#iemitsu slipped up about tsuna's existence which is how the vongola know about him

[cooliogirl101]

Anyway yeah the idea of Hisana-in-KHR wasn’t leaving me alone so here you go:

The story starts with Nana, formerly Christina, deciding that she really didn’t get to see enough of the world in her past life. She still wants to be a doctor though, so she decides why not combine those two goals-- basically she puts the names of a bunch of countries into a hat and picks one at random, which brings her to Italy.

And hey, she’s cool with that. Italian food’s awesome and she’s always wanted to learn the language. She gets a job at a nearby cafe and eventually gets really good at making espressos. Life is good.

(She does discover that Italian medical schools are...weirdly intense. Or at least the one she’s attending is. Granted, it’s been a while since she’s been a medical student but she definitely doesn’t remember learning how to treat serious burn injuries and gunshot wounds in her first year. She’s not complaining though, she’d much rather learn from real life experience than from a book.

This is also where she ends up coming across the most annoying guy she’s ever met in either lifetime. Dude hit on more women in a day than she made espressos in a week. Even more irritatingly, Annoying Guy is something of a genius, which really just makes her even more determined to beat him.

He also has the dumbest name she’s ever heard-- seriously, what kind of name is Trident, anyway?)

The first time she meets Iemitsu goes something like this: as she’s taking the trash out behind her apartment, she witnesses a blond man run past her and dive straight into the dumpster. Less than a minute later, three men holding guns run up to her, demanding to know where blond man went. She points them in the wrong direction even as she helps conceal blond man further by very considerately throwing her garbage on top of him. She then brushes her hands off and heads back into her apartment without a second glance back. Blond man shows up at her work the next day with a box of her favorite cake, earnestly thanking her for her assistance in a way that feels sweet but also more than a little stalkerish. Blond guy discovers the cafe serves really good tiramisu in the process. Blond guy keeps coming back for said tiramisu (and the company, but he’s claiming it’s the tiramisu). Somewhere down the line, blond guy becomes Iemitsu and eventually, something approaching a friend.

The smell of fresh espresso caused Iemitsu to look up.

“Bad day?” A familiar voice asked.

“That obvious, huh?” He replied, taking the offered espresso gratefully.

“The fact that you’re currently on your third tiramisu clued me in, yes,” Nana said dryly. “What’s wrong?”

“My family wants to meet my girlfriend,” Iemitsu said gloomily.

“...and?” Nana asked after a pause, when it became clear he wasn’t going to elaborate. Sure, she understood that the initial taking-girlfriend-to-meet-family meeting could be a bit awkward and nerve-wracking, but it wasn’t three tiramisus level of nerve-wracking. 

“I don’t have a girlfriend.” 

“Ah.” Nana paused, then very carefully kept her voice neutral. “That...is a problem, yes.” 

“I got so tired of them hounding me to ‘pick a nice girl and settle down’ that I just made one up,” Iemitsu wailed, covering his face with his hands. “And now they want to meet her and obviously I can’t introduce them to an imaginary girlfriend and--”

“Can’t you just tell them you broke up?” Nana pointed out reasonably. “People break up all the time, it happens. And if you pretend to be heartbroken about it, you can probably buy yourself some time before your family starts pushing you to date again.”

“....right, there’s just one problem with that. I kind of got carried away with the whole thing and, well, when I said ‘fictional girlfriend’, I really meant ‘fictional wife’.” Iemitsu sighed dreamily. “We fell madly in love six months ago and eloped last month. It was kind of a spur-of-the-moment thing, you know? Very romantic. She’s the love of my life, the sweetest, kindest civilian girl, and she laughs at all my jokes, and she thinks of me as her hero, and--”

“I’m going to stop you right there,” Nana interrupted. “On a completely unrelated note, have you ever considered therapy? I’m saying this as a friend, Iemitsu. A very concerned friend.”

“That’s right, we are friends, aren’t we?” Iemitsu asked, suddenly perking up. He reached out to grasp her hands, looking at her with shining, hopeful eyes. “And friends help each other out.”

“...did I say we were friends? I take it back,” Nana muttered, looking at him warily. He ignored her.

“If you pretended to be my wife, it would solve all my issues! Or at least, buy me time to figure things out. And I can arrange all the paperwork and stuff, hell I can make up an entire separate identity for you, I just need you to play along for one night to prove that I actually have a wife and I wasn’t just making things up.”

“Which you were.”

“No one has to know that,” Iemitsu waved her off. “Please Nana, you’re the only civilian girl I know, it has to be you! And like I said, it’s just for one night. After this, I can tell everyone I don’t want you involved in Family business, and you’ll never have to do it again.”

“You can’t just hire an actress or something?” She asked. 

“No, I already tried that. Twice. They scared too easily, didn’t even make it to the mansion,” Iemitsu dismissed casually, like that was normal. 

Nana swallowed. She wasn’t stupid, she knew Iemitsu was involved in some shady shit, even if she didn’t know the exact nature of his work. 

“If you pretended to be my wife, I would have an excuse to pay off your student loans,” Iemitsu added.

Damn it. Damn it, damn it, damn it, she couldn’t believe she was even considering this.

“...fine,” she said grudgingly. “One night. And I get to help in making up my own fake identity.” She was definitely going with the fake identity option. There was no way in hell she was having her actual name tied to Iemitsu’s. 

~Many years later~

“You are Sawada Tsunayoshi, yes?” Reborn asked through gritted teeth after finally tracking down his target, three wild goose chases later and in a completely separate country than the one he should’ve been in, according to the report he was given.

Tsuna blinked.

“Yes?” He asked hesitantly.

“Son of Sawada Iemitsu and Sawada Noriko?” He confirmed. 

“Uh, no,” Tsunayoshi said, looking at him oddly. “My mom’s name is Nana. And her last name isn’t Sawada, it’s Fujiwara.”

He pointed across the farmer’s market at a petite brunette woman who was currently engaging in a tug-of-war with a man nearly twice her size, over what appeared to be the last daikon radish. 

Reborn looked at her for a long moment. Then he looked back down at the file he was given on Iemitsu’s wife.

Sawada Noriko

Age: 36

Hair color: Neon pink

Eye color: Black

- nearsighted, wears purple glasses

Country: United States

Occupation: Aspiring actress

Description: 

- kindhearted but naive, mild-mannered, avoids confrontation

- has no knowledge of Vongola or the mafia

- The delicate flower of my heart, the love of my life, the sweet nectar that quenches my thirst-- Sawada Iemitsu

Reborn considered the information that was in front of him for a long moment. Then, slowly, deliberately, he ripped the report in half. 

“I,” he stated calmly, “am going to kill Iemitsu.”

(So like I said, I couldn’t really imagine Hisana/Christina/Nana getting together with Iemitsu for real. A fake marriage AU, on the other hand….)

[adelmortescryche]

Faustus//Fausta (Evil Author Day II)

AN: And here’s the second WIP for EAD. For those who aren’t familiar with EAD, Evil Author’s Day gives authors the opportunity to post WIPs guiltfree, with no promises attached. Meaning there’s no set date on when I plan to fully post or complete these fics, though they are WIPs.

