When Fon rejoined Tsuna in the private living room, he nodded in satisfaction and handed over his stack of fake identity papers. "You have a unique gathering of individuals here, Tsunayoshi, but they all seem good enough for me and I-pin. You can count on me to pass along any mail between them and their families."
"Thank you, Fon." Tsuna heaved a sigh of relief. While he could have found an alternate way to obtain fake identifications (between Verde, the Varia and whatever Byakuran had going, he was starting to have quite the connections), having I-pin's guardian disapprove of some of her housemates would have been more than problematic. Apart from Haru, Hana and Kyoko, Tsuna already had strong bonds with all of them, and he didn't doubt his Sky Flames would latch on the three girls the moment they manifested a flicker of Flames themselves.
Fon's smile broadened. "Although I doubt you would have gotten rid of any of them even if I disliked them. Not after bringing them all the way from Japan already."
There was a hint of a warning in those words and a threat in that smile, but Tsuna didn't take them to heart. For all that he was a responsible guardian, Fon had a mischievous streak and enjoyed making people sweat. "You think I should have left some of them behind?"
As much as it rankled to admit, Tsuna still had doubts about it. He had single-handedly uprooted his friends from all they knew: family, friends, home, even language and customs. While he saw no other options for Chrome and Skull, the others very well could have stayed behind and lived normal, happy lives in Namimori with some changes. Especially Haru and Takeshi, who had only been involved with the criminal world through him.
"Hmm." Fon took the time to give his question all due consideration, which Tsuna appreciated. He didn't have many adult figures in his life to confide in, and none of the others were well versed in emotional issues. Verde would have sent him away with logical, rational answers that would have done nothing for his inner turmoil and Xanxus had the nasty habit of converting all emotions into anger. Skull didn't even bear thinking: in many ways, he was as childish as Lambo.
"I think you had no other options, not really." The Storm Arcobaleno replied after a moment. "Ryohei clearly couldn't be left to his own devices without falling into Mafia hands, and his sister shouldn't have been left alone without him. Hana doesn't strike me as the type to have many friends – the Sasagawa siblings are likely the only close people she has. She would never have let them go alone, not without making a ruckus, and forcing it would have been cruel to everyone involved."
Tsuna nodded without a word; he had come to the same conclusion, but hearing Fon validate it certainly helped reassure him that he had done the right thing.
"With how strong Taekshi's focus on you is, he would also have followed you to the ends of the earth and attracted quite a lot of unwanted attention in the meantime. Besides, from my understanding, he's the only one here with not only parental authorization but encouragement, and he's a bit… unstable. It happens with powerful Flame-users, active or dormant: they get terrible tunnel-vision and slowly lose any sense of limits. The only real cure is a bond with a Sky; the harmony factor helps them grow attuned to the rest of their environment again. Takeshi will get better soon and form friendships with the rest of your Elements and other people, you'll see."
Tsuna sure hoped so. While he'd gotten used to Takeshi's intense gaze on his back, it couldn't be healthy to be so hyper-focused on one person only, to the point of thinking of all your actions in reaction to that person's.
Chapter 36: that learned of the ranking planet
Start from the beginning
