Trial Of Yoshimune

Chapter 19 Man in the Shadows

Reborn had seen a lot of things during his life, both normal and abnormal. The World of normal he'd call "Civilian", abnormal he dubbed as "Mafia" in all of its simplicity.

And the lineage of Vongola was at the centre of everything he called abnormal. The way how the family was so powerful was simply the opposite of normal, each of the family members had an odd quirk, something that made them look at the world as outsiders that had been given the privilege of being in the centre of everything and everyone. But during the thirty years that he'd been an arcobaleno, he'd never seen anything as abnormal as one Sawada Tsunayoshi.

The boy was brilliant in all honesty, he had the ability to see the World as it was, all of it, and still be sane. He was able to track down Reborn's positions noatter where he was. He understood the world and how it worked. And yet... He didn't understand the complex sciences, he wasn't theoretical thinker, not at one bit. He failed miserably at tests, because they demanded theoretical thinking, not actual working.

And that was the reason why he was viewed as useless and no-good. It had destroyed the poor boy's sense of worth and self confidence. Which is why he had to make Tsunayoshi go through the training in more practical sense, make him see the practice in the theory.

It was Tsuna's birthday when Reborn learned of the mystery man, and that he and his student had the same birthday. The boy's Famiglia had joined them on that day to celebrate Reborn's birthday, the tutor had seen the sadness in the boy's eye when he'd realised that they had forgotten of him. Reborn felt bad for the boy and angry for not realising it himself.

From the corner of his vision, the tutor from Hell saw that Hibari tensed up, the perfect's eyes following something on the wall. With a lot of concentration, he could make out the outline of a man, by enhancing his vision slightly with his sunflame, he'd be able to see him fully.

The man was red haired and a beauty to look at, there were several beads in his gravity defying hair, reflecting the light of the light bulb. His clothes were that of a traditional Japanese man's safe for the body armor that was strapped onto his chest and the two swords on his side. The unknown man's eyes were fixed on Tsuna, his hands carrying a tiny box.

The redhead kneeled behind Tsuna and slid the box next to the boy. Upon retreating his hand, he purposely let it touch the smaller one, alerting Tsuna. The boy looked down to his side, seeing the box. His confused look carried to his mother who looked at her son, an air of obliviousness shining through. The unknown man still behind Tsuna tapped his long fingernails onto the floor, and as if it was magic, the woman suddenly said that Tsuna's dad sent them to him.

The redhead got up silently and ruffled Tsuna's hair, disappearing as he did so.

After that incident, Reborn started to see the man everywhere, on the playground watching after children, in the classroom observing the surroundings, even at Yamamoto's though then the man was actually eating. The Hitman couldn't help but wonder what it was about. None of the informants he had been contacting mentioned a red haired man before. It was as if the man didn't even exist.

But as the months went on... Reborn had to stop thinking about the person and concentrate on the mission, to turn Tsuna into the next boss of the Vongola Famiglia.

Trial after one another were tossed on their way, Tsuna's power grew, but so did his enemies'. And all the time, a man was observing them.

Then the ring battles started.
And everything was going like suspected. Until it was the Mist battle.

The girl, Dokuro Chrome, stood there, holding very familiar looking spear. Panic starting to seep through her mind. It was at that moment when they heard a voice, but not a single soul in sight whisper. "Chrome... You can always call Mukuro to help you. Make sure that your fight isn't long so you can come back home soon", Chrome's eye lit up and she nodded to the voice, as if she had known who or what it was.

She concentrated....

"Kufufufufu~ I didn't expect you to be present, yuurei", Mukuro laughed as his eyes were fixated onto a spot near Tsuna. The voice chuckled as an answer, but didn't provide any explanation as to why she was there, but it seemed like Mukuro didn't need any.

To say the least, Mist ring went to Tsuna's team.

Reborn looked around the room at the end, once again spottin  the odd man, whose attention was in Tsuna. Only that this time... Tsuna seemed to be able to see him too. The confusion was real on the teens face, though one might read it off as his reaction to illusions and nothing else if they couldn't see the man. And the man smiled at the young heir, disappearing behind a pole with several butterflies marking that he'd been there.

The weeks after the ring battle went down with Reborn trying to figure out what was going on in the peaceful town of Namimori, but all he could find were texts about Chihiro, the local deity and a demon who apparently was called... Morality... Aim...? What?

The pages about deity were detailed and praised her for her beauty and kindness and generous nature, but the ones of the demon were vague and seemed to have only one message.

The demon targeted children.

And the last time he'd been seen in Namimori was over fifty years ago upon the disappearance of one Hanajima Yui, though it was speculated that the girl simply ran away from home due to the neglective nature of her mother. None of the town folk would answer to his questions of the demon either and Sawada Nana wasn't knowledgeable of it.

She did say that she went to the shrine and prayed for the deity to help her conceive a child with her husband which had apparently worked

And then there was a list of names that were avoided in the town. They were apparently names of the Demon's shogun and the towns folk seemed to believe that if you'd name a child after them, they could posses the children.

These names included Jun, Ryoma, Ranmaru, Machiko, Dai, Hitomi and Kazuko. It was odd considering that the Hibari clan used these names often in the past. Actually, the current priest was called Ryoma while his daughter was named Hitomi.

It was clear that the Hibaris knew something, but at the same time, they took their responsibility to the people of Namimori so seriously that you couldn't get any answers from them.

Curse those tight lipped skylarks.

What does Tsuna need to learn next... Perhaps some more math? Yes, that truly sounds like a good idea, that boy's math grade was below average and that just wouldn't do.

Tsuna shivered in his sleep, dreaming of an ice age and a demon tutor wearing a tutu.