The Summoning Pact

Summary: Tsuna wasn't sure what would come out of this summoning lesson. He didn't expect having powerful demons scrambling to contract to him, much less having them determined to be more than just contracts. Arcobaleno27

Chapter One – Expect the Unexpected

Tsuna straightened up, dusting his hands on his thighs as he pocketed the piece of chalk he had been holding. He'd finished his summoning circle. Reaching into his pocket again, he pulled out a ceremonial knife, ignoring the snickers and titters of his classmates, jeers that their tutor, an Arcobaleno called Reborn– a high ranking demon under contract with the chairman of the Institute, Timoteo – did nothing to stop.

Managing to ignore the mocking noises, Tsuna dragged the blade against his palm and let his blood dribble around the inside of the circle he had made. Shaking the pain away from his hand, Tsuna closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, starting to murmur the words that would carry to the next plane and prompt a demon to come along and form a contract with him.

He didn't expect much to come through, however. Nothing ever did. As it was, as he let the last few syllables leave his lips, nothing happened and someone jeered at him, causing the rest of the class to call out insults.

Tsuna sighed as he readied himself to step from the circle when there was a sharp crack! sort of noise and a heavy weight immediately dropped on top of him, knocking him over onto his back. As he sat back up, the weight shifted to his lap and he looked down to see a blonde man, half sprawled on the floor, half sprawled on Tsuna's legs.

As Tsuna watched, the stranger, who Tsuna himself had presumably summoned, wrapped his arms around his waist and grinned up at him, bright blue eyes trained on his face. It was at that moment, someone shouted out, "Dame-Tsuna summoned a human! How lame!" and then the class burst into hysterics.

Tsuna couldn't help the blush that crossed his face and the person on his lap grinned wider, before it promptly dropped as Reborn darted across the room, grabbed onto Tsuna's upper arm and yanked him to his feet and away, out of the circle. As the blonde stood and attempted to follow, the protections chalked in around the summoning circle kept him inside.

Crossing his arms, he called out, "Reborn, why have you always got to ruin the fun, kora?"

The class had gone silent as soon as Reborn had moved. The fedora wearing demon was keeping his grip on Tsuna's arm tight, and the pacifier around his neck, almost gaudy and plastic in appearance, was burning bright yellow. It was nothing to be laughed at. The pacifier was what kept Reborn's power and control in check, something to stop the demon that was hiding in the man from getting out.

The fact that Reborn could hold a human shape was terrifying enough. It spoke volumes of his power.

The fact Reborn was wary of this person, and the person knew his name meant that whatever Tsuna had summoned, was scary strong too.

"Why are you here Colonello?" Reborn asked, voice edged with a dark fury, even as he shoved a confused and thoroughly scared Tsuna behind him, hand still firmly braced on Tsuna's arm.

The blonde, now named Colonello, leaned forward, tapping the edge of the invisible barrier that held him in. "I came to answer the summons of my new master of course, kora." He grinned, running his index finger against the barrier.

"He isn't your master, the contract wasn't completed." Reborn narrowed his eyes, making sure to keep his fingers tight around Tsuna's arm. "So why don't you go and leave already?"

"Have you even asked his opinion, kora?"

"This is his first successful summons; he doesn't need someone like you."

Colonello laughed. "If this is his first, then wouldn't I be best instead of some immature, untrained heathen, kora? Or are you just protecting him because you're selfish and want him for yourself when your current contract has ended?"

Reborn bristled, though he loosened his hand when Tsuna whimpered at the bruising grin Reborn had his upper arm in.

"Leave, Colonello," Reborn's voice was cold by this point, biting and harsh. Colonello chuckled again, crouching down and dragging his finger through a drop of blood still drying on the floor. Lifting his hand, he licked it clean, grinning widely at the look on Reborn's face.

