Rated T: For Reborn, as always. He's a hazard, you guys.

Co-writer: The one and only, Shi Natoka-chan . Nah (She is fantastic, go stalk her and admire her and love her as much I do, okay!)

Beta-reader: My lovely little sis ShinyKyu is now on team Ely, helping us raise this fantastic child to its full potential. When I have time I will re-upload previous chapters that have finally been edited!

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR THE REVIEWS AND LOVE, GUYS! You kill me~ And because I've been busy and have delayed posted because of that, I will post a new chapter EVERY SINGLE DAY until we are caught up on our weekly schedule! Happy reading, everyone!

Chapter Six

"Iemitsu sealed a seven-year-old Sky?!"

The man who was at the end of Skull's rage only flinched a little, defending himself weakly with "It's for his own good," but little Tsunayoshi recoiled like Skull's exclamation was a slap to the face. His eyes stared at him in fear, glistening with incoming tears. He looked ready for something bad to happen.

Skull immediately felt immense guilt for scaring him. He momentarily ignored Iemitsu in favor of kneeling down to comfort Tsuna, reaching out to hug him and pet his hair the way he sometimes comforted lost children who hadn't realized that they were already dead.

"Shhh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to shout. Please don't cry, everything's fine," he gently murmured, even though he was lying. Skull had touched a lot of dead souls, and that was what Tsunayoshi felt like. All living things had Flames. They weren't always active, but it was a sign that they were alive. Even as weak as Luce's was, she still had enough flames to retain her presence. What Iemitsu did to his son could accidentally kill the boy. Did he even know how lucky he was?

But Tsuna was calming down. Skull could take that for now.

A tiny hand tugged his shirt until he looked down to meet Tsuna's warm eyes, now only slightly too bright from former tears. "You're not angry?" he asked, voice wobbling a little in leftover worry.

"Of course not!" Skull kept his voice even and cheerful. He was even tempted to do a couple of tricks to further improve Tsuna's mood, but Tsuna continued speaking, now that he had dared to.

"Are you Mama's guest? You can't come in if you're not. She said I shouldn't let strangers in because they can be bad guys."

Before Skull could answer, he was nearly bowled over when Iemitsu managed to gather himself enough under the Arcobaleno's glare and shoved Skull aside to get to his son. His grin at Tsuna was blinding in all the wrong way.

"Tuna-Fish, Papa's home. These mean people are my guests so there is nothing to worry about," he said, finishing the greetings by laughing boisterously and trying to pat Tsuna on the back.

But Tsuna darted away from his hand, running behind Skull and clutching onto him, who was the only familiar one in his eyes. He peeked out at Iemitsu with a mix of fear and anger. "You're not my papa. My friends said I have no papa."

Oof, that must've burned.

Skull could laugh at the look in Iemitsu's face. Served him right.

"But I'm your papa!" Iemitsu refused to accept the fact that he had been forgotten. He rolled up his sleeves and said, "Who are these friends of yours? Let me teach them a lesson or two," so seriously, he made Skull kind of worried that he might not be kidding at all.

Tsuna apparently took him seriously too, because he shrank even further behind Skull, refusing to answer the question.

"Honestly, you are terrible with children!" Daniela, who had raised a son and helped with raising four more kids, glared at Iemitsu, purposely stepping between the two of them as a physical barrier. She didn't kneel down like Skull, but she did bend down with a gentle smile, ignoring Iemitsu's persistent wail to speak with Tsuna. "Hey, there. You're Tsuna-chan, right? Don't be afraid, just ignore that fool. We're here to help you. So, where is your mama?"

"She is going to the market for food and ice cream for a discount!" Tsuna actually leaned towards Daniela, as if her sky flame, distorted as it was by death, was still enough to sway him. It was almost horrifying how vulnerable he was, being far too corruptible from the seal. It was very lucky that Daniela was summoned for good reason, and that Tsuna lived in a town of people who didn't know about the power of Flames. Otherwise… Skull wanted to just hug him and never let go. Oodako shifted in agreement on his shoulder, moving carefully so that he wouldn't accidentally touch Tsuna and hurt him.

"May we wait for her to come home?" Daniela's voice was slightly saturated with her power, implanting a suggestion into Tsuna's answer. Skull didn't like that, but he could only gulp when her focus turned towards him, the full force of the words washing over him like a threat. "I'm sure DeMort won't mind playing with you while my son and I keep your home safe."

