"Maybe at the part where you reintroduce yourself, Kawahira-san."
The room turned so cold so fast. Freezing, in fact, as if all of the life and warmth had been sucked out of it. The white-haired man gazed at Tsunayoshi, his eyes boring into the other man's skull.
"I don't know what you mean, Tsunayoshi," he protested simply, slurping his noodles. The sudden drop in the atmosphere of the room did not change.
"I'm not stupid."
"I never claimed you were."
"When I mentioned Kawahira and Talbot your eyebrow twitched. It's an involuntary reaction. I know that Talbot has the pacifiers, and Renato has mentioned that Kawahira would be able to explain things to me better than they ever could. They also said that they might as well find Kawahira and introduce me to him personally because he would find a way regardless."
"My my, an insightful one. How bothersome but oddly exciting, it's getting me all hot and bothered," he replied, tone flat, "well, I go by many names, but Kawahira is the one I've decided to take on this millennium."
The aura brightened. Now, it had a general warmth and comfort to it, a tell-tale sign of sky melbourn.
"My name is Kawahira, and I am the Tri-ni-sette administrator," he said, "the Tri-ni-sette includes the Arcobaleno pacifiers, the Vongola rings and the Mare rings, which are all relics."
Tsuna nodded, settling comfortably in his seat.
"I think I understand that part. The pacifiers help them with control, right?" the brunette said.
Kawahira hummed, slurping up more of his noodles. His eyes glinted behind the frames of his glasses.
"That is exactly right, but they also restrain that power. That's why the Arcobaleno are seen as cursed demons. Even with those limits, they can destroy entire countries if they please. It is quite bothersome," the man explained.
"I see..."
"No matter. What would you like to know?"
"Where do I even start?" Tsuna asked himself, trying to organise the questions running through his mind logically. There was general information about the Arcobaleno, the Vindice and their role, Talbot, the Mares...
Then there is also Kawahira himself. How and why Reborn and the others became the Arcobaleno; what is shadow melbourn? How does it work exactly?
There's also the question of who he is. Was his ancestor really a Nerilian? And, if so, what does it mean for him? Does it impact him in any way?
"Whatever you need. I'll answer them all to the best of my ability," Kawahira told him, "truthfully, some things I will not be able to tell you, but I think it will be important for you to learn some of these things by yourself."
"What is the Tri-ni-sette?"
"Ah, starting with the big ones, hm?" Kawahira teased lightly, "the Tri-ni-sette consists of three groups of seven, as I'm sure you already know- the Arcobaleno pacifiers, the Mare rings, and the Vongola rings."
"I guess you could say that they keep the balance of power. The Arcobaleno rule over Nerilia, the Vongola's domain is here, Earth, and the Mares tend to... bounce around."
Tsuna nodded and tapped his thumbs on the edge of his cup.
"What do you mean by they 'bounce around'?" he asked curiously.
"The Mares can traverse between the planes with little to no difficulty," Kawahira began, "and their leader is a Nerilian as well- a sky. He has a special ability that allows him to talk to other versions of himself from other timelines and alternate universes."
Tsuna choked on his tea.
He coughed for a bit, trying to breathe again before he looked at the man sat across from him with an incredulous look on his face.
"That's possible?"
"Unfortunately," Kawahira grunted, stuffing another serving of noodles in his mouth, "it makes my job a bit bothersome, but I doubt he'd really do anything bothersome in this timeline."
Tsun was quiet for a while before he spoke again, "is that his gift? From the sky melbourn he has, I mean."
"Yes. But enough about him." Kawahira placed his empty bowl down onto the table. "As the administrator, I make sure that the rings and pacifiers fall into good hands."
"I am the puppeteer, you could say. The writer of the script, the director, call it what you will. I choose the players and they dance to my metaphorical script."
"That's all I can really tell you about the Tri-ni-sette," Kawahira said. "I'm going to get more food. I'll be back, Tsunayoshi-kun."
So, the Sawada was left to stew in his own thoughts. The Tri-ni-sette sounded like an important organisation. Would it even be an organisation, or something else? He wasn't entirely sure.
The Vongola rings... He's always known of their existence, but he had no idea that they were that powerful or important. Sure, he always had that itch that guided him towards the rings when he was younger, and the feeling screamed at him when his older brother put on the sky ring.
