing,”Reborn accepted it. “Eighty-five points.”

“I'm next,” Bianchi smiled. “I'm celebrating Reborn's birthday with genuine Italian pizza tossing.”

After half the room got sliced, Bianchi walked out with ninety points to bake the pizza, Ietsuna's glare directed at her back.

With Lambo as her assistant, I-Pin displayed her Gyoza Fist, sending the young hitman careening around, netting her eighty points as well. Gokudera showed off his talent of replacing dynamite with sparklers.

“Nothing blew up,” Reborn commented. “Sixty points.”

“N- No...”

“Mama did the cooking as well, so Mama get ninety points,” Reborn added.

“Oh, my! Reborn-chan!”

“I'll go next,” Ietsuna produced his pencils and paper. “With my eyes, I'll predict how you'll look twenty years in the future, Reborn.”

“Hmph,” Reborn dismissed as furious sketching filled the room. “Is Tsuna next?”

“I have to do it too?!” Tsuna exclaimed. “I haven't heard about this until today, how can I have prepared?! Lambo probably didn't prepare anything either.”

“That's not true!” Lambo pouted, bringing up a chopstick with hair glued on it.

“One point.”

“Gyupaa!” Lambo started, falling down in shock.

Reborn levelled his gun at Tsuna. “It's your turn, Tsuna. If you forfeit, you die with zero points.”

“Tsu-kun, good luck!” Nana smiled.

“You can always do that, right?” Ietsuna teased.

Nearly everyone sat up. Some special talent or embarrassment? It sent a mass signal through, like predators scenting blood in the wind.

“...fine,” Tsuna got up before Ietsuna could make a break for the chopsticks. Footsteps trooped up the stairs to his room, and more fumbling sounded. It was a while before Tsuna descended back down the steps, and then the clatter of chopsticks on the table was heard. Multiple chopsticks.

“T- Tsuna-san...” Haru gaped.

“T- I'm sorry for having impure thoughts, Tenth!” Gokudera slammed his head onto the table. A collective wince showed how painful it was.

“W- Wow,” Yamamoto looked elsewhere and his gaze was directed down. “Y- You... look like Kirika. Really.”

Tsuna glanced down at the pink shoes, pulling the skirt. “Y- You don't think it's overdone?”

“Tsuna-san makes such a beautiful girl!” Haru leapt to her feet. “Haru is shocked!”

“If you're just cross-dressing, it'll require more than that schoolgirl look to impress me,” Reborn stonily commented. Despite that, watching Tsuna fiddle with the dark blue sailor uniform, Reborn very desperately tried to look elsewhere and not at his gender-challenged student and not make it obvious.

“I'll be singing,” Tsuna pouted, stance straight and defiant. “A cappella, the song 'Canta Per Me' from the animé Noir, composed by Yuuki Kajiura².”

“Oh? Music would be good,” Reborn smirked. “I've heard all the choirs of Italy, after all.”

“Erm...” Tsuna fidgeted. “Ie, I need... the narration.”

“What? Fine,” Ietsuna coughed. “Le noir... ce mot désigne depuis une époque lointaine le nom du destin. Les deux vierges règnent sur la mort. Les mains noires protègent la paix des nouveaux-nés³.”

Reborn snorted at the trite narration; animé was beneath him-

Then Tsuna opened his mouth.

 
Canta per me addio,
Quel dolce suono...
de’ passati giorni,
Mi sempre rammenta...
La vita dell’amore,
Dilette del cor mio...
O felice, tu anima mia,
Canta addagio…
 

...Madre di Dio, animé was good. The experience was a lot like being clubbed upside the head with Orpheus, or an angel from heaven, or a saint praying to God with hands clasped and halo of orange forming... and Reborn should probably stop himself right there. Just because one student could sing in Italian was no indication of talent, no matter how good it sounded in his head.

If there had been any mistakes, no one were picking on them just yet.

Tempra la cetra e canta,
Il inno di morte...
A noi si schiude il ciel,
Volano al raggio...

La vita dell’amore,
Dilette del cor mio,
O felice, tu anima mia,
Canta addio...

La vita dell’amore,
O dilette del cor mio…
 

The room had fallen silent, and Tsuna shrugged, the orange halo seemingly disappeared from his general demeanour. The angel of music was replaced with a rather petite sailor-uniform-wearing cross-dresser.

Reborn was the first to recover his voice. “...You get one hundred points.”

“As expected of the Tenth!” Gokudera cheered.

“T- That was awesome, Tsuna!” Yamamoto cheered.

Ietsuna smirked as he handed over the completed sketch. Reborn grudgingly gave him ninety-five points; Ietsuna had gotten sideburns too prominently. The party wound down after that.

The twins were getting ready for bed when Ietsuna handed his twin a book. “Happy birthday, Tsuna.”

“Ah, this is...”

“Your present, obviously,” Ietsuna sighed. “It's a painting book, made by yours truly. There's only one of it in this world, so treasure it.”

“I will!” Tsuna opened the clam-shaped book, admiring the rainbow pattern of the first page made of canvas in impasto. “This is so cool! But, I don't have a present...”

“Your happiness is enough, Tsuna,” Ie smiled.

Tsuna looked at his earnest brother, and felt the effort of having cobbled the meaningful paintings collected within together, years and years of oil on canvas collected within. “Happy birthday, Ie.”

Up on the roof, Reborn stared towards the heavens, which was clear in the October night. Stars spilled out across the night, and faintly Reborn traced the Gemini constellation with one finger. Leon shivered, curling close to its master, absently closing its eyes to fall asleep.

“Happy birthday, to the greatest hitman in the world,” Reborn commented. “I've been the greatest hitman for fourteen years since you died, Lorenzo.”

Chapter Text

“Gokudera-kun, have you been around Namimori?”

Since the question was posed from one Sawada Tsunayoshi to one Gokudera Hayato, the effect was the silver-haired delinquent leaping like he'd received a beckoning call from God. “N- No, Tenth! That is a grave oversight on my part!”

“No, that's alright,” Tsuna smiled. “Today I needed to go to town anyway, so I could show you some of the sights- oh, but you must be busy-”

“I'm absolutely not!” Gokudera declared loudly. “For the Tenth, I have all the time in the world!”

“I'm glad,” Tsuna turned to the table behind his. “Ie, about tonight...”

“I need to stock up on paints,” Ietsuna replied airily. “I'll be following you to the art supplies shop, and no further. I'll settle my own dinner, so you and Gokudera go on your two-man excursion into Namimori and explore the sights. We'll meet up in the evening.”

“Yamamoto-kun is busy with his baseball practice as well...” Tsuna mused. “So it'll be just the three of us, Gokudera-kun.”

Gokudera threw up, causing a mad scramble to drag furniture out of the way.

“G- Gokudera-kun?! Are you alright?!”

“I t- threw u- up out of happiness...” came the answering burble.

“You have something to do in the evening?”

Tsuna gave a critical eye to the desk which Reborn just popped out of. “ When did you modify my desk?!”

“Focus, Dame-Tsuna,” Reborn shot back. “What do you have in the evening?”

“Ie and I have to clean an altar,” Tsuna defended. “Today is Grandpa's death anniversary.”

“I didn't hear about this, Tsuna, Ietsuna,” Reborn shot back as Gokudera started bowing and scraping at interrupting this hallowed day.

“Kaa-san doesn't talk about him much,” Ietsuna spoke up. “He's our paternal grandfather, and it sounded like he would've moved in with us if he was alive. If he was alive, we'd see that shitty father of ours a lot less too, since that shitty father sounded terrified of Grandpa.”

“Sounds like a demonic in-law,” Reborn commented. “What's his name?”

“Sawada Ietsuna, Senior,” Ietsuna leant back onto his chair. “That's where I got my name from. Our hospital caught fire on the day of our birth, and Grandpa died saving us from the newborn ward, so...” a shrug. “It's the least we can do.”

“Hold on...” Gokudera paled. “If Tenth's grandfather died on the day of your birth – that is, today – then today is...”

“...oh, you're right,” Ietsuna smirked openly. “Todayis our fourteenth birthday. That hag forgot our birthday again...”

“Ie!” Tsuna was restraining Gokudera from slamming his head anymore. “Don't add on! Yamamoto-kun, help me!”

“Oh?” Yamamoto stared at the scene before him. “What's going on?”

“I have no excuse for forgetting the Tenth's birthday!” Gokudera yelled. “I have not prepared a present. Instead, please accept a pinky finger!”

“You don't need to mutilate your hands, Gokudera-kun!”

More misinformation, and something left out altogether. At least, Reborn reflected, the twins had a bit of piety and Ietsuna was not, apparently, totally with a brother complex. Some investigation into that fire would be needed; if one of the Sawada family had died into it, it also meant that one of Primo's direct descendants had died there. Either way, it was not pressing, unlike what he'd done to call Dino over.

The twins' meeting with Dino did not go well. At all. Reborn had forgotten to factor in the Disciplinary Committee's presence – or just wanted to troll the Chiavarone boss's coterie. The twins came back home to see a gangland war on their doorstep. It took the form of several besuited men in dark suits, against the Disciplinary Committee's main force, led by Hibari himself.

So far, if the grunts and the scattering of dark-suited men on the ground was any indication, the Disciplinary Committee was winning.

“What is going on?!” Tsuna demanded.

“Home invasion?” was Ietsuna's acid reply, walking and dodging a body tossed by Hibari, which hit a stone wall. “Yo, guys.”

“Ietsuna-san! Sawada-hime!” a few snapped quick salutes, jumping back into the fray just as quickly.

“Stop that name!” Tsuna hollered back, clutching onto the hem of his skirt. “Home invasion? This is my house!”

“Herbivores, you're crowding,” Hibari's battle snarl echoed as the twins walked to their front porch and inside, up to their room.

“Oh, Tsu-kun, Na-kun,” Nana smiled in greeting. “Welcome back. You have a guest in your atelier.”

“We're back,” Ietsuna took off his shoes. “Isn't there something else you should say, Kaa-san?”

“Oh? Like what?”

“I- It's nothing,” Tsuna tried to intervene.

“Che,” Ietsuna scoffed, allowing himself to be pushed past Nana and up the stairs.

“We've been waiting for you, Tsuna, Ietsuna.” Reborn chirped as a welcome. The canvases and easels had been pushed to the walls, and a black armchair took pride of place, back currently faced towards them.

“How did that armchair get in our room?” Ietsuna asked, instead of Tsuna's “We're back.”

“Yo, Vongola Boss,” a voice drifted into the conversation, as the chair turned to reveal a man with shaggy blond hair, punk-casual getup and a few tattoos. “I travelled from afar to pay you a visit. I'm the Chiavarone Family's Tenth boss, Dino.”

A flicker of emotion passed in his eyes as he laid them on the twins. “There are two of them? Well, the guy is the most likely candidate... but I'm so glad there's such a pretty girl amongst Reborn's students.”

Illuminated by the light of the afternoon sun drifting in from the window, Tsuna gave an awkwardly breathtaking smile.

“...This must be fate,” Dino declared.

Reborn kicked him in the head. “Useless Dino. I called you from Italy to introduce yourself, not get distracted by a pretty face.”

“I- I'm a guy,” Tsuna confessed, causing Dino's smile to drop. “I'm Tsunayoshi, please call me Tsuna. This is my brother, Ietsuna.”

“Your eyes suck.” Ietsuna chipped in.

“Ie!” Tsuna scolded.

“Boss!” the two suited men in the room screamed as their boss collapsed. “Pull yourself together!”

“He got the bridge dropped on him,” Ietsuna dissuaded. “Reborn, who are these guys?”

“Dino is your senior apprentice,” Reborn answered. “I taught him how to be a Mafia boss before I came here. His capabilities before I came were zero, like you two.”

“Well, I'm sure most Mafia bosses don't immediately look for an Adam's apple,” Ietsuna noted, immediately heading for the window and throwing it open. “Oi, Hibari! The cause of the crowding is in our room.”

The local demon prefect launched himself through, tonfas drawn, and barely paid attention to anyone past the blond man. “I'll bite you to death.”

Dino had barely drawn his whip before chaos was launched.

“Oh,” Nana poked her head in to see the pile of bruises that was currently Dino facing off against Hibari. “Hibari-kun, was it? Today we're having hamburger steak, so will you be staying for dinner?”

An absent kick delivered, Hibari smirked. “Thank you for the offer, Sawada Nana.”

“Mamma will be fine, Hibari-kun,” Nana twirled around. “If only Tsu-kun had been born a girl...”

“K- Kaa-san!” Tsuna sputtered.

“Oh?” Something cracked underfoot. “What happened to Dino-kun?”

“H- Hand...” Dino wheezed.

“Oh! Sorry!” Nana stepped off his hand. “Are you alright?”

“Gēgē, nǐmén hǎo!” I-Pin greeted as she chased Lambo into the room.

“Tsuna-nii! Ie-nii!” Lambo cheered back. “Catch!”

Hibari caught the grenade instead, but his eyes met I-Pin's. I-Pin blushed, and nine dots began to appear on her forehead. The girl began to leap for the window.

“Oh, this is bad,” Reborn airily added. “Dino's men and the Disciplinary Committee are still out there.”

“Merda!” Dino took a running jump for the window, swinging his whip to throw I-Pin up. The Pinzu Timed Super Explosion detonated a distance in the air, a chrysanthemum of fire blooming and sending I-Pin flying out.

“I-Pin!” Tsuna yelled, racing for the window but tripping and flying out somehow. He caught I-Pin, but his scream caught the attention of the gangland war. He snatched I-Pin out of the air. I-Pin stared at him with wide eyes. She latched onto his arm, whimpering in fear, as they fell down. Tsuna shut his eyes.

Arms grabbed him, and a spin found Tsuna clutching onto a white buttoned shirt. Opening one eye, he peeked at Hibari's irritated expression. Tsuna looked around, bewildered, and realized that Hibari had caught him, and was now holding him and I-Pin bridal-style. “Safe... H- Hibari- I'm sorry for troubling you, Hibari-san!”

The dark-haired prefect remained silent for a few moments, hefting Tsuna. He motioned for I-Pin to get off, the Chinese assassin complying. A few more shifts, before... “You've lost weight.”

“T- Thank you very much, Hibari-san!” Tsuna loudly replied as Hibari set him back onto the ground, blushing madly.

Ignored by the two of them, the Mafia men were now laughing with affection and being glared at by the Disciplinary Committee.

“That's our Boss!”

“Always keeps us on our toes!”

“Sorry, guys!” Dino grinned, but was set upon by an irate Hibari with flashing eyes of anger and tonfas wielded expertly and red armband.

“Who are you?” the prefect demanded.

“The leader of the home invaders, Dino-sempai,” Ietsuna started, with a big grin on his face as he leant on a support pillar at the porch. “So, Hibari, you're here for the birthday party?”

The glare was replaced by a blank look, one that exactly matched Dino's slack-jawed face.

“After all, it's our birthday today,” Ietsuna laid the final nail. “Signor Chiavarone is here for the party on Reborn's request, but he seems to have forgotten the present.”

“...that is against the rules,” Hibari now looked delighted at the excuse, eyeing down Reborn. The prefect had never really forgotten the attempted invasion of the Reception Room that Reborn had masterminded, which had merited a week of hamburger steaks from Tsuna to pacify him from turning the school upside down.

“Exactly,” Ietsuna agreed. “There's a good spot to fight just around the school. I'm sure you'll be satisfied, Hibari. Horse meat is, I'm told, delicious.”

“Today's your birthday, Ietsuna!?” Dino looked a bit green, whether at the prospect of a Vongola birthday party or at the faux pas of not bringing a present.

“I feel a bit offended, but I'm sure my opinions don't matter,” Ietsuna continued in his falsely sweet drawl. “It's just that my cute twin brother is also neglected, and I can't stand that, Signor.”

“This is bad,” Reborn spoke from the sidelines. “At this rate the Vongola-Chiavarone alliance might be destroyed just from the diplomatic tensions alone.”

“I- It's fine, Ie!” Tsuna intervened, and Dino beheld him as one would a ministering angel. “Dino-san didn't know anything. And, he's our sempai, so we shouldn't demand so much since we're in his care.”

“Tsuna...!!!” Dino was nearly crying in relief.

“Information gathering is a basic skill,” Ietsuna parroted Reborn's words right back with a grin. “Isn't that right, Reborn? So, for not finding out the heir's birthday, what is the appropriate punishment?”

“...he's right, Useless Dino,” Reborn muttered, giving Dino a kick.

“Geh! Why'd you kick me?!” Dino complained.

“Your screw-ups reflect on me, Useless Dino.” Reborn growled. It would've been cute if this was not also currently the world's strongest hitman.

“Oh, I just thought of a good solution~!” Ietsuna clapped his hands. Somehow, despite that Tsuna and he were twins, they seemed to be mirror images of each other; the demon to one angel.

“That was Bucking Horse Dino, right?” Gokudera commented as he followed Tsuna, now in civilian clothes, towards the town centre.

“Y- Yeah... he got blackmailed by Ie to buy paint supplies,” Tsuna murmured. “It's not even Dino-san's fault that he didn't know it was my birthday...”

“The shitty Bucking Horse cannot be forgiven!!” Gokudera's yell drew a few stares from milling people, and more than one pointing child whose mothers quickly dragged them away.

“G- Gokudera-kun!”

“It's more than just forgetting the present,” Gokudera lowered his voice, but continued the explanation. “Bucking Horse is the boss of the third-strongest Family in the alliance. Not knowing that both potential heirs have their birthday on this day smacks of not only not paying attention, but also gives Vongola a bad reputation. Indirectly, his own reputation at house management is damaged, though he solved the financial crisis left behind by his predecessor.”

“So Dino-san is good at management as well...” Tsuna noted. “But that sounds unreasonable, especially since Ie and I didn't expect to be chosen. Neither of us even know who exactly would be the Tenth, and neither of us were involved in that world to start with...”

“That's just the rule of the Mafia,” Gokudera snorted. “The Tenth's twin was well within rights. Especially since that Bucking Horse also disrespected the Tenth...!!”

“Erm... actually, that's what I wanted to know as well,” Tsuna paused in the middle of showing Gokudera the main street of Namimori, the town between the sea and the forest. “Ie and I... either one of us could be the Tenth, right?”

“No,” Gokudera shook his head.

“H- How could you say that?” Tsuna asked.

“I...” Gokudera mulled over it. “I might be presumptuous, but I get the feeling that Tenth's Nii-sama wants you to be safe, above all. When he tried to kill me, when he ate Aneki's Poison Cooking knowingly, and when he blackmailed the Bucking Horse... it was for your sake. Although I approve of the last one, since I don't like the Bucking Horse.”

“W- Why?”

“All older guys are my enemy.”

“That's a huge range...”

Namimori had been built as a straightforward port village that grew into a small town, complete with police post, post office, markets, business districts and its underlying suburbs and the infrastructure and housings that followed middle-sized cities. Gokudera absorbed part of it, but most of his attention was on that Tenth is showing me around- it's just Tenth and I around town -there's no one around -Tenth is beautiful-

Why that last sentence was there, was anyone's guess.

“This is the local shrine,” Tsuna pointed towards the shrine after the pair had climbed about a kilometre of stairs uphill, panting slightly. “It's a bit late, but that's the heart of Namimori. This is also where I was supposed to meet Ie.”

“Actually, Tenth... why did you invite me out?” Gokudera asked. “If you just wanted surveillance, you could have just given me a mission...”

“Oh, no,” Tsuna pouted. “It's... because we're friends, but I don't know if you're fitting into Namimori or if you're facing problems... and we barely meet each other outside of class. Actually, it's... I don't need a subordinate. I'd like to be your friend. If you'd let me.”

“Tenth...” Imaginary dog ears and tail flickered in the background, with added bishie sparkles as Gokudera's sea-green eyes peered into Tsuna's deep caramel orbs and found complete sincerity. “I... I actually have problems making the rent-”

“Tsuna?”

“Yamamoto?/Baseball idiot?” the two of them stared at the dark-haired man before a crash resounded and dust billowed from behind the shrine.

“Don't hold back!” Ietsuna's rally drew bellows of encouragement and complaints.

“W- What is going on?” Tsuna dashed, with Gokudera and Yamamoto trailing behind him, to the back of the shrine. “Yamamoto?”

“Oh, the baby tutor said that there's something interesting happening here!” Yamamoto brightly replied as they dashed to the back of the shrine.

Several craters were dug – or hammered – into the relatively dry flat ground by a well, Dino brandishing a whip against Hibari and his tonfas of mass destruction while Dino's men cheered for their boss with Ietsuna monitoring the book. “H- Hibari-san! Dino-san!” Tsuna exclaimed. “Ie, what are you doing?!”

“Dino vs Hibari,” Ietsuna replied, his expression severe. Beside him was a bouquet of chrysanthemums and a bunch of incense. “I'm setting up a book. Hibari might be a 'frog in the well', to quote Dino-sempai, so Dino-sempai should make up for it by training Namimori's protector. Gokudera and Yamamoto are here too?”

“Gambling is against the rules, Sawada Ietsuna,” Hibari growled, chest heaving.

“When you call me your senior, I feel terrified,” Dino quipped. “I'll have you repay that ¥1,000,000 tab!”

“Ie, that's unreasonable!” Tsuna accused.

“Reborn said it was fine,” Ietsuna smiled benevolently at his brother. “I also got new shoes from Maître!”

“Sawada Tsunayoshi,” Hibari purred. “Perhaps you would like to join in as well.”

“N- No-”

“Might be a good chance to assess your strength,” Dino mused.

“Don't worry, Tenth!” Gokudera produced dynamites out of thin air.

“This looks fun,” Yamamoto grinned. “So, we're fighting Hibari?”

“Hmph, even though you're maintaining the hegemony of Namimori as well... I'll bite you all to death.”

Tsuna whimpered as Hibari loomed, tonfas drawn.

“Don't worry, Tsuna! I'll...” Dino paused as he was stopped by a loading revolver sound. “Reborn?”

A click resounded from Ietsuna's spot, where he had his phone out. “For the memories,” he commented, moving to avoid being shot.

“I seriously hate camera phones right now...” Reborn muttered under his breath, loading another magazine to aim at Tsuna. “You're the only sane man around, Tsuna.”

“Reborn-”

Ietsuna leapt towards Tsuna, but found a whip trailing for him and catching him on the arm. “What-?”

“Reborn said to hold you back-” Dino gaped as the whip was sliced through with a sharpening knife. “What the hell?”

With one movement, the knife was flung at Reborn, who moved to watch the blade sink into the tree behind him. “That was close, Ietsuna.”

“Today is supposed to be our grandpa's death anniversary,” Ietsuna commented, no longer smiling and very much calm in the face of three killer intents. “It's time to go, Tsuna.”

“Y- Yes, Ie...” Tsuna gave a deep bow. “S- Sorry, Hibari-san! Actually, we're supposed to... visit our grandfather now. It's his death anniversary today.”

“...I see,” Hibari put away his tonfas. “Filial piety to be admired, even towards the dead. Tomorrow you owe me two fights, Sawada Tsunayoshi.”

“Ah,” Dino muttered, bull-whip still dangling in his hands as the groups and Hibari left him and his men with the Spartan tutor. “I just- what just happened?”

“It's not your fault, Dino,” Reborn intervened, in a rare show of tutor authority. “Their birthday is also the death anniversary of their grandfather. I'm surprised. I always thought Iemitsu was too stupid to have been born naturally.”

“Reborn, that's a bit cruel...”

“Tsuna?” Yamamoto mouthed as the twins headed away from the shrine and to the accompanying cemetery.

“Sato... Sawano... Sawada,” Ietsuna commented as they approached one of the family plots¹. He set down the bouquet with a small vase prepared, pulling out a bottle and one of the chrysanthemums. “We're back again, Grandpa.”

“Tenth's twin must be very close...” Gokudera murmured.

“No,” Tsuna dissuaded him. “We never knew our grandfather. But, Grandpa died rescuing us when the hospital caught fire. So, even though it's not Obon², it's only proper to pay respects to him. Ie, why did you pull out one flower?”

“Someone else needs to be remembered,” Ietsuna walked six plots away, standing in front of one suspiciously well-maintained grave to set it forward.

沢田 家康
1865-1915³

“He died young,” Ietsuna remarked. “Well, it's to be expected...”

“Look!” Tsuna pointed at the stone, scraping at the dirt to get a better read, albeit with plenty of care towards the old grave marker. “There's more text, beside the spouse's name... Romaji?”

“Oh, you're right!” Gokudera tilted his head. “Giotto... that's an Italian name... why would Tenth's ancestors have Italian on their grave markers?”

“Isn't that obvious?” Ietsuna asked him, tracing the text.

ジョット
N on nobis solum nati sumus ortusque nostri partem patria vindicat, partem amici.

“Jo- to?” Tsuna read.

“Giotto, Tenth,” Gokudera corrected.

“But, why would an Italian name be on an old Japanese grave?” Yamamoto questioned.

“This is the grave of the First Vongola,” Ietsuna delivered dispassionately. “Our ancestor.”

“T- The Great Sky, Vongola Primo?” Gokudera looked ready to faint.

“He set up the basis of the Vongola Family, but he's cremated like anyone else,” Ietsuna commented, as the light of the setting sun fell over the cemetery. “We don't know where he came from or when he came to Japan, but from what Reborn said, he was defeated and he came here, presumably around the Reformation. He died here, a gaijin⁴, burnt and buried and laid to rest away from his homeland and family. I guess he's just bones now.”

“...” Tsuna suddenly smiled, and plucked another yellow blossom. “These flowers are for mourning. It's surprising, Ie, that you'd be so considerate to bring exactly twelve chrysanthemums.”

“So this is your ancestor, Tsuna, Ietsuna?” Yamamoto looked touched. “How exciting! Let's help clean his grave, Gokudera!”

“You don't need to say something so obvious, baseball-idiot!”

“This is the fate that awaits the Vongola Tenth,” Ietsuna meditated as the boys set about to clean the stray vines from the marker. “It's a sad, cruel and lonely path. No sane person would choose it.”

“Today I cleaned the grave of Ieyasu-jiisan with Ie, Gokudera-kun, and Yamamoto-kun,” Tsuna dutifully recited the evening's events. “You can put the gun away now, Reborn.”

“Primo's grave?” Reborn nearly dropped the semi-automatic. “It's still here?”

“Who's Primo?”

“The Vongola First Boss, Dame-Tsuna,” Reborn fretted. “Where? If his DNA was stolen-”

“But that's impossible,” Tsuna pointed out.

“I said,” Reborn ignored him, “That blood is the rule of the Mafia. If anyone managed to locate his grave, they can use the marrow in his bones-”

“It's impossible, Reborn,” Tsuna patiently replied, “because he was cremated nearly a hundred years ago.”

“... good job anyway,” Reborn mutinously commented.

“Is the body of the First so important?” Tsuna asked.

“Vongola Primo had the power of Hyper Intuition,” Reborn explained. “A power to see all.”

“There was something weird on his grave,” Tsuna commented, as Ietsuna entered the room. “Ie, do you have the rubbing?”

“It's in the atelier,” Ietsuna rubbed behind his ears with a towel, blowing at a wet lock of hair slapped on his forehead.

“OK,” Tsuna walked out, leaving his twin and Reborn to stare at each other in silence until he returned.

“This is Latin,” Reborn answered upon reading the rubbed text. “It's from Cicero. 'We are not born, we do not live for ourselves alone; our country, our friends, have a share in us.'”

“How do I say it... it feels like Ieyasu-jiisan admired Cicero,” Tsuna commented lightly.

Reborn thought to the age-old well-thumbed In Verrum⁵, the century-old edition in the original Latin, which had somehow survived the years nestled beside the chemical-stained collection of papers retrieved before 221B Baker Street had been transformed into a museum. How did the Hyper Intuition worked sometimes, he wondered.

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Chapter Text

“I'm telling you, Kozato-san, I haven't made anything worth selling yet,” Ietsuna was on the phone the next morning, pacing up and down the dining room. “Yes... no. No, I don't need it.”

“Who's Kozato?” Reborn asked Tsuna.

“Oh, that's Ie's agent,” Tsuna smiled. “Well, there was a mess of circumstances that led to us discovering that someone disguised himself as our dad to kill Kozato-san. Ie was all for framing Dad until I convinced him otherwise and ran in to stop him. By which I mean fling myself into the danger first, and Ie followed me. Things worked out.”

Reborn thought back a bit. That bit of news had not been discovered by the CEDEF investigators of the Flood of Blood Incident. “I see.”

“Yeah. That's it... right. I'll call if I need to sell a piece. Thanks. Good morning to you too. Yes, Enma called just last week... I need to get another phone? You're paying, Kozato-san. Bye.” Ietsuna clicked his phone shut.

“Is Kozato-san looking for another piece to sell?” Tsuna asked him from the table.

“More or less,” Ietsuna yawned slightly as he considered his toast and bit into it. “I hate genre paintings. I wanted to send him a capriccio.”

“What happened?”

“It turned into cow-print Namimori,” Ietsuna replied flatly. “I gave the canvas to the children to make finger-paints with some old poster paints.”

“You paint?” Dino stared at the twin. “Well enough to sell? You... don't look the type.”

“I wear protective clothing,” Ietsuna replied, still staring at his lunch before getting up. “Well, I'm going out, Kaa-san, Dino-sempai, Reborn. Tsuna, tell Hibari I'm not going to school today. He'll know where I am.”

“Oh... right...” Tsuna frowned as Ie left, before turning his head to Reborn. Lambo spat out some hot soup, and Nana started to fuss over him as I-Pin picked on the child hitman.

“You know,” Tsuna commented. “I've noticed that you don't like Ie that much.”

“Do you know the 'Maître' Ietsuna was referring to?” Reborn asked Dino, ignoring Tsuna.

“Maître... ah, the painting supplies woman,” Dino nodded, paling. “It's the Mauviette.”

“Huh?” Tsuna blinked.

“Tsuna, your brother's been taking savate lessons from a retired hitwoman,” Reborn revealed.

“Oh, so that's what Alouette-san was doing before she moved here,” Tsuna commented. “I was surprised. She never really leaves her shop or the attached gym. I thought it was because her husband died in France and she followed her daughter to Japan because she wanted to return to Asia, or so she said...”

“How do you know her?” Dino asked cautiously, looking sideways at Reborn.

“We knew her through Hibari-san. Ie cooks and cleans in exchange for instruction,” Tsuna began to clean up.

“Hibari- you mean that prefect yesterday?” Dino twitched.

“Ah, yes,” Tsuna nodded. “Alouette-san is Hibari-san's grandmother.”

“...Maître is a male title,” Reborn noted, since Dino looked a bit too stunned.

Dino winced as Tsuna closed his eyes. “Well... Alouette-san cross-dresses. She's been doing that since her son disappeared.”

Reborn's eyes were shadowed by his fedora. “...Did she say when?”

“Erm... no,” Tsuna considered. “It's a sensitive topic, apparently...”

Reborn was still thinking when Tsuna brought up the subject of Gokudera's impending home-stay into the Sawada home to Nana. The result was predictable.

“I'm leaving!” Tsuna jogged out of the house, before stopping.

“Buon giorno, Vongola,” Romario greeted, the leader of a horde of Mafiosi.

“Er, good morning,” Tsuna stuttered. “If this is about Dino-sempai...”

“Why are you guys here?” Dino sighed as he walked out, showing off his multiple tattoos. “I didn't ask for a pick-up.”

“No one's here to pick you up, Boss,” Romario smirked. “We just happened to end up here after we wandered around. The other Vongola got the pompadour kids off our backs.”

“Ie walked through here?” Tsuna blinked.

“From the hotel in front of the station, eh?” Dino drawled.

Tsuna hid a laugh. “Dino-sempai is really liked by his subordinates... I wish I could get that kind of respect with the Disciplinary Committee.”

“The Regent-style squad that attacked us, right?” Dino looked confused. “But they respect you. They gave you a salute and everything...”

“Ah, it's because of Hibari-san...” Tsuna mumbled. “I cook enough for his lunch and dinner and I go over to clean his house once a week. Sometimes I get to save them from being bitten to death!”

I see... Dino kept the smile on his face. Compared to that Hibari Kyoya, anyone would look like a saint...

“And then they keep calling me a princess, even though I don't cross-dress that often- Dino-sempai?”

“Boss, pull yourself together!” Romario executed a dive to rescue his fainting boss. “It's not the end of the world!”

“Good morning, Tenth!” Gokudera greeted when Tsuna walked out of the house.

“Gokudera-kun?”

“I woke up early, and as I wandered around I just happened to end up here,” Gokudera unabashedly gave the same excuse as the Chiavarone button-men. “The Tenth's twin isn't with you?”

“Ie has training, or something,” Tsuna replied. “Say, I asked Kaa-san, and we've got a few spare rooms, so if you'd like to move in with us it's alright.”

“T- Tenth...” Gokudera blushed to the roots of his silver hair. “I- I couldn't possibly...”

“Tsuna-san!” Haru ran up to them. “I wandered around until I ended up here too! To see you without that evil twin around, Haru is so lucky~!”

“Morning, Sawada!”

“Good morning, Sasagawa-sempai,” Tsuna side-stepped the charging senior who passed by them with a wave.

“Morning!” Yamamoto waved. “What are you guys doing?”

“Yo, Smoking Bomb,” Dino waved.

“Bronco...!”

“Well, we're going to be late, so let's go,” Tsuna intercepted Gokudera before the silver-haired hitman could launch himself. “Anyway, we're leaving!”

“Oh...”

“Haru will come part of the way with you!”

“What do you think?” Reborn asked the boss.

“They're still kids,” Dino mused.

“Looks like you're interested,” Reborn commented.

“I guess.”

“Do they look worth it?”

Dino shrugged. “The most important part of a Family is trust. That trust definitely exists between the twins themselves, Hibari Kyoya, and Smoking Bomb.”

Reborn smirked. “Finally, I can use the Dying Will Bullets on Tsuna.”

“Eh?” Dino asked.

“Ietsuna can't use the Dying Will Bullet, but he can use the Zero Point Breakthrough,” Reborn confessed. “Yes, it's an odd quirk. He ended up protecting his twin from my bullets.”

“That evil twin can use such a legendary technique?” Dino's eyes were widened to comical proportions. “Salvaci!”

Reborn shot at him. “Idiot Dino.”

“Yeah, I got the idea,” Dino was still leaning on one side. “The Mauviette trained him, and he can use Zero Point... he'll be an incredible anti-Mafia fighter. What's the verdict?”

“Iemitsu believes that Ietsuna's existence is draining on Tsuna,” Reborn explained. “He thinks that Ietsuna is a... parasite to be killed. My bullets, Bianchi's Poison Cooking, even the Gyoza Fist failed to have any effect.”

“He'll have to be a human with no sense of taste, smell or touch,” Dino listed incredulously. “How does anyone fight against an opponent like that? I'm surprised you haven't thrown in the towel yet.”

“...why do you say he has no sense of touch?” Reborn asked him.

“Why- your bullets hurt, Reborn,” Dino answered bluntly and honestly, still staring towards the distance. “If the kid constantly throws himself in front of them, he's either pretty stupid or he has no sense of physical pain.”

“...if you want to test them, do it now,” Reborn decided. “I have to visit a retired lark.”

“Don't forget to steep the gloves! Your equipment is the most important!”

“I got it!” Ietsuna's parting yell signalled Reborn's chance to approach it.

The shop was in Namimori's sleepiest part of Main Street. It was a shop-house, an individual piece of building that looked more permanent than the whole street, as if the street had been built up around the two-storey building. The front was glass, and the words «Ciel Art Supplies» made prominent in black letters. It might be innocuous, but Reborn approached it with the utmost respect.

Reborn opened the door, and a bell tinkled overhead. The air conditioning wafted in, cold and with a mild scent of plaster.

“We're closed,” came the muffled voice over the counter.

“I'm not a customer, Madame Lei.”

She poked her head over the counter. White feathery streaks lined in her feathery blonde hair, and hard grey eyes narrowed at him from their setting in a face lined with age. She was a handsome woman, and Reborn held no shame in admitting it, despite that fifty-year age difference physically, or the twenty-thirty year difference in reality.

While the concept of dynasties might have died out in high politics, democracy never really caught on. After all, the Mafia was still organised loosely as coscas or famiglias. After all, most crime families – unlike the Vongola, only by necessity – were not exactly organised by blood ties, though they were a bonus. Some of the upper echelons, though, managed to propagate by family, such that it might be fair to call them dynasties. The famous – or infamous – Alaude still haunted the criminal underworld at large, especially since his sprog managed to survive two world wars and travel to Asia. One of the current Arcobaleno came from this family.

“I'm out of cidre,” was the woman's first statement upon laying eyes on Reborn. “Not that you could drink it.”

“If you want it to be, Madame Lei,” Reborn walked in as she stepped aside, the blonde woman closing the door of Ciel Painting Supplies. She locked it, and flipped the sign to Closed. She wore a white cotton tee and jeans that ended in hard rubber soles.

“C'est une surprise,” she commented. “Are you here to kill me?”

“No. I didn't expect youto be living in Namimori,” Reborn gravely replied as he followed her lead into the shop-house apartment and into the small kitchen. He settled on the counter and watched her bustle about. “You're still very respected in our circles, Madame Lei. I heard the sad news about your son.”

“...Fēng was too good,” she reflected sadly, bustling to prepare coffee. “He inherited everything from Papi; that drive, that free spirit... I hope, wherever he is, he's happy. Mes excuses, j'ai oublié mes manières. Comment vous vous appelez?”

“I am Reborn,” Reborn imparted with all manner of seriousness. “And... your son... I knew your son.”

“...he's dead.” She caught on.

“In a manner of speaking.”

“...oh,” she stated, grey eyes flickering to the coffee maker as it dripped black liquid down. “...I'm sorry, but my grandson might be dropping in soon. You know how it is, an old woman can't live alone. My disciple is a useless idiot but he cooks and cleans, and he has spirit. His twin though... it's sad that he wasn't born a girl, I was hoping that someone would drag the child from his shell. Is there something I can help you with, Monsieur Reborn?”

“I am actually the home tutor for your... disciple, and his twin,” Reborn imparted seriously. “I did not know who taught him combat-grade savate, but you are... well, you are the Mauviette, madame. I have only just realised that my... colleague... the family resemblance is uncanny.”

“Ah, yes,” she agreed, the grey softening to a pearl sheen. “Mon petit-fils, he looks just like Papi except with black hair. Acts like his great-great-grandfather too, if my memory is not faulty. I am flattered that one of the World's Strongest Seven would visit me to tell me about my son... what was my son doing? That idiot boy...”

“Madame Lei,” Reborn replied. “... I am sorry. I cannot tell you anything. In fact, I was hoping that you could tell me something. Ietsuna... and Tsuna. If you could tell me something about them, it would be much appreciated.”

The older woman looked doubtful. “About Kyoya's friends?”

“About the Sawada twins,” Reborn pressed. “Omérta stills holds over you, Madame Lei. The boys are candidates for Vongola Decimo.”

“...quelle surprise,” she commented, watching the coffee dispenser in her hand carefully as she poured out the mugs. “I was at Enrico's christening. Il y a bien longtemps... il est mort?”

“And Massimo, and Frederico,” Reborn added.

“Poor Timoteo,” Alouette's expression twisted at the common courtesy with a moue of distaste. “They had family in Japan, and it's those two... Ietsuna fights like his grandfather, that I can say. Talented with the knives. Perhaps seeing his old friend in the grandson might ease the pain in Timoteo's heart.”

“The late Sawada Ietsuna?” Reborn posed. “Their grandfather knew Nono?”

Alouette Lei¹ simpered. The wrinkles curving into laugh lines that outlined her resemblance to the Hibari family as she poured out coffee. The grand-daughter of the first CEDEF head, and now grandmother of Namimori's demon prefect, simply sipped coffee and stared at Reborn. “Such a skilled fighter, and what a hero. Even you must have known him in his era, Arcobaleno. He was known as Il Magnifico², because he took on a European name for his sojourn in l'Europe. Talented man, and devoted to his family too.”

“...Lorenzo was Nono's first Lightning Guardian,” Reborn scowled. “It's not exactly relevant at this stage, but it would explain why the man retired forty years ago. That stupid Iemitsu... he never said anything.”

“You don't say things like that,” Alouette dismissed. “You fight, you fly, and when you leave that world, you forget. You cut off all ties and hope that your past never comes back to haunt you. To be forgotten is the necessity to escape the underworld. I doubt the idiot himself knew. I knew only because we've crossed shoes, savateur and savateuse.”

“Nono must have known,” Reborn reasoned.

“Well, I'm just a doddering old woman talking to a baby hitman,” Alouette commented lightly, head still turned to the door. “Si c'est tout?”

“The replacement Lightning Guardian is Ganauche,” Reborn imparted. “On Lorenzo's recommendation. You're going to continue teaching Ietsuna no matter what?”

“An old woman needs her hobbies,” Alouette yawned. “Do you have a problem... Monsieur?”

Old woman and baby glared at each other, but Reborn nodded. “That was all... but, Fēng is not dead. He is... delayed. But he is definitely alive.”

Glass cracked.

“...Je vous remercie,” Alouette murmured, leaning to pick up the glass shards of the coffee dispenser. “J'apprécierais que vous partiez maintenant, môme.”

“J'y vais, madame,” Reborn answered with unusual gallantry for him. “Excusez-moi.”

He did not linger to hear if she broke down, instead moving to the arranged sniper's position to shoot Tsuna. In his experience, les grandes dames were much stronger than expected. Daniela had not broken down where Timoteo had been quietly grieving. Luce had been stronger than expected when the Arcobaleno had been recovering from their curse. If anything, Reborn reflected as he shot Tsuna with a lot more bullets to make up for the dearth, Fon's mother was exactly like how Alaude's grand-daughter was expected to be. Right down to the animal nicknames.

He still resented being called a baby bird, though.

Reborn was almost prepared to slam his skull against a wall. Once.

The ten-bullet mark had been reached within the next two weeks, and Tsuna had gotten Skullitis as predicted. Shamal had not appreciated the bridge dropped onto him with the revelation of Tsuna's gender. Ietsuna had not appreciated the fatal nature of the disease. He made that displeasure known by kicking down walls, and meaningful glares towards the doctor's groin while ignoring any and all mosquitoes except to smash them.

Reborn counted; that was three hundred. So far three hundred fatal diseases had failed to take. Either Shamal was getting old, or Ietsuna was deader than dead, and still moving. Still, for the sake of the Shamal family jewels and the remnants of the 666 Trident Mosquitoes, Shamal capitulated pretty quickly. Not that it was hard...

“Your brother is pretty evil,” Shamal commented as the Angel Mosquito did its work and flew back to its master. Shamal had capitulated only after Tsuna had bodily tackled his own twin to keep the dark doctor from getting kicked in the gonads lethally.

“Sorry for forcing you, Shamal-sensei,” Tsuna gave a warm smile from his seat, perched on the sofa of the living room with the doctor and others.

“I'll treat you any time, cutie-chan~!” Perhaps bipolar behaviour ran in the Shamal family too...

Reborn interrupted. “Dame-Tsuna is a boy-”

“A dream!!!! THIS IS A DREAM!” Shamal shouted, eyes wide as he slammed his head into the nearest hard surface. “Morning, hurry up and come!”

Tsuna slapped him.

“Go, Gēgē!” I-Pin chirped next to Ietsuna.

“Nice slap, Tsuna,” Ietsuna leant on the frame of the door. One hand slapped out. There was a crunch. Shamal flinched. “Ah, that was another mosquito. I'm so glad you're alive, Tsuna.”

“I'm sorry for worrying you, Ie,” Tsuna walked over to hug him, which meant that the twin's glare towards Shamal and Reborn went unseen by him. “Please don't get angry towards Shamal-sensei anymore. He only treats women, after all.”

“If you died, I would feel nothing towards killing him,” Ietsuna grimly stated with every measure of fact. “I won't leave you alone in the underworld, Tsuna. Everyone will follow you.”

“That's scary... Shamal-sensei, will you be staying for coffee?”

“Yes, cutie-chan-” Slap.

“...that twin is a danger to everyone except his brother,” Shamal finally said once Tsuna had dragged Ietsuna away. He was cradling his cheek, which now bore a small hand-print. “What Flame is he?”

“No idea,” Reborn chipped in. “The Dying Will Bullet doesn't work, since Ietsuna constantly uses the Zero Point Breakthrough. Dino said that he must have no sense of pain, taste or smell.”

“Neither does my Mosquitoes,” Shamal considered. “His brother uses the Sky Flame, right?”

“Yes.” Reborn looked at him. “You have a theory about this matter?”

“The twins of the Sky... I was reminded of a legend,” Shamal mused. “The legend of Castor and Pollux. One was born as the mortal son of a king, and the other the immortal son of Zeus, but the brothers were devoted to each other. When Castor died, Pollux begged Zeus to allow Castor to share his immortality with him, or kill him. The twins share alternate days together in Olympus and Hades.”

“You're saying that Ietsuna's life depends on Tsuna's Dying Will Flames?” Reborn clarified.

There was a snort, and Shamal waved a hand. “It's impossible. The dead can't come back to life. Besides, what about the physical body? A dead body doesn't age, and Ietsuna is clearly a match for his twin. Besides, these are teenagers you're talking about. How would they know that the Dying Will Flames can do something like this?”

“Can they do something like this?” Reborn asked.

“Well, we know that red Flames breaks stuff, purple propagates, and yellow helps increase cellular activity,” Shamal listed. “And orange... orange turns other Flames to stone. Completely throws mass-energy equivalence out of the window, that factoid.³ What I do know is that the orange Flame maintains a state without contradiction nor flaws, in which the balance of the whole is maintained. One interpretation is that the orange Flame subjects the other colours to a given set of axioms implicitly assumed by the flow of the world. The other interpretation is that the orange Flame dictates a set of axioms by which the other Flames coexist.”

“The wide Sky that accepts all without question... but both interpretations are subjective,” Reborn noted. “What those interpretations imply is nothing less than rewriting reality.”

“You asked,” Shamal shrugged. “My answer is that, the orange Flame is a mysterious bugger, but it seems possible. The question itself assumes that Ietsuna died, and... well, those poor walls around town can testify that the guy is alive and kicking!”

“...why is Tenth's twin banging his fists in the corner, Tenth?” Gokudera asked a few days later.

Since Gokudera was moving into the Sawada house, the three boys had been cleaning out the attic and a curious collection of Italian novels belonging to the twins' late grandfather. Tsuna had been dusting off a copy of Foucault's Pendulum when the doorbell had rung. Tsuna had gone to answer it, there had been a few crashes and Ietsuna screaming, and thus the scene before everyone.

“We just accepted another kid into the house...” Tsuna confessed. “Gokudera-kun, meet Fuuta de la Stella.”

“I let my guard down!” Ietsuna was saying. “That's a bipedal sentient life form that reeks of science fiction! I wasn't expecting an alien from outer space! I thought this was a shōnen comedy!”

“Ie, Fuuta is a normal human boy,” Tsuna sighed. “Just because things float and we can see stars in his eyes and he says things which are incredibly accurate doesn't mean he's an alien. Anyway, Fuuta said that this house must be one of the safest in Namimori for him.”

“For him,” Ietsuna muttered. “That claircognizance of his is going to get us all killed.”

Fuuta looked sad.

“What's Ranking Prince Fuuta doing here?” Gokudera asked.

“I was hoping for help from the Vongola Tenth,” Fuuta replied honestly.

“He's also known as Ranking Fuuta,” Reborn chipped in, appearing out of thin air as was his habit. “He's an information specialist who has no equal when creating a ranking. Fuuta's ranking accuracy is 100%. In short, if one were to use this book of rankings to create a strategy, he could win any battle, and it'd be easy to take over the world.”

“Unless the user of those rankings is an idiot,” Ietsuna argued. “A ranking is a relationship between a set of items such that, for any two items, the first is either 'ranked higher than', 'ranked lower than' or 'ranked equal to' the second. By reducing detailed measures to a sequence of ordinal numbers, rankings make it possible to evaluate complex information according to certain criteria. So, depending on the criteria set, certain information may disappear from the analysis and would not appear in the ranking, since analysis of data obtained by ranking commonly requires non-parametric statistics.”

“I forgot that Ie is very good at maths,” Tsuna smiled with gritted teeth. “I'm an idiot at maths, so could you simplify that?”

“For example... if we were to rank every house in Namimori according to safety, then this house is the safest for Fuuta alone,” Ietsuna explained. “However, it's not the safest for us. Rather, whoever is after the kid, is going to come after us. So, the point is that certain information falls through the cracks, which are not addressed in any rankings.”

“He came to us for help, Ie,” Tsuna sighed. “Would you throw this cute small animal into a field of ferocious predators?”

“If it's to protect you, I would throw every small animal in the district to them,” was the straightforward answer.

“I asked the wrong question...” Tsuna recovered. “You accepted Lambo and I-Pin. What's wrong with Fuuta?”

“His motives, for one,” Ietsuna groused. “His ability, for another.”

Fuuta tried to intervene. “Ie-nii is ranked number-”

“Would you like to rank the record time for cutting a tongue out? I can't guarantee that you'd be able to say it, though,” Ietsuna hissed, causing Fuuta to shut up.

“Ie! That's horrible, threatening a child like that,” Tsuna scolded, physically intervening between his twin and the boy. “Don't worry, Fuuta. You're safe here.”

“Tsuna-nii...” Fuuta heaved a sigh of relief.

“You're the worst,” Reborn stared at Ietsuna.

“Thank you.”

“It's not a compliment.”

Ietsuna was saved from rebutting by Lambo and I-Pin charging in.

“Lambo, I-Pin, just in time,” Tsuna smiled. “This is Fuuta, he'll be staying with us.” Turning to Fuuta, he added, “Don't worry. Ie is bad at the start, but that's because he worries since you're part of the Mafia and you have bad people after you.”

I-Pin hopped over to meet Fuuta."I-Pin glad to meet Fuuta.”

Fuuta smiled at the Chinese girl who accepted his hand. The smile disappeared when I-Pin dragged him to Ietsuna and placed his hand in the other's.

“Who's that, Tail-head?!" Lambo yelled out loudly, not paying attention to anything.

“LAMBO RUDE! SHUT IT, BROCCOLI MONSTER!”

“MAKE ME, TAIL-HEAD!” Lambo stuck his tongue out.

“GYOZA FIST!” I-Pin's attack sent Lambo careening.

“GAAH! Ie-nii, help!”

“You deserve it.” But, Ietsuna still reached out to grab Lambo.

“This is a good chance to gain some rankings,” Reborn commented. “Fuuta, could you give us some?”

Fuuta nodded. Closing his eyes, objects around him were lifted off the ground in the next moment, including himself. When he opened his eyes, they looked distant and staring off into light years away, presumably. I-Pin and Lambo squealed as they started floating.

“There's a theory that he communicates with the Ranking Star in outer space,” Reborn commented, now in a spacesuit.

“I see,” Ietsuna nodded. “So the space-time curvature of the Earth becomes twisted in this communication, and the resulting tidal force presumably causes the local gravity of the Earth to become distorted and hence, things float around. I wonder if it can be weaponised.”

“Tenth's twin is awesome!” Gokudera praised.

“Physics is the basis for Surrealism,” Ietsuna replied.

“So, who goes first?” Reborn prompted.

“T- Tenth should go-”

“Gokudera Hayato... is ranked number one out of 82,203 to be good with kids.”

“What the hell?” Gokudera's curse prompted a disappointed look from Tsuna.

“I-Pin's Pinzu Timed Super Explosion is ranked thirty-eighth out of 816 most powerful attacks.”

“That technique is powerful after all...”

“When it comes to mid-range fighting techniques, the Gyoza Fist ranks at 116^th out of 520 effective attacks. With things as they are, I-Pin ranks third out of 52,262 people for the potential of becoming a promising assassin.”

“And Lambo-san?” Lambo demanded eagerly. “Lambo-san's ranking?”

“Lambo ranks the most annoying out of all Mafioso by far.”

“Gyupaa!” Lambo started.

“He's also number one when it comes to people wanting to kill you and use you for a seat cushion.”

“What's with that ranking...?” Tsuna muttered as Lambo swam for Ietsuna and clung to his arm and crying.

“Reborn is ranked as the number one hitman,” Fuuta declared.

“Hmph, as expected,” Reborn scoffed.

“Number one threat to come to Namimori in the next six months?” Ietsuna tonelessly questioned.

“Number one is... Rokudo Mukuro.”

“...looks like that ranking is useful for something after all,” Ietsuna murmured in satisfaction in the ensuing silence. “Number one reason for his attack.”

“... to find the Vongola Family.”

“Number one strategy.”

“To use... me...” The table dropped, nearly everything collapsed, and Fuuta began to cry.

“Oh, good job,” Ietsuna nodded as everything else dropped.

“Ie! You just made his cry!” Tsuna protested with a thumps.

“It's all good,” Ietsuna shrugged. “What we mean by 'right now' is a mysterious thing which we cannot define and we cannot affect, but it can affect us later, or we could have affected it if we had done something far enough in the past. People tell us they can know the future, but actually there is no one who can even tell us the present. With this knowledge, the price is fulfilled.”

“...So, you'll protect him,” Tsuna translated as Fuuta slowly became quiet.

“I- Ie-nii... is ranked number one Kuudere big brother,” Fuuta sniffed.

“K- Kuudere...? I'm totally serious about cutting your tongue out,” Ietsuna twitched. “In fact, let's re-enact Titus Andronicus-”

“That's enough, Ie!” Tsuna admonished, but then the canvas fell, and Fuuta blinked. The twins started laughing, with everyone soon following.

The joke was explained when Ietsuna gave Fuuta red paint and let him loose on the fallen cow-print Namimori canvas, which now looked like a mess of blue and black. This was how Fuuta got accepted into the Sawada house; embraced by the sky and shrouded by the night, while I-Pin and Lambo made potato stamps on him.

1 I needed an explanation for why Ietsuna knew savate.

Chapter Text

Over the next month, Hibari Kyoya's temper was rising in direct proportion to how many Disciplinary Committee members ended up in the hospital. Unbeknownst to the rest of Namimori Middle, so was Sawada Ietsuna's temper.

“Bâtarde de merde...”

“Curses from the old carnivore will not be tolerated, Sawada Ietsuna.” Hibari was crabby today, and it showed.

Kusakabe sidled up to the general affairs desk. “S- Sawada-san, please hand this to Hibari-san...”

“Kusakabe-san, please don't leave me alone...” Tsuna pleaded, glancing towards the Ietsuna who looked like a banked snowstorm, against the slowly stewing Hibari. “Are the injured alright?”

“They'll make it,” Kusakabe assured. “I'm more worried about Kyo-san and Ietsuna-san. You've been cross-dressing more?”

“I've been practically mandated to cross-dress,” Tsuna glumly murmured as he read through another report, legs firmly crossed despite the tights he wore underneath. “It doesn't look like they're attacking women, so Hibari-san and Ie are practically using this sexist mindset of the attackers to keep me out. Ie, what do you make of these watches that were planted there?”

“I already knew of them before you told me,” Ietsuna snapped. “I'm sorry,” he apologised immediately.

“It's alright, Ie,” Tsuna pondered. “What do you think?”

“This is a mischief with no meaning,” Hibari mused. “Of course, sparks that have been ignited must be extinguished with great care.”

“You mean great prejudice,” Ietsuna corrected.

“Hn,” Hibari sipped his tea, and blinked. “What is this?”

“Kōcha, Hibari-san,” Tsuna answered with a smile. “Autumn is coming, and Hibari-san is stepping up on patrols, so I thought that a stronger tea might be needed to keep Hibari-san alert in the cold. I even prepared two Thermoses so that Hibari-san wouldn't feel odd carrying them around.”

“...it needs sugar.”

“Yes, Hibari-san,” Tsuna smiled. Maybe there were flowers or something. “I'll bring some fruits over to the hospital later for those injured guys as well.”

Hibari actually lifted his head from the map of Namimori and the adjoining Kokuyo Town to stare at Tsuna. Tsuna blinked, fiddling with the neat little blood-red tie around his neck against the crisp white button-down shirt with navy blue vest, with the red arm-band pinned to the left sleeve. The black skirt that ended at mid-thigh to expose black tights and brogues completed the illusion. “No. Those weaklings don't deserve your attention.”

“More like he's afraid of the Nightingale effect¹ taking place,” Ietsuna chipped in, giving Tsuna a once-over. “It looks good on you, but why the tights?”

“B- Bianchi-san,” Tsuna swallowed. “Erm... she asked about Hibari-san, and I told her, and she got this strange look on her face.”

“Show us,” Ietsuna demanded.

“You're right,” he agreed once Tsuna showed them the face. “It's creepy. So that's how a fujoshi looks like.”

“You're horrible,” Tsuna huffed. “Kaa-san too.”

“I'm going to the hospital again to see if the men can recall any other details, Kyo-san,” Kusakabe reported.

Hibari barely glanced up from the map. “Go, Tetsu.”

“Sawada-san, I'll need some help. Will you follow me?”

“Okay, Kusakabe-san,” Tsuna smiled as he stood up. It was only momentary until the glares of both the Disciplinary chair and the treasurer – AKA Ietsuna – sent chills down his spine.

“I just told him not to visit them... you have guts, Tetsu...”

“Well, Sawada-san, let's leave Kyo-san and Ietsuna-san to plan out the next raid on Kokuyo Junior High,” Kusakabe lightly offered, heaving a sigh of relief as the glares were directed back towards the delinquents.

“Yes...”

Maybe they were secretly grateful; Kusakabe was, after all, built like a brick house and could match one on some days, and the Committee's most delicate member – even more delicate than their part-time secretary – needed a backer. There had been unanimous agreement ever since the old carnivore kicked Hibari in the head and made comments about jail-bait and honey traps – make sure he can wear white on the wedding, Kyoya-

Nana had found the joke hilarious. None of the prefects had laughed.

“Gokudera? Keep an eye on the hospital, Tsuna just went there with Kusakabe. Bring Yamamoto along. Your concern doesn't matter, Tsuna's safety is number one. That's all.”

“It's always been about the little animal when it comes to you, Sawada Ietsuna,” Hibari commented as Ietsuna hung up and put away his cellphone. “He'll need to bare his fangs one day.”

“At this stage, if he does, he can't stop,” Ietsuna replied, rolling up his sleeves. “You might not agree with me, but I believe that in time, Tsuna is capable of miracles. Until he reaches that stage, though, I am willing to stand between him and this beautiful and cruel world, even between him and you, Hibari Kyoya.”

Hibari regarded him. It looked like how a falcon might regard an equal, or a hawk might regard a lumbering wolf; with condescension, and a touch of respect. There was a desk between them, and if not for it, there would have been a fight. “I have no idea if you are trying to tempt me, or if you are trying to bribe me.”

“...eh?”

There was a meaningful licking of the chops, followed by a glance towards the still-warm cup of red tea on the desk.

“No...” A finger was jabbed at him. “Hell no. No. I thought you were married to the school! That's why I even let Tsuna anywhere near you alone!”

“There is a difference,” said the prefect, “between territory and a mate. Even the old carnivore found him acceptable.”

“You're a guy,” Ietsuna pointed out feebly.

“No one can restrain me with logic.”

“Before that, can we plan out this raid on Kokuyo Junior High?”

“We will go and bite the herbivores to death,” Hibari concluded. It sounded like the start and end of his strategy, for those who had not heard the details in between 'go to Kokuyo' and 'bite the herbivores to death'.

While those two details would have been enough for Hibari, Ietsuna had carried an expression that suggested otherwise. “Give me some time, you shitty prefect. For the sky to remain between the land and the sea,² night must fall. Only then will the sky's reappearance be all the more beautiful.”

“You mean, you want to make sure that your brother is at home at that time.”

“...”

Hibari looked towards the Sawada twin with new eyes. “Do you have a brother complex?”

“-.-* I don't want to hear that from you, fetish-pervert.”

“Keep him close to your shell if you want, clam. Bivalves are easily hunted.”

“Yeah, I'll keep him away from you, black swan. Say...” Ietsuna looked disturbed. “If you're a black swan and I'm a clam, then what's Tsuna?”

“Ovis arieshas attracted much attention due to the fact that some rams seem to have an exclusive homosexual orientation.”

“You're calling him a sheep?! Tsuna hasn't even called himself gay... yet.” Ietsuna still pictured the fluffy white coat and the curly ram-horns that Tsuna would wear as a sheep³.

“How does that matter?” Hibari smugly pronounced. “Sawada Tsunayoshi became mine the moment your Art Club was annexed into the Disciplinary Committee. The old carnivore approves. The other carnivore approves, and she has yet to meet the little animal. The further implications are a plebeian matter as far as I am concerned.”

“...if you can protect your property, I won't have any complaint,” Ietsuna finally admitted as he got up. “But, Tsuna's not property. Remember that, Hibari. I'm going to get some more weapons now.”

“...Hn.” Hibari glared as the door slammed.

Ietsuna marched out, red armband ensuring that no crowds formed around him. Some students even gave him a bow, though more than one was under the impression that he was Tsuna, if the attempts to cop a feel was any indication. A few crushed fingers had solved the problem, though Ietsuna walked out of the school and down towards Namimori's main street.

“Ie-nii, play with me!” Lambo cried out, bouncing up to the twin.

“Lambo be good!” I-Pin ran up to them. “Gēgē busy!”

“Lambo, I have weapons to pick up,” Ietsuna sighed. “Tsuna's not safe yet. There are bad people after Namimori's students.”

“Ie-nii...” Lambo pouted.

“I have a hundred kilos of artillery to transport and use,” Ietsuna persuaded. “Aren't you guys supposed to stay with Kaa-san?”

“No!” Lambo cried. “Tsuna-nii and Ie-nii need protection!”

“It's our job,” Ietsuna persuaded. “This is to protect Kaa-san and Tsuna too. Lambo is too young.”

“Lambo-san can transport the weapons!” Lambo cried. “Lambo-san... Lambo-san can help Ie-nii move weapons!”

“I-Pin can help too!” At Ietsuna's look, she added, “Fuuta need help!”

Ietsuna stared at them. “...you have to be good, then.”

“Are we pathetic?”

Kusakabe blinked at the question that came from one of the hospitalised Committee members. “Why, Sato?”

“Well... Sawada-hime is a boy, and yet we want him-”

Sato didn't get far before Kusakabe's meaty hands descended very hard onto his shoulders. “Don't. Even. Think. About. It. The peace is far more important.”

“Y- Yes... does he have a girlfriend, Kusakabe-san...?”

“Kyo-san scares them all away,” Kusakabe sighed.

“It's surprising,” Tsuna commented once they left the ward, the boxes of bento cleaner than when they first entered the ward. “The men seem a bit... terrified.”

“I hate to say it, but they weren't even good fighters,” Kusakabe replied to distract the smaller boy from the longing looks that lingered. “Even though all three of them were together at once, they were put in the hospital. They were probably terrified of Kyo-san's opinion.” Is Sawada a pet? Or a cleaner fish? I want to ask, but I’ll probably be bitten to death... “I can't stop Kyo-san, or make him do anything.”

“Which is basically saying that Hibari-san is going to fight them,” Tsuna sighed. “I don't know if sewing a tracking device into his shirts is a good idea.”

“Why do you have tracking devices?!” Kusakabe started.

“Eh? Hibari-san stocks them when he needs to track down his 'prey',” Tsuna made little quotation signs, nearly dropping the pile of boxes. “And then you keep complaining that Hibari-san does his own thing without telling anyone, so Ie handed me those tracking chips and told me to sew them all into Hibari-san's shirts... is that not good?”

“W- When did you access Kyo-san's clothes, Sawada-san?”

“Oh, I do his laundry once a week- Kusakabe-san, are you alright? You look pale...”

“Status update from mildly interesting pet to wife...”

“Oh, are you getting married? Congratulations!”

“N- No, Sawada-san...”

“Vice-Chair! Manager!” Another Regent-style delinquent member ran up. “Another one just got in! Sasagawa Ryohei...”

“Sasagawa-sempai?!”

“Yo, Sawada,” Ryohei greeted. He looked more like a mummy than a living being, and his legs were currently in traction.

“I just got the news that you were attacked,” Tsuna fretted. “Are you alright?!”

“It's a little pathetic, but he got me,” Ryohei commented.

“Why did this happen to Sasagawa-sempai?”

“How are you?” Kusakabe questioned, level-headed in contrast to Tsuna.

“I got a few broken bones,” Ryohei yawned. “Even though my guard was down, he's a fearsome man.”

“Eh? You saw the culprit?”

“Yeah,” Ryohei confirmed. “The uniforms are from Kokuyo Middle School from the next town over. Sawada, you be careful.”

“Middle-schoolers... and the watches too,” Kusakabe picked up the gold watch, clicking it open to reveal the hands stopped at six o'clock position. “Ietsuna-san was right.”

“Ie was right? About what?” Tsuna started.

“Ietsuna-san traced the serial numbers on the watches to a common shipment to Kokuyo, which was purchased on a mass scale from Proust Watches in Kokuyo,” Kusakabe replied. “Twenty watches, including this one, were bought by someone using cash from the proprietor. But, since the shipments were too delicate, the shipment was sent to a P.O. box near Kokuyo Land, where we lost track of it.”

“As expected of our Disciplinary Committee...” Ryohei chuckled. “But damn... I wanted that guy's punch in my club!”

“Give up,” Kusakabe rebutted. “He'll be bitten to death.”

“Yeah,” Ryohei sighed. “Changing the subject, I haven't honestly told Kyoko about this yet. She worries a lot, so please don't let this get out.”

“Onii-chan!” Namimori Middle's female idol Sasagawa Kyoko rushed in. “Why did you climb a bathhouse chimney?!”

“What did you tell her, Sasagawa-sempai...?” Tsuna sweat-dropped.

“Just nice, Sasagawa Kyoko,” Kusakabe intervened, putting on a stern façade. “For the crime of disturbing the peace, Sasagawa Ryohei has been administered punishment. Sasagawa Ryohei, take heed of your punishment and never do that again.”

“Y- OK,” Ryohei cottoned on, nodding enough to make him seem like a bobble head.

“I can't believe that Hibari-san!” Kyoko's complaint echoed in the ward. “But, I'm glad you're still alive...”

“Don't cry!” Ryohei grumbled.

“Kusakabe-san and Sawada-kun came to see him too?” Kyoko turned to them.

“Er... yeah!” Tsuna nodded as he got elbowed in the back.

“I'm so glad...” Kyoko smiled at them.

“I feel so bad for Hibari-san,” Tsuna complained as the two of them walked out. “Hibari-san might be invincible in combat, but there's no reason to blame him for everything!”

“Sasagawa begged us not to tell her exactly what happened,” Kusakabe replied. “Besides, I said that he had been punished, but I never said what for, or whom. Disturbing the peace is a general reason. The fact that our Disciplinary Committee must take the blame for this, is our responsibility. To be a man is to be responsible: to be ashamed of miseries you did not cause; to be proud of your comrades' victories; to be aware, when setting one stone, that you are building a world⁴.”

“Kusakabe-san is so cool... Almost like a big brother.” Tsuna nodded. “What is your secret?”

“Ietsuna-san told me that quote,” Kusakabe sheepishly confessed. “My secret...? Here is my secret. It is very simple. It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye.⁵”

“With the heart...” Tsuna nodded. “I understand, but I don't really get it...”

“That's alright, Sawada-san,” Kusakabe nodded, frowning as his cellphone beeped. “If you'd excuse me...”

“This is bad, Tsuna,” Tsuna jumped, but did not shriek at Reborn's sudden appearance. “Leon's tail fell off. This is ominous.”

“Do chameleons lose their tails? Besides that, why is Leon changing his shape?” Tsuna stared at the transition from fan to totem pole to hat and so on.

“Since Leon lost his tail, he can't control his shape.”

“Is it harmful to him?” Tsuna asked.

“No, he'll grow a new tail in time.”

“I see.”

Leon turned into a heart-shape at Tsuna's smile, but Reborn was watching a stone-faced Kusakabe walk towards them, determined.

“Sawada-san... Ietsuna-san and Hibari-san are on the move.”

“This is bad,” Reborn commented. “They aren't prepared to deal with them.”

“Sawada-san,” Kusakabe repeated.

Tsuna blinked, as if waking from a dream. “...I'll get the radar, Kusakabe-san. See you at the outskirts of Kokuyo.”

The Sawada house was strangely empty of any human presence. There was a note on the table explaining that Nana was out at the supermarket with Bianchi on an ingredient hunt. The children were not around, as evidenced by the lack of explosions or yells. Tsuna took no note of anything until Kusakabe had left him alone with Reborn, in their shared atelier surrounded by paintings.

“Right now, though, he's dealing with Rokudo Mukuro,” Reborn stated. “We don't know where is he. He could be dead.”

Tsuna got up, walking towards a cabinet to fish out a small hand-held radar. “You might not know where he is. I do. I'm going out.”

“...don't you want to change clothes?” Reborn prompted.

“Eh?” Tsuna glanced down at his female uniform, frowning. “Right...”

“I'm back!” Nana chirped from downstairs. “Reborn-chan, Na-kun took I-Pin and Lambo for a walk, so it'll just be the three of us for dinner!”

Tutor and student exchanged looks. “You don't think...”

“He's very prepared for this,” Reborn agreed.

“Ten minutes have passed,” Ietsuna loaded the rocket. “Hibari is assumed dead, and we're now shooting at this building.”

“Ie-nii, that's cheating,” Lambo pointed out.

“They would feel nothing towards killing us. In this case, I don't believe in fair fights.”

The handheld radar was useful in tracking Hibari to Kokuyo Land. The guards; a blond with strange teeth, and a brunet with glasses, had been taken out courtesy of four Bovino-made concussion grenades and two boots to the head. Fuuta had been found, and now he lay guarded by the two child assassins.

“Be careful, for these things can blow your eardrums,” Ietsuna explained to the children, using Lambo's entire arsenal as he pocketed two handguns and a few magazines. “Lambo, I'm not actually sure if Reborn needs this much weaponry to be taken out, or if these are under-kill.”

Ietsuna shot two RPGs, which took out the façade, and now Ietsuna was loading another rocket. A fire alarm was ringing inside, and with it the hiss of old sprinklers, possibly filled with rank water from the old tank on the roof. Otherwise, the building had long been cut off from the water supply mains.