She was offering… no, demanding that he stay still while she put up the barricading enchantment around the house. There was no reason for her to keep him out of the way if she wasn't planning something. But it wasn't like Skull could refuse her either. Still, he really, really hoped that she wouldn't use Tsuna as bait to fulfill her own goal.

"Y-yeah! Of course I'll play with you, Tsuna! I'm amazing at games!" He grinned to hide his worry. He'd just have to watch what Daniela and Timoteo would do in secret.

"I… Mama said…" Tsuna scrunched up his nose as he thought of his next words, looking like, for all parts, a disgruntled bunny. When he glanced back to Skull with hesitation and looked once more at Daniela, he pouted, bottom lip quivering and eyes shining with tears. "Promise you're not bad? Mama said no strangers, only guests! I don't want to upset Mama."

Skull took his cue, one of the best at dealing with kids and gave the boy a disarming smile— it was easy, Tsuna was adorable— and he was just thankful someone shut up the ranting of the CEDEF head because he was nearly tempted to do it himself. "I promise I have only the best of intentions."

This should have been enough for most kids, but Tsuna's eyes narrowed at his wording, taking in the multitude of people around him. "Only you?"

Sharp.

Skull blinked in surprise but hid his shock as he ruffled the boys untamed mane of hair. Was the kid naturally distrusting or… was it a conditioned mindset? "They may seem really scary, but they won't hurt you. Promise."

It was odd, Skull decided, as a smaller pinky wrapped around his own, that even though Tsuna's soul felt broken— dead— the contact he felt as their skin touched wasn't cold at all. It was warm, smooth skin, and above all, physically present. It relieved him that there was hope— that he wasn't facing another broken child who didn't know why they were dead or that they had died; who thought the people walking by them were ignoring them and would be in fits of hysteria when he came upon them.

Tsuna was different. He was there. Alive. It didn't stop the discomfort of hearing his soul cry out in despair. They needed to fix that.

Now.

The boy's body was absolutely defenseless.

"Iemitsu." The Italian rolled fluently off his tongue as he rounded on his heels to address the man being subdued by none other than Reborn. "Are you aware that sealing his flames has left him a near uninhabited body? Do you know how easy it would be for anything to possess him? Nothing has to ask for permission when his body is all but an empty vessel!"

"What?! My Tuna-Fish—"

"I'm not done," the Cloud callously interrupted. "I need to know the exact nature of this seal, and I need to work on taking it off because no protection I can offer will help as well as one anchored to a person's Flames. Which he has had sealed due to your negligence, apparently. I'm surprised he isn't dead— because, quite frankly, if I didn't know he was alive in the first place, I would have mistaken him for a ghost."

The shocked silence that followed the statement made Skull shake his head in dismay as he returned to Japanese, keeping his voice soft as he got Tsunayoshi to let them into the house. When it worked, it was Luce who began to dote over the boy, coercing the location of his toys out of him so that she could also spend time with the cute child, claiming that it had been far too long since she experienced such bonding with her darling Aria.

The other Arcobaleno could only sigh helplessly as they were dragged into the games the Cloud and Sky were conducting for their current charge. Skull, of course, took this opportunity to gleefully remind them all it would be unseemly to bully him in the presence of such an impressionable soul, even as he tried to glean what the Vongola Ninth and Daniela were up to.

He didn't like not knowing; and he especially didn't like the sinking feeling in his gut as he was forced to count back from ten, having been told that he was 'it' for hide-and-seek by the rather enthusiastic Tsuna. His eyes narrowed as his lips parted one last time to announce the fact that he was ready, but instead of searching out the people dragged into hiding, he sought out the flames of the two people on his mind, subtly making his way towards them under the guise of looking for everyone.

When he approached, he steeled his nerves.

He idly questioned when he'd become so daring as to try such a thing as to eavesdrop.

Still, he relaxed his body and kept his breaths even and quiet as he manipulated his Flames inward so he wouldn't be sensed, leaning against a wall just outside of their field of vision as he stretched the capabilities of his hearing. The soft muttering was hard to decipher, so Skull began to trail closer.

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- LittleSkyCompass and Shi Natoka-chan . Nah