All it had taken for the strong woman he loved to break down was one word.

One childish word. One damned second. One innocent shout.

That was all it had taken for Hyacinth to collapse; little Teddy playfully swinging around a short stick and yelling "Abracadabra".

One. Fucking. Word.

The second he had felt her still, had looked down only to see the glazed expression of impending flashbacks entering her beautiful eyes, an expression so unfamiliar on her breathtaking features it gave his heart a pang, he had reflexively tightened his grip around her and caught his woman just as her legs crumbled beneath her. Broken eyes stared unseeingly at him as the first tears escaped her luminous emerald-colored orbs.

He had immediately Floo-called Luna and had her collect a scared and guilty-looking Teddy before picking his beloved up, moving into the bedroom and settling them down in their bed, his tiny lover deaf, blind and mute to the world around her.

That had been four hours ago.

He didn't know what exactly had triggered the flashback, but whatever it was, he had the burning desire to see the reason eliminated, preferably by his own hands. Oh, he didn't mean by that to hurt Teddy, never Teddy. First and foremost, he loved the little mischief maker embarrassingly fiercely, and secondly … or maybe zero, come to think about it … he absolutely did not want to invoke his lovers temperament. Hyacinth could even make him tremble when she really got going, devious and temperamental thing that she had proven to be. Besides, as mischievous as the boy was, he loved their Hyacinth more than anything else. It was the first thing the both of them bonded over: Their absolute and unmovable love for the one exceptional woman who ruled their hearts, the sun, moon and stars of their universe. No, he wanted to kill, preferably slowly and painfully, the bastard who had made her have a fucking flashback by merely seeing her own child play-acting. As hitman he had seen more than his fair share of broken and traumatized individuals, children and adults alike, but he had always been strong, been fast enough to annihilate anything that could break his precious few; there was no remorse in his heart for the lives he had taken protecting what was his.

But this time … he was too late. He hadn't been there to protect her …

… and now the love of his live suffered for it.

And he didn't even know how or why.

It was absolutely unacceptable.

She shuddered against his chest again, silent sobs still escaping her bloody bitten lips as tears continued to soak his black dress shirt. His strong muscular arms surrounded her trembling petite form securely. Silent comfort was all he could give her, his calm protective flames soothing her frightened one.

It wasn't nearly enough.

Reborn hated this. He hate being so terrifyingly powerless in the face of her pain.

It felt as if any second now she could shatter.

His dark eyes were shadowed as he pressed a chaste kiss to her head, gently stroking her back and trying his best to suppress the killer intent begging to dominate his growling aura.

Ever so slowly, her breathing started to even out, but the tears only lessened slightly. He did his best to hide the anger on his face; anger at whoever had wounded her so deeply, so cripplingly. He didn't want her to know just how much he wished he could kill those responsible for her sorrow.

How furiously he wanted to unleash hell upon those bastards.

But this was neither the time nor place for that kind of fruitless contemplation; a topic of brooding he had at present time neither knowledge nor opportunity to realize.

He had to take care of his love now.

She was after all the most important person in his life.

He refocused as he felt her move.

" I-I'm sorry", she hiccupped softly, tear-stains marring her pale cheeks as she looked up at him, crushed beneath memories of a past he despised.

But that wasn't what she needed. Instead, he only tsked at her needless apology and gently caressed her face, leaning forward to kiss away the tears.

She whimpered and burrowed deeper into him, sighing as he tightened their embrace.

" Don't be. We all have our demons to bear", he stated calmly.

Hyacinth slowly shook her head, her thin hands gripping his wet shirt tightly, anchoring herself to the now.

He knew, it was important for her to have a focus point, a fixed variable that neither would nor could be moved and more than able and capable to withstand anything thrown at it. He was glad he could be that reliable anchor for her.

" This word … A-Abracadabra, do you know where it originated from?", she inquired shakily, her voice no more than a faint breath.

One part of the fucking riddle was solved. It was the word she had reacted so negatively to.

He answered her question in negative.

" It's a … a bastardized Muggle Version of the incantation we use to cast one of our darkest curses, one of the three Unforgiveables … punishable by a lifetime in Azkaban, a damned hidden prison located on a forbidden island and guarded by terrible demons sucking out not only every happy memory you ever had but if they can get away with it … even your very soul. That word … it originates from the only unbreakable curse in existence", she whispered brokenly, her haunted emerald-colored eyes burning into his attentive endless black ones. " Avada K-Kedavra."

Reborn felt a chill creep down his spin at those two words.

The way she spoke it … pure despair and hatred.

Never, not even on the day she had shared her past with him, had he heard her voice sounding so cold and hateful. This … was not mere dislike ingrained by society-taught norms. This was personal hate.

This was intimate unwanted knowledge.

Reborn had his own share of those.

" It is the killing curse."

He stilled.

They stared at each other.

Her eyes burning into his very soul but not truly seeing him, caught in memories he couldn't fathom, his eyes turning to black slits of ice, the promise of retribution for all that hurt her in them.