“Ie... nii...” Fuuta struggled. “I... didn't say anything...”

“Les hommes ont oublié cette vérité, dit le renard,” Ietsuna replied. “Mais tu ne dois pas l’oublier. Tu deviens responsable pour toujours de ce que tu as apprivoisé⁶.Tsuna accepted you into the house, so we have responsibility for you. I guessed that you were controlled, so I took the liberty of tying you up.”

“Yes...” Fuuta sniffed. “Thank you...”

“I believe you,” Ietsuna shot, watching the glass faces of the animal exhibit crash in a shower of glitter and the shock-waves of the explosion shake the ground. “The beast and the glasses were complaining about it.”

“Lambo-san wants to fire!” Lambo complained.

Wordlessly, Ietsuna reached inside his afro, pulled out the firing earplugs, and then set Lambo to fire the next RPG. “Yay! Thanks, Ie-nii!”

Ietsuna hefted a glass bottle, flinging it out after the explosion. The glass broke against the face wall of Kokuyo Land, its contents spilling out right as Ietsuna dug into the afro for another artillery gun. The bottle was soon followed by an M20 recoilless rocket launcher, painted pink.

“No fair! Lambo-san wanted to fire that one!”

“Your hands are too tiny,” Ietsuna pointed out.

“Gyupaa!”

“Lambo be quiet!” I-Pin pointed.

“I-Pin, are you alright?” Ietsuna asked.

“I-Pin OK.”

“Good.”

Fuuta's eyes widened as the barrel was dropped. “W- What are you d- doing?!”

“I'm not a very good shot,” Ietsuna gave a benevolent smile which was technically, millimetre by millimetre, a copy of his brother's. The effect was ruined by the very large bazooka he was now aiming. “Luckily, Lambo had really big bullets. Well, I'm going in now. Lambo, I-Pin, guard Fuuta and our prisoners. It'll be bad if they wake up.”

“Ie-nii is so cool!” Lambo had stars in his eyes.

“Lambo, give me a gun.”

“Y- Yes...” Lambo handed a small handgun. “Ie-nii... you'll come back, right?”

“This lucky charm will protect me,” Ietsuna replied, tucking the gun away before he picked up the bazooka once more. “Shut your ears.”

Fuuta had to clap hands over his ears to save them as the bazooka fired. In the wake of the smoke, as Ietsuna hefted a satchel up onto his back, grabbed a few canisters and walked in. “W- Who did I ask for help...?”

Fuuta crashed in disbelief. Or that was part of the gas mains.

At the ruined front of the building, Ietsuna threw in a smoke grenade first, and then headed in carefully and steadily, the jerry-can on one hand dripping steadily while he reached at his satchel for another glass bottle.

“Midori tanabiku namimori no...”

He paused at the sudden song. “You're kidding... right?” Ietsuna headed for the basement entrance, frowning at the giant hole in the ceiling that cut through three stories, and kicked the pile of rubble. It got an answering thump.

“Fine.”

The concrete block crashed aside with one kick.

“The building's going to burn in ten seconds,” Ietsuna knelt, administering an injection into the only man to like the Namimori Middle Anthem so much. “Get out by yourself. What the hell happened?”

“Hn.” Hibari snorted, moving slowly as a canary fluttered down to perch on his shoulder. “Crowding herbivores.”

“Which means you got jumped by more people,” Ietsuna nodded.

“Are you planning to die here, Sawada Ietsuna?” Hibari changed the subject.

“No,” Ietsuna drawled. “I can't let Tsuna fall into your pervert clutches.”

“Hn.” Grey eyes blanked and Hibari stumbled slightly in a puddle. “You're... you're crazy.”

“If we're in agreement,” Ietsuna waved. “There are two kids outside, they're with us. They're also guarding prisoners.”

“Hn. He uses illusions. If you're planning to set the building on fire, wait until I'm out.”

They parted ways. The bottle, and a few more like them, were flung to break as he passed a bowling alley, a run-down lobby and up the only intact staircase, where he flung the jerry can down and away. Then he threw the lighter down, and walked into the movie theatre.

“This is the first time we've met, Vongola the Tenth,” came the smooth purr from the darkness. “Kufufu... What have you brought me? A gift?”

Amber and heterochromic red-blue eyes stared at each other, lit by the orange flames from down the stairs. Ietsuna was the first to break the silence. “...eh.”

“...what's with that face?” Mukuro demanded, even though they were, you know, trapped in a burning building. One that just suffered through severe military-grade ordnance.

“I just got caught off by the mood whiplash again,” Ietsuna replied. “I didn't expect to find a pineapple fairy.”

Mukuro's expression skipped irritation and went straight to fury. “Damn you...!” Columns of magma erupted next to Ietsuna.

“Ah, that's going to set off- wait, they're already set off.”

Stale water sloshed around, the magma barely hissing as Ietsuna leapt forward. The orange light ceased slightly, as Ietsuna took off his satchel to fling it at Mukuro. Silver flashed as Mukuro cut the satchel, and Mukuro flinched as the two-litre bottle of water cascaded onto him, spilled all over his clothes.

Ietsuna went into guard, kicking with a fouetté bas jambe avant. There was a crunch, and then a knife in Ietsuna's hand. Mukuro sliced down, and slid out of his frozen shoes and the lower halves of his trousers to dodge the palette knife and lash out with his trident, which Ietsuna skidded to avoid and still kick out at Mukuro.

“You set this place on fire to activate the sprinkler system. That ordnance just now was harassing fire to destroy the face,” Mukuro guessed, dodging the kick. “Which means... that you planned this, with that Hibari Kyoya. Namimori Middle School Class 1-A, number call 2, second on the Namimori Middle fighter rankings...”

“Namimori Middle School Disciplinary Committee Treasurer, Sawada Ietsuna,” Ietsuna quoted. “Of course, that's a fake ranking. Either Hibari destroyed you, or I destroy you after figuring out the total personnel strength.”

“The Ranking Prince... is always accurate,” Mukuro rebutted.

“Since it's all written in pencil, it's easy to rub out and replace the ranking,” Ietsuna commented. “You got fooled by such a trick? I expected more from the man who defeated Hibari. Wait, you jumped him. Hibari said so.”

“I have never thought that it would come to direct fighting,” Mukuro mused. “You're not very honourable for a mafioso.”

“I never said that I'm a mafioso,” Ietsuna observed, dodging a trident aimed at him while lotus vines tangled his feet and he collapsed to hands and knees.

“The First Path: Realm of Hell,” Mukuro advanced. “The mind is its own place, and in itself, can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven. Don't worry, I'll put your body to good use.”

“Oh? So, you're the type who thinks its better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven?” Ietsuna smirked as the building rocked with a sudden explosion, and thick smoke began to flood in before he shifted to a handstand and axe-kicked. “The building is burning, we're standing in smoke... I don't care what kind of monster you are, you have to get out eventually.”

“This is nothing,” Mukuro gloated in the increased gloom, voice hoarse from the effort of breathing. “I have memories of reincarnation through all six realms.”

Muzzle-fire caused him to dodge.

“I only care,” Ietsuna growled, “that you get out of this world.”

Mukuro gasped as a large and heavy stick found itself across his shoulder blades, followed by a kick to one knee. Ietsuna emerged, holding a savate cane and prepared to brain Mukuro with it.

“Fourth Path: Realm of Asura,” Mukuro blocked the cane, lashing out with the blade towards Ietsuna, who dodged and backed into the shadow of smoke. “I can't see anything in this smoke... the same should apply for you, Sawada Ietsuna. How are you sensing me? Or, is this the famed Hyper Intuition at work? First Path: Realm of Hel-”

A knife stabbed into his middle, but Mukuro chose to grab the wrist and drive his own trident down to stab the thigh.

“Sixth Path-” The eagerness fled from his face. “No way...”

“Voici mon secret,” Ietsuna grabbed onto Mukuro's chest, and frost began to form where his hands dug into Mukuro's T-shirt. “Il est très simple: on ne voit bien qu'avec le cœur. L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.⁷”

“Let go!” Mukuro lashed out, the trident a glimmering silver in the dim orange light as crystals began to spread on it, and Mukuro himself.

“Don't worry... I'll freeze you into a perfect ice block and smash you.” Ietsuna smirked as he reached up to the flaming eye in Mukuro's face, and watched the flame turn into ice. “We'll see how you survive cryonics failure.”

“How... how did you grow a body?” Mukuro snarled as he began to pull up and stab Ietsuna through the face, prompting the shorter fighter to tear himself out of his shirt. “As you are... you're possessing a corpse! You're dead!”

“You know...” Tsuna finally said as he watched the smoke rise into the sky. “...I think Ie really, really has a thing for artillery, and we should keep him away from Lambo's stuff.”

“Is that a M20?” Reborn sounded both intrigued and horrified in that deadpan, chirpy way he usually was. “It's pink.”

“That building's on fire!” Gokudera pointed. “What the hell happened?”

“Hibari-san!” Tsuna ran towards the slumped body. “He's alive... but he's broken so many bones...”

“...little animal.”

“Don't worry, Hibari-san. Kusakabe-san is on the way,” Tsuna reassured. “Where is Ie, Hibari-san?”

Wordlessly, Hibari pointed into the burning building. Just then, gunshots resounded from within.

“Er...” Gokudera fumbled with the list of Lambo's confiscated weapons. “Yes, he's packing heat.”

“I'm going in,” Tsuna decided.

“Wait, Tsuna,” Reborn snapped. “The building is structurally unsafe at the moment. You could-”

“My brother's inside! I can't!”

“Tenth!” Gokudera's yell echoed.

Reborn actually stared as the boy ran into the burning building. Then he realised that the building was still burning, and had to charge in after Tsuna.

The smoke hung thick in the air, mixed with the rank smell of water that had spent too much time in a tank, and Reborn was very tempted to have Leon transform into a gas mask. Tsuna was still looking about... and the stairs were destroyed. Most terrifying sight of the decade; watching your student jump and hang onto the ledge of a ruined, burning staircase.

“Tsuna!” Reborn snapped. “Get down! We're getting out!”

“I'm not going without Ie!” Tsuna snapped back, coughing on the black smoke. “He's my brother... my twin. My responsibility. Dammit...”

“Why?”

Leon spat out a pair of mittens. Really, what was the use of good circulation now?

Tsuna struggled up onto the ledge, panting before he held out a hand to Reborn, who leapt and caught it, easily getting up. Reborn shoved the mittens into Tsuna's hands. “Put these on.”

“Eh?!”

“Don't argue with me.”

“Right...” Tsuna coughed, slipping the mittens on. “You didn't have to follow.”

“Ietsuna and I share a relationship as hitman and target. You are my student.” Reborn answered, jumping ahead. Slowly. Tsuna crawled up the stairs after him, the pair of them quickly headed towards a hallway where the sounds of struggle echoed.

“How did you grow a body?” The accusation reverberated. “As you are... you're possessing a corpse! You're dead!”

“This is...” Tsuna walked towards them, coughing from the smoke, eyeing the dripping wet and injured blue-haired boy with the trident, and then his own twin with palette knives drawn. Both of them were injured and soaked to the bone, blood streaming freely from various cuts and wounds.

“Ie!”

“Tsuna?” Ie blinked, though the knives were still ready. “Don't come! Tsu-”

“Die!” The boy – Rokudo Mukuro, had to be – used the trident, about to stab his twin, his twin brother who'd always been so strong and vicious but probably can't survive this-

Tsuna's eyes turned gold.

1 The Florence Nightingale effect is a situation where a caregiver develops romantic and/or sexual feelings for his/her patient, even if very little communication or contact takes place outside of basic care. Feelings may fade once the patient is no longer in need of care, either by recovery or death.

Chapter Text

Later, they would say that Kokuyo Land fell in a freak fire. Squatters, people would say, illegal aliens. Barely any investigator would find out beyond the dead end presented by a completely charred piece of land, the only remnant of which was a blackened stump that had been the foundation stone. The fire had taken everything. Or, their search took them to Namimori, where Hibari put a different sort of end to their search.

Only one account could have been reliably used, and Mukuro was in no way a normal criminal. His description was in no way normal, and some would have accused the illusionist of shrouding his own mind into his own illusions of fiery vengeance descended onto him. His description of the fiery angel that hit him through a building had thus been lost into the Vongola archives.

Some things, like these, are perhaps for the best. After all, who would doubt that Reborn's newest student was anything but a human being?

“Idiot-Ie, get us out faster,” Reborn ordered.

“Shut up,” Ietsuna snapped at the baby tutor, leaping out of the giant hole in the wall that had definitely not been there a moment before to land on his feet crouching. The wall, and half the remaining façade of Kokuyo Land, had unfortunately shattered in the punch his twin had used to send Mukuro flying through it.

“This is your mess,” Reborn snapped.

“I had him on the ropes,” Ietsuna shot back. “I had a plan of escape.”

“I noticed,” Reborn sarcastically commented. “You're still an idiot, Ietsuna. And now your brother is paying the price.”

“If you're trying to guilt me, it's not working,” Ietsuna coughed as he checked the soles of his shoes in the dim glow of the burning Kokuyo. “What do you know, these things are really durable. Which way?”

“Follow the fire.” If Reborn was worried or scanning for any form of Flame usage, he didn't show it. There was too much fire already.

A column of orange flame licked the night sky then, almost a literal pillar in Kokuyo Land.

“The Dying Will Flames,” Reborn commented from his perch on Ietsuna's shoulder during the jog. “Tsuna has a lot of them. It's in his blood, in his heart, and he's suited to use them and fight as a descendant of the First. A child with such a dangerous power... A single temper tantrum could burn down half of Namimori. You stopped them from sealing the Flames off, Ietsuna. The Ninth refused to come to Japan at that sign, believing it to be Lorenzo's curse.”

“Lorenzo?” Ietsuna coughed, stumbling slightly on the uneven dirt.

“The late Sawada Ietsuna was the first of the Ninth's Guardians, the Lightning,” Reborn explained. “He resigned the Mafia and left under mysterious circumstances, burying himself so deeply no one could track him until his son joined the Family. Timoteo made a home visit. Imagine his surprise to see his old friend as the father of his newest operative.”

Ietsuna sighed, leaning against a tree as the next Flame erupted, amber eyes melting into satisfaction as Mukuro flew out of the dimness and impacted the tree trunk they were leaning on, punted there by another fiery punch. It was looming then; a conflagration personified.

“...he's beautiful, isn't he?” was the twin's comment once his breath recovered. “My twin.”

It was not hard to tell where Ietsuna was coming from, between the blazing figure of flame and the cold night. His own amber eyes might well have been transplanted where caramel might be expected; those narrowed, calm pools of amber that could harden and burn with a furrowed brow, were staring out of what should have been the nice Sawada twin. A flame flickered on his forehead, and Tsuna's hair seemed dark than ever before against the skin that Nana had jokingly said was softer than her own. The female uniform and red armband paired with sneakers completed the look, combined with the metal-studded leather gloves that had formed on his hands, and which were on fire along with his head.

“Always one more, isn't there?” Mukuro purred. “What power...”

Yes, he was beautiful, in the way that stars about to go supernova might be expected to be.

“So that's the legendary Dying Will Flame,” Mukuro taunted, barely noticing the steps behind him. “Your twin managed to nearly kill me without the Flame. I wonder how you would fare.”

“In painting, we call orange a complementary colour to blue,” Ietsuna wrapped an arm around Mukuro's throat and his other arm around the chest, deceptively calm as the laughter cut off. “Standing next to each other, blue and orange contrast the most. The contrast of blue and orange in Monet's Impression, Sunrise sparked the nineteenth-century Impressionist movement.”

“Y- You! Let go...!” Mukuro hissed as frost started to form over him once more, struggling to back-kick with socked feet and scrambling to break Ietsuna's fingers, but his eyes never left the brightest thing in the open air. Tsuna's walking speed was picking up. Orange spheres on his hands nearly solidifying into mini-stars, which gave off intense heat.

“I'm quite partial to ultramarine myself,” Ietsuna tightened his choke, “but Windsor blue suits you, Tsuna.”

The eyes widened, and Tsuna stopped advancing. The saffron flames outlined a heart-shaped face set with amber eyes, brow furrowed. The stars were still held suspended over his hand.

“That's right,” Ietsuna spoke, almost like talking to a spooked foal. “Tsuna, you can hear me, yes?”

“You should stop,” Reborn admonished the other twin. “You've done enough.”

“I'm stopping him,” Ietsuna hissed, amber eyes wide. “If this guy does something stupid-”

Mukuro gripped and threw aside the other twin with surprising strength. Ietsuna wheezed as he hit the ground. “Sacre-”

The stars fell down.

They burst into a firestorm that consumed the stunned illusionist, the witnesses, two trees, and a lot of debris and dirt. The light blanked out everything. Animals fled the scene, birds shrieked like the flock of Apollo risen to the night. Clouds began to form in the sky above it to shroud the starlit skies. The conflagration and the flashes of heated air consumed the locale, the birth of a star on a field attracting the attention of Gokudera, Yamamoto, the children, and the assassins hidden in the shadow.

The assassins slunk back into the shadows. There were less painful ways towards certain death.

Reborn, on the other hand, regarded the fire whirl with the sort of awe reserved for natural disasters, stuck in a bubble of cold as the other twin intervened, throwing himself between the two and his sibling. Sure, Dying Will Flames were condensed energy, but enough Flames to produce heat enough to effect local weather changes was, to borrow a word from one of the prospective Tenth Generation Guardians,extreme. Especially since it was the manifestation of life; life and resolve enough to command the world was terrifying, and required efforts so far beyond humanity as to be called divine wrath.

“...that's Japan's third mushroom cloud¹,” Ietsuna commented, panting and clambering to his feet, in wake of the silence that had fallen over the newly opened ground. A wall of ice had formed, the only shield between them and a fiery death. The part of the building behind them was now a melted pile of charred slop. “What is wrong with you, Tsuna?”

“I- Ie...” Tsuna stuttered, almost as if snapping out of a dream. The Flame blew out. “You're alright?”

Mukuro had fainted behind the wall of ice. Both of them ignored him.

“This is not the first assault the Disciplinary Committee has done,” Ietsuna spoke calmly. “What changed?”

“I... I was terrified,” Tsuna whispered. “There's only Kaa-san and you at home, and Tou-san is never around. I- If anything happened to you, I- I don't know what to do. I- If Ie died... and you! Why did you pull Lambo and I-Pin along?!”

“They wanted to come along!” Ietsuna defended. His face then softened, looking towards the flaming building. “Is this really about me?”

Tsuna sniffed as he was suddenly hugged.

“Sorry, Tsuna,” Ietsuna tersely muttered. “I forgot. Grandpa died in a fire.”

“Ie...” Tsuna buried his face into his twin's shoulder, soot streaking the pristine white as orange chains of Flame twirled around the joined hands. “I- I don't want to imagine a world without Ie!”

“I'm not going anywhere,” Ietsuna huffed quietly. “This bond binds us, right? As long as you live, I'll always be there.”

Snow began to fall around them, flakes crusting into hair as the cold of January bit down. The amber light of the orange Flame flaked into rainbow frost, before dissolving to thin air. Steam puffed, and Ietsuna sighed, casting his eyes to the heavens.

“Castor and Pollux are out again,” he commented.

“What?” Tsuna lifted his head, wiping his eyes.

“That,” Ietsuna pointed to two stars in the skies. “Those two points are the stars Castor and Pollux, named after the heroic twins in Greek mythology. Pollux was the son of Zeus, while Castor was the son of a mortal. When Castor died, because he was mortal, Pollux begged his father Zeus to give Castor immortality, and he did, by uniting them together in the heavens.”

“...how can you find the time to stargaze after this?” Tsuna stared at him, aghast.

“Well,” Ietsuna shrugged. “I'm alive, you're alive, everyone precious to us made it out alive, and Rokudo Mukuro's out for the count. Isn't that a good thing?”

“...you're still going to get scolded later, Ie!” Tsuna then collapsed. “Ow! My entire body hurts!”

“Intense Flame manipulation does that,” Reborn commented, ignored by the panicking twins and the approaching paramedics and helpers. “I'm more surprised that your body hasn't been torn apart under Hyper Dying Will Mode.”

“I came to visit you, Tsuna,” Dino spoke sotto vace within the hospital ward that Tsuna had been lying inside for a week with only regular visits – and homework, and paperwork – to pass the time. “My cute junior getting hurt this early in his training to capture Rokudo Mukuro is such news, that I rushed over from Italy as soon as I could.”

“I'm so glad for your visit, Dino-sempai,” Tsuna agreed. “But, why are you whispering? And, why are your subordinates forming a wall around you?”

“Tsuna, don't you feel scared?” Dino hissed, jabbing a thumb towards the second bed. “You're sharing a room with him!”

“Boss! There's another one!”

Dino whirled around as a few of his men flew out, collapsed in pain, or simply fainted. “What? An enemy attack?!”

“Crowding will be punished by biting to death,” Rubber squeaked as a foot was set back from performing a back leg sweep.

Dino and Tsuna stared.

The severe expression relaxed. “Oh, Tsu-chan. When did you end up here?”

“Alouette-san,” Tsuna greeted. “It's just flesh wounds, I'll be out soon. Are you here to see Hibari-san?”

“I'm here to change the flowers,” Alouette complained, showing a bouquet of carnations and waving towards the general direction of a certain sleeping young skylark. “Boys need their space, but they shouldn't need to share it with mosquitoes. Who's this? Your... friend? I think I saw him with Ie-kun.”

“Ah, this is Dino-sempai,” Tsuna introduced. “Dino-sempai is a former student under my home tutor, so it's like we're... brothers? I think Ie might object to that word... Dino-sempai, this is Alouette-san, Hibari-san's grandmother.”

“Anyone can tell with one look.” Dino honestly replied. “...wait. Grandmother?”

The smile dropped. “What's that supposed to mean?”

“I- I mean, you're a beautiful lady, even if you're old-” Dino wisely shut his mouth after that and searched for a change of subject. “AAHHH!”

“Dino-sempai!” Tsuna entreated, side-eyeing Hibari. “Hibari-san will wake up!”

“Tsu-chan is so attentive of my grandson,” Alouette cooed. “I wish you were old enough to be adopted into the household².”

To their dread, the older woman turned to the sleeping Hibari. “Oi, idiot grandson. When are you going to make another Hibari?”

“...shut up, old carnivore,” Eyelashes flew up to reveal grey eyes set in an irritated expression. “Why are you still here?”

“What, and I even came all the way here, chick,” Alouette teased. “Sorry, Tsu-chan, he's a boorish caveman now but soon he'll be cultured just like my Papi.”

“H- Hibari-san should choose his own wife- I mean, mate,” Tsuna uneasily fidgeted. “Alouette-san might want great-grandchildren, but I'm sure Hibari-san would find someone on his own time. The world is also full of mother-in-laws...”

Dino paled, trying to imagine the Hibari matriarch, if such a thing existed or if Hibari had gnawed his way out of the womb like sharks did at birth. A bullied Tsuna in a kimono may or may not be involved in that hypothetical scenario. He crashed like a bad computer programme.

“Boss!” Romario shouted. “Please pull yourself together! This is not the time to fall to an unsettling gender reveal!”

“TENTH!” The door slammed open. “I brought you white roses! Are you alright, Tenth?!”

“Ask yourself that question first!” Tsuna freaked at Gokudera's beat-up state. “What happened, Gokudera-kun?! And why are the roses red?!”

“I got ran over a few times on my way here!” Gokudera declared before falling over.

“Yo, Tsuna,” Yamamoto strolled in with a full platter of sushi. “Sorry, Gokudera ran ahead of me. I'll be taking him to A&E now.”

“Thank you very much, Yamamoto-kun,” Tsuna struggled from his position half-in and half-out of bed.

Impatiently, Hibari pulled himself out with surprising grace and pushed him back in. “Little animals should be resting more because of their delicate constitutions.”

“B- But-”

“Oh, you're declining?” Hibari loomed. “And I even helped you into bed. You've got some guts there...”

“Hibari-san, why am I being threatened?!” Tsuna squeaked.

He was silence with a pat on the head. “Just accept a person's kindness.”

“I'm surprised...” Dino mumbled on the sidelines, awakening from getting the metaphorical bridge dropped onto him. “...that kind of bastard can have a soft side to him.”

Dino was then very firmly yanked out by one ear. “Shut up, all of you,” Alouette ordered, peeping on the very quickly emptied ward. “I'm really looking forward.”

“Huh?” Dino blinked.

Alouette regarded him as one would a very dim lemming. “Where else do you think I'm going to find a beautiful virgin who's close in age and can tolerate Kyoya, great at housework, and love taking care of people in this day and age?”

And down came another bridge.

“Boss! Please pull yourself together!” Romario shook the comatose Dino once again.

“What, I thought there was an enemy attack or something,” Ietsuna strolled up, a boy in cow-prints hot on his heels. “It's just Dino-sempai and Maître.”

“Lambo-san was a great help!” Lambo kept cheering. “Lambo gave the weapon that kept Ie-nii safe! Lambo-sama is the best!”

“You look busy,” Alouette commented.

“Yeah,” Ietsuna agreed. “Hibari finally got around to the gender-equality proposal, just in time for our latest trouble to hit. And so soon after the attacks...”

“You mean, those molestation cases near the outlying districts?” Alouette questioned. “I've heard of it. An old man, was it?”

“If it's for the peace of Namimori, the fangs of the Disciplinary Committee will recognise neither age nor gender nor money,” Ietsuna stoutly replied.

“I'm not talking about you, you cold-hearted disciple, or Kyoya,” Alouette retorted, pointing. “I mean them.”

Kusakabe, and a few more DC members trailing behind him, gave her a salute at Kusakabe's lead. “We're very glad for Baa-sama to worry for us,” Kusakabe stoutly replied. “But, these cases might soon escalate to assault cases. The necessity of our actions surpass the need for our personal safety.”

“That's nice,” Alouette's smile was filled with barbs. “I still remember the banchou³ who used to come by the gym. How long has it been?”

“It's been a while, Baa-sama,” Kusakabe smiled. “I can still feel the sole of your shoe on my skull.”

There was a collective backing away, and more than one member shot a look at her savate shoes. They looked like they would hurt a lot.

“As long as you recall, that's fine, Tetsu-kun,” Alouette chuckled. “So, let's leave Kyoya and Tsu-chan to their private time.”

“My brother is alone with that fetish pervert-” Ietsuna's flailing was interrupted by one leg lashing out and arms locking his own back. “Tsuna! I'm coming to save you!”

“Don't worry,” Alouette continued smiling. “The Sawada line will continue even if Tsu-chan becomes a Hibari. In fact, this is a way for a teacher and student to build bonds.”

“You and I have nothing to do with Tsuna's marriage prospects!” Ietsuna shouted.

“But I do,” Alouette sighed, smiling. Perhaps, in another light, there were tears in her eyes.

Dino, finally awake, was there when he spotted Ietsuna stuck in a head-lock. “Oh, Ietsuna! And your Maître, right?”

“So,” and here Ietsuna was let go of, “what business do the horse herbivores have in Namimori?”

“I see retirement hasn't put a dent in the skills of the Mauviette,” Dino complimented. “You see, Ietsuna here and his brother are heirs to the Vongola. I think you know it too, since your family line has been involved with the Vongola since its inception.”

“Family line?” Ietsuna broke out of the lock. “Maître?”

Alouette relented after a long staring match. “You're not the only one with a troublesome ancestor.”

Ietsuna's eyes took on a measure of respect. “You were dragged into this too, Maître?”

“...in a way,” Alouette reflected, almost daydreaming. “In a way. There's always one more thing, though, that keeps us there.”

Then Alouette brightened. “So, about the pervert attacks. What are you doing now? Two officers are currently in the hospital.”

If Ietsuna detected the subject change, he didn't notice it. “Well... we got ourselves some part-timers.”

1 A pyrocumulus cloud is produced by the intense heating of the air from the surface. The intense heat induces convection, which causes the air mass to rise to a point of stability, usually in the presence of moisture. Phenomena such as volcanic eruptions, forest fires, and occasionally industrial activities can induce formation of this cloud. The detonation of a nuclear weapon in the atmosphere will also produce a pyrocumulus, in the form of a mushroom cloud, which is made by the same mechanism.

Chapter Text

“...true...”

There was a body crushed under a large wrecking ball.

Grey-skinned hands that were attached to said body under the ball twitched, like the old experiment with running electric current through frog legs. Those hands had been just about to slice her, so Hana felt no pity. Rather, she was more occupied with the wrecking ball, which was attached to a chain. The chain was held by a tall, dark and handsome stranger, if you discounted the scar on his right cheek and the fact that he literally towered over her and was probably twice her mass. In the light of the setting sun, he was twice as intimidating.

T- These are the attackers... right? I'm dead... aren't I?

The fleeting thought of imminent death was stayed when an old man was kicked to be flattened on the large wrecking ball. She knew that they were kicked, because only two men in Namimori consistently had that sort of strength, and because she could spot Sawada Ietsuna's distinctive shoes and the red armband on the right arm as he approached.

“You know,” was his opening statement rather than noting that, you know, a dead body was crushed under the wrecking ball that Tall-Dark-And-Handsome wielded. “There are simpler ways to incapacitate him rather than crushing him right in front of a civilian.”

“My apologies,” Tall-Dark-And-Handsome replied, casting thin eyes towards Hana's direction. “There was simply no time.”

Amber eyes slowly regarded her, and Hana bristled at the cool regard. “Don't worry,” said the lying monkey, “she's one of our officers. She knew what was coming.”

“Sawada Ietsuna!” Hana immediately yelled. “What the hell? I didn't agree to help f- for this! That man is crushed! And the old man is crushed as well!”

“Ah,” Ietsuna drawled, “this is a consequence of calling in our part-time secretary when our usually male-dominated Disciplinary Committee falls into these problems. I keep saying that we should put you on the slate of officers already.”

“That's not the point, you monkey!” Hana pointed. “He's dead!”

Ietsuna simply shrugged. “And so it goes.”

The start of the day's devolution, was really in the afternoon, at the Namimori Central Hospital.

It was hardly surprising that Namimori Central Hospital found itself filled with students, given the recently curbed attacks on students of Namimori Middle. Two such students, both girls, were currently doing their homework on one of the outdoors tables.

“Taihei no/ Nemuri o samasu/ Jōkisen/ Tatta shihai de/ Yoru mo nemurezu,” Kyoko read out loud to her friend. “Hana-chan, do you know the meaning of this poem?”

Sweeping aside a loose lock of black hair from her own bangs, Kurokawa Hana cast an eye on the poem:

泰平の
眠りを覚ます
上喜撰
たった四杯で
夜も眠れず

“It's filled with puns¹,” Kurokawa Hana concluded after a look. “This poem is a complex set of puns. Taihei (泰平) means "tranquil"; Jōkisen (上喜撰) is the name of a costly brand of green tea containing large amounts of caffeine; and shihai (四杯) means "four cups". A literal translation of the poem is:

Awoken from sleep
of a peaceful quiet world
by Jōkisen tea;
with only four cups of it
one can't sleep even at night.

“There is an alternate translation, based on the puns,” Hana continued. “Taihei can refer to the "Pacific Ocean" (太平); jōkisen also means "steam-powered ships" (蒸気船); and shihai also means "four vessels". The poem, therefore, has a hidden meaning:

The steam-powered ships
break the halcyon slumber
of the Pacific;
a mere four boats are enough
to make us lose sleep at night.

“In summary, this kyoka has a double meaning to indicate the arrival of the Black Ships² in 1853, and thus Kotoba-sensei set it as our introduction in History,” Hana explained.

“I see...” Kyoko giggled. “I thought it was just a funny poem. Hana is so smart and cultured.”

“It's nothing,” Hana demurred.

“Say, Hana, did you hear about the sudden snowstorm in Kokuyo?” Kyoko asked while scribbling. “It appeared right over the burning Kokuyo Land and put out the fires!”

“Snow this late in winter? Cold...” Hana groused. “Don't forget to wrap up, Kyoko, and notice your surroundings more. Recently there's been attacks on women and girls in the general area around Namimori.”

“Yes, Hana,” Kyoko dismissed with a smile. “I'll be staying with Onii-chan until visiting hours are over, so Hana, you'll have to make your own way back. Will you be safe?”

“I have a part-time job,” Hana replied stoically. “In any case, I'll just get one of the Disciplinary monkeys to escort me.”

“Eh? But aren't they occupied with cleaning up after that recent series of attacks on students?” Kyoko frowned. “Will you be fine, Hana?”

“Don't worry about me,” Hana reassured, putting away her books and pens. “Look, Sawada Ietsuna is over there.”

“Eh? Oh, Ietsuna-kun!” Kyoko waved at the brown-haired boy walking towards them on the hospital grounds. “Are you here to visit Tsunayoshi-kun?”

“Yes,” Ietsuna flatly replied, clearly steaming.

“What happened?” Hana asked.

“He got locked into a room with Hibari.”

“I'll pray for him,” was Kyoko's immediate, if slightly confusing, answer. Confusing if you only knew of Hibari's bloodthirsty reputation and not of the cleaning symbiosis between Tsuna and Hibari.

“Hold on, both of you are in the Disciplinary Committee, right?” Hana demanded. “Aren't you guys investigating the attacks on girls in the area?”

“I can't tell you much,” Ietsuna mused. “With two officers and about twenty members hospitalised, Kusakabe and I are still looking for leads to catch the perverts. It's difficult for the Committee to intrude into the affairs of female students, because we have almost no female members, and I'm looking for someone to replace our former part-time secretary.”

Hana frowned at the flat reply. “I see...”

“Rest assured that we of the Disciplinary Committee are doing all we can to curb these attacks as soon as possible,” Ietsuna replied in a professional manner. “If you'd excuse me.”

“Hold on, please,” Kyoko stood up. “Erm... Ietsuna-kun, could I trouble you to escort Hana back home? I'm worried that those perverts might be waiting around here. Please.”

“Just nice,” Hana suddenly spoke up. “I need to talk to you, Sawada.”

“Fine,” Ietsuna nodded after what felt like a geological epoch. “Let's go, Kurokawa.”

Prefect and student walked to the main entrance of Namimori Central Hospital, until Hana stopped to rifle through her school bag. Ietsuna waited, until a familiar red armband graced Hana's right elbow.

“Who's getting replaced, Sawada?” Hana snapped, no longer a simple student but rather the Secretary (Part-time) of Female Affairs of the Disciplinary Committee.

“Well, it's been a month since your last appearance, Kurokawa,” Ietsuna shrugged.

“It's hard getting to the Reception Room,” Hana defended. “So, what do we do?”

“Walk with me,” Ietsuna commanded. “I'll explain.”

“Let's start with when did these start,” Hana prompted.

“Second of February, one second-year in Kokuyo High School's lacrosse club was hospitalised after an attack,” Ietsuna read off. “Third February, a third-year Kokuyo Middle student reported theft of underwear in her general district. Fifth February, the first of Namimori's cases: three second-years reported being accosted, resulting in two casualties and one in intensive care. Sixth February, two separate cases: one in the outskirts of the shopping district, and another in the south district along the main canal. In most cases, an old man and one or two grey-skinned men in Kokuyo Middle uniform were described where possible.”

“Today's the seventh,” Hana noted. “You managed to piece together a timeline in two days?”

“No, I only just got the file from the police post,” Ietsuna replied.

“The police?!”

“As long as we curb the attacks, does it matter how it's carried out?” Ietsuna commented.

“I can't forgive an enemy to women,” Hana snapped. “So, do you have any idea?”

“Our timeline indicates that they are moving from Kokuyo to Namimori, towards the sea,” Ietsuna pointed. “I think they're trying to make for the Sea of Japan and run to Korea or China. Since all the locations were isolated and reported property damage such as craters, it's highly possible that they're trying not to be seen. There's more conjectures, but at this stage we have no proof, only that they're following the waterways.”

Hana regarded the long and isolated canal that they were currently following. “This canal leads out to the sea, right?”

Ietsuna looked up. “...Yes. Like I said, it's simply a conjecture.”

“That's what I'm afraid of!” Hana retorted. “Because in your case, conjectures are often-”

Crashes came in a variety of sounds, but for it to happen right behind her caused Hana to fall to the ground and roll, landing on her side. She peered up as the dust cleared, seeing only the tall, dark and handsome stranger with the wrecking ball.

...reported property damage such as craters...

“...true...”

“You know,” was Ietsuna's opening statement after bursting into action to incapacitate another man lying in wait. “There are simpler ways to incapacitate him rather than crushing him right in front of a civilian.”

“My apologies,” Tall-Dark-And-Handsome replied, casting thin eyes towards Hana's direction. “There was simply no time.”

Amber eyes slowly regarded her, and Hana bristled at the cool regard. “Don't worry,” said the lying monkey, “she's one of our officers. She knew what was coming.”

“Sawada Ietsuna!” Hana immediately yelled. “What the hell? I didn't agree to help f- for this! That man is crushed! And the old man is crushed as well!”

“Ah,” Ietsuna drawled, “this is a consequence of calling in our part-time secretary when our usually male-dominated Disciplinary Committee falls into these problems. I keep saying that we should put you on the slate of officers already.”

“That's not the point, you monkey!” Hana pointed at the wrecking ball. “He's dead!”

Ietsuna simply shrugged. “And so it goes.”

Hana drew a breath as sharp fingernails closed around her face, closing her eyes to stop them.

“Damn you...” the old man snarled, holding his nose from where it sprouted in the midst of a very clear footprint. On his head perched a lone yellow bird. “How dare you kick me!”

“Isn't it common sense to kick those who surprise others?” Ietsuna questioned. “Who the hell are you, anyway?”

“My name is Birds,” the old man retorted clearly, stemming the flow of blood. “My hobby is keeping birds. My other hobby is frightening others. If you want her to live, you'd best not touch me again, fool.”

“No! I'll do-... something...” Ietsuna trailed off. “Something...”

“W- What?” Birds sputtered, probably at the unseen look on Ietsuna's face. “Don't you want her to live?”

“That's the thing...” Ietsuna chuckled sheepishly. “I get the feeling that, no matter what I do, you'll still kill her. And if you don't, I don't have assurance that your pet will honour the agreement. His twin is dead, after all.”

“The Bloody Twins, Jiji and Djidji, are completely loyal to me,” Birds gloated. “Even if I didn't get paid by Rokudo-san, this is good as well. That look of panic on your face, that is.”

“...so, you're accomplices of Rokudo Mukuro as well?” Ietsuna's enquiry was quiet and calm.

“Rokudo Mukuro...” Birds mulled. “How did you know that name? Why... why did your expression change?”

“Two days ago, Rokudo Mukuro and his crew were bitten to death by the Namimori Middle School Disciplinary Committee,” Ietsuna commented. “If you're with him, I suppose he called in reinforcements. If that is so... then our chairman Hibari Kyoya would command that you be bitten to death. Ah, but you have a hostage, a student of our beloved school... until now.”

“Eh?” A sound of things breaking, and Hana found herself borne into the air and opened her eyes to face the intimidating man, who now bore her above the fallen assailant. An orange glow seemed to fall over them, curtained in a light that seemed to have painted a curtain around them.

“My apologies,” the tall, dark and handsome stranger started. “For startling you.”

“I- It's fine...”

Ietsuna made sure to kick Birds into their direction, if only to screw with the imminent coup de foudre. “Practice what you preach!”

Thus, like how a shogunate found itself at unrest following the ships approaching with the sun's rise, Kurokawa Hana found herself restless with the sunset. “My name is Lancia,” the spiky-haired man stated. “I am a hitman. Formerly, I was the double of Rokudo Mukuro until he was defeated...”

Ietsuna mulled over the very long story of Lancia's life with Hana sparkling in a corner. Love had struck in with a horror unparalleled since Poison Scorpion Bianchi decided that Reborn was her lover.

“So... you took in Rokudo as a child. However, Mukuro used his crazy eye powers to brainwash and control you and kill your entire family, and then put you to work in his gang. You finally recalled what happened after we put Rokudo in the hospital, and then you saw Birds and his pets attacking women and chased them continuously from Kokuyo to Namimori, which is frankly not that far, but combined with keeping out of sight of passers-by took three days and nights. And, you just broke the Omertà by blabbing in front of a civilian, so... c'est la vie.”

A shrug. “Bye~”

A school bag landed on his head. “Sorry, Sawada is really insensitive,” Hana apologised with sparkles of sympathy fairly illuminated around her person.

“I thought-”

“I said it was a bad time, Lancia!” Ietsuna bluntly stated. “Kurokawa, go home.”

“What?” Hana bristled. “I met a tall, dark and handsome stranger for the first time in my life, and you're telling me to leave him? We haven't even been introduced!”

“Shit,” Ietsuna swore. “Lancia, this is my classmate, Kurokawa. Kurokawa, Lancia, whom I only just met. She doesn't know anything.”

“...I see.” Only then did Lancia turn slightly white in colour. “I think...”

“I think- Are you alright?” Ietsuna poked him. Lancia fell over. Hana stared at the redness that started to leak, just like the grey-skinned man. The sun was dipping over the horizon already.

“B- B- Blood...”

“Kurokawa,” Ietsuna passed her his phone. “Call Kusakabe, and an ambulance, in that order. Speed dial three and four exactly.”

“W- Why-”

“Because if they find bodies here, Lancia is going to be arrested,” Ietsuna grimly stated. “Japan still has the death penalty. Even in self-defence, there's no way to prove that in court. Call.”

“R- Right!” Hana jabbed a nail onto the button, watching Ietsuna take off his shirt and tear into it to staunch the blood flow. I never thought that maturity would be scary... but this Sawada-san is mature to the point of being cold-hearted.Almost like... ice...

“So... you've been having those subordinates of Rokudo Mukuro on... community service?” Tsuna echoed, pushing his little finger into his ear.

“If they broke it, they pay for it,” Ietsuna reasoned. “Well, it's partly their hospital fees as well, and the pineapple fairy's fees too. The two of you are getting out of this enforced holiday soon, so this is to get back onto track as well. And then, the new subordinate-”

“-that you kidnapped,” Reborn added from a nearby shelf.

“-Lancia is so nice, I want to keep him, but he said that he needed to get back to Italy,” Ietsuna lamented, ignoring the baby hitman. Reborn showed heroic restraint and did not try to kill him. “Well, he always looks like he got punched when he faces you, Tsuna.”

“No, I think Lancia-san just got punched by your brutal honesty, Ie,” Tsuna replied.

Two knocks on the door, and Ietsuna paused in his daily interruption of what would probably look like a cosy couple sharing a hospital ward if one of the pair was not Hibari Kyoya and chronically unable to comprehend romance. “Enter.”

The door banged open. “I'M VERY SORRY YOU GOT INJURED, SAWADA!!”

“I'll bite you to death,” was Hibari's immediate answer.

“I- It's fine, Sasagawa-sempai!” Tsuna quickly intervened. “This is a hospital too, please...”

“So, in extreme repayment, please accept these to the extreme!” Ryohei presented an envelope that Tsuna gingerly peered at.

“Two tickets to Namimori Animal Park...” Tsuna blinked. “I'm very sorry, Sasagawa-sempai, but Disciplinary Committee regulations do not allow us to accept gifts outside of holiday obligations.”

“Eh?! That's unfair! Hibari!” Ryohei turned towards Hibari's cot. “You accept this for Sawada.”

“No.”

“Accept it to the extreme!”

“No.”

“When a Boss is offered a gift, it's courtesy to accept it,” Reborn pointed out as Hibari started to truly fight back.

“I'm not going to become a Mafia boss,” Tsuna grimly replied. “After Ie ended up like that...”

“He chose to protect the Family,” Reborn pointed out. “Ietsuna can't produce the Dying Will Flames. So it falls to you, Tsuna, to take on the mantle of Boss.”

“Sorry, Tsuna,” Ietsuna spoke. “I'm a useless older brother that can't help you.”

“Don't change your family standing when you feel like it! We're twins!”

“Really?”

“Tomorrow... tomorrow we'll prove it!” Tsuna announced.

“...fine,” Ietsuna admitted. “Until noon, though.”

Reborn had no idea what they were talking about, until the morning came, and Nana said with a smile, “Tsu-kun, could you do the dishes?”

“I could... if I were Tsuna,” came the extremely blunt reply. “Tsuna went ahead. I'm going out!”

Bianchi dropped her chopsticks. Lambo, Fuuta and I-Pin started. A grain of rice fell to the table before Reborn.

None of us noticed the switch...

“Good morning, Tenth's twin!”

“G- Gokudera-kun...”

“Geh!” A shocked looked came over Gokudera's face. “I'm very sorry, Tenth! Please allow me to make up for my mistakes!”

“What are you doing?”

“We're playing a game, Yamamoto.”

“Would Yamamoto-kun like to play too?”

“Sure,” Yamamoto smiled. “What game?”

“It's the-”

“-'Who is Tsunayoshi'-”

“-game.”

“Who is Ietsuna-”

“-and who is Tsunayoshi?”

Yamamoto thought for a while, and then smiled. “I don't know!”

“Sawada Tsunayoshi!” their teacher called. “Solve this set of simultaneous equations!”

“x=5, y=3.”

“That's... correct...” the teacher subsided.

“That's definitely Ietsuna,” Hana growled.

“Sawada Ietsuna!” the teacher called during the next period. “When was the Tokugawa Shogunate set up?”

“I- I don't know...”

“When did they switch?” Hana exclaimed.

It's more than that, Reborn realised. The first thing about identical twins, is that you keep your attention away from them for 30 seconds and then you can't tell them apart easily. The other skill is that these twins, who know each other's lives so intimately, act too well, that I can't tell them apart.

“Ah, I'm tired,” one twin yawned, lying down on the roof of the school.

“Don't be like that, Ie,” the other reproached. “It's just one more minute, right?”

“Right, Tsuna,” the first one said. “Have you figured it out yet, Reborn?”

The baby hitman glared at the two of them for five minutes until the clock struck twelve, staring from the left to the right. Sure, they could call each other's names, but they also responded to each other's names. Suffice it to say that, without shooting the Dying Will Bullet, Reborn would not be finding out which was which today.

“...Why the noon limit?” Reborn asked.

A sudden pall fell over the twins as they exchanged looks. “Because...”

“...in this world...”

“...only one person can tell us apart...”

“...and that person...”

“...really hates this game.” Both twins concluded at the same time that a tonfa embedded itself into the wall above the second twin's head.

“Sawada Ietsuna,” Hibari loomed from his position of the highest point of the school. “The armband on the left is allowed only for little animals.”

“H- Hibari-san!” the first twin that Reborn had pegged for Ietsuna freaked. “S- Sorry!”

“Your personality sucks,” the second twin, now positively identified as Ietsuna, snapped back as he blocked a tonfa and threw a low kick that Hibari dodged.

“That bird-brain and his wild instincts...”

Reborn considered the heterochromic owl roosting beside him. “Even you can't tell them apart?”

“They have the makings of true illusionists only in that quarter,” came the bitter admission. “I could have figured it out, given a longer time limit. Maybe that under-developed dodo imprinted on Tsunayoshi-kun- I have to-”

The rest of his words was lost when a palette knife was flung at him.

1 in Japanese, kakekotoba ( 掛詞 ) or "pivot words"

Chapter Text

Ietsuna took the news of Mukuro's remote travel way via bodily possession better than expected, Reborn thought . Tsuna apparently did not share that opinion, since he was still hovering between his twin and the hospital bed, ready to tackle Ietsuna out of the way.

“Yes,” Mukuro smirked in the owl's body, though he technically did not have lips to smirk with. “Why are you holding a knife over my physical body? You'll have a bigger chance injuring your... twin.”

Ietsuna withdrew the palette knife. “We collected your men, by the way.”

The owl took off, wings fluttering into the sky outside. Slowly, Mukuro's own eyes fluttered open to reveal a two-toned glare.

“And what of it?” came the deep purr.

“Lancia, Joshima Ken, and Kakimoto Chikusa has agreed to work part-time under the Disciplinary Committee to serve their mandated ten thousand hours of community service,” Ietsuna continued, missing the faint surprise that passed over Mukuro's features since he was now staring at a clipboard in his hand. “They have given their accounts of the attacks and the motivations thereof, lacking only your testimony. While we must note the dubious legality behind the current rash of cases, your case has been taken over by the Namimori Middle Disciplinary Committee.”

Mukuro was impressed, both at the professionalism behind Ietsuna's entire delivery and the utter blather contained within that delivery. “You should have simply called the Vindice.”

“You can't move in your condition, Rokudo-san,” Tsuna intervened as the clipboard broke.

“Not that it would stop the Vindice, if what Reborn told us was true,” Ietsuna added. “But we're still understaffed, and the... twenty percent... of your body covered in second- and first-degree burns that would take an estimated month to heal agrees with us. As long as your hospital stay goes on, I get to boss around Kakimoto and Joshima.”

“I'm surprised that you got them to work for you,” Mukuro's comment could have dried water out.

“Community service,” Ietsuna corrected. “Of course, if you'd like to extend your hospital stay, I can ask the Chairman to break some of your bones. I'm sure he would oblige you eternally.”

This was the third meeting of the Rokudo case. The first had decimated an entire ward; it marked the first of many casualties in the Hibari-Rokudo mutual enmity. It was silly, but the mutual hate had reached cosmic levels by the second meeting, which had confirmed a budding hypothesis that yes, if reincarnation existed, there were also feuds that cross reincarnations.

Reborn, on the other hand, was not exactly occupied with the frosty and tense atmosphere that was being cultivated, and more into considering the next plan – not that anyone present could tell, even if Tsuna kept shooting looks at him. Any chance to gradually integrate Tsuna had gone pear-shaped to integrate the wrong twin; while Ietsuna was, in many ways, an ideal Mafia boss, he was also a boy with a – however subtle it may seem – giant brother complex. Add that the twins could switch identities fairly easily, and there was a fairly complicated situation.

Now, though...

Vindice; the avengers of Mafia law. It may seem oxymoronic that the criminal underworld had its laws, but there were still norms and folk-ways that hitmen followed. It had been so when Garibaldi and his thousand men invaded and Italy got its act together in 1861. It had been so when Sicily was invaded in the Second World War. Mafia law had survived the war on smuggling, drugs, organised crime, and nationalism under the Vindice, and perhaps some mutated pre-Europe form of the law had been codified and protected even before Westphalia was nothing more than a pipe dream in some diplomat's head. Anything more than bargaining with them was to gain undue attention, and at this stage, Reborn was going to have his first lost student. Not even Dino had been this troublesome.

“We got good news and bad news,” Tsuna brightly reassured.

“What's the bad news?”

“Erm...”

“The Vindice want you back,” Reborn blandly stated.

Mukuro snorted. “Is there any good news to be derived from this?”

“They're willing to overlook the role of Kakimoto, Joshima, M.M. and Lancia in the light that they escaped under your command, and since no other criminal actions have been taken to warrant-” Tsuna leant towards Ietsuna's clipboard, “-'the attention of civilian authorities above the local'. They've also agreed to revise your case in light of the new information given with regards of the details. That's the good news.”

“You have to settle things in person, but the main idea is to make wrongs be set right,” Reborn chirped. “Isn't that nice?”

“I don't want to hear that from you, Arcobaleno,” Mukuro snapped. “One of the seven strongest infants, cursed into an un-ageing body, and the reputed strongest of the current generation. I don't trust you, especially since you're apparently too blind to notice what's under your face.”

Reborn remained silent.

“...Oh,” Mukuro's lips curved into a smirk at the silence. “I see. You yourself didn't know, Sawada Ietsuna.”

“What?” Tsuna spoke up.

Ietsuna laughed. “According to this guy, I'm a walking corpse.”

A beat.

There were a multitude of non-verbal messages communicated in the span of this beat, which did not cover even a half-second. For one, it was all in the eyes, be they amber or heterochromic or onyx or caramel. Ietsuna's eyes challenged, Mukuro dismissed the challenge, Reborn's was silent contemplation, and Tsuna's caramel orbs reflected only confusion.

“We relieved you of the Possession Bullet,” Reborn spoke up. “I suppose you tried to use it on Ietsuna.”

“The Possession Bullet?” Tsuna echoed.

“As the name says, it allows the user to take control of another's body,” Reborn explained. “It was a special bullet created by the Estraneo Family. Not only does the user need a strong spirit, he must also be suited for the bullet.”

“Then that's more than simple mind control,” Ietsuna speculated. “But I don't feel like injuring anyone, and I still have full control of it.”

“I have no interest in possessing a body without a central nervous system,” Mukuro gloated at the revelation that came at his hand. “In fact, I find your existence remarkable and untrustworthy at the same time.”

“The nervous system is the part of an animal's body that coordinates its voluntary and involuntary actions and transmits signals between different parts of its body,” Reborn replied. “It'd be much difficult for you to coordinate the body like that. But, that implies-”

“-that the subject is dead, yes?” Mukuro grinned. “I think you have more things to worry about between yourselves than with the Kokuyo Gang.”

“I am here, I am talking to you, and I will plant my boot into your skull if you insist that I am dead,” Ietsuna summed up his rebuttal. “The fact of my self-expression proves that, for the purpose of argument, I am not only alive, but I have every opportunity to demonstrate that in this physical world. With that settled, I see that you rejected our offer. You may expect the Vindice's appearance upon the completion of your treatment.”

“For the purpose of argument, you are alive,” Mukuro admitted, undaunted by the threat and enjoying himself. “However, I can tell you this: your brain is essentially dead. There are no chemical process in your body. No signalling or control mechanisms. Physiologically, you should be dead. The only reason you remain alive is because of the bond between you twins.”

“Bond?” Tsuna echoed.

“What do you mean?” Reborn growled, almost frustrated.

“Kufufu,” Mukuro smirked. “There is no need to lie when the truth can hurt you more. With that amount of Dying Will Flames, your town should be a crater already. The only reason it did not is because those Flames sustained your corpse-like body to live and grow, harmonising it with the flow of the world. Yes, like the myth about the legendary twins; when Castor was killed, Pollux asked Zeus to let him share his own immortality with his twin to keep them together for eternity.”

“That's... not possible,” Tsuna shook his head. “Ie is right here. He's... he can touch, he can feel, he can see and he can express himself... he can paint!”

“Paint... since we were discussing art that night...” Mukuro mused, “...how about a little art jargon? The ancient Greeks did not associate the colour blue with their deities. Blue, to them, was no more a colour than a shade; a derivative of black.¹”

His lone blue eye glittered. “In the ancient world, blue was a breed of darkness.”

“That's true,” Ietsuna agreed. “So, shall we continue? Or shall we drop this farce, Rokudo Mukuro? You and I know the only possible outcome.”

“Very well,” Mukuro dismissed. “It seems I have broken one of the young Vongola, and actually my favourite one now. I believe the Arcobaleno has realised it too.”

“Ah,” Reborn murmured. “The only outcome to continue, is to return you to Vendicare, and lobby for your release from outside.”

“We'll continue this another time,” Ietsuna looped one arm around his stricken twin. “I don't have the motivation to do this anymore today.”

“And you were so eager to throw my fate to arbitration,” Mukuro observed, a touch coldly.

Ietsuna looked at him. Whatever Mukuro saw, it was enough to prompt the illusionist to ready indigo Flame along his cursed eye.

“I did this only for Tsuna,” was the blank, matter-of-fact reply. “I got the drop on your gang, because you would have attacked him sooner than track me down.”

“And the Vongola?”

A smile. “I don't care. There's a book in the drawer, by the way. Maître left it there.”

Mukuro smiled, after a fashion, hefting the loosely bound Mahabharata in his hand. The leaves of Bible paper weighed heavily in his hand, like a small weapon that would hamper Mukuro more than anyone on the receiving end. With a shrug, he began reading. It proved, at least, to be diverting.

“It's not exactly disturbing.”

Tsuna had been dragged to the hospital's roof before he snapped out of the stupor. Ietsuna was perched by a bench, fiddling with his drawing charcoal and a scrap of paper while talking. Reborn was nowhere to be found.

“It's not exactly disturbing,” Ietsuna commented.

“Ie... how long did you take to realise that?” Tsuna asked, albeit calmly. “Whatever Rokudo Mukuro said...”

“...” there was a scrap. “The fact that you are asking means that you don't want confirmation. You want me to lie to you.”

“We're twins,” Tsuna glumly admitted. “We know each other more than anyone else in the world. Yet... if that was true, how did I not realise this fact?! Why didn't I realise it sooner?”

Ietsuna snorted. “You're so nice, Tsuna. Most people would be asking 'why didn't I tell you?'”

“Because... because I've always been relying on you,” Tsuna nodded. “But I don't consider Ie to be dead, because you're here and you can see and you can argue for yourself... more than anything, Ie is Ie, my twin brother. One of my precious people.”

Ietsuna continued sketching. “Rokudo said that I'm living off your Dying Will Flames, right? Maybe that explains why I can freeze things; from a thermodynamic perspective all that energy goes to you. In that case the laws of entropy that governs our... connection must have a gatekeeper in order to violate thermodynamics.”

“Ie, can you be more serious about this?”

Amber eyes switched to him, the amber set in his own face. “But I am serious. I am treating this with the seriousness it deserves. That is, because it comes from the pineapple fairy, it deserves none.”

Tsuna made a choking noise that sounded like laughter. “That's not nice! And, don't change the subject!”

Ietsuna chuckled, one thumb out to judge the perspective. “I'm here, aren't I? That means I can't be dead. What does that even mean, a zombie? This is a zombie?”

“T- That's true...” Tsuna chuckled. “If Ie was dead... no, if Ie died, I won't know what to do with myself. I'm just no good at life. Maybe I should become Decimo. Ie can stun the world, while I watch his back. This face... maybe there's something valuable in this face we share.”

Something in those words, some unheard melancholy, forced the charcoal to drop. Tsuna blinked as he was suddenly shaken, two hands clapped onto his shoulders and the charcoal-covered fingers staining them.

“Tsuna, you have worth,” Caramel met frosty flint-like amber, and was sliced apart. “Grandpa saved us at the cost of his life. Doesn't that prove that we have value? Even more so, shouldn't you treasure your life?! In this world, only one is my twin. Never shall his worth ever change.”

“I- I know!” Tsuna's shoulders bunched. “But Ie is so talented, in academics and sports, and in art- I just don't measure up. That's why I always had Ie protecting me...”

“No,” was the firm declaration. “Your worth is in your moral compass. You can find it in yourself to forgive Gokudera, Mukuro and that fetish-pervert.”

“Fetish-per-”

“Never mind that,” Ietsuna insisted. “I just... I wish for your happiness... even if it's narcissistic.”

Tsuna flushed a deep scarlet. “I'm not narcissistic!”

“The girl you had a crush on looks like your identical twin. You don't have a leg to stand on.” Ietsuna paused. “Come to think of it, I should ask Sasagawa. We could pose as triplets.”

“Don't decide to increase our family size on your own!” Tsuna yelled back.

They exchanged looks, before breaking out into laughter. The dead cannot laugh, cannot speak, and cannot decide... it is only the living who, through their interactions and laughter, become reborn.

“You know,” Ietsuna chuckled, lying on his stomach and staring up into the sky next to Tsuna, “Rokudo's just managed to prove that there's an intangible connection between the two of us.”

“So... it's a bond?” Tsuna mused. “We'll be together always, then! Ietsuna and Tsunayoshi...”

“Until Maître convinces Kaa-san that you should become a Hibari,” Ietsuna interjected.

“Oh, Ie!” came the exasperation. “Well, we have to find Rokudo Mukuro-san again...”

“Sawada Ietsuna,” came the interjection from Hibari when both twins dumped the Rokudo case report on his desk two days later. “Your armband.”

Ietsuna scowled, switching the red armband of membership onto his right arm. “How the hell do you always manage to tell us apart, Hibari?! You didn't even know us when we met!”

“Well, Ie,” Tsuna dissuaded, “Hibari-san is Hibari-san. Because Hibari-san is a carnivore...”

“...”

Twin and chairman watched as Tsuna's head steamed and turned scarlet as he thought about the problem. It looked painful.

“...because carnivores can sense out the weakest prey!”

Tsuna's triumphant conclusion actually caused Kusakabe to stare at him, the vice-chair having just entered the Reception Room.

“No.” Hibari's curt reply deflated Tsuna like a balloon. “It's because skylarks are diurnal birds.”

“-.-'... I see... but I don't see....”

“You'll know if you think about it.”

Neither of them thought about this conclusion. Ietsuna was at the gym when he actually considered it.

“That bastard!” The body-shaped punching bag flew off its cord and impacted on the far wall. “He's saying that we're as different as day and night! Va te faire foutre!”

Supervising the gym's workings, Alouette paused as her student began to curse her grandson. “Ah, they're such great friends...”

“End-of-year matters are so difficult to arrange...” Tsuna complained once the years turned to late March, when the school year had just ended and there was a week break before it turned to April. “How on earth does the Disciplinary Committee manage all those matters?”

Gokudera was wearing glasses, and they were temporarily askew as Gokudera proclaimed: “Tenth, I'll go and blow up the place immediately!”

“That's fine, Gokudera-kun...” Tsuna yawned, munching on a harshly defended breakfast. “I want to sleep...”

“Overworking is no good,” Reborn pointed out. “You need to take some time to rest, Tsuna.”

“Say,” Tsuna stared at him. “How come you're worried about me, but not about Ie?”

“Because Reborn hates me,” Ietsuna patiently replied, munching on his toast. “I-Pin, miso.”

I-Pin slapped away Lambo's thieving hand. “Waa, Ie-nii!”

“Make sure to steal without being detected next time.”

“Tsuna-nii!”

“Lambo, stealing food is bad.”

“Tsu-kun, Na-kun!” Nana chirped. “We won a prize from a magazine contest! It's a trip to a South Sea island by cruise ship!”

“Go by yourself, Kaa-san,” both twins spoke immediately together.

“Twins are really strange creatures...” Bianchi commented in the middle of feeding Reborn.

“UMAs...” Gokudera fairly sparkled.

“B- But, the tickets are for three,” Nana persuaded. “Y- You wouldn't leave Kaa-san alone for this... right?”

“You can't leave Lambo, I-Pin, Fuuta and these two tutors alone at home either,” Ietsuna pointed out. “'Sides, you can go on a small honeymoon with Dad, or find another friend. Or, you could take Reborn and Bianchi along for them to improve their romantic relationship too.”

“Ietsuna...” Bianchi's eyes sparkled. “You're actually a good person...”

“Y- You're right! Na-kun is so sensible!” Nana smiled hollowly. “How long has it been since our last vacation as a family...?”

“You mean, counting the zoo trip that ended with trauma, the seaside trip that ended with trauma again, or the camping trip that ended with trauma?” Ietsuna asked. “I don't know.”

“Don't speak that way about your father, Na-kun!”

Fuuta dropped his chopsticks. “Mama can get angry?!”

“Why?”

“W- Well...” Nana faltered under the heavy amber gaze that seemed sparkling with false innocence. “He's busy with work, so there's nothing we can do. Travelling around, digging for oil, the sturdy man of the earth that's your Papa...”

“I didn't realise men of the earth who direct traffic at construction sites also dig for oil,” Ietsuna flippantly replied. “I think one needs a degree in chemical engineering to do that. I guess it'd be very helpful in the South Pole with the penguins. And, last time, didn't he say that he went to become a star? So many inconsistent stories... there's only one possibility, and you thought about it when Reborn appeared. You could do so much better, Kaa-san, and you don't even realise that he's ch-”

Tsuna stood up. “Ie, you don't have to say any more. Kaa-san, sit down. Do you need some water?”

“...yes.” Nana listlessly echoed.

“Ie-nii is brutal,” Lambo whispered to Fuuta as Tsuna bustled to the kitchen counter.

“Ie-nii is ranked number one in delivering truths brutally,” Fuuta agreed glumly. “Ie-nii is also ranked number one in never lying...”

“Aiyah, Gēgē is too honest,” I-Pin agreed.

“Brutally honest,” Reborn echoed.

“True...” Bianchi commented, her eyes sliding towards Gokudera, who was regarding Ietsuna with something akin to hero-worship. “I wonder...”

“I'm going off,” Ietsuna stood up. “I'm not going to be back for dinner.”

“Yes... have a safe trip, Na-kun,” Nana sniffed. “I... for a moment there, I thought I was talking to my father-in-law...”

“Eh?” Fuuta stared. “So... Tsuna-nii and Ie-nii's grandfather?”

“Yes,” Nana nodded. “Ietsuna-san was pretty strict~! But he had his good points. He was worried that young women like me being chained to the home was no good, but Darling managed to convince him... somehow. Ietsuna-san even scolded his own son so much. Ietsuna-san would have stayed under our roof as well, you know. He offered his help so much...”

Nana heaved a sigh. “Sometimes, it feels like Na-kun is Ietsuna-san. In that sense, Ietsuna-san never really left us.”

Reborn's eyes were shadowed. “I see. Don't worry, Mama. I'll talk Ietsuna round.”

“You can't do it directly,” Nana cautioned. “Because in this entire world, Na-kun only loves Tsu-kun, even above himself.”

“Ah, thanks.”

Chapter Text

“I really don't understand.”

Hana lifted her head from the translated copy of A Tale of Two Cities. “About what?”

Ietsuna sat with her in the library as they filled out the cards and stamped old books. Ietsuna was currently thumbing through Slaughterhouse-Five. “My mother. She can do so much better and she sticks to the idiot monkey who's never home. Thinking about it with a clear head, feeling such deep emotions towards some other person you don't even know is truly terrifying.”

Hana frowned, setting down the book. “What makes you think I know?”

“Mmm... Lancia and you,” Ietsuna pointed out.

A blush coloured her cheeks, but Hana did not deny anything. “We're just... getting to know each other! He's... a kind man, but he's not... ready for a relationship. So he said... and... other things. That maturity...”

“Eh,” Ietsuna just blinked. “Anyway, I'll be killed by the home tutor for backtalk. But I was totally serious, Kurokawa.”

“So you have this side as well...” Hana smiled lightly behind her book. “You're less of a monkey than I thought. Well, you're Sawada's twin, so I guess there was something to all that discipline Hibari harps about. Otherwise you wouldn't be here during the holidays.”

“I'm here because Lancia asked,” Ietsuna clarified, rifling through the catalogue to stamp a book. “I could leave you here alone.”

“Your humour is bad as always,” Hana sighed as she caught the book tossed in her direction. “What's this?”

“You've been having nightmares, right?” Ietsuna sneezed as he opened the next book. “If you take out the time travel and toilet-plunger aliens, you got a PTSD story. Might help.”

“...thanks,” Hana rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. “About your mother... it's not my place to say anything, but you might want to go home and talk it out.”

“...I like the first chapter,” Ietsuna changed the subject. “Quote: 'And Lot's wife, of course, was told not to look back where all those people and their homes had been. But she did look back, and I love her for that, because it was so human.'”

“Just... that?”

He smiled. “'So she was turned into a pillar of salt. So it goes.'”

Hana backed slightly at the sudden-onset chill that descended. “Are you-”

The door opened. “Ietsuna-san,” the Regent-style prefect saluted. “Mochida of the Kendo club is challenging Sasagawa again.”

“I got it,” Ietsuna stood up. “You were saying, Kurokawa?”

“Nothing,” Hana dismissed. “I'm just surprised that you came to school and left your darling brother at home.”

“Tsuna?” Ietsuna echoed. “I think... I might have pushed him a bit too much. Well, catch you later, Kurokawa.”

“Huh,” Hana nodded as the prefects left her alone. “I knew it. That bro-con wouldn't feel anything like that for his mother, but for his brother? He'd probably rise from the dead.”

Upon just arriving at the school entrance, Tsuna put his face in his hands when the guard prefect on duty told him about Mochida. “Ie is handling it? Oh, no. I thought Mochida-sempai graduated!”

“Tenth?” Gokudera asked while trotting behind Tsuna.

“I love my brother, but he can be very vicious,” Tsuna swallowed, already pacing at a jog for the school gymnasium.

There was a minor crowd of boys in Kendo armour, and in the centre of it was Ietsuna studying a shinai in his hand.

“So, the bet's like this,” Mochida was explaining. “Right now, you guys say that we're crowding. I say the opposite, especially since I'm an alumnus of the school, and I'm going to Namimori High next year. If I win, you guys let the Kendo club bring outsiders onto school grounds. If you win... well, I guess we leave this matter behind.”

“No matter what, the Kendo Club benefits,” Ietsuna observed, hefting the shinai. “I'm fine with it.”

“Ie!” Tsuna called out. “Permanent injury is not allowed!”

Aside from a slight incline of the head, Ietsuna gave no response.

“Begin!”

Down came the flag, at the same time Ietsuna vaulted and cracked the shinai down. The latéral extérieur was a wet slap that echoed with a pained scream.

“Down... in one hit...” Gokudera stared. “Really brutal...”

“Well?” Amber eyes steadily regarded the shaking referee. “I have to hit him again? You'll have to clean the floor if I do.”

“W- Winner is the Disciplinary Committee!” Up went the red flag.

“M- m- monster...” Mochida clutched at his broken leg. “You broke my leg!”

“'Those who are accustomed to judge by feeling, do not understand the process of reasoning, for they would understand at first sight, and are not used to seek for principles'¹,” Ietsuna scowled. “Pascal is wasted on you, Mochida-sempai. Five weeks in a cast, no permanent injury. Of course, if you'd prefer to retire completely from the Kendo scene, we can oblige you.”

“Y- You switched your hands!” Mochida yelled. “I thought you were a boxer!”

“But I don't do Kendo,” Ietsuna pointed out, easily hefting the shinai. “I am, however, proficient in Savate. Coincidentally, that includes Canne chausson. Whenever did you think this was a Kendo match? In fact, this has long ceased to be one.”

The juniors of the Kendo club, while not as proficient in the ways of the sword like their currently injured senior, knew exactly who held the strings over the Disciplinary Committee's officer slate. “S- Sawada-san, please help us!”

“What happened...?”

“Oi, Mochida! I am going to extremely punch you out for harassing Kyoko-” Sasagawa Ryohei took in the scene mid-holler, and immediately nodded. “Join the Boxing Club, Sawada!”

The shinai dropped with a clatter, and Ryohei's face meshed under a rubber-soled shoe.

“Is this a fight, Tenth's twin?!”

