A/N: Hi guys, sorry it's so late. I've been working on something for my students that's kinda been draining my free time. Still, I hope you enjoy this new chapter.

From his place on the outer edge of the circle, Verde had a clear view of everything. Admittedly, this reclusive position didn't give him much chance to interact with the meeting itself, but he didn't much care. From here he could see everything, watch everything and for him, that knowledge was more powerful than any input could have been.

Reborn was hiding something.

Oh, it wasn't obvious, truthfully the scientist might not have even noticed it himself had he not been hyper focused on the Hitman. Ten years working together, and he was positive that no one could be as dangerous as this particular Sun. The man's raw power combined with his penchant for 'Chaos' left him a true wildcard. A wild card with the destructive ability of an atom bomb. If Verde kept track of the world's ever-growing arsenals (and he did, compulsively) the he was sure to memorise the faintest twitches and micro expressions that made up the Hitman's tells.

Fedora tilted 13 degrees further forward than normal: enough to obscure the man's eyes, but not enough to look like he was hiding them. Secretive.

Left hand buried in a blazer pocket: fisted in such a way that the others would assume it to be wrapped around the grip of a pistol, but he could clearly see the faint trembles that betrayed a hidden tapping motion. Impatient.

Head positioned in such a way that the abundant sunlight fell entirely on its left side: the rest would think nothing of it, but Verde could see the way that Leon was dangling from the brim. While the rest would assume that the migration from the right to the left side to be nothing more than a search for warmth, but the scientist saw how it placed the chameleon in the perfect position for a quick draw. Defensive.

Yes, Reborn was hiding something. A thing that he was highly protective of and desperate to return to.

The most obvious answer would be that the Sun had finally found a Sky. The instincts of a newly formed Guardian bond would surely explain the irritation at being separated from their boss, and the innate possessiveness that they all shared would explain why Reborn hadn't simply brought the Sky with him. To have ensnared an Element as strong as the Hitman, it was likely that the Sky was too powerful to Harmonize with other Elements. Powerful enough for them…

But Verde had heard nothing of the sort. If any of the active European families (and he knew the Sun hadn't left the continent in the last year so it had to be Europe) had managed to claim one of the Arcobaleno, and the World's Greatest Hitman at that, the news would not have been kept quiet. In fact, it would have been more likely that they would have been announcing their new source of power for all to hear. That there had been no such news meant that there was no such Sky either.

What every was happening however, it was clear that their information broker was onto it as well. Well, clear for him.

Viper had always been one of the more irritating members to analyse, their propensity for illusions when coupled with their ever-present cloak meant that getting any sort of reading from the Mist was a precarious thing at most. Over the years however, he had been able to make out at least some of the German's tells, even if something as simple as their gender continued to elude him.

Although the Mist and Sun were the members of their group who most often worked together given how their careers overlapped so often, there was always an aura of discomfort between the two. In fact, the stilted silence between the two of them was enough to say that Viper was probably the wariest of the Hitman beside himself. The bottom line was that the two did not linger near each other voluntarily.

While the distance was still there, the atmosphere between the two had shifted almost imperceptibly. They were trying to hide it, but he knew.

So, the two of them were working together to achieve something, something that mattered dearly to Reborn. He wasn't sure how he felt about that…

On the one hand, the slight distraction of the chaos magnet meant that this meeting was progressing far smoother than any of their others to date. If this kept on the way it was and, by some miracle, Skull refrained from pushing Colonnello too far, it would mean that they would be done in less than a day where they normally took a week.

On the other, whatever the Hitman was planning was sure to blow up in their faces eventually.

So, to interfere or not to interfere, that was the question.

Hmm, more data was needed and that called for observation.

What sort of scientist would he be if he shied away from an opportunity to gather more data?

This whole meeting was beginning to grate on his nerves and if it wasn't for Viper's frequent glares in his direction, Reborn was sure that he would have slaughtered each and every one of these imbecilic monkeys he was forced to call his teammates. As it was, he was being forced to cling heavily to the lingering thread of Harmony in his Flames just to rein in his more violent impulses. Even that wasn't helping too much however, as it served as a constant reminder to just how large the distance was between him and his Sky at every given moment.

In all honestly, the Hitman believed that he should have been given an award for the sheer amount of restraint he had demonstrated over the last few hours. Not that Viper would ever give him one, he stingy brat.

Still, it wasn't as though he could blame his agitation on anyone but himself at the present, it had been his idea to leave their baby Sky in the hotel while they attended the meeting after all. Not something he normally would have allowed given how new the bond was and the fact that this course of action left the boy with no form of defence, other than his anonymity, in the absence. Unfortunately, it wasn't something that they could have avoided.

In Reborn's ever present ennui it appeared that he had quite lost track of time. Not for important things, and he had never once missed a deadline in his jobs, but for the larger problems…

Every year the Arcobaleno held a 'meeting' at the place where their bad luck had begun. Ostensibly, said meeting was for them to compare notes on the curse in case someone (Verde) had discovered something and chosen not to tell anyone. It also served as a way to make sure that no one (Skull) had managed to fall into a situation that would endanger the group as a whole, there by requiring the interference of the others in order to neutralize it.