This is the 2nd of three: 1, 2, 3

Warnings/Tags: R27, Fem!Sawada Tsunayoshi, Adult Reborn, Massively AU, Canon Divergence, Dark AU, Best bros Tsuna and Xanxus

Summary: She’s as pretty as a picture, innocent and sweet in a way very few are, plain in one breath and bewitching in the next. She draws eyes after her as easy as breathing, but Reborn could always tell that something wasn’t quite right. 

(He’s right. Something wasn’t quite right. But he finds that he can’t find it in himself to care.) 

(She will burn them all to the ground.)

She reached up to catch his fedora by its rim, and he let it go, smiling faintly as she set it lightly on her head and grinned up at him, laughter singing in her eyes. Something about the expression urged him to take part in that laughter, to in some way laugh at the world with her. He indulged that silent request by letting the smile on his face unfurl wider, as slow and steady as the motion with which he bent down to press a soft kiss to the apple of her left cheek, When she tilted into the motion, turning her face, he easily caught her by the chin, and held her in place till he was satisfied. If the movement of her head brought his mouth closer to the corner of her lips than her cheek, well… Well.

When he finally did pull back, it was to meet her gaze, liquid and dark, swallowing him whole. He smiled again, and ran his fingers lightly over the rim of his fedora, still sitting on top of her head.

“Chaos, Principessa.” He said, and pulled away.

*

“So what’s your story?”

Reborn spared a short glance over his shoulder before turning his attention back to the window. Even with his eyes focused solely on the road beneath, and the rooftops and windows of the houses opposite his charge’s, he couldn’t quite ignore the pretty, wide eyed picture that the CEDEF head’s daughter made, swaddled in fluffy towels and curled up at the end of her bed.

“Finish drying off and get out of the line of sight of the window, kid.” He murmured, gaze sharpening at the bit of movement he noticed in the window of the closest house. It took a split second to categorise it – child, setting out his bag, civilian, unimportant.

“You’ve got to be someone important if dad’s got you keeping an eye on me while negotiations are taking place.”

Pause. Fingers tightening on the grip of his pistol, immediately loosening back into something practised and ready, rather than tense. He would have written that off as whiny young heiress if he hadn’t seen the girl’s eyes go sharp in the glass before turning dull and pretty again.

“…quiet, kid.”

She hummed thoughtfully, and slipped off the bed. Thankfully on the other side. She was out of the range of the window, so thankfully, he wasn’t forced to watch her dry off and change behind him. Listening to it was distracting enough in itself.

He took a slow breath, and shifted in place. And set his mind to a minor bit of multitasking, the lower levels of his thought process turning to re-evaluating what he knew about the girl while the upper levels continued to focus on any possible enemies appearing.

Sawada Tsuna, only child of Sawada Iemitsu, who in turn was current head of the CEDEF and Don Nono’s Consigliere. She had turned eighteen relatively recently, which was the point at which anyone else in the family had heard anything about her. The moment her existence was made known, she had managed to rock the entirety of the Vongola Family – everyone knew that Iemitsu was a descendant of Don Primo, making her a direct heir of sorts, even if her father had chosen not to fight for his rightful place as heir. But the very fact that Iemitsu had a female heir had left most of the family up in arms.

With good reason, if the negotiations taking place were anything to judge by. Reborn felt his lips twitch into a small, mirthless smile. Judging from the look on Iemitsu’s face when Reborn had stepped through his doors earlier, one careful hand pressed between the younger Sawada’s shoulder blades and guiding her through before him, all the rumours were true.

Well, the reasonable ones, at any rate. He doubted Timoteo would choose to bind the girl to all his sons.

He went still, not moving an inch when a thin arm wrapped low around his waist. The lithe form pressing into his back was proof that he hadn’t imagined the first sensation.

“If I hadn’t already promised the Don that you’d get out of this in one piece, there would be a hole between your brows right now.” He said blandly, not batting an eye. He had to hand it to her, she’d managed to come at an angle that kept her completely out of the line of sight through the window.

A soft snort of laughter, and she smoothly pulled back.

“You’re interesting,” the girl declared. Reborn gave a low laugh, and almost wished that this farce of a protective detail was finished. Whatever the girl was turning out to be, ‘interesting’ was an understatement.

“Do you try to seduce all your body guards?” he asked curiously, taking another moment to glance back at her.

She was back on the bed, thankfully completely clothed this time around. Her short hair looked like a small mountain of fluff piled onto her head, brown and plain aside from how ridiculously soft and fuzzy it looked. She was terrifyingly plain all over, with the kind of face that could never be defined as classically beautiful. Or beautiful in any sense. Clothed in a comfortable, shapeless t-shirt and baggy shorts, with scarred knees and fingers covered in band aids, she looked the very opposite of feminine. Except when she tilted her head just so, and a small smile shifted her plain features into something charming and riveting.

“Nope. I don’t seduce any of them. You just looked interesting.”

“…And because I looked interesting, you decided to hug me and see if I jumped?”

Reborn was almost morbidly curious to know what her reply would be. He could easily admit that this was the first time he’d found himself in such a strange situation. Flirtation, seduction and sex weren’t particularly alien to him – hell, he’d fucked his way through enough of the pretty young things both in the mafia and outside it that he’d developed a rather infamous reputation. He hadn’t been exaggerating when he said the girl would’ve had a hole between her eyes if he hadn’t already made promises to keep her alive, though.

He wasn’t very interested in people who took liberties with his person – especially not when he was expecting enemy action.

She offered him a sweet little smile, and he rolled his eyes and looked back outside.

“So what’s your story?” she asked again.

“I’m older than your dad, kid. And I’ve been killing people for nearly as long as he’s been alive. Let’s leave it at that.” He said snidely. And, without another word, he set a hand to the window’s rail and pushed it up in single, smooth motion. The next motion had him aiming and firing at the man crouched on a roof two houses away.

The man went down, taking his sniping rifle with him. Amateur.

Reborn waited a breath, to see if the sniper being taken down would draw any more attention to him or the window he was standing by. When nothing else happened, he sighed, and tugged the window shut and stepped back, mentally preparing himself for a long night.

“See? Interesting.”

He blinked, and actually turned to stare at the kid. She shrugged at him, still smiling.

“…the fool clearly didn’t know what he was talking about when he said you were perfectly normal.”

“The fool being my dad? Yeah, mom always said he’s got blinders on when it comes to me.”

Reborn stared at her some more, and after a moment’s silence, decided it wasn’t worth the effort and turned his attention back outside. He didn’t say anything when she came closer to curl around him again, though.

They didn’t see any more action that night, and he handed her over to Iemitsu again without much thought wasted on her. She went with another little smile, and a wave of her fingers. The motion had Iemitsu glaring at him, eyes going hard. The look on the fool’s face made Reborn’s lips pulling wide, the salacious smirk sliding in place effortlessly because why not. Iemitsu going red and sputtering apoplectically was certainly worth the effort.

That, and it had the girl laughing long and loud with delight. For some reason, that was all the more rewarding.