His wonderful gentle accepting sky should never know something like … that.

Not his sky.

Reborn gritted his teeth.

His love bravely continued.

" Two measly words and you are gone. The link between body and soul irreparable broken."

She closed her eyes.

" It took so much from me, that thrice-damned curse … Mom, Dad, Cedric, Mad-Eye, Remus, Tonks, Professor Dumbledore … and so many more", he gently stroke her hair, and she burrowed deeper into his arms, trembling but trusting. " Hearing those words … even bastardized … it still sounds so much like the k-killing curse."

He had known that she had lost her parents, a lot of friends and even more acquaintances in the Second Blood War, had known that grief was a part of her; from the first moment he had laid eyes upon her and seen that sweet smile accompanied by lovely but haunted emerald-colored eyes, he had understood that about her. The biggest part of him wanted to do nothing else but destroy the fools tormenting his sky, to let the dead pay for leaving her and the murderer or murderers for gifting her such a lasting taste of sorrow.

Sorrow of the kind that can fade but never disappears.

The other, smaller part knew that she was strong; stronger than that. She was damaged, partly broken, but she held strong, not succumbing to the despair grief so often brought forth. She was still here.

Every day, she fought on in this cruel world they lived in.

It was far more difficult to live than to die, and if she lived by mourning those lost? No one had any fucking right to get in her face about it. He preferred her being haunted but keeping going one than the alternative … an alternative he refused to consider.

" You will never have to apologize for grieving, love."

She bowed her head.

" There is more", he stated heavily.

" … I told you that during the war, I died. And I did."

His knuckles whitened at the horrible reminder.

He still hadn't successfully managed to suppress that revelation.

" I … just didn't tell you everything", she took a deep breath. " I went to my death willingly. I knew that I would die, it was the only way for Voldemort to finally be mortal again … because … I, too, was a Horcrux. I was anchoring him to this world. One can't live while the other survives."

Mio dio.

A shudder threatened to overtake him. That sentence … it sounded different. More than just heavy.

Final.

How could she deal with something like that hanging above her head? She had just been a child.

" So I went to my death, with the ghosts of my family at my side, and … and he killed me. For the second time in my life, a killing curse struck me."

He couldn't breathe.

" I died, Reborn."

Her voice broke.

And so did his restraint.

White-hot fury coursed through his body, igniting his flames as he pressed her against his body, as he held her like his life depended on it, flames bathing them both protectively.

He couldn't bear it. The idea of her gone …

Of losing her …

It was too much.

Reborn focused desperately on the touch of her cool skin, on the feel of her breath on his neck and the sound of her heartbeat. He focused on the smell of strawberries and morning dew.

She was there. In his arms. Alive.

Mio dio, she was alive.

If only he repeated it often enough, maybe the fear and panic would diminish.

She was alive.

" You are here. With me."

He needed to say it aloud. Needed to hear to words spoken, confirmed, made reality.

He needed to hear them. Needed her to hear them.

" Y-yes."

He exhaled deeply.

She was here. In his arms.

He didn't care how, he didn't care for the why. All he had was gratitude for the fact that she was still living. He only had gratitude for her miraculous survival or renewal.

Hyacinth reached up, wrapping her arms around his neck.

For a moment neither of them spoke, basking in the presence of each other. Then she sighed.

" I just … I just never managed to deal with it", she whispered, her hot breath tickling against his cool skin. " Those two words, even if only dropped in casual conversations, always manage to make me a wreck and break down. I try … I try so hard to ward it off, to stay strong … but I can't. I never can."

He felt more tears, hot and heavy, dripping down his collar.

" Merlin, I'm such a fucking mess", she whispered, choking on a self-deprecating laugh, her voice rough from crying.

And he knew where that came from …

… the bastards that posed as Blood Relatives, abusive pieces of shit.

As if he would allow her to put herself down. Again.

" Stop."

His voice broke no argument.

For a moment, neither of them moved. He needed this moment to collect himself, to take a deep breath and find the strength to actually speak.

Never before had he told anyone this. Never before … had he loved anyone enough to become so vulnerable.

But for his Hyacinth, he would bare his own demons.

" I enjoyed my life as Renato Sinclair."

A truth that hurt.

Her slender hand gently entangled in his black hair, keeping him grounded. She didn't say anything.

He knew she was listening. She always listened.

" I was known as the best hitman in the world, as unattainable, worked my way up from the streets, gaining enough respect and reputation that even long-established Famiglias' like the Vongola preferred hiring me and paying handsome money before they considered looking anywhere else and accepting less quality. I don't know if I was happy, but I was satisfied and proud."

He smiled bitterly.

" And then my hubris caught up to me. Il Prescelti Sette. The Strongest Seven. A fancy title that was nothing but a catchy front to choose from the best of the best the next Arcobaleno. And we were caught like flies in honey."

Her warmth was his hold.