Mostly, it just served as a major bitching session for all involved.

There was a reason the Sun had allowed himself to forget these yearly 'pow-wows'.

As it was, he had managed to forget the date of said encroaching headache so thoroughly that he had completely missed the fact that it had only been a month away when he had discovered his little Sky. Since it had taken another week for him to have brought Viper into the fold, there really hadn't been any time to think of any alternative courses of action.

Reborn couldn't miss the meeting. As the strongest, and de-facto leader of their group, his absence would have been the best way to draw attention to his actions. As this was the exact opposite of what he wanted right now, he had to attend.

Similarly, Viper would have to be there too. Although lauded as the strongest Mist Flame of their age, the fact remained that there was still a faint bond between Viper and the rest of the set. If the broker attempted to send and illusion, some, if not all, of the others would have noticed, again leading to the amateur attempts of 'investigation' that was sure to see them dead at the end of a Chaos Shot.

Needless to say, their hands were tied, and now their little Sky was dozing happily in the nearest village, being entertained by Mist constructs while they wasted their time here. Not an ideal situation in anyone's books.

Well, maybe not wasted.

It had come to their attention, both as a product of this meeting and before now, that the two of them, while powerful, could not be everywhere at once. They couldn't continue their search for answers while simultaneously suppressing any and all rumours that might emerge about their extended partnership. Especially not when one of them needed to be near the boy at all times in order to appease the child's abandonment issues. Between the two of them they were managing, somehow, but it was running them ragged and they wouldn't be able to keep it up much longer.

They needed help.

Just thinking those words saw the Hitman's mouth attempting to curl into a moue of distaste, but he was able to cover it by sending a warning shot past the Lackey's left ear.

He was the World's Greatest Hitman. He worked alone. He didn't need help.

It seemed like life had taken to proving that last statement with alarming regularity in the last few months.

Across the circle from him, he could just about make out his target shifting in place. It was a delicate act, observing without appearing to, but it was one he had perfected over the years. Unfortunately, his skills had little effect on someone who had trained their instincts in the pits of the Triad's murder rings. Fon knew he was being watched; he just didn't know why.

Surprisingly, picking the next potential Guardian for their Sky had taken only a second of thought on both of their parts. It was convincing themselves that it was necessary that took all of the time.

Fon had been the natural choice for both of them. He was strong, neutral and, if the information Viper had managed to dig up on him was correct, accustomed to working with children. If that wasn't enough to win them over, there was also the overwhelming fact that he was the only one from their group that they could both tolerate. Considering their own power levels, it was highly likely that their Sky would only be able to bond to Flames as strong, or even stronger than, the Arcobaleno.

They weren't even going to think about the implications of that.

Still, Fon. Another reason why they had agreed, reluctantly, to attend this meeting. It was the one time of the year when they could be sure of where to find the Triads' top enforcer. With how much the Martial Artist had been forced to work in order to maintain his titles after… that day, they really couldn't afford to miss this chance.

Finally, the meeting was beginning to draw to a close and, while the Sun could almost feel the suspicious looks being sent his way due to his unusually subdued behaviour, he couldn't quite bring himself to care. What was the point in causing trouble when each delay just added more time until he would be allowed to leave?

Not that their suspicion didn't have some benefits.

Deciding he had endured long enough; the Hitman spit out some venomous comment about having work to attend to before stalking out of the clearing. Well, he attempted to stalk. Unfortunately, a toddler's body couldn't quite manage such an act, so it was reduced to something more akin to a stumbling waddle than anything more dignified.

No matter, the sheer aura of death that the 'child' emitted was enough to quash all comments that might have been made otherwise.

Once sufficiently far enough to be out of sight, he paused. Not a second later, a faint shiver ran down his spine as he felt the full strength of Viper's Mist wash over him. It was a discomforting feeling, and he wasn't sure that he completely trusted the other, but right now it was necessary. Under the cover of the Mist shroud, he was able to slip up a nearby tree and wait for the others to pass by.

Fon was always the last to leave the clearing, preferring first to meditate and regain his perpetual calm at the end of each meeting. As such, it would be a simple matter for him to wait for the others to leave before looping back to corner his target.

Maybe he shouldn't be thinking of a potential ally in the terms he would use for a Mark, but eh… old habits died hard.

The first to leave was Verde. No surprise there, the Scientist made no secret of his distaste for their meetings. In fact, the Scientist seemed to harbour a grudge for humanity in general which made it surprising that he had managed to survive in the Bratva for as long as he had. And hadn't that been a shock, to find the green haired man so deeply entrenched in the underworld after all the times he had condemned them for the same affliction.

Then it was Lal followed closely, as always, by a smitten Colonnello as the two of them snuck off for a 'date-not-date' that they were so sure they had managed to hide from the rest of them. Honestly, that relationship was sickening to watch, even when both of them had the bodies of toddlers. That much puppy love was sure to leave him with cavities if he was forced to look at them for much longer.

