Timoteo was livid with fury. Not only had that upstart Black Cat, who had humiliated him so thoroughly in regards to Xanxus appeared during the important ceremony, but they had also challenged Federico to a Ring Battle knowing perfectly well his son didn't have a full complement of Guardians!

Worse, that damn freelancer had openly come out with his mother's Guardian rings! He had gone to the vault only to confirm that the ones in there were missing, with traces of Mist inside the box.

To add insult to injury, one of his mother's legitimate Guardians came forward with a handwritten letter declaring Daniela's choice in the Tenth Vongola boss. According to the laws set down by the Second boss, the Ring battles required a living Vongola Don to name their candidate for heir...it said nothing about the don having to be a current one.

Iemitsu was completely caught off guard by the knowledge his daughter, who had apparently been living right under their nose for over a decade under a false name and had risen to roughly the same heights as Reborn (according to all his sources Black Cat hadn't been promoting their name at all, but had gained that title on the word of others) without their notice.

It hadn't taken much to dig up the birth records, proving Iemitsu had twins, the eldest being his daughter Hotaru Sawada.

Come to think of it, the 'prize ticket' that had caused Iemitsu no end of trouble with his less than amused wife was clearly faked even if the plane ticket had been paid for legitimately. And none of his subordinates could find Ieyasu, who had gone out on a 'college hunting trip' with no set date on when he would return.

It was enough to make his blood boil.

"Coyote, send out for Reborn."

Coyote didn't ask... clearly his Sky had plans to use the Sun in order to find Ieyasu and determine if the boy was a Sky as well to challenge his sister. After all, what were the odds Hotaru would have found decent Guardians if she was hiding her true nature.

So Timoteo was quite baffled when Reborn's only reply to the "polite request" for a meeting was met with a flat "No."

Regardless of the money he offered, Reborn refused to meet with him... a fact that did not go unnoticed by the underworld. The only explanation the Sun Arcobaleno could give was that he was under a prior engagement and would come once he was finished. And that the date was shortly after the Ring Battles were to commence.

Timoteo could only grit his teeth and bear it. He had no idea what sort of assignment the Sun had taken, but he could still hold onto hope to salvage this mess.

He only realized his mistake when the first battle between the Sun Guardians began.

Third POV

The underworld eagerly watched from multiple sources as the Vongola Ring Battles began. From the lowest mafioso to the higher famiglias that could boast a Sky at their helm, everyone eagerly acted as observers to see who would win.

So it was only natural the sheer ripple it caused when Reborn of all people walked onto the small arena meant for the Sun Guardian wearing the Vongola Sun ring that had belonged to the Eighth generation. A ripple that became a wave of shock when he openly admitted that he had harmonized with the Black Cat, or rather Hotaru Sawada, several years ago as her Sun...shortly after Daniela's death when Hotaru was forced to break off her relationship with the Cavallone Sky because of the animosity Timoteo had towards her.

The result was pretty obvious... Reborn slaughtered the simpering fool Federico had as his Sun. A woman all too happy to send her Sky to his death for a bit of money.

The fact Federico spat on her corpse and openly said "good riddance" said volumes that there was a lot of unspoken tension between the two. Even if the full story didn't come out until several months later, the fact he hadn't shed a single tear to her death was pretty damning.

Timoteo could have vomited blood the second he found out Reborn had long since chosen a side in the matter.

Then came the Storm battle, in which Fon appeared and defeated his opponent quickly enough.

Two Arcobaleno, and the strongest fighters out of the group had already harmonized with the infamous Black Cat! Her reputation soared exponentially among those allied to the Vongola.

It only went up even further when her Lightning was revealed to be none other than the twin of the Gesso's tenth don, all too happy to declare who her Sky was. It was no secret that the twin of Byakuran was difficult and had been kept almost under lock and key because of her unpredictable nature... and yet it seemed the Black Cat had managed to tame that feral beast with ridiculous ease.

Timoteo couldn't help but wonder at how calm his son was being about the entire thing. In fact he almost seemed relieved that he was steadily losing any chance to be Vongola Decimo.

A sudden suspicion filled his mind as he quietly confronted Federico.

"You knew this was going to happen."

"I knew there was another Sky from the Primo's line waiting to claim the titles, but not who she was. Just that Grandmother had confirmed her lineage before she died and took her as an apprentice. I'm not fit to be Decimo and I'm not about to challenge someone who managed to get Xanxus to approve of them, so we made an agreement. We'd set the stage for a Ring Battle, I would give it my best shot and once I lost I'd become the External Adviser and curtail Iemitsu's bad behavior," said Federico flatly. "It's called knowing your own limits and not overreaching them if it means damaging the family."

Timoteo was not liking how this was going. Federico's Guardians had come to the horrifying realization that none of Black Cat's own were going to hold back in the battles, as death was allowed within certain limits provided the neutral overseer didn't stop it in time.

The fact Federico had stood by and watched without raising protest said far too much about his bonds with them, as was the fact he wasn't showing the slightest sign of grief when they were killed.

If there really had been a bond between them, then he would have been enraged or distraught. Not completely calm with a hint of disdain.

Federico was entirely calm about the fact two of his Guardians abandoned him, leaving their rings behind to flee for their lives. Black Cat had assembled a team of known powerhouses and strong Flames and they weren't holding back.

They'd rather live than continue with this farce.

But just to prove a point, they continued on to the last battle despite the one-sided slaughter of Federico's Guardians.