Reborn was halfway across the room before he realised he'd move out of his anger, dragging Tsuna with him, who yelped in protest. Colonello's smile widened and he promptly disappeared with another 'crack!' sounding noise, though not before winking at Tsuna and calling, "I'll see you around, Sawada Tsunayoshi!"

Grinding his teeth together angrily, Reborn whipped around to face the rest of the room as he barked, "Class dismissed!"

Watching the others leave the room, he felt Tsuna pick at his hand around his arm and he turned to face him. He couldn't help the amusement that crossed his face as Tsuna gave him a look resembling that of a cornered animal, eyes wide and panicked.

"Not you," Reborn said firmly, dragging the brunette towards where there were chairs lining the edge of the stone room. "You're staying, Tsunayoshi."

"Tsuna," the boy mumbled almost shyly and Reborn could hear the thump-thump of his erratic and panicked heartbeat. Tsuna was obviously fearful for his wellbeing while in the presence of the rather intimidating demon.

"Tsuna then." Reborn shoved Tsuna into a seat, pressing his hand to his face to hide his smile at the terrified expression that Tsuna was giving him. "Your summoning just then, did you do anything different than normal against the guidelines; what?"

"N-Nothing sir," Tsuna whispered, wriggling on his seat and wringing his fingers together on his lap, looking around at anywhere but the tall demon in front of him and he cringed at Reborn's hefty sigh. He was going to die. Reborn was going to kill him, snap his spine and neck, or tear off his head.

"That was what I was afraid of. What's your Flame type?"

"Mine hasn't been c-confirmed yet..." Tsuna rubbed his head nervously, fingers now picking at his hair. "For some reason the equipment doesn't like to work around m-me and they c-can't figure out my type."

"For an Arcobaleno like Colonello be attracted to it, it's most likely a potent Flame. I don't want you to practice summoning any more until we can figure this out, do you understand?"

"Y-Yes." Tsuna flinched at hearing Reborn confirm that the blonde previously in his summoning circle was a demon as terrifying as an Arcobaleno. There was said to be only six of them, each ruling their own plane and, once upon a time in legends, all contracted themselves to just one human. To be rulers meant they had to be insanely powerful and insanely scary. Demons amongst demons.

Swallowing thickly, Tsuna just smiled and nodded weakly as Reborn patted his shoulder and pulled him to his feet.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Tsuna. No more practices, not even in the dorm."

"S-See you tomorrow, Reborn." Tsuna nodded again and quickly scurried away, almost losing his breakfast and lunch in one go as Reborn then ruffled his hair firmly, eyes watching him as he ran from the room.

Over two weeks later, and Tsuna had almost completely forgotten the incident that had happened. His classmates had stopped eyeing him suspiciously and nicknames were being hurled around again, rumours being spread because of Tsuna not participating in the summoning classes, even though he was perfectly healthy. The other, harsher, rumours were that Reborn had summoned Colonello, in order for Tsuna's poor ego to feel better about failing at summoning.

Tsuna still felt Reborn's eyes drift to him every lesson, once or twice over the span of time that the sessions took.

It was eighteen days after the initial summoning that Colonello suddenly appeared again, in a ring that already held a lesser demon and belonged to another member of the class, since Tsuna was sat on a chair against the wall of the large room.

Almost ruthlessly, Colonello snapped the neck of the demon already sat in the circle and let it dissolve away. His eyes scanned the room until they stopped on Tsuna and he waved exuberantly, shouting across, "Hey, Tsunayoshi, kora!"

Tsuna jerked his head up at hearing his name called, since he'd almost fallen asleep with his chin on his chest, and swayed dangerously in his seat, feeling the blood promptly drain from his face. He could see Colonello grin at his expression, and his heart abruptly lodged itself in his chest, beating erratically as the demon started passing over the boundaries of the summoning circle.

The one who had drawn the circle must have had a weak Flame that couldn't contain a demon as powerful as Colonello. The class was already in turmoil, students scrambling to get to the door and where was Reborn?