*

The next time he saw her, he’d been stepping in for coffee at the Estate, since hey, he’d been in the vicinity after a job and Timoteo was amusing enough when he was bored. The Vongola as a whole was an amusing distraction, when he was between hits. He been on his way up the stairs, easily manoeuvring his way through the rush of servants, soldiers and capos that the Estate was usually filled with, all going about their daily duties. And then, suddenly, there she was. Seated in the sunlight, wearing a pretty white sundress made of lace, and delicate slippers on her feet, legs pulled up so she could tuck her knees beneath her chin. She was curled up on a window seat, right outside the main library.

The glare of the light was like a halo around her head.

He didn’t realise he’d stopped short until she looked up. She actually looked surprised, her plain brown eyes going a little wide, but then they sparked with a glint of orange-amber, and all at once, they weren’t plain at all. He was staring into the face of an angel, breath caught in his throat, and then, her face and eyes were plain again. Just a plain faced Japanese girl sitting in the sunlight coming through the window of a mafia estate in the Sicilian countryside, smiling up at him sweetly.

He wasn’t quite certain when he’d walked forward to stop in front of her.

“Interesting guy. Fancy meeting you here,” she said, laughing a little at the look that must have tripped over his face.

“I do have a name,” Reborn grunted. A little awkwardly because, for all that he proclaimed his name with absolutely no hesitation when his hits weren’t actually required to be quiet, he hadn’t come across a situation where he actually had to introduce himself to someone who had no idea who he was in years. Not when that someone was clearly a part of the mafia in some way.

…he didn’t really like how tongue-tied this kid was making him. It reminded him far too much of Luce. And people who reminded him of his old Sky, of the one person who could have been his Sky, had she ever felt the need to draw him in completely, left him with an uncontrollable itch in his hands. His fingers were twitching with the need to wrap around that slim neck and snap it clean.

He could nearly hear the sound of the vertebrae cracking and breaking echoing in his ears. Something about the tilt of Tsuna’s smile on her face made him think she could tell just how much he wanted to murder her where she sat.

“But you didn’t introduce yourself the last time we met.”

Reborn felt his lips spread in a tight smile.

“My mistake. Pleasure, Principessa. Chaos. My name is Reborn. I’m the Strongest Hitman in the World.”

She stared up at him, wide eyed. And then, she fell back, laughing helplessly. Reborn stared down at her, eyes catching on the line of her neck, the way the lace highlighted the gentle rise of her chest. The pretty picture the hem of the dress made, riding high on her pale thighs.

“Reborn, then. It’s a pleasure to meet you too, Reborn. My name is Sawada Tsuna, and I’m the fiancée to the next Don of the Vongola.”

The cut of teeth in her smile was like staring at the broken edges of bones, white and sharp.

“And who would that be?” he asked, curious in spite of himself.

He bare shoulders rose in a careless shrug.

“I wouldn’t know. I don’t think anyone’s going to know until they actually inherit the ring.”

Reborn’s brows rose in interest. And more than a little dark amusement. He didn’t think anyone had any idea that the little Princess knew what the final test of heirship entailed.

“Have you had tea yet, Reborn-san?” she asked, smiling up at him.

Reborn spared a moment to think about Timoteo, coffee, and the endless amusement that could be had by needling the old man about his sons and their dalliances and bad choices. Then shrugged, just as carelessly as Tsuna had before, and held his hand out to her to tug her up.

She eyed his hand strangely, then brushed it to the side and got up herself. It made an involuntary, and rather inelegant snort of laughter escape from him. When she glanced up at him questioningly, Reborn raised a shoulder in non-answer. Rather gratifyingly, Tsuna didn’t do much more than stare up at him with a little smile before she led him away in the direction of, if he wasn’t mistaken, one of the sun rooms that had been installed by Ottavo, back in the day. He hadn’t been inside them in years, possibly since back when Ottavo had still been alive and being in his twenties was a novelty and not a sign of Tri-Ni-Sette induced immortality.

“And how did the Don and your suitors react when they found you in these rooms for the first time?” he asked, curious yet again, when they were set up at a table decked out with little cakes, scones and sandwiches, and with a little tea pot of black tea, cream and a tea cup set aside for Tsuna. Thankfully, the maid serving them had the sense to bring him the usual double dose of expresso he was partial to if he was having coffee at the estate.

The disgusted look on Tsuna’s face when the maid had handed the steaming mug over to him had been the closest he’d been to laughing uninhibited in years.

“They’re hardly my suitors, Reborn-san. They aren’t exactly courting me. Enrico is busy taking care of the various businesses the Vongola is attached to, Massimo is… busy, with his own affairs. Federico is kind, but he’s too busy looking after his own people to pay too much attention to me.”

There was telling silence after that. Reborn tilted his headed to the side, just a little bit. Took a dainty sip of coffee from his mug. Savoured the flavour. And then, after a sufficient pause, dutifully asked the question that was expected of him.

“And what of Xanxus?”

Tsuna’s brows rose, questioning, though he could see the glint of good humour hidden in their depths.

“What of him?” she asked.

“Does he make a good suitor?” Reborn returned, lips curling ever so slightly.

She didn’t answer him immediately, turning to the little cakes and fresh fruit, spending a few minutes deciding which one she would choose to eat. Reborn waited patiently, all the while growing more amused. Oh, he’d been wrong to think that the brat would be as much a fool and a bore as her father before her.

Iemitsu was a spineless worm with no imagination. That had been apparent the day he’d fallen in with Timoteo’s Family by accident and had made no effort to win over any more power than what Timoteo had been willing to hand out. Tsuna, it seemed, was neither spineless, nor a worm, and had imagination in spades.

“Not exactly,” Tsuna murmured, once she was satisfied with what she had selected, setting a small sponge cake decorated with lemon crème before herself, along with a little bowl filled with strawberries. Reborn eyed the container of dipping chocolate she tugged closer, and then pointedly tore his eyes away.

“He isn’t a good suitor?” Not that that would surprise Reborn all that much. The brat was far too self-centred be a good suitor in any sense.

Tsuna’s lips quirked in a sweet smile again, oddly enough. Almost as though she could sense the direction of his thoughts.

“It’s not that he isn’t a good suitor, Reborn-san. He just doesn’t think he’s in the running, so he doesn’t really make any effort to treat me like a potential fiancée.”

Reborn paused in the midst of raising his mug for another sip. Turned that thought over in his head. Finished taking that sip and carefully set his mug down again.

“I hadn’t realised that Xanxus was quite that pathetic,” he said blandly, reaching out to a plate of chocolate drizzled biscotti. He pointedly ignored the mildly exasperated look the Sawada was shooting at him.

“He isn’t pathetic, Reborn-san. I told him about how the ring selects viable heirs. He was angry in the beginning, but he let it go. Now… he’s just amused whenever Timoteo-san urges us to spend time together.”

Reborn gave her a long look, carefully taking apart the statement in his head. From the fact that Tsuna had actually managed to tell Xanxus, of all people, that the Vongola Sky Ring wouldn’t choose him, had then made him back down, to the fact that she had calmed his anger over time. All without Timoteo realising what had transpired.

Interesting. Very interesting.

“…and why, exactly, is he amused when his father expects the two of you to spend time together?”

