Author: The Plot Bunny Whisperer
Title: Colorire
Rating: T (Cuz, like… Reborn.)
Genre: Gen, Family
Summary: (Soulmate!AU; Gen) Everyone in the world is born colorblind, destined to only see color once they've met the eyes of their soulmate. Tsuna meets his soulmates one by one, and gains the ability to see a new color with each first meeting.
Pairing(s): Background stuff.
Warnings: Random swearing. Violence, maybe? Dunno. Can't write fight scenes to save my life.
Disclaimer: Don't own, don't care, don't sue.

AN: This is the last of the pre-written chapters. The usual updates on the 1st/11th/21st will be postponed until I can get part 6 up and running. I don't know how long that will take me (it's being stubborn) but I want to finish this fic before the end of the year, so hopefully it won't take too long. Regards to Amu4ever for listening to me complain. ^^

So, enjoy!

Colorire
Intermezzo V

She is in the middle of overseeing a rather boring meeting when her phone buzzes silently in her pocket. She slips quietly out of the door, happy for the excuse to leave, but it quickly turns to ire (and a hint of worry she does her best not to acknowledge) when she sees the number displayed on the screen. Walking down the hall to an empty room and closing the door behind her, she punches flips it open and answers it with a scowl.

"This better be important, Colonnello, or I'll put you through so much remedial training…."

Colonnello interrupts her threat, his words laced with excitement. "No, it is, I swear! You'll never believe this, but that thing we've always wondered about? What we thought it might mean? We were right!"

That gives her pause and it takes her a moment to find her voice, her response a strangled exhalation of air and disbelief.

"…What?"

"Yeah! And the best part is, our second soulmate is also our Sky! He's just a kid, Lal, but he has so much potential it's ridiculous. But it's awesome, Lal, you have to come meet him. But you can't tell anyone because it's kind of a secret, and–"

Lal takes a deep breath, cutting him off before his words become even more jumbled. "Colonnello. 'Nello, you know I hate it when you babble. Shut up and explain it to me properly." She all but collapses into a chair behind one of the unused desks, taking advantage of his pause as he calms himself down to regain her equilibrium. His excitement is infectious, and for once she allows herself to feel something she hasn't felt in a long time: Hope.

"Right, sorry. Okay. So, it's like this. You know how we always wondered why, when we met, the colors we were supposed to see weren't complete?"

"Of course," she says, thinking back to all those years ago when she met her then-student in one of the COMSUBIN training grounds. "You had a strange version of protanomoly while I had a form of tritanopia. The only color we could both agree with was green."

"Right, and we couldn't figure out why. Eventually, we decided that–"

"That either we both had extremely rare visual deficiencies or… or we both had another soulmate."

For a moment, neither of them said anything, caught in the memories of the past.

In their search to find an answer, they discovered something that gave them an impossible idea. It stemmed from one of things few people were willing to discuss: What happened when your soulmate died?

If you had never met them, then the answer was absolutely nothing. You would continue to go about your life in monochrome, never knowing that your fated match had passed on from the world, decided upon the fact that you were simply not one of the lucky seventeen percent.

If you had met them… that was different. When one of a found soulmate pair died, they took some of the color with them. The one left behind could still perceive color, but it became faded and incomplete. It would sometimes result in suicide, as the one whom had lost their other half couldn't live with the blatant reminder of their loss every day.

When they had first come to a tentative conclusion that it could be related to their situation, neither were all that willing to believe it. No one had ever had two soulmates before. It was so ridiculously impossible, but… what if?

They had already decided before all that to keep the fact that they were soulmates a secret. Regulations would see them separated to prevent fraternization bias and really, they didn't want that. Coming to the idea that they could, perhaps, have a third somewhere out in the world made the decision easier. There was always the possibility that their thirds were different people, of course, but they weren't going to dwell on that.

And then the curse happened and Colonnello (stupidly) sacrificed himself for her and they decided that maybe they were safer apart than together.

She shakes her head, shoving back the guilt she still felt over the promise she had forced from him in her anger.

"Okay. You said we were right. That means you… found your third?"

"Our third," he corrects. She nods even if he can't see it, squaring her shoulders.

"Alright, our third then. What was this about a Sky?"

"Do you want the long version or the short?"

Lal rolls her eyes over the unnecessary dramatics. "Give me the short version."

"Reborn found the Sky Arcobaleno, who ended up being not only his soulmate but also Verde's, Fon's, Viper's, and ours. And I guess Skull too, but that isn't confirmed. Just likely, considering."

"…Give me the long version."

Colonnello laughs.

"The Vongola heir, Tsunayoshi Sawada, became the Sky Arcobaleno when he was eight. Reborn found this out when he went to Japan to train him for the Ninth, but also discovered that Tsuna was his soulmate. As it turned out, however, instead of the normal reaction… normal to everyone else, anyway… Tsuna was only able to see the color yellow after their eyes met. So Reborn tricked Verde into going to Japan, and suddenly Tsuna could see green also. And then Fon arrived and Tsuna could see red, and then Viper showed up… and, well."

"That's…"

"I know."

"This is going to get messy."

"Understatement."

She hesitates, the spark of hope within her blooming slowly in her chest. "He's a good Sky?"

"His Flame… I can't describe it. It's so pure, Lal. Purer than Luce's. There's so much potential sleeping inside him, and even though he doesn't like the idea of being a mafia boss he's willing to do it for them… for us. I think… I really want to be his Rain."

She exhales slowly, halfway convinced already simply because of the yearning she can hear in his voice. At the same time, Iemitsu's somewhat bipolar attitude, switching between angry ranting and horrified gibbering over the last several months, including all of those frantic phone calls made to the Ninth, makes a lot more sense in retrospect. The biggest thing she has to consider, however, is if it's something she wants; if it would really be worth the drama and the mess and anything else it will cause.

She's surprised at how easily the answer comes.

"I'll work on damage control."

"You're the best, Lal."

"Yeah, yeah. Now go away. I've got work to do."

"Good luck! I love you."

"…I love you too."

She hangs up with a sigh and drops her face into her hands, rubbing her eyes wearily. She was absolutely certain she was not going to be the one to tell Iemitsu.

But she would definitely be there when he found out.

AN: This is the last of the pre-written chapters. The usual updates on the 1st/11th/21st will be postponed until I can get part 6 up and running. I don't know how long that will take me (it's being stubborn) but I want to finish this fic before the end of the year, so hopefully it won't take too long. (Sorry for the repeat, but I know people tend to skip the top ANs. I'm guilty of that myself.)