Fear had frozen Tsuna where he was sat, fingers gripping onto the edges of the seat as Colonello stepped out of the circle and into the rest of the room, shaking away the last painful tingles caused from breaking over a barrier. Once free, the blonde started a leisurely pace across the room towards the frightened brunette.

"Tsunayoshi," Colonello repeated warmly as he crouched in front of the seat that Tsuna was stuck to, blue eyes peering up at Tsuna's white face, terror making Tsuna's pupils dilate and causing his face to pinch. Despite the state of the boy opposite him, Colonello moved to rest his hand on Tsuna's leg, only to be kicked in the chin as Tsuna gave a knee-jerk reaction.

Horror immediately crossed Tsuna's face, and Colonello couldn't help by laugh, gently pushing Tsuna's leg back down and replacing his hand on the brunette's thigh. Rubbing the side of Tsuna's leg with a thumb, Colonello set about trying to ease the boy.

"I'm not going to hurt you, kora. I never got to properly answer your summons the last time we met because Reborn interrupted, and I wanted to fix that." Colonello shifted his weight, knelt on the floor between Tsuna's legs instead of crouching and he pressed the side of his head against the inside of Tsuna's thigh, peering up at him with half lidded eyes, irises dark blue and pupils slitted.

"I want to make the contract with you, kora." Colonello's voice seemed to have deepened and, even as Tsuna watched, frozen, the blonde dragged his tongue against deadly sharp fangs. His arms had wrapped around Tsuna's calves and the chair legs, locking him in place and, with a jolt, Tsuna realised that Colonello was drunk on power.

Demons had a habit of getting excited when they were close to a human with a powerful Flame. The strength of it was what normally attracted them through summoning, since a contract allowed a demon to draw on its summoner's power. Colonello was excited because of something strong and Tsuna didn't know what. It was terrifying.

"C-Contract?" Tsuna heard himself whisper, voice cracking and Colonello grinned up at him, ignoring the flinch the human gave at seeing his teeth, even if it was only his canines that were exponentially long and sharp.

"Yes, kora! A contract, let's make one!"

"Be-between you a-and me?" Tsuna's voice pitched, the words barely audible to his own ears since they were hardly more than a pathetic mumble. Colonello rubbed his cheek against Tsuna's thigh rather languidly, what sounded like a purr rumbling gently in his chest.

"Between you and me," Colonello confirmed, eyes brightening slightly in colour again so they were more of a sky blue than a stormy blue. "I want a contract to be made between us, kora. You haven't got a demon and I haven't got a master. We're perfect for each other!"

"Y-You're an Arcobaleno t-though, right? W-Why would y-you want someone l-like me?"

"Because we resonate well, kora. Your Flame resonates with mine!" Colonello lifted his head from Tsuna's lap, keeping his arms wrapped around Tsuna's lower legs.

"Y-Your Flame...?" Tsuna dared to ask and Colonello grinned brightly at the question being asked, as if pleased by Tsuna's curiosity. "I'm a Rain Flame, Tsunayoshi. What's yours, kora?"

"I-I don't know," Tsuna admitted, letting his eyes dart nervously to the side and away from Colonello, desperately looking for a way to escape. If possible, the grin on the blonde's face widened, and he promptly took hold of one of Tsuna's hands, bringing his finger towards his mouth.

Tsuna felt his throat close up in panic and he tried to tug his hand weakly away, but Colonello was unrelenting. He bit down on Tsuna's finger, drawing blood, sucking at the small wound and smiling around the digit as Tsuna's face paled even further than before in fright, the brunette's eyes widening and pupils contracting sharply.

As the burst of blood crossed his tongue, Colonello let his pleasure show on his face as he recognised the taste; the buzz of power that followed the sharp tang in his mouth. Reluctantly, he pulled Tsuna's hand away from his mouth, licking the small cut once more before saying, in a voice as soft as silk and decidedly smug; "You're the Sky, Tsunayoshi, kora. Sky Flame; that is what is within you."