“Gokudera-kun!” Tsuna freaked.

“What's going on?” the baseball ace pouted. “It looks fun!”

“Yamamoto-kun!” Tsuna spoke as the baseball ace strolled towards them, still in his baseball blues. “Right, it's the March holiday practise... how is your arm?”

“Great! I gotta thank Ietsuna and you,” Yamamoto grinned, slapping a hand on Tsuna's shoulder. “We're friends, right?”

“What are you doing so close to the Tenth, Baseball Idiot?!”

“I'll bring him to the hospital.”

“Ah, wait! Ie...” Tsuna faltered. “Erm... do you need me to come along?”

“Sorry... leave me alone for a while.”

“Oh...” Tsuna paused. “Will you be back for dinner? We can... talk about the trip.”

“...fine.”

“Thank you, Ie.” Tsuna smiled out of gratitude.

Ietsuna just waved. “Gokudera. Yamamoto. I'll leave Tsuna in your care for a bit.”

“Yes, Tenth's twin!”

“Leave it to me, Ietsuna!”

There was a snort. “'And others, on the contrary, who are accustomed to reason from principles, do not at all understand matters of feeling, seeking principles, and being unable to see at a glance.'²”

The hospital trip was fairly standard, if it counted Mochida attempting to press charges and being dissuaded only with Hibari's personal confirmation of the right to inflict severe injury while on duty. Ietsuna, though, found himself strolling through the maternity wing as a short-cut to the main entrance after being faced with a faulty sign on the lift doors.

“Oh,” one of a pair of older nurses commented as she passed. “It's one of the twins the old man rescued?”

“Which old man?”

“That old man, Sawada Ietsuna, you know. Those truly adorable twins! So sad about one of them...”

“Eh? But both twins survived the fire.”

“Ah, was it? Must have been my imagination...”

“Erm...”

“Yes?” the nurse blinked.

“About those twins that survived the fire...” Ietsuna murmured, smiling apologetically. “...could you tell me about it? I'm from the Disciplinary Committee, and we need to update our incident database, you see.”

“Ah...” the nurse looked taken aback. “I see, it's for Hibari-sama. Well, there was a fire here at the hospital fourteen years ago. I was in charge of evacuating the babies. The old man took the corp- I mean, the younger twin, from my hand, and the older twin, and risked his life to get them out. I heard that he jumped from the third floor to get them out! I'm so glad to be wrong.”

“Hmm?”

“Oh, it's nothing... I just thought SIDS happened to another poor baby. I've never been more glad to be wrong...”³

“Oh...” Ietsuna was not looking at her anymore. “...so it goes. I just remembered something.”

It was definitely not the way home, what he recalled; his feet just carried him there. There was a neat walkway leading to the Sawada house. There was nearly kept grass and a small garden within brick walls. There was no bullet hole where he'd shot himself in the head with a gun found in his father's luggage; found by his five-year-old self, in the unpacked luggage, in the laundry room, years ago.

It makes bang noises and scares Chihuahuas away...

“...what the hell...” Ietsuna stood outside of the house, watching the storm clouds overhead crackle and break to release their deluge upon Namimori and him. “What the hell is this fate?”

The spatter of raindrops touched his skin, and no goose pimples rose in response. The water as it flooded his nose and mouth bore no traces or feeling, except annoyance. Only the patter of water on grounds and more water, as puddles formed, and the sight of the lines descending from heaven, made sense as a picture that it was raining. The smell of petrichor was unknown to him. Touch, taste and smell were unknown entities to a being who did not have the senses to taste them; even tears were an unknown touch to him.

Chips of ice broke as they impacted on the stone path from their perch next to amber eyes.

“From the moment we were born... the time we started talking... the time we started school... always together. For meals, for class, for the Committee... we're always together.” More ice chips melted under the barrage of raindrops. “Under this dark sky... I thought that we'd die together as well. How am I still here? Why am I still here... how long more? What is up with this world? What's great about being alive?! I don't understand!”

The rain that sluiced down was suddenly blocked, and strong arms carrying heat wrapped around him.

“Ie?” his twin asked, concern apparent in every gesture. “Ie, are you alright? Lancia-san said that you just walked past him. Are you cold? Actually, what are you doing out in the heavy rain?! Gokudera-kun, help me.”

“No...”

Fire began to flare and melt the ice, even the frost that stuck to him. “Is this some sick joke of Reborn's?! You could have died of cold!”

“I... not yet... this bond is here...”

“Bond or not, you have to take care of yourself,” Tsuna insisted. “Why are you so cold?”

“Tsuna... is warm...” Liquid soaked into Tsuna's jacket vest as it dropped from Ietsuna's face. “Tsuna... I think I’ve done something bad.”

“Well, at least you understand, Ie,” Tsuna nodded. “So, why don't we get you dried and warm before we start packing for the trip?”

“That wasn't-” Ietsuna stopped, eyes widening as they ascended the steps to their room. “Oh. Castor and Pollux.”

The only reason it did not is because those Flames sustained your corpse-like body to live and grow, harmonising it with the flow of the world. Yes, like the myth about the legendary twins; when Castor was killed, Pollux asked Zeus to let him share his own immortality with his twin to keep them together for eternity...

“I didn't realise that you could see the stars, though,” Tsuna commented as he put a towel on his brother's head.

“Tsuna... dry my hair for me.”

“You're not a child.”

“Can't a younger brother ask his older brother to dry his hair?”

“Don't change your status so easily,” Tsuna chided, but relented as Ietsuna relaxed into the motions. “You've got to apologise to Kaa-san later. Dad might not always be around, but he loves us... probably.”

By the sidelines, Gokudera was discreetly wiping away a tear – and part of a nosebleed. “What brotherly love...”

Nana was so happy when Ietsuna walked up to her and said “Sorry” in the most wooden voice Reborn had heard, and he had met talking puppets. She was so happy that the twins were dragged along to the trip. The trip which, as Reborn discovered only ten minutes ago, had the Ninth and his Lightning Guardian onboard as well.

“Buon giorno, Reborn,” Timoteo offered to the hitman tutor. “I see you've started the usual chaos.”

Dynamite blew up in the distance. All three hitmen – for the Ninth was nearly always accompanied by Ganauche nowadays –

“Nono,” Reborn greeted. “Tsuna pretty much meets your expectations. His twin acts needy enough for the both of them, but is the stronger in combat. It's hard to determine which has the aptitude to be the better Boss, since they complement each other.”

“Is that so?” Timoteo nodded. “That's nice. Brothers should stand together for the Family.”

“But the position of Boss is a different story,” Reborn pointed out. “And, about Ietsuna... I have reason to believe that he is-”

“I know.”

“...you knew, Nono?” Anyone who had heard it would have fled, for Reborn sounded incensed.

“Not until you told me of the salient facts a month ago, but I had suspicions,” Timoteo admitted, staring out across the dark blue of the Pacific Ocean. “There is only one man, whom I called a friend, who has ever ordered me out of his house even after knowing who I was. I missed him even before I found out that we were related by blood. It's a strange fate, but I can't help but feel thankful that his Dying Will lives on to watch over his family. I hope that he can forgive me.”

“Ietsuna is drawing on the stern,” Reborn pointed.

“Perhaps not now, Reborn, but thank you.” Timoteo took a deep breath. “

“Hmph,” Reborn looked at the Ninth, and then turned to Ganauche. “Want to have a look at your predecessor?”

“He's still alive?” the Ninth's youngest Guardian frowned. “Visconti said that he died.”

“Visconti wishes,” Reborn dismissed the Ninth's Cloud Guardian. “Il Magnifico was the strongest Guardian up to the sixties, when he retired and completely disappeared from the Mafia world. The prospective heir is his blood grandson.”

“Oh?”

Ganauche's interest peaked, Reborn thus lured the Lightning towards the stern. There was a boy with brown hair there, sketch pad balanced on his lap. The loose collared shirt the boy wore was tugged here and there by the sea winds, belying a wiry build. The boy's back was turned towards them.

Leon transformed into a gun, which Reborn fired without warning. Ganauche was about to yell out when the boy dropped back, legs hooked over the railings to safely dodge the bullets aimed for his head. The piercing amber eyes glared at them.

Then, Ganauche realised that Reborn's gun was in his hand.

“I didn't do it,” Reborn's face remained smiling even as he lied swiftly and without remorse. “He made me lead him to you.”

“Reborn...” the boy growled, the eyes moving to him. “You're a liar. Is this a test?”

“Yes.” The lie collapsed to be replaced with brutal honesty.

“W- Well, what can a shorty like you do?” Ganauche sighed, resigned to a fight since Reborn had willed it so.

“I don't like fighting,” His soles screeched as the boy decisively flipped onto the deck. “Whatever happens next... sorry.”

Ganauche would have shot. He would have shot, not caring about the consequences. He was unfortunately on a ship, which chose that moment to tilt, and that was when Ietsuna moved.

Savate had been invented by sailors, after all.

A walking stick tapped decisively, and Timoteo's face look like it had been carved in granite as he looked from the small crater at the ship's bow, to the boy who was dropping down from the stern's railings after using them to deliver a vaulted mid-air two-legged stomp kick at the Ninth's Guardian. Reborn, uncaring that his student had just attacked a Vongola Guardian, simply watched.

“Nice kick.” Timoteo allowed. “Was that Savate?”

“Er, not really,” the boy nodded, staring at him. “Do you need something, Jii-san⁴?”

“I'm surprised. Youngsters like your type don't usually go for such a martial art.”

“Yeah.” No further reply.

“As one savateur to another, a ship like this is an ideal practice ground,” the Boss offered. “Are you free now, boy?”

“Sorry, Jii-san,” Ietsuna considered when incoherent yells of rage filtered into the air. “Looks like my party's in trouble.”

“Maybe next time,” Timoteo smiled. “Your name?”

“Ietsuna,” was the clipped reply. “See you around, Jii-san.”

“You could have forced a fight, Nono,” Reborn commented once Ietsuna had left.

Timoteo shook his head. “I would rather face him without obstacles or distractions. We are approaching Mafia Land soon. Besides... Ganauche, you need to learn not to underestimate others.”

The crater moved, and the young Guardian grimaced, sweeping aside some stray dust on his lapels. There was not a scratch on him, though he still moved rather gingerly. “Yes, Boss.”

Somehow, the twins found themselves registering at the hub of Mafia Land. At least, Tsuna was trying to, but his twin was caught up with the centrepiece of the reception hall.

“That's The Adoration⁵,” Ietsuna stood in awe of the very large painting. “Caravaggio's The Nativity with St Francis and St. Lawrence.”

To humour his twin, Tsuna regarded the painting. “It looks like everyone staring at a naked baby.”

"Michelangelo Caravaggio 035" by Caravaggio - The Yorck Project: 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei. DVD-ROM, 2002. ISBN 3936122202. Distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH.. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

“It is,” Ietsuna admitted, pointing to the right and left of the painting. “It shows the birth of Jesus Christ, with two extra figures that historically don't appear at that time; St Francis of Assisi, and St Lawrence of Rome. There's no haloes, or symbols, or veneration, only the angel's presence to show that the Christian saviour is born. The placement is not traditional, there's nothing to venerate. We know that this is a moment that has literally marked the world, but Caravaggio showed it as a family moment. It's very dramatic, isn't it?”

“Ie... your hands are shaking.” Tsuna observed.

“This painting was also stolen, possibly by the Mafia, in 1969,” Ietsuna breathed. “It's one of the world's most famous unrecovered stolen paintings, with an estimated value of twenty million US dollars.”

“T- Twenty-”

“Slightly over twenty-four million yen,” Ietsuna corrected. “I forgot you're bad at maths.”

“That's a seriously expensive painting!” Tsuna exclaimed. “You know... all those people, they look like something great was delivered to them, but it's a baby. It's so small.”

“Great things come in small packages,” Ietsuna pointed out. “That's the whole subject of the painting. All of these people – the man, the shepherd, the mother, the saints – they've been waiting for this boy, and he's finally here. It's not real, but it's inspiring and humbling, right?”

“You're right,” Tsuna nodded. “I think I'll go register for us. You stay here and look at the famous stolen painting a bit more.”

“Huh? Are you sure?” Ietsuna perked up.

“I'm glad you found something to appreciate by coming here, Ie,” Tsuna beamed. “You should take the chance to appreciate it.”

“But, Tsuna, this is Mafia-”

“I'll be fine, Ie,” Tsuna waved, going to the reception counter alone. “See you!”

Glumly, Ietsuna turned back to look at the piece.

“It's beautiful, right?” the old man was back.

Ietsuna was still drinking, his eyes tracing the angel of annunciation carrying the banner of announcement, towards the holy virgin attended to by the saints of Italy. “It is.”

“You really do know your art, Ietsuna-kun,” the old man chipped in. “I'm sorry, my name is Timoteo.”

“Timoteo... -san,” Ietsuna nodded. “Sorry for leaving you so suddenly.”

“It's alright,” Timoteo smiled, looking back to the painting with weary eyes. “The Vongola Ninth commissioned the theft, apparently for a great friend of his.”

“Then... what happened?” Ietsuna asked politely.

“Fate intervened,” Timoteo reflected. “It was put here in 1980. It should have been left in the church. Instead, it stays here to welcome all who come to Mafia Land. Religious contemplation is, on hindsight, not the activity for an amusement park.”

Ietsuna coughed. “Part of it is a joke, you know. The painting.”

“A joke?” Timoteo enquired.

“St Lawrence,” Ietsuna waved. “Patron saint of cooks and chefs, because he was roasted to death for not handing over church funds to the Roman prefects. His last words were supposedly 'It's cooked – turn and eat'.”

“I'm afraid the joke is-” Timoteo's face suddenly lit up. “Oh. That's a terrible joke.”

“Biting people?” Ietsuna posed.

“That, and making fun of Catholic saints in general,” Timoteo's smile was fond, despite being surrounded by Mafiosi. “That's terrible.”

“I think it's accessible,” Ietsuna reflected. “Why did the Vongola Ninth choose this painting, anyway?”

“'Ne la natività ritrovato ho lo meo verde, lo meo bel rutilante verde,'” Timoteo quoted. “The colour of the sun on Joseph's green mantle was a reminder of that friend... The beautiful green.”

“And... what happened to the friend?”

Timoteo remained gravely silent, and the odd pair contemplated the birth of Christ for a few more moments.

“He's not here...” Ietsuna turned to the absorbed Timoteo. “Sorry, Jii-san. I have to find my brother. See you around!”

Still there was no reply, until the alarms cracked and the invasion of the Carcassa Familgia was announced. It was in an emptied only to the back of Joseph, whose face was turned away, that the admission came in a small voice:

“He died.”

Chapter Text

Usually, the general affairs manager of a student-formed committee was the designated gopher. They ran for drinks, they stocked the rooms, they did the heavy lifting. Yet, none of them faced as many hazards as the general affairs manager of the Namimori Middle Disciplinary Committee. Apparently, general affairs managers in the Namimori Middle School Disciplinary Committee were required to take some form of combat training – which should really tell you everything about the committee. In ten minutes, Reborn was marginally impressed by Tsuna's performance. Even if most of said combat performance was dodging all the blows from Colonello and himself.

“I really can't afford to get injured now,” Tsuna ducks under a flying kick from Reborn, and rolled on the ground to avoid Colonello's pistol-whip and clamber back onto his feet.

“Injuries are part and parcel of training, idiot,” Reborn scolded. He would have used Leon, but the chameleon was being fickle at the moment.

“I really can't afford to be injured,” Tsuna repeated. “Ie would flip out. Also, this was supposed to be our family trip.”

“Yeah, this is a trip with your Family,” Reborn pointed out. “Gokudera and Yamamoto are part of the Family as well.”

Tsuna sighed, missing the running jump that Colonello was taking behind him. The blond baby was kicked away by his own twin's dynamic entry. The noise caused Tsuna to turn around.

“I told you, Tsuna,” Ietsuna spoke through gritted teeth, already having landed on his feet as Colonello was still sailing into a coconut palm. Gokudera and Yamamoto flanked him, the trio having taken the rail to locate Tsuna from the main amusement park, only to find Tsuna getting bullied by the two baby hitmen. “This is Mafia Land. Reborn's face is printed on a balloon. There is absolutely no way this was meant as a relaxing holiday for us.”

“Sorry, Ie,” Tsuna sniffed, shivering. “It's my fault. If I didn't ask you to come along, none of this would have happened...”

“Tenth!” Gokudera dashed towards him. “I'm so glad we managed to locate you! I was so worried when you went missing from the reception room while Ietsuna-sama was distracted, I nearly threw up!”

“Er, Gokudera-kun, I was just registering...”

“Oh, what's this? An event game?” Yamamoto chuckled. “It looks fun! Who's the other baby?”

“Who cares!” Ietsuna shot back. “I saw a Caravaggio! Do you know how rare that chance was?!”

“What are you saying?” Reborn chided Tsuna. “You now have some good memories of this place. This is the special case I told you about earlier, Colonello.”

“He looks like he's worth training, hey,” the blond baby in military camouflage grinned at Ietsuna, before jumping and lashing out with a kick to Ietsuna's face. A palette knife was brought up in time, drawing blood.

“What is the meaning of this?” Ietsuna growled.

Colonello considered the gash in his trousers. “You've done it now, hey!”

“It's your fault for getting injured, Colonello,” Reborn unapologetically replied with a smirk.

“Do you know about thermal expansion, Reborn?” Ietsuna spoke through clenched teeth.

The smirk faded somewhat, wiped away like steam from the boiling tea that Reborn had gotten a faceful of during his last fateful trip in the ventilation system of Namimori Middle. The third-degree burn had not been fun, especially since Reborn had been sneaking around in the school's vents, and someone had poured the tea down from the roof, knowing that the vents would expand due to the high heat and attract the assassin's attention. It was Reborn's first major mistake, and the hitman now knew that Ietsuna had been putting the pressure on him with this low-chance but low-key assassination attempt. Ietsuna was now playing at the most dangerous game, and Reborn was the target.

“I'm sorry, Ie,” Tsuna pleaded with his twin. “I failed the Mafioso examination, since we didn't have a nomination or invitation... please don't ask Kaa-san...”

“Did you use his name at the reception counter?” Ietsuna pointed down at Reborn.

“N- No...” Tsuna shrank slightly, tears forming in his eyes. “It should've been obvious, I'm sorry! It's my fault. Our family vacation is ruined...”

“Oi, hey!” Colonello snapped. “Are you done ignoring us?!”

Ietsuna whirled around, but his reply was interrupted by the start of a continuous whine of sirens, scattered across the surprisingly varied landscape of Mafia Land. “Enemy attack! Enemy attack! Everyone, please evacuate to the shelters!”

“Enemy attack?” Tsuna echoed in shock. “What is going on?”

“Is an event about to start?” Yamamoto asked. “How fun! Where is it?”

“It must be the Carcassa Familigia,” Reborn commented as his pacifier started glowing yellow in tune with Colonello's blue pacifier. “The only one stupid enough to do this is Skull.”

“This is one of those Arcobaleno things, right?” Ietsuna demanded as the boom of cannons and associated panicked screams could be heard.

“This isn't good, hey,” Colonello commented, regarding the view over the cliffs. “The family responsible for security today is at home because it's the anniversary of their boss's death. There's not enough military force on the island right now.”

“Then it's all over!” Tsuna shrieked. “Now what?!”

“As long as I'm here, I won't let them take the island,” Colonello stated. “But... it's nap time now... zzz...”

“Leave him,” Reborn instructed as the boys stared at the snot-bubbles forming from Colonello's – and his bird's – nostrils. “I'm more worried about Mama and the others. Let's take the subway... zzz...”

“He fell asleep too...” Ietsuna's deadpan delivery understated the current situation. “Right, let's take them and go find the others.”

“But, Ie,” Tsuna gestured. “This is an island, right?”

“Well, they're attacking by ship-” Ietsuna's teeth clicked together as a helicopter dipped overhead. “Aw, no.”

“If that lands, the island's natural defences would become a wall,” Gokudera hissed. “This is bad.”

“Eh? Why?” Yamamoto asked.

“Look, baseball idiot!” Gokudera yelled. “In tactical strategy, these cliffs would provide the perfect cover for our backs in the main amusement park, under normal circumstances. The copter means that they can deploy men to shoot at our backs. It's a battle on two fronts!”

Yamamoto looked at them. “I don't understand.”

“The enemy has the bases loaded,” Ietsuna explained. “It's the ninth inning, we haven't scored, the other's got three points, and we're two outs in.”

“Oh!” Yamamoto nodded eagerly in comprehension, and then frowned. “That's... going to be hard.”

“The problem is the copter,” Ietsuna grimaced as the helicopter deployed a Gatling gun at them. “Down.”

All four boys – along with the slumbering baby hitmen carried somehow; Reborn under Yamamoto's arm, and Colonello carried by Tsuna – ducked down behind a random nearby boulder as a hail of bullets rained down on their previous position.

“This is kinda fun!” Yamamoto cheered. “Toys are so real nowadays.”

“What do we do, Tenth?” Gokudera sounded eager amidst the noise, like some hunting mastiff downwind of prey.

“Ah...” Tsuna's breath quickened. “If this copter lands... what will happen?”

“A helicopter can only hold a limited number of people,” Ietsuna calculated. “That Gatling gun is the real problem. If the fighters get sandwiched in, we lose. Everyone on the ground could get killed. But, there's not enough space for a landing, so either they deploy from mid-air, or use the copter itself to cover this point. If it's the latter... if we could get Gokudera's dynamite up there, we could take it down. Gokudera, how far up can you throw the dynamite?”

“...not far enough,” Gokudera lowered his head. “I'm sorry, Tenth! Because of my incompetence, we're stuck!”

“It's not your fault, Gokudera-kun,” Tsuna disagreed. “If Gokudera-kun can't throw it, what about Yamamoto-kun?”

“This isn't just a home-run at stake,” Ietsuna pointed out. “It's his life. That copter is simply too high up now. Even assuming that it lowers, he'll have to throw two bombs; one to hide him, the other to bring down the copter, and he'll have to throw it past the rotors. A stick of dynamite is more likely to be interrupted by the rotors before it detonates. Plus, Reborn and Colonello are out of action...”

“Yes?” Tsuna was slowly backing away under his twin's stare to Colonello's rifle. “Ie, you're thinking... I don't like what you're thinking.”

“... I should have made Lambo pack the M20.”

“You shouldn't encourage minors to carry heavy artillery in the first place,” Tsuna rebutted, calming slightly. “But that means that you have a plan.”

Ietsuna nodded. “Tsuna, you take Reborn and Colonello to the main part of the island. Find Kaa-san and the others. Gokudera, Yamamoto, you stay here. We're going to guard Tsuna's back.”

Tsuna swallowed. “I... I don't want to leave-”

“You get the babies out, or we're going to die,” Ietsuna pointed out. “Tsuna, you're the only one who can get them out. Gokudera and Yamamoto can't communicate with each other worth shit, and I can't mix explosives.”

“Yes!” Gokudera chipped in. “Tenth, you're the only one who can protect Reborn-san! Don't worry, we'll watch your back!”

Slowly, reluctantly, Tsuna nodded. “I trust all of you to come back alive.”

Then he ran, ducking under the palm trees that lined the cliffs towards the rail tunnels with a baby hitman tucked under each arm.

“Gokudera, give Yamamoto a lit dynamite,” Ietsuna stated, all business now. “Yamamoto, toss that dynamite into a parabola arc down towards the rotors. Everyone prepared to vacate to the next boulder.”

“Here,” Gokudera sourly handed over the lit stick.

“Sounds fun!” Yamamoto's smile was too strained to mean anything but the opposite as he tossed the lethal weapon, watching the copter veer off course by the mid-air explosion and the Gatling gun aim towards them. The boys ducked for another boulder.

“Three-second burst, ten-second cool-down,” Ietsuna nodded after the burst that tore at their eardrums and kicked up dust and collapsed part of the cliff, fiddling with his cellphone while lying on the ground. “Yamamoto, prepare to compensate, wind direction south-east.”

“Not enough,” Yamamoto shook his head. “Ietsuna. Prepare to kick.”

“What?” Ietsuna shook his head at the mental imagery. “I'm not Sanji¹! ...Fine! Gokudera-”

“Bunch dynamite, five-second fuse.” Gokudera handed over the larger bundled sticks to Yamamoto. “Last bat.”

Ietsuna nodded as Yamamoto prepared to fling it. “Now!”

The word Dunamis glittered in the dim sunlight as the sticks flew up, flung by the force of a natural-born hitman's arm towards Ietsuna. One leg outstretched, the other anchored, Ietsuna's roundhouse kick sent the weighted dynamite up. It was buffeted by the breeze coming in from the sea, turning in mid-air, and then curving down, to explode on the rotors of the helicopter. Like the birth of a star, the smoke in broad daylight detracted from what seemed to be a really large explosion of flame. The burst of gunfire gave out as the helicopter made an almighty crash against the cliffs of Mafia Land, metal creaking and people shouting.

“We did it!” Yamamoto grinned at Gokudera as they shook hands in the midst of excitement.

“We did it! We did-” Gokudera recovered himself, stopping the high-five. “Of course we did it! Don't underestimate the Vongola, baseball idiot! Ietsuna-sama, we did it!”

“Not yet,” Ietsuna was staring as giant pink tentacles erupted from the flaming wreckage, and a giant armoured octopus burst out from within. “Are giant animals a thing?”

Tsuna was panting once he ran out of the tunnel and found his mother, Bianchi, Haru and the three children planning out a fancy dinner. It was, sadly, not the weirdest sight he'd seen on Mafia Land.

“Kaa-san, they're asleep,” Tsuna set Reborn and Colonello into Bianchi's eager embrace, nearly slipping on the cobbled stone ground before the false castle. “I'm going back to find Ie now.”

“Be safe!” Nana waved as Tsuna did an about-face and ran. “Ah, they're such good kids...”

“Lambo! Stay back!” Tsuna panted, shaking out his right leg upon which Lambo was clinging to.

“Ie-nii is fighting, right?!” Lambo sniffed but clung on tightly. “Then he needs his weapons! I need to give him the weapons!”

“Oi, wait, Lambo!” Tsuna shouted as Lambo hopped off his leg and ran for the tunnel anyway. “Lambo!”

It was a while of stumbling in the dark, looking for the crybaby – who had suddenly found some courage until Tsuna found the literal end of the tunnel. It opened out a bit, where Tsuna found the sole rail car still in the middle of Colonello's training ground, and then turned left decisively. There, on the far end by the cliffs, was the smoking wreckage of a helicopter; and- were those giant octopus arms erupting from it?

“It's so hard to choose,” Tsuna found his twin and Lambo nearby, leaning against a boulder with what looked like the contents of a military arms locker, or perhaps an arms shop in America. “Lambo, you really outdid yourself.”

“Ie-nii needs them!” Lambo grinned at the praise. “Lambo-san is good at getting weapons!”

“Thanks.”

“Oi! Tsuna! Ietsuna!” Yamamoto called from the middle of pitching javelins. “The octopus's arm movements match that baby's fingers! It's awesome!”

“This isn't the time to admire him, baseball idiot!” Gokudera skidded to a stop. “Tenth!”

“Gah, Ahodera-shi,” Lambo chuckled.

“Shut up, stupid cow!” Gokudera hollered back. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“I brought weapons for Ie-nii~!” Lambo stuck his tongue out.

“Ie!” Tsuna yelled. “You aren't supposed to encourage minors to become arms dealers!”

“I didn't,” Ietsuna rebutted, selecting a medium-sized mallet and a giant chisel. “You know, octopus meat is supposed to be low in fat and high in zinc and vitamin B.”

“You're going to eat it?!” Tsuna screamed.

“Who said that?” Ietsuna scoffed, pointing to Lambo. “The two of you are. You're mostly skin and bones.”

“W- We're twins!” Tsuna retorted. “Anyway, is this the time to talk about takoyaki²?!”

“You're right. We should cut it first.” Then Ietsuna dashed towards it.

“What?” A helmed head stared at the boy running towards him with a mallet and chisel. “Oodako!”

“Ie!” Tsuna yelled as his twin was caught by one arm.

“The arm of an octopus is a muscular hydrostat,” Ietsuna grinned as the octopus freaked and panicked, its arm having frozen over.

“W- Who are you?” Skull screamed as Ietsuna chiselled through the point where frozen became unfrozen flesh, to drop to the ground.

“Sawada Ietsuna.”

He tackled Skull. A scream of air suddenly condensed into liquid, and an explosion of frost and fog centred upon the pair. The air became a solid fog bank, and for several seconds there was silence. A thud resounded, and the fog was blown away by a sea breeze. It left Ietsuna, walking towards them.

Ietsuna dropped a solid lump of ice onto the ground as Mafia men ran through, led by Colonello and Reborn. The other two Arcobaleno fixated onto Skull, staring at the improvised baby icicle.

“Well,” Colonello stated, no longer smirking or smiling. “At least he's quiet.”

There was a party at Mafia Castle to celebrate the victory over the Carcassa. Vongola threw the most outlandish parties, certainly, and most days took nearly any excuse to celebrate being alive while smashing the faces of their enemies into the dirt.

One solid reminder, however, stood out; Skull was still a frozen counter-piece, a horrific reminder of the Vongola's power that Ietsuna had unwittingly created. To say nothing of poor Oodako, who had fled into the waters around Mafia Land after the fate of its master.

It was sunset when Ietsuna had finally fled the castle – and from the fawning of several Mafia admirers – for the night garden when he saw the old man again.

“Buonosera, Ietsuna-kun. Did you come out for the air?”

“More or less,” Ietsuna nodded towards a stone bench. They made a strange sight, an old man and a barely-teenage boy perched on either end of the bench.

“I knew your grandfather,” the old man started.

“...Oh,” Ietsuna sighed.

“I'm not here to kill you,” Timoteo corrected. “Although that is a telling response. You do not seem very surprised.”

“When you open with a line like that, people get ideas. It was better than my first assumption that you were a paedophile, Timoteo-san,” Ietsuna commented. His eyes were watching Timoteo's eye-line, towards the bright sun that hung in an orange sky. “Are we continuing the conversation, Jii-san?”

“Perhaps,” Timoteo admitted. “Are you Lorenzo?”

Ietsuna cocked his head. “What?”

“I see,” Timoteo reflected, still looking at the fiery chariot that was leaving the world to the dark, if only a while. “Lorenzo is in the undiscovered country... I was wrong.”

“Is this a thing, this... not being able to spit it out?” Ietsuna breathed in through his nose, huffing out a breath through his lips. “This... what are you trying, Timoteo-san?”

“I... am sorry,” the old man admitted quietly. “Lorenzo was my dear friend. I... I never got to say goodbye.”

“To Grandpa?” Ietsuna questioned.

“Yes,” The Ninth pondered for a bit. “We met on the streets of Paris. C'est un rendez-vous avec la destinée.The first thing he asked me was... 'what kind of idiot are you'?I was then personally acquainted with an Italian copy of The Great Gatsbyhe happened to be carrying.”

The Ninth smiled, still looking at the setting sun. “We were together from Paris to Palermo, and that bloody book remained his faithful lethal weapon each time. Each time, though, every time I saw him in the mornings, like a homing pigeon, he would be facing the rising sun. He had a dream, he told me, of his island home of Japan. His family was there. Now, the Mafia did not treat those not of the blood too well. It was a difficult time, especially after the war³. I failed to enforce our protection of the immigrants into our land, and he could not accept this. Our time together was cut short by fate; he would not bring his family to a land without the assured protection from those who would harm them, and I could not help him as my mother's heir. I met him again at the wedding of his son, who by happy chance was my employee. He denied all knowledge to my face, but I knew why, and I could not blame him.”

“He was your friend, right?” Ietsuna demanded. “And he told you that he didn't know you.”

“Le bête noire, the black beast... it followed us to him,” Timoteo shook his head. “He had unborn grandchildren to protect. And he was right. He died because we brought it to him.”

“...I don't understand,” Ietsuna replied, having figured it out. “Why are you telling me this, Vongola Ninth? Is it because of my twin brother? Or that father of ours?”

“Both, and neither,” Timoteo replied. “Both, because your father and I had great reason to hide our family away from the underworld we live in. Neither, because it is an old man's reminiscences.”

“Or,” Ietsuna retorted, “you could just say that you're a lonely old man and ask for intelligent company. Oh wait, that makes you sound too much like a creepy old man.”

“You are truly Lorenzo's grandson,” Timoteo pondered. “So that was where all the flippant disrespect comes from. It must run in the family, although we share a distant blood relation.”

“Different parts of the same family.”

They laughed together.

“Do you know Monet?” Timoteo snorted, as twilight had swept in along with the large searchlights installed around Mafia Land. “His sunsets, I find, capture this scene just fine.”

In the distance in the ocean, something bobbed. Perhaps Skull, the black leather-clad drifter on the sea who just staged his escape, would find his way here or elsewhere. Were he here, he would see the old and the young laughing together at the rise and fall of life.

“Now?” Ietsuna paused. “I think, for the sunsets, Rembrandt would be better.”

Timoteo's eyes sparkled. “I have a bad habit of commissioning art thefts on your family milestones. Rembrandt's only seascape⁴ must be somewhere inside the castle.”

Ietsuna made a face. “You are a terrible old man. Why?”

“It was...” Timoteo murmured. “Someone magnificent told me to create an island of peace. This island, which faces the east, was what he looked towards. In a way... I wanted to see what he saw, what enchanted object he pursued so passionately.”

“Mmm,” Ietsuna hummed, eyeing the castle now. “Lead on, then. Show me.”

Timoteo smiled. “Aren't you getting uppity now, young man?”

In the middle of the Pacific Ocean, Skull laid on the head of Oodako, tracing his adult-sized hand where the purple pacifier hung. He peered up at the night sky, helmet-less for once. The next day, Colonello and Reborn would wonder which adult rescued him, and ponder about the adult-sized footprint on the windowsill. No one would ever have though about the implications of the Zero Point Breakthrough.

“Sawada Ietsuna,” Skull repeated the name.

"Rembrandt Christ in the Storm on the Lake of Galilee" by Rembrandt - www.gardnermuseum.org : Home : Info : Pic. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

1 The One Piece character, famous for his strong and intensely accurate kicks.

Chapter Text

“So, Skull escaped,” Timoteo reflected, standing at the highest point of Mafia Land with the world's best hitman.

“An adult-shaped footprint was discovered,” Reborn supplemented.

“I see,” Timoteo pondered. “Reborn... you must wonder, why I interrupted your sniper's eye from taking him.”

“Iemitsu said that he was a threat,” Reborn responded noncommittally.

“Is that so?” Timoteo pondered. “In the beginning, that was what I thought, too. But, I spoke to the boy. He is so much like his grandfather... the grandfather who loved his grandson so much, that he would willingly die for him.”

Timoteo coughed. “This is the man who invested only in Siena[1] since his sojourn into the underworld. I have faith in him.”

The end of March and the start of April saw, along with Nana's and Takeshi's birthday, the start of a new school year. The budding Tenth Generation save the Sawada twins would have been separated, if not for Reborn's, ahem, timely intervention. Eat-and-runs were involved, which were only just barely glossed over by the Sawada twins and Tsuna's reputation as the charm that kept Hibari away from haunting the place. After several explosions, mysteriously transforming baseball bats, and Ietsuna faced with a buffet of Poison Cooking, everyone still managed to advance into the same class together.

In a bout of the utter hilarity that seems to accompany organised crime nowadays, Rokudo Mukuro reappeared in Namimori's society, along with his unique hairstyle which definitely did not resemble a tropical fruit.

“What... happened...?” Gokudera rubbed his eyes.

“Eh...?” Ietsuna quietly echoed.

“Ha!” Yamamoto laughed. “Ietsuna is floored too!”

“It's an amazing sight,” Reborn observed the sparkly Mukuro sport his trademark smirk, while handing out leaflets for Ciel Art Supplies in the middle of Main Street alongside Lancia, Hana and most of the Kokuyo Gang. He looked like a vampire, if vampires sparkled. “I wonder what exactly happened while we were in Mafia Land...”

“Na-chan, Tsu-chan~!” Alouette descended upon them, as sudden as the destructive mesocyclone of a supercell thunderstorm in her way of tossing aside any and all – i.e. Gokudera and Reborn – in her direct path towards the twins. “I'm so glad to see you again!”

“S- Same here,” Tsuna wheezed, struggling against her vice-like hug. There was a strong whiff of jasmine that followed her descent. “Nice to meet you too... Alouette-san, erm, exactly what happened here...?”

“Hmm?”

Tsuna flailed from her arms, in the direction of the former criminals currently engaged in manual labour in her name as the proprietor of Ciel Art Supplies.

“Oh, them,” Alouette held Tsuna tighter against herself. “They're working~”

“I'm sorry!” Ken suddenly threw himself into Ietsuna's path, slamming into the glass shop-windows of the store. “I'll be good, please don't leave me with her! I'm sorry for everything I've ever done! God! Buddha!”

“Let go of the Tenth!” Gokudera was about to draw a stick of dynamite when Reborn patted his shoulder, which the baby hitman had grabbed onto when they were tossed aside by the storm of the old skylark.

“Madame Lei was a former hitwoman known as the Mauviette,” Reborn explained. “By sheer force of her presence, even the most hardened Mafioso would turn into a wimp. She inspires utter terror in the underworld. At your level, you can't even hope to win against her.”

“B- But, Reborn-san, she's crushing the Tenth!” Gokudera complained.

“You're picking a fight with Maître?” Ietsuna asked them, most of his attention focused on a set of new palette knives in the store display. “Good luck.”

“A- Alouette-san...” Tsuna flailed a bit. “Can't... breathe...”

Alouette let go. “Oh, sorry, Tsu-chan.”

Tsuna massaged his arms. “It's alright... what about you, Rokudo-san?”

“Good day, Sawada Tsunayoshi,” Mukuro smirked, although the dark effect was diluted by the painter's smock he had donned. Or had been forced to don; at least the former actually implied that some of his free will had been involved in the decision process, rather than being autocratically imposed upon one and all by the whim of the old skylark. “If you're asking, the old lark made us an offer we could not refuse. I'm simply biding my time away from the Vindice to steal your body.”

“Erm... OK...” Tsuna backed slightly.

“Tenth!” Gokudera exclaimed. “He’s clearly dangerous!”

Tsuna turned back. “I don't think so, Gokudera-kun. At least, it didn't feel that way... yet…”

“I- Is that so...?” Gokudera stuttered, hardly daring to contradict the Tenth.

“You... defended me?”

“Er, yes...” Tsuna paused, blinking at the girl who had suddenly appeared in Mukuro's place. She could have passed as a female clone of the illusionist. “I'm sorry, I didn't get your name.”

“...Chrome.” the girl closed her one visible eye, the right eye hidden under a medical eye-patch. “Chrome Dokuro. Thank you, Boss.”

Tsuna blinked as he was pecked on the cheek by the harmless-looking girl.

“T- T- TENTH!” Gokudera nearly blew several fuses – including his own and several dynamite ones – at the sight, before Reborn forced the teenage hitman down with a kick. Meanwhile, Tsuna's scarlet blush had yet to fade.

“Way to go,” Ietsuna gave him a thumbs-up.

“I- Ie!”

“Oya,” Chrome was gone, and Mukuro smirked, backing into the shadows of the shop façade. “You're very chipper, Sawada Ietsuna.”

“Everything out of your mouth can be disregarded right here,” Ietsuna declared. “You're just walking around as an illusion anyway.”

“Oh?” Mukuro mused, smirking.

“Y- You're an illusion now, Rokudo-san?” Tsuna asked curiously.

“Yes...” the red eye twinkled, though Mukuro sounded pensive as he decided not to continue pushing Ietsuna's limits. “The old lark has her uses. My jailers might keep custody of my physical body, but I am given free reign of the town through dear Chrome. It is... what it is.”

He gave a delicate shrug, parts of his physical body breaking into indigo Flame in his attempt to melt away. “The truth will come out someday. Meanwhile, I think I'll just-”

A yo-yo embedded itself into the concrete wall just past him, creating a small crater. “Mukuro-san,” Chikusa advised, as the yo-yo flew back into his palm, “this is to save you a beating.”

“And exactly who is receiving the beating, Chikusa...?” Mukuro's glare disappeared as a palette knife joined the small crater, embedding itself into the brick.

“Erm, Lancia-san,” Tsuna turned to the burly, thuggish-looking man. “What happened?”

“The Vindice… came to an understanding with Madame Lei,” Lancia murmured gravely. “Rokudo Mukuro’s physical body is still within Namimori Central Hospital under observation, and will be to be sent back to Vendicare upon his assured recovery. The rest of them, however, have been pardoned as accessories of the crime, in light of Mukuro’s service to Chrome Dokuro and the atrocities of the Estraneo Familgia.”

“Oh,” Tsuna’s lips twitched as Alouette discovered the crater and the painting knife. “Erm... back away slowly.”

“...I see,” Lancia turned to Hana. “We need to stay away from Madame Lei for a while, Signora Hana.”

“Y- Yes...” Hana blushed, staring at Lancia with starry eyes. “Where shall we go, Lancia-san~?”

Ietsuna shuddered. “Love is crazy.”

Somewhere in Namimori, Bianchi sneezed.

Slowly, Lancia was escorting a blushing Hana, away from Alouette's vicinity in preparation for the cloud to rage into another storm. And rage, it did:  Alouette's first reaction was to grab onto the dissolving Mukuro and stop him from disappearing from sheer force of will.

“Where are you going, Mukuro-kun~?” The blond old woman resembled one of Goya's witches at the moment with her claws clamped down on his head and squashing his ponytail against his skull. “You haven't finished distributing the leaflets~ by the way, who's an old lark?”

“It’s definitely you with your witchy claws, old lark,” Mukuro snapped back. His eyes widened as silence descended, with its conceptual brothers Awkward and Glances of Weirdness being tossed his way. “What?”

“N- Nothing…” Tsuna’s lips pressed together.

“Nothing at all!” Yamamoto put up fingers and thumb pressed together in an OK gesture.

“W- What the Tenth said…” Gokudera’s hastily stifled snort only heightened his suspicion. Especially since the old hag let go of his head.

“Mukuro-san… pff… I can’t take it, byon!” Ken started laughing.

No one, especially with Hibari’s annoyed attack later upon sighting his fruity rival, had the heart to tell the confused Alouette, that the larks had adopted an owl into their household.

The chaotic mess of February, March and April was quickly forgotten in favour of spring heralding the New Year with Hibari's hated blooming sakura. May, though, had the unanimous agreement of being the harbinger of doom when it came with a smiling Hibari. This was wrong on so many levels, even if you ignored the fact that the warming weather equated to a higher chance of Sawada Tsunayoshi's weapon-grade cross-dressing. Such as today.

“Happy birthday, Hibari-san,” came a prefect's greeting on the fifth of May.

“Happy birthday, Kyo-san,” was Kusakabe's greeting.

“Yo,” Ietsuna greeted while dodging paperweight flung in his direction. “Bon anniversaire, connard.[2]”

“Hn.” Hibari was in a good enough mood not to follow up on it with the heavy-duty stapler or his precious tonfas, since he had had Tsuna’s skirt-clad arse in his direct line of vision for the past ten minutes. He was practically beaming; there was minimal easing of the furrow in his brow, and a slightly lighter glare towards Namimori's herbivore population. From a certain angle – and through a smudged lens – he could have been smiling. Perhaps. The Hibari family had a knack for those enigmatic, secretive Mona Lisa smiles.

“What are you-” Ietsuna went absolutely still, it was almost eerie. “Damn fetish-pervert! Tsuna, get the cake already!”

The cake was accompanied with a hamburger steak, decorated with a tiny Namimori Middle School flag in the middle like a children's meal. It was surprisingly adorable, but no one who saw it dared to say anything, since Hibari of all people had no need to prove in his masculinity.

It was a home-made yuzu-lined[3] vanilla sponge cake, which drew mournfully longing looks from nearly all of the Disciplinary Committee grunts. Mournful longing was wiped away and replaced with happiness when Tsuna pulled out the madeleines, and then it was a free-for-all fight for the little madeleines that went well with the green tea. At least, until their Chairman snapped out of his temporary bliss, and realised that the clam-shaped buttery tea-cakes had all been eaten.

If the student body had previously equated Tsuna with the benevolent minor deity that protected Namimori from the demon named Hibari, then he was practically elevated to a Saint when the month passed with only the occasional threat of biting someone to death. Such peace was unfortunately not meant to last, as June saw Hibari going on a roaring rampage of rage due to the chaos involved in celebrating Mukuro’s birthday. Mukuro in his borrowed female body had taunted the poor skylark by slowly savouring Tsuna’s homemade chocolate cake in front of him.

One September morning, Gokudera climbed down the stairs of the Sawada household and thought he was in heaven.

“Good morning, Gokudera-kun.” Heaven, apparently, contained his cross-dressing boss and a plate of pancakes, warm from the pan with syrup and butter and jam on the side. Tsuna’s female uniform was covered by a frilly orange apron bearing a lion appliqué. Gokudera had seen that annoying girl Haru hand-stitching it on.

“Today’s breakfast is pancakes. What do you want? Syrup, butter, or… honey?”

“G- Good morning, Tenth!” Gokudera stared at the glimpse of creamy thigh.

“Oh, right,” Tsuna smiled. “Happy birthday, Gokudera-kun. I'll make a cake later, alright?”

“B- B- B-” Gokudera sniffed. “Y- Y- You didn't have to...”

“Eh?” Tsuna blinked. “But I want to, Gokudera-kun. Because we're friends.”

“T- T- TENTH!” Then Gokudera burst into – very manly – tears, and there was a sunset and waves breaking onto the beach and yes, Gokudera must have learnt how to cast illusions somehow, and he had taken inspiration from certain spandex-clad bowl-cut ninja talking about the springtime of youth.

“...Gokudera,” Ietsuna walked into the kitchen and appraised the situation. “Quit sparkling and eat your pancakes.”

Gokudera kept sparkling even as Bianchi descended for breakfast. The good mood continued when Reborn and Nana joined in. He didn't raise his voice, even when Lambo, I-Pin and Fuuta started fighting for the last pancake. The baseball idiot's signature smile was less grating. Even the yells of his teachers crying for attention to their sub-standard teaching methods washed out in the strange euphoria that surrounded Gokudera.

“Are you sick?” Shamal, the new school nurse – to everyone's horror – asked him at the end of the day. A few students – male and female alike – had fled to the nurse’s office asking about Gokudera’s mysterious happiness, and could it be contagious?

Gokudera smiled. “I feel like I can fly~”

“You’re sick,” Shamal immediately concluded. “I’m going to call Bianchi-chan.”

“Gokudera!” Yamamoto laughed as he walked into the Spartan and clean office.

“I don’t treat men,” Shamal warned.

“Shamal!” Gokudera suddenly burst out. “I’m so grateful to be alive!”

Even when reality slapped him in the face with Reborn's new torture the next day, Gokudera was suspiciously hard to rile up. It was, after all, the first day that someone celebrated the day of his birth.

Who could have known, indeed, that the tranquillity of these days would soon end.

“…somehow, I don't feel too proud of this festival as a resident,” Ietsuna dead-panned in the face of the crashes and explosions that littered Namimori’s town square was greeted with one October afternoon.

I-Pin sat primly on his left shoulder, and Lambo dangled from his right hand in the child-leash that had been the cow-child's June birthday present, right after the disastrous near-wedding of Reborn and Bianchi. The cow-child having raided a pet store for a pet bull, and then a repository for ladies’ undergarments to play with a bra. The child-leash had been deemed necessary, and Ietsuna had been elected as the one to hold it since he was the only one able to take the shopkeepers' complaints with a deadpan expression. It had been by lucky coincidence that the child-leash saved Lambo's life; just seconds ago, it was the thing that kept Lambo from a faceful of shrapnel.

“Whoa, that sounds like some awesome fireworks!” Yamamoto had asked Gokudera at the start of the explosion. “We don’t have festivals going on now, right?”

“Idiot!” Gokudera yelled. “The next celebration is the Shichi-Go-San[4]!”

“Then,” Yamamoto continued, “what’s that sound? You know, the one that goes-”

“VOOOOI!”

“Yeah, just like that,” Yamamoto nodded. “Sounds like one of Namimori’s festivals!”

Then something crashed into their plastic table, and Ietsuna had hauled the smaller children with him and left Fuuta to the care of his twin.

“…somehow, I don't feel too proud of this festival as a resident.”

This was how they ended up with this current state of affairs.

“You know, Lambo,” Ietsuna fingered the blue leash, “this is really handy.”

“What?” Lambo squeaked. He was dangling from Ietsuna's hand with the leash. Ietsuna had kept it on hand rather than leave it around a flagpole and give Lambo a chance to bomb the pole and escape.

“As a weapon to save you, it's not bad,” Ietsuna pondered. “That sounds awesome. Now, Lambo, I-Pin.”

“Gēgē?” I-Pin cocked her head.

“Get Fuuta and the girls away,” Ietsuna pointed towards Kyoko and Haru, who had somehow ended up tagging along. If there was one thing that Tsuna could be known for, it would be his penchant to befriend the weirdest people in any universe.

Predictably, Lambo tried to argue. “L- Lambo-san-”

“Lambo-san is responsible for the safety of Sasagawa-san, Miura and Fuuta,” Ietsuna knelt to face a frowning Lambo. “You’re the only one, Lambo. Let’s go.”

“I- Ie-nii!” Fuuta yelped as he was unceremoniously picked up and set back to his feet by Ietsuna seconds later, beside the shaken Kyoko and Haru.

“Sasagawa-san, Miura-san, stay calm,” Ietsuna instructed. “We’ll take it from here. The kids need you now.”

“Hahi!” Haru bristled, but nodded. Despite their hostile relationship, she was at least smart enough to put aside her feelings in face of squirrelling the kids to safety. “Of course!”

“Tsuna!” Ietsuna called, jogging back through the smoke and dust and debris. “Tsuna-!” He stopped.

A silver-haired teen, who looked slightly older than the twins, was pointing a very sharp, pointy sword at his brother. Tsuna’s arm was caught by a brown-haired boy with a blue Flame on his head.

“So, who is this?” Silver-hair was saying.

“Hhh- Ahhh- GGAAAAHHHHH!!!!!” Tsuna screeched, rolling from the sword slash. The boy with the blue Flame dashed forward to block the hit, only to be thrown through a glass building façade.

“Tsuna!” Yamamoto dashed forward, a real kodachi[5] in hand. The silver-haired teen whirled around to parry a blow.

“The way you swing, you haven’t learnt a style!” the man taunted.

“What of it?” Yamamoto glared back.

“This’ll be easy!” The man slashed down, explosives raining down towards Yamamoto. Gokudera couldn’t even take out a stick of dynamite before he was similarly defeated.

Opponents down, the sword-wielding enemy now stalked towards a shaking Tsuna. “Oi!” the man yelled at Tsuna. “Right, you! What’s your relationship with that brat?!”

“Tsuna-!” Ietsuna’s cry was almost interrupted, but then he ducked as a stick was tossed his way from behind. The stick hit the man in the face.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” the blonde elderly woman in the black tail-coat simpered, strolling through the wreckage to pick up her walking cane. “Tsu-chan, is that you? Is this long-haired Yankee[6] threatening you?”

“VOI!” The man snapped, pointing his sword at her. “Don’t think I’ll go soft on you, old hag!”

Grey eyes sharpened onto the sword as he waved it in a haphazard fashion. “Put that thing away before you hurt someone.”

“Oh?” the silver-haired swordsman snapped. “Who would be hurt?”

“Me.”

“T- That’s the point, hag!” the man yelled, poking her in the arm.

“…D’accord,” she inclined her head, and then lifted her stick in one hand.

“Please stop!” yelled the boy who had originally attempted to defend Tsuna. “This is not a man you can-”

“Je te plumerai.[7]”

It was the most one-sided match ever seen. It was a top-class assassin versus a sixty-year old retired hitwoman. The blonde woman stood her ground, steady in parade à droite.

“VOOI!” Squalo yelled, charging into the attack.

“Dos! Queue! Pattes! Ailes! Cou! Yeux! Bec![8]”

He was whacked on the ribs, the hipbone, the legs, the arms, the neck, and the head. While his sword had nicked her hamstring, it only seemed to send the old woman into a fit of berserker fury, like a provoked tornado or a banked hurricane that erupted with renewed fury.

In a finishing blow that simply smacked of Hibari ruthlessness, the old woman brought her walking stick down on his head. “Tête!”

The stick gave in, splintering so hard, that the part which hit Squalo flew and embedded itself between two large pieces of debris, dangling in the wind. The man staggered, and the sharpened point of the cane's other half was levelled at his throat. “Je t’ai plumé.[9]”

The fight had been over from the start.

“Scary old hag,” Ietsuna scoffed, walking towards the thankfully unharmed Tsuna, who was trying to refuse the jewellery box that the strange boy kept trying to press into his hands. “What’s going on?”

“T- Thou hath a twin, Sawada-dono?” the boy started.

“Y- You’re…” the assassin blinked. “What are you doing here, crone?! You had your fucking retirement! Really, no one's trying to fucking kill you! We even took you off the fucking register!”

“This is my retirement home,” she replied. “You're also asking the wrong question. The question should be, what shall I do to you, Superbi Squalo?”

“Alouette-san...” Tsuna mumbled. “Like grandmother, like grandson...?”

“She's not even bothering to interrogate him...” Ietsuna lampshaded. “Crazy old bird.”

“S- Strong...” the strange boy swallowed as both twins focused onto him. “A- anyway! My name is Basil. Sawada-dono and... Sawada-dono, forsooth, I have been tasked by my master to deliver you a certain thing.”

Squalo dodged Alouette's attempt to stake him, ducking for the jewellery box Basil was about to offer to snatch it away. “VOI! I’ll just be taking these now, bitch!”

“The Vongola Rings!” the boy with a propensity to eleventh-century elocution shouted, staggering towards Squalo despite his own injuries. He managed only three steps before he collapsed onto the ground.

“Oh?” Alouette cooed as Squalo somersaulted away over a building. “This is strange. The Yankee is part of Vongola, right, baby?”

Reborn popped out, disguised as a plant-man. “Madame Lei. I deeply apologise for the disturbance.”

“Ah, mon cœur,” Alouette swayed slightly, one hand close to her chest. “What was that boy?”

“He is an assassin from the Varia.” Reborn assured. “You haven't had a bounty after you for a long time, Madame.”

“So their targets are... oh,” Alouette pondered. “That's... going to be hard on them.”

Ietsuna was dialling into his phone. “Namimori Square, idiots! Get an ambulance here!”

[1]    Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena S.p.A. (Italian pronunciation: [ˈbancaˈmonte dei ˈpaski di ˈsjɛːna]) (BMPS) is the oldest surviving bank in the world and Italy's third largest bank. Founded in 1472 by the magistrate of the city state of Siena, Italy, as a "mount of piety", it has been operating ever since. It's a very safe investment, presumably.

[2]   Fr: Happy birthday, bastard.

[3]   The yuzu (Citrus ichangensis × C. reticulata, formerly C. junos Siebold ex. Tanaka; Japanese ユズ , 柚 , 柚子 (yuzu); 유자 (yuja) in Korean; from Chinese 柚子 , yò uzi but in modern Chines e 香橙 (xiāngchéng)) is a citrus fruit and plant originating in East Asia. The fruit looks somewhat like a very small grap efruit with an uneven skin, and can be either yellow or green depending on the degree of ripeness. Yuzu fruits, which are very aromatic, typically range between 5.5 and 7.5 cm in diameter, but can be as large as a grapefruit (up to 10 cm or larger). It tastes like a lemon, but much sweeter than an orange.

[4]   Shichi-Go-San (7-5-3) is a traditional Japanese festival on November 15. Five-year-old boys and seven- or three-year-old girls are taken to the local shrine to pray for their safe and healthy future. This festival started because of the belief that children of certain ages were especially prone to bad luck and hence in need of divine protection. Children are usually dressed in traditional clothing for the occasion and after visiting the shrine many people buy chitose-ame ("thousand-year candy") sold at the shrine.

[5]   A kodachi is a smaller version of a real katana. In the interest of realism, Yamamoto is not allowed to handle real katana until he realises that Japanese katana are not weapons meant to be used so straightforwardly.

[6]   A Yankee is Japanese slang for a delinquent. It's old slang, but Alouette is old, you know.

[7]   French: I will pluck you.

[8]   French: Back, tail, legs, wings, neck, eyes

[9]   French: I have plucked you

Chapter Text

“M- Master is... like... a... father... to me...” Basil's incoherent mumbles were barely heard under the beeping of the oxygen monitor.

“I just had a terrible daydream,” Ietsuna stated, standing by the hospital bed. “I thought for a moment assassins were coming to Namimori after us in a series of explosions.”

“That... wasn't a dream,” Dino responded with a smile. “That just happened ten minutes ago. What are you, a fantasista¹?”

Dino received a boot to the face.

“You of all people don't have the right to say that,” Alouette loomed over the Chiavarone Decimo. “My walking stick was broken by that Yankee's head. I demand reparation.”

Dino cringed, sending pleading looks towards Tsuna. “Tsuna... q.q...”

“Erm, Alouette-san...” Tsuna sent a gentle smile of reassurance. “How about some tea? Your heart must be acting up right now. I'll handle this... disruption to Namimori's peace! And Hibari-san must be worried about you.”

“Tsu-chan is so kind~ Unlike my idiot grandson,” Alouette's mood flipped again. “Na-chan, you make sure this brat sends me a new walking stick, alright~?”

“Yes, yes,” Ietsuna waved distractedly, still firing off messages on his pager with another hand.

Dino sighed in relief once the blond elder left the ward. “Guys, how do you guys know the Mauviette? That whole family is a terror.”

Reborn snorted, thinking of his developing plan to get the youngest skylark to receive training from Dino. “Focus, idiot-Dino. How is Basil, Romario?”

Beside his boss, Romario nodded. “His life isn't in danger, Reborn-san. It looks like he was trained well. His wounds are shallow.”

“Putting aside the fact of his imminent criminal charges for disturbing the peace of Namimori,” Ietsuna started, “I guess he's part of the Vongola?”

“No, he's not part of the Vongola,” Dino shook his head. “But if there's one thing we're sure of, it's that he's on your side.”

“Huh?” Tsuna paused in the middle of searching his pockets. “What's going on? The enemy is a Vongola, and our ally is someone who isn't? We don't really have allies or enemies... well, if you count the Momokyokai-”

“Not like that, Tsuna,” Ietsuna cut in, still staring across at the three Mafiosi. “So, Basil here-” he pointed to the bed where Basil had been laid out and attached to an IV drip, “-tried to hand Tsuna something, something the loud Yankee wanted.”

“It's because those Rings are on the move,” Reborn explained.

“Rings?” Tsuna echoed. “He did say something about them...”

“The official name is the Half Vongola Rings,” Reborn lectured. “They were supposed to be held in a secret location for three more years. They're the Vongola's treasures.”

“They sounds... really expensive,” Tsuna frowned.

“They certainly are priceless, but that's not all,” Reborn continued. “An untold amount of blood has been spilled over those Rings in the Vongola's long history. They're rings with a dark past.”

“... then it's lucky that the long-haired guy took them, right?” Tsuna volunteered.

“Tsuna,” Ietsuna grimly replied, “no one sends valuable priceless artefacts by UPS, much less by a single courier.”

“Well, the thing is...” Dino sheepishly pulled a similar box from his pocket, “I have them right here.”

Blink.

Blink.

Stare.

“...EH? Why?!”

“These are the real ones,” Dino elaborated.

“So the Yankee took fake rings,” Ietsuna pursed his lips.

Dino's eyes flickered. “I came here because of these. A certain individual wanted me to give them to you, Tsuna.”

“T- To me?” Tsuna shuddered. “Those scary rings... why?”

“Well,” Dino shrugged, “because you're the Tenth Vongola-”

“There are two candidates,” Ietsuna spoke up. “Why Tsuna alone? Who told you to give them to him? Tsuna would become a target like this.”

“To be able to use the Dying Will Flame is a requirement to become Boss,” Reborn corrected, staring at Ietsuna. “Of the both of you, only Tsuna has that ability. And, as for who decided it... the external adviser.”

“...that idiot father!” Ietsuna's shout was followed by the slamming of a door to signal his departure. “We're going home, Tsuna. Now.”

“E- Eh?!” Tsuna started. “B- But, what about Basil-kun-”

“Dino-sempai is here with Romario-san,” Ietsuna snapped. “Besides, if that Yankee has friends, they'll need a while to authenticate the rings. We need to check on Gokudera and Yamamoto, and then go back home and call back to Italy.”

“S- Sorry, Dino-sempai!” Tsuna bowed deeply before following after his twin.

“He should have just given these directly to Tsuna,” Dino commented ruefully. “He came with me to Japan after all.”

“I see,” Reborn murmured. “So he came.”

“Wait, Ie!” Tsuna managed to catch up to his twin. “P- Please don't punch Dad-”

“Tenth!” Gokudera ran up to them, a patch of gauze on his cheek. He was closely followed by Yamamoto, whose arms were wrapped in gauze.

“I'm very sorry, Tenth!” Gokudera pleaded. “I'll defeat him the next time I see him!”

“Yo, Tsuna, Ietsuna,” Yamamoto greeted. “Too bad that guy left the area, right?”

“Right...” Tsuna shuddered. “I'm still glad that everyone is alive, and safe for now. We're so lucky Alouette-san was in the area.”

“We're going home,” Ietsuna stated bluntly. “Will we see you in school tomorrow?”

“Yup!” Yamamoto smiled with his eyes closed.

“Definitely, Tenth, Ietsuna-sama!”

“Drop the '-sama', Gokudera,” Ietsuna sighed. “Anyone who's protecting my brother can just use my name.”

“T- Thank you very much for entrusting me with the Tenth's health!!!” Gokudera's spine could have snapped with the rigid angle its master was currently putting it through.

“That's right,” Ietsuna's smile was like poisoned honey for how it stung in the next sentence: “So go home and regret your weakness. Bye.”

“Ie!” Tsuna bristled as he was led away. “What was that for? You didn't have to be like that! They're our friends!”

“Tsuna... you want to protect them, right?”

“O- Of course!” Tsuna protested. “Why were you so cruel?”

“That assassin today, he could have killed them,” Ietsuna sighed. “And he was willing to kill you, just because you were associated with his target. The both of them, they were willing to die for you right there. But, do you want that?”

“...no,” Tsuna closed his eyes as he was dragged out of the hospital. “I understand. I... I wish I could have protected them.”

Ietsuna stopped, and flicked his forehead.

“Ow!” Tsuna clutched his forehead. “What was that for?”

“The world doesn't need more cruel people,” Ietsuna replied. “In fact, it needs someone who cares for the world, and who uses that as motivation to protect. If you regret your actions now, then use that regret. You have that power, Tsuna, to regret hurting others and to resolve not to do so unless necessary.”

“You didn't have to flick me...” Tsuna sniffed as they walked towards the direction of home. “But, Ie... don't you regret?”

Ietsuna paused. Tsuna stopped, and saw it too; that lift of chin, that spark of defiance, and that utter hatred that always seemed to linger when Tsuna was unhappy at the world he loved so much, because it was nasty to him again.

“It is all for you. I do what I do for you. There are no regrets involved.”

Those words, pronounced so matter-of-fact, were so cold that Tsuna found himself shivering inside. This was not the Ietsuna who teased and praised Lambo in the same sentence. This was not the Ietsuna who argued the theories of unidentified mysterious animals with Gokudera. This was not the Ietsuna who devotedly swept Grandpa's tomb and painted the stars.

This was Ietsuna, the twin that Tsuna loved and who loved him back so much that Tsuna was terrified that Ietsuna might murder all of his bullies, and yet would hardly bother to pay attention to himself – except if they destroyed his art-books. This was the same twin who saw nothing wrong in using military ordnance against delinquents, on the off-chance that they would hurt his twin brother. This was the twin that might be planning to kill Reborn, simply because the hitman was Spartan and demanding and rude to Tsuna.

This was an Ietsuna who thrived in war and blood. A complete stranger in this world of grocery stores and peaceful assembly.

“A- Anyway, please don't punch Dad in the face, alright?” Tsuna pleaded. “I'm sure he had his reasons. Please, Ie? No literal hitting.”

Every single combat skill that Tsuna had ever learnt – every block and every use of an improvised weapon, every minute spent admiring Hibari-san's coolness in handling his brother – had been earned in the fear that if Tsuna didn't learn to fight back, Ietsuna would dish out vengeance for him with interest against the world itself if necessary. Tsuna wasn't sure which of them would win.

“...fine,” Ietsuna huffed. “No literal hitting.”

“Papa came home when-” Nana's smile melted off of her face when the twins came home and stared at the mud-covered yellow rubber boots. “N- Na-kun... right? Tsu-kun?”

“Yes, Kaa-san, I'm Tsuna,” Tsuna quickly intervened. “We just... we just met Dino-sempai! Yeah, that's right. Right, Ie?”

“...yes, Kaa-san~” Ietsuna plastered on a smile, and the effort was enough to make Nana give a tentative one of her own. Tsuna's started sweating. “Imagine our surprise when we met someone named BASIL in town, who told us that our DAD was his FATHER.”

Behind Nana, the shattering of glass sounded. The chatter of children stopped. Everyone was waiting for the horrific results. There was a thud, and Iemitsu came charging out crying about misunderstandings. Nana heard none of his words, having just fainted.

“N- Nana-san!” Haru exclaimed in shock.

“Sawada-san...” Kyoko stared.

Tsuna put his face into his hands. He had forgotten that Ietsuna had a sharp tongue to go along with his wits, especially when he was riled up. “I... just help me carry Kaa-san to the couch. We have guests!”

Ietsuna was glaring at Iemitsu for the whole time. Even when chewing on the croquette. He had just taken one when Lambo stole the plate.

“Lambo, don't keep it all to yourself!” I-Pin complained.

“No, these are Lambo-san's!” Lambo stuck his tongue out.

“Everyone is equal!” I-Pin scolded in broken Japanese.

“It's alright, I-Pin,” Ietsuna gave I-Pin his own croquette. “It just means that Lambo-san doesn't get painting time.”

“Gyupaa! No!” Lambo dropped the croquette plate down. “Ie-nii, I'll be good!”

“It's so good you came back safely, Tsuna-san!” Haru exclaimed. “We were worried after being separated in that dangerous incident. How is Gokudera-san and Yamamoto-san?”

“They're fine,” Tsuna assured them. “Just... the fireworks.”

“Hahaha,” Iemitsu laughed. “Well, kids will be kids. I was surprised that our family grew so much while I was gone.”

“True, it doesn't even feel like they're free-loaders,” Ietsuna commented. “In fact, the children feel more like family than a no-good father.”

“Ie-nii shares the number one rank for the sharpest tongue in the history of the Mafia,” Fuuta spoke up as Iemitsu blinked.

“Just like my own dad,” Iemitsu joked. “It's almost scary. Well, since I've been gone so long, I thought I'd spend time with the family.”

“I was so surprised!” Kyoko commented. “Your father is interesting, Tsuna-kun, Ie-kun.”

“True!” Haru contribute. “We all listened to his stories while waiting, Tsuna-san, Ietsuna-san. He had many hard and thrilling jobs around the world! Haru was so moved~!”

“I took a lot of notes during my travels, so I can share them with you, Tsuna, Ie!” Iemitsu offered.

“Sorry. Today I gotta clear out the gym and Maître's place,” Ietsuna cut in, moving towards the cabinets and pulling out two sets of jūbako².

“Sorry, Dad. Today I'm cleaning out Hibari-san's house,” Tsuna continued, moving to pack up some of the food to distribute. “Both of us are staying out.”

“Ah, my heart is broken, but it can't be helped,” Iemitsu played with his fingers. “And here I thought the two of you were trying to avoid me.”

Tsuna and Ietsuna shared the same brittle smile.

“Haru-chan...” Kyoko backed slightly. “I think they are trying to avoid Sawada-san desu~”

“You shouldn't do that!” Haru spoke up. “Tsuna-san, Ietsuna-san, your father is finally home after a long time away at work!”

“Normally, when someone comes back, the courtesy is to call ahead,” Ietsuna was the first to rebut.

“We're grateful that Dad is back, but we also have responsibilities,” Tsuna gently added. “Alouette-san needs help at her advanced age, and Hibari-san's mother is coming back soon. We can't abandon them at such short notice.”

“Tsuna, Ie... you've grown a lot,” Iemitsu appraised. “Especially Tsuna, since you have such a cute girlfriend like that.”

“I- it's not like that, Sawada-san,” Kyoko demurred. “Tsuna-kun is engaged to Hibari-san.”

“WHAT?!”

“Hahi?!” Haru and Iemitsu's shared screech was lost over Tsuna's “We're not engaged! Sasagawa-san, how could you even say that?!”

“It sure feels like that sometimes,” Ietsuna chipped in. “Maître keeps going on about when you're giving her grandchildren.”

“S- So,” Iemitsu flailed, “H- Hibari is a nice girl, right?”

“Hibari Kyoya?” Kyoko naively echoed. “He's a boy.”

Iemitsu would have fallen, but then Haru snapped out of the Tsuna-possible-engagement stupor to announce the completion of her newest creation. And Tsuna had to wear it. Now. So Tsuna went to change, and-

“Tsuna,” Iemitsu gaped at his son. “Why are you wearing a skirt?”

Tsuna opened his mouth to reply, but Ietsuna beat him to the punch. “Shame on you, Dad. You didn't even know that Tsuna is-”

A thud.

“-a cross-dresser,” Ietsuna finished, staring with amber eyes at the blond man in a wife-beater and boxers on the kitchen floor, who was currently foaming at the mouth. “Che. Wimp.”

“T- This is not funny, Ie!” Tsuna shrieked, hovering over their unconscious parents.

“Hahaha!” Lambo laughed, along with Kyoko and Haru. “Papa fainted when he saw Tsuna-nii in a dress!”

“...I give up...” Tsuna sighed. “I'll just call Hibari-san and tell him I can't make it.”

He sniffed, plodding towards the telephone outside. He stopped, picking up the telephone from its cradle and lifting it reluctantly. He sniffed. With the tears clumped in his brown eyes, even Kyoko went misty-eyed at the shadows of depression that seemed to have formed.