Tsuna took a delicate bite out of the strawberry she had dipped into the bowl of chocolate sauce, and gave him another of her sweet smiles.

“Why, because Xanxus finds it amusing that the Don still thinks he’s got him fooled.”

Reborn felt a chill run down his spine, even as he laughed, and reached out to snatch a fresh strawberry out of Tsuna’s plate, dipping it into her bowl of chocolate before she could snatch it back.

“You’re such an interesting child, Tsuna.” He murmured, his lips and tongue caressing the words even as his teeth bit down into firm, red flesh.

The smile on her face, he noticed, seemed to have become rather fixed. He smiled back, licking away last of the tart juice and chocolate left over on his fingers.

Even after he’d taken his leave of her and had situated himself in Timoteo’s office, smirking in the face of the long-suffering expression on the old man’s face, his mind couldn’t let go of the look that had been on her face when he’d left. Wide-eyed, liquid and wanting.

*

It’s possibly a good thing that he’d already had some forewarning about Tsuna and Xanxus. The first banquet he’s invited to attend at the Estate after the fool’s little Princess had been brought to Sicily, it’s to be treated to the sight of Massimo chomping at the bit while Enrico looked strangely resigned. Frederico simply looked amused, chatting quietly with his Sun Guardian towards on end of the gardens.

All the while, the girl everyone’s attention was unanimously focused on had her arm hooked into the crook of Xanxus’ elbow, smiling sweetly and seemingly smitten while the Varia Boss ducked his head low to whisper in her ear.

Reborn hid his laughter in a mouthful of wine, finding himself incapable of looking away from the pretty picture the two made where they stood, beneath the trees and just removed enough from the rest of the men and women scattered across the grounds - eating, talking, smiling, gossiping – that it was making the mafia mothers’ tongues wag. It wasn’t like the two had already been promised to each other, after all. And Iemitsu’s get was promised only to the next heir of the Vongola Famiglia.

That she had apparently chosen the youngest of the ‘four’ brothers left the upper echelon horrified enough that Reborn was beginning to think he wouldn’t even need to seek out fresh entertainment in the coming months. This was gearing up to be a fine spectacle all on its own.

…she barely reached the centre of Xanxus’ chest, even when her artfully styled spikes added nearly two inches to her diminutive frame. Clad in yet another white sundress, decorated with lace, ribbons and delicate ruffles, she looked the very picture of purity and careless youth, an image only emphasized by the sheer breadth and height of the man standing beside her. Xanxus was devastatingly handsome - Reborn had absolutely no qualms in appreciating beauty in any form or gender and the younger man definitely settled well within a range that even Reborn considered arresting.  But it was an aesthetic edged in both blood and shadows; the loose sway of his uniform coat thrown over his shoulders was a glaring reminder of who he was. What he was capable of.

Such a pretty picture they made together. The dichotomy was appealing enough to be near-grotesque.

Reborn felt his lips pull in a particularly toothy smile behind the rim of his glass, and forced himself to tuck the expression away before it attracted unwanted attention.

“Reborn.”

Reborn glanced over his shoulder, and raised a hand to tip the edge of his fedora in a lazy greeting.

“Chaos, Don Nono. Fun little party you’ve got going here.” He drawled, and was treated to the sight of Timoteo grimacing like a little boy who’d bitten into a lemon and had found it to be sourer than expected.  So very, very precious. It brought back memories of a softer, kinder youth who followed Don Ottava around like a little puppy, helpless without the care of its master.

Even with an entire decade separating them, the sight had caused Reborn enough amusement that he’d just… stayed. The Vongola as a whole were delightful enough that, even while being a free agent and not truly attaching himself to any one Sky or Famiglia, he couldn’t help but return to savour the ridiculous insanity decking the corridors of their Estate. Reborn had been possessed of murderous intensity and potential even when he’d been a thirteen year old brat, fleeing a dead home and a name that was more a shackle than anything else, but Timoteo had given him a reason to keep coming back. Even if it was only to laugh at how pathetic he’d been when he was younger.

“Cut the crap, Reborn. What do you think?”

“My my, Timoteo. What language. I’m sure poor Enrico would be traumatised if he heard you right now.”

The pained look the old man shot him had him chortling into the last of his wine.

“Is she any good?” Timoteo asked in a quiet voice, once Reborn had managed to get himself under control, setting his glass aside. The question had Reborn smiling, not quite able to contain how ecstatic the entire situation was making him.

“She’s quite the catch, I should say. Your sons are very lucky,” he mused, voice pleasant.

The sharp look his words earned him made it clear that Timoteo wasn’t taking his words at face value. Reborn wasn’t surprised. They’d known each other for long enough that Timoteo already knew that anything that gave him this much cause to be gleeful was something to be wary of.

“She was treasure, when she’d been younger. I can see glimpses of that child in this young lady, but not enough of her to comfort me.” The Don murmured, after a long moment. Reborn’s brows raised, interested in spite of himself.

“You met the girl before your fool brought her here?” he asked curiously.

“Reborn, for heaven’s sake, stop calling Iemitsu my fool,” Timoteo’s voice was pained enough that Reborn felt a rather uncharacteristic cackle rising from his throat before he smothered it.

“But, yes. I have met her before. Iemitsu had suspected that she’d released her flames much earlier than expected, and he requested me to check and make sure it wasn’t stunting her growth in any way. Since I needed to be in the vicinity of Tokyo around the same time, I agreed to visit his home, just to make sure she was ok.”

“Oh? And had she manifested her flame?” Reborn was mildly impressed. Early manifestations could spell either ruin or success, depending on whether their impeded the development of an individual or not. Seeing as Tsuna seemed well in control of her faculties, possible tendency to court conspiracy aside, her manifestation had apparently been a success.

Or, at least, that’s what he’d assumed until he noticed the closed look on the Don’s face.

“No. As far as I could tell, she hadn’t manifested her flame. There was the possibility that her flame drew back on itself, there have been cases where a child’s flame retreats when it manifests too early for the body to cope, but whatever the reason may have been, there was no sign of her possessing a Dying Will before her time.”

That drew Reborn up short. He gave Timoteo a probing look, but the man very pointedly did not meet his gaze.

“…a naturally manifesting dying will. That was what Sawada asked you to ascertain.”

It wasn’t a question.

Timoteo sighed gustily, looking away.

“…I’m not sure if I’m impressed or appalled.”

Reborn knew his face was set in an unkind expression, lips stretched in the kind of smile that had had left people skittish around him for days, weeks, months, years.

“We had to know. It wouldn’t be the first time you’ve been appalled at my choices.” The old man said, almost defensively. Reborn snorted rudely.

“I wasn’t talking about you. And your choices have never appalled me. Amused me, yes. Delighted me, certainly! But appalled? Never. Not till date, at the least. No,” he said, beginning to sneer, “I was talking about your fool.”

That earned him a wary look.

“It was a perfectly reasonable reaction, Reborn.”

“Oh? And it wouldn’t have anything to do with the fact that one of the sure signs of potential heirship to the throne of the Vongola would be the ability to naturally manifest the dying will flame now, would it.” he returned snidely, vindicated when his words had the Don stiffening beside him.