Tsuna jerked at his revelation, ready to stammer out that Colonello was wrong, oh so wrong in his assessment, when the door violently slammed open and Colonello jerked to his feet, moving a hand to cover Tsuna's eyes, pressing his head back against the wall the chair was resting next to.

"Colonello."

Tsuna felt ice creep up his spine. Never in his life had he ever heard Reborn so furious.

"Reborn." Colonello sounded almost cheerful in his response, hand firm and warm against Tsuna's eyes. "Good to see you again, kora."

"I would appreciate it if you let my student go." Reborn bit it out, the words sharp and laced with barely contained anger. "He could do without being harassed by something like yourself."

There was a crackle Tsuna associated with the pacifier, having heard it when students lost control of their circle and demons which had escaped needed to be contained or dealt with. Reborn was gearing up to fight Colonello and Tsuna seized up in fear.

"Don't worry, kora," Colonello murmured, more to Tsuna than Reborn, thumb rubbing against Tsuna's temple. Raising his voice, he addressed Reborn, curtly, "I'm going to make the contract with Tsuna, kora. I'm not going to hurt him or cause trouble. So you can just go on your merry way, Reborn."

"You can't contract with an unwilling master," Reborn snapped back and Colonello jerked his hand away from Tsuna's face, allowing the brunette to notice that he had dropped his arms, hands clenched into trembling fists at his sides.

"I'm not going to force him kora! I'd explain everything first! The kid is frightened of us, even I can tell that! I'm going to take it slowly, if you stop butting in, kora!" Colonello slid a step forward and Tsuna watched, throat almost closing with panic as he noticed how a pacifier swung free from Colonello's shirt, further confirming Reborn's words earlier that month.

Watching, with bated breath and eyes so wide it hurt as the two Arcobaleno circled each other, Tsuna let his gaze dart towards the door, mentally calculating if he could escape the room before either noticed, and lock himself in his room until this madness passed.

There was another crackle from Reborn, and the feeling of his power suddenly swamped the room. Tsuna immediately started choking as he struggled to breathe, the sheer power surrounding him all but crushing the air from his lungs. It made his exposed skin itchy and it had an angry, malevolent feel to it. The Aether, as the power that manifested in demons and humans was called, reflected its user's emotions. Reborn was livid. Furious.

The small whimper of terror left Tsuna, unbidden, and he was suddenly the main focus of that huge well of power, and it pushed down on his shoulders, trying to squirm its way around him, to find a weakness. He thought he could feel icy fingers at his throat and something instinctive, primal in his brain screamed at him to run.

He did.

He reached the door, which he didn't expect. He managed to get down the corridor, to the turnings that led further into the building, which he didn't expect. He made the left turning automatically, body on autopilot, and physically slammed into something firm and warm in front of him, large tight hands gripping his upper arms almost immediately.

Tsuna gave a quick swallow and glanced up, only just able to hold in the sob that wanted to leave his throat as he met Reborn's eyes with his own. There must have been something in his expression because Reborn let go of his arms and rest a gentle arm around his shoulders, walking down the corridor with him.

"It wasn't my intention to frighten you," Reborn murmured and Tsuna started. "Nor have my Aether surround you as it did. You should already know, demons draw their power from the source they deemed strongest. My Aether wanted to connect with you. I apologise, I didn't mean to lose control so easily."

Tsuna just nodded, shakily lifting a hand to scrub at his eyes, still feeling the icy grasp of fingers around his delicate throat. His hand flickered there, as if checking the ethereal hand was there and was so relieved to meet his own warm skin that he relaxed.

"C-Colonello – " Tsuna began, voice trembling just slightly.

"Has gone for now." Reborn hesitated, uncharacteristic. "Tsuna. I've spoken to my master, Timoteo. I let him know of the first incident involving Colonello and both of us agree you would benefit from having a contract in order to protect you."