“It's like seeing a wife denied the opportunity to see her parents...” Haru sniffed. “Haru is touched~!”

“If it's for love, anything is permissible,” Bianchi appeared, bearing her own special bento. “However, it looks as though fate has decreed this love-”

The telephone rang, and Tsuna pressed the receive button. “Hello? Oh, Alouette-san, good afternoon.”

“...”

“Eh, you're going over to Hibari-san's place for dinner tonight?”

“...”

“Ah, right, Chikusa and Ken and Chrome... Mukuro as well... Then, there's no need for Ie to come over? Your house is so clean a dog can eat off the floor?”

“...”

“Er, right- wait, you want to invite my family over? Your daughter U³ is back from Hong Kong? You want me to come in female clothes?!”

“...”

“B- But, Kaa-san is unconscious right now, so we can't leave the house.”

“...”

“...yes, my dad has returned from overseas.”

“...”

“Sorry, he's also unconscious right now.”

“...”

“I can't do that, Alouette-san!”

“...”

“Wait, wait! There's no need to visit my house! Dad isn't mentally prepared! Actually, he'll have a heart attack first!”

“That sounds like an interesting conversation,” Reborn commented, having seemingly appeared out of thin air and was currently tasting a thigh of chicken.

“Knowing Maître, she's trying to adopt Tsuna legally now that the old man is back,” Ietsuna sighed.

“That's not good,” Reborn frowned. “We need Iemitsu to head this off. Bianchi, we're taking care of Mama and the children tonight.”

“Yes, Reborn.”

This could be a ticking bomb, especially if the Qingniao⁴ of Hong Kong followed her mother's lead. With the confrontation with the Varia looming, Tsuna's inheritance would be jeopardised if this Triad link was revealed, even if the Hibari family bore the blood of Alaude. Especially since the Hibari family bore the blood of Alaude; the first CEDEF head bore no favours in the Family for having outlasted two world wars and seven of the Vongola's Bosses.

“You're late, little animal.” Hibari's eyebrow twitched at the ensemble. “That's a new outfit.”

“Uh, Haru gave it to me,” Tsuna fingered the hem of the woollen skirt that matched the long umber short-sleeved sweater Haru had crocheted, over which he'd put on a sleeveless vest and a white scarf. He bent down to undo his shoes. “I really wanted to give it back, but she said it was a late birthday present and... well, it was the best thing I could do, since it's a full outfit.”

“She did a good job,” Hibari leant slightly, head tilted with a large – for a Hibari – grin at Tsuna's thigh-high stockings. “I welcome you to the Hibari house on behalf of my grandmother. She is waiting for you.”

Ietsuna scowled, but was shoved aside as Iemitsu stepped forward with a large grin and arms outstretched.

“Sorry, Tsuna had to come here dressed like this,” Iemitsu smiled. He was wearing a buttoned shirt and trousers;'unfortunately, half the buttons seemed missing and the pants were caked in... something black. “So, who's the old lady that my son is cleaning and cooking for?”

A cane flew, which had Hibari side-stepped it on instinct, and embedded itself into Iemitsu's skull. “Taisez-vous, lionceau.⁵”

“Sorry for disturbing, Alouette-san,” Tsuna bowed quickly as the woman herself came out in a full set of dinner attire for men. “The cream goes well with your hairstyle.”

“Doesn't it?” Alouette petted her chignon. “U, come out.”

Hibari twitched, but ducked as a paper folding fan whipped past and nearly hit Alouette in the face. “Old carnivore, this is not my idea of fun.”

“Neither is it mine, mother carnivore,” Hibari replied tersely.

“Wao,” Ietsuna borrowed Hibari's catchphrase as the dark-haired woman walked out of the narrow corridor that separated the entrance hall from the rest of the house. “It really is that kind of family. They could be clones.”

The dark-haired woman sniffed the air, before her eyes fell upon the twins and narrowed down on Tsuna. “It's that one, cub?”

“Isn't it obvious, mother carnivore?”

“Erm...” Tsuna produced the wrapped jūbako with shaking hands. “We brought dinner?”

In a flash, Hibari U had Tsuna in her steel-like grasp on both his shoulders. “I'm so sorry, my idiot son and my mother must have been bullying such a cute boy like you. What's your name~?”

“S- Sawada Tsunayoshi,” Tsuna was terrified by the sudden about-face. “T- That's my father Sawada Iemitsu on the floor, and my brother Sawada Ietsuna. We're twins. You can call me Tsuna, Hibari-san's mother.”

“I am Hibari U, but you can call me U-san,” the woman assured him, patting his head happily. “My son really has nothing much to make up for his shitty personality, so I'm so happy that you can still endure his company. And Ietsuna-san, was it? The old carnivore mentions you sometimes as well. Come in, come in. Is that blond idiot on the floor with you?”

“H- He's our father,” Tsuna sounded flustered.

“I brought the personal seal, don't worry,” Ietsuna suddenly told Alouette.

“Good job!”

The skylarks shoved their guests towards the main dining room, which was where U set about opening the jūbako and started chewing on a piece of hamburger patty she fished out with chopsticks. “You made this, little rabbit?”

“...yes?” Tsuna was shaking, and he had barely donned the prepared slippers yet.

“He's not a rabbit, mother carnivore,” Hibari corrected, completely glossing over the animal term like it was everyday life. “He's a cleaner fish.”

“Even better, idiot cub,” U was now looking at her son. “How are his desserts?”

“Better than you'll ever taste, mother carnivore,” was Hibari's immediate rebuttal. “Better than you'll ever make either.”

“Definitely better than your desserts, Kyoya,” U fished out a cake and bit into it, moaning a bit. “I approve. It's just...”

“Hiie!” Tsuna jumped as a hand smacked his behind. “U-san?!”

“What are you doing, mother carnivore?” Hibari snapped.

“It's too bad you're not a girl,” U commented. “You've got the hips for it. Ah, well. Get him into the family, cub.”

Behind him, Ietsuna was giggling madly. “The mother-in-law just sexually harassed you...”

“Ie! That's not funny!” Tsuna bristled, much like a disturbed rabbit. “Erm... where's the others, Alouette-san?”

“They refused to come,” Alouette sniffed, offended. “Well, I dragged them for a while, but it seems like-”

“They were bitten to death for crowding,” Hibari flatly replied.

“So mean!” Tsuna murmured.

“Anyway,” Alouette grinned as Ietsuna dragged Iemitsu in and sat their father's unconscious form at the Western-style table, where Tsuna could see his ink-covered thumb, “we have a proposal for you.”

“Rather than proposal, it looks like you've decided everything,” Tsuna stared at the inky thumb as the larks got started on dinner.

“Mmm-hmm,” Ietsuna threw down a small pile of forms in the middle of dessert. The cover prefaced with Iemitsu's signature, thumbprint and personal seal⁶ on a dotted line. “Today is the thirteenth of October. By tomorrow, we're eligible for adult adoption.⁷”

“...” Tsuna blinked. Stared. Blinked some more. “EEEHHH?! I thought it was a joke!”

“Well, we can't cook at all, so it makes sense,” Alouette smiled. “Since when have our family been known for joking?”

“HIIEE! B- But, U-san, you can't think- what about Hibari-san?”

Whatever crossed Hibari's face was enough for Ietsuna to stand protectively in front of his twin. “You are mine, little animal. This is merely a legal formality.”

“Kyoya can do what he likes,” Alouette shrugged. “The point is, this takes you out of the Vongola succession, since you would become a Hibari.”

“B- But, what about Ie?” Tsuna continued flailing. “T- This is a big thing! W- What about Hibari-san's father?”

“You don't need to worry about Kyou,” U reassured him with a dim smile. “He'll be so glad that Kyoya managed to find someone despite his shitty personality he'd approve of anyone.”

“Someone will need to hold the Vongola back,” Ietsuna told him, amber eyes dull. “It's your choice, Tsuna. I only wish for your happiness.”

“I...” Tsuna looked up at the ceiling. “C- Can I have some time? It's- there's been a lot happening lately. Tomorrow... tomorrow we have to visit Grandpa's grave. Right! I need time. Sorry.”

“...It's alright, Tsu-chan~” Alouette smiled when it was clear that neither of the younger larks were going to respond well. “It's your choice. And Kyoya's, but frankly the cub is raring to go already.”

“Don't be stupid, carnivore,” Hibari snapped. “This is merely a convenience to keep my cleaner fish.”

“I'm fairly sure Tetsu-kun and you aren't involved that way, idiot grandson,” Alouette huffed. “Tetsu-kun strikes me as more of a pompadour fish.”

“This is a trick!” Ietsuna burst out. “You're trying to get Tsuna in bed with you!”

Tsuna would have done a spit-take at the immediate 'yes' it engendered – from both mother and son. He was unfortunately occupied in trying to wake his father to have dinner. The grandmother was too busy cooing over Tsuna's clothes. And the Vongola Ring stayed in Iemitsu's pocket the whole time, even as the external advisor woke up with feelings of foreboding.

“I'll need to visit Shimon Town after we visit Grandpa,” Ietsuna told Tsuna at breakfast the next day before Tsuna set out first. A painting smock covered his front. “You'll be alright?”

“Mmm-hmm,” Tsuna nodded, preparing a bag. “It's too early.”

“You're still in cross-dress, huh?” Ietsuna pointed to the umber set that Haru had given him, which Tsuna was wearing.

“Yes...” Tsuna nodded. “I need the confidence. In female dress, I can't cry, because that would ruin the armour. So...”

“You just think about it on your way,” Ietsuna smiled. “Be safe.”

“I'm going out.” Tsuna walked out, into the rising sun as it was still cool around Namimori. He brought along a bouquet of flowers from a florist he passed by on his way; three Casablanca lilies, three yellow chrysanthemums, three daisies, and three lotuses. He was also given an orange daisy to put in his hair for good luck. He accepted reluctantly, because it made him look too feminine. He had still attempted to refuse the gift without being rude, which was when a man collided with him, crushing the flowers.

The man had spiky hair, buzz-cut on the sides and adorned with feathers and a raccoon tail at the nape of his neck. A tall and muscular build made him intimidating. This was not helped by his ensemble: a black military-cut jacket rested over his shoulders, matched with a white dress shirt, black pants, and a loosely knotted tie along with black boots. Scars stretched across his face, and his beady red eyes fixated upon Tsuna and the bouquet immediately.

“S- Sorry!” Tsuna squeaked.

“...be careful,” was the man's gruff reply. “Those for a funeral?”

“Erm, it's my grandfather's fifteenth death anniversary...” Tsuna shuddered.

“Che,” the man scoffed. “What for? The fogey's dead, right? Graves exist only for living trash to make empty prayers to.”

“E- Even so, Grandpa gave his life to save me and my brother,” Tsuna's eyes narrowed. “So I don't think it's an empty prayer. Good day.”

“Hmm, not bad,” Xanxus muttered to himself, eyes fixed on the feminine figure walking away from him. A hand reached out to snag the Ophelia flower that was floating away, buffeted by the breeze, and accidentally caught an orange daisy instead, falling into his hand almost like a moment of providence. “Mi dispiace, signorina.⁸”

Hibari U - It's that kind of family. Picture from http://www.zerochan.net/992088#full

1 n. Someone with too much imagination. Can apply to Dino under certain circumstances, can apply to Gokudera under all circumstances where the Vongola Tenth Boss is concerned, and all the time where Bianchi thinking about Reborn is concerned.

Chapter Text

Barely twenty-four hours in Japan, and Iemitsu was at his wits' end as to how to deliver the last Ring. Well, most of the Guardians had already been decided, but Ietsuna proved to be a disturbingly good saboteur where Tsuna was concerned. If they had separate rooms it would have been easier, but Ietsuna's room was used as his atelier, meaning that the twins had never quite gotten used to sleeping apart, even at fourteen- fifteen years old, it was the 14 ^th now – and thus infiltrating Tsuna's room also meant infiltrating Ietsuna's room. To further confound matters, Iemitsu had no idea which bed contained which twin, much less how to tell them apart.

Opening the door, Iemitsu had to duck as he was welcomed with a palette knife which embedded itself where his head would have been. “Sorry,” the possessed twin muttered. “Force of habit.”

No wonder Reborn never slept here, Iemitsu thought. Or if he did, it was in the eaves where Ietsuna and his pointy art supplies had not gotten to.

“Dad?” Tsuna blinked, in the middle of making his own bed. “You're joining us to visit Grandpa?”

No, Iemitsu wanted to say. No, I never want to go there again unless it's feet-first in a box. Wait, I'll be cremated... “Sure. I was just about to wake you guys up.”

It was quiet, but no less disturbing when Tsuna walked down in his cross-dressing attire again and started breakfast. Breakfast was more than awkward: a father who considered only one of the twins to be his son, and two young teenagers who could barely remember the man claiming to be their dad. It was completely silent, and so awkward that Nana had opted to sleep in after stepping foot into the kitchen.

Tsuna left early. Ietsuna walked out soon after, with Iemitsu trailing behind. Ietsuna barely said anything even as they passed the Namimori Shrine.

“You guys do this every year?” Iemitsu started the conversation.

“More or less,” Ietsuna shrugged. He wore a white shirt under a green sweater and a jacket thrown over it, along with black gloves and jeans with steel-capped boots. “Kaa-san is afraid of cemeteries. And probably of Grandpa too.”

“...yeah,” Iemitsu nodded, recalling Ietsuna Sr's reaction to the proposed shotgun wedding between Nana and himself. It had mirrored that of Nana's father, and the in-laws had more or less teamed up against him for the duration of the wedding preparations. They still haunted his worst nightmares. “Do you remember Grandpa? No, you were a baby...”

“...there was fire,” Ietsuna reflected, trying to reach vague impressions of memories. “I think.”

“So don't you think you should give this up now?”

“Give this-” Ietsuna frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“I mean possessing your grandson,” Iemitsu stated with false confidence, despite the warning signs his instincts triggered. “I mean clinging onto Tsuna through Ie. You've had your turn at life, old man, so let go and leave the young ones to their lives.”

“Hold on,” Ietsuna looked incredulous. “You think I'm... Grandpa? Grandpa's dead! You're not just a negligent father and a liar, you're crazy!”

“Ietsuna died!” Iemitsu retorted. “I got the reports! Ietsuna was dead, and then he was alive after you died!”

“And the fact that an infant's revival must be a sure sign of possession to you indicates that you didn't want me alive,” Ietsuna bitterly retorted in a hiss. “Did you even want to marry Kaa-san? Did you even want Tsuna, or this family? Or is there no room for anyone else in that egoistic world of yours?”

Iemitsu's retort was fortunately interrupted by Tsuna. “Oi! Ie!”

Ietsuna's foot drummed a rhythmic tattoo on the cement, but was visibly relieved when his brother arrived. “What took you so long, Tsuna?”

“Sorry, Ie,” Tsuna gave a gentle smile. “The flowers took a while. Did you wait long?”

“No, no,” Iemitsu laughed behind Ietsuna, keeping their previous hostility under wraps. “But, Tsuna, shouldn't you have outgrown this phase already?”

“What phase?” Tsuna answered, confused.

“This... cross-dressing phase,” Iemitsu waved to Tsuna's ensemble, this time with a red scarf. “It's cute, but it won't net you any girlfriends. Like that Kyoko-chan, or Haru-chan!”

“Sweep the graves, old man,” Ietsuna commanded, passing over the small dustpan he had carried in a plastic bag, along with a bottle of water and a rolled canvas. “And include Ieyasu-jiisan too, we just found him.”

Iemitsu stopped sweeping. “Ieyasu-jiisan?”

“He's over there,” Tsuna pointed to the far end, where the grave of Sawada Ieyasu stood. “Well, his ashes, at least.”

“E- Erm, right,” Iemitsu swallowed, slowly sweeping up his father's gravestone and all the successive graves as his sons set out flowers and lit sticks of incense. His fingers traced the Kanji of his ancestor's adopted name, the katakana rendering of Giotto, and the Latin motto.

Non nobis solum nati sumus ortusque nostri partem patria vindicat, partem amici.

He looked towards the newest grave, where his twin sons knelt side by side, heads bowed in respect, eyes closed. Almost like twin angels they were – the pure, innocent one marred by his tainted, dark counterpart.

“Please... please protect them, Grandpa,” Tsuna mumbled, before the twins rose together to examine the other graves on the left, and perform the ceremonial burning of incense with Iemitsu to pray to the Sawada ancestors.

“Erm, your Mama isn't here because she's scared of cemeteries,” Iemitsu chuckled, completely ruining the peaceful atmosphere. “Anyway, let's do a manly activity together! Fishing-”

“No.” The delivery was delivery crisply and professionally. “That's illegal. Hibari-san would bite fishers to death.”

Iemitsu froze. “T- Then... hiking?”

“Sorry, Dad,” Tsuna refused quietly but firmly. “I have to go to school.”

“I gotta deliver a painting to Simon Town,” Ietsuna pointed down. “We did have a family thing together already. We went to Hibari's place for dinner. Hibari's grandmother knew you, and hit you. Then we ate and dragged you home.”

Iemitsu struggled to keep a straight face. The Mauviette was the only remnant of the Famiglia Generazione Ottava, outlasting the Ottava Daniela herself, and half of Timoteo's reign, in leading CEDEF before retiring – and finally allowing Nono to appoint someone who was not in any way connected to the First Cloud Guardian, who had founded CEDEF in the first place. It had been a very nerve-wracking decision; Coyote once commented that Timoteo had been flat-out terrified of handing over her retirement notice before she got around to do it for him. “How did you meet her, anyway?”

“Alouette-san is Hibari-san's grandmother,” Tsuna sternly replied. “She's... nice. Just... she's very...”

“She's got adoption forms ready to adopt Tsuna as Hibari's cleaner fish,” Ietsuna replied nonchalantly, easily ignoring how a random stone Iemitsu kicked suddenly manage to embed itself in a headstone that resembled more of a hunk of granite. “Or adopted wife. It's hard to tell.”

“Cleaner fish?!” Iemitsu repeated. “I don't remember signing that form!”

“You were drunk,” Ietsuna lied swiftly and without remorse. “You brought along your personal seal, and stamped it. I witnessed it, and Alouette-san has it now.”

“T- Tsuna is not becoming anyone's w- w- wife!” Iemitsu sputtered. “I won't allow it!”

“That's not the right word... is there a masculine analogue for 'wife' that connotes the submissive partner?” Ietsuna was taking great pleasure in trolling his father, is the glint in his amber eyes was any indication. “Wakashu? Onnagata? Oh, right, uke-”

“You don't have to display your frankly alarming knowledge of homosexuality in Japanese culture anymore, Ie,” Tsuna sighed as a thud echoed before them. “He fainted.”

“If this was enough to make the great external advisor of the Vongola faint, then the Mafia has a serious problem,” Ietsuna growled. “Get up.”

Iemitsu grumbled, sitting up to face the grave. “Children are so precocious nowadays...”

“So, is there any reason why the adoption shouldn't go ahead?” Ietsuna taunted. It was an empty taunt, because Alouette Lei kept her promises, but Iemitsu didn't know that, and for all he knew, Nana could have been in on the adoption too.

It was a pivotal moment; the moment of truth for a habitual liar.

Iemitsu's eyes were no longer on his sons. Rather, they were on the newest grave in the Sawada plot, the headstone of the late Sawada Ietsuna. Tsuna was astonished to note that his father really was more than the negligent goof-ball who was rarely home.

“I... I hate being here,” Iemitsu abruptly confessed.

“Then go home,” Ietsuna snapped, without sympathy.

“You guys... you already knew that I was in the Mafia, right?” Iemitsu reflected. “I suppose this is good as well. A perfect time.”

He took a deep breath. “I was raised outside the Mafia. Father... your grandfather had wanted to emigrate, but the time wasn't right, and he wouldn't move the family until the Vongola could guarantee immigrant protection. Your grandmother worried herself into an early grave because your grandfather was too honest about his job. I was a bad student. A terrible son. I kept bringing stuff back to wreck the house. A gang of stray dogs, a gang of loan sharks, a biker gang- you get what I mean.”

“So you were a Yankee,” Ietsuna bluntly stated.

“It's not my fault!” Iemitsu defended hurriedly. “Then the asset price bubble happened¹, and I found myself a job with the Vongola Construction... I worked my way up, and I met your mother, and at our wedding...”

Iemitsu chuckled mirthlessly then, like the semblance of humour was the only thing keeping him sane. “Father punched my boss in the face, and called him a manipulative, two-faced back-stabbing bastard. They knew each other, but... lost contact a while ago for whatever reason.”

“...Grandpa sounds really reckless...” Tsuna uneasily spoke.

“Nine months later... you were born,” Iemitsu closed his eyes. “I was so happy. Boss was happy, even if Father banned him from stepping foot into Namimori, but... he was waiting, you know. Boss was always waiting, for news on Lorenzo Il Magnifico. He was always waiting... and then the fire happened, you know, and Father... you know what came next. Your Grandpa died to protect you. We found out that the fire was staged.”

“What?!” Tsuna gasped.

“Someone set fire to the hospital on purpose?” Ietsuna echoed.

“I brought something home,” Iemitsu shook his head. “Anyway, reviewing the household register showed that my Boss and Father were distant cousins once removed through Giotto- I mean, Ieyasu-jiisama. There were... there were a lot of regrets. I don't come home that much now.”

“We noticed, really,” Ietsuna's expression had softened, though the amber of his eyes were still flinty. Tsuna sniffed. “Why didn't you tell us?”

“What? How? You were both too young,” Iemitsu shook his head.

“How old were you when you knew that Grandpa was in the Mafia?”

“From as far as I could remember, Father told me everything. He was not a habitual liar, your grandfather. In fact, he was the opposite. Scared me half to death, even after he came home to Japan, and he became an electrician and I followed him along on his jobs. Your grandmother died of worry because he would never speak anything but the brutal facts,” Iemitsu sighed, pulling out a familiar-looking case. “And then you were born, and you were... so young. So young. Neither of you were meant to inherit anything more than your mother’s hair or my eyes. But someone set a whole hospital on fire just for the maternity ward. There were twenty-three babies who didn't make it. An old man died to keep his grandchildren safe and happy. He died for nothing, apparently. I... I didn't want to bring anything home anymore, but there's no choice.”

“Toss it into the Straits of Japan?” Ietsuna suggested.

Iemitsu laughed. It was a harsh guffaw. “Our lives aren't worth it. Tsuna... it's early, but something big is happening over there. You need to protect the Half Vongola Rings-”

“If you didn't want to bring them back... then why come back!” Tsuna snapped suddenly, the words erupting with unprecedented heat. “What about Kaa-san?! Ie?! You brought these things with you and put Kaa-san in danger! And what about the children in the house!? You should have made arrangements to get them out of Namimori first! You idiot!”

Iemitsu reared back, as if Flames of Wrath has blasted him. “There is no one else with the blood-”

“I don't want to hear it from you! You're a liar!” Tsuna yelled, still fuming like an erupting volcano. It was rare to see Tsuna so angry.. “We are not the last to carry the blood. Rather, we are the most convenient. You didn't even think about giving us a choice before doing this, did you? Did you think we were like Kaa-san, simply waiting for you to come back?! You're alive, aren't you! Now you're dragging us into this, for your own convenience! Did you ever think about Ie? He has a future as an artist, a life other than what you think is good for us, and now you're putting him in danger! You're a shitty father! No, you don’t even deserve to be called a father!”

“...You have the blood too,” Ietsuna cut in at the ensuing silence of Tsuna's swear word. “Tsuna?”

“Yeah,” Tsuna aimed a glare before he marched away.

He had barely made three steps before he turned around, and snatched the case out of Iemitsu's hand. Iemitsu blinked.

“Neither of us will become Vongola’s Decimo,” Tsuna told him bluntly. “It'll put Kaa-san and Ie in danger. More than that, I don't need something that I have to lie to my family about. The fact that you kept lying to us until now only proves that you don't even trust your blood with this. So I’m going to tell Kaa-san everything when I get back, and you're going to straighten everything out with her, assuming that she doesn't just divorce your ass and disappear with us. Those assassins that your idiocy put on our tail, Ie and I will deal. But you're no longer our father. Ie, we're leaving.”

“That was kinder than you deserve,” Ietsuna spat vindictively, following quietly with his cellphone out, and leaving Iemitsu hanging his head out of frustration or shame.

“...I knew that this was going to happen,” Iemitsu sighed, turning back to consider the grave of Sawada Ieyasu. “Dammit, Father... I'm sorry. Forgive me, but the Family comes first...”

Not for us alone are we born; our country, our friends, have a share in us...

“...what should we do?” Tsuna mumbled in a small voice once they had left the cemetery. The cursed Ring hung around his neck like a millstone. “I... I don't know what happened last time, but... Ie, I don't want you to go after those guys like Rokudo Mukuro again. Ie, what do you think?”

“...” Ietsuna held up his cellphone. “Eggs are on sale.”

Tsuna face-palmed. “Please, Ie, take this seriously!”

“I am,” Ietsuna commented, still typing out a message. “That's why I started an online forum talking about that loud Yankee in Namimori, and I set the Disciplinary Committee members on lookout. There are others with that Yankee. So, Tsuna, you need to go to school.”

“...eh?”

“I need to deliver the painting to Kozato-san,” Ietsuna pointed. “You need to start the paperwork to get us out of school. Gokudera, Yamamoto, you, me... and, ask Reborn if there's anyone else to pull out of class. Oh, and...”

Ietsuna heaved a sigh. “This... will disrupt the order of Namimori. So, we need to leave the Discipline Committee, at least for a while. So you need to butter up Hibari as well. If you rush, you can get the bus back home and make the steak in time for lunch. Oh, and, tell Gokudera and Yamamoto as well.”

“EH?!” Tsuna exclaimed. “B- B- But that means...”

“Don't worry, Kaa-san bought the ground meat already,” Ietsuna assured. “So go ahead and get us an excuse.”

“Ie!” Tsuna reproached as a breeze blew, tossing red maple leaves to circle them.

Ietsuna reached out, managing to snatch one out of thin air. “Hmm...”

“And you're lost in your own little world again...” Tsuna muttered.

“The leaves must be sipping lifeblood to replace their green with this complementary red hue,” Ietsuna commented.

“Time sure passes,” Tsuna sighed, relenting as they reached a bus stop. “Only you never change, Ie, like this beautiful blue sky. We're... really going to have to fight here, right? Or everyone will die.”

“Yes. We'll get through this together.”

“I... I don't know what to do, but I do know... I want everyone to be alive at the end,” Tsuna turned to his twin with a smile as a bus approached. “This time, I'll protect Ie too. So... happy birthday, Ie.”

Ie hunched his back. “You too... Tsuna.”

Tsuna left on the bus.

Ietsuna scowled, but flagged down a bus headed to the opposite direction that Tsuna had left, towards the Namimori main street. “Blue, I see... what do you see under this blue sky, Tsuna?”

Momiji by Akari

“You're thinking about whether or not to accept.”

Fingering the Mist Ring, Mukuro barely acknowledged the old woman currently sharpening the blade of a shikomizue² on the coffee table. “The state of my... subordinatesis assured thanks to you. There is no incentive for us to intervene, especially with filthy Mafiosi.”

“Oh? Am I not one of those filthy Mafiosi you so despise?”

“You're retired,” Mukuro grimaced. “You're also an old lady.”

“What chivalry you must practise, Mukuro-kun,” came the sarcastic reply.

“I only meant to point out that the elderly are quite discounted in the underworld, or very feared,” Mukuro pointed out. “It takes another kind of person to survive Cambodia in the 1970s.”

“Oh, you mean that old trinket from the genocide,” Alouette huffed. “You're quite a silver-tongued bastard. No wonder my grandson attacks you the first chance he gets.”

“You flatter me,” Mukuro commented, legs crossed and leaning against the main couch of watch Alouette work. “My eloquence could not possibly match that of your late husband, since he managed to marry into the family so often praised and insulted as the Mafia's bane. Well, it used to be.”

Alouette paused, holding the blade up to the light. “Hmph.”

“I did hear, though, that you wanted to adopt the young Vongola,” Mukuro continued. “Did Sawada Ietsuna bribe you into this?”

“I do what I want, petit. Tsu-chan makes desserts to die for.”

“But you are not afraid? Knowing what Sawada Ietsuna is?” Mukuro egged on.

“Is there something to be afraid of?” Alouette questioned tiredly. “Everyone I knew is dead, whether literally or distantly. One more dead person, so you claim, makes no difference. Leave an old woman's pastimes in peace. Or are you the one who's afraid?”

“I can recognise a change in subject, you witch,” Mukuro huffed, looking out to the window, towards the short man in Chinese costume selling steamed buns outside. “Is that your stalker?”

“He is my son,” Alouette replied, now oiling the blade. “He was turned into an Arcobaleno. Twenty years now he's watching, and he still thinks I don't know. I am waiting for him to come back.”

Mukuro gave a brief cackle, or a snort, or a cry, it was hard to tell. “But why not tell him so?”

Alouette clicked her tongue, sheathing the sword back into a cane. “They are proud, the men of the family. They don't want those left behind to worry, so they bottle it up and act as if nothing has happened. Fēng was always worried that the Triads would follow him home before he disappeared. That habit has not changed.”

The stick thudded a bit more on the flooring. “Ah, that's better, physically at least. But only the things which the heart believes are true, and Fēng does not believe that I can accept him as he is. There is nothing more to be done on my part. This is, too, the fate of being alone.”

Outside the apartment, Ietsuna approached the store. “Two charsiew buns, please.”

“Er, yes,” the exchange was quickly made.

“You know, you've always been hanging around here,” Ietsuna commented, pulling out a bun from the plastic bag he was handed. “You shouldn't hang around here too long, otherwise that prefect Hibari might come over, or the old woman might come out and chase you away. Just saying.”

“Xiexie,” was Fon's straightforward reply to the implied threat. What role to play, what role to play... “Want to protect,” he settled on broken Japanese. “Best place.”

“I guess. Just keep all fighting to a minimum,” Ietsuna commented, walking off towards the bus stop.

“...That's Mother's student, definitely,” Fon observed as his Pacifier started glowing. “I have to pick a different spot now... oh, and Reborn is stalking him. I wonder why.”

Ietsuna took the bus out of Namimori to Shimon Town, founded by some foreigner in the post-war era and growing in tandem with Namimori. He located the semi-detached bungalow of the Kozato fairly easily, ringing the doorbell. It opened easily.

“Ietsuna-san!”

“Yo, Mami,” Ietsuna high-fived the red-haired Kozato daughter. “Is Kozato-san in?”

“Dad! Ietsuna-san is here!” Mami Kozato called.

“Oh, Ietsuna-kun, hello,” Kozato Makoto greeted him as he came out of the kitchen, running a hand through his greying red hair. All of them had red hair; Mami, Enma, Makoto, and the mysterious Mrs Kozato that Ietsuna hadn't met yet despite seven years of acquaintance with the family. “You didn't need to deliver it personally, I could have sent a courier.”

“It's alright,” Ietsuna replied. “I also need to confirm some arrangements. I'll be out of school for a week on a retreat.”

“That's nice,” Makoto nodded. “Enma always looks forward to your visits, you know. It's almost sad that he's in school right now... speaking of which, don't you have school, Ietsuna-kun?”

“I took the week off,” Ietsuna nodded. “It's a beautiful autumn. I'm hoping for inspiration, and since I turned in my work ahead of time the teachers can't say anything.”

“Ne, Ietsuna-san!” Mami beamed at Ietsuna, her long red hair curling around a heart-shaped face and her bangs pinned up with a hairclip. “Did you make it? What I asked for?”

“I did,” Ietsuna fished out the A4 sheet from the roll. “Sketch of the Kozato family, landscape, 210 millimetres to 297 millimetres. I call it 5-3-10³.”

“Go-za- oh,” Makoto looked happy, especially with the family sketch. “You didn't have to-”

“That's five hundred Yen.” Ietsuna held out his hand.

“Stingy,” Mami pouted, but handed over the coins.

“-.-' How very business-minded of you,” Makoto commented. “Oh, speaking of which... Ietsuna-kun, I would like to commission a portrait sitting. It's my family...”

They exchanged some more pleasantries and discussion of colours, haggling, and the sun was nearly setting when Ietsuna finally bade them farewell and left.

He walked away from the Kozato house, through the lonely tree-lined path in which separated their isolated existence from the rest of Shimon Town. From a hanging cypress, the glint of a sniper rifle reflected in the gloom. A trigger pulled, and the bullet fired-

-to ping off a palette knife.

Ietsuna tossed the knife, and the steel glanced off with a thunk to reveal Reborn and a Leon-sniper-rifle on one of its branches. Reborn chambered another round, aiming at Ietsuna's head.

Ietsuna ducked behind a weeping willow, panting. “Reborn?! Is this a test?”

“It looks like you don't realise the importance yet,” Reborn continued in his chipper voice. “Tsuna is the only one suited to be the Tenth. You were never meant to live.”

“Hmm? I don't get you,” Ietsuna pulled another knife into his hand.

“We found out that Sawada Ietsuna died that day, according to one nurse,” Reborn stated coldly. “Rokudo Mukuro realised it too. That's why he couldn't possess you. You're simply a ghost, Lorenzo Il Magnifico.”

“I am not Grandpa! I am not this legend that you crazy people keep confusing me with! The only Lorenzo I know went by Ietsuna and sacrificed his life so that two new ones could bloom! You insult him every time you or Iemitsu claim that this guy could be so petty in his afterlife!” Ietsuna shouted back, throwing a knife which Reborn ducked, tucking and rolling at the same time to another cover. “You're really trying to kill me, aren't you?!”

“As long as you're here, Tsuna will never fall into the Mafia,” Reborn answered. “It is his fate. Fate, or destiny, is something that can never be denied. He has no choice.”

Ietsuna’s sharp eyes noticed that the baby hitman’s free hand had begun absently stroking the weird yellow pacifier that always hung around his neck, but he filed this observation away for later. “No! He always had a choice!” Ietsuna retorted. “I don't fucking care about Iemitsu. I don't care about you! The Mafia can burn, for all I care! Tsuna will always have a choice, and I'm going to make sure of that!”

“Iemitsu told me to make sure you don't,” Reborn commented. “I had had Leon mass-produce Dying Will Bullets, the only thing that can cause you pain. Of course, with your body definitely lacking a central nervous system, the wound is not painful, but enough bullets should definitely kill you.”

Ietsuna dashed behind the trees, ducking and weaving and tossing knives, none of which posed a real threat to the World’s Greatest Hitman.

“I have no weaknesses,” Reborn tonelessly stated, as if it were a mantra he often repeated, firing shots that threw up cracks in concrete, that burned through trees.

Ietsuna rolled and dashed, ducking into an alleyway only to spot Reborn in the distance, hovering with a copter-Leon. He threw another knife and ducked away as his mentor – no, Reborn was always his assassin, never a teacher or elder figure to him, or even someone to trust – fired another shot, cursing as his body slammed against concrete. He looked down to the manhole; the padlocked, covered manhole. “Dammit! Is there-”

A pink armoured tentacle whipped out, and Ietsuna was cut off with a strangled yell as he was dragged into the manhole and through the cover, which fizzled out. Hologram, Ietsuna mumbled as he was stuck in darkness with the tentacle. The armoured tentacle.

“He disappeared?” Reborn's voice echoed overhead. “Well, he must have climbed.”

The rotations of Leon-copter dimmed, until there was complete silence and two- no, three, no, five sets of breathing.

“Sawada Ietsuna!” the purple baby controlling the octopus holding him hostage proclaimed.

“You're... Skull, right?” Ietsuna frowned. “Is this a revenge thing?”

“No! I mean, yes!” Skull paused. “Oi! Stop interrupting me! And why are you so calm?!”

Ietsuna shrugged, despite being stuck in the tight grasp of an octopus arm. “If you saved me from Reborn, you can't be that bad. It's also a courtesy to listen if you're coming with a proposal.”

“But if your life is in danger then it's common to panic!” Skull exclaimed.

“My life doesn't matter,” Ietsuna easily answered. “But, since we're having this conversation, couldn't you tell me the names of your comrades. Mister Skull?”

“Ah, you've met Oodako, that's Fantasma, and that's Viper-”

“Mammon, you idiot,” the neutral voice spoke from the shadows, and Skull gave a hiss of fright. “Well, what's done is done. So, this is the kid whose technique forced your body back to adult form for six hours?”

“Y- yes, Viper! This kid froze me, and then I was an adult until sunrise!”

“Can we take this somewhere more comfortable?” Ietsuna asked curiously.

“Hmph, it's just a kid,” Viper, or Mammon, dismissed. “I even spent money on a plane ticket to Japan for this purpose.”

“It's not about that,” Ietsuna easily replied as Oodako's arm shattered and he kicked back, flying towards them. “It's for the both of you.”

“L- Let go of me!” Skull screeched as he was caught along with Viper.

“Skull, I'm going to throw you into so much debt-”

There was another flash, and a suck of air as the temperature dropped.

Then, two thuds and splashes.

Ietsuna considered his now-empty bag, and the two lumps of ice. “Oodako-san,” he asked the octopus with a smile like poisoned honey, “I'm going to need your help.”

The two lumps of ice-encased baby cracked once Ietsuna managed to haul himself out of the manhole with Oodako's help. They shattered, and then an adult-sized boot with chains hanging off of it popped out of Skull's prison. More moans of fatigue, and a hooded form broke out from Viper's icy cage. Both were vaguely adult-sized, and, judging from the Pacifiers half-hanging off either their necks or wrists, were the two Arcobaleno.

“I'm me again!” Skull cheered. “Well, temporarily, but yes!”

Viper studied her form. “...I take it back. Fortune does favour idiots.”

“Hey! Who’re you calling an idiot?” The two Arcobaleno would have bickered incessantly, if not for a hand that clapped upon each of their skulls, still frozen over.

“I don't know what's going on, but if you're planning to use me, the courtesy would be to inform me as to what's going on. Now,” Ietsuna knelt, still keeping a grip on their heads, “shall we negotiate?”

Kusakabe would never admit it, but he was trembling in his shoes when Tsuna presented the forms necessary for a leave of absence from school, and also announce that the Sawada twins were temporarily leaving the Disciplinary Committee.

“Sorry, Hibari-san,” Tsuna smiled across the desk at the thunderous-looking chairman, the miasma of rage sweeping over him like he was threatened on a daily basis by killing intent. “I knew you'd be angry. So, I brought you a hamburger steak!”

“Why are you telling me this?” Hibari demanded. Or pouted, if Kusakabe's radar was finely tuned enough to the moods of the chairman.

“Well... I admire Hibari-san,” Tsuna's sunny smile was like a balm, its effect immediately washing off some of the chairman's irritation. “But, it looks like Ie and I would be dragged into activities that would disrupt the peace of Namimori, so Ie told me to take leave. As a member of the Disciplinary Committee, my body and soul are devoted to Hibari-san, so I don't want to disparage the Committee's reputation. Please, take this meat as compensation.”

Hibari's eyes sharpened on the dark blue skirt, black tights, and the bright red bow of Namimori Middle School's female winter uniform under the black gakuran jacket that the chairman had bestowed onto Tsuna. There was a spark of... something unidentifiable, because Kusakabe had never seen that expression before. It was softer than bloodlust, more stubborn than will, and much more than simple irritation on Hibari's part, like some eternal flame that was there, an enchanted light that was kept aloft in the every gesture of the skylark.

“Make sure you return with another hamburger steak, Sawada Tsunayoshi,” Hibari finally bit out. “You are mine. If you fail, I will hunt you down and bite you to death.”

Tsuna smiled, as if there was another non-verbal message under all of that posturing and being threatened – and maybe there was. He started taking off the gakuran jacket. “I... also think of Hibari-san as part of myself. I'll definitely come back.”

Kusakabe discreetly wiped away a tear at the scene before him. How is it that the chairman and the general affairs manager get that almost-married vibe between them every time they spoke for more than a minute? They could not have been more than seven years old – nine in the Chairman's case – at their first meeting.

Kusakabe had been serving the Committee for four years, and sometimes he wondered if the chairman himself knew how much he let Sawada Tsunayoshi get away with. That sort of conversation, for example. It was like an understanding; the kind that comes from truly knowing a person, knowing their virtues and vices and loving them anyway, enduring and overcoming challenges together, it takes years-

“See you around, Kusakabe-san! Hiie, Hibari-san, it hurts!”

Oh, Kusakabe realised when Tsuna was wrapped in the black jacket and promptly thrown out with the threat to return the jacket intact by an eerily silent chairman. Tsuna's admiration of the chairman shone like the sun, so Kusakabe had never seen the burning torch until now.

“I shouldn't have mentioned that Yankee...” Tsuna sighed later as Gokudera and Yamamoto ran out to find tutors, having somehow received the Rings of Storm and Rain as well. Somehow, the weather motif was repeating itself, with the extremely sunny Ryohei yelling about training.

“Erm, Sasagawa-sempai-”

“Call me Onii-chan, Sawada Tsuna!” Ryohei bellowed. “I've heard everything about what happened yesterday, what happens in ten days, and the Rings. You extremely need my help now, just like I needed your help with Kyoko last time!”

“Erm, do you understand-”

“I've forgotten everything except that you need me, though!”

“Σ(゜д゜;)...” Tsuna turned to Reborn. “Why him? Sasagawa-san would be sad!”

“He has a very important role in the Family,” Reborn explained, glad that Tsuna did not own a cellphone. He had an assassination to perform on Ietsuna.

“Leave it to me to the extreme!!!!!”

“He certainly is sunny...” Tsuna sidestepped an attack from behind, Colonello flying to kick the wall and missing his head. “Why is Colonello here?”

“Your dodging skill is really top-class, hey!” Colonello commented as he landed back onto his feet. “Reborn came crying to me, so...”

“I didn't cry.”

Tsuna just sighed as the two baby hitmen commenced a head-butting contest in the entrance hall of Nakayama Surgical Hospital, where he had been visiting after dropping off Hibari's bribe. “Please don't do that! Explain properly, what's going on?”

“We don't have enough time for me to train everyone,” Reborn elaborated, still in his Pao Pao disguise.

“So we're going to be exclusive home tutors, hey!” Colonello added.

“For each person with a Ring,” Reborn added.

“Home tutors...” Tsuna echoed as Colonello poked Ryohei with the muzzle of his rifle.

“Interesting!” Colonello commented to Ryohei. “If you can keep up with my training for ten days, you'll be way stronger than the others, hey! But it's gonna be tough. Do you accept, hey?”

“Obviously!” Ryohei tied on the green bandanna Colonello handed him. “I won't lose!”

“Are they going to be alright?” Tsuna stared as Ryohei ran out, trailing behind a Colonello flying with the help of his animal partner Falco.

“Colonello's taken care of thousands of students,” Reborn assured. “And Ryohei's made him excited. If things go well, he'll come back several times stronger.”

“I'm going to go tutor as well,” Dino added. “Because of the alliance's position, I can't do a thing besides train those with a Ring.”

“I... see...” Tsuna sniffed.

“Sorry, Tsuna,” Dino himself looked close to tears. “This is all I can do for now.”

“I was... counting on you...” Tsuna blinked as Dino fell down. “Eh?”

“Idiot Dino, pull yourself together!” Reborn snapped. “Why do you keep fainting when you see Tsuna in female clothing?”

“Oh, it's my fault...” Tsuna pouted. “Sorry, Dino-sempai.”

“(゜◇゜)...” Dino slapped his face. “No, it's my fault. I have a problem child to train... I should... get... immunity...”

“I should shove you in a dress, idiot Dino,” That word, shove, sounded filthy coming from an infant. “It can't be helped. Sorry, Tsuna.”

“Huh? Oi!” Tsuna yelped as Reborn grabbed the front of his skirt and flipped it up. “Reborn!”

Dino fainted again. “Boss!” Romario yelped, running towards Dino. “Please pull yourself together!”

“...Tsuna, it's not sexy to wear shorts,” Reborn looked disappointed, for some reason.

“No!” Tsuna yelled back. “I need to be able to fight!”

“If you're doing something, do it with your dying will,” Reborn sternly lectured. “At least do some fan-service.”

“You're totally insensitive! Girls don't want to be sexually harassed each time they wear a skirt, you know!” Tsuna retorted. “I wear girls' clothing for confidence!”

“He's right, Reborn-san,” Romario nodded, cradling his unconscious Boss. “Boss, please wake up...”

“If you can argue with me, then that means that you're prepared to train,” Reborn retorted as Leon transformed into a gun. With his other hand, he tossed to Tsuna a set of exercise clothes that he'd asked Nana to prepare beforehand. “You get five minutes to change. We have physically intensive training to do.”

“Really, Reborn! Pervert...” Tsuna looked mutinous, and his face was ashen as he stared at the Ring, but he did as asked, walking away to find a washroom before Dino managed to stagger to his feet.

“I...” Dino put his face into his hands. “Reborn, I...”

“What?”

“I think I like Tsuna way too much,” Dino mumbled. “You know, when we first met... I really thought Tsuna was a girl. And then no, he's a boy. So why am I feeling like this? I... he's attractive as both a boy and a girl, I'm terrified-”

“Go and train Hibari, you idiot,” Reborn gave the Chiavarone Boss a kick in the head for good measure as Tsuna came back out. “Tsuna... this is your exercise wear?”

“I've... fought in girls' clothing before...” This time in exercise clothes and the skirt, and fidgeted under their heated stares. “I... can probably fight better like this, since Hibari-san made me practise with Ie under his supervision... Dino-sempai? You're drooling.”

“I... If it's you it's OK!” Dino burst into tears and ran. “I'm going to train that problem child as if I'm going to die, Tsuna! So please, always stay this cute!”

“Eh?! Dino-sempai?!” Tsuna shouted as Dino ran off with Romario. “What's with him...?”

“It's your turn,” Reborn pointed the Leon-gun.

“NOOOOO!!! REBORN!!!”

1 The Japanese asset price bubble ( バブル景気 baburu keiki?, lit. "bubble economy") was an economic bubble in Japan from 1986 to 1991 in which real estate and stock market prices were greatly inflated. The bursting of the Japanese asset price bubble contributed to what many call the Lost Decade.

Chapter Text

“K- Kusakabe-san!”

“Yes?” the Disciplinary vice-chair tentatively asked.

“T- The chairman has turned demonic!” the other Regent-style Disciplinary member, Tanaka, whimpered.

“Oh, that's because Sawada-san came in to do paperwork,” Kusakabe's calm façade was betrayed by his shaking hands. “About... his leave of absence... and... that he's out of the Disciplinary Committee for however long it takes to resolve it...”

“So two officers are out of the Disciplinary Committee?!” Tanaka lamented. “Chairman looked like he was eyeing that hamburger steak in front of him...”

“That's Sawada's peace offering,” Kusakabe sighed. “Don't worry, the chairman will get over it. I just hope one peace offering is enough, otherwise...”

“O- Otherwise...?”

“Well... we're we’ll all bitten to death,” Kusakabe admitted, eyes darting to the ceiling. “At least that foreigner looks strong enough to hold off Kyo-san off for a while...”

Up on the rooftop of Namimori Middle School, Dino barely dodged another tonfa strike. “This brat... did he level up or something?”

“That cleaner fish, leaving me out of a fight...” Hibari glared at Dino, even though it was clear that his mind was elsewhere. “...I will bite him to death...”

“He's totally in his own little world...!” Dino narrowed his eyes. “Oi, can you afford to wander-?! What are you doing?”

For Hibari had sat down on the rooftop floor, and opened a bento box. Dino's mouth watered with the heavenly aroma of braised beef and chicken and demi-glacé sauce. “Is that...? T- T- Tsuna's cooking...”

“...Hn.”

The little troll was laughing at him, Dino was sure, even as Romario handed him a pre-prepared sandwich. The bacon, lettuce and tomato combo seemed to pale in comparison to Tsuna's food. “W- Why did Tsuna give you food anyway?!”

“He is my cleaner fish,” was the simple reply.

“...err...” Dino mumbled around the sandwich, and swallowed. “So...”

“He cleans, cooks, sorts out the paperwork, and does the laundry in exchange for payment and protection,” Hibari tersely summed up the entire slate of duties. “The old carnivore and mother carnivore claims that he would make a perfect mate.”

Mate... mate... mate...

“OVER MY DEAD BODY!!!” Dino bit through his BLT sandwich in one mighty chomp, aura burning. “I'm going to beat you to a pulp!”

Overhead, Reborn flew past them on a helicopter-Leon, headed towards Shimon Town to relief the lookout and perform the necessary assassination before beginning on Tsuna's training. It was rare, after all, for another assassin who used Dying Will Bullets to be in town, and Xanxus's position was already precarious. Perhaps the death of a twin to Mafia-related causes would be a huge motivation for Tsuna... it was the best thing to hope for.

Reborn, Iemitsu, Timoteo… They had all lived long enough to know that in the Mafia world, there was no room for miracles. And... it was best, if Tsuna never knew what he had done to his own twin brother, to subject his twin to such a horrific bodily resurrection, even if it was... it was...

Reborn had stubbornly ignored the raging conflict he’d glimpsed in Nono’s eyes. He's glossed over the hesitation in those old eyes, quickly covered up by his external advisor’s harsh command to destroy Il Magnifico, who had taken residence within his grandson’s dead body. What if it was the Magnificent himself? What about it? Fate had cursed the Arcobaleno into this form... fate had killed Lorenzo, no, Sawada Ietsuna the Senior. His time was over, and yet he'd snatched this second chance...

Reborn had continued to fire Dying Will bullets at Sawada Ietsuna, whose only crime was protecting the brother that had given him the miracle of rebirth. That identical face that kept snarling, that shifted from calm to slightly irritated to only the back of his head, and Reborn could not differentiate them, neither the one fated to be Boss nor the one fated to die. What kind of hitman was this?

Sawada Ietsuna, though, had somehow escaped, and Reborn only had very little time to search for him. There was no doubt; rather, there was no longer any room for doubt. There could not be, for Reborn was the world's greatest hitman.

No one got second chances that easily. No one. Not even Reborn.

They had to stick to the canals, since Oodako was still an octopus who used gills to breathe, and no one wanted to take a sewer trip in the darkness. Fantasma rode on Ietsuna's shoulder, unwilling to touch any extremes on his body.

It had been scant minutes since Reborn's attempted assassination, and they were still jumpy even as they stopped by a public pavilion. Surrounded by a copse of bamboo, it was a veritable Zen garden at night, with the last crickets chirping before the winter cold would set in. A wind blew past, and the two Arcobaleno shivered slightly.

“Hello, Kaa-san?” Ietsuna spoke into his phone. “I'm not going to be able to make it back until tomorrow, the last bus was disrupted. I'm going to stay over tonight. Sure, I'll do that. Yes, see you tomorrow.”

“Why did you tell your mother that?” Mammon demanded.

“Well, this is new and strange to me, so I need to observe you guys,” Ietsuna pointed out. “Reborn is also out to kill me, so I need you for a bit. So, you guys gonna tell me about the Arcobaleno curse?”

“It'll cost you,” Viper threatened.

“Then how much will transforming you be?” Ietsuna chirped, smiling slightly when Viper growled. “Like I said, I need you. But, right now, you also need me. I'm supposing it's something to do with this curse. Whatever that is.”

“Y- Yes!” Skull chipped in. “The Arcobaleno is a group made up of World's Strongest "I Prescelti Sette" of an era, who each possess a Pacifier that represent the different colours of the rainbow! That man in the iron hat used this Curse of the Rainbow, and turned us from adults into babies at The Fated Day, for the purpose of harnessing the power of the Tri-Ni-Sette, which supports all life on the planet Earth!”

“You really like run-on sentences, Skull,” Ietsuna commented. “So, there's a guy in the iron hat, who made a curse that binds you guys into infants, for the purpose of protecting magical pacifiers. Only by freezing you guys can you escape it temporarily to become adults. What's Tri-Ni-Sette?”

“The Tri-Ni-Sette are three sets of seven treasures: the Vongola Rings, the Mare Rings, and the seven Arcobaleno Pacifiers,” Viper added. “The man in the iron hat said that the Tri-Ni-Sette is a device that guides the growth and development of life on Earth, while maintaining a balance of its life force. They said that each element of the Tri-Ni-Sette has its own individual and unique power over time, space, and to exist as points in space and time.”

“It's like spooky action in physics,” Ietsuna commented, pulling out a piece of paper from his jacket pocket. “So... seven, and seven, and seven, each over time, space, light. The rainbow is the visible spectrum according to the Sophist view, that's why Newton chose seven colours.”

“At least he's intelligent enough,” Viper told Skull.

“I haven't introduced myself,” Ietsuna rubbed his forehead. “Sorry. I'm Sawada Ietsuna, one of the twin heirs of the Vongola Family. Sorry for freezing you.”

“It's alright- Vongola?!” Skull's demur turned into a screech. “You're heir to the Vongola?!”

“Vongola?” Viper sat up. “Twins?!”

“Not by choice,” Ietsuna complained. “One day Reborn showed up, tricked his way in, and basically announced that we were the heirs of the Vongola Family. Then, because the Dying Will Bullet doesn't work on me, my twin got earmarked as the heir. We didn't even want it!”

“Then, that ice... is the Zero Point Breakthrough!” Viper caught on in panic. “You were really trying to kill us?!”

“He survived,” Ietsuna pointed to Skull. “I froze him in Mafia Land as well. I realised that this ice does something against Dying Will Flames, so...”

“The Zero Point Breakthrough turns Dying Will Flames into ice,” Viper explained. “The ice created by this technique cannot be melted using ordinary means, as any energy that comes in contact with it gets turned into negative energy. It can only be melted using Dying Will Flames.”

“So, you guys broke out using Dying Will Flames?” Ietsuna asked. “But aren't you tired? And how did you turn back into an adult? It's like Dying Will Flames were involved in turning you into infants to start with...”

He looked to the shocked faces of his companions. “Yes?”

“I- I never thought about it like that...” Viper looked almost ashamed.

“Neither did I...” Skull admitted.

“You have an excuse,” Viper retorted. “You're an idiot to begin with. Go on, Sawada.”

“Ietsuna is fine, Viper-san,” Ietsuna demurred.

“Call me Mammon, then,” Viper, or Mammon, retorted. “This... curse... no, calling it a curse distracts us from this point of view. What would you call it?”

“It’s… a computer program?” Ietsuna suggested. “Like you said, the Tri-Ni-Sette is, quote, 'a device that guides the growth and development of life on Earth, while maintaining a balance of its life force'. Like a giant computer. Which element controls space and time again?”

“The Mare and Vongola Rings,” Mammon chipped in, leaning forward to study the Minkowski spacetime diagram Ietsuna was sketching.

“Then, if we define those two sets as separate clients, you Arcobaleno must be the servers running on dedicated hardware,” Ietsuna suggested. “As the World's Strongest Seven in several different fields, few could beat you individually or in a group. You can cover each other’s weaknesses. You guys are perfect as dedicated hardware. Of course, that would mean that those Pacifiers are running their own algorithms to maintain the Tri-Ni-Sette, and power in the form of Dying Will Flames are taken from the hosts; that is, you guys, who are turned into babies for some reason. In that case, freezing via the Zero Point Breakthrough stops the processing and returns the Dying Will Flames to their original owner, which creates a temporary break.”

“It's like restarting a computer, and the baby programme kicks in only after all the start-up functions have completed their course, like a virus,” Ietsuna hypothesised to complete silence. “Probably.”

“We need Verde,” Mammon immediately concluded. “If we can figure out the mechanism of the curse, we'll be one step closer to solving it.”

“Another Arcobaleno, Mammon-san?” Ietsuna asked.

“He's the smartest Arcobaleno,” Skull told him. “Verde-sempai is called Da Vinci's reincarnation! Except he doesn't draw.”

“Hmm,” Ietsuna frowned at the Minkowski spacetime diagram he'd sketched out. “I see.”

“What about Reborn-sempai?” Skull finally asked the most relevant question. “If he kills you, we'll lose our best lead. Should we-”

“No.” Ietsuna snapped. “We don't involve Reborn into this. That would endanger Tsuna.”

“My boss is head of the Varia,” Mammon offered. “If you swear loyalty to him and help him overthrow the Vongola Tenth Generation, I can intercede on your behalf.”

“What about my twin brother?” Ietsuna asked.

“Your brother is the Vongola's so-called Tenth,” Mammon pointed out. “Xanxus won't let him live.”

“Then no, thanks,” Ietsuna refused.

“You're our only lead to breaking the curse,” Mammon replied. “Unless your twin brother holds another clue to breaking your powers, we don't have any incentive to help out.”

“...fine,” Ietsuna sighed. “Nine months ago, we fought Rokudo Mukuro. During that fight, Rokudo Mukuro tried to possess me, but failed. He called me a walking corpse, sustained only by my brother since birth.”

“...Twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome[1] could be a cause of death or a contributing factor,” Mammon offered stoically.

“Y- Y- You're a walking corpse?!” Skull clutched Ietsuna's hand. “Then you're hated by the Grim Reaper like me! I have a friend!”

“If that was true,” Ietsuna continued, “then that means that Tsuna’s Flames have been supporting me all our lives. Like the Gemini in mythology. Pollux chose his brother over immortality...”

“That kind of miracle is crap,” Mammon dismissed. “Though it might be true, and would account for the extremes of Flame needed to, as you say, restart the computer, that kind of miracle doesn't exist.”

“B- But, Viper!” Skull eagerly leapt onto the pavilion table despite his current adult frame. “We're adults now! Isn't this a miracle as well?!”

“Resurrection of the dead is impossible as I understand it, and it's Mammon now,” Mammon snapped back. “Especially one born out of something like brotherly love. Your brotherly love can't save you from a bullet, or a blade, or death!”

“It's not stupid!”

“Then prove it,” Mammon retorted. “Where is this brotherly love?”

Ietsuna fumbled, producing the fateful gun that had been in the laundry room about nine years ago. Mammon and Skull tensed, but Ietsuna calmly put the muzzle to his temple.

“I will always choose Tsuna,” was his simple reply, before he pulled the trigger.

Tsuna had been asleep, and then he was awake. His bedclothes tangled around his legs, cold sweat clammy under his pyjamas and around the chain on his neck.

“Bad dream?” was Reborn's comment.

“S- Something like that,” Tsuna panted, listening to the palpitations of his heart. “I... I guess I had a nightmare. I thought... Ie was holding a gun to his head...”

Reborn stiffened, not that Tsuna could perceive it in the dimness of the room. “Why?”

“Why? He... does that sometimes,” Tsuna uneasily recounted. “I always tell him, you'll shoot yourself one day, and he always replies that... that I'll save him from it. He's crazy and reckless and... he always cares for me so much, that I'm terrified for him, because he nearly goes overboard. I don't want to contemplate what he'd do without me.”

Reborn recalled the little recounts of bullies and their slightly abnormal comeuppance, and watched Tsuna wipe tears away from glowing gold eyes. He was already prepared to settle back down, about to toss an absent threat-

Glowing eyes.

Reborn's head turned so fast as to almost give him whiplash, but Tsuna was already dropping back to sleep.

Tomorrow, Reborn promised himself, prepared for an uneasy night of listening, and waiting for Ietsuna's retaliation. Tomorrow, figure out what the hell is up with the twins. If Rokudo's idea had merit, then Tsuna had defied fate to- then what had the Arcobaleno curse been, if not the fate that Luce foretold? There was no point; if fate was so easy to defy, then Luce had- had betrayed-

It did not bear thinking about, Reborn decided as the sun rose, weak light streaming in after a fairly sleepless night. He was the world's greatest hitman. He would do this right.

“The young Vongola is extremely fetching in a skirt,” Mukuro reflected in the light of the blood moon overhead, fondling his trishula. “Much like Mohini. I would not mind getting to know him better.[2]”

Alouette's expression was morphing into an are-you-serious look. Behind them, the mansion rented by the Varia burnt, its occupants having deemed it untenable within the territory of the Hibari family.

“Oi!” Ken complained, carrying an old man piggyback. “Why am I carrying him? I did most of the work!”

“Shut up, Ken,” Mukuro mused, his eyes never leaving the old man. “I would have trembled in fear at the depths that his ambitions would go, but he was thwarted by you, you vengeful witch.”

“Be quiet, Mukuro-kun,” Alouette shot back. “You're clearly bored if you have time to look through my library, so tomorrow you will be serving on the reception counter. And no, you cannot refuse.”

“I hate you, and your grandson who lives far away from you, hag.”

“Our family needs space,” Alouette corrected. “My daughter occupies Hong Kong to get that space. My grandson controls all of Namimori for that space. But I... I held Sardinia as my space at the height of my power. Clearly, age has caught up to me.”

“Old, and still a fearsome monster you are,” Mukuro noted, eyeing the Vongola Ninth that Ken was carrying. “I would possess the old man, but he is not to my tastes, and his reign might be even shortened like this. It is also not in my interests currently to bite the hand that feeds me.”

“Good conclusion,” Alouette retorted. “Now, tell your guard dog to get him to hospital. It's in no one's interest that Timoteo dies.”

“Kozato-san, sorry for dropping in so suddenly, but the last bus was held up. Oh, these are my friends, Skull and Mammon. Could we stay here tonight? We won't be a bother- good evening, Mrs Kozato. Yo, Enma.”

Enma Kozato promptly blushed. “I- Ietsuna-san! P- Please, come in!”

Ietsuna's smile was still Tsuna's smile, since they were identical twins. And since that time Ietsuna had stormed in by accident and saved all their lives, perhaps the Shimon heir had a small hero-worship thing going on. It was perfectly natural. Really.

Ietsuna steadfastly ignored any indications to the contrary, especially when he was led to an en-suite spare bedroom by the red-haired Mrs Kozato and Enma.

After a few deferments for dinner, and comments about the transport system nowadays, they proceeded to leave him, alone with the unusually taciturn Skull and Mammon. Predictably, Skull broke the silence first. He did it, by walking to the attached bathroom, turning the shower on, and then bursting into tears, shattering the tension with his blubbering.

“...your point,” Mammon stated over the rushing water and the bawling, her hand reaching out from under her cape to showed her clenched fist.

“…Has been noted.” The fingers unfolded, showing the bloody bullet in her palm. The blood was Ietsuna’s from having blown his skull open.

“T- They...” Skull sniffed. “Mammon...”

“Yeah,” the Esper answered. “Your twin brother performed a miracle as a newborn by resurrecting you. He did so not out of greed, or power, or cold, irrefutable logic, but out of love for his twin. That protection endures like this… I- I can’t believe it. I can’t even make money off of it. That such a monster exists... your twin brother must be the only thing that could ever hold you back.”

“Yes,” Ietsuna answered without hesitation. “I shot myself by accident when I was six, with that same gun just now. My idiot father hid it in the laundry room where anyone could get at it.”

“If you knew that, why did you run from Reborn?” was Mammon’s next question. “You’re effectively unkillable.”

“Reborn was using Dying Will Bullets,” was Ietsuna’s reply. “A lot of them. They hurt.”

“I see.”

“W- What?” Skull had taken off his helmet, wiping his tears.

“The Dying Will Flames are probably the only way he can get sensory input, Skull. Verde would have more information, but for now...” Mammon’s frame shook. “It is enough to be acknowledged as a miracle. I...”

“...” Ietsuna turned away as Skull’s bawling lessened, eyeing Mammon's shaking hand. “Do you want to shower first, Mammon-san?”

The bullet dropped. Mammon charged in, Fantasma trailing after her, and the door slammed shut. Immediately, there was a sound of rushing water, to cover any activities there might have been performed within. Sighing, Ietsuna stooped to pick it up.

“I think she's crying,” Skull told him.

“How do you know?”

“I feel like crying too,” was the cryptic reply. “Did you really have to shoot yourself?”

“She asked me to prove it,” Ietsuna answered. “I knew that I would survive. It was ample proof.”

“I- you- doesn't it hurt?!” Skull asked.

“Not at all.” Ietsuna shook his head. “Rokudo Mukuro said that my central nervous system failed. I have no idea how I am still alive.”

“You... grew up like this?” Skull was riveted. “If your brother knew this... I think he'd be sad for you. Do you... hate your brother? For giving you this half-life...”

“I am fortunate to even have a chance at growing up,” Ietsuna stated with utmost conviction. “In that sense alone, I can never hate Tsuna, because he gave me this chance.”

“But this is a terrible life!” Skull retorted.

“I can see, think, listen, speak, write, draw, paint, and express myself,” Ietsuna reasoned. “It is not a complete life, but it is better than the alternative. I cannot miss what I never had, and I can appreciate that Tsuna went against fate for me. Every day of my life is a gift, and proof that miracles do happen.”

The water-sound stopped, and Mammon exited it. “You can use it now,” her voice sounded hoarse. “I'll... keep watch. With Skull.”

“If you say so…” Ietsuna looked doubtful, but walked into the bathroom and closed the door.

As soon as the shower started again, Mammon rounded on to Skull. The two of them exchanged long stares, and then looked to the closed door.

“He doesn’t even look like having a bullet in the brain affects him,” Mammon shook her head. “He’s even more unkillable than you, Skull.”

“Noted,” the Arcobaleno replied. “But, Mammon, Reborn-sempai… wouldn’t Reborn-sempai hold back? I mean, this is our big chance!”

“If Reborn is trying to kill him, that means the Ninth or someone high-up in the Vongola ordered it,” Mammon reflected. “Twins… they must be trying to present a consolidated front for the Varia. S- Since the walking corpse’s twin is keeping him alive, the twin probably doesn’t know anything.”

“Well, we gotta find Verde first, right?” Skull’s hands clenched. “I… want to stay as an adult some more, Mammon. I feel bad for the kid too. He can’t feel anything.”

“I once made a study on Dying Will Flames with Verde,” Mammon elaborated. “Why different Flames had different colours. We used the seven colours we knew to study them. The Dying Will Flames of the Sky, the orange Flames, hold the property of harmonisation. In this case... I don't know. I don't know what we're missing here, but...”

“…can’t miss what you don’t have,” Skull pondered. “Is he… like us?”

“…I can’t tell,” Mammon replied. “Skull, you need to leave town and find Verde. I need to stay with the Varia in town… because I’m paid to.”

The shower stopped, and there was a brief clanging. Ietsuna walked out, steam trailing behind him as he dried his hair, wearing his clothes again.

A brief knock sounded. “Erm… Ietsuna-san?” Enma’s muffled voice drifted in. “I found some spare clothes… if you would…”

“Thanks, Enma,” Ietsuna opened the door to accept them gratefully from the redhead. “Sorry for troubling you.”

“N- Not at all! Ietsuna-san isn’t around often, and this is the least we could do,” Enma smiled, and it was surrounded by sparkles somehow. “D- Dad said that you came to deliver a painting when I was… at school… I’ll take your clothes to wash and dry, s- so, please change!”

“…Enma, I need to change first.” Ietsuna's delivery was kind, if slightly awkward. “I need to close the door now.”

“Sorry!” the Kozato son fled, allowing Ietsuna to close the door.

“You're lucky, Ietsuna…” Skull muttered.

“About what?” Ietsuna sighed. “I wish the boy would grow a spine already. Anyway, did you guys talk? We need a plan.”

A plan of action was decided upon: Skull would leave to locate Verde and tell him about the circumstances. Mammon would go back to the Varia and wait. Ietsuna was to return to Namimori and wait for Verde's agents to find him, keeping tabs with Mammon. All of them exchanged cellphone numbers.

“We can’t team up with Xanxus,” Mammon analysed. “He’s too obsessed with the Vongola throne, he’ll kill you first. So, we need to keep this under wraps. Do you have a way to get your non-combatants out of Namimori?”

“...you could help me set the house on fire,” Ietsuna flippantly suggested. “But Bianchi is there… with Reborn…”

“The main priority is to secure you from-” Mammon stopped as a phone vibrated. “Please excuse me.”

She walked to the window, separated from the other two men by the pile of futons, and pulled out her phone. “Yes. What? It’s my day off. You aren’t paying- She followed Squalo? The Mauviette? You mean, the former CEDEF head, the Cloud Guardian Ottava? That Mauviette? Right… I’m still on surveillance. I’ll come back first chance I get.”

She hung up. “Change of plans. The Varia appeared to have run afoul of Alouette Lei and her posse. She stormed the Varia safe house with Hong Kong’s lone sentinel, to have revenge on Squalo allegedly breaking her walking stick with his head. The Gola Mosca prototype was trashed in the struggle, and thus a different approach is needed. I have been commanded to regroup with the Varia tomorrow.”

“That sounds like her,” Ietsuna nodded.

“You know of her?” Mammon demanded.

“Erm… she’s my teacher.”

A long pause of awkward echoed.

“We can’t do anything right now,” Mammon decided.

“…right.” Ietsuna nodded. “So we’ll make nice, and I’ll introduce the Kozato family to you guys before we turn in.”

Mammon’s hands were still shaking, though Skull patted one before taking his own futon aside for a discrete check, and then the two Arcobaleno would sally out and put their best nice face on with civilians who really were too nice to give them a temporary place to sleep.

Then it would be followed by an uneasy night, especially like this one; witnessing the brown-haired boy sleeping by the door get up after putting a bullet into his own brain would be a shocker for anyone. Skull would wake up shaking, to find Mammon by the window.

“Morning!” Skull grinned.

“…morning,” Mammon turned away. With the dawn, there was a harsh squawk of birds around, possibly from the trees about the property.

“’Wilt thou be gone? It is not yet near day’,” Mammon quoted. “’It was the nightingale, and not the lark, that pierc'd the fearful hollow of thine ear.’”

“… ’Nightly she sings on yond pomegranate tree,’” Skull finished quietly after her. “’Believe me love, it was the nightingale.’[3] It's... it's a lark, Mammon.”

“...yes, Skull,” Mammon agreed. “It's a lark. It's a terrible way to wake up.”

The Cloud and Mist watched the sun rise, the blue of night given and cleaved by orange arrows, and with it, their bodies changed back into babies. Skull put on his helmet immediately after, and Mammon covered her face with her hood. Neither was weak enough to admit it; the sentiment of wishing that, for a transitory enchanted moment, it would last.

“It's more than six hours,” Skull spoke at last. “Do you think... that... sunlight...”

Mammon smiled. “Perhaps. Perhaps we can...”