“Reborn…” Timoteo said in a hushed voice, clear warning etched in every syllable of his name. Reborn gave a low laugh, feeling amusement rekindle in his gut.

He’d been such a soft-hearted young man when Reborn had met him, all those years ago. Maybe it was a side effect of being forever frozen in a semblance of youth – the Don was nothing but a sepulchre of that gawky, soft hearted young man, yet he never ceased to provide Reborn with new instances of hilarity.

That man would never have dared to threaten Reborn for having any knowledge of how the Vongola heir was selected, after all.

“She’d make a good bride to any of your sons, Don Nono. Rest easy,” he said, stepping away while waving mockingly over his shoulder.

He made a detour to snap up another glass of wine from one of the attendants, and found another quiet corner to ensconce himself, for once not quite interested in mingling with any of the pretty young mafia lambs being paraded about by their mothers. Even the arrogant little capos from allied Famiglia weren’t attracting his gaze, strangely enough, though it had always been pleasure to break those unbending backs until they begged.

…his eyes kept being drawn back to the slip of a girl tucked into Xanxus’ side, almost against his will.

Seemingly having gotten bored of whispering sweet nothings to each other in the shade of the trees, they were strolling about the gardens now, with Xanxus introducing Tsuna to anyone he found worthy of his attention or patience. It wasn’t exactly a small number – for all that Xanxus was notorious for keeping his own company and counsel, he was as charismatic as any of Timoteo’s sons by blood, and he’d made several acquaintances over the years.

She still seemed so plain and unassuming. Except when she was not. Reborn didn’t need to observe the rest of the crowd spread out through the gardens for long to realise that nearly everyone present had already been sucked into the harmonising pull of Tsuna’s flame. It wasn’t anything overt, Reborn would definitely have been able to tell if she was actively manipulating anyone in her vicinity. But the pull had ensured that the only thing people were seeing was the vision of loveliness that he was unfortunately familiar with.

…if Timoteo and Sawada actually believed that she hadn’t manifested her flame when she was a child, more the fool them.

He was still watching when her head tilted sideways in a pretty little laugh, pressing up against Xanxus’ shoulder. It didn’t stop her gaze from locking on his, even when they were nearly on opposite ends of the space in which the party was taking place.

His lips curled, the smirk spreading out as easy as breathing while he tipped his glass her way, silently saluting her. He knocked its contents down in a single go right after, eyes focused unerringly on hers.

For all of a moment, he saw the sweet, coy laughter retreat from her face, leaving behind a face that was plain, easily forgettable, and yet with an expression that seemed utterly transfixed before it was smoothed into something more demure.

It made something twist sharply inside him. Fingers tightening infinitesimally on the long stem of his glass, he made no move to look away, the rich taste of red still staining his lips and tongue. He kept watching, even as Tsuna tore her gaze away, looking up to ask the man on her arm a question with a shy little smile. Whatever she’d said, it had the girls they’d stopped to speak to burst into tittering laughter, while Xanxus looked unnervingly indulgent, the expression softening his face into something that only made him even more attractive than before.

The entire tableau had Reborn wanting to laugh till he was sick. He turned away, grinning wolfishly and terrifying an attendant nearby enough that the poor man spilt all the glasses and the salver balanced on his hand.  

Well. Not all the glasses. Reborn neatly rescued one of their number before they crashed to pieces on the ground. He offered the gibbering man a conciliatory smile before strolling away, cheerfully sipping at his prize.

And if there were eyes still directed at his back… well. He would deal with them on another day.

*

“Take me out.”

He glanced up, actually surprised. He’d been in the process of taking leave of the Estate – it had been a while since he’d received such an interesting assignment, and he was looking forward to getting his fingers dirty again. He certainly hadn’t expected to be drawn short by Sawada’s little princess before he managed to get out.

No pretty little sundress today, he noted. He actually hadn’t seen her in a while; it was adorable how she seemed to think she’d successfully avoided running into him since the banquet. Like a little mouse scurrying away to hide in a hole. It seemed she’d finally decided to come out into the open again, though. And rather than being dressed to titillate with fleeting glimpses of flesh and flirtatious innocence, she’d instead dragged on a loose tee over pair of cargo shorts. Coupled with the sandals and the backpack, she looked like a fifteen year old boy ready to undertake an expedition of some sort.

He stared at her silently, caught between bemusement and sheer incredulity.

“Pardon me?” he drawled, finally, once it became obvious that she wasn’t going to speak up.

“Take me out. I’m bored, Reborn.” She repeated plaintively. He rolled his eyes, and didn’t hesitate to walk away, making no move to stop even when she squawked and chased after him.

“Sorry, Principessa. Find someone else to entertain you today, I’m afraid I’m busy.”

“Then just take me with you,” she insisted, still following him doggedly and making no move to back off even when he shot an unimpressed look her way.

“Finally tired of Xanxus’ charms, then?” he asked blandly. It had her glancing around surreptitiously, making sure there was no one near enough to hear what he’d said. The reaction was comical enough that he nearly stumbled over his own feet before his natural balance kicked in.

“No. Xanxus is fun, I don’t deny that, but the old man wants me spending time with all his sons. I’m supposed to be spending time with Massimo today.”

“I see,” Reborn droned slowly, voice absolutely uninterested. Though he did keep his attention on the emotions fluctuating across her face. It made for an amusing diversion.

He did come to a stop when she forced herself in his path, though. He stared down at her, eyes hard. She was rather entertaining, when he lacked something more engaging to whet his attention against, but nothing was allowed to interfere with his focus when he was under contract.

Her gaze was nearly beseeching, when she looked up at him. He absently noted that her head topped off at chest level to him before he brushed past her without another word. Or, at least, he tried to brush past her. Her fingers wrapped around his right elbow like a vice before he actually managed to get away.

The feel of her fingers gripping at his limb had him twitching, once, before he whirled, dragging her closer because of that hold and slamming her harshly into a wall.

“You are playing a very dangerous game, Principessa.” His lips brushed lightly against the shell of her ear, voice a quiet murmur and entirely unamused for once. He was close enough that he could hear her voice hitch in her throat.

“Re-” she started, voice choked, but he broke her off with a jerk.

“I am not at your beck and call. And I have done nothing to give you that impression. Don’t play at toying with me, child. You will. Not. Win.” He breathed, pressing a soft kiss against her temple and feeling her shiver like a thing of feathers in his grasp before she went still.

“I need to leave the estate. Just for today.” She bit out, making no move to twist away from him. It had his lips curling in a small, appreciative smile against her skin.

“Oh? And why should that make any difference to me?” he questioned idly, making no move to step away or gave her space.

She shuddered against him, soft and fragile to the touch, but the way she didn’t waste any time in attempting to break away told tales of the unbending nature of the steel writ in every line of her.

“I… I don’t want to spend time with Massimo. He makes me uncomfortable.” She said, almost sounding pathetic.

“Does he now.”

She stiffened in his grasp before slowly relaxing again.

“He does.” She repeated, turning her face to stare into his eyes, daring him to make something of that. It had him baring his teeth in the semblance of a smile before he brusquely tucked away what little amusement her defiance was drawing out from him.

