Title: Dame-Tsuna and the Sun God

Summary: The Sun God keeps the village showered in warmth and light and makes the crops grow bigger than any mortal could. Naturally, their village incurs a lot of jealousy, but it's never been a problem. Until their God is stolen.

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"Tsu-kun!" Nana calls out from the kitchen. "Time to wake up!"

A couple moments later her son is faceplanting into the kitchen's wooden floor. This would normally be cause for concern but Tsuna does this daily. Nana hums and keeps trimming the flower stems.

"Ugh," Tsuna grumbles, clawing his way up to slump against the counter next to her. "Why did you yell?"

"It's almost time for work," Nana says, gesturing to the sky outside the window.

The brightly painted wooden houses are slowly starting to glisten under the morning light, the cool temperature heating to a soothing warmth. People are starting to emerge from their houses and head off to work while the kids stumble sleepily off to school.

"Why is he up so early?" Tsuna groans. "Can't he sleep in for once?"

"We rise when the Sun God rises," Nana sings softly and continues with the next few notes of the village song.

Tsuna sighs heavily but leaves his mum to arrange the flowers in a clay vase and staggers back to his room to change. There's no temple uniform so Tsuna emerges with plain tan pants and a t-shirt. He runs his fingers through his hair to comb it and stuffs his feet into sandals.

"Tsun-kun, before you go," Nana holds out the vase with a smile, the clay full with bright sunflowers. "Give this to Reborn for me."

"You really shouldn't," Tsuna says but takes the present anyway. "His ego doesn't need any more help."

Tsuna takes the scenic route to the temple. The Sun has risen but the God is probably not out of his room yet so Tsuna has time. He winds between cosy houses dotting the sides of dirt roads and curves around the edges of vast farmlands before huffing and puffing up the steep hill to the temple.

The temple is large but it's the ridiculous decorations that make it look huge. It's one storey with wide pillars holding up a high ceiling – all marble and all carved with detailed little pictures, mostly flora like creeping vines and flourishing flowers.

Which is funny because Reborn despises beautiful nature. He'll feed bugs and snuggle with reptiles but give him a fluffy bunny and he'll drop kick it off the temple's hill.

Well…that might not be accurate. Tsuna hasn't even spoken to Reborn before – he's just one of the many who take care of the temple. He isn't even allowed to feed the reptiles wandering around so he's definitely not important enough to fetch the God coffee.

However, there are some things that anyone in the village would know. Reborn loves coffee, his lizards, and the three sisters who take care of him. Yuni is the youngest, Aria is in the middle and Luce is oldest. Those three women are the God's personal priestesses, although it's more like they mother him and he takes it fondly.

"Dame-Tsuna!" Nezu bellows. "You're late!"

Tsuna jolts, almost drops the vase, and cringes back when the man storms down the hallway towards him. Tsuna quickly places the vase down with the other village offerings near the wall and straightens up, trying to look obedient.

Nezu stops in front of Tsuna, far too close just so he can loom over the teen. "I told you that one more infraction and I'll throw you out of here!" Nezu is one of the temple's supervisors. He's in charge of the janitorial staff so he does actually have the power to fire Tsuna.

Tsuna gulps. He thought he could sneak in. "Um. We… we rise with the Sun? And, uh, so it took me a while to get over here because I'm not out of bed until the Sun is up?"

Nezu sucks in a breath, probably to start screaming.

Deep, smooth laughter fills the hall. Tsuna and Nezu spin around to find the Sun God sauntering towards them, wearing a sharp black suit with a random lizard perched on the brim of his fedora as always. Reborn isn't looking at them – they're too inferior.

Luce has a hand raised to her mouth to hide a smile, walking alongside the God. "Really," she insists. "It was so cute."

Tsuna and Nezu drop into a low bow and Luce finally notices them. She smiles sweetly and waves. Nezu preens under the attention while Reborn rolls his eyes and drags Luce away from the commoners.

Nezu straightens up when they're gone and turns back to Tsuna - but the teen has already escaped.

If Nezu can't find Tsuna then he can't get fired. Tsuna decides that this makes sense as he scales a marble pillar to the rooftop, using engravings of ivy to boost him up. He hauls himself over the edge with a groan and flops down, panting at the exertion.

Never doing that again.

He sighs and stays low, crawling to one of the many skylights cut into the high roof. Tsuna avoids the skylights that lead to usually crowded hallways or places like the kitchen and dining room. More people mean higher chance of someone looking up and catching sight of Tsuna.

They should clear out once all the reptiles in the temple are fed and only the cleaners are left. If Nezu doesn't run around yelling for Tsuna then maybe the teen can climb back into the temple and keep going about his duties. Nezu has lots of others to bully – he might forget Tsuna.

He peers down into a particularly large hole and spies an almost bare room with a lone hammock strung up in one corner and a blond man sleeping on it. Just as Tsuna is about to move on, the door opens and Tsuna pulls back, flattening himself to the roof.

