Title: Sunny Skies Ahead

Summary: Reborn is not yet the World's Greatest Hitman. Not yet a man to be feared, a monster to be condemned, a God to be worshipped. He is, however, a Sky and it is much the same thing.

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Reborn is pretty sure the poor man is lost. Standing halfway up the street, a Chinese man in a long red tunic with wide sleeves is looking around with a confused frown on his face. He's holding a map, constantly looking from the paper to peer up at the street signs, his long braid of black hair swaying with the motion.

Reborn thinks about walking past but apparently he's feeling altruistic today because something makes him step out of the light flow of traffic down the sidewalk to instead join the lost tourist where he stands at the display window of a bakery.

"Can I help you?" Reborn asks.

The tourist blinks at Reborn, taking in the slim cut suit and fedora combo. Maybe he can't speak Italian, or he's been scared off by Reborn's stature, but the tourist doesn't say anything. He does smile though, a calming and aloof expression.

Reborn's not getting fooled by that; this man is clearly lost.

"我可以帮你吗?" Reborn tries.

"No need for that," the tourist says in lightly accented Italian, his smile growing. "My apologies, I was a bit distracted when you walked up."

"I might be able to point you in the right direction if you need," Reborn offers.

The tourist looks a bit reticent even though the serenity never falls away. "Um, yes," the young man finally says. "Could tell me where the Divinitia famiglia's auction is held, Mr Reborn?"

Reborn laughs before he can stop himself. He's well known, a step away from being the best, but he's still only barely an adult. "No need for the 'mister'." He turns to point down the street in the direction he's heading for as well. "Down there, fourth right at Huntingdale street and keep walking for another ten minutes. The auction house is very gaudy, you can't miss it."

The man -probably Triad- looks down at the map and tries to place it but looks a bit confused still. Reborn leans over as well to peer at the map, immediately spotting a problem. Reborn reaches out to turn the map the right way up.

Their fingers brush and something sparks.

The beginnings of a strong bond - perfect soul mates.

A Sky and a Storm Guardian.

Reborn casually turns the map around and sticks it back into the man's lax grip. "There you go," Reborn says. "Just follow the road, turn at Huntingdale and you'll be fine." Reborn then steps out onto the street to wave down a passing taxi, desperately hoping he can run before the man recovers.

"Please wait," the Storm calls out softly, tucking the map into his sleeve and stepping off the curb after Reborn. "My name is Fon."

The hitman slams the cab door shut. "Drive!" he barks out at the cabbie.

The driver rolls his eyes but steps down on the accelerator. They loop around the corner and Reborn breathes a sigh of relief when the Storm is left behind in the side mirror. He buckles himself in and leans back into the seat as he tampers down the weakly reaching Sky flames with an oppressive amount of Sun until anything so much as vaguely matching an orange hue is snuffed out.

Reborn slumps down, embarrassed at showing someone such pathetic flames. His Sky can barely be manifested and it's so ugly and weak. How is Reborn supposed to become the world's greatest hitman if people know he has such disgusting Sky flames under his beautiful, powerful Sun?

A flash of red catches Reborn's attention and he sits up just in time to see the Storm abruptly step out of an alleyway ahead, having cut straight across the block with this shortcut, and walk right onto the road in front of the car. The cabbie breaks hard but it's too late and the car slams into the Storm going forty an hour.

This Fon motherfucker doesn't so much as rock from the impact.

Airbags deploy as the back of the car flips up at the sudden halt, Fon taking the entire weight on to his palms, bracing warped metal concaved in the shape of his hands. With a deep, terrifying roar, the car is launched backwards into the air.

The back corner on Reborn's side hits the ground first and the car slams down onto its side, the hitman's window shattering as the door is punched in. It skids back and hits a curb which finally makes it land on the roof and stop.

Reborn's side is facing the monster who just challenged a fucking car and then won.

Reborn shoves at the airbag and scrambles to grab his hat where it managed to hook onto the headrest after falling off his head. At a quick glance the driver is unconscious but not dead. Reborn shoots the airbag to deflate it, unbuckles himself so he falls onto the roof and then crawls out of the shattered window.