“I don’t know what stories you’ve been hearing, child, but for all their dalliances, Timoteo’s sons are all perfect gentlemen. None of them would dare court your ire. Certainly not when you’re to be either bride or sister-in-law to them, depending on their individual fate.”

So suck it up and deal, was what went unsaid. She clearly got the gist of what he was implying, if the revolted look she shot him was anything to go by.

“I don’t know about them being perfect gentlemen, but Massimo is a jealous little brat. He hates that I get along well with Xanxus, and it has him behaving atrociously whenever we’re expected to spend time together. I certainly don’t want to remain at the estate when rumours of me spending time at the Varia Compound are being spread about.” She rapped out, eyes cold.

It made him eye her with slowly increasing interest.

“Rumours, you say?”

She blinked slowly, and all of a sudden, rather than the plain faced brat who looked more like a teenage boy than anything else, Reborn found himself staring down into the amber eyes of the arresting young woman who’d playfully flirted with him back in Namimori. It made him draw back slightly, mind already working at taking this new angle into consideration.

For all that Tsuna went around smiling sweetly and capturing the hearts of every man, woman and child present under the roof of the Vongola Estate, charismatic in only the most incidental sense, this specific avatar was one that he hadn’t been confronted with at all, since she’d been brought to Italy. And he was certain that Timoteo and his sons had no inkling of Tsuna having this specific facet to her personality, or they would all be far warier of her than they’d made any effort to be, so far.

He seen the barest glimpse of this, in Ottava’s sun room. On the window seat, before that. And even then, it wasn’t precisely this.

This Tsuna was loose-limbed and confident, completely unconcerned by the tightening grip of his hands on her arms. Even the set of her face had relaxed into something that looked unnervingly polished and aristocratic, to the point that it boggled the mind to know that these features existed on the same face as the plain faced brat he’d been warning away earlier.

Sky Attraction, he tried to tell himself. But he knew the answer wasn’t as easy as that.

Plain and unassuming, blending in with the surroundings, not worthy of concentrated observation or attention. Sweet and demure, laughing coyly and capturing and breaking hearts at her whim.

Amber eyed and cold, every line of her demanding his attention and regard, accepting nothing less than his wholehearted obeisance.

He breathed in sharply, meeting her gaze for gaze. She slowly blinked, large eyes shuttering behind her lashes, and the amber slowly winked out. And he was left with nothing but the embers and ash of that that burning flame.

She made a soft noise, and it was only then that he realised that his fingers were digging into her arms hard enough to leave bruises behind.

It was his turn to shiver, the reaction juddering down his spine like the smoothest of silk against skin, making his lips reflexively pull apart in a hard grin that had her staring up at him, transfixed. Her lashes lifted up in an expression of such earnest fascination that he couldn’t find it in himself to muffle his low laughter.

“Oh, Principessa. You spoil me.” He said. And kept laughing, even when she blinked up at him. Still fascinated, but also confused.

After all, what else was it but being spoiled when the girl kept dropping new sources of entertainment right in his lap?

[i-w-p-chan]

Would You Drop by the Afterlife on Your Way Back? Part 1

Summary: Xanxus has been trapped in the ice for two months when complications happen and he lands himself a trip to the afterlife. NOT a death fic. Bleach AU.

Note: when I had the idea for this AU, most of the events were supposed to go differently but then Daniela Happened…  

Warnings: Shameless Self-Indulgence, Bleach AU (So People Who Are Dead Pre-Fic Make An Appearance), No Actual Knowledge Of Bleach Required To Read This, Let Tsuna And Xanxus Go To The Sun Division 2K17, Did I Mention AU? AU, Fic Events Are Happening At X3 Speed, World Building Details Blurted In-Fic A LOT, POV Character Doesn't Get Much Dialogue, Poor Nono, Tsuna's Big Crush On Ricardo, Vague Implication Of The Existence Of Ricardo's Fanclub, Characters Get Mentioned (Blink And You'll Miss It! Style).

Disclaimer: Don't own KHR.

.

It was cold.

Everything was cold.

Xanxus shuddered and inwardly cursed as the ice tightened its hold on him, seeped into his body and latched onto his flames like a disease.

He had no idea how long it had been since he'd been trapped; it was difficult to keep track of the time while he was literally encased in a block of ice and he had nothing other than his own thoughts for company.

With every passing moment, he could feel himself slip away. To where, he had no idea; and he didn't know whether it would be a good or a bad thing.

The ice slid down his frame, it was a startling motion, one that never happened before.

The ice was sliding away and he was slipping, fast and unobstructed, until he felt himself hit the floor.

A warm hand settled on his shoulder with a whispered 'finally', and Xanxus leapt to his feet, jolting away from the presence he could feel with him in the room.

His body felt weirdly light- how long had he been in the ice? His body was being very responsive, unexpectedly so.

He focused his attention on the other person in the room; the sight that greeted him was very shocking.

In front of him was the specter of Vongola Primo, solemn and holding his hands up, next to him was a miniature copy of him: a teen with striking resemblance to the first Vongola boss but with brown hair and amber eyes. Unlike Primo's specter, the teen looked perfectly solid and was dressed in black clothes that appeared to be of Japanese origins.

The teen approached him, hands raised just like Primo, "Hey," He spoke with a quiet voice, as if Xanxus was a little animal who could startle at any moment and run away.

(Xanxus was half pissed, half full of enough spite to make him want to maul the kid.)

"I'm Sawada Tsunayoshi."

Xanxus blanked; he was in the ice long enough for that fucker Iemitsu to have a fucking kid?!

"I'm here to take you to where you can get medical attention," The brat, who may or may not be Iemitsu's spawn, continued, apparently ignorant of the mind-breaking thoughts going through Xanxus' head faster than the Prince brat latching on recently sharpened knives, "You've been in the ice for a couple of months already-" Wait, what? "-Your soul has already escaped your body to avoid further damage-"

"Hold. The. Fuck. Up." Xanxus growled. The brat stopped, "Fucking explain what you just said about my soul."

"If you'd look behind you." The brat pointed.

Xanxus whipped around, walking a bit sideways to keep the brat in his line of sight while he looked at the ice.

And then he understood.

There, in the ice, was his own body still trapped. Xanxus raised his hand, observing it, if he focused well enough, he could see it fade away at the edges.

He turned the majority of his attention back to the brat, who apparently understood what the look on Xanxus' face meant and elaborated, "You've been in there for two months, no one is supposed to stay in that specific type of ice that long, and that's why your soul left your body as a type of self-defense mechanism, leaving the body in stasis inside the ice."

"So, I'm dead." Xanxus ground out, fists clenched to hold in the anger, at least until he received a satisfactory explanation.

"Oh, no, you're not, yet." The brat shook his head, "It's like you're in a coma. Your soul is still attached." The brat raised his hands a little higher as they glowed orange, the glow brighter around what looked like a ring on his right hand. Around Xanxus, there was a faint rattling of chains that appeared around his figure, glowing orange and red, and leading to his body still in the ice.

