The Angelic Demon

VII

I'm sorry...
Just so sorry...
Get the tissues...
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Tsuna was happy to feel the wind in his feathers as he flew toward the sins' mansion. It was so rare that he got to fly uninterrupted or without care but he decided to chance it today. No bullies had run into him today and everyone was sticking to the streets to avoid the low hanging clouds.

It was one of the better days for him. He gets to hang out with the sins while the other demons his age are out training or trying to find a mentor.

He supposed he lucked out when Reborn agreed to teach him all that time ago. The teachers thought that he would never get a mentor with his... faults.

One day, he was hiding from his bullies, unknowingly on sin property. He was high up in the trees, protected by the branches from people trying to reach for him from below but low enough that someone couldn't just grab him from above without getting a hole in their wings and plummeting to the ground. (He loved the protection of his wings sometimes.) Imagine his surprise when someone was calling him down from the trees, which was surprising because it was hard to see him through the branches, much less with his black wings wrapped around himself. His blatant refusal was met with amusement which confused him more than anything. This man allowed him to stay up there on the condition that, if he got any closer to the house, he would be killed. So, it became his hide out. The strange man eventually said that he would help him train, mainly so that he would stop hiding in their foliage. It was surprising to find out that it was Reborn, because even he heard tales of the Lust Demon and he felt stupid for not putting it together before. But during his training, the other sins were introduced, ironically none of them ever connecting the idea of the second prince to the Dame-Tsuna before them. (Reborn almost did kill him when he found out.)

Since then he has always been close to the sins. He could go to them for anything and, if anything, they are like family to him. (Maybe more if Tsuna was honest to himself about the sin of lust.)

It was Sunday and Tsuna felt that if he didn't at least spend this day with the sins they would flay him. He was pushed out by his brother anyway, telling him to take a break and relax. (Though what part of Reborn went with relaxed, Tsuna didn't know.)

And spend time he did. Reborn was out so he spent time with the others. He did his homework and played video games with Skull. Mammon would quiz him on finances as he did, making sure that his lesson was never wasted. (And he was happy for it. He was the only one in his class that had even a slight bit of financial skill.)

When lunch time rolled around and he and Fon shared the kitchen. They discussed school and family as they navigated around each other with the ease of practice. He constantly had to push Collenello out of the kitchen when the delicious smell of their food started to fill house. When it was almost time, he was given the job of fetching Verde, bribing the sin of gluttony with knowledge about how his pet scientists were doing in the royal staff. (Even if he refused to admit it, Verde loved those scientists' brilliance and could never pass up a chance to hear about their recent experiments.) When they all sat down at the table, Reborn had arrived and they all tucked in.

Tsuna was smiling away, happy about the peaceful day he had. He made plans with Reborn about training after lunch and had a conversation with Lal about her latest adventure. Skull was across from him making exaggerated reactions to Lal's story, solely to make Tsuna laugh. Yep, Tsuna was glad his brother told him to have a break; he missed this. Tsuna was hap-

A page from the palace burst through the door, covered in soot. Before any of the sins could attack however, he managed to gasp out five words. "Castle! Fight! King Giotto! Help!"