It still hurt, how the pride he had fought for so long and hard to be allowed to have had been his undoing. The Arcobaleno curse had nearly been his damnation, in more than just one way. He had lost years of his life, had been forced to discard a life he had built painstakingly from nothing to something and then had to repeat the process again, only so much more limited in his ability and potential. Techniques he had developed and learned; lost to a body too weak to accommodate. Those he would have cautiously called friends; dying where he stayed never-aging, damned in the body of a baby.

It was a past life. One of two he was now no longer forced to endure.

But even having regained his own body after the curse was broken by Tsuna and his guardians and allies before his student became Neo Primo, or Vongola Decimo …

That fateful day they were cursed, not only did he lose a life; he nearly lost his ability to harmonize.

" Reborn …"

He closed his eyes at the sorrow in her sweet voice and leaned down, his forehead resting against hers. He protested as those gentle fingers disentangled from his hair, only to smile as they gently caressed his face and smoothed away the stress lines he hadn't even been aware of.

" The woman I was about to harmonize with, the only sky to fascinate me until that fateful day, betrayed us."

It was a confession that still hurt.

Because Luce, no matter how nice and powerful she had been, had only ever wanted them, him, for one thing: To complete the guardian set necessary for the Il Prescelti Sette. He never mattered as her sun – and in the end, he didn't allow himself to matter.

What tentative bond they had, he broke, just as she broke his trust.

And the fury nearly took his ability to harmonize and bond.

" She betrayed me."

Hyacinth smiled sadly.

" And still you loved her."

" And still I loved her", he agreed in a murmur, his lips touching her chin. " For the potential she had, for the pain she managed to sooth."

And he had. He had been able to love Luce, as a sun, not her sun, and protect her as a stand-in-guardian. But never her guardian.

No. For him to harmonize, after being so cruelly betrayed, took something more. It took his true sky, the one he could trust without question, the one he just clicked with. His beautiful wonderful lovely Hyacinth.

Carefully tipping her face upwards, emerald met onyx and Reborn smiled lovingly at the understanding, at the forgiveness he couldn't bring himself to ask for, freely given.

Understanding for his still lasting pain over a betrayal decades old.

Forgiveness for his former guardian bound and the distrust he had held.

She was perfect.

His kind of perfect.

" But I never loved her like I love you."

They kissed.

Slow. Gently. Deeply.

It was like taking a deep breath, like he was a beggar dying from thirst given taste of a nectar bringing him to life. Nothing could compare to the sweetness of her lips, the warmth and sensuality of their skin touching and moving.

Love and Happiness.

Slowly, they separated. Foreheads pressed together, eyes connected. As long as they always had each other …

He would be able to live without regrets.

Because they both knew: Reborn wasn't a nice man. For anyone else, for any other woman, he would have to hide that part of himself. Not her.

Never her.

She accepted him, all faults and flaws. And Reborn, as cold as he could be, was the bewitched servant worshiping the ground she walked on. He felt no shame, no need to hide. He knew, she would accept everything he said just as he said it.

She was his, and he was hers.

" I rose again as Reborn of the Arcobaleno.", he told her quietly. " With teeth and claws I reclaimed myself. But the part of me that was Renato died that day, and I will never be able to reclaim that. I never could bring myself to try."

He saw no condemnation. No judgment.

Instead, she accepted and understood. It wasn't all that different from her demons.

" We are so fucked-up", she deadpanned.

He rolled his eyes and pinched her. She startled up with a high shriek and shot him a baleful glare that he acknowledged with an amused smile, making her annoyed expression evaporate.

" I think I like being fucked-up with you."

She hit his chest at the innuendo, smiling softly at the sincerity shining in his eyes.

… he liked it a lot more when she smiled.

" Me too."

Sharing a quick kiss, he gave her a serious look. There was only one more thing he needed to say on the topic before he let her rest and recover from today's emotional roller-coaster; preferably lying in his arms and on his chest, their skin and flames touching and soothing each other in lovely comfort.

" Cia … you have to give it time. Let distance grow and numb the pain before you try to face it. As it is, forcing yourself when you are not ready will only hurt you even more."

She nodded slightly. He saw in her arms that she knew he was right; but he also saw the uncertainty of her own ability to follow through with the advice.

It would take time.

" Thank you", she whispered softly.

Reborn just shook his head and caressed her face, smiling accomplished as she blissfully closed her eyes.

" I love you."

His heart soared as those words, words he meant deeply and sincerely from the bottom of his heart, brought for the most brilliant smile on her breathtaking face and a satisfied reciprocating hum along their guardian bond, delicate but passionate.

Damn, he was not even just Head-over-Heels for that woman, he was completely gone beyond any help.

And he wouldn't change it for the world.

" I love you, too."

She laughed suddenly, ducking her head sheepishly as he gave her a questioning glance.

" We are such a screwed-up pair", she explained with a light giggle.

He blinked, and chuckled amused.

Indeed.

What a pair.

~ The End Pt. A. To be continued in Pt. B ~