He staggers up, hand on the car's front wheel to brace himself as Fon comes closer. Reborn fires but the first bullet is disintegrated with Storm flames.

This is ridiculous! Reborn has never actually fought someone from the Triads before but this thing is clearly some kind of monster. Yeah, maybe a Lightning with their full body hardened with flames could take on a car going thirty an hour at most, and just maybe a Storm could disintegrate a bullet if it wasn't being shot at them, but what the actual fuck is this bullshit?!

Reborn can't use his Chaos Shot – no one has seen it and lived to gossip so he can't just give away his secret technique like this. Reborn is not nearly desperate enough, although he's quickly reaching that threshold.

"Go away," Reborn demands, gun steady where it's pointing at the Storm. If it's point blank then even this monster can't avoid it. "I am not in the mood right now."

Fon is still smiling. "May I please talk to you privately, Reborn?"

Reborn makes a run for it. Fon lunges but his hand brushes past Reborn's side as the hitman sprints off. Reborn frowns when he sees Fon right behind him in the reflection of a store window and holsters his gun, narrowing his focus.

Between one step and the next Reborn's body is flooded with Sun flames, pushing his body past human limits, making his uncovered skin glow gold. Reborn's foot hits the ground and the world falls away in a blur as he rushes past.

Something like this can't last for long. It's too much strain on his muscles going this fast, something inside feeling like it's cracking because he definitely pushed too far. Reborn's legs finally give out only a few minutes later and the world comes back into sharp focus when he collapses on the sidewalk – already halfway across the city.

He gasps into the cold and rough pavement, heart about to beat out of his chest as his body trembles with a sharp pain radiating out. He has no idea where he is, but the busy street can't be heard anymore so hopefully he's far enough that the monster can't find him before Reborn recovers.

Reborn is honestly not sure if the risk of a heart attack is worth it. Nice to know his theory works though, super great that the technique is viable - not that Reborn will ever subject himself to this pain again.

Heavy footsteps -maybe boots- come to a stop just before Reborn's head as a shadow falls over him. Reborn tries to push himself up but he can barely move his fingers and his vision is blurring at the edges. The stabbing pain is slowly fading but it's being replaced by a dead numbness.

"You came out of nowhere," the stranger says gleefully and crouches down beside Reborn. "Shit, mate, that's some superpower stuff right there. Was that teleporting?"

Reborn feels the man lean even closer.

"You know," the man begins, trying to whisper but he's still so damn loud. "I have powers too. I heal so fast, like I'm immortal!"

Awesome. He just had to be found by some moron still angsty over not getting his Hogwarts letter.

"Were you, like, running from bad guys? I bet you can't go to a hospital or they'll find you." The man says this happily as he grabs Reborn and starts moving the hitman around. "Don't worry, you can come home with me."

Please no, Reborn tries to say but he's still wheezing and far more worried about having a heart attack. It comes out as a grunt, which the man seems to take as permission to manhandle Reborn some more.

Reborn is carried in a fireman's lift, managing to see purple and literally nothing else. The freak is covered head to toe in leather and chains. Reborn can't see his whole face from this angle but there's a lot of makeup and piercings.

Reborn is being kidnapped right now and he's going to be eaten or something. Maybe, if Reborn is really lucky, he'll be already dead before this freak takes the first bite.

They stop at a sleek, low set car that only people who don't pay taxes can afford and probably goes zero to sixty in the time it takes you to blink, then the freak actually unlocks the beautiful car and drops Reborn into the passenger seat. The freak smiles brightly like a child given candy and buckles Reborn in while humming something that sounds like bubbly death metal.

This is just not Reborn's day.

Reborn tries very hard to stay awake but his body aches and the adrenaline is all gone now so he passes out before he can see what kind of house he'll be trapped in the basement of.

Maybe he should have just taken his chances with the monster.

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A/N: Yes, I did imagine the Reborn as the Flash, except instead of being struck by lightning he was licked by a radioactive lizard to get his powers.

So how do you like the story so far?