He's always had that feeling. The headaches, the gut instinct that guided him away from alleyways that looked innocent enough and the same one that helped him get home without being harmed.
An intuition, perhaps? He's not entirely sure.
No matter. He must think of what he wants to know next, something that may have been a passing comment that he was curious about or a topic he's always been interested in.
He'd like to know more about the shadow melbourn that Reborn possesses, he decided. Does anyone else have those flames? If so, who? What is the Vindice really about? Who are they?
His hand flew to the contract mark on the back of his neck.
And then he remembered that he has a very old ancestor who may or may not have been very involved with Nerilians when he was alive. This was a good question.
Hopefully, it was an easy one too. Easy. Splendid. Magnificent. Better than okay.
"Thought of any more, Tsunayoshi-kun?" Kawahira asked.
"I... there are a lot," Tsuna admitted. He went to take a sip from his tea, but there was nothing. He looked inside his cup. Nothing.
"Well, we have time." Kawahira sat down. "Let's start with the simplest ones first, shall we?"
"Shadow melbourn," Tsuna blurted out. He squirmed in his seat for a bit before continuing.
"I just mean that... what is it? How does it work? There's nothing like it in the textbooks we have on Earth."
"There wouldn't be. It is even rarer than Sky melbourn- in fact, it could even be considered a unique type of melbourn."
"Really? Fascinating," Tsuna replied in awe. Learning about a new type of melbourn- one that has not even been identified on Earth -was certainly exciting.
"Hm, I suppose it is. Reborn cannot use the full extent of his secondary melbourn type. This is where the Vindice comes in."
"They double as the police for the mafia, right?" Tsuna questioned, furrowing his brows. He could faintly remember his brother and father talking about them at one time.
He's almost positive that Reborn had also spoken about them before as well, but he just couldn't remember when.
"Well, yes and no. They hold up the balance between Nerilians and humans. It just so happens that most people who are associated with the mafia are either carriers of the gene or have it. They have summons of their own."
Kawahira sighed, eyes rolling from left to right as if he were thinking about how to form his next sentence. He took a deep breath.
"The Vindice can also use portals. They appear and disappear at will. Good for them. But, well, they are chained to this world. They work with the Tri-ni-sette, however, they will not hesitate to cut them down if they misuse or abuse their power."
"It happened once in the early years of their life as the Arcobaleno- Skull was brought into custody and served in the Vindice prison for ninety years, and just after they were first made into the Arcobaleno, Lal and Colonnello were both held in the jail for two hundred years for disrupting the balance."
The brunette placed his empty cup onto the table and interlocked his fingers in his lap.
"I didn't know that part," Tsuna muttered to himself, "so they're like the rulers? Law enforcers, maybe? To be able to detain an Arcobaleno so easily..."
"You could say that," Kawahira agreed. Something told Tsuna that the man had cut him off on purpose. But why?
"Lal and Colonnello were kept in prison because they're both the rain Arcobaleno, right? It's not supposed to work like that, is it?" Tsuna said.
"You are correct, Tsunayoshi. Colonnello had disrupted the process of the Arcobaleno initiation, I guess you could call it. This had made things more difficult for the Tri-ni-sette, the Vindice, and especially myself."
"I cannot say that I didn't consider it as a possible outcome beforehand, though."
There was an odd silence after that. A moment for Tsuna to think on it, and a grace period for Kawahira where he could simply put his thoughts together.
He cannot reveal too much, obviously, but he also has to give as much information to the boy as he can. Tsunayoshi needs to be informed. Perhaps not too much, or he might go out on a limb and do something or say something that would not help his current situation.
Just enough to keep him in the know, but not enough for him to change his mind about how he's going to handle things. The Arcobaleno need him right now. Want him in their ranks, even.
The clock on the wall struck four.
"Anyway. That's all I can really say about that. I think that I would have a particularly unpleasant meeting with Bermuda if I told you all of their 'trade secrets'."
A shiver ran down the Sawada's spine at that. He had heard stories of the Vindice but has never seen them in person. The stories were enough. Frightening.
"Okay. Then... The Mare ring holders, who are they right now?" Tsuna questioned.
"Ah, interested are we?" Kawahira mused.