"B-But if he shows up every time I use a summoning circle then…"

"Tsuna." Reborn's voice was nearly gentle, and he brought them to a stop. "Both of us have agreed that I will be your contract."

"You?" Tsuna would have pulled away if he could, but Reborn didn't let him go, staring down at him with unfathomable eyes.

"I'm the only demon that can compare against him, Tsuna. My contract with Timoteo has already been ended, which is why I was absent from class and Colonello managed to get so close to you. I'm going to give you my personal summoning seal which, as you know, is locked to me. Take out the Delatio rune and put mine in. Timoteo has lowered the wards around your room in order for this to happen as soon as possible." His voice warmed just slightly, and Tsuna wondered if he even heard the change of if it was his imagination. "But only if you want to."

"Will it keep Colonello away?"

"He is persistent, almost admirably so, and stubborn. He would still attempt to coax you into a contract. But I will do everything in my power to keep him from you."

Tsuna mulled over it for a long time, wringing his hands in the hem of his shirt before he tugged at a wayward lock of his hair, eyes darting about the empty corridor. He found his voice after several minutes, speaking with more conviction than he felt, "Then let's get started."

"I will be gone shortly, while you finish the circle," Reborn said as he handed Tsuna the worn piece of parchment that had his summoning seal on it. "It's the only way for the contract to work. Besides, without a master, I cannot stay on this plane much longer, not even with the power I wield."

Tsuna stared at the symbol, committing it to memory and nodding in response to Reborn, only looking up when Reborn's hand landed on his head.

"It will be alright Tsuna. You'll do fine. You're one of the smoothest, most accurate circle makers we have, and I will find you easily." He only lifted his hand when Tsuna nodded, pursed his lips and then closed his eyes, letting his form slide away from the human plane of existence.

Tsuna watched the spot Reborn had been at for a long moment before staring at the bared floorboards where his rug had been rolled back to allow for space. Taking in a deep breath, he pulled his best chalk from its box on the side locker and tucked his ceremonial knife into the hem of his school pants.

He drew the circle painstakingly slow, making sure each and every symbol and line was perfect and connected. Where the basic Delatio rune was supposed to sit, he chalked in the one Reborn had given him, before tucking the chalk into his pocket and stepping outside of his circle. He sliced his palm, squeezing his hand into a fist to dribble blood inside of the circle, walking around the circle to make the blood trail evenly spread.

Tsuna wiped his bloody hand on his thigh as he tucked his knife back where he pulled it from, making a mental note to bandage it later or find the nearest healer as he closed his eyes and spoke the words of summon. He almost stopped halfway through as he felt his Aether well up inside of him, more than he had ever felt before, but knew stopping could potentially pull something worse through than who he was calling.

When the last syllable left his lips he opened his eyes and found he was face to shoulder with Reborn, who looked down at him with something close to pride in his eyes.

"Are you ready for the contract?"

Tsuna nodded, smudging the chalk with his foot. Normally, contracts were made while the demon was still inside the circle, so he couldn't kill the summoner and then go on a murderous rampage. Tsuna still felt a sliver of dread as he impulsively broke the binding circle with his foot. The small smile Reborn gave him was almost worth it, if it didn't happen to have shown the glint of sharp teeth as he stepped forward.

"Do you know how to make one?"

"No. This is my first." Tsuna rubbed his neck absently, with his uninjured hand. He'd smudged blood all over the place before he'd gotten out of the habit of using his left hand to scratch and rub.

"We exchange blood, which is one of the main reasons why blood is required to summon." Without asking, Reborn tugged the knife from Tsuna's pants, and cut his right palm open. "I don't bleed for long, so we must hurry."

Tsuna offered his cut hand, and Reborn reached forward, pressing the palms together and tangling his fingers with his, eyes widening almost with pleasure at the rush of power. Tsuna's own pupils dilated, his mouth parting slightly as the Aether resonated in his body.

