4.) Boulevard Of Broken Dreams

Reborn had accepted the invitation out of a sense of duty.

So in his babyfeid form he left to go towards the meeting place Checkerface had set up.

It was a park. Fairly public but had some areas that would give more privacy than others.

Walking towards the many benches, he resigned himself to waiting. He hadn't been sitting on the bench for more than a minute before a lady deemed it necessary to approach him, a worried look on his face.

Ugh. He hated dealing with people who thought he was a lost little toddler. It was useful in some situations but in others..it was just annoying.

She bent down to be level with him and opened her mouth to speak. Reborn inwardly sighed and instantly knew what she was going to say to him. "Hey, little guy. Are you lost?"

He smiled a fake cheery smile and looked at her. "No. I'm supposed to be here."

She adopted a look of worry and opened her mouth again. Reborn sighed and cut her off. "I'm waiting for someone."

She made a even more confused and worried sound before starting to reach towards him, which had Reborn leaning back on instinct. "Why don't you come with me-"

"Sora! There you are!" She was cut off by a younger male voice from their left. Both adults looked over to see a orange haired teen quickly heading in there direction, speaking in a heavily accented Italian.

The boy was looking straight at Reborn. The babyfied adult raised an eyebrow before noticing that his pacifier was a little brighter than before. Reborn quickly scanned the boy and almost instantly spotted a faint glowing bulge under the boy's hoodie.

The woman spoke, standing up, drawing the teen's attention towards her. "You know this baby?"

The boy hesitated a moment before scratching the back of his head. His voice was heavily accented. It sounded a bit like Japanese. "Ah.. Hai. He's friend of mine. Sora..I..looking for him." The teen pointed at Reborn and surprisingly didn't smile like Reborn expected him too.

The woman raised an eyebrow but nodded. She started to try and draw the teen into a conversation, and Reborn say the teen have a mental panic attack before rushing out words, grabbing Reborn to carry him as he did so. Reborn felt briefly annoyed and raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. "I..gomen.. have to go!"

The teen quickly walked away before muttering to Reborn, looking down at him. "Onegaishimasu, tell me your Acrobaleno.." the boy trailed off struggling to string together the words and Reborn smirked.

"Hai."

The boy sighed in relief before looking back, making sure they were out of sight of the woman before setting Reborn down.

Reborn took his time to look over the boy. He had strikingly bright orange hair. Was probably 13 or 14. And had Asian features. He was wearing a white hoodie with red sleeves, and jeans, with sneakers over his feet.

He looked like a kid.

The teen looked down at him and shrugged his shoulder. "I Ichigo."

Reborn snorted and desired to take mercy on the boy. Switching languages to speak to the boy in Japanese. "My names Reborn."

The boy blinked in surprise for a moment before a small amount of tension left his frame, switching over to speak in his native tongue. "Ichigo Kurosaki. Checkerface only told me small things to identify you guys. Not your names."

Reborn tilted his head to the side. "I noticed. You did call me Sora afterall."

The boy adopted an embarrassed look and his eyes drifted away. "Yes well. What better way to make me her believe I knew than to know your 'name' even if it was fake."

Reborn snorted amused and gestures for the boy to lead the way to wherever they'd be meeting the others. Ichigo took the hint and started walking towards the left from where they had been standing. The teen looked out of the corner of his eye at Reborn for a moment before speaking. "Which Acrobaleno are you?"

Reborn smirked. "The sun."

Ichigo blinked, before muttering. "The healer." He snorted. "That's irony at its finest."

Reborn pulled his fedora down slightly with a smirk on his face. He made an inquisitive sound to get the boy to continue. "The strongest Hitman is also has the strongest healer flame."

Reborn let an amused smile stretch across his face and he chuckled. "Why yes. I can see the irony." The teen snorted and stopped walking. Sitting on a bench that was in a smaller area I closed by trees, almost devoid of other people.

Reborn hopped up onto the bench effortlessly and sat, looking up at the teen, who was looking around the area. He hummed. "How'd you know I was there? Because unless Checkerface told you about the pacifier's glow, you shouldn't have known."

The boy grunted, looking at him before looking away, a pale blush on his face. "I felt you."

Reborn raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

The boy grunted affirmatively, nodding slightly, "It was like my flame was reaching towards you."

That's when Reborn noticed. His own unharmonized Sun flame was practically wailing in his own veins, in yearning trying to reach out and connect with this boy. He was actually on the verge of harmonizing with him.

Reborn looked up at the boy's face before looking at the surrounding trees. What was worse was that the boy didn't realize his own flames where calling in desperation for other flame users to come and protect their master, and that the boy was completely devoid of any guardians to protect him from the wrong kind of flame users.

It was in that moment their flames clashed together and they both flinched slightly in surprise. Subconsciously feeling it. It had been inevitable. But as he breathed out an inaudible sigh, letting his flames adjust to being harmonized for the first time ever, he found he didn't mind it.

He didn't mind the feeling of being..home.

He looked up at the boy and smirked, in nothing besides mild happiness. The boy was watching him, his eyebrows furrowed slightly more than they had been before.

Well. Reborn wouldn't mind having to spend more time with his sky either.

The boy seemed special. He looked forward to being by this teen's side.

..But he better explain what just happened..and harmonization to the teen. Make sure he fully understood.

Fully understood that he wouldn't be getting rid of Reborn any time soon.