Viper didn't even bother to leave the clearing by conventional means, preferring instead to just warp out of the area with an unnecessary display of power that had only become a habit after they had seen the true nature of their 'employer'. Reborn would have made jokes about overcompensation, except for the fact that he didn't have a death wish. And he didn't want to face ghostly puppy eyes for the next few weeks for being 'mean to Vi'.

Mostly the latter, if he was being honest with himself.

Curiously, Skull was normally the second to last of them all to leave. Or maybe not. Fon was the only member of their group who was generally accepting of the energetic man-child that was their Cloud. It wasn't unimaginable that he stayed those extra few minutes just to revel in the presence of someone who didn't want to kill him for one day out of the year.

For someone who had been a civilian before the curse hit, the boy had managed to make a startling number of enemies in the ten years he had been a member of the Mafia.

But that wasn't his problem. The Cloud was a walking disaster zone, and that was the nicest description he could afford him. There was no way that Reborn was ever going to let him anywhere near his little Sky, no matter what Viper attempted to argue.

Fon had empathy enough to deal with a traumatised child. They didn't need the Lackey.

Now if only the brat would just leave, he would be able to carry out his self-assigned mission and return to the little spark of joy who had grabbed hold of the Hitman by his very soul. God, he needed to get a grip over these raw instincts before he ended up killing someone, that attempted kidnapper in the Parisian Catacombs notwithstanding.

That whole trip had been a disaster from the get-go. They had been overconfident due to their assumptions that the child's ghost form spared him from any physical threat so had seen no issue with brining the boy with them as they went to examine some of the older scripts that Viper's contacts had alerted them too. Neither of them had thought to shield the child from the 'magic users' that the Mist had been peripherally aware of. That had been their biggest mistake to date.

On the plus side, they had managed to find a large clue as to their Sky' s identity from the hooded figure they had managed to detain and… talk to, after the event. And they had found that Reborn's Flames acted as the perfect antidote to the little 'stunning spell' the attempted kidnappers had been so fond of.

Harry Potter.

Two very common names and, to their mounting fury, the child hadn't been able to confirm if it was his or not. The revelation that the child thought of himself in terms of 'boy' and 'freak' had been enough that even Viper had been braying for blood. Reborn had just silently seethed, deeply regretting the almost peaceful death he had inflicted on the boy's tormentors.

A name was a starting place however, and that was more than they had been able to find before. Apparently, the child had been dropped off on the doorstep of the Dursleys without going through the proper channels. It was no wonder that there had been no murder or missing child investigations attached to the family's file, not when no one had even been aware that a second child existed.

As soon as they were finished here, the three of them would be taking a private jet back to London where they would dig up anything and everything they could. No stone would be left unturned in their search for the Sky's identity, that was for sure. Now if only Skull. Would. Just. Leave.

Honestly, it was a wonder he hadn't seriously shot at the Stuntman yet. Test just how 'immortal' the man really was…

"That's a scary look Senpai, makes me think you're going to kill someone… again."

Dammit, he was going to get that boy a damned bell. They may not have managed to find an actual use for the brat so far, but the fact remained that the Cloud was very good at disguising his presence when he felt the need to. It was probably something to do with just how loud the kid was naturally, it meant that when the Cloud was actually trying to be stealthy, it was far too easy to just overlook him. To the point that he was even able to sneak up on some of the best killers the underworld had to offer.

It was a terrifying ability. Not that Reborn let that show as he allowed his focus to shift down to the base of his perch where the flashy purple child was waiting. No point in boosting that already monstrous ego.

"What are you doing here Lackey?"

"I could ask the same of you Senpai. I thought you had a job to do?"

There was nothing more than innocent curiosity in those wide, amethyst eyes but suddenly the Sun's instincts were flaring. Something in the back of his mind finally deciding to remind him that he was currently dealing the World's Strongest Cloud. No matter how placid Skull normally acted, he was still a beast in human form.

"That's none of your concern Lackey. Now leave. "

What ever the Cloud was thinking, it wasn't something that he wanted to deal with right now, so it was best to just get the boy out of the way until he could talk to Fon. He didn't have the time to deal with this right now. Unfortunately, it looked like Skull had chosen now to finally take a stand on something, and the faint glow that was beginning to spark up in the depths of his gaze was more than a little unsettling.

"See Senpai, you're reeeeally smart, so maybe you can see a different side to this, but for me, well, it looks like you're hiding out of the way, waiting for someone, probably Fon, while covered in Mist Flames, after telling us that you had a particularly difficult job… Want to explain it Senpai?"

Ah, well… maybe he should have been more conscious of what he had said before leaving, but he really hadn't been thinking about it, too desperate to get everything here over with. And now it had backfired.

Still, who could have expected Skull to find him, let alone put the pieces together in such a damning (though not entirely inaccurate) way. Skull who was a Cloud. A Cloud who had found what he expected to be a threat to his only friend, his territory…

In truth, there was only one real answer to that.

"I can explain…?"