Reborn reached his free hand up to undo the first few buttons of Tsuna's shirt, ignoring his protests and saying, "We want to mark in an inconspicuous place, so no one sees it and gets suspicious. If we had contracted under more normal circumstances…" he gave an almost wistful sigh that puzzled Tsuna but did not elaborate.

Reborn pressed his hand firmly to Tsuna's skin, just over his ribcage on the right of his body. Tsuna gave an involuntary jolt as the flux of Aether swirled to that one spot and bit on his lip to keep quiet. The power was making him feel giddy and he suddenly realised this must be somewhat how demons feel when they get high on power.

With a few words of instruction, Tsuna had his own hand pressed to Reborn's bare skin, on the left of his ribcage instead, a mirror image. Reborn was staring at him and Tsuna felt hot under his gaze.

"We offer the exchange of blood, to bind our bodies," Reborn started, his voice low and almost husky.

Tsuna had to swallow before he could say his line, his own voice slightly raspy, "We offer the exchange of Aether to bind our souls."

"With this offer of blood and Aether, we hereby agree for the contract to be forged between our beings until such a time it ends." They both intoned together, and Tsuna didn't know why they were staring at each, but the room was suddenly hot and his throat dry and he felt the feeling of the contract settle down, almost into his bones and, even though complete, he was reluctant to pull his hands away.

Reborn's mouth kicked up at the side in a smirk as if he knew what Tsuna was feeling and thinking and stepped away first, fingers grazing against Tsuna's skin before he pulled his hands away.

Tsuna swallowed abruptly and looked down to see Reborn's mark, inked into his skin as if a tattoo. It was a copy of his seal, deep black and outlined in a dark yellow, representing his Flame.

Tsuna's mark on Reborn's chest was an intricate crest; a simple orange depiction of a flame set within the shield shaped inner part, the crest itself outlined in orange.

Tsuna didn't know why Reborn was surprised before the expression dissolved into smugness and pride as he examined the crest Tsuna had left on his chest, but it made a strange feeling well inside of Tsuna.

"It's okay, right?" He asked, having to make sure, and absently brushed a thumb against his own mark, which still felt as warm as – and Tsuna laughed quietly at this – as the sun's heat in summer.

"Better than some others I've seen," Reborn offered offhandedly, and Tsuna slowly relaxed as Reborn defaulted back to his usually attitude, knowing that was as close to a compliment as he was going to get.

Hand still pressed to his mark, Tsuna suddenly felt as if, for once, he would enjoy being at this academy.

I'm sorry for starting this when I have other stories to update but the idea stuck in my head and would not leave. Good news for those of you who read my other KHR stories and have read the news my laptop is broken – I have a new one, courtesy of my very wonderful, loving grandparents!

Hope you liked this beginning chapter, and let me know if you want to see a certain Arcobaleno more!

Delatio is meant to mean 'Offering an oath' as in, the summoner is offering a contract to the demon who answers, so long as both of them feel they would benefit from it. I used a translating website. It's supposed to be Latin. It might be used (and butchered) more often, it might not.

Tsuna's crest on Reborn is meant to be the Vongola crest, minus the words and, instead of the bullet in the shield, the flame instead. A crest is about the size of a palm. (Or that small mat that drinks go on to avoid ruining furniture.)

ALSO, IF ANYONE WANTS TO A BETA FOR MY KHR STORIES PLEASE PM ME. YOU'LL GET UNFINISHED CHAPTERS ETC. TO SPOT GRAMMATICAL AND SPELLING MISTAKES OR THE USE OF WRONG WORDS/INCLUSION OF EXTRA LETTERS (FOR EXAMPLE, MEANING 'HAT' AND PUTTING 'HATE'.) PLEASE GET TO ME IF YOU'RE INTERESTED!