Sorry folks! Been raining like crazy lately and there's no way I'm getting out in that!


It had started out as a rumor, at first. Daniela was positively pissed at her son and Iemitsu about something and it was serious.

Normally he wouldn't put much mind to rumors, except his Intuition had been going nuts in warning for months since he started hearing another rumor that Xanxus was already free from the ice. Which was impossible, because last he checked that technique didn't exactly thaw like normal ice would.

That changed during the Annual Vongola ball. He would not admit to almost choking on his wine when he saw a less than amused Xanxus standing right there with his mother.

In retrospect, perhaps it should have been a damn warning sign when so many actually showed up for once, all of them Alliance members or related to one. He should have suspected it would be a set-up for something that was going to cause him headaches.

"Old fucker," said Xanxus without even trying to be respectful.

To be fair, he could understand that to an extent after freezing the boy...though he was definitely checking on that ice block when he went back to the Iron Fort.

"Xanxus," said Timoteo evenly. He cast his flames out and had to hide a wince when he realized that this was the real deal. No one could possibly imitate the boy's unique Flames.

The Ninth's Guardians all look like they've seen a ghost, save for the new guy.

If Timoteo noticed the crowd gathering around to listen in, he made no sign of it.

"Really Timoteo, I am disappointed in you," said Daniela, glaring at him rather openly. She was clearly pissed about something.

"May I ask why, mother?"

"Don't you mother me. I expected far better than your arrogant actions when I handed over the position to you. Instead you've made glaring error after error with disturbing frequency, far too many of them with Skies that should have been under your care!"

Timoteo had a foreboding feeling that she wasn't just referring to Xanxus. Where had his mother learned of Tsunayoshi's existence?

He almost started to sweat, suddenly hyper-aware of the crowd around them, the majority of which were Alliance dons. Clearly his mother planned to make this a very public incident so he wouldn't have a chance in hell of weaseling out of it.

If that was the case, then she had gone beyond pissed and was in the mood to completely destroy someone. Normally this sort of thing was kept private among the family.

"Should we take this someplace a bit more...private?" suggested Coyote. Clearly he could see the signs and wanted to mitigate as much damage as possible to their reputation.

"Not a chance in hell. I'm airing a fucking grievance against this old fucker and the entire Ninth generation for their incompetence and their mismanagement of Skies under their care," said Xanxus loudly enough that everyone heard it.

"Now listen here you little brat... the Ninth took you in out of the goodness of his heart despite the fact you were born to that woman!" snarled Coyote.

"Here's a newsflash for you, dumbass. I already knew I was adopted long before this senile fucker ever came into the picture. My Ma found me and took me in to replace her own dead son and had the fucking balls to explain as much in her lucid moments, unlike this asshole who kept trying to string me along as his 'son'," sneered Xanxus.

Timoteo paled at that.

"What?" he said faintly.

"You didn't even give me a fucking chance to explain that I already knew I was adopted, and that I was trying to clear out a fucking traitor before you sealed me up in that untested technique of the Primo," snarled Xanxus. "Instead you got it into your head I was trying to make a bid for power when I'm not that fucking stupid. At least Nonna explained about the rings being bloodlocked."

Timoteo could feel the walls closing in.

Xanxus had known from the beginning he was adopted? That he wasn't Timoteo's son and yet never said anything?

"And you want to know what the real fucking kicker was? The traitor who made up the rumors about the coup was selling out information to fucking Sawada the entire time. Maybe you should have spent a bit more time watching him instead of me... especially considering what he did to his own wife."

Timoteo looked at Xanxus sharply.

"What do you mean about that? How do you know about them?"

Xanxus' grin was positively vicious.

"Turns out that the Primo wasn't some no-name Sky... he moved to Italy after he graduated school in order to connect with his mother's roots, but never rescinded his original family name. The whole Vongola thing is based off the rings, not the man who wore them. And as much as it disgusts me, Sawada is technically my cousin four times removed on my real father's side... which makes protecting his spawn my problem," said Xanxus flatly. His grin was positively evil as he said "Genealogy is such a fascinating subject, especially if you know what to look for."

Timoteo looks positively horrified to hear that and it showed. Daniela resists the urge to cackle at the look on his face.

If having that particular bomb dropped in a public setting was bad, it was nothing compared to the files Daniela dumped on his desk.

Finding out Iemitsu's wife was a Rain Latent practically drowning in her Flames was a nasty shock. It was clear even to his eye that she was reaching for her husband's Sky, but the fact he spent so little time after unknowingly Flame courting her was causing the whole thing to spiral out of control.

While she might give the basic care to her son, there was a disturbing possibility she might ignore obvious signs of something wrong with little Tsunayoshi, such as bullying, abuse or even the damage emotional neglect would cause. To say nothing of the fact there was a high chance she might try to unconsciously push Iemitsu's image on their son.

All that before Daniela practically ripped him a new one for sealing the child in the first place, rather than attempt training.

The moment Tsuna awakened Sky Flames, he had lost the chance to be a civilian. Timoteo knew this, so the fact he attempted to cover the truth with a seal that would have irreparably harmed the boy's soul and left him a complete mess (especially with his mother's condition) meant that he had screwed up royally.

The hits kept on coming when Xanxus brought a pair of family trees that were confirmed accurate to prove that not only was the Vongola a branch of his actual birth family, but that by the old laws they were technically subservient to the family head.

Which in both cases was Xanxus himself.

Timoteo felt rather faint and dearly wished he had something stronger stocked, learning how quickly things were spirally out of his control.


If Iemitsu was surprised to hear that his wife is a Rain Latent suffering from the fact his Sky hadn't fully harmonized with her, it's nothing compared to the horrors of learning he was related to the very brat he had come to hate so much.