“Thank you for bringing Lambo back, Irie-san,” Tsuna smiled and then closed the door, allowing the dazed Irie Shoichi to walk back mumbling about angels. “Lambo, please don’t wander off!”

“But I want to find Ie-nii!” Lambo protested loudly, waving a ring about. “I- I want to stay with you guys! Forever!”

“Ie will be back soon, and until then you need to protect yourself, I-Pin and Fuuta too!” Tsuna scolded. “Do you want me to tell Ie that you willingly endangered yourself? Ie would ignore you!”

“Gyupaa! To… le… rate… I can’t!”

Tsuna sighed as pink smoke billowed. “Adult Lambo.”

“Tsuna-nii!” Adult Lambo brightened. “Happy belated birthday. Is Master here?”

“Thanks. Ie isn’t here though,” Tsuna cautioned, watching the future Lambo wilt. “Why… do you call him Master?”

“He taught me about electricity and magnetism,” Lambo stoutly replied, a dreamy look on his face. “I… I wanted to protect people, but Ie-nii… Master was the only one who tried to teach me how. He didn’t just accept my feelings… he gave me the weapons to make it come true.”

Tsuna gave a hollow chuckle. Ietsuna was still the type of person to give weapons to children, in the belief of it being educational. The lessons in electricity had probably derived many valuable, painful lessons for Lambo. But Lambo sounded so grateful for it... maybe, Tsuna hoped, Ie mellowed out in the future. Maybe the teaching was for schoolwork... maybe Ie was an artist doing his own thing. Tsuna could live with that, because it meant that his twin was alive and happy.

Adult Lambo’s eyes sharpened. “Tsuna-nii… Ie-nii is always your brother, right? No matter what?”

“Of course,” Tsuna nodded. “I… If I don’t accept the Ring, Ie will, and I don’t want to ruin his promise.”

“I… I can’t tell you anything about the future,” Adult Lambo said. “But… the present me, the troublesome child, wants to protect Master too.”

Pink smoke enveloped them, and Lambo waltzed around. “Ah! Tsuna-nii, is there something funny?”

“Yes,” Tsuna replied. “Yes, there is.”

“What?” Lambo asked.

“There’s a broccoli monster dancing around.”

“Eh? Tsuna-nii!” Lambo pouted, unwilling to fight with Tsuna ever since Ietsuna made the 'ignore Lambo if Tsuna was irritated' punishment a reality three times. Lambo had very quickly elected to irritate Gokudera alone. “Lambo-san is not broccoli monster!”

I-Pin walked in, calling him just that, and there was more chaos until Ietsuna got back. Lambo caught Ie-nii glaring at Reborn a few times, but chose not to comment. Then Ie-nii demonstrated the bending-water trick with static electricity, and Lambo was dangling ring magnets into some semblance of play before the twins left for 'training'.

Over the past few months, Reborn had anticipated that Ietsuna would be scuppering his plans everywhere. Ietsuna's influence extending to Tsuna’s first-class dodging skill, though, was a rare move. The afternoon after the assassination attempt and Ietsuna’s return saw Reborn in despair at the training ground.

“You haven’t figured it out yet, Reborn?” Ietsuna mocked as Basil fruitlessly unleashed a flurry of jabs that Tsuna danced away from. The boy with the blue Flame blushed, but kept a professional demeanour. “Maybe you shouldn’t assassinate me yet, right?”

“Assassinate- what?” Tsuna tried to turn, but in Dying Will Mode was still fixated on Basil. The fight had been abandoned in light of this revelation. “Ie?”

“Oh yes. To motivate you, Reborn planned to kill me and frame the other guy,” Ietsuna grinned. “It’s actually pretty well-thought out.”

“…” Tsuna made a gesture, sweeping Basil off his feet with nary a care. Gold and amber eyes were now fixated on Reborn, one in righteous anger, the other in vindictive glee; identical faces were united in fury and curiosity against him. The twin that could freeze him, and the twin who could roast him, were definitely pissed off.

“Reborn?” Tsuna's burning eyes made the word sound furious. “Explain.”

“It's a motivation,” Reborn plainly replied. “Ietsuna and I make a game of it-”

“You're lying.”

Damn Hyper Intuition.

True, it was an unspoken game, but the hot water trick had come very close to doing permanent injury. Sun Flames were tricky against burns. Ietsuna's increasing sabotage was also putting Tsuna's respect of him in jeopardy: first Dino's ruined introduction (although that was the Discipline Committee, and things worked out), then Rokudo Mukuro (the Bovino seriously let Lambo have that much artillery) and finally Mafia Land (freezing one of the Arcobaleno just to demonstrate that fact) was making Reborn aware that his target was making his student doubt him. Tsuna's frown was a serious indicator of the situation.

Leon transformed into the Reverse One Ton Mallet. Tsuna tensed, and Reborn managed to dash over and hit him. Basil gaped as the Dying Will Bullet clinked, and Tsuna fell down, unconscious.

Ietsuna yelled, punching the baby hitman even though he was ten metres away. Reborn ducked and rolled, Leon transforming into a gun as black flames surrounded Ietsuna.

[1]       As a result of sharing a single placenta, the blood supplies of monochorionic twin foetuses can become connected, so that they share blood circulation. The connecting blood vessels within the placenta allow blood to pass from one twin to the other.  This state of transfusion causes the donor twin to have decreased blood volume, retarding the donor's development and growth, and also decreased urinary output, leading to a lower than normal level of amniotic fluid. The blood volume of the recipient twin is increased, which can strain the foetus’s heart and eventually lead to heart failure, and also higher than normal urinary output, which can lead to excess amniotic fluid.

[2]      The trishula is the weapon of the Hindu god Shiva, coincidentally the shape of a trident.

Mohini (Devnagari:मोहिनी, Mohinī) is the only female avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu. She is portrayed as a femme fatale, an enchantress, who maddens lovers, sometimes leading them to their doom.

One Hindu myth also has Shiva falling madly in lust with Mohini, and they have a child together.

[3]      Romeo and Juliet: Act 3, scene 5.

Chapter Text

“This is troublesome.” Mammon had just returned, heading for the Varia's new safe house at the edge of Namimori only to be greeted by bare murmurs. “How bad is it?”

“Voi,” Squalo snarled at a surprisingly normal volume, several stick-shaped bruises across his face and whole chunks of silver seemingly hacked out of his hair. “Make a guess.”

“Shitty baby,” was Xanxus' opening greeting. He was holding an ice-pack to his ribs, so the insult fell a bit flat. “Where were you?”

“Shimon Town, with the local Simon Famiglia.” The best lie was always one mixed with the truth: Viper wasn’t lying, but she made no mention of Ietsuna’s presence. “Business. Don't worry, Boss, the plan didn't get leaked.”

“That plan's scrapped,” Xanxus snapped back, hands almost glowing before he relaxed, cradling a thick book in his hand. “The old bird got the old man by accident, since she fucking trounced Belphegor and the Mosca. We'll be discovered at any moment, depending on how long it takes that old bird to pick up a phone to Coyote.”

“Ushishishi, the prince does not like being plucked,” Belphegor giggled with the air of someone in so much pain that it was funny to the sufferer. Since he was also bearing bandages and his leather jacket was off, and his were prominently stained with blood, Mammon judged that Alouette Lei had used his blades against him.

“Dio mio, the old monster was so sexy in her tuxedo!” Lussuria squealed. “She even complimented my hair!”

Mammon stared at the hacked remnant of green Mohawk. “...It's an improvement.”

“But what do we do now?” Levi was, surprisingly, the first to ask. “We've lost the Ninth.”

“We've still got a few options,” Xanxus spoke out, and the Varia upper echelon fell into contemplating silence. “The old bird is retired. She's probably lacking contacts. The old man's condition means that he's got to get medical help, and this is a small area. We just raid whatever hospital they went to, and get the old man back. Kill anyone and everything in our way. Even the old bird.”

Lussuria cooed, Belphegor grinned, Squalo snorted, and Levi nodded with an affirmative.

Mammon just hummed. “That's Fon's mother. He'll probably flip out. Fighting him is not in my contract.”

Complete silence fell as the Varia contemplated that.

“...The old bird reproduced?!” Squalo echoed in disbelief. “One of the Arcobaleno is her son, and the martial fighter at that?! I guess abandoning the base was a good call...”

“Oi, the prince wants to fight the old bird again,” Belphegor declared. “My royal blood is spilled by a peasant who threatened to pluck me like some common fowl!”

“We'll need some discretion, shitty prince,” Xanxus' growl invited a beat of silence. “The Varia doesn't need bloody vendetta from one of the Arcobaleno, even if we have another on our side.”

“Fon is probably equal to Reborn and Colonello in strength if properly motivated,” Mammon mused. “Nothing in my contract talks about fighting another Arcobaleno. No sane hitman would provoke a storm like that without protection.”

“Che,” Xanxus scoffed. “It can't be helped. Levi, get the Lightning Squad to investigate the hospitals around and find the Ninth.”

“Yes, Boss!”

“Mammon, do a Thoughtography and locate the Sky Ring,” Xanxus snarled. “We'll go with the original plan.”

Shit. “The kill them all one? Right now?”

“A few days after,” Xanxus amended, rubbing the feathers by his neck. Some of them were straggled and sliced. “That old bird is probably watching out for us still. Maybe we can use Squalo to distract her.”

“VOOII!”Squalo pointed his sword. “I am not bird bait, shitty boss!”

“Damn shark, you've got to be the bait,” Xanxus snapped back. “We've got no choice after this, losing the old man like this. Forget the other heir, all of the Vongola would be after us.”

“Calm down, you two,” Lussuria dissuaded. “We still have time.”

“You pulled the old bird to us, idiot Squalo,” Belphegor sniggered. “Ushishishi, the prince is happy with this plan. After all, only Boss should get the throne.”

“Mammon,” Levi rumbled. “Did you get any information on the other heir?”

“That's right, shitty baby,” Xanxus rumbled, eyes fixated on Mammon. “Tell us. The Famiglia you were doing business with must have good gossip.”

Dammit, dammit... we have to use the plan. Xanxus istruly no ordinary man... “There are twin heirs.”

“What?” Belphegor's smile faded.

“TWO?!” Squalo yelled. “VRROOOII! That makes our job twice as troublesome!”

“Two heirs,” Xanxus repeated flatly. “That happy-go-lucky idiot must have hidden the other just in case. Anything else?”

“One is a student of the Mauviette,” Mammon reported.

“...then we have to prepare a battlefield for the both of them,” Xanxus resolved. “Find them already.”

“Yes, boss!”

“Hmm,” Mammon unfurled a roll of toilet paper from under her cloak and prepared to consider the ramifications of leading the Varia way, way off-course.

She thought for a very long while, and then thought of the simpler method suggested by Ietsuna.

“It's moving out?!” Xanxus was already well on his way to setting the place on fire at Mammon's false news.

“That means that it's being worn,” Mammon elaborated, “and it's walking around...”

“I know that! Now we gotta go after it!”

The black flame was like smoke, Reborn reflected. Smoke that shrouded the wielder in inky darkness, and only serene amber to be glimpsed within the darkness. Like some dark mirror of Tsuna, Ietsuna simply regarded them with a blank expression and a furrowed brow, the dark flames surrounding his head and hands almost sparking in the daylight, like a corona and gauntlets of the night sky.

“Reborn-dono!” Basil started, having just snapped out of his stupor. “W- What is he?”

“Sawada Ietsuna,” Reborn shuddered. “Under these circumstances, you managed to create a new element-”

“Shall we begin?”

Basil's head turned with a crack as a muffled fwip echoed. “W- When did he move-”

Ietsuna's hands closed around Basil's shoulders. “Test.”

“What-”

Darkness erupted, and then Basil was falling, eyes wide and screaming, the words were torn from his lips by the acceleration of gravity.

“No!” Reborn's shot passed as the darkness erupted, and then Tsuna's form was smothered in the same black smoke, disappearing with the dissipating vapour.

Leon shifted into a mattress, catching Basil before the CEDEF operative kissed the ground in a splatter. “A new Flame element...” Reborn mused. “Capable of teleportation? No, more like acceleration... are you recovered, Basil?”

“Yes...” Basil coughed and choked. “R- Reborn-dono... before he dropped me... he said... 'you'll do fine as a test'. What... does that mean?”

“In order to move safely, Ietsuna must have needed someone of roughly the same height and weight as Tsuna,” Reborn guessed. “You were probably a stepping stone to see if he could move while moving his brother safely.”

“I'm sorry for holding you back-”

“Get up,” Reborn ordered, waddling as Leon shifted into a remote with a screen showing two dots. “We need to go after them now.”

“Y- Yes!” Basil straightened, wincing. “But we don't know where-”

“No, we do know one thing,” Reborn's eyes were shaded. “One thing I should have realised. Ietsuna would never put Tsuna's safety at risk. We need to find which hospital he'd have brought Tsuna to.”

“Erm, Nakayama Surgical Hospital is the closest-”

“Distance means nothing to him now,” Reborn scolded. “We're going to Namimori Central Hospital.”

Further down Death Mountain, Gokudera flung a stick of dynamite and looked back. “Hmm?”

“Oi, don’t slack off!” Propped on a nearby overhang, Shamal scolded. “I finally agreed to teach you after all!”

“S- Shut up!” Gokudera snorted. “I just felt... the Tenth might be in danger...”

“Oi, did you forget the reason why I agreed to train you?” Shamal scolded.

“I... I asked you to help me see the next year,” Gokudera admitted. “It's selfish... but I want the Tenth's home-made birthday cake next year as well.”

“Dammit, if only the young Vongola was a girl... and now he's alone with Reborn the womaniser...” Shamal paused, and then slammed his head on the overhang. “Get- these- thoughts- out!!! Women are the best!”

“Geh, Shamal, don't get blood on the paper! You'll throw off the aerodynamic shape!”

A fwip of black smoke signalled Ietsuna's silent arrival and departure, only to reappear several metres forward in the same moment, still carrying Tsuna over his shoulder. “What the hell is that Shamal doing... I seriously want to move faster, but I don't even know if I have the energy to do that per jump without Tsuna losing parts, and I don't want to teleport into a tree...”

Leaves rustled as he passed another tree branch, just blinking from one point to the next. “So this is Hyper Intuition... if I use this alone, I can only teleport as far as I can see. But, this Flame... it only appears when Tsuna is asleep or unconscious...”

A final fwip left the twins close to civilisation, Ietsuna's rubber-soled shoes skidding onto asphalt with a violent skid, but the way he handled the body in his arms was only infinitely gentle. “One jump... please...”

Fwip. A trail of black smoke erupted.

Outside of Namimori Central Hospital, Alouette Lei got the shock of her life as the Sawada twins dropped out of thin air. “Merde!”

“Tsuna,” Ietsuna spat out. “Got knocked out... Reborn.”

Alouette took in the black smoke, the earnestness of one Sawada twin, and the closed eyes of the other. “I'll take care of him. You get them away.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

“De rien,¹” Alouette stated. “I picked up a Vongola Boss last night on a... house visit. Pour la pendaison de crémaillère, tu sais?²”

“R- Reborn... tried to kill me.” Ietsuna rasped, setting Tsuna down. “What party?”

Alouette did not reply as she took one of Tsuna's arms over her shoulders. “...c'est imprévu.³”

“S'il vous plaît, aidez-lui,⁴” Ietsuna rasped.

“Mais oui, mon élève,” Alouette smirked. “Hein, vas-y.”⁵

Ietsuna disappeared in a fwip and a puff of smoke.

“Très intéressant, cette flamme noire...” Alouette reflected as she carried Tsuna into the A&E department. “...Mais ça sera très tragique.”⁶

Reborn was right; Ietsuna had been headed to Namimori Central Hospital. What he had missed, however, was that Ietsuna would come after them after dropping Tsuna off. Basil put up a fair fight, but the CEDEF boy had never fought a being like Ietsuna, and the unconscious agent left on the concrete ground was proof of it.

“Why?” was the quiet rasp that greeted Reborn within the silence of broad daylight, over the roofs of Namimori. A passing autumn breeze brought the coming winter's chill to them.

Reborn pointed his gun. “Why did I aim to kill you?”

“No. You always aimed to kill me. Why now.”

“You don't need to know.” Reborn's finger tightened. “Why shouldn't I shoot you now?”

“Indeed,” was the agreement. “It seems, that you no longer have anything left to lose by shooting me.”

“Aren't you afraid of death?” Reborn asked.

“I am afraid,” said Ietsuna, “of leaving Tsuna alone.”

“What are you?” Reborn tried another tack.

“I am Sawada Ietsuna. Sawada Tsunayoshi is my twin. We are what we are.”

“That is not what I meant.”

“But that is what I can answer,” Ietsuna's rhetoric brought a grimace to Reborn's cherubic expression. They were twins, and by that fact alone each other's best ally and worst enemy. And Ietsuna had this ability... Reborn found it new and terrifying, and he did not like it. It looked like Ietsuna would have no compunctions about leaving the Vongola to burn, if it meant that Tsuna would no longer have to take the mantle of Tenth. Ietsuna was the Vongola's worst threat; families had been torn apart for less, and the Vongola had a lot to lose if one of Primo's descendants got out of control. This boy, barely into puberty, was already challenging their fates, and Reborn hated that foolhardy courage was hated as much as Tsuna's kindness was admired.

“So... you are the enemy,” was Reborn's conclusion. Though, Reborn had to give him props for trying to do right by his brother, even to being willing to blow all of Reborn's plans to shelter Tsuna and integrate the twins into the Mafia world out of the water.

“If you're out to use Tsuna for your own selfishness... then yes.”

“So naïve...” Reborn assumed an ingratiating glance. There was only so many possibilities Ietsuna could do with that skill of his, and Reborn could survive the potential drop if he had Leon. “And if we are?”

The black smoke enveloped him, and Leon fired off. The shot went wide, launched into the wide blue sky before black smoke enveloped Reborn's arm and Leon with it. Reborn was barely able to pull his hand out before the portal snapped closed, and bisected Leon's tail off, the green wriggly thing possibly somewhere with Ietsuna. Another few microseconds, and Reborn didn't care to think about what would have happened, especially if he lost a few fingers.

“Salvami,” Reborn mused as gravity tugged at him, falling at an acceleration comparable to the speed of gravity, with no hope of reaching terminal velocity from up on high. Leon couldn't shift. It was really a situation that merited calling for help that wasn't coming.

Ietsuna clicked his tongue as the baby hitman plummeted down Death Mountain, pocketing a glass vial that contained a wriggling green tail. “To answer: I won't even bother fighting you.”

A fwip resounded, as he winked out of existence in a puff of black. Across Namimori, rubber-soled Savate shoes gave a squeak as they landed on the floor. Ietsuna exhaled slowly, watching the black flame dissipate. “Tsuna...”

Back at Death Mountain, a flare of yellow Flame surged, and a small black-coated form struggled from the impact zone. Even the strongest hitman, Reborn groaned, had a problem falling two hundred metres without a parachute, and a baby's body was not ideal to land anywhere, really. It was only lucky that his reduced mas made the impact much less than it otherwise would have been. His legs, though, were definitely broken.

“Che cazzo, Dio cane!” Reborn swore in Italian. Reborn knew at least 23 languages, and was fluent in 15 of them, and could talk to animals and insects. He used them all, and more, as part of his cloud of colourful language. It could have been translated, but then it would have to be censored, and it was rapidly joined by more bad language that would have been a linguist's worst nightmare.

Leon shifted into a phone, allowing Reborn to dial a specific number once the torrent of curses was finished. “My cover got blown. You're on your own now, Sawada Iemitsu.”

http://static.zerochan.net/Sawada.Tsunayoshi.full.953898.jpg

“Is he alright?” Ietsuna asked once he located the ward. “Tsuna!”

“Ie...” Tsuna greeted, stuck in a hospital cot under Alouette's stare. “What happened? Did you get into a fight with Reborn? Are you alright?”

“Congratulations,” was Alouette's simple reply.

“We fought,” Ietsuna simply replied. “I threw our tutor down two hundred metres. He probably survive, but if he didn't, it's no big deal. I'm standing right here, to answer your last question.”

“Why did you do that?!”

“He wanted to kill me and then frame the Varia to emotionally manipulate you into becoming a Mafia boss. I deemed it the best course of action to severely injure him.”

“That's... not quite what I was getting at, but... what would happen now?” Tsuna fretted, clutching the ring hanging on his neck. “Would they come after you?”

“I have my own ways,” Ietsuna dissuaded him. “But, Tsuna... I think our dad is trying to get me killed.”

“Eh? EHH?! Why?”

“Because he thinks I'm Grandpa returned from the dead to haunt him.”

“I...” Tsuna's face scrunched up in consideration. “That's stupid. Even if you were Grandpa, that's good, right? You've always been with us... what do we do now? I don't want Ie to die... actually, I don't want anyone to die for this. If... If Dad and Reborn wanted to kill you for this thing... this Ring... then what was I fighting for?!”

“Tsuna...” Ie clicked his tongue, eyes downcast. “I don't know, really. Umm... Maître...”

“Hmm... identical twins present a unique succession crisis,” Alouette noted in the tension that mounted. “Being identical, the risk of one killing and unknowingly replacing the other has been a real possibility. Furthermore, when the order of birth is not fully established, the legitimacy of the Boss can be questioned, especially since it's a commonly accepted thought that twins were born out of a wife's adultery in the Old World. For that sake, in Mafia families, one twin is designated the heir, and the other usually disappears or becomes a body double. But, does it have anything to do with that black Flame?”

“Black Flame?” Tsuna echoed.

“I...” Ietsuna nodded. “I can create black Flames, not the orange you use, Tsuna.”

“I see... is that the cause?” Tsuna turned to Alouette.

“It could be an omen for the Vongola,” Alouette nodded. “There are many traditions and superstitions surrounding the Vongola. We could probably ask Timoteo.”

“Timoteo?” Ietsuna blinked.

“The Ninth,” Alouette shrugged slightly. “He was kidnapped by the Varia and brought to Japan in a robot. I... retrieved him after attending a house-warming party...”

“That sounds like you just raided the place, Alouette-san...” Tsuna muttered.

“...and he's in the next ward.” Alouette simpered.

“W- Wait!” Tsuna yelped as he was carried bridal-style by his twin. “Ie!”

“We need answers, and we need the old man to get Reborn off our backs,” Ietsuna growled as he followed the old woman next door, to the private ward where the old man looked up from his book.

“Ah, Madame Lei,” Timoteo fidgeted in his cot. “Ietsuna-kun... I recall.”

“You were at Mafia Land,” Ietsuna growled as he put Tsuna into a chair and then stormed over towards the Ninth Boss of the Vongola. “Why is Reborn after me? Is it because of that black flame?”

“Perhaps you have mistaken something during our long years away from each other, Timoteo,” Alouette smiled, and within that smile was something that caused the old man to slide back away from her. “I will pluck you to death, if you don't tell us what is going on. Now.”

“C- Calmez-vous, Madame!”⁷

“Alouette-san...!!!” Tsuna sniffed. “I wanna learn that...”

“It's only accessible by evil mothers-in-law, Tsuna.” Ietsuna replied without missing a beat. “Jii-san.”

“Er, where to begin...” Timoteo cleared his throat discreetly. “The Varia is run by my son, Xanxus. Though we are regretfully not linked by blood, he possesses the Flame of Wrath and tremendous combat skill. Unfortunately, the laws of succession did not permit him to become the Famiglia's Boss. And then, when the two of you were six years old, I visited this place for the first time since Lorenzo died. And on that day...”

Timoteo paused, trying to recollect himself. “...on that day, Tsunayoshi-kun managed to produce such a large Flame. I admit, I feared for his future. I tried to seal it, but before that, Ietsuna-kun, you ran in with a gun.”

“Papa, what is this?”

“Ietsuna, I- A- Ah-”

“I found this! It makes bang noises and scares chihuahuas away!”

How could he leave a gun in the house! Where children could get at it! “Iemitsu...!”

“Yes. Na-kun, put the gun down.”

“What happened to Tsu-kun? What is that grandpa doing?”

“We're... we're... carrying him!”

“Then why is Grandpa's finger on fire?” the boy's eyes narrowed. The trigger clicked tighter.

Neither man wanted to use violence on a child, but it was obvious that options were running low at the moment.

“I'm sorry, bambino,” Timoteo put on his best persuasive smile. “Your twin fell asleep. We need to put him on a nap. Would you like a nap as well?”

“You're out to kill Tsuna, aren't you?”

What kind of conclusion was that- no. No child could have come to that conclusion-

“I won't let you. I won't let Papa or Maman.”

“Na-kun! Put it down! This is dangerous! What are you saying?”

“No! You'll kill us! That flame will burn, like that fire-!”

To Timoteo's horror, his own Dying Will Flame extinguished itself, and cold began to form over the life-giving flame

“...no? Nonno?”

“Tsuna!”

“I hate...” those amber eyes were so much like Lorenzo's last words to him, cutting and cruel because the Vongola would not guarantee the safety of those like him, strangers who had tried to move across oceans to settle here. “I hate... for him, I hate all of you!”

Black fire consumed the gun, causing it to explode and for the kitchen's smoke alarm to ring out loud and clear as the black blaze reigned...

...and then there were people yelling in Italian, Timoteo recalled. About reappearing in Palermo despite being in Japan just moments before.

“Lorenzo... no, your grandfather, was the best and wisest man I ever knew,” Timoteo recalled in the dim silence. “He was also the worst enemy if roused, because he gave no quarter. There were few things that could rouse him to such an extent, though. If it came to his blood family... well, history showed exactly what he thought. The Vongola... it's a risky proposition, being a foreigner in... our thing⁸. My mother, and Madame Lei, christened him as The Magnificentfor helping me despite himself. He was Magnificent, because he didn't want power, but safety for his family, and it was exactly what he wanted.I would have scoured Italyif I knew he wanted to move here, but I didn't know. When I saw you, I believed, he was so bitter and angry that his will must have reached from beyond the grave.”

“I am not my grandfather!” Ietsuna yelled back.

“I know,” Timoteo nodded. “Iemitsu holds a different view. And... to many, having two heirs was inconvenient. Identical twins was... well, the risk of one brother killing another for the title has always been present, and more than one twin had unseated and masqueraded as the other. Our Young Lion must have been scared stiff.

“But let us continue the story. After that incident, we paid a lot more attention to the arson – yes, the hospital was deliberately set on fire. We found out from one of the nurses' accounts that Sawada Ietsuna, the newborn, should have died that day. Yet there he was, alive and happy.”

“B- But Ie is right here!” Tsuna broke out. “Ie isn't- Ie can't be dead!”

“Sawada Ietsuna died that day,” Timoteo agreed. “It was then that I learnt your names. Sawada Tsunayoshi, and Sawada Ietsuna. By the time I met you, Ietsuna-kun, for the first time, it was too late.

“But what of it, I told myself. So what if the grandson was the grandfather reborn, or something like that. I should have recognised the danger signs then. Why I was, while not pleased at this development, not exactly raring to murder you, as I never could have Lorenzo killed. He is skilled, but skill can be subverted in many ways. He is tough, but all that is mortal must die one day.

“No, I cared too much. I cared more for your happiness, than your knowing the truth; more for your peace of mind, than that of the Famiglia; more for your lives, than the potential conflicts over the succession of the Rings. What did I care about a vengeful spirit that must have possessed a newborn baby, when I saw a pair of twin brothers playing in a garden? Numbers of nameless and faceless people and creatures being slaughtered in the vague future, against the here and now over some petty conflict and the ways of our ancestors... against Lorenzo being alive, and well, and happy? Iemitsu did not share the sentiment; he did not believe that love for the family could overrule Lorenzo's hatred of the Vongola, and Iemitsu... your father chose the Vongola over his family.”

“I fell prey to weakness,” Timoteo ruefully admitted. “I wished that Frederico had lived, but Lorenzo apparently wanted me to feel the pain of losing his son to our world three times over. The day the bones of Frederico were interred, I knew it would end. But please believe me, Ietsuna-kun, Tsunayoshi-kun... I have rescinded my order. I do not want your blood on my hands, on my orders.”

For a long time, neither of them spoke.

“...and the Mafia Boss thing?” Tsuna timidly volunteered. “N- Neither of us wanted to become Boss... and neither of us are, frankly, suited for it. And... well, I don't think we can trust our tutor now.”

“I knew you'd get into that,” Timoteo admitted. “The rings could only be passed on to another member of the bloodline. Xanxus... as talented as he is, my son cannot inherit the Rings, and thus the position of Boss. Iemitsu... I think, somewhere during our investigations when we found out Primo's bloodline living in the Sawada line, he entertained some vague belief of uniting the families once more.”

“He got shot down.” Ietsuna wryly commented.

“Lorenzo disagreed so forcefully, there might still be scars,” Timoteo quietly agreed. “The wedding tuxedo tore apart in the struggle, and Iemitsu chose to wear that construction worker attire to his wedding-”

The twins exchanged looks.

“-so the plan to unite the families was scrapped,” Timoteo concluded the otherwise lacklustre story of family unity and probably what amounted to an old man's grudge. “Now, though... now Xanxus is troubling you so much. As his father, I apologise.”

“And for Iemitsu?” Ietsuna crossed his arms.

“Ie, he's still our father... sorry...” Tsuna wilted suddenly. “You might not want to call him our father, after all...”

“It's not your fault, Tsunayoshi-kun,” Timoteo admitted. “The fault is Iemitsu's. Just like this case... the fault is mine alone.”

“B- But, Jii-san-” Tsuna started.

“So, what do we do now?” Alouette asked. “My cute Tsu-chan was knocked out by that Monsieur Reborn, and he's targeting my student too... I don't like it. Especially you, Timoteo.”

“Who's your cute Tsu-chan...” Ietsuna muttered under his breath as the Vongola Ninth Boss broke out in cold sweat.

“Your shitty son and his coterie hosted a house-warming party that disrupted the peace of Namimori, Timoteo,” Alouette listed. “My grandson is out of town for the moment, so the discipline of his territory falls to me at the moment. I've already plucked them to death, and I'll be billing the Vongola. Got it?”

“B- But, Madame Lei-”

“Vous voudriez être plumer à la mort aussi, hein?”⁹

Tsuna immediately turned to his twin. “Alouette-san is so strong~! Just like Hibari-san, she won without fighting!”

“...Right, Tsuna...” Ietsuna sweat-dropped. “Does it count if odd animal-based threats are made, I wonder...”

“But, the root problem of instability within the Vongola hasn't changed,” Alouette flipped her switch from threatening to serious. “I don't think either of you want to be Boss either, especially since the position of Vongola Boss requires six more people to follow the Boss candidate. And with Xanxus agitating for change, having three candidates could tear apart the Vongola, depending on how many jackals there are within the Iron Fort at present.”

“The fact remains that we're twins, and it's troublesome for that idiot Iemitsu,” Ietsuna summed up. “Haven't twins ascended together as Boss before?”

“Yes, even right now,” Alouette nodded. “They tend to avoid that in Italy, though. The legend of Rome's foundation plays a part here.”

“Legend?” Tsuna echoed.

“Twin sons, Romulus and Remus, were born as demigod sons of either Mars or Hercules,” Ietsuna recalled. “They were set afloat on the Tiber River, and nursed by a she-wolf. When they grew up, they rescued their deposed grandfather and then went on to found their own city. Remus died, and the resulting city was named after Romulus; Roma, later the city of Rome. In some versions, Remus was struck down dead after jumping over the wall his brother was building; in other versions, supporters of Romulus killed him for belittling Romulus' work, but in most versions... Romulus killed his own twin.”

“You're fairly well-read,” Timoteo agreed. “Yes.”

“That's stupid.” Ietsuna sniped back.

“I agree,” Timoteo nodded. “But the fact remains, that I have failed the two of you, and Xanxus as well, and now Xanxus and his posse have murder in their minds. What will you do, then?”

“We... have people to protect,” Tsuna fidgeted. “We're... technically part of the peacekeepers in the town, so- we can't really not fight. Not if your son... not if Xanxus persists in this course of action. If it comes down to us against him...”

“I'll always choose Tsuna first,” Ietsuna stated. “If it comes down to that...”

“I, too, will choose my family first,” Tsuna admitted slowly. “You will have to recall Reborn, Vongola Ninth Boss. I cannot trust a tutor who would murder my brother.”

“Please, call me Timoteo-”

“No,” Tsuna firmly refused. “I'm not asking you as a family friend. I'm asking you as the Ninth Boss of the Vongola Famiglia. If the Famiglia cannot guarantee Ie's safety, then it's not worth calling Family, and I would be better off asking Alouette-san to adopt me. Because then... at least Ie would become the sole heir.”

“Is there a need to go that far?” Ietsuna asked.

“Ah, this old woman would always welcome Tsu-chan into the Hibari family,” Alouette cooed. “But, Tsu-chan... you'll be discarding your ancestors and family background. All of your family history with it too.”

“That's a drastic move,” Timoteo cautioned. “You'll essentially be throwing away any and all relations to the Sawada bloodline, but you'll still be hunted for your blood.”

“But it's the only way Ie can be safe, and happy... right?” Tsuna's eyes were filled with unshed tears, like he was trying to go on, or he was convincing himself that what he just spoke was a good idea, and in fact necessary, despite it being a tough decision.

“No...” Tsuna looked up as his twin started to trace his shoulders with artist's fingers. “Tsuna. I'm glad that you think of me that much... but you really don't want to do that, in your heart. All I ever wanted for you was your happiness and safety.”

“But- Ie- I...”

“No if's, and's, or but's,” Ietsuna refused. “It's my fault for dropping it on you so early. Look, the sun's already setting, so we'll get some rest, alright? Sorry, Jii-san, Maître.”

“Apologies, and good night,” Timoteo waved with Alouette as the twins departed.

“So,” Alouette spoke once the door closed. “Did you finally realise what your choice of heir did? You should have just picked Sawada Iemitsu as your heir and been done with it all, even if the old guard argues with you. That idiot loves Vongola as much as Lorenzo ended up despising it.”

“I don't want to hear it from the youngest Guardian of the Generazione Ottava,” Timoteo shot back, almost petulant. “You retired early.”

“Are you still sore that I refused? You still found Visconti, right?” Alouette laughed at him, turning on her heel to bow down and glance through her lashes. “I took the same road the boys are deciding on now. Whether to choose a Family that doesn't care, or to strike out and create their own Family. We larks do know, after all, the fate of being alone.”

“I remember,” Timoteo agreed. “The famed founder of the CEDEF, who survived seven Bosses, and died of loneliness. It could almost be a walking death, so their journals wrote.”

“I... I was lost too,” Alouette reflected. “I survived with my children in Cambodia, and I brought them around the world, but there was... I always found myself looking at the sky, wanting to fall such that my soul would reach Heaven at last. Blundering in the darkness, simply waiting... mired in the depths of our own emotions. I'd probably have died, mired in despair and boredom in Namimori, if that day Tsu-chan and Na-chan never picked a fight with Kyoya...”

She closed her eyes. “It gets easier, being alone. Yet, I hope Kyoya never needs to experience it. If it makes me less of a carnivore to admit that, that's alright, because the fate of being alone is much worse.”

“...” Timoteo hunched his shoulders, and then straightened his back. “I will meet Reborn and Iemitsu tomorrow. We will decide then.”

“And the boys?”

“...we are old, and we have made mistakes which we no longer have the power to change,” Timoteo confessed. “The times change, and justice fades. Perhaps... perhaps the night must fall, before the Sky can rise. If that is so... I am a Boss, I cannot say it.”

“To admit it is akin to blasphemy to a Boss?” Alouette noted. “Is the Vongola so rotted that you hope for its destruction, Timoteo?”

“He's a crybaby, and indecisive, and kind, and cares so much. His brother has so much common sense but chooses to fight for his brother. Why did the Vongola come to this?”

Alouette clicked her tongue, moving towards her purse. “You're very kind, Timoteo. Lorenzo would praise and curse that kindness of your in the same sentence. He planned contingencies, but he believed in you.”

“D- Did he?”

“He gave you fair warning that he was leaving, right? He just left in a different and more permanent manner than you expected. Then he left permanently.”

Timoteo winced as a slim volume slapped itself on his head. Muttering a curse under his breath, he picked it up. Gatsby le Magnifique, the words still shimmered, slightly dented from where his old friend had slapped him upside the head with it during his younger and more vulnerable years.

“Car c'est ainsi que nous allons, barques luttant contre un courant qui nous ramène sans cesse vers le passé.” Timoteo murmured. “'So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.'”

“He still kept it,” Alouette admitted. “I borrowed it, and... he never got it back. But it was his enchanted object.”

“...yes,” Timoteo admitted. “He turned out alright in the end.”

1 FR: No problem

Chapter Text

I can only use this power when Tsuna is asleep or unconscious?

Ietsuna exhaled, and black flame wreathed his form before he blinked out of existence from the hospital roof, to reappear above, plummeting for a long moment before a fwip disappeared him back into Tsuna's room and onto his feet. He idly picked up an empty glass from the water stand and took a long drink, before he glanced at the emptied glass.

Black flame wreathed his hand, and the glass disappeared at the same time the window shattered.

“Sweet.” Ietsuna grinned, but the sobered. “That means I have to be extra careful not to teleport myself into other things. I wonder how moving objects would look. Or humans...”

Picturing Reborn exploding into a million bloody shards when something was teleported into the baby hitman made him feel much better, at least until he looked towards Tsuna. “Tsuna... I need you. I don't know how to judge.”

“Welcome! How may I be of assistance? says Elmo, far too happy to see this particular stranger – to whom she definitely has no relation to – than should be possible.”

Caramel eyes blinked. “Ah? Huh?”

The girl with spiky brown locks made a hop, skip and jump towards Tsuna, clasping his hands. They were standing in a shallow pool of deep blue, and the girl's orange taffeta dress stood out all the more like her twin pigtails. “Oh, another wanderer has come to our home! How may I address you? Elmo asks while eagerly awaiting this stranger's reply. Really, adds Elmo.”

“Erm, I'm Sawada Tsunayoshi... just call me Tsuna-”

“Yes, Uncle it is! Elmo interrupts without listening to this stranger.” The girl let go of Tsuna, backing slightly over the cool blue flooring of a very strange place that seemed to stretch across horizons without stopping.

“S- She's not even listening!” Tsuna exclaimed as she spun off on a road of yellow brick. “W- Who are you? And why are you narrating everything?!”

“Papa named me Elmo, but that is not Elmo's birth name, Elmo replies,” the girl chirped in answer. “Elmo's name is classified information. Elmo then continues: Elmo is the administrator and protector of this place, like how the flames of St. Elmo were said to protect ships and sailors.”

“G- Guardian? This place?” Tsuna echoed.

“Mm-hmm, Elmo confirms. “The rest...”

Tsuna leant forward at her long drag.

“...is classified information, so Elmo finishes inconclusively,” Elmo ended. “Uncle must be here, because of the classified information input which influenced the space-time fabric within classified information, so Elmo is meeting you here and now.”

“Ah...” Tsuna demurred, “do you know that you keep saying that? Classified information... and why do you keep referring to yourself by name? How old are you, Elmo-chan?”

“I suppose, if you use the Gregorian calendar, I am classified information, Elmo counts while ticking off her fingers in a physical demonstration meant to show comfort,” she counted off her fingers. “Classified information must have input the Yet-To-Come censor into Elmo, so all classified information becomes classified information.”¹

“Are you cosplaying?!” Tsuna retorted heatedly. “Haruhi Suzumiya hasn't been released yet! And why am I talking about this so calmly?! And Elmo-chan, why are you talking about yourself like a robot?”

“Classified information, classified information, classified information-!” she idly continued in the same light monotone. “As the Essential Line Mannered Orchestration, Elmo is only as good as her duty is carried out. This is my created purpose, Elmo adds, sensing Uncle's confusion.”

“C- Created purpose?” Tsuna echoed. “This is... very weird...”

“Chang-chang! Elmo claps lightly.” Spinning on one foot to make the hems of her puffy orange skirt flare out, much like a mermaid, Elmo nodded. “Correct, uncle! Elmo adds. Elmo is a classified information masterpiece, able to see into four dimensions and classified information. If you like, think of this as a dream.”

“Ah...” Oh, this is my dream. I see! So, I just have to listen to this girl who looks too much like Ie- Wait. She called me Uncle... don't tell me, this is-

“Elmo adds: if you continue to dream, you will die.”

“Hold on, what did you just say?!”

Stab, and Elmo smiled cutely as her teeth lowered and she exhaled over the fluttering pulse in Tsuna's neck, her hands still making sucking sounds as she reached for his heart.

“One day, what Elmo personifies will gnaw you to death, Elmo states while looking at Uncle with an unreadable expression,” she narrated. “Vongola Decimo, Elmo is the eater of your flesh and the personification of your death.”

She bit down-

“WAAAHH!”

A bead of cold sweat rolled down his throat, Tsuna shivered as his eyes adjusted to the dim of the hospital ward. Outside, a skylark's warble resounded to greet the dawn.

“Oh... it's a dream,” Tsuna exhaled. “Why...”

“What's... wrong...?” Ietsuna yawned lightly, struggling from where he was curled up on a plastic iron-framed chair. “You look... pale.”

“I- It's nothing. Just a bad, dream, that's all, Ie,” Tsuna shook his head, recalling the events of the evening before. Reborn rushing towards him with the giant green mallet... Ietsuna accusing Reborn of-

“Are you alright, Ie?!” Tsuna suddenly exclaimed, flailing in the bedclothes of his hospital bed. “Reborn tried to kill you!”

“Uh, I'm good,” Ietsuna yawned. “I'm alive, aren't I?”

“Why are you so calm?!” Tsuna retorted.

“I'm still alive,” Ietsuna shrugged aside the fact of his failed assassination. “I'm more irritated by the fact that he wanted to use my death to manipulate you. I survived everything that came with him: Poison Cooking, Trident Mosquitoes, that fetish-pervert, Mukuro's perversion on you under thinly veiled allusions to Hindu mythology-”

“How on earth did you figure that out?” Tsuna cut in. “Have you guys even talked since Kokuyo burned down?!”

“-and I'm still alive,” Ietsuna commented, completely ignoring Tsuna's questions. “As long as it's for you, nothing else matters.”

“That's what I'm afraid of!” Tsuna said heatedly, overlooking his brother’s attempts at joviality. “You... you think nothing of killing other people. When we were kids, and those bullies- you dug holes, lured them to the playground, and waited for them to fall in! You threw stones at them while they were crying! And what was that shovel for? What would you have done to them if I hadn’t stopped you?”

“Well, they were already in the holes, and they were being so loud. Logically, it follows that I would fill the holes: no one else gets caught in the trap and the loud noises would go away, right” Ietsuna reasoned, perfectly logical except for the part where he was talking about burying children alive.

“Ie,” Tsuna looked at his twin. “Those are humans. Just like you and me. Their lives are-”

“Nothing compared to you, Tsuna,” Ietsuna finished. It was scary, how seriously Ietsuna promised it, and how seriously he loved his brother.

“You've always been like that...” Tsuna sighed, unwilling to go through this circular argument again. “This is all my fault. If I could protect myself, then you wouldn’t kill anyone. Everyone you’ve hurt or killed... it's because of me.”

“Ie, what did you say? Kaa-san's fainted!”

“I told her that she's a lousy mother and she should just die.”

“E- You didn't have to put it like that! She just made prawns for lunch! Apologise!”

“Why? I'm right. If you're strong enough to remind her that you break out in hives when you eat too many prawns, I wouldn't have to say it like that.”

“No,” Ietsuna rejected firmly. “I do what I do out of my own volition. As long as you're safe and happy, I don't care about the rest of the world. Even if Reborn wanted to kill me, I wouldn't care.”

“Yes... you care so much for me, but you don't care for yourself at all, and I worry for you... and everyone,” Tsuna admitted. Assert yourself, or I’ll do it for you... “So... what was I fighting for? Reborn tried to kill you... why did I trust him?”

“It's not your fault,” Ietsuna assured. “The Ninth must have gotten into contact with Reborn already, since I'm not dead. I'm safe for now. Now, we have to focus on Xanxus.”

“Y- Yes...” Tsuna nodded. “I... I regretted... not being able to stop you.”

A stray thought surfaced; Elmo was smiling as she began to bite and gnaw and tear him apart. Tsuna shuddered, but gave his dark mirror a considering glance.

Uncle...

Surely not, he dismissed as he washed his face in the hospital's toilet. Ietsuna was still here, and he wasn't dating, and Tsuna was fairly sure that Ietsuna knew contraceptives better than him. In fact, Ietsuna had been the one to confiscate a large box of condoms during their patrol at Tanabata² months ago around the Namimori Shrine, and started to distribute them. Several red-faced couples moving to hang up their prayers had walked away with a freebie and a curt lecture on safe sex – “Use and dispose cleanly, or our chairman will bite you to death.”

At the end of the day, though, Ietsuna had pointedly flung the remains of the economy-size box at their chairman's head, while Tsuna went to hang his prayer on the wishing tree. Hibari's smirk had prompted Tsuna to avoid him for the rest of the week, until Hibari was back to normal.

“It's like Tanabata,” Tsuna murmured. “I wished to protect everyone.”

“It sounds like a fiddly wish,” Ietsuna commented. “If it were me, I'd wish for everyone's safety to be guaranteed. No loose interpretation, no chance of it going wrong. A simple guarantee.”

No, Tsuna decided. Ie would never leave such a thing to chance. There was something else, some more sinister force at hand. Something... about the Flame of Night. What was with all the 'classified information', anyway?

http://www.zerochan.net/1048555

“Nǐ hǎo, Reborn.”

“I thought you were still stalking your mother,” Reborn sneered the Storm Arcobaleno, cradling his glowing Pacifier.

Fon just smiled back pleasantly, aware of Reborn’s volatile mood and the reasons for it. Broken bones were never pleasant, but for the Arcobaleno it was a more serious issue. Being reverted into the physical body of a baby was bad enough psychologically, but it also severely reduced their fighting capabilities physically. The time needed to spend healing would rob Reborn of his hard-won muscular definition and capability. Proprioception was a hard-won thing that Reborn had dearly missed while cursed.

“She had a myocardial infarction.” Fon might not have shown any outward reaction, but Reborn was suddenly acutely aware that he was treading on very thin ice.

With crutches. Fon would add a second break in his legs very soon. “Sorry.”

“It is alright.” Fon's gaze flickered to the side, toying with his braid. “You are... well.”

It must be a Chinese thing, Reborn thought. Since the same syllable could mean nine or ten different words, Fon's pause must mean every variation of the unspoken question are you alright? “It's just a flesh wound.”

“Ah?” One that requires you to be in traction?

“You try being dropped two hundred metres without a parachute,” Reborn sourly shot back. “At least Colonello doesn't know about it. Do you know that your mother is utterly insane?”

“Yes,” Fon acknowledged. “It is... expected. Members of our bloodline cannot stay too closely to each other without active bloodshed to unite us. We would murder each other first. It is for this reason that Mama lives away from my nephew and uses the house only on formal occasions, and U lives in Hong Kong most of the time.”

“So, you avoided going home because of this?” Reborn nodded. “But you know, right? The fate of being alone.”

“The stress of having to live so close to a younger member of the blood without lashing out preys upon my mother every day,” Fon agreed quietly. “I do not wish to add to her stresses, though I know that I am her son. As I am right now, it would only add to her stresses to war between her motherly love and her bloodlust.”

“...Family is tough amongst you guys,” Reborn nodded. “I need to go in now. If the Varia attacks...”

“What of it?” Fon smiled. Behind him, there burned a dim red aura of several luminous, gaping-jawed Chinese dragons that looked hungry for the blood of hapless idiots chasing after the old Frenchwoman somewhere in the hospital confines.

Fighting Fon when the latter was worked up over his mother was quickly becoming an unpalatable proposition, not the least because Reborn suspected that Fon would discard any and all sportsmanship where his mother was concerned. And Reborn was in no position to bargain either, injured as he was currently. “...Ciao.”

“Zàijiàn, Reborn.”

As the Sun Arcobaleno left, the Storm Arcobaleno settled back to his perch, watching a blonde chignon that could only be Alouette nodding off beside the pineapple-hair girl on a plastic stool. Very carefully, the black-haired baby in the red changpao aimed a neck-pillow and prepared to fling it.

It must have been fate, Timoteo decided as the young Chiavarone boss left his ward, expression ashen. Fate that, so soon after notifying the young stallion of his kidnapping, the men he so wanted to regard were already present.

“Buon giorno, Reborn, Iemitsu,” Timoteo intoned, with an eye towards their shifting expressions. Even though he was the one hospitalised, the two grown men – albeit with one of them as a baby – shifted in their places, with a sense of unease whether standing or leaning. “Events have certainly been interesting these past few weeks. I did not expect that between the two of you, so much trouble and mayhem would erupt.”

Timoteo held up a hand to silence the protests from Reborn and Iemitsu, intent on speaking his mind.

“I have met i gemelli Decimi³. We have had quite the enlightening conversation. Ietsuna-kun is certainly everything and nothing at all like I expected.”

“Nono, you must know about the black flame,” Iemitsu interrupted urgently. “It is too dangerous, especially around Tsuna. Ie is a danger, especially with that unknown power.”

“This black flame is not the most relevant mystery you believe it is. Are not all Flames dangerous? I lie on this hospital bed, weak from a lack of sustenance. Yet, my Flames could obliterate you in an instant. I would be out an External Advisor, but those are a dime a dozen these days,” Timoteo said calmly, but with an edge of maliciousness.

Iemitsu felt his mouth open unattractively, his arguments about Ietsuna’s dangerous presence caught in his throat. Did-did his Boss just threaten to kill him?

“He is your son, cucciolo,⁴” Timoteo pointed out continued relentlessly, his tone allowing allowing no more disrespect. “You are his father. Ietsuna is quite a talented, sensible boy, so very different from you. If he is really such a concern, Iemitsu, we would have acted much earlier.”

“The- There was the Flood of Blood,” Iemitsu feebly denied. “And... other matters...”

“And what does the Flood of Blood incident have to do with your son, Iemitsu? Do not think you can fumble your way out of this!” Timoteo was gesticulating now. “You told me one of your sons was a danger to the other, and from all that I knew, I capitulated. I met Ietsuna-kun once, and it seemed that way, from how we were transported to the Iron Fort with no one the wiser as to how. And yet... To order the death of your child... is unbearable. I would trade in my own life in an instant to revive Enrico, Massimo and Frederico if I could. Yet you so cavalierly acted otherwise, and I trusted you too much to notice the deepening unease I felt…” Timoteo trailed off.

Iemitsu was stunned. Never before had he been so ruthlessly berated by his Boss, and yet today, Nono had exploded at him with all the fury of an angry Sky. The silence in the hospital room was stifling, but neither Iemitsu nor Reborn felt steady enough to interrupt it.

“What do you think, Reborn?” Timoteo abruptly regarded the trusted Arcobaleno hitman. “I have given you many orders in the past, most of which you have accepted without protest. The few times you defied me, you were always correct to do so. Yet the one time I have made a horrible mistake, you have compounded it tenfold.

“I have only spoken with the twins a few times, but you have lived in their home for the past several months. I was able to see within a few minutes that Ietsuna-kun is clearly no threat to Tsunayoshi-kun, whether it is the past, present or future. What is your excuse, Reborn? I cannot believe that your eyes would fail you in such an important observation.”

Reborn bristled automatically at Timoteo’s harsh tone, but swallowed his considerable pride to answer. “Sawada Ietsuna is a threat to the Vongola,” Reborn countered. “He is capable of utilising the Zero Point Breakthrough with disturbing ease. He has no morals to speak of. There is nothing that can restrain him if his twin is hurt. And those black flames… they are twisted and corrupted.”

“Hmm?” Timoteo waited, never taking his eyes off of Reborn's form. “Oh? Nothing more to say, Reborn? This is your judgement? A boy loves his brother enough to do what he must to protect him. Clearly he is an immense danger to us all. I see. So Ietsuna-kun did what any trigger-happy assassin in our world would do, and by protecting his family he is hunted for it.”

Timoteo chuckled, completely devoid of any true humour. “I can say the same for you, or Iemitsu, or myself,” Timoteo was suddenly calm. Reborn almost flinched at the sound coming out of Nono’s mouth. “You are the World's Greatest Hitman and your pride is not to fail, at any cost. I am Boss of La Famiglia Vongola. Iemitsu is head of the Consulenza Esterna Della Famiglia. Can we judge him as we are?”

“No, Nono,” Reborn gritted out. “We are not saints.”

“You are what you are, and I acknowledged that,” Timoteo reflected. “I gave you a home and a Family to return to. Never before have I cause to doubt your loyalty. Reborn, however, there is a first time for everything.

“Do speak now, with the complete truth,” Timoteo demanded, eyes flinty hard. Even from a hospital bed, he was an intimidating figure. “Why did you continue this mission, one that you must have known was a mistake? Tsunayoshi-kun is the only viable heir, and you have completely pushed him away. The truth, Reborn.”

“Che...” Reborn tsked, unable to lie to the Vongola's Ninth Boss. “...the boy thinks he can defy his and his brother's fate so clearly, he doesn't care about the consequences. Basil and I were dropped from a height of two hundred metres without aid. Or a parachute. I do not want the Vongola to face that kind of opponent, especially if he has a grudge against the Vongola.”

Timoteo stared hard at his long-time friend, slowly considering the words. “You have a broken leg, Reborn. You have given much worse to Dino when you were tutoring him. Is Basil alright?”

“He'll live,” Reborn scowled. “I'll say this, though. Sawada Ietsuna would be a better choice, except that he'll probably destroy the Vongola first. He would choose his brother over the entirety of the Family. That makes him dangerous enough, but combined with everything else, he might just become the Family's worst threat as the potential heir carrying a huge brother complex.”

Timoteo laughed long and hard. “Oh, my friend, you are a fool. You and Iemitsu, a pair of fools.”

Reborn bristled at being put into the same category as Iemitsu.

“If Ietsuna-kun had been “normal”, you would have destroyed Tsunayoshi-kun. But Ietsuna-kun scares you, so you aim to kill him and mould his twin into your idea of the perfect Mafia Boss. Allow me to enlighten you, gentlemen,” and here Timoteo gave them a long, hard glare. “If there was a choice between killing Xanxus, or allowing innocents to die by his hand... I would choose the former, no matter what. But... if I had to choose between Xanxus or the Vongola, though... that is a hard decision. Famiglia means absolutely nothing if the people choose the idea, over each other. I can understand why Lorenzo left-”

“He was a traitor!” Iemitsu exploded. “He left the Famiglia! He turned his back on everyone and tried to teach me to do the same!”

Timoteo sat back, deflating in weariness. “You are still a child, Iemitsu. A fool of a child,” he murmured to himself.

“Have I ever told you how exactly I met Lorenzo?”

I was somewhere on the rue Saint-Denis after dark, and I had made the mistake of coming across some remnants of the Tractions Avant⁵. It was a mistake, seeing as they believed me to be Corsican, but the point remained that my life was being threatened, surrounded as I was by several gun-bearing assassins. My back was directed to the wall, staff at the ready and willing to die standing if needed.

A door creaked open, and the smell of butter and bread greeted me.

“Vous pouvez se battre après ma pause?⁶” the man started.

I turned around, greeted by the off-white form of a man with part of his face streaked in flour. The mar, though, could not distract me from his assessing eyes, his disposition of absolute calm barely hurried. Under his arm was tucked a book.

Slowly, behind him, the door closed.

“Vous devez partir maintenant,” I told him. “Allez-y!”⁷

“Abruti!” He threw the book at me. It hit me on the skull, and that was before its owner stepped forward. “C'est pas pour vous, abruti, c'est pour ma pause.”⁸

“Quoi? Vous voulez devenir héro?” one of them taunted, especially as the man started to slot his hands into his pockets. “Et sans les mains, aussi! Vous êtes fou, chintok?”⁹

“Les mains sont la vie d'un pâtissier,” the man with those strangely exotic looks murmured in answer. Under the dark blue covers of Gatsby le Magnifique : en italien, I stared at him and his daring. “Mais, si vous vouliez mes mains sur vous, et si vous preniez mes savates tout d'abord?”¹⁰

“Pour se faire pardonner, il offre un arc en ciel...oh, sorry, my thoughts wandered with me. That was how we met,” Timoteo finished the frankly horrifying first meeting of the Ninth Generation Vongola Sky and his Lightning.¹¹

“Are you sure he was your Lightning Guardian and not your Cloud, Nono?” Reborn was the first to demand. “Rather, how did such a man produce such a no-good son?”

“Oi!” Iemitsu protested. “I didn't turn out that bad!”

“So, do you have an excuse for staying out until midnight this time, Mitsu?”

Young Sawada Iemitsu fidgeted, dangling upside down in the snare in his family home's entrance hall and wincing at his injuries. “Erm, I was directing sparrows!”

“I see,” his father nodded at him with stern eyes. “Tell me what kind of sparrows managed to land a cut on you, so I can get the antibiotics. Which sparrow got in a gang fight after school, Mitsu?”

“Shit! I can't tell him I was in a gang fight and skipped school!” Iemitsu shut his mouth quickly, but the damage was done.

“SAWADA IEMITSU!”

“And, you have no idea how terrifying that man was!” Iemitsu complained.

“You skipped school, got into several fights with the Momokyokai, almost joined them, and then signed up with Vongola,” Reborn listed off. “He has every right to yell at you, you idiot.”

“He... Father hated the Vongola, Nono. He, and now- now Ietsuna, and Tsuna too... he's poisoning all my sons to go against me!” Iemitsu protested. “Even when he's dead and gone, his influence is still there! If that old bird files those adoption papers, the Vongola will lose Tsuna! Are you going to let him destroy the Vongola like this?”

“Cucciolo, you still do not understand, do you?” Timoteo sighed heavily. “Lorenzo warned me. He told me that his son was nothing like him; that you were a blockhead, to quote him. I wasn't inclined to take his advice after being punched in the face, but I see his sense now.”

“He called me a blockhead?!” Iemitsu bristled, but was hit with Reborn's crutches.

“You, Iemitsu, when I first saw you, all I could think of was how Lorenzo had gotten his wish,” Timoteo reflected. “We had not spoken in twenty some years, other than the occasional cryptic message left in the newspaper. And now here his son was, in the flesh. I thought Lorenzo had sent me a gift. I could see Il Magnifico in your every gesture, your every word. Your laugh, your determination, your fighting stance... It was not until your wedding, when I came face to face with my lost brother that I realized he knew nothing about your actions. He concluded that I must have lured you into the Mafia. After your wedding, he told me to clear out of Namimori, lest I bring misfortune with me.”

“I remember,” Iemitsu retorted. “He abandoned the Family for his own wants-”

“No,” Timoteo disagreed. “You idiot blockhead, Lorenzo never abandoned anyone. In fact, it could be argued that Vongola abandoned him. I abandoned him. Times were very different back then... You would remember what Visconti said about your ascension to CEDEF. It was partly because of the manpower decrease due to Mani pulite that you were able to prove yourself as head of the CEDEF.”¹²

“Yes...”

“Lorenzo...” Timoteo's tone grew reluctant, but also light. “Everyone thought he was a pentito, or another civilian in over his head. He was an outsider with no proven blood in the Mafia. He was Magnificent, because he had to be. Until we found Giotto's name in the Sawada family register... Is it not strange that Sicilians rejected him, though his distant ancestor shared blood and love of the Trinacria with him? He was a stranger where he should have been at home.¹³¹⁴

“When his last proposal to increase protection of immigrants was shot down, he... he took a job in America. I was so worried, that this might have been the last straw... I found him at the Oratorio di San Lorenzo, looking at his favourite painting again. I had it stolen for him, but he cut all ties. He disappeared, and then fate brought us together again after twenty years.”

Timoteo sighed, the memory of that encounter filling him with nostalgia. “I don't blame him, because his loyalties have not changed since the start. Though he was treated as an outsider when he should have been family, he was loyal to me, and his blood family in Japan. He left the Family, cucciolo, to give you a father in your life. He left money in the world's longest-established bank for you and your children. In fact, he had done the Family a service in his absence, by ensuring your survival in this world, Iemitsu, and through you the remains of Primo's blood.”

Iemitsu huffed. “I don't want to hear it-”

“Iemitsu.”

The external advisor flinched at the venom present. “...This is not about a dead man, it's just about Ietsuna. Tsuna will become the Boss, I've declared my support. Ietsuna will continue to follow Tsuna anywhere. And if he dies, so be it. It was his time already.”

“Do you understand what you're saying, Iemitsu?” Timoteo snapped, shocked at Iemitsu’s utter lack of paternal concern. “You're so willing to send one son to death? I'm telling you, that is not Lorenzo! Do you hate your father so much, that you’ve spent your entire life doing exactly the opposite of what he taught you? The world does not revolve around you and your ego and the Vongola, you blockhead!”

Timoteo drew a long breath. “When you joined Vongola, I was happy. I thought Lorenzo would be back at my side in spirit. How wrong I was! You have nothing of your father’s magnificence in you! Lorenzo left to protect his own family whereas you would sacrifice yours!”

“Speaking of which,” Timoteo started after drawing another breath, and with it the resulting eruption could have resembled Mt. Vesuvius.

“Iemitsu. I admit that I had serious misgivings between leaving the boys in Japan, and bringing them straight to Palermo fifteen years ago. You assured me that they would be protected. I did not question you then. I did not question the lack of guards, or even surveillance, around your sons then. I did not even ask about that clearly unsafe firearm in your house, even though we had been threatened with it by an unsuspecting elementary school student before. Clearly that was a mistake.”

“Erm... right.” Iemitsu nodded meekly. There was very little to deny, after all.

“However, your son, the one you want to see dead, has shed light on your rather dubious parenting skills,” Timoteo continued, “the lack of which has unwittingly led both remaining Vongola heirs hating the external advisor and their extremely neglectful father. There is frankly no basis for your actions, given that the CEDEF is too big an organisation for your sons to remain hidden. You might have remitted money back, but you left your whole family and most of the Vongola ignorant. What if you died? You might as well have thrown them to the wolves.”

“W- Well, the old bird was in town?” Iemitsu tried to deflect.

“So you left the safety of your sons to a single senior citizen, one whom you had no idea was my mother’s former Cloud Guardian,” Timoteo practically snarled. “The deaths of three of my sons have left me a broken shell of a man. Yet had they not died, would you have even remembered that you have two children? You fed me false information, capitalizing on my single encounter with the twins to skewer my perceptions and lead me to make a horrible decision. You actually tried to use the Famiglia to murder your own son?!?”

“He tried to ruin my marriage!”

“That's what childrendo!” Timoteo retorted.“A child with as much common sense as Ietsuna-kun, what they do is they talk some sense into their mothers to get them away from their frankly neglectful spouses! Put some effort into your bloody marriage instead of blaming your son!”

“He swore.” Reborn stared.

“And you, Reborn,” Timoteo rounded on the Arcobaleno. “I have not overlooked you. What have you actually taught Tsuna?”

Reborn opened his mouth to respond, then closed it when he couldn’t truthfully come up with anything.

“We have spent so long arguing about how Tsuna must become Decimo and why Ietsuna must be killed, that no one has even considered how Tsuna must feel,” Timoteo pointed out. “Does he understand what the Decimo position means? Have you explained anything to him, Reborn? Or were you hoping to toss him in and drown him in it, and hope that his good nature would win out?”

Timoteo stopped. “There is no justice in this world, Reborn, but even I can tell that we've gone about it the wrong way.”

Timoteo swallowed, as if the realisation was a bitter gall. Reborn and Iemitsu looked down and away, unable or unwilling to face the same realisation.

“The approach we took was for someone who would presumably never find any support in his life and always feel alone,” Timoteo reflected. “That was our miscalculation.”

“I hate... I hate... for him, I hate all of you!”

Black fire consumed the gun, causing it to explode and for the kitchen's smoke alarm to ring out loud and clear as the black blaze reigned...

“As alien and as unusual we might find Ietsuna... I cannot deny it. We have been unfair to one brother over the other. No wonder Tsunayoshi-kun refuses to have anything to do with the Mafia. All he’s seen of it is violence because that’s all we’ve shown him.”

“Nono-” the other two men immediately began protesting.

“SHUT. UP.” Timoteo’s Sky Flames burst out, potent and intoxicating in their rage and protection. “The two of you have put Vongola’s future into jeopardy with your own selfish motivations, and yet have the gall to claim that you’re doing this for the Famiglia?!”

Reborn could see how someone like Xanxus could possibly have been taken in by Vongola Nono.

“Reborn,” Timoteo rounded on the baby hitman, but deflated somewhat. “There is a deeper reasoning to your actions. I will not presume to pry into them, though I understand your surface intentions, however vile. You may not listen to me, I realise. This is asking a lot of you, as the world's greatest hitman, but the hit has been retracted. It is not your fault, it is mine.”

“...yes, Nono,” Reborn submitted, his mind whirling. “You have a compromise in mind. The point here is to prevent Sawada Ietsuna and Xanxus from seizing the Tenth position.”

“Something like that,” Timoteo agreed. “Ietsuna-kun is the most suited to be the Boss, except for the fact that he cares for nothing except Tsuna.”

“Xanxus just wants to kill the twins and take over the Vongola,” Reborn sarcastically summed up. “Ietsuna might not be the original Lorenzo's ghost, risen from the grave to wreck vengeance on the Vongola. Yet, Ietsuna would definitely wreck vengeance if we manipulate and force Tsuna into the Vongola. Tsuna doesn't want to become Boss, but he would, if it means protecting Ietsuna. Tsuna is the best option only by virtue of his sanity, but now he might not want to become Boss.”

Iemitsu stirred. “But, Tsuna-”

“Their future is no longer yours to decide! You gave up that right long before you manipulated me into ordering a hit on your son!” Timoteo snapped back, silencing the external advisor. “Continue, Reborn.”

“However, I can no longer function as a home tutor, since both of them probably hate me now,” Reborn finished. “Normally, I'd just bully my way through, but this time it is not a viable option. We must use honeyed words to placate them now, Nono.”

“Yes, attempting to assassinate one of them would indeed earn you their hate and distrust,” Timoteo bitingly commented. “Why did you choose that moment to reveal your true mission, Reborn? Also, it has not escaped my notice that you believe my son to be disposable. You might have leeway to treat your students however you want, but this is going too far. When this situation is over, you and I are going to have a long talk about your future in Vongola.”

“...he tries to escape his fate, and with it destroy the Vongola, without thought of the greater consequences or his allies,” Reborn confessed. “I can sense, that the only thing of value in his world is Tsuna. Nono, idiot-Iemitsu, Basil, Gokudera, Yamamoto, Hibari, Rokudo Mukuro, Lambo, I-Pin, Bianchi, Shamal... even myself, are disposable in his eyes. Somehow he's immune to death itself, and his intelligence is sharp in an unpredictable way. That kind of combination is just waiting for one spark to set it off, and burn us all with him.”

“...so this is about the Pacifiers,” Timoteo caught on.

“My Pacifier was almost frozen by him,” Reborn nodded. “He never showed any hesitation to freeze Skull. No matter if he knew of the potential consequences behind murdering an Arcobaleno, he still showed no hesitation. And before that, he was perfectly willing to murder Gokudera Hayato in broad daylight to protect Tsuna, and would have done so if Tsuna did not stop him. He is insane and has only one controller, Nono, and that is why Ietsuna must die.”

“That’s exactly what you told me when I decided to bring Xanxus home.”

“And how did that turn out?” Reborn shot back without thinking.

“Reborn, you brought all these elements of danger into the lives of the twins and expect them to react in a certain way. When they don’t – when Ietsuna attempts to kill Gokudera Hayato to protect his twin, you have the nerve to complain. The fault of Xanxus lies with me,” Timoteo admitted, “but it seems that we are all at fault here.”

Iemitsu looked down, like there was something interesting in the blank flooring of the hospital ward with its ammonia smell and harsh lighting. “But what about their training? It doesn't change the fact that Xanxus will be coming to kill them and take the Rings. And now Reborn can't...”

“That's true,” Timoteo admitted. “I will have to ask... Alouette.”

All three men winced.

“Ah, Chrome-chan, I want cake~!” Alouette sang towards an approaching Chrome.

Mist descended, and Mukuro glared at the old woman where Chrome had been. “Have you no self-respect, old woman? And, where did that neck-pillow come from?”

“This?” Alouette pointed to her neck. “Some kind soul threw it in through the window. How kind~!”

“No,” Mukuro sighed, before throwing the plastic bag he currently held at her. “Your medicine.”

“Thank you,” Alouette beamed at him.

“This is the first time I've seen someone like you,” Mukuro sighed, as if the old bird gave him an ulcer due to stress. “Attacking a gang of assassins simply for your walking stick... if you died, do you have any idea the trouble you'll cause others? Especially me.”

“When you say it like that, it almost sounds like you care, Mukuro-kun,” Alouette grinned. “Or are you still not up to buying pads and tampons-”

“I'll pass, thank you.”

“What a shy boy,” Alouette teased. “Do you want further explanation? You who can eat while watching spaghetti horror films, but can't even think about Chrome's men-”

“You're wrong,” Mukuro objected. “I am merely interested in the safety of myself and my own. Sawada Tsunayoshi and Sawada Ietsuna are the only ways to ensure that, especially if I possess young Tsunayoshi's body...”

“All good men are gay or taken, I suppose.” Alouette lamented. “What will Chrome-chan think?”

Mukuro gave her an indulgent smirk. Across from them, the doors to two wards opened. One with Tsuna and Ietsuna, the other with the three Mafiosi gathered.

“Alouette-san,” both parties spoke at the same time.

“...you're in really high demand, old bird,” Mukuro teased.

“Je te plumerai à la mort,¹⁵” Alouette sourly retorted.

Around the quiet forest of Aokigahara, the Varia watched as a corpse building went up in flames. The corpse, by the way, was by no fault of theirs, for once. Also known as the Suicide Forest, the thirty-five square-kilometre forest north-west of Mount Fuji in Japan is known for being exceptionally quiet and being popular for suicides despite several signs to the contrary.

“Ushishishi, this stinks,” Belphegor complained. “Mammon, are the Rings really here? This place reeks just of despair without blood.”

Mammon sneezed into another piece of paper. “No, they left.”

“Shit!” A tree and its dangling corpse went up in Flames under Xanxus's snarl. “We should go back and kill them all.”

