Kaiba was glad to have this damn tournament over with. While he was irritated to lose Obelisk, the promise of the reward Usagi kept hinting at more than made up for it.
He could always win Obelisk back later. He'd rather claim his mate...and he really needed to quit hanging around Kyouya so often if that was the first thing that came to mind rather than girlfriend.
Of course Usagi's idea of ending everything with a bang and making everyone who was watching it from the live feeds believe it was all CGI or something equally ridiculous definitely had an effect on him.
She played up her "Magical Girl Announcer" persona with perfection, even using the 'staff' to channel her Flames and set off the detonation sequence once they were far enough for it to avoid the worst of the blast, but still close enough to see it. It reminded him rather strongly of a Blue Eyes blasting the hell out of something and he was just glad that they would be back on the mainland within a few hours. The fact Angel had shifted to his "wing" form (he was not going to ask) to make it all seem like it was a digital effect didn't help this mental comparison.
He had never bothered to look at the female form before Usagi came into his life. Neither had Kyouya. Though both of them were similarly affected by the display of open and absolute power Usagi had just shown.
They were dragons. Apex predators who refused to submit to anyone weaker than them. They had been attracted the little rabbit because she was a small animal the needed protection and submitted to their rule without being annoying about it. Because she smelled tempting.
If she had stayed the skittish bunny she had been before, they would have gotten bored eventually and possibly left one day.
Now though... now she was a powerful predator in her own right, able to stand tall and by their side as equals.
Kaiba wondered if the heat in his body was arousal...or this 'harmony' that Fon had spoken of before. All he knew was that the rabbit princess was his and Kyouya's, no one else.
If Usagi is surprised by the rather possessive kiss from him (and it was quickly followed by a rather flushed looking Kyouya) she said nothing. Fon watched the entire thing amused and texted her something he couldn't quite catch that flitted across her glasses.
"Just so you know, I'm going to be offering Marik and Rashid a place in my Sky. They need to get away from the Tomb Keepers after what they went through, and Isis said she'd smooth things over on her end."
"She seems to have gained a bit of respect for you," said Kyouya.
"More like awe," said Usagi rolling her eyes. "Apparently the 'Skies are considered royalty' thing has gone on a lot longer than Fon implied. Though they had a different term for them in Egypt. Blessed Children of the Sky."
Kaiba frowned.
"Is that why there was an image of Slifer behind you when you blocked Ra's attack?"
"According to Isis, Osiris was blessing me directly. Those who have the Sight will see a necklace that's in the shape of an Ouroboros made of Slifer... which means it should be visible to those who have shadow magic. It means I'm extra protected from the shadow realm," said Usagi. "Outside of that... I guess we'll find out."
Kaiba's pupils were wide and almost slitted like a cat.
"Were you serious about what you said earlier?"
"Do I really look like the person who would joke about something like that if I wasn't serious? Mama said she was fine with it so long as we don't make them grandparents until after we finish high school."
Kaiba smirked.
"I can live with that," he said.
Kyouya had a similarly pleased expression in his eyes.
"Of course I have something special planned for you two. While I've gotten used to the outfit, I'm not about to let you two have all the control," said Usagi.
"Good. It would be boring otherwise," said Kaiba, before he realized what he said.
Usagi's smirk was not comforting in the least.
"Just so you know, Mogget introduced me and Chrome to the most interesting shop before the finals started..."
The two dragons shared a look. Somehow they had the feeling that their planned night out was not going to happen like they even remotely expected.
Mokuba was openly smirking when his brother finally came to work looking a hell of a lot more relaxed and less likely to roar at people for mistakes. It didn't take long for people to figure out what happened when Usagi and Kyouya came to work...and Usagi had a few hickeys on her neck that she failed to hide.
It was bad enough she got accosted at school when the other girls noticed (thank the gods for Chrome...she hid them from the teachers!) and demanded details.
The little kitsune (and that nickname stuck just as quickly as Kaiba's dragon nickname had the second Fon first used it in front of the employees) smirked as the betting pool exploded.
Several people grumbled when they realized that they lost out because it was pretty damn clear Usagi hadn't bothered to pick one boyfriend, but had opted for the third option.
And there was only a handful of people who actually bet that she would share with the two dragons.
"Shishishi..." snickered Mokuba as he counted his cut of the winnings.
"...Why are you imitating the Varia Storm officer?" asked Fon.
"Who?"
"The Varia's Storm officer laughs exactly like that," said Fon.
"Really?" said Mokuba, surprised. The sneaky laugh just felt right for some reason.
"He also goes ballistic whenever he sees his own blood, wears an actual crown and insists he's a prince," deadpanned Fon.
"What's his name," asked Mokuba.
"Belphegor."
Thanks to ShÅichi, Mokuba was able to access the deep web and looked up a picture of the Varia's Storm officer. He blinked twice.
"You sure this guy is called Belphegor?" he asked.
"Quite sure, why?"
"Because he looks way too much like this ass we had to deal with back in Russia a couple years ago. Rasiel, I think...except the crown was on the other side. It's actually where I got the idea for the snicker... he went 'Ushesheshe'. Really creepy."
"...According to mafia rumor, Belphegor's first kill was his twin."
"Well then either he sucks at killing people or the death was exaggerated," deadpanned Mokuba.
Fon was about to say something when his pacifier started glowing.
"Could you bring up the video feeds?"
Mokuba handed him the remote, and within minutes Fon sighed.
"Reborn."