As if that wasn't enough to confirm fate hated him, Xanxus was also the head of the family that the Primo had originally descended from. Which meant he did have some power over Iemitsu, at least politically.

And that grated on him. To say nothing of how pissed he was when he found out Xanxus had made an unexpected trip to Japan, found his son and then proceeded to help Daniela remove the seal that was keeping his son safe from the mafia!

Protecting his son, what a load of crap. Iemitsu could see the ploy for what it really was, and that was corrupting his little tuna fish against his own father!

Even so he manages to hide his seething from the bastard son of a whore (literally) when he has to attend a family meeting to figure out how to fix this mess.

It did not go well for him at all.

"So just to be clear you want nothing to do with my family, or anything to do with the Potters," said Xanxus. "You also want zero interaction with any of us, including cousins and other relatives from the Potter side of the family, is that correct?"

Iemitsu's Intuition was yelling out in warning about something, but his arrogance allowed him to ignore it. He had a lot of practice with that. Besides, this didn't seem like something that would be fatal, just permanent.

"You better believe it! I want nothing to do with freaks like you!" snarled Iemitsu.

"Freaks?" said Xanxus, narrowing his eyes at Iemitsu.

Iemitsu wasn't about to listen to reason at this point. His dislike of Xanxus had reached it's boiling point and there was no going back.

"I still can't understand how you can spit on the Ninth's generosity for taking in a bastard like you! You've had everything handed to you since he took you from your whore mother, and yet you've shown nothing but disrespect to him and the family! I'd rather be cast out of your precious family than ever submit to a bastard like you!"

There was only one reason Xanxus didn't kill the idiot then and there.

And that was because the revenge for Iemitsu's arrogance and stupidity was going to be far sweeter than simply killing him. Best of all, the fool brought this on himself.

"So be it then. I renounce you as a Potter and as bloodkin. From here on out, you are an outcast of the family and may have no contact with any Potters or have any say in family matters," said Xanxus with finality.

Oh how he was going to enjoy this.

"Good riddance," said Iemitsu. Even if he could feel something latch onto his Flames, and then break off from them. As if confirming they were no longer family.

Which was when karma reared it's ugly head when Tsuna ran into the room to hug Xanxus.

"Nii-san!" he said happily.

Xanxus scooped up the kid with the ease of long practice. The tiny thing promptly hugged his neck and settled into his arms completely unafraid.

Iemitsu's rage cranked up by several notches.

"Give me back my son," he snarled.

Xanxus' eyes gleamed with a positively wicked glint.

"Not your son. Not anymore, idiota," he said gleefully.

"What the hell does that mean, bastard?!"

Xanxus looked him right in the eye as he explained it to him slowly, as if talking to an idiot.

"You said it yourself, you want nothing to do with the Potters or anyone connected to it," said Xanxus, in a far too cheerful tone. "Now if you are my cousin, then what does that make your son?"

Iemitsu worked that through his head and paled.

"No. I demand you remove him from your tainted family tree!"

"Too late. You might be his birth father, but you cut yourself off from the family before you remembered your son is related to me through you. That means you just removed custody and all legal rights over his life to me, because he is still family and you're not," said Xanxus. "And if you try to push for custody, Nonna has absolutely no problem informing the Alliance of your stunt by sealing his Sky Flames when he went active, rather than training him like you should. If that doesn't form a lynch mob against you, nothing will."

Iemitsu was livid with fury.

That bastard tricked him! He attempted to reach for his son, to remove him from the other man's hold only to hiss back as a very nasty electric shock ripped through his body and his Flames.

"You made your own bed, fucker. Now you get to reap what you sow. Maybe now you'll finally figure out that actions have fucking consequences," said Xanxus rather smugly, as he left the room with a confused Tsuna still firmly attached to his side.

Iemitsu swore then and there he would make Xanxus pay for this. He didn't know how or when, but he would make the bastard son of a whore suffer for what he had done.

With Xanxus and Tsuna...

"Nii-san, who was that guy?"

He looked an awful lot like the weird man Mama said was his Papa, but there was something ugly and unpleasant about him. Just being that close to the man made him want to run far, far away in the other direction and never look back.

"Someone who could have been family, but was so selfish and irresponsible that he decided to cast it aside for his own ambitions," said Xanxus. Tsuna looked confused, so Xanxus simplified it. "He was your father, but he decided he was more important so he removed himself from the family because he doesn't like me."

"But family is important!" said Tsuna, horrified. He couldn't imagine being so wrapped up in himself that the idea of cutting himself off from family would even be considered an option. Besides, Nii-san and 'Auntie' both agreed that family was more important than anything, and that you should always protect it.

"Yeah, but he doesn't see it that way. He only thinks of himself and doesn't think of the consequences of his actions at all."

"What's 'consequences' mean, nii-san?" asked Tsuna.

"Say you hit someone on the playground. As a 'consequence' they no longer want to be your friend. It's the result of an action, little cub," said Xanxus.

Tsuna looked at Xanxus with wide eyes. He didn't like the sound of that.

"Can you read to me again, nii-san?" asked Tsuna.

Xanxus shifted his hold on the kid to something a bit more comfortable. He didn't mind reading to the kids, since it actually inspired Belphegor to develop an interest in books.

Even though as a result of that the homicidal Storm now had a habit of bringing home books after missions and all but demanding Xanxus read them to him.

Meh, it was on the brat's own head if reading the shit Steven King came up with gave him nightmares. At least most of the myths about the Greeks went over Tsuna's head...for now.

(Xanxus refused to read the shit that was available for kids. He didn't care if he had to pause and explain what words or other things meant, he'd rather have any brat demanding a story using their actual brain and learn something rather than read something like Dr. Seuss.)