When they did show up the boys were immediately set to work catching up on all the missed school work—the girls, too, since they had shown up. But he hauled Tsuna off once everyone was settled working under Renato's supervision and brought him to the armory. He closed the door and stared.

Tsuna broke in all of thirty seconds. "W-what?"

"What was your motivation for fighting?"

Tsuna stuttered a bit, then said, "Getting back to now."

"Why?"

"Because we belong here."

He scowled and Tsuna squeaked. "Not good enough. Try again."

"Because I wanted everyone to be safe."

His brow went up. "You were never safe. Or did you conveniently forget about all those assassination attempts against you? You are so like your mother in some ways, but you don't have the luxury to keep doing that. If you don't know why you're fighting, you fail. True, you did come up with reasons to keep going, and those reasons were good enough for the situation, but you can't keep doing this."

"But it's over!" Tsuna protested.

"The threat posed by Byakuran is, yes. What about all the Vongola enemies out there?"

"But she said we'd have peace!"

"From Byakuran and his schemes, and his abilities, which are now sealed. Yuni was promising that this whole sequence of events couldn't happen again. She made no references to anything else. You're still a damn kitten. You still have the weight of the Vongola sins on your shoulders. If you don't man up and stop dithering around, you will never find a way to deal with that. You can't wash them away with a better direction for Vongola if you're going to keep squeaking like a kitten in denial and not doing anything."

Tsuna narrowed his eyes. "I promised I'd destroy Vongola if I had to."

He shrugged. "I see. So you do that, how?"

"…I don't know."

"You planning to kill Ren-kun and I? Because we're technically Vongola. And Hayato-kun, Lambo-kun? Your mother is technically Vongola. You planning to kill your father, and Basil? Lal Mirch?"

Tsuna's expression crumpled and he went all teary-eyed.

"Or by destroy do you mean bring the Vongola back to its original purpose? Be like the Cavallone Famiglia? Because the last time I checked, Dino-kun isn't evil. If you don't know why the hell you're fighting—and I don't refer to in-the-moment motivations—then how will you succeed? Where is your long-term plan? Push aside the fear and think, listen to your heart. Every time you've done that you've done well. I want you to see that. Nono doesn't expect you to go on a bloody rampage, kitten. He's hoping you'll continue the process of redeeming the Vongola. Is that such a terrible thing? Is being asked to help make the world a better place so unbearable?"

"He's not asking, though."

"Yes, he is. He's not asking if you'll become the Vongola Decimo, because that's a given. The lines were thoroughly researched and you're the last living eligible candidate. Nono is asking you to help make Vongola better, less bloody. If you didn't have the resolve, kitten, you'd be dead already. I am so incredibly proud of you for how well you handled yourself in the future—for the most part, anyway." He scowled again.

"Y-you are?" Tsuna's eyes went all wide.

"I don't say things like that if I don't mean them. You did a number of things that make me want to hurt you for, but overall you did wonderfully. You always found a reason to fuel your resolve, and you kept getting back up and not quitting, and finding ways to win. Ren-kun and I aren't demonstrative people. We don't wear our hearts on our sleeves like you do. But that doesn't mean we don't feel, or that we aren't proud of you. I have one major criticism, though, but I'll save that for when I speak to you guys as a group."

Tsuna nodded.

He sighed and placed a hand on Tsuna's shoulder. "Enough for now. Time for you to play catch up while I have a talk with Hayato-kun."

When he got Hayato in the room he glared, and was pleased to see the boy shrink back. "Any ideas as to why I'm mad?"

"Uh, no?"

He shook his head. "Hayato-kun … why do you continue to try to drive away the other guardians? Act like they can't possibly help or make a difference? Why do you keep piling the pressure on Tsuna-kun's shoulders, as though the opinions or plans of others can't possibly be of any worth? Why are you making him weaker? Isn't that the exact opposite of your real intentions? Doesn't that go against the Sky, the one person who accepts all of you for who you are? Every time you run down one of the others it's like saying you don't trust your Sky's opinions, decisions, or acceptance."