"Those are your chains of fate." The brat shook his hands, the orange glow around them fading from view along with the chains, except the chains weren't gone completely; if Xanxus listened attentively enough, he could hear their faint sounds at the edges of his hearing. "As long as they're connecting your body and soul together, you'll still be effectively alive."

"So, if they all are severed, I'll die."

The brat furrowed his eyebrows and quirked his head to the side, "It depends? You have access to Dying Will Flames, so if the chains are severed, you can will them to mend themselves if you're determined and willful enough. People who don't are effectively dead the moment their chain of fate is severed."

"Chain?"

"Dying Will Flames users have multiple chains, which come from their original chain snapping in order to access the Flames for the first time. Next question?"

Xanxus raised an eyebrow at that; the brat seemed content to answer his questions.

Whether he was being truthful or not, Xanxus had no way to ascertain.

"And you are?"

"I'm Sawada Tsunayoshi, a shinigami, a soul reaper."

"You just said that I wasn't dead, what's your business with me?"

"Reaping souls isn't our only job." The brat hurried to explain, "We do other things, too. We purify corrupt souls that stay in the living world too long; we take the souls of the people who die to Soul Society; we also handle cases like yours. You're not the first person to stay too long under the Flames' ice, we kind of have a procedure for that." The brat gave a shaky smile, "We get the souls of people like you and take them to soul society where we heal the damages as we plot a way to get the body out of the ice. I'm here to take you."

Xanxus deliberated, "How will you take me?"

"I can open a portal, a doorway between here and Soul Society, and take you through. Besides, it's not like the people here can actually see us."

Xanxus stilled.

"It takes high spiritual power for us to be seen, even for Dying Will Flame users." The brat shook his head, "We could parade from here to the entrance while singing at the top our lungs and stomping on the ground and no one will notice."

"So, are you coming?" The brat gave him a look and suddenly, suddenly, Xanxus saw; the brat's eyes held the faintest orange glow, and an old presence peeked through them.

For all that he looked fifteen, he was far from it. And while he phrased it like a question, it wasn't one. The bastard was just making it look like Xanxus was given the courtesy of a choice.

Sawada Tsunayoshi's eyes told him that should Xanxus decline, he was perfectly ready to take Xanxus by force.

"You're asking me?" Xanxus scoffed and strode towards Sawada, who smiled at him, pleased.

(Xanxus wanted to wipe that smile off the bastard's face.)

Sawada turned to Primo, who was silent throughout the conversation, "Thank you for notifying us."

Primo's specter nodded before he faded away.

Sawada hummed, "You'll meet the real thing in Soul Society. Actually, you'll meet a lot of people you've only heard about there."

It was then that it dawned at Xanxus what it could possibly mean for him to go to the veritable afterlife.

Sawada looked at him with a small smile, "Oh, there you go. Yes, you have family on the other side."

Sawada raised his right hand, the ring on it glowing as he made a fist and pushed it forward in front of him, he then turned it like it was a key.

There was a loud click, and a pair of Japanese doors appeared in front of the two, an orange glow shining from behind them.

Sawada opened them, showing a hallway made of writhing flames.

Sawada gestured forward, "Sky Flames, they're pretty harmless unless I wanted otherwise. Getting you to Soul Society safe and sound is my priority, so you don't need to worry about me deciding to burn you to ashes once you step through."

Xanxus looked between Sawada and the literal flaming hallway, and decided, fuck it, and he stepped into the corridor.

The walk through the hallway was silent.

When the two reached the other end, Sawada waved his hand and the flames parted, revealing an expanse of blue sky.

Sawada walked forward until the edge and looked down before he made a triumphant sound, "Okay, we got our landing covered. Let's jump." And Sawada proceeded to do just that.

Xanxus poked his head out of the opening and looked around; the hallway opened somewhere high in the sky. Down, there were houses surrounding a walled town made of white buildings that stood in contrast with their surrounding area.

In mid-air, Sawada appeared to have been caught in a ring of symbols that was holding him suspended. Sawada looked at him and gestured for him to jump.

Xanxus braced himself, not only was he asked to jump from this height, but also asked to entrust his safety to a stranger.

Could someone die as a soul?

Xanxus huffed and jumped, wishing he had his guns on him, but prepared to blast flames from his bare hands to handle his drop if need be.

He didn't need to in the end, as just as he reached Sawada, another ring came into being and surrounded him, halting his descent.

The two rings than began to gradually drop closer to the ground at a steady pace.

"Earth Flames," Sawada said in lieu of an explanation, "I don't think they're known in the living world except for a select few, and that's only because they use it. It's another set of Dying Will Flames, like the Dying Will Flames of the Sky and its branches."

By the time Sawada finished speaking, the two had reached the ground, the rings dissipating and safely depositing them on their feet in front of a broad-shouldered, red-haired man with red eyes that had compass-like markings for pupils. The man was dressed in the same fashion as Sawada except he wore a sleeveless, reddish-brown coat on top.

He smiled at them, "Tsuna, welcome back." He then turned to Xanxus, "You must be Xanxus, I'm Cozart, welcome to Soul Society." Cozart turned around and gestured for them to follow him, "I'll be taking you to the Flame Sector where you will be staying."

Cozart led them to the walled city through a side-entrance.

("No need to attract attention by asking the gate's guard for entrance," Cozart had said.)

The walled city was as grand as it looked from above with its big, white buildings. Xanxus noticed there were whom he assumed to be other soul reapers like Sawada and Cozart, as they wore the same black garb. Except those in the city carried swords with them, unlike Sawada and Cozart who only seemed to wear a ring instead.

Xanxus figured that it had to do with Dying Will Flames; there were probably two types of soul reapers, some dealt with souls that had Dying Will Flames and some dealt with the souls that didn't, and Cozart had mentioned a Flame Sector.

The Flame Sector didn't look distinctly different from the other buildings. The only thing that separated it was the boundary wall; it extended much farther than the boundary walls Xanxus passed on his way, which indicated a much bigger area. The entrance was modest and had a sign with a flame drawn on it, on top.

All the building were designed with a Japanese style like the rest of the city, they were spread out in a way making them face a courtyard. Each building had a sign on top of the entrance, and from what Xanxus saw, he concluded that each building was specific for a flame type.

Cozart indicated the building that had a sign with a flame, very like the one on the entrance, "I'll leave the rest to you, Tsuna, I have paperwork to do-" Xanxus twitched; the afterlife had fucking paperwork?! "-you know what you have to do."

Sawada sighed, "Yeah. I do."

Cozart smiled apologetically at him and Sawada waved him off, "It's not your fault. It's just… you know how bad he can get sometimes… and you know how our latest visitor looks like."

Both Sawada and Cozart gave Xanxus strange looks that he couldn't describe and it grated at him. A part of him felt the overwhelming need to run and never look back, but he squashed it down; it couldn't possibly be worse than that time involving him, Enrico, Squalo and a couple of dresses.

Sawada trudged towards the building with the flame sign, calling out to Xanxus, "C'mon! I'd rather get this done with very quickly. Hopefully, we can get you to the Sun division within the hour.

Sawada walked towards the building like he was walking towards his own execution, Xanxus didn't want to go too.