“VOI! Don't rush, shitty Boss,” Squalo gnashed his teeth.

“Still, the Japanese really know how to up the ante,” Levi's teeth chattered. “D- Don't worry, Boss! I'll be on hand to protect-”

A branch cracked, and Levi's eyes bugged out as a rotting arm dropped onto his shoulder and his soul prepared to leave his body.

“AAAAAAHHHHHH!”

“Shut up!” Belphegor and Squalo kicked Levi.

“Still, they chose a pretty strange place to lose us,” Lussuria commented. “The forest is empty of wildlife, and the trees are so dense they block the wind, so it is eerily silent.”

A strangled scream followed them. A tree branch dropped, one bulging eye catching their gazes before the woman expired, the light fading in her eye.

“I'll make this merciful,” Belphegor drew a knife and flung it, the blade embedding itself into the eye and brain and putting the woman out of her misery.

“...except for the cries of suicidal people at night.” Mammon swallowed. Even with Varia Quality, they'll get lost in this forest... until Xanxus decides to burn his way out. It'll take a week. After that, I can't buy any more time-

“They're not here,” Xanxus declared.

“What?” Mammon echoed most of the Varia's sentiments.

“They must be doubling back to Namimori. We're going back.”

“VOI! What the hell?!” Squalo scowled. “Fine. The sooner we're out of this creepy forest, the better.”

Footsteps echoed, and Belphegor stopped. “Mammon, are you coming with?”

Mammon glanced around. “Belphegor... what happened to the corpse?”

“Corpse? The prince doesn't know or care- it's gone?” The Prince the Ripper caught on. “It's an illusion?”

“I can't see,” Mammon lied, hoping to draw the Varia back.

“Voi, I don't care,” Xanxus ordered. “Bel, Mammon, we're going.”

“Yes, Boss!” Levi flailed as he ran to follow behind Xanxus.

“But-”

“No one with an ounce of Dying Will would ever come to this place!” Xanxus retorted. “You know it too. This very place is the antithesis of our world, a world where people choose death. No, those dogs in the CEDEF just set us up for a wild goose chase. We'll go back to Namimori and set a trap for them. They won't know what's going to hit them.”

Xanxus may not have Vongola blood, but his intuition could rival Nono’s! Mammon's panic was concealed as the illusion of the dying woman faded, showing only Belphegor's knife embedded into the ground. I can't buy any more time! Skull, hurry up and find Verde!

1 Yet-To-Come is written as 未来る or Mi-Ku-Ru (i.e. "future"). This is a reference to Asahina Mikuru, whose catch-phrase is 'that's classified information'. Otaku reference: the 2 ^nd manga series of Haruhi Suzumiya was released by Kadokawa Press in November 2005. The fic is dated October 2005.

Chapter Text

Into some undetermined time of the future, Elmo put a slender finger to her rosy lips, seated primly with her legs tucked under her voluminous skirt. Surrounding them was a sea of deep ultramarine blue. Her skirt was the only vibrant spot in that gloomy shadow. Her feathery-looking locks fanned out on either side of her head, a crown of wings on either side of her head as she gazed at the object of her ire.

“Classified information! Why did you switch on the Yet-To-Come censor?! Elmo screams at authorised user classified information.”

“Erm, it's wasn't me,” the green-haired young man with the large apple hat drawled back. “By the way, that Yet-To-Come censor applies to everyone, even the readers, right?”

“Yes, but what does that have to do with this?! Elmo complains. Our sisters are also classified information!” Elmo stomped her foot.

“It's still not me,” the young man retorted. “Classified information and classified information, this Grade S zettai ryouiki is blaming me for her Asahina cosplay.”

“Who's cosplaying, you classified information? Elmo complains to Papa and other authorised users in the user group labelled Pyxis,” Elmo growled. “And, you're a human! You're the only Mist user in the Pyxis user group! Why do you have the Yet-to-Come censor?!”

“Because I wanted to, classified information.”

“You piss me off! Elmo yells to show her supreme irritation,” Elmo relented. “But, if it's not you... Papa initiated the censor?”

“That means that you talk too much. You should be happy as a clam, since we're having spaghetti alle vongole¹. Oh wait, aren't those your-”

Elmo pointed a finger at him, a bolt of bluish Flame ready to be shot. “No. We'll be having cuisses de grenouille². Your legs will be served to Papa!”

“Fran is right, Elmo,” a voice cut in, its originator appearing surrounded by the inky blackness of Night Flames. “Today's dinner is spaghetti alle vongole in rosso³. The blood of the Vongola Family will flavour dinner when we kill them all in revenge.”

There was a tension in the air that covered all three speakers, before... “I'll pass if we're cannibalising the Vongola,” Fran drawled. “Oh, I ruined the tension.”

“...Elmo, slap him.”

“Elmo obeys.”

“Ow!”

"No, Ie, it's a bad idea to cut off Reborn's hands!"

"Ie! Please don't try to kill Reborn by tossing him off a cliff again!"

"Bad Ie! You're not supposed to get revenge on Reborn by telling Hibari-san that 'the baby is a first class fighter and needs someone to beat up and you looked weak to him'"

On and on it went, as one brother tried to restrain the other from inflicting permanent harm on Ietsuna's would-be assassin. If anyone noticed that Tsuna's denials were a bit half-hearted, well, who could blame him?

In any case, the true issue at hand was Xanxus and his band of insane psychopathic killers gunning for Tsuna.

Which meant that the twins needed to restart their training.

But the tension from previous conflicts had just started to fade, so the Sawada twins found themselves lounging in their backyard, watching Lambo toss grenades into the air. They would train, in about an hour or so, but now was time for family... and explosions. Lots of them.

“Tsuna-nii! Ie-nii!” Lambo screamed suddenly, breaking the tranquillity. "There are scary men around us!"

“Lambo no wake Ge-Ge!” I-Pin scolded. “But Lambo right! Scary men!”

“Lambo,” Tsuna sighed in exasperation.

“Well... I can't see anyone around.”

“Lambo,” Ietsuna crossed his arms. “I told you about the proper use of grenades, right?”

“Lambo-san was exploding those guys out of the goodness of his heart!” Lambo shouted back.

“Then, why are you using concussion grenades?”

“THAT’S what you’re worried about?!?” Tsuna yelled as Ietsuna picked Lambo up and pulled a dozen more tubular grenades from the afro.

“These two aren't the type to lie,” Ietsuna said calmly. He pulled the pins and tossed the primed grenades all around, filling the area with smoke – except for two spots next to Tsuna.

“Gēgē smart!” I-Pin praised as Ietsuna kicked both spots in the face, and they collapsed to reveal two men in green full-body suits.

“If you exist, you have an effect on air currents,” Ietsuna commented. A syringe that one of them was holding broke under his shoe. “Lambo, I-Pin, Tsuna, go in.”

Tsuna was used to obeying his brother without protest in these types of situations and wordlessly tried to corral the younger kids into the safety of the home. Lambo, however, was being recalcitrant.

“W- Why??” Lambo exclaimed. “Lambo-san helped take them down!”

In the middle of patting the two assassins down for anything dangerous, Ietsuna smiled. Ietsuna smiled. It was a mirror of his twin’s heart-breaking – and possibly nosebleed-inducing – smile, but twisted with his innate darkness. It was part fondness at Lambo, a bit of exasperation at the cow kid’s whining, some worry for Tsuna’s safety, but mostly, the smile was one of supreme anticipation and sadistic pleasure.

The effect was underscored by crushing one of the formerly invisible assassins under his Savate shoe in the vital regions. “Because good kids shouldn't do what I'm about to do. Got it?”

“What's going on? Lambo-kun? I-Pin-chan?” Nana called from within the house. One of the bodies stirred.

“Don't kill them,” Tsuna pleaded as he herded the children into the house. It was routine procedure for the twins: Tsuna got hurt, or found himself in danger, and Ietsuna would take disproportionate measures to protect his brother. Tsuna would plead for mercy, but unless he forcibly asserted himself, Ietsuna would tune out his brother, mind already whirling with ideas.

Someday, the minuscule amounts of guilt that Tsuna harboured due to his brother’s actions would catch up to him all at once, and Ietsuna would be unable to do anything to help him.

Ietsuna simply smirked back, watching Tsuna and the kids retreat to safety. Turning around to face his unfortunate victims, Ietsuna was a different boy. He gently released his foot from the vital regions he was crushing.

“Who sent you?”

“V- Verde-sama...” the man gibbered.

Before Ietsuna could get more than a name, he was interrupted by a rich, cultured baritone.

“Enough.”

Ietsuna pivoted slightly, tracing the origin of the voice to a small figure standing on the edge of the yard. It was a bespectacled baby with a shock of green hair and a large viridian pacifier wrapped in chains. Beside him, a caiman yawned, showing off its intimidating rows of sharp teeth. The stranger was also accompanied by a more familiar face.

Taking off his helmet, Skull leapt up in greeting, purple eyes curved with the force of his smile.

“Good morning, Skull-san,” Ietsuna dropped the two formerly invisible assassins in front of his guests. “You must be Verde.”

“Ietsuna-san!” Skull leapt up, and Ietsuna caught him with ease, putting the Arcobaleno on his shoulder.

“How unexpected,” Verde’s incongruously mature voice let out. “I had devised their invisibility suits to fail against anyone under a certain age. Yet, you rendered it irrelevant by exploiting the fact that, however invisible, one cannot change the truth of their existence. An exceedingly elegant solution. It’s a shame that you are Reborn's student-”

Wordlessly, Ietsuna turned to Skull. “I can hit him, right? I can, right?”

“No, Ietsuna-san!” Skull squeaked out in alarm, arms flailing as he tried to keep his perch on Ietsuna’s shoulder. “Verde-sempai, Reborn-sempai tried to kill him! He's not Reborn-sempai's student!”

Verde – and yes, this was Verde, as confirmed by Skull – simply blinked.

“Thank you for coming all this way, Verde-sensei,” Ietsuna politely stated. “I would invite you for tea, but you don't look like the type to observe social niceties.”

“How very astute of you,” Verde crisply retorted. “I came all the way here because this idiot said that you had a way to break this curse. I see that this idiot can't be-”

Ietsuna moved faster than either Arcobaleno could track, arms turning deadly cold. His inverted flames made contact with Verde’s skin, rapidly spreading around the small body to form a cocoon of ice.

“I- Ietsuna-san!” Skull screamed when the Verde-sicle was dropped onto him.

“This type of guy, talking gets us nowhere. It's best to just show him what I can do and discuss the specifics afterwards,” Ietsuna responded dismissively. Already the ice was beginning to crack and flake, and the crocodile that had been unfortunately caught in the attack began struggling. “Oh, sorry, Mr Caiman.”

“H- How did you know Keiman's name?” Skull asked, completely astonished, as if accurately guessing the name of an animal was a greater feat than temporarily return the Arcobaleno to their un-cursed state. “H- Have you met Verde-sempai's alligator before?!”

“I thought he was a caiman,”⁴ Ietsuna frowned at the crocodile. “So he's an alligator... he really doesn't look like one, does he?”

“I- I see...”

“By the way, Skull-san, why were assassins sent to my house?” Ietsuna's smile unfurled, and made the Arcobaleno cringe again. “Or do you not know anything?”

“I- I didn't know, sorry!”

“That’s alright, then,” Ietsuna’s death glare lessened a bit in intensity, only to surge back when the ice broken completely, bathing the yard in blinding green light. “How do you feel, Verde-san?”

“I don't know whether to praise you or kick Skull,” Verde groaned, adjusting his currently adult-sized glasses, struggling out of the cocoon of solid ice. “Perhaps this computer network theory Skull was babbling about has more merit than I originally judged.”

“I have to go shower and then entertain Reborn and the others,” Ietsuna warned. Ietsuna objected. “Reborn doesn’t know anything about this, and I’d prefer for it to stay that way.”

“But wouldn't Reborn support this?” Verde pointed out logically. After Verde himself, Reborn had been hit the hardest by the curse, and had railed hopelessly against this weak form.

“Probably. But I think he deserves to work for it. I’m not going to make it easy for him. In fact,” Ietsuna smiled again. “I’m going to blackmail every single piece of knowledge out of him and wring him dry first~”

“I- Ietsuna-san, that's going overboard!!!” Skull whimpered. “By the way, turn me back!”

“I see,” Verde smirked as Skull was frozen by Ietsuna's direct touch. “You hate Reborn too... normally I wouldn't care to involve myself into such plebeian affairs, but any chance to torment Reborn is rare enough. Fine, I'll agree to this... alliance. But, do not think this means that I am your ally. I don't associate with people of lower intelligence.”

“You... don't have any friends, do you?” Ietsuna stated bluntly, then rolled his eyes. “My name is Sawada Ietsuna, one of the twin heirs of the Vongola.”

“I am Verde, the Lightning Arcobaleno. That is all you need to know.”

“Heh,” Ietsuna agreed as Skull broke out of the small ice cocoon, already transformed. “By the way, can you analyse this ice? If this was created using the Zero Point Breakthrough, we can prove that Dying Will Flames are constantly diverted through the Pacifiers. Then it’ll be easier to establish if the curse is really like a giant server network.”

“Ah,” Verde gave a small smile. “I was thinking of the exact same thing. It looks like you have a modicum of intelligence with you.”

“I'm an artist,” Ietsuna replied. “Art, or science, aren't they both ways of observing this world and making sense of the chaos?”

“So... what do you think of science?”

“Science? It's... nature exposed to our method of questioning.” Ietsuna decided.

“And art?”

“Nature exposed to our copying.”

“You're not bad,” Verde smirked. Verde conceded. “But you are still a mere amoeba compared to me.”

“I can hit him, right? I can, right?” Ietsuna asked the now fully grown Skull.

“No, Ietsuna-san!” Skull cried out, and launched himself out of the cocoon of ice to bodily tackle Ietsuna before a hard fist made contact with an even harder head.

“Ah, Tsuna! Ietsuna!”

“Good afternoon, Yamamoto-kun,” Tsuna greeted for the two of them, since Ietsuna was still glancing at an orange cellphone.

“Yamamoto,” was his absent reply.

“I'm so glad to see you!” Yamamoto beamed, cradling a stack of wrapped jūbako. “I'm running a delivery right now for a break. And you guys?”

“We just left the hospital,” Tsuna answered. “A... relative of ours was there.”

“Oh? You should have stopped by my old man's place first!” Yamamoto grinned.

“That's true,” Tsuna nodded, before he stopped. “Ah- um, er...”

“Ask him for his number, idiot,” Ietsuna sighed, holding up the phone. “Yamamoto, because Tsuna keeps getting into danger without us, I've bought a phone for him. Put in your number.”

“I- Ie!” Tsuna stuttered. “Y- You didn't have to- and the phone plan-”

“Don't worry,” Ietsuna drawled. “I used Iemitsu's card to pay for your unlimited, very expensive plan.”

“That doesn't make me feel better – wait, yes it does,” Tsuna said thoughtfully. “Okay, Yamamoto-kun, please put your phone number into my cell phone!”

“Haha!” Yamamoto grinned as he typed in his contact details. “OK! Man, a cellphone must be handy...”

Yamamoto nodded after a while, handing back the phone to Tsuna. “Gokudera has a cellphone number too, right?”

“I've already keyed in his details,” Ietsuna dismissed. “Mine, and the house phone, and the Disciplinary Committee's details. I'm obviously number one on speed-dial.”

“I don't even need a cellphone, Ie,” Tsuna complained.

“Yes, that's why a Gala-phone is enough for you,” Ietsuna pointed out⁵. “But, this phone has GPS. So you can't lose it, or forget to charge it, or- well, it won't stop anyone, but if anyone tries anything with me or vice versa... we can reach each other immediately.”

“...oh,” Tsuna caught on. “Of course! And Yamamoto too, right?”

“Yeah,” Yamamoto smiled. “Ne, Tsuna... do you remember when I met you guys? I'm bad at school, and baseball is my life... I was at rock bottom. I asked you guys...”

“Sure! Ie can do a magical spell!” Tsuna recalled the old words that must have enchanted Yamamoto.

“But I was surprised!” Yamamoto grinned. “I didn't expect Ietsuna to paint my nails in the school colours! You guys could open up a nail salon together!”

“Eheheh...” Tsuna blushed.

“But it took the whole day, and I had to skip practice because the Disciplinary Committee was excavating for something, and several reasons piled up to replace all the bats,” Yamamoto reflected. “I really didn't know what was up, but my batting average was going up again! I was doing really well, and I didn't even know it.”

The twins exchanged looks.

“The nail polish might not really be a magical spell to recover the body or whatever,” Yamamoto nodded, now completely serious, “but... you guys were there for the worst part of my life, and you guys left quietly.”

“Well,” Ietsuna shrugged. “I just said that if you continued, you'd strain your arm even more while using heavier bats, and then Tsuna said we should intervene. And, why the hell were you surprised, Yamamoto?! I'm an artist!”

“Ie, enough.” Tsuna was always the more emotionally adept twin. “Yamamoto-kun, we didn't really... do anything... the bats were due for replacement and Ie dug up some extra money anyway... but thank you for your gratitude. It's just our jobs in the Disciplinary Committee-”

“So! I don't want to be left behind.” Yamamoto declared. “In school, your birthdays, even this Mafia game-”

He still thinks this is a game?!!! “Uhm, Yamamoto-”

“-I will protect you this time, Tsuna!” Yamamoto beamed, as if he were the valiant knight in shining armor and Tsuna was the damsel in distress, whether or not he was wearing a dress.

“Uh... thanks...?”

“Tsuna, we gotta go,” Ietsuna tapped his watch.

“Ah! Sorry, Yamamoto-”

“Ah! I gotta deliver this sushi!”

“You idiot!” Ietsuna's eyes narrowed. “Yamamoto, you'd better win the next time you meet that long-haired Yankee! Or else...”

“Or else what?” Yamamoto asked.

“Or else I'll tell Hibari that before your manicure- I mean, hand maintenance last year, Tsuna was massaging lotion into your hands and you had this stupid expression on your face-”

“I did not!” Yamamoto protested immediately, then blinked. “Uh...”

“Stupid expression?” Tsuna blinked. “Er-”

“It's to do with that missing cushion that we didn't replace until autumn,” Ietsuna reminded him.

“Eh? Yamamoto, you stole from the Disciplinary Committee-?”

“It was a bet!” Yamamoto retorted, running after the twins, who had already began jogging, lest they arrive late.

“Liar!” Ietsuna yelled back. “By the way, why are you running after us?!”

“Ah, such good timing. Takeshi, was it? You came here with Tsu-chan and Na-chan?”

“Ah, bird-baasan!” Yamamoto greeted. “Old Man said that this is on your tab, so it's all covered. You know the twins?”

“Na-chan is my student,” Alouette nodded, having been waiting for them at the base of Death Mountain. In her hand was a copy of the Weekly Shōnen Jump. “Tsu-chan will be my grandson-in-law.”

Suddenly, Yamamoto's grin became slightly fixed. “E- Eh?”

“Nothing's fixed yet, alas,” Alouette sniffed, as if she could single-handedly convince the Japanese government to legalize same-sex marriage in order to make this wish of hers, one that had started as a joke and cascaded into a long-term goal, come true, “but I call dibs!”

“Eh? Why?”

“But Tsu-chan has a pretty face and a kind heart, he can tolerate my grandson for over two hours at a time, and he looks like he’d be great in b-”

“AHAHAHA, Alouette-san, that’s enough!” Tsuna cut in nervously.

“By the way, Maître,” Ietsuna's veins popped on his temple. “Why are you carrying a Jump with you? Why did you order sushi take-out at a mountain? Are you conducting momijigari?”⁶

Alouette's hand whacked down, and Ietsuna became very acquainted with a familiar flaming-headed protagonist of another shōnen manga running on Jump . Since Jump was also the size of a phone book – consistently topping out at over five hundred pages in a weekly edition – Ietsuna was faced with what amounted to a reasonably large block of soft wood on his head.

“Ie!” Tsuna lamented. “Alouette-san, hitting people with Jump is too violent! Especially with people of your clan!”

“No, I just thought this guy was too angry,” Alouette pointed to the cover.

“Liar!” Ietsuna accused.

“B- But, I'm surprised,” Tsuna flailed to continue the conversation. “I didn't expect Alouette-san to like shōnen manga...”

“I got it for Gintama at first,” Alouette confessed. “But D. Gray-man looks good too... and there's a manga about a no-good boy. Well, he'll grow into a cute lad. I prefer good-looking ones.”

“Oh no,” Ietsuna's face turned to one of horror. “Bishōnen Jump Syndrome is here!”

“Hey, I’m going to supervising little baby Reborn-chan when he trains you guys today. Hey, footstool, no moving!”

Alouette’s harsh command brought to the attention of the twins what exactly her footstool was made of.

Alouette was lounging on the sidelines like a queen, or better yet, a battlefield general who had succeeded in destroying the enemy and was now indulging in her spoils of war on a foldable chair. Her legs were stretched out to rest on an uneven surface that kept twitching, and she would kick at it every now and then in warning. Iemitsu was not a happy man, as he was reduced to a human footstool by a scary and powerful old woman. But even idiots can learn lessons, and Vongola’s chief external advisor – “Not for long,” Timoteo had warned – had one large bruise that covered the span of his back and a closed mouth to prove it.

“Do your best, Tsu-chan~!”

“Thou hast a formidable ally on thy side, Sawada-dono,” Basil admitted, standing opposite Tsuna. “To use my Master as a footstool... what manner of monster the Mauviette must be.”

“Tsuna!” Iemitsu gasped out suddenly. “Help me!”

Tsuna froze. His eyes flickered between the kneeling man and the baby hitman standing a cautious distance away from the twins, and his face hardened as if his resolve had become certain.

“Grow up.” Tsuna said softly, before turning his back to the man.

In front of him, Reborn stood, holding up a gun pointed at Tsuna’s head.

Reborn’s grip and aim were steady, but his eyes were a torrent of emotion. Tsuna's words of a few hours before reverberating in his head:

“I... I don't care about the Vongola. I care about my friends, and my brother Ie, whom you've dragged down into this.

“So I’ll give you a single warning: if you make one move on any of them, if you target my brother or decide to kill Yamamoto or ever hurt any of the others, I will live only to make sure you live to regret it.

“I will become Vongola Decimo, since it seems to be the only way to protect everyone I care about. Then... I will destroy the Vongola even if I have to die!”

Tsuna had burned with determination and resolve, and unfortunately for Reborn, Primo’s legendary Dying Will had turned against him.

“I know. And I- I apologise.”

“For what? For trying to kill my twin brother? For trying to tear my family apart?”

“All-all of it.”

“…thank you. I accept your apology, even if I know you don’t mean a single word of it.”

“Don’t dodge, Tsuna!” Ie called out playfully beside Alouette. “Or I’ll tell Hibari.”

The Dying Will Bullet exploded out of the chamber and Tsuna stood, unflinching, eyes never leaving Reborn’s. Tsuna's head snapped and lolled back. On the sidelines, Ietsuna gave a full-body shudder, and Reborn caught the movement from the corner of his eye, already moving towards his former target without even realizing it. Only Alouette’s pointed presence and the need to teach Tsuna kept Reborn from making the easiest shot in the world.

Instead, Reborn turned his body back and watched in fascination as orange-gold flames crawled their way sinuously around Tsuna’s body. The atmosphere suddenly felt heavy and primed, and Reborn suddenly and instinctively knew that Tsuna in Dying Will – no, Hyper Dying Will – mode would be quite the predator to contend with.

Tsuna straightened, his narrowed eyes gold. Basil swallowed two pills, the blue Flame bursting out onto his forehead at the same time he brandished his edged weapon. “Sawada-dono, I'm- what are you doing?”

Like a lion scenting weak prey, Tsuna slowly straightened. His unnerving golden eyes narrowed onto Basil’s form as he raised his gloved hands, forming orange Flames over his palms. Reborn blinked at the unexpected move, but when those orange spheres of flame turned into blinding stars once more, dread and apprehension made themselves known.

Iemitsu blinked, moving from his position towards Reborn and earning himself a kick. “What-”

Reborn simply pulled Iemitsu down, sheltering them behind a rock. Alouette just smirked and watched.

The stars converged, turning into a single ball. A simple tilt of his head launched it towards Basil’s frozen figure. Ietsuna immediately leapt into action, tackling Basil out of the way moments before the Flames hit the ground under Basil’s feet.

Everything burned into black ash, the blue sky now obscured by the heavy smoke rising. The conflagration burned, charring the ground where it touched and leaping into the skies.

“Oi, Tsuna,” Ietsuna drawled within the explosion. “That was a bit overpowered, wasn’t it? I thought you were trying to kill Iemitsu, not Basil.”

“Hey-” Iemitsu’s indignant voice was harshly silenced by Reborn’s tiny foot digging into the base of his neck.

“W- What is that?” Basil staggered back away from the devastation. “What sort of Dying Will- Ah, erm, you have my thanks, Ietsuna-dono. Um, you can put me down now?”

Ietsuna had caught Basil’s fall, scooping him up bridal-style, and set the boy gently on his feet.

“That wasn’t meant for you,” Ietsuna said to Basil. “But, Tsuna’s ready now, so-”

“What-” Basil's eyes widened as Ietsuna caught a flaming fist, the orange enveloped in frost before Tsuna drew back, gold eyes narrowed and warming.

Basil dodged when Tsuna launched himself towards his brother, only to be parried by bare fists that froze the orange flames. Tsuna drew back, gold eyes narrowed and calculating. Chips of ice fell off his fists, thudding upon the charred ground.

“Risky move, brother,” Ietsuna commented, amber eyes unflinchingly staring back at Tsuna. “But you’re improving.”

“...thank you,” Tsuna spoke tonelessly.

“No problem. Try not to kill Basil again, or we'll need to punch the old man as training, and Basil doesn't deserve that.”

Ietsuna moved out of the way, and watched as the pair exchanged fistfuls of flames. Basil’s Rain Flames were doing their work, calming the suppressed volcano of rage that was Tsuna unleashed and unbound.

“W- What was that?” Iemitsu gaped, discarding the dimwitted act for pure shock as he stared at the sky. “That’s a mushroom cloud!”

“I told the Ninth what happened when Kokuyo burned,” Reborn said in annoyance. “Didn't you read the report?”

“You said that he burned down a building! Not that he created an explosion out of thin air on par with a supernova!” Iemitsu shrilled. “Dying Will Flames are powerful, but they’re not comparable to forces of nature! This- this- it’s not human! How...?!”

“It's obvious,” Reborn turned towards Alouette. “You must have realised it, Mauviette.”

Alouette smirked. However, at that moment, another explosion occurred that caused the adults to look.

Basil was good. For his youth, he had been trained by the best in CEDEF, personally covered by the Vongola's Young Lion. His skill was honed from dedicated practice and direction.

Tsuna... Tsuna, while in Namimori's Disciplinary Committee, was not one of its best fighters. While proficient in dodging, Tsuna had never truly needed to fight for his life, as someone hovering between civilian and the local law enforcement.

Tsuna had very little practice compared to Basil, or combat experience, or even focused power. And yet... what Tsuna had in spades, and Basil lacked... what even Ietsuna lacked...

“He has quite a bit of spatial awareness,” Alouette commented. “You taught him, Na-chan?”

“Yeah,” Ietsuna drawled fondly. “I taught Tsuna the resolve to seek help. And, since we were on footwork training then, I taught him a few steps. He's good enough a traceur.”

“Parkour?” Reborn spoke.

“To dodge. Tsuna is good enough to dodge your grandson in a small, enclosed space and get out using all obstacles. That requires precision that's probably even better than mine.”

Yes, Tsuna rained down precise blows, unrelenting in speed or power. He might not have Basil's stamina, but Basil was already panting from two punches into sensitive parts of his ribs, and Tsuna had yet to get hit. Basil's Ran Flames lashed out, light blue clashing with orange to fan back to its cringing caster.

“Oh no!”

Tsuna's gloved fingers fanned out. By the sidelines, Ietsuna shuddered, a bead of inky black trailing across his brow before it faded.

Iemitsu cried out, glancing between the two, but the blue and orange had retreated. A morbidly beautiful fractal of eternal ice crashed into the ground where the Flames had been. Once again, Iemitsu had the unnerving thought that maybe, neither of his boys were truly human. People had said that Giotto, the founder of Vongola, had been blessed by the Palici before⁷. Looking at Tsuna's form surrounded in orange sparks, and Ietsuna surrounded by vaporous night, it sure seemed like the pair had been divinely gifted.

“Did you know?” Alouette nonchalantly clicked her tongue. “The Dioscuri twins were the sons of the sky god, Zeus.”

“What was that attack just now?” Basil panted out, already half in awe at the power one of the twins showcased.

“Compression of energy into a single target,” Tsuna's monotone echoed across the mountain as he dived for Basil's legs, the boy only just barely leaping up in time to receive a blast, thankfully less intense than the fallen stars, into a tree. “All heat energy spread from that point.”

Ietsuna exhaled gently as the black flame faded. “What was that...?”

“Alouette, gentille alouette-” Iemitsu got hit with the Jump. “Ow!”

“Only I can sing that,” Alouette warned, casting an eye towards Ietsuna, who was slumped by the sidelines, still watching Tsuna and Basil debate and talk.

“Old bird, why did you help him steal my signature for the adoption?” Iemitsu asked suddenly.

He received the Jump to his head again for the question. “I thought Timoteo was exaggerating when he spoke about the size of your ego, but now I see the truth,” Alouette absently commented. Iemitsu received yet another smack on the head. “Don't ask questions to which you already know the answer.”

“It’s going to be hard for Tsuna,” Iemitsu protested. “He’s a civilian, born and raised. He lacks the ruthlessness and manly aura that makes a good boss-”

“You threw him into this mess,” Alouette commented. “I offer to adopt Tsu-chan out of the goodness of my heart to spare him, but you kicked up a huge fuss and he refused. Make up your mind, boy! Either Tsu-chan is fit to be Decimo or he’s not. That’s all there is to it.”

“Adopt?!?” Iemitsu repeated incredulously. “You just want a cute grandson who cooks for you! Ha, I was right! You want an indentured servant! Well, what kind of father would I be to do that to my son?”

“Indeed,” Alouette smirked. “What kind of father would you be to try to assassinate one son and sacrifice the other to the Mafia, just so your precious Vongola will survive another generation? Have you thought about what would happen afterwards? Tsu-chan probably isn’t going to have any biological children any time soon, and good luck with finding a willing wife for Na-chan! Vongola’s blood has run its course and only idiots like you are unwilling to accept it.”

But she forgot that she was talking to an idiot blockhead who only listened to what he wanted and discarded the rest.

“Is an old hag like you even supposed to-” Iemitsu choked as Alouette used the Savate codified groin attack on him.

“I'm still in my young sixties, idiot cub,” Alouette warned, now flipping through her Jump again since Iemitsu was in a heap on the ground. “And, about my plans for your cute, cute son... heheheh-”

“AHH! The Mauviette is going to eat the Vongola heir!” Iemitsu screamed towards Reborn.

Alouette lifted her foot to kick him, but her cellphone vibrated. “Huh, I can still get reception... oh. Na-chan, did you buy Tsu-chan a phone?”

“Er, yes,” Ietsuna nodded, watching his brother execute a suplex that kicked up a few dust clouds, only for Basil to kick his way out. “Why?”

“Did you send a picture through it to Kyoya?”

“Uh, yeah.”

Alouette lifted her phone to reveal Tsuna in a black-and-white frilly maid outfit, hands out in a thumbs-and-pointers-together gesture. Her grey eyes had somehow turned to stars. “Good job. But... why did you send it to so many people too?”

“Oops... wrong test picture...”

Below the hill, Shamal was praying to the god of the stone boulders by slamming his head into it repeatedly. “How-” slam “-is-” slam “-a boy-” slam “-prettier-” slam “-than a girl?!?”

Gokudera would have stopped him, but the multimedia message that was the cause of the pair's sudden insanity was still before him. Gokudera's pale skin coloured, and red dripped down his nose. “Tenth...”

In Vendicare, the home of the Vindice, the guards stared. Their prisoner was giggling in his water-filled tank. Blood was spewing from his nose and staining the water a faint reddish-brown.

“Nosebleed...?” one of the faceless guards commented.

“He looks happy...” another dismissed. “Pervert.”

In Namimori, Chrome held onto her nose to stem the blood. Boss was very c-cute...

Said boss limped to the side, the two boys staggering over. “I think... this could work,” Tsuna mumbled.

“What are thoust beholding-” Basil turned a fiery red upon laying eyes on the picture of Tsuna in a frilly maid outfit. “M- Madame!”

“Kyoya sent a message to do a good job, Tsu-chan,” Alouette told him.

“Oh?” Tsuna brightened. “Hibari-san must be training really hard with Dino-sempai now. He's so cool, and kind when he wants to. He's the best chairperson in Namimori!”

Somewhere in Japan, Hibari smirked as Dino fainted, prompting Romano to wail about his Boss getting back together. His expression might be considered fond, if viewed through a kaleidoscope, but mostly it just looked like the skylark had his sights locked... while also holding onto a bloody nose.

From: Hibari Kyoya (c.c.)
To: Sawada Tsunayoshi
Time: 05;43 PM, 17 Oct 2005

Why did you send it to so many people? Little animal, I will bite you to death if you do not protect the peace of Namimori while I am gone. 

From: http://static.zerochan.net/Katekyo.Hitman.REBORN%21.full.280882.jpg

“Mammon sent a message that the Varia are coming back,” Ietsuna announced into the gloom of Verde’s temporary laboratory that had been built and completed in impossibly fast speeds. Somehow all of this and been accomplished after training, after he had dropped Tsuna back at the house, and set Lambo and I-Pin to scribble with his old oil pastels before coming out here. The sun was setting; orange sunlight spilled in through blinders stationed in the four walls of the warehouse apartment, most of the furniture and notes and apparatus scattered at child height or on the floor.

“How inconvenient,” Verde flippantly retorted as he filled the apparatus with coolant, aiming a CO₂ laser towards a piece of metal. By the side, the remnants of the two cocoons stood, one of them with an ice pick jabbed into them.

All three people present – with an octopus and an alligator – flipped down safety goggles before Verde pushed two buttons. A beam of light bathed the piece. It glowed red before a hole was punched through.

“This is the control used,” Verde stopped the experiment and swapped out the metal carefully with tongs, for a piece of eternal ice the size of a human thumbnail. “Now observe.”

The experiment was repeated. The ice resisted, turning black for that brief moment. The laser was switched off. The ice remained as pristine as it had been.

“Interesting,” Verde pronounced, adjusting his glasses on his nose. “Now, this-”

An abrupt pause, and Verde blinked as he turned back into a baby. “What the?”

“M- Me too!” Skull exclaimed, wiggling his now-small hands.

“But, we have a frame of time,” Ietsuna reasoned. “Skull-san, when I turned Mammon and you back, it was sunrise. It's sunset now. And the first time in Mafia Land, you said that you turned back at sunrise too!”

“Hmm... if that is true, then we need to repeat the experiment right now, bo- young Vongola,” Verde noted.

“I'm not Vongola,” Ietsuna denied. “That's my twin, much as I dislike it. Just Ietsuna is fine, Verde-sensei.”

“Sensei?” Verde cocked his head.

“Skull-san is probably not the combat type, and Mammon-san is busy distracting the Varia, so you're my main patron for safety,” Ietsuna reasoned. “Am I wrong?”

“Don't be an idiot,” Verde snapped. “When you compare the fighting power of a warrior and a scientist, even a child knows which is stronger.”

“Socrates and Plato were wrestlers and soldiers,” Ietsuna pointed out. “You're one of the World's Strongest Seven, too.”

“Hmm,” Verde hummed. “Does Reborn know where you are?”

“I told Jii-san and my brother everything,” Ietsuna replied. “Reborn is currently sticking to Tsuna like glue, and Dad's been told to take Kaa-san for a... small honeymoon. Tsuna's probably trying to manage everyone at dinner now.”

“Ietsuna-san!” Skull whined.

“Yes, yes.”

Verde watched as ice covered the Arcobaleno again. “Why are you helping us?”

“I didn't want to become part of the Mafia in the first place,” Ietsuna nodded as Skull broke out of the ice, an adult once more. “And... I don't feel much of an attachment to this world. This world is cold, heartless, and indifferent, much like I find myself. It's the same for you guys too, right?”

“That's the first time anyone's said something so nice to me!” Skull burst into tears.

“How naïve,” Verde muttered seconds before been unceremoniously frozen once more.

“-.-* I can hit him, right? I can, right?”

“Ietsuna-san!” Skull was putting his new size to good use by preventing the Lightning Arcobaleno from being murdered.

“Anyway,” Ietsuna spoke once Verde had also been frozen and broken out, carrying the Pacifier in his hand. “How the hell did you guys get cursed?”

“It was the man with the iron hat...” Verde began reluctantly. It was a tale that he’d never told in its complete form.

“...so,” Ietsuna finished after a long explanation, “A mysterious guy with an iron hat lured you to a place, where there was a light, and then you guys were turned into this. And you haven't aged. At all.”

“We're walking out of time, yes,” Verde confirmed. “So we cannot age.”

“Talk about a chicken and egg problem,” Ietsuna sighed. “But, the solution here lies in the nature of that mysterious light, and the Zero Point Breakthrough. The Tri-Ni-Sette is, a device that guides the growth and development of life on Earth, while maintaining a balance of its life force. In short, it regulates all life, like a giant computer.”

“If the Mare and the Vongola Rings are defined as stationary terminals that dictate one axiom of the world, and we define those two sets as separate clients, the Arcobaleno must be the servers running on dedicated hardware,” Ietsuna continued. “As the World's Strongest Seven in several different fields, few could beat you individually or in a group. You can cover each other’s weaknesses. Of course, that would mean that those Pacifiers are running their own algorithms to maintain the Tri-Ni-Sette, and power in the form of Dying Will Flames are taken from the hosts. For some reason, you guys are turned into babies for some reason. Following this model, freezing via the Zero Point Breakthrough stops the processing and returns the Dying Will Flames to their original owner, which creates a temporary break.”

”But that doesn't explain how the Pacifiers glow when we're next to each other,” Verde pointed out.

“It's a self-defence mechanism,” Ietsuna replied. “Within the Arcobaleno, there are surely people who hate and want to kill each other too. Since the Arcobaleno are also amongst the world's strongest, they could destroy the Pacifiers. It's presumably not in the interest of the world to do so.”

“That makes sense,” Verde nodded. “We've all mostly kept our distances... from each other.”

“Some more than most,” Skull added. “It was really hard finding you, Verde!”

“Hmph,” Verde dismissed. “Luck really favours the idiots.”

“O- Oi!”

“No,” Ietsuna disagreed. “Fortune favours the bold. took on the risk of finding me, even knowing that it was probably I would kill him, or refuse to help. But he found me anyway. That’s the kind of person that makes this world bearable. I don't hate those types of people.”

“Ietsuna-san~!”

“My ears are ringing, shut up.”

“Fortune, is it?” A trace of distaste coloured his tone. “She believed in fate, too. That's why she betrayed us.”

“Who?”

“Luce. Our leader,” Verde sighed in both regret and nostalgia. “She could see glimpses of the future, but she never told us about her visions. Just that they were sad. She knew our fate and she did nothing to stop it.”

“...I don't know,” Ietsuna thoughtfully considered it. “The seven of you were gathered together and given the title of the Strongest of your generation. You prided yourself on your abilities, and in doing so, became easy targets for the man in the iron hat. You could say that it wasn’t fate, but pride, that resulted in your curse. You were all so confident and so powerful, that anything that would confirm that would be taken at face value. That man, he played you like violins.”

Ietsuna smiled. “Being so powerful and yet so obligated... So this is how Hibari feels when he just wants to drift all over the place.”

“You do know that I'm just using you, right?” Verde asked.

“We're just using each other, yes,” Ietsuna agreed. “But that also means that, until this is done, we won't betray each other, right? This is mutual trust. Or rather, mutually assured destruction.”

“What a strange boy...” Verde murmured to himself, as the corners of his mouth turned up. “Until the end of this partnership, then.”

“Yes, Verde-sensei.”

There was a storm a week later, on the night the Varia came to Namimori. The clouds themselves heralded the setting of the sun, streaks of orangey red painting Namimori in anticipation of the yet to come. Xanxus himself led the Varia onto the campus of Namimori Middle School, but his confident stride faltered at the scene before him.

“Xanxus,” Timoteo evenly greeted them from his wheelchair, held by a girl in shirt and pleated skirt.

“Old man...” the Varia boss snarled back.

“My thanks for rescuing my son, Squalo,” Timoteo said sincerely.

“VOOOOOOII! What are you talking about?” Squalo spluttered.

Timoteo ignored him, turning back to his son. “Xanxus, of all my boys, you were always the most determined.”

“Shut up, you shitty old man!” Xanxus retorted. “Don’t you dare call me that! I will be Decimo!”

“No, you were my son from the moment I laid eyes on you,” Timoteo refuted. “Blood shouldn’t matter, and for the most part it doesn’t. But in this case, well, this is beyond anything we know.”

“I don’t want to hear your excuses,” Xanxus growled, pulling out his guns. “No more talking. Will you fight me?”

“I’m an old man,” Timoteo said wearily. “This is for the young to fight now

“Ushishishi,” Belphegor giggled. “So, who will fight for the Ninth?”

“I'll leave my son in your care,” Timoteo spoke to his orderly.

“Yes, Jii-san.”

Xanxus took a closer look at the girl and found that he recognized her. He’d recognize those legs anywhere, that slim build, the fluffy brown hair… “You're... that girl!”

“You're... that scary man at the florist!” The brown-haired individual pointed back.

“Cute...~” Lussuria mused. And then his glasses broke when his eyeballs popped out. “Boss! That's not a girl! That's a BOY!”

…

…

…

“...erm, yes, I'm a boy...” Tsuna flailed. “I just... like it. It gives me confidence! What's wrong with that?!”

“Oh, he's so cute,” Lussuria cooed.

Belphegor started laughing maniacally, dragging Mammon down with him. “OH THAT'S RICH!!!!”

“VOI! It's not funny!” Squalo yelled at their Storm. “The idea that... the shitty Boss got fooled...”

“Boss!” Levi gamely tried to shake their Boss, who seemed to have turned into stone.

“That boy nearly fooled me,” Mammon commented. So that's the twin, Sawada Tsunayoshi... they're identical twins, but this guy is too damn fluffy!

“Xanxus?” Timoteo blinked. “Are you alright? Tsunayoshi-kun, I apologise. My son has always had difficulty in pursuing romantic relationships, but it seems like the Zero Point Breakthrough has made his awareness even worse. Why, I remember when Xanxus had a crush on this-”

“SHUT UP!” Xanxus screamed, his face red from embarrassment and literally burning an orangey-red that lit the compound of the school. “Don’t mock me in front of the girl of my dreams!“

“WHAT?! I'm a boy!” Tsuna shrieked as Timoteo turned blue with shock. At the edges of Namimori, Iemitsu choked, and Basil had to physically restrain the man from jumping in to slaughter Xanxus right there and then.

“Ah, he's back to normal-” Squalo cut off as the Varia Boss seemed imminent to explode with the bright Flames of Wrath. “Boss?”

“You-” Xanxus started, moving closer to a nervous Tsuna. “You really aren’t a girl?”

“Um, no?” Tsuna paused.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes!”

“Can I check?”

“NO!!!”

Timoteo face-palmed in second-hand embarrassment.

“VOOOII!” Squalo interrupted. “FOCUS, YOU IDIOT BOSS!”

“I AM!” Xanxus roared. “I AM FOCUSED, SHARK TRASH! Where was I now?”

“Stupid boss! You have the worst timing!” Squalo yelled back. “Just beat him up and take him back to headquarters with us!”

Xanxus blinked. “Right,” he muttered to himself. “I’ll beat her-him up and become Decimo! THE PROBLEM IS THAT YOU'RE IN THE WAY, RUNT! GET THEE TO A NUNNERY!”

“...eh?” Tsuna faintly eeped.

Timoteo really wished that he wasn’t a first-hand eye-witness to Xanxus’ horrible attempts at flirting.

“Boss...?” Levi's hands were outstretched, plaintive in their apparent desire to comfort the Boss's sudden-onset insanity.

“BURN!” Xanxus charged, guns akimbo to shoot at Tsuna.

The young to-be Boss hollered, but still managed to push Timoteo to the sidelines before a Flame caught on his forehead. Tsuna waltzed away, and certain Varia members ignored the pleated skirt waving at them from its position over certain slim hips since they were also ambushed by dynamite, swords, bare fists and a trishula, and a palette knife.

Ietsuna managed to get a kick in Xanxus' general direction, running away as Tsuna prepared to attack again, two spheres of burning orange in his hands-

-and then, the sky crumbled and the stars fell down with the lightning.

1 Spaghetti with clams, an Italian dish

Chapter Text

“Damn the shitty weather!” Gokudera screamed. It was partially ironic, since Gokudera was supposed to be the surging storm at the centre of every fight. However, the rain did bring one particular dilemma – the fuses used by Dunamis kept getting put out in the rain. “Dammit!”

“Extremely boxing in the rain!” At least one person was having fun...

“Oh~! This feeling of wetness and cold is my ideal!~ I'm right here, take this!” … and someone else was having fun too.

Gokudera dodged the knives being tossed at him.

“Ushishishi, why do I have to be paired with Levi?” The blond man with the tiara complained, still grinning madly. As if it didn't matter that Gokudera was supposed to take him down with the umbrella-wielding goat.

“Bwahahaha, Idiot-dera is being ignored!” Lambo laughed, or he would have if he wasn't fleeing from the large and heavyset Levi intent on skewering him. “Gyupaa! Save me!”

“Idiot!” Gokudera snarled, flinging one of the rare lit dynamite sticks. It exploded close to the ground, creating a column of billowing smoke while Gokudera pulled more explosives. “Now it's- wait, idiot cow! Don't come near me!”

“Gyupaa!”

“VOOII! This rain is getting to my boots!” The long-haired Yankee...

“Haha, it's not ideal weather for baseball either...” …and the baseball idiot, wonderful.

Having wheeled himself into the relative safety of the campus building, Timoteo just sighed and followed the wreckage towards the orange light. He passed through several corridors, towards the rain-soaked quadrangle where his son and his heirs duked it out, hesitating only as a stray shot made a crater near him. Grimly, the Ninth Boss of the Vongola watched, never taking his eyes away from the battle.

Watching, and hoping that things would be alright in the end.

“Where did that giant umbrella come from?” Hibari U commented beside her mother.

“Who knows,” Alouette nodded. “It was there when I woke up. My neck pillow was there when I woke up too. Come to think of it, things always appear when I need them the most. It's quite the mystery!”

“Is that so, Ma?” U replied non-committally to mask the thuds and the rustling leaves behind her. “Do you think it's Tsuna-kun? You did just leave the hospital, Ma.”

“That would be nice, but Tsu-chan has an alibi,” Alouette pouted. “I don't know how long more will my heart keep up. I want to see the wedding soon~”

“Ma, you saw my wedding.”

“Yes...” Alouette hummed. “I know you're safe, chérie. Kyoya is much more at risk than you are, from the fate of being alone.”

“At risk?”

“It is our commitment to discipline that defines us, so we cannot abandon it,” Alouette stated. “What happens... if we do? If there not a single goal or person throughout our whole life, U, that we would not commit ourselves to? Are there no boundaries that we would not cross; no laws we would not break; nothing that would stop us from throwing everything aside for?”

“It sounds like a promising proposition,” U agreed. “There is not a lot of space. Everything is so crowded. Just the other day, I threw a man down a building for crowding.”

Alouette clicked her tongue. “Such a mess. Did he deserve it?”

“Part of a human trafficking cabal. Still not an excuse for crowding.”

“I agree,” Alouette nodded, oblivious to the fighting going on in the storm behind her as a baby hitman with a red pacifier took out several Varia assassins – who were, it must be noted, fighting back with considerably less enthusiasm. “I am the last of a generation that has fought in war. These instincts that would not die... I comprehend them, as much as one skylark can understand another.”

The two women paused to glance as two figures rushed through the pouring rain, towards the school that was the epicentre of the terribly apt weather they were in.

“Was that Kyoya?” Alouette spoke over the pouring torrent.

“Yes, Ma.”

“Going to Tsu-chan?”

“It's either that or the battle, or because they are in his territory,” U guessed. “He will cut them to death.”

“Then that's alright,” Alouette relaxed, watching the storm rage. “No matter what happens, Tsu-chan will forgive him in the end. By the way... do you get the feeling that all the assassins are avoiding us? I wanted to cure my poor heart in battle.”

“How could they, Ma?” U commented as one assassin foamed in the mouth and fainted with a croak on the tree behind the giant umbrella marking their surveillance spot around Namimori. “It's not like they know that we're here.”

On the ground, a headset crackled. “Storm Squad's been taken out! Whatever it is, watch out! The Mauviette might be there!”

Unlike the other Guardians, whose preference in battle leant towards the physical, the Mists faced each other in the sheltered gymnasium within Namimori Middle. Outside amidst the wind and rain, the gym windows had been covered in spots of spidery frost and charred black.

“I was paid only to deal with one,” Mammon opened banter.

“Yes,” Chrome agreed. “But you are not earning your pay at the present.”

“But what are you even fighting for?” Chrome frowned, but Mammon ploughed on, “Even if he manages to win by a miracle, Sawada Tsunayoshi could never lead the Vongola Family. That boy will never belong to the darkness. The Vongola would turn on him. The world of the Mafia would ruin him.”

“I...” Chrome paused, frowning as she retraced the words she was about to speak. “That’s true. Boss is... very kind. Very kind, very pretty... and very reluctant to fight people for his own sake. Boss is too kind. Yet... he stood up for me. Mukuro-sama heard from Alouette-baasan… Boss begged Alouette-san to give us her protection, to find a place for us to belong.”

Chrome nodded to herself, confident in her thoughts, if not her words. “You are all trying to kill Boss and Ietsuna-san. This is... not a fight for the Vongola. This is for them to live.”

“...then it can't be helped,” Mammon concluded their joint trains of thought.

“No. It cannot be helped.” Her single violet eye gazed at Mammon calmly, from the frog, to the shadows of Mammon's hood. There was certainty there; a certainty born of simply knowing. Of having a roof over her head and maybe not always being full, but certainly being fed. Having someone to talk to, and watching Ken argue with the autocratic Alouette. Chikusa dutifully tallying the books for Ciel Art Supplies and Mukuro-sama reading with an amused smile in the same room. Boss and his smiles and concern over her, was she eating enough, how was her day. Alouette facing the faceless enforcers of the Mafia world, and very calmly organising the details of Mukuro-sama's incarceration over tea with a baby in bandages. A sudden visit from Alouette-baasan's grandson where a fight broke out, and it ended with Alouette-baasan breaking her sticks over their heads again.

Chrome might not be sure which was more terrifying, between the Vindice or Alouette Lei, but she was very certain of one thing: that this was her place, and the Varia were threatening it.

“Too bad,” Mammon clicked her tongue. “I'll just have to teach you a lesson...”

Mammon attacked before the words had ended. Tentacles burst from the hood, wrapping around Chrome to lift her off of her feet. There was a gasp-

“Where are you looking?” Chrome stood behind Mammon, the trishula lifted in a practised, fluid motion as her other hand went to her eye-patch. You're a girl, Chrome-chan... Well, your Mukuro-sama would love a powerful, devoted girl like you... but he'd love you with even more power.

“This is... my victory,” was Chrome's words as her eye-patch dropped. “Gandhari!”¹

Out in the rain, Lambo was crying. “It's cold! I'm hungry! I wanna go home!”

“Idiots!” Gokudera's yell this time managed to boom impressively over the thunder. “We're supposed to take these guys down fast and help the Tenth! That includes you, idiot cow! You can do whatever you like tomorrow, but tonight you will live!”

Lightning was crackling in the air around him, the child hitman surrounded by Parabolas crackling with electricity.

“No one can escape the Levi Volta,” Levi sneered. “I will end this charade.”

Gokudera flung a few dynamite. Some were cut down, but one Parabola fell in a spectacular explosion. “Run, idiot cow.”

“A- Ahodera?” Lambo stared.

“If you died, I can't face the Tenth,” Gokudera swallowed. “I have a better chance of fighting them here. Go!”

One day, you will have to return to the Bovino and leave everyone behind, the loud Papa had said, offering the shiny Ring. Lambo wasn't stupid; it was a recruitment. With the completed Ring, you can stay with everyone forever. It's going to be tough, though...

“I will win, for Boss!”

“Stupid umbrella goat!” Lambo yelled, flinging a grenade at him. “Lambo-san will get the Ring and be with everyone forever! Now die!”

“Idiot cow!” Gokudera yelled, choking as a wire tied to a knife cut him under the chin.

The grenade exploded, shards tearing through one Parabola that was quickly matched with the child hitman's own weight. Lambo cheered, tearing out of the electric dome before the lightning struck. “Bleh! Lambo-san is too fast!”

“Shut up,” Gokudera snapped, pushing his opponent back with another stick of dynamite. “Listen, stupid- wait, why am I talking about plans to you?”

“Let's go, Idiot-dera!” Lambo pulled at his silver locks. “Let's find Tsuna-nii and Ie-nii!”

“I want to, but that bastard laid traps on it!” Gokudera pointed to Belphegor, armed to the teeth with knives. “We'll be sliced to ribbons!”

“Gyaa!” Lambo burst into tears. “I'm out of fragmentation grenades!”

“Idiot, do you want to blow me up as well?!” Gokudera exclaimed. “Our weapons aren't that effective in the rain!”

“Ushishishi,” Belphegor sang. “Two little peasants, caught in the prince's trap. You can't escape.”

“Gyupaa, the umbrella goat is coming!” Lambo shouted. “Hurry up!”

“Shut up, idiot!” Gokudera scolded. “Why the hell am I paired with you! At this rate, how am I supposed to face the Tenth?!”

“You dare name that boy as the Tenth?!” Levi shouted. “And against us, the Varia, you leave us to face children?!”

“Don't worry,” Belphegor giggled. “You'll face your end very quickly, and we'll take the Rings from your corpses.”

Levi drew one of the closed Parabolas, sparks flying from the tip. Several small knives lined up behind Belphegor.

Lambo screamed, pulling a giant purple bazooka from his... hair. The bazooka landed with a thud, and Lambo leapt into it, screaming before the trigger was pulled and the bazooka exploded.

Both attacks were fired, green sparking along the hail of blades as they were embedded into the ground. “It's over,” Belphegor satisfactorily dismissed.

“...well, well,” a deep voice resounded lightly, trailing from a line of pink smoke emerging from within the explosion. Levi and Belphegor turned ninety degrees to face two forms; one of a winded Gokudera and the slim form of the fifteen-year-old Lambo with a cow-print shirt and one eye covered by straggly long bangs. The grown Lambo clicked his tongue, watching the rain overhead. “What are you doing, Gokudera-shi? This is terrible weather.”

“S- Stupid cow?!” Gokudera accused. “I don't want to hear that from you!”

“Another one?” Levi beckoned, the Parabolas reorienting themselves. “It won't make a difference.”

“It will,” the adult Lambo traced the horns on either side of his head with both hands. Overhead, thunder clapped, a ponderous sound like the wrath of the heavens. “You get one warning. Stand down.”

“Ushishishi,” Belphegor pulled three more knives. “You've got a big mouth, I'll give you that. I'll even give you a Glasgow smile with it.”

“By the way, have I introduced my horns?” Lambo continued, tracing the horns currently on his head out in a flat arc. “The left one is Europa, and the right one is Pasiphaë.”

“Who the hell cares?!” Gokudera raged. “Fight or get lost!”

Lambo waved aside Gokudera's yelling, rifling through his pockets. “Eh, where did I put it?”

“Big words!” Levi roared.

“Oi, idiot cow!” Gokudera yelled.

“Have you ever heard of the term 'railgun'?”

“Huh?”

“The idea behind it is the same as a linear motor train,” Belphegor commented. “Powerful electromagnets are used to fire a metal projectile.”

Lambo looked up from a book with a little nun on the cover. “Wow, almost word for word.”

“What are you reading at a time like this?!” Gokudera fretted as Lambo put the book away.

“Don't worry, Gokudera-shi,” Lambo shrugged, looking through his pockets again. “That person would definitely kill me if I lose.”

“I am Boss' Lightning Guardian!” Levi shouted. “I will make him Boss of the Vongola!”

“Like I care.” From his pocket, Lambo fished out a clunky-looking cowbell the size of his fingernail. “Oh, this is handy. And it won't open up copyright suits.”

“I don't know what the hell are you up to...” Belphegor trailed off as Lambo held up the cowbell.

On his head, the curved horns began sparking. “Thunder Set: Bo-ōpis!”

Lightning cascaded down, washing over Lambo's form and sparking over the named horns, Europa and Pasiphaë. Green flame leapt up and out, sparks travelling the length of the horns to spark out at the end like St Elmo's fire.² “In Greek mythology, they say that if two flames of St Elmo's fire appear, they are named Castor and Pollux. They are the guardians of voyagers, and aiders of mankind, one of the many stars immortalised... like this.”

Lambo flipped up the tiny cowbell. It spun a few times, before he flicked it. “Asterion!”

A green spear of light shot through one of Levi's hair spikes, a Parabola floating behind him, and hit the school entrance. Well, the term spear implied a finite length, and the lack of the use of light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation to shoot the projectile. It was technically accurate, even though the only reason it could be traced back to Lambo's middle finger was due to the after-image of light trailing from it, which he used to flick the cowbell. Noise rumbled in with a slight delay. A shock-wave tore through the air, causing Levi, Belphegor and Gokudera to stumble.

Gokudera looked behind Levi, swallowing at the line of earth and asphalt and steel and glass and concrete blown apart, even after travelling a thirty-metre path of utter destruction. A steaming luminescence was shrouded as raindrops fell down and began boiling off with a low, constantsizzle where it touched the entry point that dug straight through the façade of Namimori Middle School.

The green afterglow was still burning the air as Lambo set down his arm. It was accompanied with the smell of singed hair from Levi's direction.

“I just sent in my regular horns for maintenance,” Lambo commented, stroking Europa, and the sparks skittered into his hand as he produced one of Belphegor's fallen knives in his hand. “The only weapon I can use with these two is Asterion instead of my regular Elettrico Cornuta. And guess who was kind enough to leave so much ammo around.”

Gokudera stared. “The idiot cow... got smart?!”

Belphegor looked behind him, silently considering. “Stealing the prince's knives to use as ammo.... with a railgun, the projectile will shoot with supersonic muzzle velocity, until air friction vaporises it.”

Levi paused, considering Lambo for the first time with a new eye. He looked behind him, at the smoking crater, and then turned back-

Fifteen-year-old Lambo clapped a hand on either side of his head. Levi's nose met the time-travelling hitman's forehead, and that was only the start of the grapple-and-punch combination. The grown Lambo punched his opponent some more, using the chain from which the Lightning Ring hung to hold Levi's head in place. The chain broke on a solid rabbit punch, letting the Varia's Lightning slump down to his knees and met the ground solidly.

Belphegor attacked, but the knives kept moving towards the corkscrewing horns that Lambo wore, stuck helplessly along with the wires trailing from it. The princely assassin dropped both knives and wires as green shrouded them again and threatened to electrocute him.

Gokudera frowned. “...you've been hanging out with Ietsuna-sama way too much. Definitely.”

Lambo gave a bitter laugh as he turned on Belphegor.

“I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.” Lambo grinned at Belphegor; a grin that echoed Ietsuna’s worst traits of cruel apathy and practicality graced his face. Gokudera knew it, having been exposed to it in his first and only fight against Ietsuna. “Do. You?”

In answer, Belphegor drew more knives. “What use does the prince have for the stars, when he has the Storm to tear everything in his way down?”

Green as the sparks that lit Lambo's head, Lambo plucked off one of the attracted knives on Europa. “If you're a prince, then I'm the monster coming to kill you.”

Another flash of green light, and a smoking crater was opened into Namimori Middle School once again. Belphegor was nowhere to be found.

“He ran in!” Gokudera caught up to what had happened. “What the hell?! What was that?!”

“I... I copied it from a book,” Lambo laughed uneasily. “Well? Cool, right?!”

“W- What happened?” Gokudera asked.

“I adapted everything Ie- I mean, Master taught me!” Lambo eagerly imparted. “Master would be so happy at me!”

“Right...” Gokudera drawled, before another thought occurred to him. “Wait, the Ninth! And that guy's inside too! Come on!”

“Erm... if I go in, I'll blow the whole building,” Lambo shrugged.

“Fine, you stand here and guard the place. I'm going in.”

“W- Wait.”

“What?” Gokudera insisted.

“...you'll need remote detonators,” Lambo shrugged. “It didn't come from me, but in my experience, Master likes to bring down buildings.”

“...che,” Gokudera scoffed as the cow-print hitman handed him a pile of remote detonators. “...thanks.”

“Buona sera, sotto capo.”

Gokudera's tread echoed off the walls of Namimori Middle School as Lambo settled to let the rain wash over him.

“Why did I do that?” Lambo murmured to himself. “I completed the promise. I'll meet them again. So... why did I show off now? I... If I mess up the timeline... but I don't want this. I... I gained power, but what will I use it for?”

Inside the school, Gokudera stopped. “Wait. Sotto capo? So... I'm the Tenth's right hand? Wait, that stupid cow's in the Bovino, right? Or did we keep him in the Vongola? Ah, wait, doesn't this create a time paradox? Unless the Noikov self-consistency principle is in effect... or, this is a timey-wimey ball!”

“Ah, I don't know!” Gokudera hissed in the middle of another scuffle with Belphegor, this one with him rolling into a nearby home economics room.

His cellphone beeped. Gokudera read the message off the small screen without flipping it up:

From: Sawada Ietsuna
To: Gokudera Hayato
Time: 11: 44 PM, 24 Oct 2005

Need you to bring down the school and stop Xanxus from boxing Tsuna in. Will take over for you.
 

“The Tenth...” Gokudera relaxed, recalling Ietsuna's words. Nothing in this universe is more important than my brother...

“Yes... It doesn't matter. I'll reach it no matter what.”

The window outside broke into a solid pane, and Ietsuna heaved as he hauled himself, the pane of broken glass in his hand. One side of it was completely duct-taped. The Sawada twin shivered, sopping wet from the rain and doubtlessly cold. “You got remote bombs?”

Gokudera grinned, recalling the remote detonators as he stood up. “Yeah. Right now, the Tenth needs me. I'll leave him to you.”

“Three minutes. You're the brain of them all, so... I'm entrusting Tsuna to you, Gokudera Hayato.”

Gokudera tried not to fanboy on the way down. Really.

Her eye-patch securely wrapped over her right eye again, Chrome leant on her weapon for support as she slowly walked out of the gymnasium. Passing by an umbrella stand, she fished out an indigo umbrella, opening it to head out under the rainy skies, towards the baseball green. “Mukuro-sama? How did I do?”

When Sawada Ietsuna picks a battlefield, it usually means that he's going to destroy the whole place, dear Nagi. It is commendable only by how thorough a job he does. You did commendably, though our opponent was clearly holding back and reluctant to fight. That Gandhari curse must be truly terrible.

“I will wear this for Mukuro-sama,” Chrome replied. “Still... Ietsuna-san doesn't have so many explosives at his disposal... right?”

Between the Bovino and Gokudera Hayato?

“Ah,” Chrome nodded, hiding by the bleachers as a wave of muddy water narrowly missed her boots. “Oh!”

Chrome's exclamation was a fairly accurate descriptor. The power behind Superbi Squalo's diagonal slash was almost visible in the wet, muddy and flooded field the baseball green currently held, like a giant wave crashing down on the shore. Yet, the baseball ace, simply pivoting to parry with the force of his entire body. The ringing of blade against blade and the sharp screech of metal that drew up sparks of blue reigned on the field this night, as thunder rumbled overhead in a distant knell.

The catcher's box behind Yamamoto cracked, the wire fence shaking from the run-off shock wave. “That's a bit rude,” Yamamoto was smiling, albeit watching Squalo with caution as the older swordsman was sent stumbling back.

“He defended!” Chrome exclaimed.

Of course. His foot's on home plate.

Caught off guard, Chrome leant close to check, her visible eye widening. “He's... batting...?!”

Squalo glanced down, and then looked around, sword up despite his momentary reconnaissance of the field. “VOI! Are you fucking shitting me?!”

He's quite a natural hitman. If anything, his instincts could cover for his lack of skill and experience.

Yamamoto had shifted – like he was truly running for first base, earning him another infuriated yell from Squalo and a charge. His back fell behind, almost like Yamamoto had slipped and fallen, and his foot lashed out.

Squalo ducked mid-charge, rolling with the momentum and the muddy field to avoid the katana that had been calculatedly kicked at his direction. Getting up, Yamamoto had already reached first base, and the Shigure Kintoki was in his hands.

“Shigure Souen Ryū, third offensive form... Last Minute Rain,” Squalo gritted out, his face twitching as he clambered to his feet, the mud being washed out of his hair by the rain overhead. He swept his sword out, the water droplets falling from the blade invisible in the night. “So you study the Shigure Souen Ryū, eh?”

“Yep!” Yamamoto kept smiling. “You've heard of it?! That's great. My old man told me his style was flawless and invincible.”

The comment earned a snort. “It's not,” Squalo scoffed. “I beat it. The opponent I fought said the same thing, and he still lost. So will you, amateur.”

“Yeah, I might,” Yamamoto was surprisingly insouciant about his impending death. “I've still got a long way to go before I master it. And my opponent is you, the second-in-command. That bird-baasan said you guys were strong!”

“Bird-baasan?” Squalo echoed, with the uncertainty of someone actually realising that they were not, in fact, having the same conversation.

“Oh, she said to tell you guys, she wants the money for her walking stick sent to the Namimori Hospital.”

There was an explosion of green by the school building. Under the uncontrolled electricity, several floodlights came on, to illuminate an expression every teacher might have, when faced with the remarkable creature known as the Japanese obaa-san.

“Oi, are you alright?” Yamamoto paused in momentary concern. “She's just in the hospital, not dead. You guys didn't kill her or anything, alright?”

“...that woman survived World War Two, a fucking genocide, and three civil wars. It'll take more to kill her,” Squalo's face straightened. “You're the one about to die here!”

“I gotta work with what I have,” Yamamoto considered. “You know... Ietsuna said that you're probably the brains propelling the motivation. Since you had the sense to run away from Bird-baasan.”

Squalo considered the words carefully. It was an uncannily true assessment, which meant that the Mauviette had been singing about the Varia's defeat. Or the runt and his group knew the old crone, and that was a very distinct possibility. “What about it?”

“So, if this...” Yamamoto waved his hand, unable to communicate the sheer scale of the conflict in a word, “...didn't happen, then you threatening Tsuna ten days ago was simply business for you.”

“More or less,” Squalo admitted, and then glared at Yamamoto. “Is this vendetta? You've made it this far, I'll give you that. So, as a reward, I'll use my secret technique on you! Scontro di Squalo!”

The sky and water painted a fleeting, scattering rainbow as Squalo charged, waves of fine droplets – and mud – blown to the sides by the power of his many diagonal slashes. Lightning flashed overhead, the floodlights dying one by one, like heralding their advances. Only two floodlights were left, shining down on either side of Yamamoto.

I will protect you this time, Tsuna.

A roaring symphony manifested, somehow; the thunder rung a knell, more lightning flashed, and the rain was getting warmer and colder, if that was possible. Yamamoto found himself undisturbed, more balanced and focused than he had in years. He was exactly where he needed to be; right here, to fight this man, and then protect Tsuna.

The blade shone blue as it was pointed behind. A whirlwind of water kicked up, shielding its wielder – the seventh defensive form, Splashing Rain. Squalo sliced through it, an arc in the dimness off the rain under only two floodlights, stunned as Yamamoto's sword descended down him.

“Shigure Souen Ryū, ninth offensive form, Duplicate Rain.”

Both halves of the Rain Ring glimmered under the twin lights.

Despite the pouring rain, swept along by monsoon winds that heralded winter coming to the land, Lussuria was quite warm. In fact, the two Sun Guardians battling could be said to be quite heated, if one's preferred choice of view was watching damp, sweaty guys punch each other into bloody pulp.

“This is so fun~!” Lussuria cooed over his broken nose. “I didn't expect teenagers to be so sneaky.”

“I extremely don't know about that,” Ryohei honestly replied, wiping his mouth. “but I gotta ask you something. Are you with the long-haired Yankee that attacked two weeks ago?”

“Yes, Handsome~♥,” Lussuria affirmed. “Squalo was just doing his job.”

“And this extreme fighting in the rain is because your Boss extremely wants to kill Sawada, yes?”

Lussuria's smirk widened, and his tongue covered his lips, which were turning blue from the rain, and why were they fighting in the rain again? “Exactly, boy~♥. Of course, given how Boss was eyeing your Boss, I'm sure that cute boy would be suffering a... different kind of death. He has nice legs, doesn't he?”

The euphemism clearly sailed right over Ryohei's head, but the innuendo clearly got through that rather thick skull as Ryohei's mouth opened. There was a functional reply to be had. An explosion of green occurred, and over the thunder and sudden debris where Levi and Belphegor had been, Lussuria could barely hear... except when Ryohei started charging at him.

“I, Sasagawa Ryohei, am extremely going to protect Sawada from bad touches!” Lussuria was punched on the nose.

… The brat's taken. Definitely.

If the rest of the school was any indication, one would have expected the quadrangle of Namimori Middle to be about the same. It was not; if anything could be said, between the parts of charred walls, broken windows and icy shards littering the ground, the best would be warzone.

“Not bad, trash,” Xanxus admitted, smoothly reloading with the ease and speed of countless repetitions when Tsuna sped up to him. Orange sparks flew up, glimmering like stars in the wet night as Xanxus gazed upon them-

His instinct told him to run, and he shot his newly reloaded gun with his combined Flame and the Dying Will Bullets within. The thrust might wrench his left arm, but as he watched the star swell up into a half-dome that charred the quadrangle and caused the rain dropping onto it to vaporise immediately, he couldn't bring himself to overly care until another body clamped down on his firing arm.