"But—"

"Now, I'm not saying Tsuna-kun is always right, because he's not. He wouldn't be human otherwise. But that's part of the point: he's human. He's going to make mistakes, and he needs to hear ideas from other people so he can formulate a plan. Your job does not include making things harder on him. You want him to rely on you. So how about you stop, sit down, and take stock of your fellow guardians and their abilities. Think about how you and they can best be of value in terms of a team. If you know what you're dealing with, you can help provide sound advice to Tsuna-kun."

"I—"

"And why are you so upset by other people offering advice? Hasn't Tsuna-kun already accepted you? He knows just how volatile you are and he's still right there. He spends a good deal of his free time around you, as your friend. Why are you so threatened? Don't you want the best possible options to work with when it comes down to a crisis? How can you become the person you want to be if you're too busy fighting your allies?"

Hayato sighed and looked sullen. "They're so stupid at times."

"I hate to break this to you, but sometimes so are you. Will you promise me that you'll think about what I've said?"

"…Yeah," Hayato said grudgingly.

"You probably don't want to hear it, but I do hold some measure of fondness for you, and I want to see you succeed. That'll be hard enough as it is without you shooting yourself in the foot to complicate matters. Now, I should point out that I think you did very well in those battles. You got cocky a little too often, but overall you kept your resolve and kept going."

"How the hell are you so calm all the time?" Hayato asked with a frown.

"Did I never mention? My ability to feel emotions was damaged when I was not much more than a year old. It wasn't until a good twenty years later that I was healed to some extent. I've had a lot of practice along the way, because the most I normally felt were negative emotions, and that usually doesn't end well. It probably helped a great deal that I had Nana-chan for a best friend growing up, though even now she sometimes still looks surprised if I smile at her."

Hayato blinked. "Jūdaime's mother?"

He nodded. "So, let's get back to catching up on school work. I don't expect you to have much trouble."

. . .

Renato hustled Tsuna to their home after school, fending off well-intentioned but clueless guardians, and parked the kid at the kitchen table. Tsuna, of course, looked like he was about to panic.

"So, we heard some news from Nono," he opened with. "He would like to move to confirm you as the Vongola Decimo."

Tsuna froze, his hands clenching, but an odd look flitted over his face. "Confirm, not take over?"

"Correct," Renato said. "You're only fifteen. You wouldn't be expected to officially take over until you were an adult."

"…And this happens, how?"

Renato smiled sharply. "An Inheritance Ceremony."

Tsuna dissolved into a babbling mess, then pulled himself together as they waited patiently. "Lots of people will there, right?"

"Yes," he said.

Tsuna clutched at his hair and wailed. "But I always trip and make a fool of myself! And you want to put me up in front of a bunch of people!?"

"So pretend it's just an enemy to defeat," he said. "After the ceremonial portion of events, it's all about mingling, and you would always have someone at your side, helping you to cope. Again, you need to remember that you're not alone."

Tsuna took a deep breath and exhaled noisily. "I defeated Byakuran," he whispered, "I can do this."

Hisui's brow went up slowly. Tsuna had killed Byakuran, but he could see what the boy was trying to say. "Nono is making the arrangements and will be letting us know when the ceremony will happen. We need to make sure all of you who'll be attending have proper suits."

Tsuna looked confused for a moment, then nodded. "I guess people like Hibari-san and Mukuro-san wouldn't want to be there."

Nono had told them ahead of time that a replica of the Very Important Item would be used during the ceremony itself. Why it was called the Vongola Sin he had no idea, and could not be bothered to inquire. It was famiglia business, not his.

The ceremony itself went off without a hitch and Tsuna managed to get through the mingling portion without fainting, otherwise horribly embarrassing himself, or having one of his guardians do something awful. It might have helped that every time Ryohei sucked in enough air to say anything at an ear-shattering volume, Hisui was nearby with a senbon handy.