"Just cautious. I wouldn't want to be surprised later on and have them be some type of evil organisation that tries to kill me."
Tsuna thought of all of the enemies Reborn and the others could have. He thought of it frequently. Ever since he found out that they were the Arcobaleno, he has been more cautious.
Not that he shouldn't be cautious anyway. God knows how many assassins and private investigators stalked him because of his heritage and family.
The Vongola really should have some type of program for these things. It's a shock that they don't. Or maybe it's just not applicable for Tsuna himself. Who knows.
"They're not enemies of the Arcobaleno if that's what you mean. There was some bad blood between the previous users of the Mare rings and the current Arcobaleno. They've been switched now, obviously. The Vindice would not allow any serious split-ups in the Tri-ni-sette."
"It's because of the Arcobaleno's rise to power, isn't it? The Mares were overthrown by them and came to rule..." Tsuna stated, licking his lips.
"Yes. With that in mind, Bermuda and I discussed the best course of action. We had come to a decision fairly quickly, but we did not anticipate the Mare rings choosing new owners so quickly," Kawahira explained.
"Hold on," Tsuna said, pausing, before continuing, "the Mare rings 'chose' new owners?"
"The Mare and Vongola rings are... sentient, in a way. The Vongola rings have remnants of Giotto and his guardians' melbourn, and that is how they choose their owners."
"The Mare rings are a bit more complex." Kawahira paused, eyes clouded and conflicted. "They live, but it's not exactly clear how. It may be because of how many owners had put in their flames, or it may be the cause of how they were made."
That had made Tsunayoshi stop. In his mind, it seemed like a lifetime had flown by as he thought about all of the reasons why they could be sentient, alive. It had only been a few seconds in real life.
Strange, how time works.
"Huh," Tsuna murmured, "you don't know either? Then... Talbot would, right? They're the one who made all of the Tri-ni-sette trinkets."
"Oh, they told you about Talbot," Kawahira asked, though it sounded more like a statement, "I suppose they told you more than I would have thought."
"They were looking for him too," Tsuna added.
"Tough chance of finding Talbot. He's been sleeping since Giotto's... well, disappearance, I suppose. But not really. We all knew he just tailed it to Japan," Kawahira snorted.
The brunette made a mental note about that statement.
"Oh. But, Talbot knows why the Mare rings are sentient, right? I mean, he made them," Tsuna insisted.
"Maybe. I'm not quite sure. I know that he has kept the 'secret formula' under wraps for years, but I don't know if he knows why they are sentient."
"Okay, cool, um... so who are the current Mares?"
"Oh right." Kawahira coughed uncomfortably. "Right now, the leader is a man called Byakuran."
Tsuna mouthed the name silently. It wasn't anyone he knew, and he was pretty sure he has never even heard the name 'Byakuran' before.
Maybe one of the others would know who he is. He filed that information away for later.
"You won't have to worry about him too much. He's pretty eccentric and loud and... exciteable... but he won't be a problem. I made sure of it."
Tsuna was equal parts unsettled and disturbed by the primal grin Kawahira gave him.
"Tsunayoshi, if you would let me, I would like to fill you in more after you give me the rest of your questions."
"I... I would like that. Thank you, Kawahira-san."
The man sat across from him smiled, and the bells rang in the brunette's head once more. There was something strange about that smile, but he just couldn't place it.
"Don't mention it, Tsunayoshi-kun."
Tsuna didn't know why the Tri-ni-sette administrator was so willing to give him all of this valuable information for nothing in return.
In the future, the man could use this against him. What if the man had some underlying motive? Tsuna wouldn't put it past him. Then again, he doesn't really trust anyone.
Even worse, his intuition, which has been surprisingly helpful for a long time before this, has been quiet. Silent. Giving away nothing about the man. It's as if Kawahira did not exist to his so-called 'intuition'.
Perhaps that was the most unsettling part of all.
--={&}=--
Don't kill me lol this chap was a bit harder to write.
Now that I know kinda where I'm headed, I think that this is gonna be a long book lol. I mean, we're getting pretty close to the next story arc which I estimate to be at around chapter 44/45 maybe?
Don't hold me to that pls
But, uh, yeah-- drop me a comment and let me know what you guys think :))
-Bell