The Sun God steps inside.

Reborn moves into his room and pauses.

There's a tall blond lying in Reborn's hammock. His eyes open when the Sun God enters the room and grins roguishly, blue eyes unnaturally bright. "Not a bad place," the stranger says. "I'm not surprised you've hidden here for the last few centuries."

"And who are you?" Reborn retorts. The village gets a lot of travellers, but none have the audacity to break into the God's temple.

The blond rolls out of the hammock gracefully, heavy boots thudding onto the marble floor as he straightens up. He's half a head taller than Reborn, with broader shoulders as well, and odd clothes like he's trying to blend into a forest.

Sun country doesn't make that kind of fabric – too much work or too expensive. Reborn simply conjures his own suits, plucking them from the air. Perhaps this human is simply very rich, but the thought doesn't sit well with Reborn.

"Who am I to bother the Sun God?" the man chuckles. "It's just me, Colonnello." He strikes a pose, hands on hips. "Handsomest man in Rain country."

"Why are you here?" Reborn deadpans, not in the mood to humour this man.

"I've come to greet the Sun God on behalf of Comsubin," Colonnello mocks before folding into a mocking bow. "My liege," he laughs.

Reborn crosses his arms. "Comsubin? The one city that's slowly sinking from how much rain it gets?"

The man's grin turns sharp as he straightens up. "Unlike the people here, Comsubin isn't afraid of a little water."

"Oh?" Reborn sneers. "That's not what hundreds of immigrants from your backwater little pond have said."

The two glare at each other until Colonnello looks away and sighs. "I need your help, baby. The place is getting slowly torn apart. We just need a few weeks of sunshine to rebuild sturdier. Now will you come with me to see my city?"

"Of course," Reborn says instantly. "Just contact my assistants and when I have free time they'll slot you in." Reborn flashes a smile and turns to leave. It's so beneath him to chase this mongrel away. He'll contact Timoteo to get rid of the pest.

A hand grabs Reborn's elbow and reels him back. "You can't go yet," Colonnello protests, somehow across the room from where he started. "Just listen to me. It'll take a week at most and then you can come back and laze around with your lizards."

Reborn narrows his eyes and jerks his arm away from the blond's hold. There's a noticeable increase in temperature as Reborn begins to become annoyed. "What are you?"

"Don't do that," Colonnello snaps. "I'm being serious. You're coming with me whether you agree or not, just make this easy."

Reborn scoffs. "I am a God-"

"So am I, Reborn," Colonnello says evenly. He stretches out a hand to the side and water bubbles out from his skin, streaming out and filling an invisible mould, before the clear water turns into the harsh black metal of an anti-tank rifle.

Reborn feels the sky shudder and droplets fall in a light shower even with his light still blanketing the land.

Colonnello spins the massive two-meter gun with one hand until it's pointed at the other God's chest. His grin this time looks a lot more feral. "While the rain may not burn like your light, you should still fear drowning."

Reborn shifts, muscles tensing in preparation. He didn't know there was another God. The people from Comsubin, were they keeping the Rain a secret? Or was it Reborn's humans that kept him ignorant…

How many more Gods does this world hold?

How many of them are stronger than Reborn?

Colonnello scoffs. "You won't even summon your guns? Let me warn you, I was far from stagnant in the centuries you've hidden away in your little temple."

Tsuna shakes in bone deep fear, curled up as tight as he can with a hand over his mouth to stifle the panicked breaths. He can hear worried cries from the temple below, and even faint screaming from the village further out.

It's dark.

It's so dark.

When Reborn hit the wall and crumpled, the light just went out – completely out, not like nap time when it's a soft shine. What if he's dead? What if the Sun God is dead and Tsuna just sat here shivering like a coward?

Reborn protects the village. He helps the crops grow and keeps the people warm and brings light. He's been here since the founding, giving them everything they ever need.

Tsuna squeezes his eyes shut and shakes because that's all he can do. It's quiet for a long minute but then there's a sudden burst of brightness in front of him. Tsuna's eyes snap open, hoping that Reborn is okay-

The blond is standing on the rooftop opposite Tsuna, blue eyes glowing in the dark. The light is coming from Reborn, slumped in Colonnello's arms. Sunshine pours from the God's temple and his broken leg. It drips down in molten gold and pools on the roof before spreading out to touch Tsuna's sandals.

Blood, Tsuna thinks. Reborn is bleeding.

The Rain God chuckles at seeing the pathetic human. "Let's keep this between us, shall we?" He winks at Tsuna and then he's gone, taking the Sun with him.

It takes a moment, but when the reality sinks in, Tsuna starts screaming.

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A/N: I'm putting this up for now, but don't expect much else anytime soon. This isn't supposed to be a long fic but I'm world building so...we'll see.