By this point most of the other families had figured out that there was a prearranged agreement on the side involving Black Cat and the Varia. That Nono's last blood son was losing so badly was clearly a show they were putting on for the Ninth and the Alliance so that Black Cat, who was so clearly a superior Sky compared to Federico, could claim their inheritance legally in a way the Ninth couldn't usurp them for later to install his own candidate.

It was Federico's own fault for not training as hard as he clearly had, or for finding actual Guardians. Clearly he was using this to rid himself of the useless hanger-ons he had been forced to call his Elements.

The fact that Black Cat let him live and publicly announced she would be making him her External Adviser while demoting Iemitsu to a much lower rank in his own group was just icing on the cake.

Timoteo glared at Black Cat, or rather Hotaru Sawada. She stared back without a hint of fear or remorse for what she had done.

"Just so we're clear, the second I get installed as Decima I'm sending you and your Guardians on a mandatory vacation as far from me as possible."

"You make it sound as though it's a done deal," he bit out.

Her smirk was predatory and there was the aura of a large panther behind her.

"There are a few facts you are unaware of. The rings Daniela had were in fact the original Vongola rings, not the copies that Ricardo had made because the ones Giotto had kept giving him trouble. I can also pull out any of the previous bosses, including your own mother long before this farce began. There is also the laws that the Primo and Secundo put into place regarding the Ring Battles. The loser serves the winner, and if no other candidates appear with the appropriate flame within a month of the fight, then by default I am installed as heir regardless of how the current Don feels about it."

Timoteo made it a higher priority to find Ieyasu and prayed to god that the boy had a Sky Flame.

Hotaru wanted so desperately to make a jab at the old bastard about her twin, but held her tongue. She just had to keep him hidden for a month and a half, and by then the deadline would have passed. Even if Ieyasu did have a Sky flame, he couldn't try to take the title of Decima from her.

The best he could hope for was the title of Eleventh and that was only if no one could prove he had been behind her death. Federico had already lost the qualifications needed to become Decimo (a fact he was very happy with, even if he had to suffer Lal's hell training for the next two months) which left Ieyasu as Timoteo's only hope to salvage this mess.

Ieyasu was just glad that his sister had fully planned for that eventuality, because he was safely hidden until the deadline. There was a distinct animosity between the Ninth Vongola generation and the soon to be instated "Tenth", which anyone could sense.

Any hopes of removing the new Vongola heir as easily as the previous ones were rather harshly curtailed by several factors.

The first and foremost being the fact that she had harmonized with Reborn of all people, as well as the infamous Eye of the Storm. That swiftly removed several potential enemies right off the bat as no one sane wanted to piss off two Arcobaleno.

The second was that Black Cat had made a name for herself without the backing of the Vongola or even allowing her true Flame type to be known. She did have a Cloud secondary but the fact everyone had been blindsided by her Sky said volumes of her cunning and resourcefulness.

The third was her allies. The Gesso famiglia had openly announced their Alliance with "Vongola Decima", which was entirely unsurprising since she had Byakuran's twin as her Lightning. The Cavallone had also come out and made an alliance with her, which again wasn't too shocking as she had dated Dino previously before Daniela's death. And with two of the strongest Arcobaleno as her Elements, it was only natural that her allies would include the Giglio Nero famiglia who had the current Sky Arcobaleno.

Never mind the fact she was openly being friendly with the Varia, who had removed themselves from Vongola's internal politics until a new don was chosen.

It said volumes of Black Cat's level of planning, to successfully usurp the reigns of the Vongola don right out from under the Ninth's own sons and by completely blindsiding the Ninth generation and the Alliance in one fell swoop.

Truly the Vongola Decima was Daniela's apprentice. This was just the sort of stunt she would pull back in her prime to throw her enemies completely off balance while coming out with her full strength all in one go as a warning.

Those who had thought to profit over the Vongola's weakness were halted in their tracks by the appearance of a proper heir already trained and with enough strength in their own right to make a famiglia that could enter the big leagues without relying on the Vongola's power.

Everyone watched in anticipation to see exactly how far Black Cat could bring the Vongola now that she was operating in the open.

"You certainly set the cat among the pigeons," said Dino cheekily.

"Oh ha ha," said Hotaru.

"I wasn't expecting you to be from the Primo's bloodline."

"Daniela found out after she had a blood test run the second she realized I was a Sky, and we conspired against the Ninth because he's an idiot. To first fool your enemies you must fool your friends, and this way even if you were interrogated they would have gotten nothing."

Dino could accept that. He would also let Hotaru make the first move if she wished to rekindle their relationship...he wasn't a complete fool.

"While marriage is off the table, acting as a surrogate is still an option," said Hotaru smiling at him. She missed Dino and his goofy attitude.

Dino paused, before brightening.

"Besides, according to both Fon and Reborn it's not that unheard of for female Skies to have multiple lovers. It's just rare because most of them are married off early to produce more Skies or for political gain."

Dino sputtered at that.

"What I don't get is how you get along so easily with the Varia. Xanxus and Squalo rarely speak that highly of anyone!"

"Probably because I was just like them before, so I understand perfectly the headaches of being a hired assassin in a big group with a lot of power...just without Flames."

The Varia wasn't too dissimilar to Chronos...they were just open about the fact they were part of the criminal underworld and didn't give a damn about hiring the crazies.

It said a lot that they barely batted an eye at Rosethorn's habits and would have welcomed her with open arms the second she killed Levi-a-Than, even if she kept trying to kill Xanxus because he wasn't her beloved Black Cat.

(Levi always felt like the spectre of death was behind him every time Rosethorn came around. Naturally everyone else found this rather hilarious.)

Dino...wisely decided not to ask. Even if it did partially explain why Xanxus happily went drinking with Rosethorn and Hotaru regularly.