Chapter Text
“Shit, it’s the ghouls.” Never let it be said that Gokudera was slow on the uptake, half conscious on the floor and it still took mere seconds for him to register what that sinister rattle of chains meant. Reborn was almost impressed.
A shame he was too busy panicking to give the brat the credit he deserved, but there were bigger concerns right now. Troublesome Tsuna was not ready to meet the Vindice. Reborn hadn’t had time to ease him into the idea, prepare the ground, get some idea of how he would react. Now his police abolitionist student was face to face with the mafia cops and Reborn had no idea what he would do.
“Rokudo Mukuro, you are under arrest.” The Vindice intoned, oblivious to the oncoming disaster, and Reborn couldn’t bring himself to look away from the powder keg in the middle of the room.
There was Tsuna still riding the high of an intense political discussion, there was Kyouko, still in dying will mode, there was Mukuro himself mad as only a Mist could manage and powerful as hell. And there were two officers of the Vindice, the nightmares of hardened mafia men, only dubiously human, and utterly lacking any trace of a sense of humour.
“Reborn.” Troublesome Tsuna said, in a tone of voice that predictably promised trouble. “Are these the Mafia cops? You didn’t tell me the Mafia had their own pigs.” The threatening aura of the Vindice suddenly intensified, Reborn hadn’t actually known it could do that. They did say that teaching was a learning experience, but Reborn honestly could have done without that particular educational snippet.
“Yeah.” Drawled Hayato, still immobile on the floor but absolutely willing to throw oil on the fire anyway, sometimes that brat really did remind him of Colonello, that idiot was a little shit stirrer too. “The Vindice, better known as the ghouls, somewhere between unholy eldritch abomination and secret police force.” Then turning to Mukuro with a look that was half horrified awe, half morbid fascination. “What the hell did you do to get them on your tail personally?”
“Oh the usual. Murder, mayhem, general chaos.” Mukuro didn’t sound nearly concerned enough. But well, crazy Mist, no use expecting a reasonable reaction.
Kyouko looked as though she wasn’t quite buying it. Hard to say whether it was the dying will shot boosting her Sky intuition, or just a knack for seeing through a smokescreen. Reborn made a mental note to investigate later for training purposes, assuming they all survived this.
“If murder, mayhem and general chaos were enough to get a person arrested by the Vindice, then why haven’t they gone after Reborn sensei.” She asked, fairly reasonably as it happened, although he could have done without the extra scrutiny on his actions. Truth was she was right, it did take more than murder and mayhem to draw the Vindice’s attention.
It was more insight than he’d initially credited her with. Stupid of him really. Just because someone wasn’t a combat specialist didn’t mean they couldn’t be competent in other ways. Unfortunately it was then that she finally dropped out of dying will mode, and promptly crumpled to the floor, unable to continue the “surprisingly reasonable discussion” portion of the conversation.
Reborn decided now was probably a good time to intervene. If only to keep anyone else from opening their mouths and saying something inadvisable, considering who was still conscious it was highly unlikely that any of them would be even half as reasonable as Kyouko.
“The Vindice police the Mafia laws, smart people don’t cross them Troublesome Tsuna.” Tsuna just grinned, nothing good ever came from that grin.
“That’s what people told me about the disciplinary committee.” Then he turned to Mukuro. “So what do you say? Want some help resisting arrest.” Reborn did not like the deranged smile on Mukuro’s face. He really didn’t like the sensation of Mukuro and Tsuna’s Flames clicking together, as he responded.
“Well I mean, if you’re offering.” He drawled. Reborn mentally prepared himself to have to explain to Nono just why he had to bail the future Decimo and his friends out of Vindicare. He had a feeling “youthful high spirits” would not be accepted as an excuse.
“Resistance will not be tolerated.” Reborn could have sworn the Vindice officer actually sounded annoyed. Given their usual reputation for unshakable eldritch indifference it was quite an achievement. Leave it to Troublesome Tsuna to be able to irritate anyone.
Then of course, at exactly the perfect moment, the timer went off, releasing Hibari Kyouya in a master stroke of violent chaos that had Reborn feeling almost like himself again. Troublesome Tsuna might have raw disruptive talent, but Reborn was still the master of chaos, and it felt good to be doing what he was good at.
Hibari arrived in the room in a cloud of plaster and splinters from where he’d decided to go through the door without opening it. He was literally glowing purple with rage after being left to stew in a cupboard with nothing to do but nurse his grievances and train a small bird to sing the Nami middle anthem, and immediately upon his appearance he proceeded to live up to all of Reborn’s wildest hopes. He took one look at the mess, the semi-conscious bodies strewn across the floor, the vaguely human shaped eldritch abominations looming in the centre of the room over a Sky charged with righteous determination, and a Mist charged with vengeful fury, all of them perfectly willing to throw down, and immediately decided to fight everyone.
Reborn had never seen anyone actually try to bite one of the Vindice before but he would treasure the memory almost as much as the sight of Troublesome Tsuna being casually punted into Menacing Mukuro and the both of them landing in a tangle of limbs and lost dignity right on top of Hayato. It would be perfect, if he hadn’t ended up somehow losing his hat somewhere in the whirl of violence. Clearly Hibari had practice fighting an arcobaleno, it was surprising how few people knew how to effectively angle their attacks that far downward.
Still it was a beautiful moment. Up until Leon, the traitor, decided to upstage him by finally spitting out the weapon he’d been brewing up for Troublesome Tsuna. It was of course, the worst thing he could possibly have given Reborn’s student, and Reborn was going to strangle him for real over this one. Why oh why did Leon refuse to listen when Reborn told him not to give the brats the weapons they wanted most in the world. That damn whip he’d given Cavallone was bad enough, but at least that was only a potential source of personal embarrassment. Reborn still didn’t understand how the mafia at large hadn’t got the hint on that one, but he was thankful every day that they hadn’t. None of the other arcobaleno would ever let him live it down if they found out that Dino had once evaded him for a whole three months by running away to join the circus, it had taken a not inconsiderable amount of manipulation to convince the world it was actually some sort of kinky sex thing.
That had been bad enough. This though, this was worse.
Troublesome Tsuna picked up his shiny new megaphone and knew exactly what to do with it.