Sawada whipped his head to stare at him, eyes flashing orange, "You will come as well, or so help me Soul King, I know just the person to threaten you with."

Given that they were in the afterlife, Xanxus also knew who that person could possibly be, so he cut his losses and stomped towards the building as well.

And so, the two walked towards their doom.

Sawada led Xanxus through the hallways, passing other soul reapers who gave them sympathetic looks before they continued on their way, as if this wasn't the first time something like this happened.

Sawada stopped in front of a pair of sliding doors. He took a deep breath before he opened them.

"Tuna-fishie!" Came a cry from inside.

Sawada launched into a flying roundhouse kick, nailing whoever came flying at them for what appeared to be a flying tackle hug, and sending them crashing.

"Ow!" Xanxus peered inside the office to see a figure lying among scattered papers. They raised their head, to pout at Sawada.

"Tuna-fishie!" What appeared to be a Vongola Primo lookalike whined.

"Captain," Sawada ground out, Xanxus was slightly impressed, "What did vice-captain Storm say about flying tackles?"

"Not to do them." Xanxus heard a person approach the room, "But G is a killjoy!"

The newcomer bypassed Xanxus and Sawada on their way inside, with an air of muted murderous intent, "I'm a killjoy, huh?"

"Ah… G…" G walked into the room and grabbed the Primo lookalike from his clothes to deposit him on the desk.

"Sawada Giotto Ieyasu. Fucking do your work."

Vongola Primo, and holy fuck the guy really was Vongola Primo, pouted, "Fine!"

He sighed and settled himself to start gathering up the scattered papers.

G turned to Sawada, "So, Tsuna, you're here to report?"

"Yes," Sawada started, gesturing to Xanxus, "Extraction successful, I'll be taking Xanxus to the Sun division for medical examinations. I'll turn in my written report later."

"Oh my god, G, he lo-!" G slapped a hand over Primo's mouth.

"He looks just like Ricardo, we know. Now, get back to work."

Sawada grabbed Xanxus and dragged him out of the office, slamming the door behind them. Pulling Xanxus down the corridor, he didn't let go of him until he deemed it safe, "Boy am I glad we got that done with. Now-" Sawada turned the corner, "-to the Sun divi-!" Sawada had to swerve to not hit the shinigami rounding the corner.

"Ah, Tsuna! Apologies! Almost didn't see you there." Freaking Vongola Quarto smiled lightly at Sawada from behind the humongous pile of paperwork he was carrying.

"It's okay." Sawada waved the apology off, "Why are you carrying all of this anyway."

"Oh, this?" Quarto's smile turned into a secretive one, "I'm just doing my duty, helping out the great Ric-"

"He's helping me." Another soul reaper joined in, "Even though he's actually doing all of the heavy lifting. He refused to let me carry anything." This one was Vongola fucking Secondo.

Sawada gave Quarto a nod and a discreet look, Quarto's smile widened and Xanxus wondered what type of secret the two shared.

"And you," Secondo started, approaching Xanxus, "You look a lot like me."

Sawada perked up, carefully maneuvering himself close to Secondo, "Oh, he's Xanxus," He said eagerly, like he couldn't possibly be happier doing anything else other than telling Secondo all about what he did for the day. Which, disturbing, Xanxus spent barely half an hour in Sawada's presence and still, seeing him turn into a gushy, giggly creature was making Xanxus break out into fucking hives.

"You know, my assignment." Sawada fucking batted his eyelashes, Xanxus was clearly lied to, this was definitely hell.

"Ah, yes, the one trapped in the ice." Xanxus couldn't believe that Secondo wasn't paying any attention to Sawada's flirty gesture, focusing on Xanxus instead with a polite curiosity. Quarto was looking at Tsuna with a pained, sympathetic look on his face.

"Of course I remember. I personally filled out the paperwork for your assignment." Secondo hummed, "But that was sure very fast. I only gave you the assignment not three hours ago. Good job, Tsuna." Secondo sent a faint smile Sawada's way.

Sawada melted.

Xanxus needed brain bleach.

Secondo returned his attention to Xanxus, "Welcome to the Flame Sector, Xanxus, I'm the second seat of the Sky division, everyone here calls me Ricardo, so feel free to do the same."

"Everyone here calls you 'Ricardo-sama', Ricardo-sama," Quarto interjected.

"Like I said." Ricardo's smile grew strained, "Ricardo."

Ricardo took a deep breath, "Anyway, you should go to the Sun division to check up on your flames, Tsuna will accompany you in case they need Sky flames for anything. He's one of our best when it comes to handling the Harmony factor."

Sawada emitted dying animal noises, and launched at Xanxus, wrapping his arms around him and steering him away, "We should go!" He squeaked.

The moment the two were out of the division, Sawada released him and took a couple of steps back, his face was red.

Xanxus quirked an unimpressed eyebrow. Sawada crossed his arms, "Hey, don't judge! At least you didn't see the captain with Cozart around! He has it worse!" Sawada said defensively, "And now can we finally go to the Sun division? I think that's been delayed enough, and we really need to get you there, Soul King knows just how much of a horror story this will turn out to be if Daniela knew-!"

"Knew about what?" A voice interjected from behind them.

Sawada stiffened while Xanxus turned around slowly; the voice was very familiar and there was a possibility that-

He was met with his grandmother's youthful face, "Nonna…" He breathed out.

"Xanxus." She looked just as shocked as he was, one of her hands rose to hover uncertainly in front of Xanxus' face, as if afraid to touch it, "You're not dead, are you?"

Xanxus was tongue-tied, and definitely also indescribably shaken. How was he supposed to explain the situation when he probably couldn't even string a couple of words together through the lump of emotions in his throat?

"Tsuna!" Nonna barked, not moving an inch from her position or redirecting her gaze towards Sawada.

Sawada jolted and didn't need any further prompting, "He's not dead, but he's been trapped in the Sky flames' ice for two months."

"Who? Where?"

"I found him deep in Vongola HQ. The flame signature matches with Timoteo di Vongola."

"How sure are you?"

"Father's specter was there, he was the one to notify us."

"And I wasn't told?"

Sawada suppressed a flinch, "We didn't know that it was Xanxus until today."

Nonna pressed her lips into a thin line, "You went and got him today?"

Sawada nodded, "High priority assignment from the second seat, Sky division."

Nonna's rage seemed to recede a bit, not going away, but simply simmering underneath the surface; she sent an amused smile Sawada's way, and his cheeks colored slightly, "High priority, huh?"

Sawada's slight blush increased, Nonna hummed, "Hurry up and get him to the Sun division, I need to go and find a couple of people and talk to Elena."

The color drained from Sawada's face after Nonna turned on her heels and headed back into the Sky division.

Sawada grabbed Xanxus and dragged him again, this time towards the Sun division. Xanxus didn't protest the treatment as he was still reeling from the encounter with his grandmother and dreading what she could possibly have planned, if Sawada's sense of urgency was anything to go by.

"Oh, this is bad. We need to see Ricardo about this later. But first, Sun division."

Xanxus broke out of his stupor to snark, "Fucking finally."

.

End part 1

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