"That's the Sun guy, right? The one who's always stirring up trouble?" said Mokuba.
"Should we have someone pick him up, or let him make his own way in?"
"I can have Lancia pick him up. He's been pretty bored lately."
The mafioso gulped, but didn't argue when he drove out to pick up Reborn. Considering what happened right before the tournament, odds were the Vongola had sent him. And if they hadn't, then it meant they could help him with whatever he was there for and get rid of him faster.
Within fifteen minutes Reborn was sitting in an empty conference room with Skull and Fon, while Usagi came in with her Guardians. All of them.
"Ciaossu!" said Reborn, enjoying his coffee. It was acceptable.
"Chaos," Usagi replied with a grin. Reborn smirked. "So what brings you to Domino?"
"Long story short the Vongola have decided to test the waters of the unofficial heiress and find out if you were the one to trigger the reaction in the rings. Which are still missing," said Reborn.
"Less missing and more 'reclaimed' by their rightful owner," said Usagi dryly. "And if the Vongola want to get in a snit about that, I never directly ordered my Mist to steal the rings specifically. I just gave the thief carte blanche to cause as much chaos and confusion so that my mother's divorce went unnoticed and he happened to present me with a rather interesting gift that I kept."
Reborn was nodding, smirking like the devil he was.
"And since you were kept out of the loop, you had no idea what they actually were and it was only natural that your Mist went after the most 'secure' item he could find to spread as much confusion without knowing what he was taking as a gift to his Sky."
"And as far as the Vindice are concerned, this is an internal dispute between two branches of the Vongola famiglia and therefor not their problem unless it escalates too far," said Usagi deviously.
Reborn was in a very good mood now.
"I think we're going to get along splendidly."
"Just so we're clear, I am not quitting my job as Kaiba's personal assistant. I have no interest in acting as the boss and my main responsibility is keeping all the factions in line and his schedule properly organized. And if you touch the ears or try to take them away, I will not hesitate to throw your ass into the shadow realm," said Usagi bluntly.
"It's not uncommon for Skies to work in the background while their Elements run the show, so long as they know who's boss. And at this point the ears are the least of my concerns," said Reborn dismissively. "That being said I will be testing you to see how much work I'll need to be doing in order to make you a proper mafia boss."
Usagi rolled her eyes.
"Please, how is the mafia any different from the higher tiers of the corporate world, outside of the fact there's more dead bodies and illegal activities involved?" she scoffed.
Reborn snorted.
"There's an entirely new set of rules that are enforced by the Vindice, you will likely have to deal with attempts to marry you off for political reasons simply because of your gender, and the Ninth generation has become increasingly senile of late," said Reborn flatly. "And if you haven't gotten started on learning how to use your Flames, then that will be one of the first things we're going to work on."
"The Vindice happen to like me because of Mogget, if they try to marry me off I'll simply elope with my dragons, and I'm more likely to ignore any demands from that idiot or the old man after their idiocy made my childhood a living hell. As for my Flames... well I've gotten a head start on figuring out how to use them thanks to that tournament, even if it does make me look like a magical girl," said Usagi, countering his arguments with perfect ease.
"...I really need a proper profile on you. I already threw out everything the Vongola and CEDEF gave me on principle since I knew more about your activities than they did and they were entirely unaware we had met before on multiple occasions, much less that you were already gathering proper guardians," said Reborn.
"Talk to Fon," said Usagi. "Also, where exactly are you going to be staying while you're here?"
"With you, as per my contract."
"Not in my room," said Usagi immediately. "Mogget barely scrapes by on that point because he's trapped as a cat and knows better. I'm not about to let a cursed adult man stay in my room at night, regardless of how honorable he may be. Not even Fon is allowed to stay in my room at night."
"Actually considering the recent change in your relationship, big brother has been thinking of moving you and the other guardians into our manor. It's not like we actually use all those rooms anyway," said Mokuba.
The fact it gave him much better access to his bunny was a rather delightful side effect, even if he had to put up with more people in his home. At least he could tolerate most of them, and they all knew better than to dare invite the pharaoh anywhere near it. Him or his reincarnation.
"What's the security like?" asked Reborn seriously.
"It could use a major upgrade, so long as you run them past big brother first," said Mokuba.
Kaiba took one look at Reborn, confirmed he would be sticking around (and acting as a tutor for Usagi and possibly a few others while enjoying the chaos of the Vongola playing "catch up" with their potential heiress) before washing his hands of the matter. At this point if Usagi did end up taking over the rather large Family, then it was guaranteed Kaiba would act as the external adviser since it meant A) she could gleefully kick her idiot ex-father out of a job, and B) enjoy the chaos of the mafia having to deal with her boss/boyfriend.
Reborn confirmed that while it would be unusual for her External Adviser to also be one of her husbands (thus confirming that the mafia did allow for polygamy), it wasn't against the unspoken rules so long as Kaiba remained separate from the Vongola as a whole and did the paperwork.
To be fair, Kaiba fully planned on treating that job as if Usagi was running an allied company that just happened to share a lot of projects together while remaining separate. Which was pretty much the same as he was treating Industrial Illusions, even if he was still pissed off with Pegasus for all the crap he put him through. At this point, the only contact that man had with Kaiba Corp was conspiring with Mokuba for a quick laugh at the expense of Usagi and the others by turning them into card form.
Mokuba could forgive a lot if it meant untold amounts of blackmail that he could laugh over later. Including the fact Pegasus made an effort to kidnap him.