“Yo,” grinned the identical copy of her- him- anyway, the copy grabbed his arm in passing. The temperature dropped, and with it Xanxus watched in horror as his left hand was trapped up to the triceps in ice.

“Guh!” Xanxus pistol-whipped him in retaliation, the blow sending him flying into a standing wall and crashing into Namimori Middle School.

“Ie!”

“Die!” Xanxus yelled, and then there was a sound and presumably, his twin was distracted by deflecting the bullet hell that was Xanxus. Like a Touhou game, Ietsuna uncharitably thought. So would that make him Flandre? Actually, that would make Tsuna as Marisa, right?³

...wrong comparison, Ietsuna decided when Xanxus laughed and his brother was hit by another blast of Flame that just narrowly singed part of Tsuna's skirt. Except Tsuna, because Tsuna can be whatever he wants. Except that the school are keeping him hemmed in, and the lightning keeping him low, and he can't leave the campus in order to protect innocent citizens. Xanxus has far greater reach. Tsuna needs more space.

From his leaning on the broken walls of Namimori Middle, Ietsuna frowned as he heard a dissonant laugh from within Namimori, shaking his head. That's not Mukuro. Yamamoto's entertaining the sword Yankee. Sasagawa-sempai is with the sunglasses Mohawk. Xanxus is here. Mammon hasn't found me, and is more likely to be the type to appear out of nowhere and fight quietly. That leaves the blond with the tiara, Belphegor. Maître said that he's a killing genius; he uses knives and wires. So... I need to make sure he's not using those.

He pulled out his phone. He was in a storm, surrounded by trees, and his phone still had a signal. The last one, as far as he was concerned, was downright miraculous. It was thus also a sign that Ietsuna should quit playing by the Mafia's rules or obey expectations.

Within the school, more explosions resounded, along with Gokudera's muffled curse. Gokudera's in the school already? Excellent.

From: Sawada Ietsuna
To: Gokudera Hayato
Time: 11: 44 PM, 24 Oct 2005

Need you to bring down the school and stop Xanxus from boxing Tsuna in. Will take over for you.
 

“Neither of you could ever become the Decimo, trash!” Xanxus's rage translated into an extra-large Flame of Wrath that Tsuna just barely managed to dodge. “The position of Vongola's Boss, Vongola the Tenth, is mine! You aren't Boss material, trash!”

Tsuna's brow furrowed over his golden eyes as Ietsuna chose to scale the building and crash through a window into the school, away from them. Stars sparked up again from his hands and fell to the ground. Heat bloomed at an incredible speed with vaporised the rain and surrounded the two fighters, much like a fully laden sauna in the midst of a blizzard. “Yes. It should be yours.”

“Then... then why did you exist?!” Xanxus roared, smashing his frozen arm against one wall of Namimori. “If you didn't exist... if you didn't exist...!”

An orange Gerbera daisy fell out from Xanxus' lapel, to land in a nearby puddle. Tsuna blinked, but then Xanxus was upon him again, bright Flames of Wrath being hurled at his direction as Tsuna waltzed and danced out of each of them. They erupted upon landing, eddies of Flame that steamed the earth upon impact, skimming over the puddles here and there.

“Why?” Xanxus bit out. “I fought, I killed... I took control of the Varia! I fucking proved myself! Even when-”

Xanxus paused, swallowed. “Even when the rest of them died... why won't he name me?!”

The scars of his face was illuminated by a brief flash of the lightning overhead. Standing this close to a force of nature, it was almost philosophical, this mass battle of children against assassins, illuminated under a dark-haired, scarred soldier railing in his own desperation.

Tsuna stepped into one puddle; it splashed into his Oxfords. It was surprisingly cold under the heat. Ie would know why the puddle is cold underneath, he thought uncertainly.

1 Gandhari (Sanskrit: गांधारी ) is a character in the Mahabharata. She was an incarnation of Mati, the Goddess of Intelligence, as the daughter of Subala, the king of Gandhara. The wife of Dhritarastra, she blindfolded herself after the marriage to share the pain of her blind husband. Gandhari's sacrifice of her eyesight and her austere life granted her great spiritual power, allowing her to grant powers and make curses. She was blessed with a hundred sons, the Kauravas, and one daughter, Dushala. She cursed Krishna at the end of the Kurukshetra war out of anguish over all of her sons' deaths in the war, resulting in Krishna and the rest of his dynasty perishing after 36 years.

Chapter Text

The dream you see, is like a prayer written on paper with aged ink.

The things your small hands grasp for, are still nowhere to be found.

Even so, I have decided, that I want to continue to protect the path you walk. For the sake of keeping the beautiful things the way they are.

Under the dazzling twilight, I wonder... just how far will your voice reach.

Everything about tonight was infuriating for Xanxus. The bad weather, the raging storm with absent typhoon alarms, the fact that he was getting halfway soaked and one arm had been frozen when he was caught off-guard. Him, Xanxus; the brutal, notorious, intimidating Varia leader. Caught off-guard. By a puny civilian, no less. He might as well have stuck his neck out for the guillotine.

His opponent was infuriating, too. It just wasn’t his night, and the main source of everything gone wrong was his ridiculous opponent. The true heir of Vongola, or one of them. The boy was weak, and looked like a half-hearted gale of wind could break him in half. Yes, Xanxus had seen the civilian, and immediately underestimated him. Instead, the boy proved to be much more resilient than his physical build would suggest, shrugging off the pelting rain or the winter wind, clad in only a thin shirt and a fucking skirt. A rather short skirt, at that. It made Xanxus feel slightly dim.

“Trash!” Xanxus continued, keeping the other twin at bay. "It should have been mine! I only wanted what belonged to me! So... why?"

The three sons had been killed, one after another, and Xanxus had awoken hoping that perhaps- Only no. It was Squalo, bearing news that another heir was present. And then Mammon's follow-up, that they were twins. He had to be fooled by one of them. Like his job wasn't complicated enough already.

One arm frozen, the other arm keeping the girly one at bay. The brat hit hard, though; Xanxus had to acknowledge that bit. Still, as long as he could keep the brat at bay, he could smash the ice off. Even the Zero Point Breakthrough had to give way to infrastructure-

The roofs began to fall under them. Xanxus lost his shit.

“Screw this all!” Spittle flew, unseen amongst the curtain of rain except for where they reflected the flickering orange Flames that Xanxus just shot in a single, concentrated blast at Sawada Tsunayoshi. “Martello di Fiamma!”

It was ironially poetic that everything was happening in a storm, really, Mammon reflected as he escaped the gymnasium under his illusions. Especially with two Skies involved.

There was crazily devoted loyalty like Levi, and then there was... whatever that girl had under her eye-patch. Mammon had not taken a curse that strong since the Stregheria revival in Sicily.¹ The curse had been deflected, just barely, and thus Mammon had quickly escaped. A fight at this stage was only going to increase the chances of Xanxus killing the only lead Mammon had to breaking the curse.

Mammon nearly dashed out, only stopping to float as a stick of dynamite flew out and almost detonated over him. “You're not supposed to be chasing the prince,” Belphegor's voice taunted, a bit further down.

The other Storm candidate did not answer, which Mammon gave him props for. Since the use of dynamite – which nearly took out Mammon, however accidental – and knives both favoured enclosed spaces, it was almost expected that Belphegor would have tried to move the battle indoors. Then, it was only a matter of planning and setting up the field to take them out.

Belphegor had the advantage, Mammon knew. He was a trained, experienced assassin, which made a difference. When it came to killing, Belphegor was a genius.

“Ushishishi, the peasant's gone off to hole up,” Belphegor giggled as he approached the classroom where Gokudera had presumably disappeared into. “Well, that's fine. The prince likes to play hide-and-seek too.”

There's only a classroom, Mammon recalled. Unless he barricaded everything-

The door flew open with a kick. “Oh? Not even a barricade? I guess you must be scared out of your-”

An answering kick to the head sent Belphegor skidding back.

“For the crime of vandalism on the ground of Namimori Middle,” Ietsuna breathed in answer, pulling on a familiar red armband onto his left arm, “the Disciplinary Committee is here.”

Mammon stared.

“What the hell?!” Belphegor raged. “When did you get here?!”

“Ah, Xanxus was too busy trying to look up Tsuna's skirt, so I left them to their pseudo-chase and came for the other creepy guy reported to be running around our school,” Ietsuna drawled.

“You have guts, to be mocking the prince,” Belphegor heatedly responded, drawing more knives. “Well... anyway, little jester, you're just in time to entertain the prince.”

“I see,” Ietsuna nodded. “So, shall we play a game? The most dangerous game, that is.”

“Oh?” Belphegor mused. “You're not like your twin at all.”

“Well, siblings can be polar opposites too,” Ietsuna replied. “I have to admit, Tsuna is much kinder than myself. Personally, sometimes I don't get why he lets his enemies live, but he's my brother.”

“Isn't that right, shishishi,” Belphegor grinned, toying with a blade. “The prince is surprised, that neither of you have killed the other yet. Don't you find it frustrating, that someone else in this world is your exact copy? From the moment we were born, we hated each other.”

“Each... other...?” Ietsuna echoed.

“Each other,” Belphegor sniggered. “The prince wasn't born alone in this world either. We fought each other... yes, it started with a stupid fight. We threw rocks... we threw boulders... we threw knives...”

“Boulders? Does that even exist?”

“Don't interrupt other people's flashbacks. Anyway,” and here Belphegor smiled. “I finally won, permanently. Then, I killed the rest of the royal family, and joined the Varia to taste even more blood.”

“That's such an awfully comical way to describe a tragedy,” Ietsuna lamented. “Have you figured it out yet? Where Gokudera has run to.”

“Che,” Belphegor clicked his tongue, and flung his blades towards Ietsuna. One of Ietsuna's hands shot out with a broom handle, coolly wrapping all the knives before the wires attached to them cut into the bamboo and broke it. Belphegor collapsed to avoid a precisely aimed palette knife, as the building began shaking.

“Oh,” Ietsuna nodded. “He started a revolution.”

Mammon flew towards one of the broken windows and leapt out immediately, watching smoke billow from the foundations as half of Namimori Middle School threatened to cave. Fantasma croaked as the rain pattered down on them, shifting to snake form just in time for Mammon to hover back up.

“Screw you!” Belphegor yelled, dashing for a window.

Ietsuna stepped down upon the interrupted knives, and two arms covered in long sleeves were yanked back by the piano wires still trailing from it, trapping the blond assassin with his own weapon.

“Drop your weapons and surrender,” Ietsuna was drawling, cool despite the fact that Belphegor was already looking for exit points to the building and that, well, the building was shaking.

“Oi, oi,” Belphegor snarled, pulling up a ring hanging around his neck. “I still have the Storm Ring here. Are you prepared to let it be buried?”

From around his neck, Ietsuna pulled an identical chain. Belphegor's jaw turned slack as the sight of the Half Sky Ring hanging innocently there.

“For my brother, I am prepared to destroy the Vongola Rings,” Ietsuna spoke with a smile, no hesitation, and complete sincerity. “I just don't get the point of battling it out for these old trinkets, whether or not they grant power. You're Varia Quality, right? I'm sure you can survive a building collapsing on you. If you don't, Gokudera will just pry the Ring from your corpse. I'll be sure to keep you right here for him.”

He's serious, Mammon realised as Ietsuna bent over and started trying to touch his toes. He must have climbed in through the window, planned with Gokudera, and then came out to distract Bel, so that Gokudera could set up the explosives. Normally, assassins will definitely move to protect their own lives first... should I intervene? What should I do?

Cracks were digging into the floor, the concrete already breaking under the strain of the building collapsing under its own weight. Thunder boomed overhead, and the rain was swept in by the wind to scatter all over the floor, though exposure to the elements was frankly minor compared to the fact that the building was being collapsed on top of them. Pieces of debris fell down, glass shattered, and the steel I-beams in the supports began bending.

Belphegor pulled another knife and starting hacking at the wires attached on him. Xanxus would flip his shit if a Vongola Ring was left in the hands of perhaps the greatest death-seeker Belphegor had ever met, and then Belphegor would be a pile of ashes. Right now, though, Belphegor was more concerned with getting out. Xanxus would have no fun incinerating a crushed corpse. The prince could excavate the rings from the rubble later, as long as he was alive. The wires were yanked, and Belphegor's arm slipped. An animalistic snarl escaped from Belphegor as he looked up.

“Oops~” Amber eyes blinked, mildly interested as Belphegor gave up on hacking the wires on his arm and charged at Ietsuna, who was still bent over.

“I've got you!” Belphegor screamed.

“Yes.” Then Mammon saw him smile.

The building caved in, clouds of dust kicking up in its wake and being dampened by the wind and rain. The rubble was steadily soaked in the rain. Overhead, lightning flashed, illuminated the silhouette of a man spear-tackling another man into the sky.

Mud kicked up as they landed, one clearly cushioning the other. There was a single thud, and Belphegor wheezed. “How dare you- use the prince-”

Ietsuna clambered to his feet, immediately lashing out with a frontal kick. Mammon winced as Belphegor gurgled. Ietsuna snatched the ring off of him and ran without looking back, towards the epicentre of the fight once more.

Sighing, and shivering from the chilling rain, Mammon made himself appear. “That was disgraceful, Belphegor.”

“Shut up, Mammon,” Belphegor coughed, shivering. “The prince... is soaking. That bastard... Mammon, what about-”

“I gave up the Ring,” Mammon replied delicately. “That girl had a malocchio prepared in her skull². There's no need to take on more curses without adequate payment.”

“Eh? Aren't you the Esper Mammon? The Arcobaleno with the greatest psychic ability, bordering on magic?” Belphegor teased, laid out on the wet ground before struggling to his feet. “Come on. There's a wolf cub to hunt.”

“Wolf?” Mammon pondered.

“That bastard twin would happily toss the Rings into Mt Fuji given half a chance,” Belphegor snarled, wincing and gingerly touching his back. “The prince does not forgive impudent peasants!”

Demonic wrath and the thunder overhead echoed as a shadow descended upon Namimori. It was like vengeance, the night, and shades of a certain notional hero who may, coincidentally, be part carnivore.

“I will bite you all to death!”

Your whisper, is like a sword that is tearing my closed heart into pieces. There is no way to protect this body, that was exposed to the innocent light.

I accept without hesitation the radiance of melancholy. I wished to protect you in the darkness.

Where did you come from? Just how far are you going? As we stand at the place from whence we were once born... What will we think about? What will we search for? And just how far will I reach? To extend out to the dawn...

Gokudera felt giddy and slightly hysterical from the adrenaline rushing through his body. He’d just brought down a building – Namimori’s most dangerous – and survived. If he could do that, he could definitely survive the on-going rush of Varia reinforcements.

All choke-points for a discreet entrance into the school grounds had been cut off by a hitman – two, in the case of the Hibari matriarchs. Gokudera had minimal work to do in the cold rain, hence he was being a good right-hand-

“Yo, octo-head! Isn't tonight extreme?!”

“Shut up, turf-top,” Gokudera slumped, no longer caring about the seemingly inevitable prospect of bronchitis or pneumonia creeping up on them. “Where's the stupid cow-” He cut off as he spotted a familiar cow-print onesie and its owner snoozing in an alcove that survived the collapse of Namimori Middle School. “-at least the brat's sheltered. Now, we need to find the Tenth and help out.”

“Haha!” Yamamoto joined the crowd, laying down an unconscious Squalo next to the knocked-out Lussuria that Ryohei had just laid out with extreme prejudice. “That's what I was thinking of.”

The punch had been delivered with a promise to take him on again – which any viewers would agree was even more extreme that the right straight that created a suspiciously Lussuria-shaped crater in a nearby wall. Yet, that exhibition of human extremes had extremely kindled the flames of passion in Ryohei's rather burning heart, if not his rather dim wits. “Yosh! Let's go extremely help Sawada!”

“I'd go the other way if I were you,” Mukuro's voice floated behind them as the three of them made to walk by the school front.

“Shut up, Mukuro,” Gokudera scoffed absently, his mind fixated on the precious Tenth Vongola Boss and how Gokudera's poor future Boss must be suffering under the hands of Xanxus, the fiend. “There's nothing-”

Mukuro simply hummed as a crack of concrete breaking happened out of sight. An ashen-faced Gokudera quickly backed away around the corner he had just turned, and walked to the other side. Yamamoto and Ryohei followed him, although not to quite the extremes that Gokudera made to stay silent after watching Hibari Kyoya seemingly liquidise someone over his school, or its current lack thereof.

The silence of pouring rain lasted only until Gokudera managed to spot the firestorm of orange still in the skies. Then it was punctuated with the proclamation of “TENTH!” in time with rolling thunder and a somersaulting individual.

The Flames of Wrath burned down, banked from expending an extremely powerful Martello di Fiamma. Yet, the attack did not hit. Rather, it hovered like some haze or halo, inexorably pulled into a vortex to him. It was like the candles at Mass in the Oratorio di San Lorenzo, he thought.

His father- no, the Ninth had brought him there, but instead of saying Mass or praying or anything, the two of them had just sat there to look at the ghostly outline of Caravaggio's lost masterpiece. Young Xanxus definitely didn't respect art or religion, and scorned those who prayed to God or Heaven or something for a better life instead of tearing one out with their own hands. He remembered, though, the old man staring sadly at the picture and promising not to make mistakes again. Xanxus in his wish for a father had been fooled to believe that the mistake was abandoning his mother-

“Stop it! You don't know anything about me!” Not to be outdone, Xanxus clubbed the figure in the centre with his frozen arm. Tsuna gasped, winded from the onslaught, but the Flames focused and winked into nothingness, the rain descending in an instant. “Stop it!”

Their punches met. Flames of Wrath kindled the length of Xanxus' arms, and the ice cracked and shattered to free it. They winked out just as quickly, absorbed with the Flame on Tsuna's forehead and hands, leaving Xanxus to stare down into pools of amber framed in soft eyes.

“You are part of the Vongola Family,” spoke the angel of fire. “You are the leader of the Varia. You are the son of Timoteo-jiisan. I know that much. I don't really understand why do you want to become boss of the Vongola so badly. I can understand if you want to become the Tenth, to prove yourself as the son of Timoteo-jiisan.”

Xanxus coughed, pulling one of his guns close with his other hand. The barrel pressed into Tsuna's chest.

Tsuna sighed. “He didn't want this for you.”

He fell back just as another flash appeared in the distance, his back hitting the ground.

A gunshot went off. Xanxus coughed, his body snapping back from the impact. Tsuna fled by rolling to the side as his brother aimed and fired off three shots from a black handgun at Xanxus.

Xanxus growled as he dodged behind a chunk of concrete, moving for his own guns without hesitation. “At least you have more sense than your twin.”

“Mmm, he's the one who gives the mercy around here,” Ietsuna nodded, ducking behind a stray chunk of concrete to make another shot. Xanxus cursed, which Ietsuna took to mean that he had been hit.

“A gun doesn't mean shit if you don't know how to use it!” Xanxus roared while reloading. His head snapped to the side, and Xanxus bodily chucked himself out of the way of the incoming bullet.

Having mounted the chunk of concrete for a clear shot, Ietsuna simply corrected his aim and fired. Xanxus snarled as he summoned Flames, the pseudo-wall coherent enough to make the bullet veer off course. Steam exploded from the vaporisation of the rain, and Xanxus coughed.

Cold erupted as the Flames froze, causing the Varia leader to fall back and glare at Ietsuna, who scowled back.

“Che,” Ietsuna clicked his tongue, using the barrier of Xanxus' frozen wall to hide behind and reload. “Seven bullets in this magazine... twenty bullets altogether. He probably knows this too.”

The person in question scowled as he was drenched further. “He had a gun? Did that Reborn give him that?”

Observing the match under a Leon-umbrella, Reborn blinked. “Where did he get that gun? In Japan?³”

“You know, that idiot of our father left a gun in a civilian house with his wife and sons, where anyone could find it,” Ietsuna commented idly once Xanxus had stopped shooting at the block of ice. “I suppose this is a favour.”

“So, that old man is really out to get me, eh?” Xanxus snapped. “People die if they're shot, you know!”

“Yes,” Ietsuna's response gave him pause. “I am fighting to remove you. From the face of the Earth.”

Xanxus blanched, X-guns up and firing at the slightest provocation. A full-powered blast of Dying Will Flames consumed the whole chunk of frozen concrete, and Ietsuna behind it. The blast was powerful enough to send the whole chunk ploughing into the school fences.

“Ie!” the scream of despair which Xanxus felt only partially bad for echoed as the storm began to falter only to return with a vengeance and a heat wave. The night was lightening. A bell began to toll in the distance, a funereal dirge: One... two... three... four...

Warm and clammy heat seared around them. Xanxus looked back, and his jaw gaped. There was a monster, or some personification of fire incarnate. Five... six... seven... right...

The orange Flame that surrounded him burned hot enough to make it seem like midnight had turned into noon in Namimori, a streak of orange in the night. All bullets melted before they could even get close to Tsuna.

Nine... ten... eleven... twelve...

Tsuna who was right in front of him, fist raised-

Hibari was moving, tonfas out and eyes glimmering with bloodlust.

Tsuna was faster. Xanxus went down with a punch to the stomach, no longer able to do battle.

“Sawada Tsunayoshi-” Grey eyes narrowed, tonfas prepared. Hibari had just been denied.

“He hurt Ie,” Glowing gold eyes looked back at him, as Flames erupted from the ground around Tsuna.

“Extremely fast!” Ryohei exclaimed, by the sidelines of the staring duel that seemed to have sparked up.

“Those Dying Will Flames allow Tsuna to move at high speeds,” Reborn explained, frowning as he hopped down to the ground. “I need to check something.”

Reborn ran towards the hole in the wall where Ietsuna had been slammed through. Behind him, one of Tsuna's maddened screams echoed. A ring of steel of flesh joined the chorus, along with a battle cry; Ryohei had apparently got into the fight as well.

Spattered by the falling, fading rain, Ietsuna was curled up amongst the rubble. He looked small and vulnerable, his presence gone. Reborn traced the face, eyes closed as if in slumber, and checked the blued throat for a pulse.

“...Leon!”

The eyes remained closed as Reborn fired off a flare first, and then knelt to pound at the boy's chest, tearing off a soaked shirt. The green chameleon defibrillators shocked Ietsuna once, and Reborn continued to pound. Shamal came along and took over the process, repeating the shocking and pounding twice more. Namimori Middle grew in orange Flames. It sounded like all the Guardians were at war with some mysterious being, with a burning Namimori Middle as the backdrop.

“It's... no use,” Shamal gasped after the third shock. “He's... it's more than internal bleeding, his neck's snapped and his skull's crushed. He's-”

“I failed this student,” Reborn hissed, even as Leon curled up by his shoulder. “I... failed.”

There was a cry, hoarse with despair in the false brightness. Gokudera was yelling, yelling for the Tenth to snap out of it, to regain control, even Timoteo was shouting- and then Tsuna was tearing across to tackle his brother, ignoring Shamal and Reborn as he caught his twin.

A tear joined a puddle, before Reborn noticed the orange Flame spark into being on Ietsuna's chest.

The corpse stirred. Shamal blanched as Ietsuna twitched and stirred, his eyes opening to reveal bleary amber orbs.

“Ie...” Tsuna sniffed. The Flame on his head had winked out, and he did not apparently sense anything amiss.

Ietsuna stared back up at him. “...'s 't morning?”

Tsuna sniffed. “You're alright. You're alright. You're alright. You're alright, you're alright, you're alright, you're alright-”

“You're noisy!” Ietsuna complained, sitting up with a soft exhale that steamed in the cold. “What, it's not like I died, right? Why is it so bright?”

“TENTH! THE SCHOOL!”

“You do realise that I freeze Flames on contact, right?” Ietsuna was on a roll, ever since the Varia thing was cleaned up and everyone was checked into the hospital for two days. “As in, all Dying Will Flames, bamf, ice. They don't hurt me.”

“But there was so much fire,” Tsuna sniffed back, forced into a hospital wheelchair for the second time in two weeks. “I- I thought you really died, Ie! I was so worried!”

“So how the hell are we going to explain the human-shaped char mark on the ground!” Ietsuna unrepentantly continued in the face of his twin's pout and tear-filled stare. “You didn't even have the courtesy to kill the guy! He's right there making eyes at your skirt! Oi, Jii-san, pull your son together!”

“This milk pudding is to die for, Tsunayoshi-kun.” Timoteo smiled and nodded, reasonable in the face of a wild animal beside Xanxus' cot. “I can see the appeal, Alouette.”

“Isn't that right~?”

From his position in a mummy suit between two elderly Mafioso (or formerly thereof), Xanxus sighed. His eyes directed themselves to Tsuna's legs and stayed there. Tsuna squeaked and pulled down his skirt, despite the bandages around his legs and on multiple lacerations on his arms and torso under the white shirt he wore.

Coincidentally, the door of the ward flew open. “H- Hibari-san!” Tsuna cringed.

“Little animal, what are you doing? We must arrange alternate facilities while the school is being rebuilt by a generous donation. You must wear pants for this meeting.”

Tsuna swelled, about to retort back. He stopped. The memory of a burning Namimori made him cringe back on himself. “Y- yes, Hibari-san- mmph!”

Tsuna's voice became muffled when the prefect threw a bag at him. Cold cobalt eyes considered a certain skirt as well, even when Tsuna got the bag out of his face and then blanched.

“Don’t look at me, Tsuna,” Ietsuna shrugged at his twin's pleading look. “I don’t understand the minds of perverts. You should probably change into pants, though. Suzuki is a stickler for the dress code.”

“Are you alright, Kyoya?” Alouette blinked as her grandson beckoned the wheelchair towards himself. “You're wearing a neck brace. And...”

“How obvious, old carnivore,” Hibari bit back, glaring despite the cervical collar around his neck. There was a patch of inflamed skin, the outline of five fingers clearly imprinted on half his face, despite the bandage over one cheek. “I am much better than you are currently. I will come back at seventeen hundred hours. Let's go.”

“Shut up, Hibari- oh, U-san-”

“There's a third wheel, Kyoya.”

“U-san!”

Xanxus made a particularly pained groan as they left.

“Don't worry,” Timoteo assured his son. “You are my son, so Tsunayoshi-kun would make an eligible marriage into the family somehow.”

“Timoteo, Tsu-chan is my prospective grandson-in-law,” Alouette sniped back.

“Nothing is established,” Timoteo pointed out cheerfully.

“You're a century too early to be competing with me, Teo,” Alouette smirked at him.

“I may not match you in ability, but don't underestimate the Vongola, lark. And don't call me that.”

Being stuck between them, Xanxus began sweating at the flood of killer intent between the Ninth Vongola Boss and the Mauviette. The door swung open with a probable distraction.

“Coyote!”

“Coyote?” Alouette smiled at the paling Vongola Generation IX Storm Guardian, who seemed rooted to the spot. “Il y a bien longtemps, oui! Comment ça va?”⁴

“Why the hell are you here?!” the Storm Guardian croaked in Japanese.

“I'm waiting for Teo's son to recover so we can play musical sticks!” Alouette chirped. “You're playing too, right? Otherwise you wouldn't even dare to come within twenty metres of my personal space. Of course, it took you a while to respond, eh? I did send you a message two weeks ago. Who is behind you?”

“Who is she?” the younger man in a black suit, with a lizard tattoo on his left cheek, asked the older Guardian.

“A monster,” Coyote Nougat replied. “You're still alive, Alouette Durand?”

“Why so surprised, Coyote?” Alouette teased back with a smile. “There's no need to be formal. You aren't even in the same genus as Teo or myself, herbivore.”

The younger man growled. “Why, you-”

“Stop,” Coyote muttered, still glaring at Alouette. “Alouette, this is Brow Nie Jr, the senior's replacement. Brow, this signora is Alouette Durand, a former hitwoman and the last survivor of the Generazione Ottava dellaFamiglia. Be polite.”

“B- Buon giorno,” Brow Nie bit out.

“Oh, Coyote,” Timoteo greeted, “thank you. I was afraid for my life and my pride if I had to be exposed to Alouette any longer.”

Coyote exhaled through his nostrils with an air of long-suffering. “She's going to pick a fight.”

“Yes,” Timoteo nodded.

“Everyone's here,” Coyote emphasised.

“Yes.”

“She's going to kill Visconti.”

“Really?!” Brow Nie blanched. “What kind of monster is she?”

“I'm still right here,” Alouette smiled, and the grimness of it made the younger man step back. “You would be nice to an old woman like me, and help me up? Right?”

The young Mafioso immediately did as told.

“Come on,” Alouette beamed at him. “You're just like your father. I remember kicking him in the face.”

“Boss?” the Ninth's current Sun Guardian pleaded.

Timoteo smiled and nodded, leaving the Sun to his fate. “Do keep Alouette away from Visconti. Clouds have a tendency to fight each other, and I believe Visconti to be in a mood.”

The woman sauntered out, dragging Brow Nie along. The door closed.

“You've done it now, Xanxus,” Coyote sighted. “Durlindana is waiting for a chance to end you.”

“Hn,” Xanxus snorted. “The old bird isn't invincible.”

“Oh? Yet the whole Varia ran away from her.”

“We were ambushed!”

“You have the Flames of Wrath of the Secondo, and the Dying Will Guns of the Settimo, and you still lost with the numbers on your side,” Coyote pointed out.

“She had people too!” Xanxus shot back.

“Still, that bird is rather...” Coyote grimaced, “...unstable. I wonder what happened to her.”

“The Khmer Rouge,” Timoteo shook his head. “It is not a good topic. But... oh, Reborn, you're here.”

“Yes,” the world's greatest hitman stared at the Mafiosi present. “I must be here. Because, despite what we saw about Sawada Ietsuna, he's alive... when he's supposed to be dead.”

I hear your faraway melody. For the sake of this one future... If it is for your dream, I will surely stretch out my hand towards the same distance as you, and stand by your side.

I wonder, if I will reach the quiet sky you believed in? To reach for that endlessly radiant heavenly blue...

1 Stregheria is a form of Italian American witchcraft. Stregheria is sometimes referred to as La Vecchia Religione ("the Old Religion"). The word 'stregheria' is an archaic Italian word for "witchcraft", the most used and modern Italian word being 'stregoneria'.

Chapter Text

If there was one thing Xanxus despised more than being interrupted during his dinner...

“Blah blah blah – Flame – blah blah – kill – blah – Vongola –”

...it was being roped into attending meetings with stuffy, condescending, self-important geezers who had higher individual body counts than all of the Varia combined. They seemed to think it was a burden not to have creaky joints, ugly-as-fuck wrinkles, and embarrassing digestive problems. Just because Xanxus didn’t survive World War II, Mussolini, and Mani pulite, or live through the threat of nuclear destruction, he must be inadequate.

The whole lot can go to the burning place with the demons or sleep with the fishes. He had better things to do – people to kill, idiots to scare – than to listen to the fogeys drone on and on about everything. Unfortunately, the twins had done quite the number on him – broken bones, bruised kidneys, strained muscles, and a spattering of deep lacerations – and thus he was currently immobilised with no chance of escape. He might not be able to escape physically, but the three-way argument between Coyote, the other Arcobaleno baby trash and the old man was about the topic of his considerations anyway:

What the fuck?

No, seriously. What. The. Fuck. A gender-ambiguous boy wearing a skirt beat the shit out of the Varia Boss – and Xanxus was man enough to admit it, since he had admitted Lussuria into the Varia corps. Plus, Xanxus had been fairly sure that the twin had broken his neck going through the fence. Xanxus had had his hand on the boy's throat, had felt the bone give. Somehow, the boy rises from the dead. That was going to give Xanxus bouts of paranoia for the rest of the year. Judging from the eye-bags that Coyote, Reborn, and the old man were sporting, the nightmares had already started.

“-imagining things. We are still woefully ignorant of the potential of Dying Will Flames,” the old man was saying.

Xanxus tuned back into the conversation, having sensed a lull in the discussion that signalled the start of what was truly interesting. A spasm of pain shot up his neck and was promptly ignored.

Suddenly, the door burst open, revealing a panting, dishevelled Iemitsu. “Ah, sorry about that,” Iemitsu said sheepishly. “I- It took a while to get past the Qingniao.”

“You're late, Iemitsu,” Reborn chided as Iemitsu closed the door with a silly grin on his face. “This conversation was supposed to be secret.”

Iemitsu's back straightened. “This does concern CEDEF. I do admit that I have some part in this, as these are my sons. As much as you would call me a negligent father, the external advisors need to be present for something... of this magnitude.”

Timoteo nodded, looking lost at sea. “Yes... he is your son. He was here. He was scolding me about Xanxus. I... don't understand.”

“This is no laughing matter,” Reborn cut in irritably. “Nono, I know what I saw. It is the same thing I’ve seen many times these past several months. Ietsuna cannot die. It is one thing to hear about it and another to witness with your own eyes. Tsuna does not know. He has no idea that he has bound himself to his twin so thoroughly, that death becomes a simple inconvenience. This is... Skull is fearsome because he can outlast extreme environments that even I might have difficulty with. For someone of Ietsuna's calibre... would be a fearsome hitman.”

“Dio mio,” Coyote made a sign, pointing the index and little fingers down while keeping his other fingers in. “An immortal zombie who comes back from fatal injuries without a scratch. Are you sure Lorenzo hasn’t come back to haunt us all?”

“We finally have something,” Iemitsu pressed. “Now that we have a clear idea, I propose separating the twins so that the zombie's connection is cut-”

“The kid's a zombie?” Xanxus echoed. “Tocca palle¹. That's... not right. Zombies don't steal guns and use them to shoot people.”

Timoteo threw a dirty glare at the blond Mafioso at the mention of guns. “Whose gun did he use?”

Iemitsu swallowed, and discreetly made the fig sign behind his back.

“I wasn't finished,” Reborn continued. “I saw an orange Flame spark on Ietsuna's chest from Tsuna. Then... then the boy was alive. There was not a scratch on him.”

“What does that mean?” Timoteo wondered aloud. “Ietsuna-kun is functionally immortal, then... but is that even possible?”

“We don't know enough about the Dying Will Flames yet, Timoteo,” Coyote pointed out. “Anyway, the boy is Lorenzo's grandson, and apparently is a carbon copy of the magnificent bastard, God bless his stained soul wherever it went.”

“Who's Lorenzo?” Xanxus asked.

“Oh, right, he left before you came. Lorenzo, real name Ietsuna Sawada, was the Ninth Generation's Lightning Guardian before Ganauche,” Coyote explained. “He's also the twins' late grandfather, which makes him Iemitsu's father, and thus part of the Primo bloodline as well. That... bastardo... If it was him possessing his grandson's corpse, I wouldn't be surprised.”

“Ietsuna-kun is not his grandfather, Coyote,” Timoteo gently bit out. ““We are in danger of beating a dead horse with the topic of Ietsuna-kun and Tsunayoshi-kun-”

“While we’re talking about the fates of my sons, what about Xanxus?” Iemitsu cut in.

“Iemitsu.”

Xanxus could feel his balls trying to crawl back into his body. There were times when all he could see was his lying bastard of a father, and there were times like these when Xanxus was forcibly reminded that said bastard father was also Boss of the Vongola Famiglia. He’d never seen someone so thoroughly crush the external advisor trash’s inflated ego as Vongola Nono did with just a name. Iemitsu remained silent.

“As for the matter of Xanxus, I wouldn’t worry so much,” Timoteo waved off airily. “It’s obvious that my responsibilities have been catching up to me in my old age. Xanxus became worried for my health, and forcibly removed me from my position for fear that I would work myself to meet my other sons. Unfortunately, my son has never been the best planner, and his efforts at evading detection inadvertently worsened my condition. Fortunately, the Varia made it as far as Japan. I’ve heard that this country has some wonderful volcanic springs that are perfect for ailing elders like myself and far away from Sicily, although I do miss the Triangle. Xanxus is with me, of course, to deter any workaholic relapses.”

The room was silent as the other occupants digested Timoteo’s explanation.

“That’s the biggest load of bullshit you’ve ever unloaded,” Coyote was the first to break the silence. “It's a blatant lie.”

“No wonder he likes to do these things,” Timoteo commented. “I finally understand something more about you, Lorenzo...”

“You...” Coyote choked.

Iemitsu could barely cough out a word, considering every word of the Vongola Boss. Xanxus was intelligent enough not to dig his own grave twice over and remained silent.

“The best lie always begins from the truth,” Reborn commented calmly, with an undercurrent of amusement. “Xanxus was concerned for your health-“

“He was trying to kill him, Reborn!” Iemitsu yelled.

“-and removed you from your responsibilities-“

“Because he wanted the other half of the Vongola Rings!” Coyote tried to interrupt.

“-and your ailments demand that you must stay in Japan while you recover,” Reborn finished. “It's... technically true to outsiders of the Famiglia, which is the important bit.”

“...You’ve fucking lost it, old man,” Xanxus muttered. Still, no one opposed Timoteo's radical reinterpretation of the events.

“I have wisely decided to use this unexpected vacation to spend time with my remaining son, as well as forge a closer relationship with Vongola’s future,” Timoteo finished. “Regardless of whether it was caused by him, he is my son.”

“Yet while we have solved that, the solution of the mystery presented by Ietsuna rising from the dead requires more thinking,” Coyote pointed out.

“It's linked to Tsuna,” Reborn reported. “I have confidence that with observation, we can figure out the true bond between Tsuna and Ietsuna, other than the common Kanji for bonds. It's not a healthy relationship.”

Timoteo's brow creased. “I don't understand, Reborn. We had agreed... you agreed to be released from the tutoring contract. I was going to find another way-”

“It's... just my instinct, Ninth,” Reborn frowned, his huge eyes never blinking. “Neither of the twins have accepted the Mafia yet, and neither of them would yield to the other. Well, Ietsuna would yield to Tsuna if asked by his twin, but Tsuna almost never intervenes to stop his brother. Iemitsu might lose custody of Tsuna because of Madame Lei. Not to mention, there is something... unsettling about Ietsuna. Ietsuna's whole self, I think, is directed to keeping Tsuna from growing up.”

“But why?” Iemitsu blankly questioned.

“Ah, it seems that more than one person in this room needs to repair his relationship with his sons,” Coyote gravely murmured. “Should I call the other guardians too?”

“B- But,” Iemitsu managed. “What about the black flame? The mysteries just keep piling and piling... it's like I don't even know my sons!”

“Yes,” Timoteo agreed in exasperation. “You don't know your sons.”

Tsuna absently noted that the blue sky stretched the span of the horizons. There was nary a cloud in sight, the sun was hiding,, and the endless blue stretched towards the horizon as blood spilled onto the ground.

“Mi dispiace, Decimi...”

Tsuna blinked. The rusty liquid of life was gone, the beach as pristine as when he laid eyes upon it. No one was present.

“Are you still hanging around here? Elmo questions the state of your hearing.”

Tsuna turned around.

“Can you hear me? Elmo says to Uncle.” Elmo put a slender finger to her pink lips, seated primly with her legs tucked under her voluminous orange skirt on a flat rock. Shallow water surrounded them, clear enough to see his toes under the waves lapping on his feet. A few metres ahead, the water dropped off to a deep ultramarine. Her skirt was the only vibrant spot upon that gloomy shadow. Her feathery-looking locks fanned out, a crown of wings on either side of her head as she gazed at him.

“Can you hear me? Elmo repeats slowly,” Elmo gravely regarded the other.

“E- Elmo-chan?” Tsuna swallowed. “Erm, I'm not deaf...”

“Then that is good, Elmo replies,” the girl narrates tonelessly as her arms flexed and she stood up.

Tsuna gaped as the skies streaked with the colours of the rainbow for a brief moment. There was a flash, and he thought Elmo's dress changed to black. The waves crashed; Elmo's dress remained the colour of the warm sunrise, and the skies remained blue.

“What was... that?”

“Classified information.”

“That Yet-to-Come censor is still on?!” Tsuna yelled. “A- Anyway, where are we?”

“Within the confines of this space, anything I say to you will be interpreted by your ears as classified information, Elmo advises, with the intent to divert Uncle towards more fruitful avenues of questioning.”

“I... see...” Tsuna shuddered as the ultramarine began to boil and soak into Elmo's formerly pristine orange dress, the blue mixing it and dyeing it into a purplish black. “Then, what can you tell me?”

“Elmo begins,” Elmo closed her eyes. “You are here. You can sense the sea, you can feel the waves and the sunlight, so Elmo offers her explanation. Is this scene real, Elmo offers to you.”

“Yes!” Tsuna paused after the exclamation. “Erm... no... I don't know...”

“Then, can you pinpoint a time in which we are talking right now?”

“No...” Tsuna shook his head. “It's a difficult question... erm, we're in 2005?”

“Yes, and no.”

“That’s the most useless answer ever!” Tsuna groaned.

“Classified information,” Elmo frowned. “Elmo is unable to relate the time as classified within your reference frame in four dimensions, Elmo apologises.”

“Right...” Tsuna swallowed. “Dimensions? I'm not good with science and maths. Ie would understand it...”

Tsuna continued mumbling as the girl simply regarded the waves. Neither of them made a move, or even twitched a muscle.

It was Tsuna who caved to the oppressive silence in the end. “Erm... Elmo-chan... why do you speak like that?”

“Because Elmo is not human, Elmo states while wondering about how you manage to survive to where you are currently.”

“Oh...” Tsuna swallowed. “Would you... tell me about yourself? Something that would get through the Yet-To-Come censor?”

“We were created as weapons.”

“W- Weapons? We?” Tsuna echoed numbly.

“Yes, confirms Elmo. Elmo, and those like Elmo, are somatic cell clones, mass-produced for military use with some modifications, that use classified information as the original model. Elmo is the Essential Line Mannered Orchestration, the administrator of the network of sister and daughter clones that can produce and maintain up to 16,777,214 clones at maximum capacity.”

“Sorry, my brain just crashed at the sheer fantasy, please spare me,” Tsuna bowed in apology. “But... it's sad.”

A bitter smile graced her lips, eerily perfected; like a modelled doll going through robotic motions. “Elmo is not permitted to explain the details, but we are working for our Maestro. This is our purpose. Without this, none of us would have a reason to exist. To live, to work, to act, to die, for that one cause.”

“B- But! Being unable to tell anyone truly how you feel... having every word you speak controlled...” Tsuna struggled.

“We are merely dolls, who do not feel sadness or anger,” Elmo nodded as Tsuna began to fade out. “Good night, Uncle, bids Elmo with a wave of her hand.”

Tsuna blinked, staring at the ceiling boards. “...oh. It's a dream. I'm so glad.”

Back by the beach, slender fingers fiddled with orange lace that bled into black. Around her, the waves churned and frothed with an orange cast. In the horizon, the mirage of a man with spiky white hair seemed to appear, arms outstretched towards the coast and towards Elmo.

“Elmo to all points. Single target: Sacré Bleu.”

The skies returned to their celestial shade; the man washed out of the paint, erased easily from the canvas of reality.

“Light thinks it travels faster than anything, thinks Elmo. It is wrong, proclaims Elmo. No matter how fast light travels, Elmo asserts, the darkness always arrives first, and is waiting for it.”

It was two days after the post-fight celebration. The Varia mess might be under control – or rather, it was no longer his problem. Timoteo had made that very clear.

The order suited him perfectly. Yet, Reborn's eyes were stuck on the sleeping figure in one of the single beds in the twins' shared bedroom.

The twin on his left arose with the air of someone who would rather remain asleep. He yawned, and blinked in the half-darkness, as if peering through it. Reborn could sense the amber eyes sharpening at his presence, before Ietsuna stumbled out. Reborn followed the boy to the washroom – waiting outside as Ietsuna did his morning business – and then to the studio, where Ietsuna spent more time setting up and packing up than actually painting. The conceptual sketches lay around his easel as painting knives scratched the surface.

“That Lambo and his grape candy... why do I have to make so many pentimenti...”

Reborn stared silently as the boy fiddled with the indigo under-painting. Parts of it were riddled with scratches, texturing the highly complex cloudscape over Namimori. Orange was layered and scratched over and mixed onto the canvas with painting knives; the result resembled an impression of the scene. Fingers of purple clawed the orangey yellows, almost fading out into black and white in their contrast. A living shadow in the cloudscape was banished by the sun's presence over Namimori, fantastic and wonderful like the nights of the Mediterranean in a Vernet chef d'œuvre. It was strangely peaceful, and yet ominous.

“Gēgē does nice paintings!” I-Pin chirped in greeting as she walked past the atelier. “Good morning!”

“Good morning, I-Pin,” Ietsuna nodded. “Your commission is done.”

Reborn leant forward in interest as Ietsuna pulled out from his portfolio a heavy piece of A4 paper inscribed with all the Circle tiles and folded into a birthday card. “It's a present for someone else, right? I signed it with an 1827 and a tile.”

“Xièxiè!” I-Pin cheered as she accepted the card. “Master happy!”

“No, he will be happy,” Ietsuna corrected, pulling out another piece. “And this is for you. Your birthday's still far away, but I think Tsuna and I would be too busy, so this is for you.”

“Sōzu?” I-Pin pointed to the green lines that made up the paper's edges, save for the centre where it was dominated by a sparrow taking flight.

“Yes,” Ietsuna nodded. “So that you'll grow up to the skies like the bamboo or rich with the coins on the Pinzu tiles, and not become like that Madao of our father.”

“What is 'Madao'? I-Pin curious.”

“Madao has many meanings,” Ietsuna began, “but for this case, it's short for: 'maru de dame na ossan' (good-for-nothing old man); 'majide dassai oyaji' (really uncool old man); 'massa ni darusou na oyaji' (really uncool-looking old man); 'mattaku darakushite ossan' (really depraved old man); 'matomo ni dakaretakunai otoko' (men no one wants to date); 'mattaku damasenai otoboke' (fool who unconvincingly feigns ignorance); 'massugu ikite no dainashi na jinsei na ojisan' (old man who lives as he wants, but accomplishes nothing); and so on. Did you get it?”

“-.-'...”

Reborn sighed at the straight-up Iemitsu-bashing Ietsuna was cavalierly delivering, in a loud carrying voice. “He's definitely holding a grudge.”

Downstairs, it was joined by a loud sneeze from the man being insulted. “Someone's talking about me. Definitely.”

“Are you alright, Darling~?” Nana admonished him from the kitchen. “You shouldn't sleep with your belly exposed!”

“Ah, my sweet Nana-chan is the best, after all!” Iemitsu nodded mechanically.

It was a while before Tsuna came down for breakfast, yawning. “Good morning, everyone... is Ie here?”

“Good morning,” Bianchi looked up from eating, holding her omelette away from Lambo. Iemitsu just grunted.

“Ah, Tsu-kun is up early,” Nana smiled. “Usually it's Gokudera-kun or Bianchi-chan who's up first.”

“Today Hibari-san is negotiating with Suzuki-san at Simon Middle School for use of the spare building,” Tsuna replied. “After the... freak storm... destroyed our school, we need to find another campus quickly...”

In another world, their positions would have been switched. A freak earthquake would have driven Enma and his friends into Namimori, instead of Vongola making its presence known in Simon Town. The Simon Famiglia would have crossed paths with Tsuna and his friends either way, though. The path of destiny can seldom be truly altered.

“Kusakabe is supposed to pick you up, right?” Ietsuna commented as he walked into the kitchen. “Morning, everyone. Lambo, don't touch my omelette.”

“Who wants your stupid omelette, Ie-nii!” Lambo retorted, pointing to the foul-smelling purple mess that was designated Ietsuna's omelette. A fly flew through the purple fog, and then plummeted onto the table, dead.

“Exactly,” Ietsuna nodded, scarfing down the omelette and unwittingly trolling everyone.

“Ie... what are you eating?” Tsuna sweat-dropped as he stared at his twin.

“Bianchi's omelette.”

“...why?”

“I felt like it. Why?”

“Nothing... I'm just worried about you.”

“This kind of love won't kill me,” Ietsuna smirked as he bit through the egg, releasing a cloud of toxic fumes that killed more flies. Even the Poison Scorpion herself, who had tears in her eyes as she went on about the wonders of brotherly love. Ietsuna then turned to Iemitsu. “You want some, Dad? You keep looking at it.”

“N- No~” Iemitsu magnanimously tore his eyes away from the attempted suicide before him. “I'm not hungry at all!”

“There's plenty to go around,” Ietsuna smiled. “Or don't you want Kaa-san's cooking? Fuuta, your ranking was apparently wrong.”

“Eh?” Fuuta blinked. “But, Maman and Papa should be the number one Love-Love Married Couple.”

“But the husband of the pair won't even eat his wife's cooking,” Ietsuna theatrically sighed, taking another bite as Gokudera came down. “It's sad, the state of marriages nowadays. You're underestimating Kaa-san's love, Dad.”

The Smoking Bomb blinked, having snapped wide awake, and then sidled to Tsuna. “I admire Ietsuna-sama. To be able to eat Aneki's Cooking...”

“I told you to drop the -sama, Gokudera,” Ietsuna cut in. “And, if you don't start soon, you'll be late, Tsuna. Kusakabe's coming over.”

Somehow, Tsuna managed to finish before the doorbell rang, and he got to the door.

“Good morning- Hibari-san?!”

"Claude-Joseph Vernet - Nuit- Scène côte méditerranéenne avec les pêcheurs et les bateaux" by Claude Joseph Vernet - Colección Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza en depósito en el Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

“Herbivore! Herbivore!” Hibird chirped as the pair left the house, leaving behind: an Iemitsu currently frothing at the mouth, and a blushing Nana cheering about her prospective son-in-law.

“Is it so surprising that I would come?” Hibari finally spoke halfway on the route from Namimori to Simon Town.

“N- Not at all!” Tsuna hurriedly dissuaded. “It's... Hibari-san usually doesn't bother with other schools, and... you don't really like Suzuki-san... and... the school is damaged because of us.”

“I got to fight you, and the tiara-wearing herbivore,” Hibari grinned, like some unknown predator anticipating his next meal. “You were surprisingly good. The tiara herbivore, though... I couldn't remember anything after seeing Namimori Middle collapse. The next thing I knew, he was a pile on the ground.”

“Bitten to death!” Hibird chirped. “Bitten to death!”

Scary!! “Right...”

Tsuna winced as his ribs, which Hibari had whacked during that fight while Namimori burned, poked at him. He stopped as his collar was seized and he was dragged to face Hibari. The soles of his shoes dangled under him, and Tsuna's eyes widened as he came far too close than should be comfortable to the head of Namimori Middle's Disciplinary Committee.

“The next time,” and the silky tone made Tsuna shiver, unable to look away from those steely eyes, “you will make sure to remain as part of the Disciplinary Committee. You will put down malefactors against the peace of Namimori, as the rules agree.”

“HIE! I'm sorry-...the next time?” Tsuna stopped screaming as Hibari's words sank in. “Erm, Hibari-san- I... sorry about the school... and... thank you... and...”

Hibari set him back onto his feet, watching the shorter boy fidget. “Before you are a Mafia heir, however the idea might be insane, you are part of the group that maintains Namimori's discipline.”

“Hibari-san... Hibari-san admires discipline and the rules,” Tsuna swallowed, closing his eyes. “That's why... that's why Ie and I quit to settle this. Because... if it was traced back to the Discipline Committee, Hibari-san's pride would be stained. I'm sorry, that things turned out like this... we joined as a result of a contest, so... I didn't want us to be even more of a burden. I was wrong. If there's a next time... Hibari-san would go all-out. I'll handle the clean-up. I always end up doing it anyway, but-! I'll do my best!”

One eye cracked open, and then Tsuna face-palmed as he spotted Hibari's back, the Disciplinary Committee leader having already walked ahead.

Hibari looked back. “Do you want me to princess carry you... or what?”

“Y- Yes! I'm coming!”

“Perhaps your foot is broken,” Hibari let his eye fall to trace Tsuna's pant-covered legs. The smirk that threatened to split his face in half caused Tsuna to rear back.

“I'm fine, Hibari-san!”

Tsuna was relieved to spot Shimon Middle School after the rather long hike. It seemed about the same as Namimori Middle; although, the plaza was dominated by two thirty-metre arches locked at the apex. From the apexes, a long pendulum swung freely, suspended over a brass circular tablet, into which the Simon crest had been inscribed.

“That's strange,” Tsuna commented. “Hibari-san, what do you think that is?”

“This is the school Foucault pendulum,” a female voice spoke up before Hibari could answer

Tsuna turned around. The source traced to a red-haired girl coming out of the school building beside a taller girl with a black ponytail. Both wore the Simon Middle School uniform of a black jacket and black mid-length skirt, but the redhead wore hers with black tights and black shoes, as compared to the black-haired girl's stockings and garter belts.

“Do you like it, Tsuna-nii?” she smiled, though the expression reminded Tsuna of Yamamoto before the baseball ace had relaxed under Tsuna's ministrations.

“Mami!” Tsuna beamed. “It's been a while. Well, Ie always says that you're alright, but it's good to see you! Suzuki-san, too.”

“Ah, the violent beast of discipline returns,” Adelheid started.

“My discipline is much easier to maintain than the purity you babble about,” Hibari retorted.

“Want to try?”

“The two of you, please don't fight,” Tsuna pleaded, sweating nervously.

Hibari and Adelheid scoffed upon locking eyes, and they probably would have fought if Mami hadn't sidled by to plant one hand on Adelheid's shoulder.

“W- What is this, anyway?” Tsuna waved at the device.

“A Foucault pendulum,” Mami chirped. “Named for the French physicist Léon Foucault, it's a device meant to be a simple experiment to prove the rotation of the Earth. It's part of an effort from the Science Club to promote the natural sciences.”

“So cool!” Tsuna smiled. “Ah, I forgot. Mami, this is Hibari-san.”

“Adel-nee mentioned him before,” Mami nodded with a bow. “I'm Kozato Mami, from the Simon Volleyball Club. My father is Ietsuna-san's agent. Nice to meet you.”

“I see,” was Hibari's crisp reply.

“Right now our general affairs manager is a bit occupied-” Mami stopped talking as a ruckus erupted. Adelheid's hand flew out to the side, stopping a boy with the same fiery shade of hair as her from falling onto his face. The boy wore the same uniform.

“Are you alright, Nii-sama?” Mami questioned.

“T- Thanks, Mami...”

Mami turned to Hibari, the smile that never left her face now much more relaxed. “He just arrived. We may now proceed with negotiations.”

“Enma!” Tsuna brightened. “You're the general affairs manager.”

“Y- Yes,” Enma gingerly nodded. “I'm not very good at it, and I've only just started... it's so nice to see you, Tsuna-san!”

“Same here-” Tsuna blinked as a tug on the back of his shirt saved him from planting his face on the school grounds.

“How is it that you can lose coordination at such a time...” The tug strengthened, and Tsuna was righted again.

“Oh. Thank you, Hibari-san.”

“Hn.”

“I was surprised,” Adelheid's glare deepened. “This town is continually plagued by earthquakes, and Uncle was talking about transferring the eight of us to Namimori. I suppose the freak storm that destroyed your school came at an odd time. Otherwise Uncle would have wasted so much money, and then I would have to put my plans to replace Namimori's Discipline Committee on hold.”

Surprisingly, Hibari remained silent. “...Hn. Big words for little actions.”

“Adel, fighting in front of the school would wreck it,” Enma pleaded as a pair of bladed fans appeared in her hands. “Look! He's here as a guest, right?”

“L- Let's not fight, Hibari-san!” Tsuna wailed as the tonfas came out. “This is bad- we'll wreck the school!”

“If you fight, I'll tell Daddy,” Mami smiled brightly, but the fans disappeared.

“Eh?”

“Daddy can't overpower Adel, Tsuna,” Enma explained as it looked like Tsuna was going to start on about a fighter in Simon Town being stronger than the head of Simon's Liquidation Committee. “He sure can guilt any of us if we do something wrong, though...”

“In some ways, that's an even stronger power than being good at fighting,” Tsuna agreed quietly.

“Your vice-chair and treasurer couldn't make it?” Adelheid demanded to Hibari.

“They had to assess the... damages,” Hibari's face spasmed. “We need a definite time-frame to borrow the older buildings on campus, after all.”

“I see. I thought you'd go to Kokuyo since it's closer-” Adelheid stopped as Tsuna made crossing motions with his arms behind Hibari. “Was I wrong?”

“Kokuyo is haunted by a pineapple parasite,” Hibari blandly replied. “The old carnivore was persuasive.”

“You must have it hard,” Adelheid agreed, her fist tightening. “I know what you mean. Uncle still won't let me flay that bastard.”

Mami nodded, watching by the sidelines. “I think they found something in common, Nii-sama!”

“...” Enma turned to Tsuna. “Is Ietsuna-san coming? Adel and Hibari-san can pummel him all they want if they'll lay off hunting Julie.”

“Oi, that's my twin!”

The two of them then broke out in laughter, causing the disciplinary heads to stop commiserating and give then flinty-eyed stares. Reborn watched the whole scene with a scowl and a resolution to investigate Simon Middle School. Though he had to skip out on observing Ietsuna...

“That's a lot of damage,” Verde noted from his position atop a fallen scaffold. “But of much more interest is the one minute between Reborn and Shamal, and your brother's arrival.”

Below Verde, Ietsuna scratched down a number on a clipboard. “You recorded the whole thing? In fact, your equipment worked? It was a terrible storm.”

“It would take some truly extraordinary weather to damage my reinforced equipment,” Verde shot back. “Back to the subject. In that one minute, you died... and then you were resurrected.”

“...I see.”

“Do you even realise the implications of this?!” Verde smiled; a curious one, charming if not for the worsening of Ietsuna's prospects. “Your existence proves that resurrection is, indeed, possible. The multitude of questions that arise are endless. With just you, we are one step closer to comprehending biology! To understand the study of life and life itself.”

“The ancient teachers of this science promised impossibilities, and performed nothing. The modern masters promise very little. But, these philosophers have indeed performed miracles. They penetrate into the recesses of nature, and show how she works in her hiding-places. They ascend into the heavens; they have discovered how the blood circulates, and the nature of the air we breathe. They have acquired new and almost unlimited powers; they can command the thunders of heaven, mimic the earthquake, and even mock the invisible world with its own shadows,” Ietsuna recalled in English, amber eyes set low. “Victor Frankenstein, Verde-sensei.”

“And why,” the scientist baby demanded, “would I care?”

“Oh,” Ietsuna nodded, still tallying up the damages despite the outlook translating to a complete overhaul and rebuilding of Namimori. “You're that type. The type to do anything for science.”

“Of course.”

“You do realise that societal disapproval would put a crimp on how much access to the scientific process you have, right?” Ietsuna asked. “Or perhaps that was the wrong approach. How about: don't kill the goose that lays the golden eggs?”

Verde's lips compressed. “A shame. Slicing you open would be lovely.”

“I'll let you stab me all you like,” Ietsuna offered. “You have to keep our deal, though. But I think you have other priorities at the moment.”

“Yes, the nature of the Zero Point Breakthrough,” Verde agreed. “From what I pieced together, its very nature violates the laws of thermodynamics. All of them. For one, that ice sample, and then the fight I observed... I estimated its core temperature to be zero degrees Kelvin.”

“Hold on,” Ietsuna paused in his calculation. “Let's take Xanxus as an example. The guy survived eight years frozen without a change of temperature to register, which should not be possible since it breaks Law Zero. Then, we have the ice of the Zero Point Breakthrough, which becomes a solid derived from energy. That's... tangentially possible due to matter-energy equivalence, but why is it cold? And solid? That's the first law. The Zero Point Breakthrough is cold and solid, which is a violation of the second law. Finally, since Xanxus isn't turned to dust, his atoms didn't stop moving, so that's the third law.”

“It is wrong as I have said it,” Verde agrees, “and thus in some respect I must have said it wrongly.”

“Sherlock Holmes,” Ietsuna nodded at the quote. “Then... if flames are the embodiment of entropy across time, then wouldn't the Zero Point Breakthrough freeze time? Like... since there's a reverse-ageing factor involved in the curse, the freezing of the event proper would create a reversion of the body to the pre-cursed state.”

“That merits thinking, especially since we know so little about it,” Verde agreed. “It's not exactly the most outlandish theory in the world. But how would this account for-”

“Ie-nii!” Lambo's yell echoed as the tiny hitman raced to them, only to stare as he was being ignored.

“To... le... rate...!”

Ietsuna and Verde blinked as an explosion of pink smoke erupted on the site. “Oh, boy...” sighed Ietsuna.

Dreamy eyes focusing, Elmo shifted slightly, the better to watch the sacred space within which she surveyed her Maestro. Kneeling with the folds of the taffeta lace under her legs, Elmo watched the brown-haired man kneeling under the vaulted arches of wherever they were, one stair lower than the altar at the end. His hands were clasped around a rosary, almost in prayer. The voice of a chorus echoed within the sacred space, light filtered through stained glass panels painting a curtain over the hand-painted illusionary frescoes.

Quietly, a hand straightened a cow-print lapel that had just appeared in a cloud of pink smoke beside Elmo. “I was called. Did my past self disturb him?”

“No, Elmo replies to approved user Lambo Bovino,” The answer was delivered in a faint murmur, without Elmo turning her head or even giving any wordless indication. “Elmo further adds, the younger Lambo was very quiet when supplied with incentives, provided by Vongola #3EB370 in the form of grape-flavoured candy.”

“Ah, Midori, eh?” the grown hitman nodded. “She always knows what I like. But... I never thought him to be the religious type.”

“There is no religious symbol in this space, Elmo clarifies,” amber eyes hung down. “Elmo then diverts the subject of conversation towards the most important confirmation to Lambo Bovino. User classified information has modified the Ten-Year Bazooka to your specifications. Vongola #3EB370 holds custody of the device at present.”

Lambo's lips parted. “I see. If this... if I go through with this, I'll vanish, right?”

“That is a distinct possibility, Elmo evades the subject.”

“I see. So, why will I do this? Why should I do this?”

“Elmo is unsure what is your wish, Elmo points out her inability to read minds sourly.”

“Ah, sorry.” Lambo glanced towards the bowed head and the back exposed in prayer. It might be foolhardy of that man, but Lambo was fairly sure that nothing was capable of touching his back in this sacred space, not even the Vindice. “I... I want to go back. I can go back, right? Right? You can send me there, Elmo.”

“We could, Elmo admits,” the girl nodded. “However, at this juncture, sending you back will necessarily place two of Lambo Bovino within the same time. I cannot. For the sake of this one future, I cannot.”

Lambo mulled over his words. “For the sake of this one future...”

“What future?” the conversation was interrupted.

“Maestro, Elmo greets. How was your trance?” the girl lowered her head in a gesture of respect.

“It went fine, Elmo. When did you come here, Lambo?”

“Erm... half an hour ago,” the grown hitman of the Bovino nodded. “About the future... If it’s for your dream, I will surely stretch out my hand towards the same distance as you, and stand by your side.”

“To reach for that endlessly radiant heavenly blue...” the light tenor murmured. “I never thought you'd have what it took. I wonder, if I will reach the quiet sky you believed in?”

“I-” Lambo paused. “I believe in you, Tsuna-nii. So...”

“Oh,” The man smiled. “Thank you very much. I have faith that we will save him now.”

Lambo swallowed. “Yes... Tsuna-nii.”

“What's with the pause?” the man teased.

“N- Nothing,” Lambo protested. “You just... look so much like Master, I just-”

A sniff. It sounded, to Lambo, like the prelude of whatever happened to Xanxus then.

“Shit,” Lambo muttered to himself. “Midori, cover!”

“Yes, Young Master, shouts Vongola #3EB370 as she rushes to place a Lightning-Flame barrier in place!” A girl who could be Elmo's younger twin lifted the skirts of her green taffeta dress in her rush to get to Lambo. She reached there as the shout began.

“We're... TWINS!!!!!” The chorus stopped with that rumbling sound like thunder. Glass cracked. The sound snapped within the curtained space, its atmosphere disrupted.

“Midori,” came the quietened reproach. Lambo sighed as the green sparks of Lightning Flames held up by Midori died down, and with it the man's sigh. “Get yourself to the infirmary and Ōtan. Stop jumping in, too. The cow boy can protect himself just fine.”

“You didn't have to do that!” Lambo shouted at him.

“Vongola #3EB370 cannot agree to that request, Vongola #3EB370 replies politely and respectfully to Maestro,” Midori bowed her head to him. “Maestro entrusted the care and safety of the Young Master to Vongola #3EB370.”

The man opened his mouth to rebut further, when another copy of Elmo appeared, this one in a lighter green dress of nearly identical cutting. “My apologies for the interruption, but Master Verde requires Maestro's immediate presence, Vongola #E4DC8A relays her given message and her apologies.”

“Verde?” Brown hair that defied gravity bobbed up and down as the man nodded, dusting his trousers from having knelt in prayer. “Thank you, Karekusa. I'll come. Sorry, Lambo. I have to attend to this.”

“See you later!” Lambo cheerfully waved as a curtain of black surrounded the girl named Karekusa and the man, and then he relaxed.

“Sorry, Midori,” Lambo sniffed, looking down to her scorched dress. “Because of me... do you have the modified Bazooka?”

“It is right here, says Vongola #3EB370 as she produces the Bazooka.” A bazooka was dropped at his feet from where the girl had pulled it out from under her skirt.

“It's there?! Why?!” Lambo face-palmed. “...never mind. Thanks.”

“You're welcome, #3EB370 replies to the Young Master. #3EB370 continues by explaining her doubts about the Young Master's intentions regarding the Bazooka: why did Young Master wish for this device?”

“I...” Lambo swallowed. “I cannot say it to anyone else, but... you must have known it already.”

“...Young Master? Vongola #3EB370 has suspended information upload.”

Lambo nodded once he heard the lack of narration. “Even if I lose all my strength... even if in this world, I suck at fighting, or assassination, or thinking... I will save them. So... Midori, don't hold me back.”

“Vongola #3EB370 never had that sort of intention, Young Master. Can Vongola #3EB370 do anything to help you?”

“Can you...” Lambo swallowed, as if he had trouble finding the words he wanted. “Can you watch over... the one I'm sending back? It'll be tough on him, especially if he sets foot into here. He'll be scared, and alone, and crying, and it's not a guarantee... but-... if my life can be traded for a future where you and your sisters will not be needed... that would be better. I think.”

“Vongola #3EB370 will follow your order. Vongola #FF4E20 is also prepared to protect her charge, Young Master.”

“Who's #FF4E20?”

“The...” Midori paused. “She is known as Ōtan to you, Young Master.”

“Oh. Good.” Lambo hissed as pink smoke enveloped him. “Ciao.”

“Vongola #3EB370 confirms her understanding.” The girl nodded as the time-travelling hitman disappeared, kneeling to look into younger, happier bright green eyes.

A small smile graced her lips. “Welcome back, Young Master, Vongola #3EB370 warmly offers. Would you like some grape candy?”

“The green big sis!” Lambo Bovino, five years old, jabbed a finger at her, grinning. His face fell a bit. “Why is Big Sis crying?”

“I am not capable of crying, Vongola #3EB370 lies to cover the truth.”

“You're weird,” Lambo bluntly spoke back, digging into his nose. “Now, my slave, give Lambo-sama candy!”

“Yes, Young Master,” Midori passively replied. “Midori will act as you wish, always.”

Chapter Text

A few hours earlier in Namimori, the sun was rising as Ken awoke. He'd somehow rolled out of his futon in the middle of the night again, leaving his head in the path of the door. The smell of crêpes floating in informed Ken that Chikusa and the copy were already awake, and probably the old bird too.

The futon he folded up quickly, his muscle memory reminding him of the horrible consequences the last time the Kokuyo Gang tried to run without doing their share of the chores. Chikusa was faced with the household budget, Mukuro-san with handling the shop, Ken with general security in particular, and so many jokes about guard dogs that he'd like to punch her. He had punched her back then, in a fit of ill-advised fury. Ken yawned, dismissing the terrible memory of a blonde chignon, the old bird laughing over a burning building, and kicks strong enough to turn Mukuro-san, no need to mention him, into chunky salsa.

There was a sore digging into his lower lip; an irritant to him but not otherwise a disruption to his life like the old bird's retribution. The old bird lived away from her equally monstrous grandson, which was a small blessing since Chikusa, Mukuro-san and himself barely took down that prefect of a monster with gratuitous cheating, sending him through five floors, and explosives. They would have been regularly slaughtered if they were within the prefect's proximity, especially since it took two different towns to get the little bird – Ken's name for the old bird's grandson – away from Mukuro-san.

“Bonjour,” the old bird murmured at him from the stove as he stumbled into the combined kitchen and dining room.

“Good morning, Ken,” the copy nodded a greeting along with Chikusa, to which Ken gave his own mumbled reply.

“We're having crepes, byon?” Ken mumbled as he plopped into a chair. This was their longest stay in a single location, at ten months and counting – even if part of that time was invested in the hospital, and Mukuro-san was sent to Vendicare.

“I thought we might as well get settled, Ken-chan,” the old bird replied, serving up a pile of the thin pancakes and a side of butter and honey. “Chikusa, Chrome, do you want jam?”

“No, thank you, Alouette-san.”

“Suit yourself. Ken-chan?”

“You're being too nice this morning, byon,” Ken snorted.

“Well, dogs must be fed often to maintain their love for their master.”

“Look, just because my name-”

The next helping of crepes flew out of Alouette's hand, and into Ken's mouth.

“-means dog, doesn't mean you can call me one,” Ken finished, still chewing the crepe. “This needs peppermint.”

“Peppermint in the morning ruins your stomach, Ken-chan,” Alouette teased, putting aside the cast-iron frying pan to cool. “Eat.”

“Is there something wrong, Alouette-san?” Chikusa asked as the older woman pushed another mountain of pancakes onto Ken. “Usually you'd be trying to pace Ken and his breakfast foods.”

“Maybe I'm finally getting around to having dog hotpot, and I'm fattening him up,” Alouette beamed as she eyed Ken. “Mukuro-chan always calls me a witch, after all.”

The blond hitman put down his crepes and backed as far as his chair would allow.

“It's a joke!” Alouette beamed at them. “Well, too bad M.M.-chan wouldn't stay-”

“Because she's terrified of you, even if you're both French,” Chikusa interjected.

“-so I just have to tell you three. Lancia already knows,” Alouette continued, steepling her fingers as her elbows made the table. “I have to go to the hospital for a while, so I'm making alternate custody arrangements for all of you until then.”