Tsuna relaxed again once everything was over and things returned to what was considered normal for their group. Then Hisui started having ants crawl up his spine again, triggered by Nana's well-being. "Ren."

His lover gave him a sharp look.

"The shit's about to hit the fan. I think we should consider arranging that holiday."

"How many?"

"The whole group, plus Nana. I don't have a damn clue what's wrong, but…"

"I've always wanted to see Tokyo Disney. I'll get right on it. You see about convincing whoever needs to be convinced."

He nodded and headed to the Sawada home. He would use compulsions if he had to. While he was there he left behind a few devices, as well as ones in town on the way back, so they would have some idea of what was happening while they were away. He also made the trip to Kokuyo to speak with that bunch.

Kakimoto and Jōshima ignored him, so it was Chrome who stepped toward him lightly, trident in her arms as if it substituted for Mukuro, and aimed a look of curiosity his way.

"Something is going to happen soon in Namimori, something that threatens someone I care about. We're taking the kids on a trip. You, Jōshima-kun, and Kakimoto-kun are invited. If you would rather stay here, I suggest you stay away from the town for a while and do your shopping elsewhere."

"W-where will you be going?"

"Tokyo Disney. Ren-kun and I have been wanting to go there for years, but we've never gotten around to it." He offered her a card with a phone number on it. "Give it some thought," he said as she took it. "We plan to ask Kyoko-chan, Haru-chan, and Hana-chan, as well, so you would have female company should you decide to accept. We plan to leave on Friday and will be gone for at least a week. Do you have any questions before I go?"

She shook her head.

He gave her a nod and departed, waiting until he was far enough away to apparate home. Chrome (and the two boys) declined the invitation a day later. Hisui shrugged and told Renato. On Friday they headed to Tokyo.

They were keeping an eye on the kids when his attention was taken up by the sound of Iemitsu arriving at the Sawada home. He had with him Colonnello, Lal Mirch, Basil, Oregano, and Tumeric. "Kami-sama," he whispered and nudged his lover, pointing at his earpiece. "The Representative Battle of the Rainbow."

Renato gave him a look akin to horrified, in an understated way. "And it was Nana who triggered this episode?"

He looked around to see where the kids were and nodded. "Iemitsu just got 'home' with a bunch of his subordinates and Colonnello," he whispered, then removed the earpiece. "I really don't think I want to listen any longer."

When they got back to Namimori two weeks later the first thing anyone noticed was that Hibari was missing. One day he was there, the next he was gone. They had several emails from Nono, who knew they would be out of town, waiting for them.

Iemitsu had been transformed into the Sky Arcobaleno. Renato laughed so hard he fell off his chair.

Hibari was the Cloud Arcobaleno. For Lightning, Gamma. For Mist, Torikabuto. For Storm, Bel. For Sun, Daisy. And for Rain, Basil.

Both Hisui and Renato felt twinges of upset at that knowledge. Somewhat upsetting was that the Arcobaleno they had known were gone. They sat in silence for some time, adjusting to that knowledge.

Then Renato wondered, "Will Hibari still be Tsuna's guardian, or will we have to track down a new one?"

He rolled his eyes. "Of more interest, why now? Everything we knew from the future says the Arcobaleno were alive well past this point and were killed by Byakuran's meddling. Was it because they came here briefly, to ensure the memories were distributed? Could that doubling up have strained whatever function the Arcobaleno serve? To the point where they had to be—"

Renato shook his head. "You have a point. But I don't think I'm going to investigate. I already dodged the bullet once."

Nana realized she was pregnant not long after. Word had it that Iemitsu had been planning to have a letter of regret sent stating he had been killed in a tragic penguin-related accident in Antarctica, but refrained for fear it would cause harm to his wife and unborn child. He sent a frantic letter to Hisui asking that he keep an eye on her for him. Either way, he would still be sending plenty of money to the account his wife accessed. He had also changed his name to Cielo.

Life went on, except for those who died.

— — —