“Hospital, byon?!” Ken started.

“Hospital?” Chrome echoed in alarm. “Alouette-san, are you alright?”

“Do you require assistance?” Chikusa spoke up.

“No... however, I do need to arrange your custody,” Alouette nodded. “As you all understand, you are under the custody of the Vongola heirs, with myself as your primary caregiver after a long debate with M. Reborn. This apartment can still be used, as well as the shop below. I am... informing you of this unforeseen change. It should be temporary.”

“Oh, and I thought something happened to an old bird like you, byon,” Ken sighed. “But... why are you going to the hospital, byon?”

“It's just a mastectomy, I'll probably be back in a week.”

Ken relaxed; conversely, it was Chikusa's turn to sit up. “A... mastectomy, Alouette-san?”

“Oui.”

“For... cancer?” Chikusa's phrasing had the other two swivelling to stare at the older woman again.

Alouette nodded. “Breast cancer, to be exact.”

“...how long?”

“Two days ago, right after that thing with Teo's son.” She meant Xanxus. Figures; an old bird like herself would call the Ninth's son and Boss of the Varia as 'Teo's son'.

“But the...” Chrome paused, “...prognosis is good?”

“I'll survive, if that's what you're asking, Chrome-chan,” Alouette beamed with a grin so wide that even Ken found it fake. “I'm old, anyway. I thought it'd come soon. I think Mukuro-chan would enjoy the freedom. Lord knows Kyoya would enjoy having Namimori to himself.”

“...when will you go?” was Chikusa's question.

“Erm... the day after. I'll be gone for a week.” Alouette made to stand up, and her walking stick clattered on the floor tiles with a crack that made the Kokuyo Junior High Gang sit up in their chairs. The walking stick fell apart into two, a reminder of that time it was used as a weapon to brain Squalo into submission.

Chrome was making noise as she picked up the sticks, talking about wood splinters and the like. Chikusa was solicitously preparing some sugarless tar-water that was the old bird's black tea mix from China or something. The old bird herself was squawking about having no need to, fluttering about the space as her usual domineering self. Like the walking stick, though, their lives were only held together by that warped band of brass, and now, the stench of mortality was encroaching upon their peaceful lives.

Sure, the old lady made them help out in the shop, and the chemical smell of whatever colourful poisons she sold to be spattered onto canvases might itch his nose. The only really bad thing now was the regular beatings from the old bird's grandson – and the old bird herself – but that was a fact of life. He still got shelter, food and drink, and people talking to him, and he survived the beatings – which, he recalled, usually started because he tried to murder the old bird before dinner.

“Feeling your years catch up with you, witch?” Mukuro-san had taken over the copy's body, eyeing the old bird with a touch of... blankness.

“Bonjour, Mukuro-chan~ Would you like some crepes?”

“After your hospital stay, madame,” Mukuro-san clearly expressed his wished. “I'll have some then.”

This was their longest stay in a single, inhabited location, but that did not mean that Ken wanted it to end.

The revelation about Ietsuna left Reborn with rather uncomfortable feelings. Somehow, knowing that the child was dead made things worse, giving Reborn every reason for paranoia. Ietsuna hovering over his brother was like a suffocating shadow, reaching from the undiscovered country that no man – except, perhaps, Mukuro – was meant to return from now. The amber-eyed boy inspired both awe and pity; awe because he was a walking miracle, and pity of the same.

Reborn could have told Tsuna. The baby hitman could have dragged the heir aside that day in the hospital, had him acknowledge the oddity of his twin surviving Xanxus. The Varia Boss could supply a full list of the injuries he had inflicted onto Ietsuna; even Tsuna could not deny that a broken neck pretty much meant death.

"I understand, you know," Tsuna had spoken once Reborn had him cornered.

Reborn had almost sighed in relief; almost, for Tsuna added: "Ie told me to forgive you, since you were doing your job. I just... don't understand why."

It was infuriating, since it proved that the twin was ahead of him once again. It also showed Reborn a new perspective and understanding, since Tsuna must not know of the danger of having twin heirs. Or of being threatened by his brothers. Or even fighting with his brother, come to think of it. Ietsuna simply loved Tsuna too much, and Tsuna was the same.

Like Namimori and Shimon were almost the same, being sister towns. Reborn found minimal differences between Shimon Middle School and Namimori Middle School. Both bore an aesthetic between the typical grey-brown-white of concrete and brick, and graffiti art on one wall – possibly another artistic endeavour. Ietsuna's efforts had definitely taken root here, if the school mascots Shi-chan and Mon-kun that greeted all and sundry within the school yard was any indication as Reborn followed the prefect contingent about their tour.

“Koyo, you're too loud in the gym,” Adelheid commented, using her hands to physically block Mami's ears as a battle cry went up around Shimon Middle School. “Kaoru escaped first.”

“Perhaps Koyo and Kaoru got into a fight?” Mami asked lightly. "I'll be sure to purify them respectfully later before everyone."

“That's great,” Tsuna smiled and nodded, oblivious to Enma flailing – and failing – to dissuade them.

Behind Mami, Adelheid punched what looked like a green floater from one window that the disciplinary contingent of the three towns – Namimori, Shimon and Kokuyo – passed through the hallways. A feminine scream followed it down.

“What are you doing, Suzuki?” Hibari murmured.

“Adel?” Mami's curious voice cut through the hallway. “Is there something wrong?”

“Shittopi-chan was violating the height restriction for bouncing," Adel dead-panned. "She has been purified respectfully.”

Height restriction... for bouncing? thought Tsuna. And it reaches up three storeys?

“Oh," Mami pondered, not having noticed that most educational establishments did not require bouncing limits. “What is Shittopi-chan doing outside anyway?”

"I hope Shittopi-chan survived," Enma murmured under his breath.

"Enma...?" Tsuna questioned. "What's going on?"

"Hahaha... Mami is... a bit sensitive,” Enma explained quietly, blushing slightly. “Ever since... seven years ago, she's been insecure. We're working on it, but the frequent earthquakes... makes it difficult. Adel is extremely good at connecting to Mami-”

“Enma,” said prefect loudly called. “You can walk faster.”

“Yes!” the red-head suddenly straightened and quickened his pace. “Sorry, Adel!”

“I'm not scolding you,” the black-haired female prefect huffed.

“Hibari-san, I think this might be a nice school,” Tsuna told his own raven-haired prefect with a smile.

“Shimon has tolerable standards of peace,” Hibari stated, reluctantly being led through a hallway to another wing of the building, this one populated with classrooms.

“Ah,” Tsuna nodded. “So... double the discipline is better, I guess? We need to find a place for nine hundred students in two weeks.”

“Prefabricated buildings can only stretch so far. During this time...” and here the prefect seemed like the words took him a heroic effort, “...we need to find separate bases while we rebuild the school.”

Tsuna watched him, before a glowing smile overtook his face. “Good work, Hibari-san. You finally managed to admit needing other people even if only for a while!”

“Kokuyo would take far too much effort for too little space,” Hibari defended. “The path to Shimon might be longer and the area prone to earthquakes, but there is a dedicated bus route with negotiable rates.”

“I'll ask Kusakabe-san to arrange something with the bus company right away!” Tsuna beamed at him as he took out his own phone.

“Is that Sawada Ietsuna's birthday present?”

“Yes! I was worried because I'm naturally clumsy, but the phone managed to survive an explosion.”

“Hn,” the sound managed to convey apathy and interest at the same time. “What's for lunch?”

“Hamburger steak. Please try to eat the carrots this time, Hibari-san.”

“No.”

“Hibari-san!”

The pair of them seemed oblivious – Tsuna to Hibari's face at the mention of vegetables, and the both of them to the fact that they seemed enveloped in their own little world of idol and fanboy to onlookers. Adelheid made a growl under her breath, ahead of the tour group of Mami – still talking – and Enma. “I wish they wouldn't flaunt their good relationship in our faces.”

“A- Adel?!” Enma blinked. “Erm... you're really holding yourself back...”

“Those Namimori guys are acting like newly-weds moving into a house! Enma, how can you-”

“Adel? Nii-sama?” Mami had stopped walking, and with her the entire group.

“Ah... nothing,” Enma waved his hands. “Just... how exactly are we going to help our fellow students in Namimori! Yes, we were just talking about that!”

“Enma and Suzuki-san look like they share a good relationship too,” Tsuna nodded, oblivious to Adelheid suddenly inspecting the hallway ceiling or Hibari's snort.

“They do, right?” Mami bounced towards him, jabbering without letting the other get a word in. “Adel looks like the tsun-tsun type, but she's actually quite dere-dere to Nii-sama! Nii-sama tries to be stronger in front of Adel, and Adel is softer in front of Nii-sama! Don't you think they compliment each other, Sawada-san?!”

“Your pet is being left behind,” Adelheid commented as the group managed to move, with Tsuna still caught by the talking geyser of gossip that was Mami Kozato.

“So is your little animal, herbivore,” Hibari jabbed a thumb back to where Enma was reluctantly following along.

"This is under the jurisdiction of the Liquidation Committee, you stain," Adelheid retorted. "We're still whipping him into shape."

“While you're doing so, you're clearly paying more attention to Mami Kozato.”

“...” Adelheid stopped walking. “You're not referring to her as a herbivore.”

“Oh?” Hibari smirked, looking towards where an obliviously babbling Mami was walking towards the school gates. “How strange. Her fangs are clearly more polished than...”

“Don't you dare, Hibari,” Adel snarled as a familiar light dawned. “If you touch Mami-”

“I cannot be held back by your logic. I will do as I wish.”

“Ah...” Tsuna shivered at the back of the group. “Are we... being watched? No, Hibari-san is picking a fight...”

Up in a tree, Reborn sighed, and looked at a Leon-portable TV which showed Ietsuna facing off against Adult Lambo. It was a pity that Reborn's minions had given Ietsuna a wide berth before the cow-brat came in. “That Hyper Intuition is really something. If only Tsuna would get a clue about how destructive his brother's protection really is, no matter the intention. That's... the Simon Famiglia. I heard that they had a monster from Dino. I guess the lower orders have their own surprises as well.”

“Not on campus, please,” Enma pleaded, starting to jog towards the two head prefects. “Mami!”

“Nii-sama- Ara, why are you trailing back?” Mami turned around, blinking, with a smile on her face that looked as brittle as Bianchi's spun cotton candy - hard enough to match cutting pasta noodles and still look soft. “We still have the school grounds to tour- Nii-sama!”

Several things happened: Adelheid drew two bladed fans from under her skirt and parried a blow from Hibari, Tsuna tried to intervene bodily, and a lasso looped around Enma, dragging him into a bright red sports car that drove off.

Or, rather, tried to.

Inside the car, Enma blinked. “Yo,” Dino smiled in answer. “Sorry for the abrupt invitation.”

“...Please settle the bill yourselves,” Enma stated calmly after looking around himself.

“You're pretty seasoned for a kidnapping victim,” Dino remarked. “Of course I will.”

“No... I meant, for the car, the urban destruction about to ensue, and your own hospitalisation bills,” Enma clarified with the awkward expression of apologising for a younger sibling. “If you wish, I know a good insurance agent.”

“B- B- Boss...!” Romario squawked from the driver's seat. “It's high...”

“What's wrong, Romario?” Dino blinked, rolling down the tinted window to see that the view had elevated somewhat. “Was the car always this high? And, why did we stop?”

“The wheels aren't on the ground, Boss,” Romario swallowed. “It's being lifted!”

Dropping a card into Dino's lap, Enma then pulled the car lock, opened the door, and hopped out with ahuff of effort. Slamming the door, he made his way to the roadside, and spotted the Namimori delegates staring at the scene of Mami lifting a car above her head and the large ringlets of her hair. The wheels of Dino's car spun aimlessly, as the Mafiosi within scrambled to stay inside and away from Mami Kozato.

The groan of the engine failed to drown her ominously quiet words.

“Cars of this width are illegal to drive in a school zone,” Mami spoke as the accelerator increased in sound. “However, they're perfect for your last ride into the ground. And for beating Julie's head in, if he arranged this.”

I bet Reborn arranged this... but she's blaming someone else already... with that car still above her head and it was definitely moving... that's... definitely not normal... right?

“Julie definitely arranged this, right?” Mami continued, almost talking to herself. “You're stupid enough to follow him, right? So... you have no problem with what happens to you, right~?! I'll bury him with you!”

...Who's Julie? I pity him...

Mechanically, Tsuna turned to Enma. “...w- what... is that?”

“That's Mami's fighting technique,” Enma informed him. “The Heiwajima, where she takes the heaviest thing on hand, and smashes the closest rule-breaker with it under the power of her own rage. Its full name: Heiwajima Shizuko.”¹

“That's not the point... not exactly... but when did Mami...” Tsuna began flailing as people fell out of the car. “It's a car... Dino-sempai?!”

“We just wanted to talk to the Simon Tenth!” Dino clutched at the car door. “Help!”

“Ah... wait, what?” Tsuna did a double-take. “E- Enma-? You're... Mafia?”

“...you didn't ask.” Enma shrunk in on himself.

"Enma, not now," Adelheid sighed, and turned on one heel to face Hibari, the only person not currently freaking out. “If Mami liquidises them, it'll be troublesome. We'll have to intervene.”

“Agreed. They are disrupting the peace, especially with such parlour tricks,” There was a snort. “I'll take the horse herbivore.”

“Agreed. I'll handle Mami when she flings the car.”

“Flings the- I see.” Hibari's cobalt eyes tracked the vehicle as it soared through the air and into a – thankfully empty – public playground. “Horses are dumb.”

“Hello? I'd like to take out three extra policies for severe trauma-” Dino's words echoed the scream of the car's wheels rending from under its own weight and crashing.

“JULIE! I'LL KILL YOU!!!” Mami hollered at a bespectacled blond with a goatee passing by. The blond student did a double take, and started running away as Mami uprooted a street sign like plucking a flower. With a war cry, the street sign flew like a javelin and embedded itself into the concrete, narrowly missing the student running for his life.

Viewing the scene through Leon-binoculars, Reborn paused to wipe his eyes from the stray dust kicked up in the wake of the car's landing. “That's... not a middle school student. That's not even human.”

Ignoring Julie for the moment, the slender girl who was possibly as sturdy as a giant robot now advanced into the playground's smoking remains. “You're trying to kidnap Nii-sama... aren't you?”

In the distance, Dino watched a cloud of dust kick up where the street sign had forcibly planted itself by sheer kinetic force. Then his gaze lifted, towards the floating car and its red-headed wielder swinging it like a club with its bumper. “That's... a monster...”

“Mami! Stop!” Enma called, rushing to block her bodily by standing before her and the cherry-red sports car she wielded.

“They broke the rules first, Nii-sama,” Mami stated in confusion, the car lightly held to be brought down to an extreme one-tonne of prejudice. “I'm just doing the same for them.”

“Well... cars belong on the road, so that's against the rules,” Enma quickly improvised as the back bumper fell off and landed into the sandbox with a muffled thud. “That means all of the car. You can't leave the bumper behind. Or use it on him. I'm sure...”

“Dino,” Dino quickly replied at the meaningful glance aimed his way. He would have lied, but the threat of death by Maserati stayed his hand.

“...Dino-san truly regrets his actions,” Enma smoothly continued. “So... er... Mami? Put the car down, please.”

“Who sent you?” Mami shot a sour glare towards Dino, but let go of the car. Dust kicked up in its wake as she simply dropped it, the crash of steel and Plexiglass a stark reminder that she could use it to beat him over the head.

“Erm... Reborn?” Dino cringed as a wheel fell off under the stress on its axle.

Adelheid's face showed alertness, Enma sighed in resignation, and Mami continued smiling. Tsuna simply face-palmed.

“And what does this Reborn want with us?” Mami smiled as she ripped off a door from the Maserati and Dino let out a squeak. “You see, like my name, I consider the truth beautiful². So if you tell me the truth right now, I won't turn you into an ugly pile of meat right here.”

“Mami... she had that sort of strength all along?!” Tsuna freaked. “Dino-sempai!”

“Tsuna... you know him?”

“He's my... senior? We have- had the same tutor...” Tsuna paused. “It's complicated. He's probably leaving after giving up on us. Anyway, Enma! I'm sure Dino-sempai was pressured to do this! Dino-sempai doesn't kidnap people for no reason!”

“I see,” Hibari commented. “That fake disciplinarian and the little badger keep guarding that girl for some reason. They crowded to hide that presence from the herd of herbivores in the school, lest the herbivores panicked and ran.”

“H- Hibari-san? What do you mean?” Tsuna looked at him.

“That girl is neither herbivore nor carnivore,” Hibari answered. “That is simply a wild animal.”

“Someone that even the combat-manic Hibari-san considers a wild animal... you mean, she just fights with brute force?” Tsuna wondered. “With that kind of strength...”

“Mami,” Enma persuaded. “Maybe you can, erm, put the door down...”

“I will crush him, Nii-sama, so please wait.”

“W- Wait! Stop! No crushing!” Enma flailed, physically intersecting himself between the steel door and Dino's form. “M- Medicine! You need to take your medicine, Mami!”

“But this man is a threat to Nii-sama first. The man behind him has a gun, Nii-sama.”

“If he shoots,” Enma reminded her. “Ah, we should go to the infirmary!”

“But the man is still here, Nii-sama,” Mami's smile turned brittle as she edged her brother, or tried to gently push past him. “I'll crush him first, alright~?”

“Adel, please!” Enma's yell was like a war cry as he tackled his sister down and held her hands flat.

“I know!” Adelheid primed a syringe, leaping into the fray to inject the clear liquid within into the struggling girl before dropping the needle in favour of a bear hug on Mami. Despite several ominous cracks, Mami's struggles slowly ceased and the chanting of kills segued into a half-snort. Adel stiffly let Mami fall back into Enma's arms, wincing as she clutched her own. “Ow.”

“Your arms, Adel?” Enma asked, looking up to Adelheid. “Are you alright?! We need a doctor! Doctor! An ambulance!”

“Radius bone fracture in the left arm,” Adelheid relayed. “I'm fine, Enma. My apologies, Hibari. I should have stepped in before Mami went berserk.”

“There is no discipline here,” Hibari glared at a wilting Dino on the ground. “Well, there is no discipline in horses, either. Nowadays, horses know how to ignore people, huh?”

“Ah, Tsuna, Kyoya!” Dino exclaimed as the two Shimon members turned on to him. “Maybe you can help me explain to these nice people... Reborn made me! He said that it would draw out the monster of Simon...”

“Who is a monster?” Enma glared at Dino with a surprising amount of venom. Mami was taken by Tsuna as the older Kozato stalked over to glare at Dino, but was physically blocked by Hibari.

“For attempted kidnapping of students, you will be bitten to death,” Hibari drew both tonfas and proceeded to beat Dino to within an inch of his life.

Revenge unfed, Enma turned on one heel and walked back towards Tsuna and Mami.

“Sorry, Enma,” Tsuna apologetically motioned, Mami still being held by him. “Dino-sempai was coerced...”

“No, I should... be the one apologising,” Enma shrunk slightly as the situation sunk in. “I left my sister with you so selfishly...”

“No, it's completely understandable. I'd feel angry for Ie's sake if anyone called him a monster. Please don't hold it against Dino-sempai though... erm, are Mami's fingers supposed to bend like this?”

“Ah!!!” Enma exclaimed, the first signs of panic appearing.

“Enma! Calm down!”

The memory of a flame kindling life into a breathless body caused Reborn to look away and down, towards the illogical girl and her worried brother now confronting the Chiavarone Boss. “An otherworldly strength controlled by a guardian... so this is the monster of the Simon Famiglia-”

Leon transformed into a cellphone, which started vibrating.

“...that was a good moment...” Reborn glared at the screen. “...Fon? Why is he calling?”

It was in a comforting wood kitchen that Ietsuna set down his tea cup and saucer with more force than necessary on the tabletop. “You know... I understand Skull-san and Mammon-san since they slept over... but when did you start to visit them, Verde-sensei?”

“Ah, Skull-san brought Verde-san over, Ietsuna-kun,” Kozato Makoto warmly explained to the adult-form Skull and Ietsuna. “It was a bit hard to establish a common ground, but we managed to talk about art and its relationship to science.”

“I was even more surprised that they managed to talk at all,” Skull directed to Ietsuna in a stage-whisper. His helmet lay on the table, baring his pierced and tattooed face to the room. Surprisingly, Makoto had showed no sign of disgust or disapproval, simply asking Skull about the pain involved. That had been the start of Skull's regular visits.

“I'm surprised too... miracles do happen,” Ietsuna slowly nodded in awe. “I respect you even more, Kozato-san, to connect to this denpa-san!³”

“Why do you speak like I can't make acquaintances and small talk?” Verde demanded in irritation.

“Well, well,” Makoto raised his big hands in a gesture of surrender. “It takes a bit to get used to Ietsuna-kun. Skull-san too. If I gave you each a cookie, would you stop fighting?”

“If I accepted the cookie, would you treat us as adults?” Verde demanded back in turn.

“I'll treat you like adults whenever,” Makoto laughed, “but there's always room to be a child. Verde-san likes the matcha cookies, right?”

“They are acceptable. The green tea's light colouring shows up easily if oxidised in the presence of poisons-”

“Verde-san, I can just open a new packet for you. There's no need to badmouth people,” Makoto retorted. “We're just waiting for the people from Ciel Art Supplies to come over, so please, make yourself at home.”

“Why is Maître involved?” Ietsuna blinked.

“Er...” Makoto apparently found his kitchen ceiling extremely interesting. “...because I'm arranging an art exhibition in France and I need a demonstration artist so-”

“No.”

“Ietsuna-kun, please give your primary seller some face and go to France!” Makoto begged. “I'll even pay for the ticket and lodgings!”

“Kozato-san, an international art dealer like you, who specialises in old paintings with a minimum two-century bracket doesn't need a young Japanese artist,” Ietsuna pointed out. “You just can't find any French speakers, right?”

“Ah, the old lady needed to go to hospital suddenly,” Makoto confessed. “Well, I understand, because Mamie – I mean, my wife – has her own personal reasons too... I'm powerless to change that.”

“I see...” Ietsuna turned contemplative. “It's real.”

“Hmm? What is?” Makoto asked.

“It's... just a feeling,” Ietsuna answered with a worried frown, waving to his eyes. “How do I say it... ah! Her eyes became yellowed!”

“I suppose your artist's eye for detail allowed you to pick up on that,” Verde commented. “The term is conjunctival icterus, and it can indicate a host of diseases.”

“Diseases?! Whoa!” Skull pumped his fist. “You have a good talent, Ietsuna-san!”

“Is she alright...” Ietsuna pondered as the door opened.

“We're back, Papa,” Enma's voice trailed in. “Mami got tired, we're putting her in her room first.”

“We're sorry to interrupt!”

Ietsuna sat up at the new voice. “Tsuna?!”

“Ie?! Why are you here?!”

A variety of expressions passed through Ietsuna's face at that moment. Panic – oh shit if Reborn finds out – then to contemplation – what happens if Reborn finds out? He doesn't care about me – and to grim worry – but he'll try to increase surveillance, and we have to investigate the curse – and then to more thinking – but Tsuna never met their adult forms...

“Skull, lie,” Verde snapped out some advice. “Reborn will hijack our research given half a chance or even the whiff of our presence.”

“S- Sempai! Thanks,” Skull hissed back.

“It's for our research,” Verde muttered. “Don't thank me yet. I may dissect you.”

“Oh, you have guests,” Enma peeked into the kitchen, which was thankfully shielded from the entrance hall and the staircase. A carmine ringlet over his shoulder revealed Mami, sleeping on her brother's piggyback hold. “Ietsuna-san, Skull-san, Verde-san, hello. I'll just bring Mami up to sleep.”

Verde and Skull exchanged looks, face-palmed together, and waved hello to Enma silently. What kind of hitmen are we, we gave our true names so easily, their identical expressions revealed.

“Is Mami alright?” Makoto stood up, concern written on his face.

“It's alright, Papa. It's... the usual. The playground.”

“And the others? Adel?”

“We are fine, uncle,” Adelheid reported. “There were simply a few misunderstandings. Though... the playground did suffer some damage.”

“Alright. As long as none of you are hurt... even Julie?”

“Julie gets whatever he deserves.”

“-.-'...” Makoto clearly doubted that bit, but remained silent in the interest of glancing over his daughter, son, and adopted child. “Adel...”

“Yo, Enma,” Ietsuna waved. “Do you need help? What happened to Mami?”

“No, we'll be fine, especially with Tsuna and Hibari-san-” Enma was broken off as a commotion started raging outside. A window broke and a shade of green and navy tumbled in.

“Mukuro! Why are you here?!” Ietsuna demanded as the Kokuyo Gang leader swept shards of glass from his sleeves with his usual sangfroid. Behind him, Hibari was climbing in through the window, his murderous intent bleeding through.

“What,” the phthalo-haired boy sneered. “Is this how you treat all of your guests?”

“Guest?” Makoto echoed. “Ah! Madame Lei did say that she had a representative... but that he wore glasses. Are you...?”

“Rokudo Mukuro, in representative of Ciel Art Supplies,” Mukuro smirked towards the seething skylark. “Chikusa is unable to come, so I have arrived in his stead.”

“...you mean, you wanted to come,” Ietsuna retorted.

“Shut up, Sawada Ietsuna.”

“Well, at least the old lady is doing well if she sent such an exciting boy along,” Makoto physically intervened, in his ignorance of the danger suddenly posed to everyone else when blocking the Cloud and the Mist. “You must be Madame Lei's grandson. Hibari, right? Would you like something to drink, Rokudo-san? Hibari-san?”

In the ensuing stare-off, Enma and Tsuna just rolled their eyes and slowly mounted the stairs, a sleeping younger sister on Enma's back. It left the unenviable task of preventing damage to Makoto instead.

Surprisingly, he survived. Even more miraculously, the Kozato house survived. Makoto was apologetically bowing to Verde, Skull, Hibari and Mukuro within five minutes at the front gate of the tiny bungalow. “My apologies for the sudden dismissal, but I have to see to my daughters. Next time will hopefully be better.”

“We understand, Kozato-san,” Verde inclined his head.

“Ciao, Signor,” Mukuro grinned back. The respect accorded to the Kozato father had exponentially increased, when the man had waded in between the skylark and himself to bodily stop the fight with a kettle.

“I never would have thought that the Simon Famiglia would make an alliance with two of the Arcobaleno,” Mukuro mused once no one else was within earshot. “Especially the infamous Verde.”

“I never would have thought that the infamous Rokudo Mukuro would be reduced to an old woman's errand boy,” Verde retorted. “Even if the old woman is the Mauviette.”

Mukuro smirked. He just smirked; there was no witty reply, only a smirk and a pair of empty mismatched eyes. “She is our contact. It would be troubling if Ken and Chikusa had to leave along with my darling Chrome simply because the old witch had a medically disruptive cellular aberration.”

“Medically disruptive?” Verde produced his cellphone in a gesture of insouciance. Under a certain light, they could be simply having a conversation. “Hmm... oh.”

“Verde-sempai?” Skull poked the scientist, but Verde made no reply. Verde's phone vibrated in a tiny hand. “Verde-sempai~”

The phone stopped ringing. “Perfect, now it'll stop...”

A loud bass rang, and Skull started as he pulled out his own. “Who is calling me now?”

“The Carcassa?” Verde suggested.

“No, not after that mess in Mafia Land...” Skull apprehensively blinked at his cheap burner phone, and then stepped aside. “Excuse me.”

Mukuro would have made a comment about cellphone etiquette. He would have, if Skull hadn't immediately dropped the phone after receiving the call and saying hello. The phone dropped, and the tinny voice was loud enough to be heard even across the street.

“-find Verde, it's an emergency. Skull? Wèi? Wèi?! Wèi?!!”

“Is there something wrong with your cellphone, Skull?” Verde commented. “It looks like-”

“Diu nei, puk gaai aah!⁴” A dial tone punctuated the sudden silence.

Mukuro let out a snort as Verde gaped. Hibari just stared at the cellphone with an unreadable expression.

“Fon-sempai... just- did Fon-sempai just... curse?!” Skull shrieked as Verde's cellphone went off again.

The genius Arcobaleno sighed, opened his cellphone well away from his ear, and hit the green button. “Verde speaking. Make it fast.”

“V- Verde? Ah, it's Fēng- I mean, Fon. Have you made any headway with cancer treatments?”

“No. Why?”

“How about changing us back? Even a temporary cure? I'll owe you. Please, tell me that your crazy scientist antics have achieved something-”

“Fon, I can't believe I'm about to tell you this, but calm down!” Verde took a breath as his cellphone was taken. “Hey-”

“I'll bite you to death if you continue to make a ruckus.” Hibari's words inspired awe, everyone staring at the man currently challenging death by kicks and punches strong enough to break steel.

“...Kyoya? How did you- oh. Did Yǔ called Verde in?”

“I neither know nor care. Call when you're in town.” Hibari then pressed the red button and handed the phone back to Verde.

“What was... that?” Verde blinked. “What kind of twisted change is this? What kind of event would cause Fon to curse?”

1 This is a play on Heiwajima Shizuo – a Durarara!!! reference! – and the Japanese word for 'girl'.

Chapter Text

Whispers followed the flame-haired goddess in paint-covered overalls as she walked the hallways of the Vongola Famiglia's Iron Fort, ten years into the future.

“That face is too similar to Boss...”

“Pretty, isn't she? Think she's up for some company?”

“That's the Boss's ward. After what happened to his brother... he'll burn you to death, Chicory.”

How much she had heard, or even paid attention to, was not in question. It was never in question. Elmo did not have the luxury of relaxation even as she slipped into the room covered in green baize and filled with bookshelves. A hearth dominated the room, and seated by the burning fire was the person she was looking for.

“I assert that this is stupid, Elmo declares to Maestro,” Elmo crossed her arms under her breasts. “That Xanxus keeps giving me suspicious looks. He will find out.”

The tuft of gravity-defying soft brown hair dyed in the sunlight tilted up, amber eyes studying Elmo dressed in paint-flecked coveralls. “Careful. You're Amaya Asari now. About Xanxus, though... that fine instinct made me decide to tell him about Box Weapon #343 in the future.”

“No one's around, Elmo assures.”

“Walls have ears, Amaya. As the adopted daughter of the Vongola Decimi for two years and running, please act with proper decorum.”

“...as you wish,” the girl smoothed back the twin tufts of hair that flared out from her temples with her hands. “You have commanded complete radio silence so far, but I believe the situation warrants this emergency.”

“...fine. Sit-rep.”

“#3EB370 has been acting oddly,” Elmo relayed. “This aberrant behaviour could be in relation to the young master Lambo.”

“Midori, you mean? There is nothing surprising,” came the conclusion. “Lambo is her charge after all.”

“She has been visiting #FF4E20. As they are both part of the Big Seven, I am worried that they might sortie and abuse our powers to ruin your plans.”

Amber eyes snapped to her. “Big... Seven?”

“N- No, nothing, Elmo tries to divert the subject.” Elmo suddenly found the ceiling very interesting.

“You guys... don't tell me you used the VPN to play KanColle.”

“I won't tell you we used the VPN to play Kantai Collection,” Elmo paused. “It was classified information. Please forget everything I just said.”

“I'm going to kill him,” muttered the other. “...what's your main fleet?”

“Erm...” Elmo closed her eyes. “Ise, Fubuki, Souryuu, Goya, Ooi and Kitakami...”

“Souryuu, eh...?” came the comment. “That's quite an efficient fleet.”

“Could it be... Maestro plays as well?”

“...shut up. Do whatever you want.”

Elmo grinned as he flipped another page. “We want Maestro to be happy, since you look happy when you take care of approved user group Vongola X. Amaya will leave you to yourself now, Amaya is busy~!”

“Happy...?” he pondered as Elmo, or Asari Amaya, left him alone. “I've... never felt happy at the world. Not for two years. Soon...”

Silence reigned as another page turned before the fluffy hair bounced up again. Amber eyes narrowed in contemplation. “Wait. Why is she busy? I'm not deploying anyone yet...”

Running through the hallways, Elmo giggled. “#FF4E20, weigh anchor! Set course for Common Era two thousand and five!”

“Vongola #FF4E20, docking and restock complete,” the girl with hair like wings on either side of her head, and eyes that burned with deadly fire declared as she stepped onto a floating platform. Her orange taffeta dress stretched to her knees, almost like a bell. “Everyone, are you ready for the sortie~?”

T his is really awkward, was Squalo's first thought.

“Alouette is moving into the hospital, so we're leaving,” Timoteo sounded far too cheerful to be the same old man who had cried in front of some grave earlier in the morning. “Yes, Squalo?”

“I understand, Ninth... but, why are you dragging us along on your hot springs trip?!” Squalo thumped the solid steel door of the car currently ferrying Timoteo, Coyote, Squalo and Xanxus. “This is really awkward! You old fogeys might not feel it, but I do!”

“Shut up, shark-trash,” Xanxus mutinously glared. “It's a job. It's a job. It's a job.”

“Are you telling yourself that to avoid the awkwardness of the situation, Xanxus?” Reborn, perched on Timoteo's knee, looked at him. “You said that three times.”

“... why did you call us? It's not for the Rings, right, since you handed them to the brat and the baby trash is here,” Xanxus changed the subject.

“This is why being a Boss is awkward when it clashes with being a father,” Timoteo mused. “I visited Alouette in hospital.”

“The Mauviette?” Coyote asked. “You didn't get hit?”

“Yes,” Timoteo agreed. “That invincible monster, Alouette Lei, has cancer. I was surprised. I was sad. And so, I realised that I will die. So I will not leave any regrets.”

X anxus waved his hand, his body having been fixed using Sun flames. “ And then?”

“VOI! Are you listening, shitty Boss!” Squalo complained. “This Boss has no sensitivity... this is supposed to be some feel-good vacation! That's why we left the rest of them in Namimori!”

“Wave that again, and I'll put it through your skull,” Xanxus lowly threatened as Squalo's sword came that much closer to impaling his thigh.

“Are you sure about this?” Reborn looked to the Ninth.

T imoteo just chuckled to himself. “ The young ones still have much to go. The Rings would be fine, and we need to reconsider i gemelli Decimi . Coyote, what's today's snack?”

“How long more are you going to play the idiot,” Coyote sighed, pulling out a Tupperware container. “It's madeleines.”

“Madeleines...” Timoteo echoed, lifting up the yellow shell-shaped cake. “Lorenzo used to make them.”

“I miss the madeleines he would make,” Alouette sighed dreamily as she bit into one. “Vive la madeleine!”

“Alouette-san,” Chrome beamed, “you look well.”

“Que sera sera,” Alouette dismissed as a red-haired nurse walked up to them, a vase of flowers that looked like purple flowers in hand.

“Lei-san, you know you can't eat during chemotherapy,” the nurse scolded as she set the flowers by the bedside table. “You'll throw up.”

“Again...” Alouette wilted slightly. “Ah, Chrome-chan! This is my nurse, Mamie Kozato. Kozato-san, this is my ward, Chrome Dokuro.”

“She's quite pretty and faithful,” the nurse agreed, injecting the contents of the syringe into the machine Alouette was currently attached to. “Be careful, or she'll be stolen away in the blink of an eye.”

Alouette beamed, which contained the promise of sure and immediate violence as she glowered at the vase. “ I didn't know that monkshood¹ was the fashion nowadays.”

“Ah, Alouette-san...” Chrome stared at the blue rocket flowers in dawning understanding. “It's not. They're out of season.”

Back in the Kozato house, Ietsuna glanced up at shouting that seemed to drift in from outside. “ Why are they making a ruckus outside?”

“That doesn't matter. What about Mami, Uncle?” Adelheid demanded. Her hands were held out before her, tied into splints by a weary-looking Makoto in the kitchen. “She broke her fingers without noticing the car.”

“I am sure Mami is much better than yourself, Adel,” Makoto answered. “You are strong, but I can't help but worry about you. You shouldn't be hurt trying to restrain Mami.”

“Uncle...” Adel made a token protest. “...no one else can. And... I won't let Enma try.”

“Adel-”

“What's up with Mami?” Ietsuna frowned. “She was normal the first few times.”

“Mami...” Makoto glanced between Adelheid's hands and Ietsuna. “Ah, you don't really... well, see her. Mami is... well, you know what happened that time, but... Her episodes really started in middle school. She's cute, smart, and athletic... and she loves Enma a lot. My son... is quiet. The shy type. They called him... they called him... 'Loser Enma'. In front of Mami. That was... well, it was the first time the school called me about a flying vending machine.”

“Ah...” Ietsuna tonelessly made a noise. For once, the amber-eyed twin was at a loss for words. “Flying. Vending. Machine?”

“She calls is the Heiwajima,” Adelheid relayed.

“That's... appropriate.”

“Heiwajima Shizuko,” Adelheid added.

“That doesn't make it better,” Ietsuna retorted. “Flying vending machines... should I expect a magical fairy that rides around and saves people soon?”

“No, but...” Makoto swallowed. “You have questions.”

“...How?” Ietsuna gestured. “That's a good start.”

“That one...” Makoto swallowed. “We're actually part of a Mafia family.”

“That... explains a lot, actually,” Ietsuna nodded, contrary to Makoto's expectations. “So are we. Which one?”

“Simon. The Boss is...” Makoto swallowed. “...Enma. For... various reasons.”

“Oh. We're Vongola,” Ietsuna nodded in the silence that ensued. “I thought you'd be the Boss, Kozato-san. You're much... calmer.”

“He doesn't want to talk about it,” Adelheid spoke up.

“It's alright, Adel, thank you,” Makoto nodded. “You know what is a Dying Will Flame, yes? The requirements are that the Boss of the Famiglia must be able to use it to fight. I... cannot.”

U pstairs in the cream-coloured bed room that was Enma's, Tsuna exclaimed in surprise after setting Mami down in the neighbouring room before going to find a first-aid kit. “Kozato-san has a bad heart?”

Enma nodded in acknowledgement by the window, pushing aside a pair of volumes of Relativity: The Special and the General Theory littered with Post-It notes on the ledge. Outside, the setting sun's rays painted his hair a fiery Titian.

“Papa's heart condition won't allow him to fight,” Enma related. “As much as he wants to, his body can't take the strain of the Dying Will Flame. Even if tradition dictates it, in a family as small as the Simon, exceptions must be made. It comes down to myself... and Mami...”

“That... that's...” Tsuna pondered. “Wait. Mami? You... you do know that's... dangerous, right?”

“No one's decided yet,” Enma answered, extracting. “Mami is... strong. Overwhelmingly so. But... that strength is because she's scared, and she's lashing out.”

“Is it...” Tsuna paused. “We... about... seven years ago?”

“...yeah,” Enma nodded. “T- Tsuna-san... our whole family is grateful to the two of you. Please don't get me wrong. It's just... we would have died. We survived, but... it sucks. I want to protect Mami and everyone, but... I can't protect her from her nightmares.”

“I think... I think you're doing really well, Enma!” Tsuna insisted. “I... I think you're a great big brother! And, Mami must love you a lot!”

Enma blushed slightly. “It's... alright...”

“Nii-sama?!” came the plaintive wail. “I can't feel my hand...!”

“I'm coming, Mami!” Enma called, entering her room.

“Tsuna? We need to go home now,” Ietsuna's voice drifted up.

“Eh?!” Tsuna clambered down the stairs with a grip on the banisters. “But, Ie...”

“Don't disturb other people's rest, Sawada,” Adelheid commented. “You're visiting again tomorrow anyway.”

“Tomorrow?!”

“Did you forget that Namimori and Shimon are sister towns, Sawada?” Adelheid continued.

“Y- Yes! Thank you very much, Suzuki-san-!”

“Oh, it's noisy at home today in the end!” A louder proclamation interrupted Tsuna's yelling.

“We're... back...” another voice echoed.

“Sorry, Uncle...” A third voice joined in, deeper than the other two.

“Don't worry, boys~!” A high-pitched feminine voice chipped in some English words.

“Oh, welcome back,” Makoto smiled at the assortment of colourful and stoic personalities in the form of a bespectacled green-haired boy, a blond dressed like a hooligan, a girl with her crown shaved save for her extended bangs and wearing sunglasses and floaters, and a tall stocky mountain of a blond. All four of them wore the Shimon Middle School uniform in various states of dishabille. “Tsuna-kun, Ietsuna-kun, these are my children. Aoba Koyo, Mizuno Kaoru, Ooyama Rauji, P. Shitt – you can call her Shittopi-chan... Julie found another date?”

The blond hooligan dropped a terrified goatee-d boy with a fedora before them. “We brought him back for dinner.”

“And that's Katou Julie. Well, since you're all back, I think it'd be a good time to start!” Makoto beamed, oblivious to Julie's glare. “Mamie said that she'll be late for dinner. Come help out.”

“Oi, old man, I'll-”

“Julie came back?”

The bespectacled boy, Julie, swallowed as he slowly turned around to see Mami, cradling a Newton's cradle in bandaged hands. It looked rather heavy, especially in her bandaged hands.

“Welcome back,” Mami's greeting sounded like the dirge of someone's funeral. “I came to give you your last gift, Julie~”

“Save me!” Julie shrieked.

“In the end, idiots will be idiots,” Koyo replied immediately.

Kaoru frowned. “Then, for you who's being tutored by Mami, who's the youngest of us... you're an idiot amongst idiots?”

“No! In the end, I'm an idiot, who's acknowledged that he's an idiot!”

“Oh, idiots will be idiots. Right, Mami?” Shitt P. grinned.

“Shittopi-chan...” Mami smiled. “I don't want to say it... because it'll hurt their pride. Except Julie.”

“Why am I the exception?!” Julie protested. “I protest! I protest! I may be free-loading off you guys, but I do have a roof and nice-bodied girls to take care of me! I'm pretty happy in my own way, but that's no excuse to abuse me!”

“Julie, nowadays we call that sexual harassment,” Mami flatly replied, hefting the Newton's cradle.

“Adel! Save me!” Julie yelled.

“Ah, we need to get the vacuum cleaner after dinner,” Adelheid remarked.

“Uncle, I want miso salmon,” Shitt P proclaimed.

“ARE YOU GUYS LISTENING?!”

“We won't stay for dinner, sorry to disturb,” Ietsuna boredly waved as he dragged his twin out from the impending bloodbath and to the streets of Shimon Town.

Julie's panicked screams followed them down the street and away from Shimon Town, to the nearest bus stop to wait for the next bus into Namimori. The twilight sky glimmered with the promise of stars, a backdrop of plum and dull orange ready to unveil the starry heavens.

“Enma's family... is quite interesting,” Tsuna started.

“Um,” Ietsuna contributed.

“What's with that um? Could it be... bad?”

“More like... extraordinary?” Ietsuna waved his hands, fingers flicking out like tentacles. “Your mind might explode if you consider exactly how do they all get along under the same roof.”

“You say it like it's bad,” Tsuna pondered. “Mafia... do you think it could be trauma? From that time... maybe that's why we never see Mrs Kozato around?”

“I've seen her,” Ietsuna pointed out. “She has red hair.”

“Oh!” Tsuna started. “That's... good. A family like Enma's deserve happiness. Even in the Mafia... Do you think they'll be fine?”

“With Mami's problem, they'll have to be,” Ietsuna commented. “That strength and that temper combined would bring problems for them. But Kozato-san... loves his children.”

“Hmm?”

“Reborn... Dad- Iemitsu tried to have me killed by Reborn,” Ietsuna pondered, his fists tightening. “I... I don't get it. Why can some fathers just decide to kill their kids, and some do the exact opposite. Or, why did that neglectful bastard get a strong body, and Kozato-san a weak constitution? There's no justice in this world.”

The only reason it did not is because those Flames sustained your corpse-like body to live and grow, harmonising it with the flow of the world...

Tsuna shook his head. “Uh...”

“What's wrong?” Ietsuna blinked, turning to his twin.

“N- Nothing,” Tsuna reassured. “I just... recalled something from Mukuro.”

“Huh?”

“It was stupid,” Tsuna shook his head. “They keep saying that you were... They're all idiots! You're the constant in this crazy and dangerous life, you're always sensible, and you're always supporting me. Compared to you... I'm weak and no-good.”

“I... I'm actually not capable of kindness,” Ietsuna bit out. “If we define kindness as helpfulness towards someone in need, not in return for anything, nor for the advantage of the helper himself, but for that of the person helped, I'm not capable of it.”

“B- But, Ie is kind!” Tsuna protested. “To Lambo... you're kind! He idolises you!”

“He's a hostage from the Bovino Family. To treat your hostages kindly is to encourage their cooperation.” Ietsuna retorted.

“T- Then, I-Pin?” Tsuna fretted.

“I-Pin is an assassin living under the same roof as us,” Ietsuna pointed out.

“Fuuta?”

“Tactical asset.” Ietsuna flatly replied. “I was against taking him in, remember?”

“No...” Tsuna regarded his twin with new eyes. “Ie is...”

“I'm not capable of kindness like you,” Ietsuna said. “So... you're the better one of us two. So don't talk down yourself like that. You have an irreplaceable value!”

“...so, you're kind to me,” Tsuna shook his head. “If you're dead... you're way better than the others who still live. You're like a tsundere character, Ie.”

“-.-* You want to be whacked, right?!” Ietsuna yelled back.

“I'm sorry,” Tsuna stuck out his tongue to show that he was joking. “I... I realised something when we fought the Varia. I rely on you too much.”

“I- It's alright,” Ietsuna's voice was muffled. “You're my only brother.”

“It's not!” Tsuna insisted. “I trust you never to lie to me, to have my best interests at heart... it's bad! At this rate, I'll be relying on you for my whole life! Your have your art, your Savate, your brains and common sense... you have talent. You deserve your own life, rather than always watching out for me.”

“...” Ietsuna regarded the evening skies with great interest. “I... do you believe Mukuro? That I'm dependent on your Dying Will Flames to live?”

“No,” Tsuna disagreed. “You're here and you're talking to me, so you can't be dead. Why? We were born together... Ie, life is wonderful! Stay with me!”

“Why are you panicking?” Ietsuna complained. “I'm not thinking of committing suicide. We'll always be together...”

When Castor was killed, Pollux asked Zeus to let him share his own immortality with his twin to keep them together for eternity.

“...if that makes you happy, alright? Your happiness is important to me. No matter the cost.”

http://akari2727.weebly.com/uploads/1/3/6/3/13633137/8166121_orig.jpg

On some days, Shamal deeply regretted being dragged into Namimori. It was not because of the lack of girls – the nurses could attest to that. Or the lack of money. Or the fact that Reborn had dragged him in. Or that he was sharing a town with the Varia and the Vongola Generazione Nona. It was-

“Good evening, Shamal-sensei!” Tsuna greeted him as he ran across the Sawada twins. The sparkles must be some sort of latent illusionist talent, because the alternative was that Shamal was crazy.

-that brat. “Oh, V- Vongola. Today you're normal. Thank God...”

“Shamal-sensei! I'm always normal!”

“No, I get terrible feelings when you wear skirts,” Shamal put his face into his hands. “Like my whole world crashes...”

“Dino-sempai does that too... is it common?” Tsuna asked in concern.

“The Chiavarone? Oh, I saw him getting wheeled into the ward reserved for the prefect's victims,” Shamal nodded. “His mother is pretty~ Too bad, that old bird is still around.”

“Ah, we came to see Alouette-san as well after dropping in on Jii-san and Xanxus...” Tsuna fidgeted, biting his bottom lip. “Oh, Shamal-sensei... about Chrome... is there any way?”

Shamal took his first freeing breath since the start of the conversation, no longer braced for an impeding unsettling gender reveal. “Oh, Chrome-chan~! I love girl patients so much, I've lined up a few prospectives.”

“Are any of them legal?” Ietsuna dead-panned.

“Not at all, but who lets serious breaches of medical ethics get in the way?” Shamal wanly smiled. It was a stark reminder that, despite his clownish behaviour, he was still a hitman. “Illegal is... usually faster. It'll still cost a lot.”

His brow furrowed. “Did Reborn say anything?”

“No,” Tsuna admitted. “We... erm, it's complicated. I understand that it's his job, but he tried to kill Ie.”

“Oh...” Shamal drawled, eyeing from Tsuna to Ietsuna. “That sounds complicated. Don't tell me.”

“Alright.”

Shamal would have walked away, but something held him back. “You're strange.”

“You said not to tell you,” Tsuna blinked. “I'm sure you must have your reasons. So... about Chrome?”

Shamal just glared back at the boy, who was so understanding and nice. His eyes then flicked towards the other twin, who simply stared back with empty amber eyes. “...the old bird would kill me if I didn't do anything. You would also kill me if I refused.”

“Eh?” Tsuna started, confused. “Huh? Shamal-sensei?”

Ietsuna smirked, unseen by his brother. Trident Shamal found an excuse to run to the other side of the hospital really quickly.

“Ie, I'm going to get a drink,” Tsuna spoke up after chatting with Shamal and leaving the doctor a few minutes later. “Do you need anything?”

“No, I'll wait,” was the flat answer.

Tsuna nodded, making a detour for the washrooms before he passed a vending machine.

“Water... I'll get some for Ie too.” Digging through his pockets for change, Tsuna blinked as a coin dropped and rolled into a ward. Running after the coin, the lights flickered overhead.

Tsuna flinched as he accidentally bumped into the door frame, clutching his side in pain. “Ow... the coin... why is it wet?”

His eyes focused, and then Tsuna screamed as the coin left a red trail on his hand. “B- B- B-”

The first sight that greeted him was the broken windows letting the chill of winter seep into the private ward. The vase was upturned and shattered, spilling stalks of blue flowers and chips of ice all over the floor. A walking stick had embedded itself through the far wall – it could only mean one thing to Tsuna.

“A- Alouette-san! Doctor! Nurse! Somebody, help!”

1 Monkshood: meaning 'beware'; 'a deadly foe is near' .

Chapter Text

Their footsteps echoed in the crisp winter chill, their breaths steaming with every exertion further away from Namimori Central Hospital. Dressed only in her Kokuyo uniform and clinging onto her trishula , Chrome panted under the weight of the old skylark, her slight frame shaking with adrenaline and the strain of supporting the Frenchwoman. “Alouette-san... I can't go on...”

“Hmm? Oh, are those fairy lights? Ah, Paris~”

“Alouette-san...?” Chrome asked in hidden panic.

“I'm woozy,” Alouette looked down at the bloody cloth tied around her leg. “How much did I bleed~?”

“I- I don't know, Alouette-san,” Chrome fretted at her tone. “Ah, the hospital... why did we run?”

“Keep moving, Chrome-chan,” Alouette groaned as the younger girl started hobbling along, and continued, “civilians... hospital attacks draw news reporters, the press, attention that assassinations don't need. Assassins do their best work in obscurity.”

“Yes...” Chrome mused. “But... that nurse- she attacked us.”

“Mukuro-chan must have taught you to fool cameras,” Alouette huffed. “No. When people attack you in a public location, it means that they don't care about casualties. They just want you dead, fast. There is no shame in running when it fulfils a purpose. Look at the stars! So pretty~!”

Chrome grimaced as Alouette lurched. “Please stay close to me, Alouette-san. Where are we going?”

“Don't know~! What about the boys?” Alouette breathed.

“I've sent a message. The assassin is too strong, though...” Chrome considered. “It reminds me of the memory Mukuro-sama shared about Hibari-san.”

“Kyoya~?”

“Yes. It took all three of them, half of Mukuro-sama's traps and dropping him down five storeys to stop him,” Chrome nodded. “That assassin seems quite... stubborn like him.”

“Stubborn... they sent a stubborn assassin after moi,” Alouette bitterly rasped. “Le vide appelle… je veux-!¹”

Chrome sidestepped part of the vomit, stopping to lean the older woman towards the bin and rubbing her back. “You can't do it in this condition, Alouette-san.”

“...I'm still in my sixties,” Alouette sourly glared at the puddle of sick, as it had done her a personal offence, wiping her mouth. “I'm still waiting for my son to come home.”

“Yes, yes,” Chrome nodded, still holding onto Alouette's arm. She banished the stray thought from Mukuro, but the question teased. “Erm... Alouette-san... waiting doesn't seem like you.”

They started walking slowly, steadily, hiding to the shadows to edge towards the isolated districts of Namimori. Trees grew taller, and thick tiled walls began to replace the concrete slabs as the pair seemed to travel through time.

“Your son could be dead,” Chrome murmured. “It would have been for nothing.”

“I... didn't want to,” Alouette confessed, almost reluctantly. “When Fēng lost contact... I wanted to search for him. The son that I tore through Cambodia for could not have let himself get killed. Yet, I promised not to hound him... too much. It was work. It was his choice as a martial artist. Yes, I hate all of it. This waiting, this weakness, this sickness!”

A stomp and a splat echoed the blood and spit dotting the ground. “...but I'll do it. I'll do it anyway. I don't need hope or despair. This is an a promise. No, this is my reality. No matter how long it takes, I will wait. I will make sure you live.”

Such a strong declaration of intent was a battle cry that preceded a one-woman war against the inexorable pull of fate. Stubbornness would be the weight that brought the terror of a god crashing down to earth. Echoing in the wild and limited universe of man, it taught that all is not, has not been, exhausted. It drove out of this world a god who had come into it with dissatisfaction and a preference for futile sufferings. It made of fate a human matter, which must be settled among humankind; it made a tangible opponent for Alouette to smash down. There is a joy contained therein; I will do what I must to achieve the fate I want, and the rest will be so.

“Let's go, Chrome-chan,” Alouette smiled wanly as a street-light shattered overhead, and with it a red-haired figure swooped down.

“He's here!” Chrome exclaimed, her weapon glowing a faint whitish indigo. Lotus vines trapped the figure, who struggled.

“We need... a bit of time,” Alouette nodded as she spotted a dark figure behind the red-haired silhouette. “Don't waste your energy.”

“Y- Yes!” Chrome nodded quickly.

The long-haired figure stopped by the zebra-crossing that separated the two females from it, still struggling against the vines. “What's wrong?” came the sibilant rasp. “Are you tired, little bird?”

“Do you know this person, Alouette-san?” Chrome asked.

“I know a lot of people, Chrome-chan... my memory's not working,” the older hitwoman admitted. “Who are you?”

“Ah, I see. You cannot recognise this body.” The figure laughed.

“Body possession, like Mukuro-sama and myself,” Chrome guessed.

“...I know him,” the Frenchwoman agreed, her hands shaking with weakness and her face pale. “...it is not possible, but he is here. Regardless of whatever I claim now, he is here! Back away, Chrome-chan. This must be the same man who battled Papi behind the stages of two world wars, and countless conflicts of the interbellum years.”

“Alouette-san?” Chrome blinked. “The Second World War?”

“We buried his original body on the opposite coast from the Iron Fort, but he kept hopping bodies,” Alouette complained. “I was sure that I tossed his last body in with the other corpses at S-21².”

“Mukuro-sama said... that abandoning one's body is a forbidden art,” Chrome murmured, frowning. “S-21?”

“You're terrible, little bird, tossing me in with so many hungry ghosts,” the figure mocked. “And you're teaching your students the wrong things, too. You should respect your elders.”

“Daemon Spade!” Alouette pronounced the name coolly. “Does it count if you're supposed to be dearly departed with the rest of the First Generation? The only elder I have died just as the war ended.”

“...troublesome girl,” the drawl returned with a feminine pitch. “Well, I was just looking to accelerate your certain demise, but I'll just be your Grim Reaper.”

“I won't let you!” Chrome responded.

“Well said!” Alouette smirked at the figure. “I didn't get myself a sex change like you, and you were supposed to be dead, Monsieur Pique. Or is it Monseigneur Ananas? Oh, right, this is not your body.C'est Madame Ananas !”³

Chrome was fairly sure that the poor woman whom was being possessed was going to burst a vein. “Old age has rotted your head, bird.”

“No, I've just aged gracefully,” Alouette mocked as the hulking figure moved into position. “C'est contrairement à vous, qui est fagoté comme l'as de pique⁴. Take him away, Lancia!”

The dark figure she had glimpsed descended onto the woman. A ball of steel slammed into her. With a roar, Lancia swung his weapon into the nearest lamppost, wrapping the chain around her prone form. Her red hair hung like a curtain.

Alouette collapsed against a nearby steel lamppost, brushing gold ringlets out of her eyes. “Let's go.”

“Madame Lei,” the dark-skinned mafioso nodded back to her. “You look pale. Shall I call your daughter?”

“I... hate being sick.” The sentence was punctuated as Alouette leant aside and threw up into a bush.

“Uhm, Lancia-san,” Chrome bowed. “I think... we need to call U-san. She said... something about the First Generation. It's complicated.”

“Yes,” Lancia agreed, walking over towards Alouette. “I am not in the habit of leaving women, children, patients or injured people to defend themselves either. Can you stand-”

Chrome tripped. The ground was shaking, cracks digging through the asphalt. The glass covers of the lampposts shattered. Lancia fell to all fours a few metres from the older woman, and Alouette slid to the ground in a crouching position.

Silence punctuated the air. A swarm of birds squawking as the droves of fowls circled the zebra-crossing, taking to the skies in an unseen mass over the three towns.

“...an earthquake...?! Now?!” Alouette complained to the skies. “Screw this! I demand a refund for all the energy I just spent! My legs are as wobbly as the new-born Bambi! I can't fly into the sky with my ears!”

Chrome shrank back from the outburst from her. “I think it's the chemotherapy drugs. They have dizziness as a side effect.”

“-.-'...the stress exploded from within her,” Lancia turned to Chrome. “What should we do about that assassin?”

“Probably take her with us...” Chrome thought out loud. “But how...?”

Both of them flinched as indigo flames erupted around the figure and evaporated, leaving only the giant chain hanging around the lamppost.

Alouette continued babbling, unheeding of the fact that her would-be assassin had escaped. “We can let him get skewered, right~? Chrome-chan! Can we pluck that guy's eyes out?!”

“I'm more afraid of us getting arrested right now,” Lancia commented.

“Sorry, Lancia-san,” Chrome frowned lightly. “I'll cast an illusion. Could you help me carry her to Hibari-san's place?”

Chrome nodded as Lancia started to lift the babbling older woman.

Above-head, Fon hid his face into his sleeve. “I know you've been through a lot, and it hurts, but do your best, Ma. I'm coming home...!”

“I'm sorry, Hibari-san!” was the first exclamation that Hibari Kyoya received once he appeared at the hospital following a call from the police post. The private ward set aside for members of the Hibari family at his request had been cordoned off with yellow tape. His general manager-cum-secretary and treasurer were wrapped in orange shock blankets and drinking hot chocolate. At least, prior to his arrival. Now, the small animal was saying something about the old carnivore and making pointless apologies for something that had already been resolved.

“I just received a call. The mother carnivore picked her up along with the female pineapple.”

“C- Chrome?” Tsuna glanced up at him. “Ah, I'm glad they're safe... but why is Chrome with Alouette-san at this time of night?”

“They were reading,” was Hibari's reply.

“Oh... I'm glad they're fine.”

“Quit apologising, you're noisy,” Hibari commented.

“Yes!”

“Sawada Ietsuna,” Ietsuna's back straightened at the mention of his name. “The little animal is staying over at my house. Go home.”

“Huh?” Sawada Ietsuna immediately shot back. “Why?”

“The old carnivore said so.”

“Maître said so...” Ietsuna frowned.

“Uh, if Alouette-san said it...” Tsuna spoke up.

“But Maître just got attacked,” Ietsuna hissed. “How can I leave you alone?”

“You will be the decoy,” Hibari immediately retorted. “Whoever attacked here must know of the old carnivore's condition. Because the fact that you are twins is not publicised, the most likely assumption will be to attack you.”

“Eh?” Tsuna exclaimed. “That's bad! I'll go back!”

“Then you'll ruin our advantage of surprise,” Ietsuna grumbled. “I have a better chance against them, I understand. But... Hibari, how are you intending to take Tsuna out of the hospital?”

Hibari smirked.

A few minutes later, Ietsuna waved a goodbye to the pair before setting off back towards home, a bag containing a pair of pants inside set in his hand. Tsuna and Hibari set off, the former shivering slightly as the cold bit at his exposed legs.

“Uh. Hibari-san, I think girls wear stockings in this weather,” Tsuna fidgeted. “It's cold.”

“Next time I'll bring them.”

“Next time...” a blush lit up Tsuna's face as he trailed behind Hibari. “Uh, Hibari-san, I- I still think I should go home. I don't feel well leaving Ie-”

“Have you seen the baby's message?” Hibari brought up.

“Message?” Tsuna fumbled for his new cellphone and flipped it open.

From: Reborn
To: Sawada Tsunayoshi
03/11/2005 16:29
Oi, Dame-Tsuna,
I'm going with the Ninth and Xanxus to a hot spring inn. We're leaving the Rings and the rest of the Varia to you while we're gone. I've arranged for a substitute tutor to come, he's living at Hibari's place.

“Who sends such an abrupt message?!” Tsuna complained, fingering the chain around his neck that he realised had been there all the time. “That Reborn... no wonder we're going to Hibari-san's... place? Hibari-san's place?!”

“Is it so bad to come home with me?” Hibari questioned.

“I- It's not! It's... I'm a bit worried about the children. Especially Gokudera-kun, Yamamoto-kun-” Tsuna started. “Wait, I was wrong!”

Back at the Sawada house, Gokudera and Yamamoto sneezed simultaneously.

Tsuna sidled up closer to Hibari, almost jogging to keep up and then falling over when the earthquake started. The tremors shook the ground, shattering a window a bit further off. Lampposts flickered, and then all was still.

“E- Earthquake?!” Tsuna freaked. “That was... sudden.”

“Will you get up, or do you want to be princess-carried?”

“Eh? S- Sorry, Hibari-san!” Tsuna leapt back to his feet, shivering. “A- Are you alright?”

“A mere earthquake is nothing.” Hibari dusted himself off.

I think Hibari-san is more like a natural disaster than an actual disaster, was Tsuna's thought as he followed his superior. It's probably just me? He's untouchable as the cloud in the skies. As constant as one.

That's right. Hibari-san is always there, as long as he goes on his own way. In day or night, the cloud is always there in the sky. Hibari-san might be a bit cold, and a loner, and a combat maniac, but he's reliable in his own way.

“What?”

“N- Nothing!” Tsuna looked up at the cloudy skies. “I hope that Alouette-san is alright.”

A snort. The oppressive gravity that surrounded the prefect made Tsuna shut up the rest of the way to the Hibari house.

Enma sat up, panting. “What... what was that? I... I want to go back to Shimon Island. Was it my imagination?”

A knock resounded on his door. “Nii-sama?”

In the dead of night, wide awake after experiencing another earthquake, Kozato Enma sat up on his bed to glance through the darkness and the half-opened door of his room. The red hair stood out. “Mami? What's wrong?”

“...my bed broke,” came the quiet admission.

Enma thanked every god that the lights were off, so Mami did not see the micro-expression that passed through his face. “O- Oh.”

“What are you thinking about, Nii-sama?”

“Nothing! Really!” Enma recovered himself. “Don't worry. Do you... want to sleep here?”

“Yes...” Mami sidled in and closed the door behind her, leaning back onto the door to look at him. “I... I had a nightmare. About that time.”

“Don't worry,” Enma swallowed and mentally noted to ask Koyo to do something. “It's not your fault.”

“But... if I had this strength earlier, then Nii-sama wouldn't have gotten injured and Papa wouldn't have nearly died and- and- I can only break stuff,” Mami admitted. “I- I really want to help! So, I want to join everyone in training again. I- I know Nii-sama has a reason for stopping me, but-! I want to become stronger!”

“Ah...” Enma fidgeted in his bedclothes. “Mami... I'd like to say yes, b- but, you see, there are difficulties.”

“...eh?”

“We're all amateurs with Flames, Mami,” Enma admitted quietly. “You, me, Adel, Julie, and the others... We're a small Family too. In fact, we're probably only about nine or ten people, and you know that Papa can't fight. Our Dying Will Flames are also different from most of the Mafia. Amongst us, you're the most talented, the most driven, the smartest. The most powerful. Yet, we can't find a trainer for you. At this stage of your training, someone who knows what he's doing is absolutely necessary.”

“But I do everything according to my calculations, so I'll be fine,” Mami pointed out.

“You broke two fingers lifting a car today,” Enma retorted.

“I heal fast~?” Mami smiled with a wave.

“It's not your fault, Mami, but no,” Enma repeated with a heavy conviction. At Mami's heavy pout, he sighed. “Come here.”

“Nii-sama always tries to pet my hair and hug me,” Mami complained as she laid down and accepted the hands carding through her ringlets.

“What, are you too old?” Enma teased.

“I- I don't dislike them.”

“I found it a hard decision too,” Enma admitted. “Adel found it hard, playing devil's advocate. Koyo settled the vote in the end, though.”

“Koyo, eh~” Mami glowered down at the floor.

Outside of the room, the rest of the assembled Simon Guardians stared at the bespectacled boxer with identical looks of chagrin and pity.

“It's true,” Adelheid admitted shamefully. “We don't need our fighters punted into orbit just for a training session. And... I'll find it very hard to justify that to Mami.”

“Don't worry, Adel. Even if I use my decay powers, Mami would bust through them,” Shitt P. nodded furiously. “She's our little sister.”

“Uh...” Kaoru drawled, trying to pretend that all six Guardians weren't eavesdropping on their Earth and his younger sister, “the problem is that she's the little sister of the Family, right?”

“In the end, no,” Koyo disagreed. “It's because, in the end Mami is... uh, very creative. Extremely creative. And in the end, one punch from her would end us.”

“Uh, even Koyo, the dirty boxer who can see Killer Points, says so,” Rauji admitted.

“I'm slightly relieved,” Julie, their last member, agreed. “Because I'm usually her training partner. If her punches get anymore like a pistol, I'll be the one having problems here.”

“Uh-huh, Mami-chan felled a tree at the last combined training session,” Shitt P. trilled, earning her a quick shush from Adelheid.

“Be quiet! Do you want us to be heard?!”

“You've been feeling it too, right~?” Shitt P. shrugged.

“Feeling what?” Koyo echoed.

“I've heard about it in health class!” Julie nodded. “When two or more women share a house-”

“That is none of your business,” Adelheid retorted as Julie ate her fist. “To answer, it's like... a homing call? Back towards Shimon Island.”

“Ah, me too,” Rauji agreed glumly. “I thought it was indigestion, though.”

Inside of the room, Enma brightened. “How about the twins? We knew Verde through him, so maybe we can find help!”

“Eh? But we owe Ietsuna-san-” Mami stopped for a bit. “Nii-sama, you like Ietsuna-san, right?”

“Uh, yes?” Enma blinked. “They're our friends.”

“I mean, like,” Mami nodded furiously. “In a romantic sense.”

“Mami... would you go to sleep?”

“Nii-sama, why did you change the subject?!” Mami leant forward, eyes gleaming. “You mean, you like him?”

“I'm going to sleep!” Enma flopped down and buried his head under the pillow.

“Nii-sama, don't leave me like that~” Mami complained, walking to throw the door open and let the Simon guardians cascade onto the parquet flooring. “Guys, help me~”

“What are you guys doing there?!” Enma sat up immediately. “Adel too?!”

Mami beamed down to the embarrassed prefect. “Adel, sorry. It looks like Papa would have to adopt you to give you the Kozato name.”

“Seriously, what are you guys doing?!” Enma lamented.

In another part of town, Shoichi was awoken in the darkness by the singing.

The earthquake had just swept through, leaving aftershocks that reverberated across the three towns. It was weathered with the ease of regular habit, and indeed nobody really thought much about it, least of all Shoichi. Tonight, though, was proving an exception to the bespectacled red-haired student as he heard the singing:

Saita sakura,
Hana mite modoru,
Yoshino wa sakura,
Tatsuta wa momiji,
Karasaki no matsu,
Tokiwa, tokiwa,
Fukamidori...

“Singing...?” Surprised, the boy peeked outside of his window from where he had been hiding under his desk earlier.

Darkness and the shadows of the town spread under his eye, bisected with the thin line of the river running across the town. Only the water was alight, reflecting off the full moon. And on the water itself...

Sakura, sakura,
Yayoi no sora wa,
Mi-watasu kagiri,
Kasumi ka, kumo ka?
Nioi zo izuru.
Izaya, izaya,
Mini yukan...

“A girl holding a paper umbrella is skating on the river...” Shoichi blinked and stared until it sank in. “A girl holding a paper umbrella is skating on the river! And she's coming this way! What should I do?!”

“Sho-chan, you're noisy!” his mother called as he ran down the stairs of his typical Japanese two-storied semi-detached house.

“I just saw something! I'm going out!” Irie Shoichi called back, slipping on his sneakers and running out towards the river and its newest addition. He had made it to the river and started opening his mouth to talk.

His teeth clicked together.

wait what am I doing I’m talking to a girl floating on the water like Jesus oh what should I do what if she's not human but a UMA who eats humans by the way, why am I such an idiot that I’m running out to talk to a strange girl she'd think I’m strange right I’m an idiot, an idiot, an idiot-

“Irie Shoichi, fifteen years old, identified, reports Vongola #FF4E20,” the girl spoke in a voice like a bubbling brook to Shoichi's ears. She was literally incandescent, with long red hair that stuck out at the crown of her head, like wings flaring on either side of it. Her eyes burned orange with some fire, to match the orange taffeta dress that she wore stretched to her knees.

that's right she's saying my name- wait.

WHY DOES SHE KNOW MY NAME-

“#FF4E20 has identified signs of an oncoming panic attack. Do you, Irie Shoichi, require medicine? asks #FF4E20.”

“Huh?” Shoichi blinked at her. “N- No-”

“Then, #FF4E20 will begin measures to alleviate your panic, beginning with induced unconsciousness.”

“Eh?” Shoichi blinked as she raised her umbrella, now closed. “Induced unconsciousness-”

It made contact with his skull. Shoichi blinked, and then fell, only to be caught delicately with one arm.

“#FF4E20 has arrived at Namimori Town, Japan, year 2005. #FF4E20 has made contact with Irie Shoichi of year 2005,” she mused aloud as the twin tufts on her head frizzled and sparked with green. “#FF4E20 will now begin measures to secure a base of operations. Rest assured, Sister Elmo. We will be created.”