Chapter Text
After weeks on end of late nights at the office, searching for someone that might not even exist, Iemitsu found it: another family descended from Primo who could potentially inherit Vongola instead of his tuna-fishy. The only reason he hadn’t found them earlier was because his aunt had died before he was born and his cousin adopted by her father’s side of the family.
“Lal, get me an appointment with Nono! I have great news!”
“I’m not your damn secretary, Iemitsu!” Lal yelled back. Iemitsu ducked just in time for a paperweight to fly through his doorway bury itself in the wall behind his head. Geez, Lal was scary when she was angry.
Iemitsu braced his hands on either side of the door and leaned out of his office. “Basil!”
“Fear not, Master. I am calling Nono’s office as we speak,” Basil said, phone tucked between his shoulder and his ear as he scribbled something in a notebook.
Iemitsu nodded at his favorite underling and turned back to his desk to begin gathering up the files he’d need to make his case to Nono. There were only three files, since his cousin had died some years ago, but her oldest child had a lot more information in his file than his younger sisters did.
Basil stuck his head in just as Iemitsu was organizing the youngest daughter’s folder. “Vongola Nono is free to meet with you over lunch, Master.”
“Excellent,” Iemitsu said, grabbing his suit jacket from the back of his chair. It was almost eleven, so if he left now he’d have time to stop and grab some pastries from that little shop Nono loved. “Was there anything else?”
Basil hesitated for a moment. “Reborn will also be attending.”
A shiver of dread ran up Iemitsu’s spine.
0o0o0
“How nice of you to join us, Iemitsu,” Nono said with a smile as Iemitsu sat down across from Reborn. “I hear you have some important news for us.”
Iemitsu removed the cover of his pastry box, revealing a dozen cannoli. “It’s about your heir.”
Nono raised a bushy eyebrow. “Has something happened to Tsunayoshi?”
“My son is cute, useless, and completely unsuited to being a mafia boss. Not even Reborn would be able to change that,” Iemitsu said.
“Is that a challenge?” Reborn’s empty, soulless eyes bored into him, goading Iemitsu into looking away first.
Iemitsu laughed awkwardly. “No, no, of course not. However, after some careful digging, I found a few alternatives.” He pulled a family tree out of his briefcase, the relevant section highlighted, and passed it over to Nono.
Nono looked it over for a moment, then placed it aside. “What makes you think any of these three will be any better than Tsunayoshi?”
This time Iemitsu pulled out the file for the oldest child. “I had my eye on this one in particular, as his sisters are a little young. He’s smart, athletic, and known to be devoted to protecting his family.”
Nono made his way through the cannoli as he read first the boy’s file and then the two girls’. Reborn snagged a few to eat, but Iemitsu was too busy waiting for a verdict to eat anything. This might be the only chance he had to keep his tuna-fishy out of the Mafia, and that meant nothing could go wrong.
Finally, Nono said “The boy gets into trouble often, picking fights with yakuza. Not to mention his frequent absences from school from May to November last year. He may have already been pulled into the underworld.”
“My agents checked, and his friends were also absent during that time. It’s probably just a bit of adolescent acting out before college,” Iemitsu said.
“Is he even a Sky?” Reborn asked.
“Well, the boy is a civilian,” Iemitsu pointed out. “He’s inactive right now. It would be almost impossible to tell.”
“Hmm,” Nono said, flipping the files closed and leaning back in his chair. He glanced over at Reborn and began a silent conversation, composed almost entirely of eyebrow movements and twitches at the corners of lips. Iemitsu didn’t have enough experience either of them to be able to completely decipher their conversation, but he was fairly certain they were debating whether or not it was worth the risk to investigate the Kurosaki boy.
After several moments, Reborn said. “We will be renegotiating my contract after I’ve tested him, though.”
Nono nodded. “Yes, and if Kurosaki Ichigo proves not to have Sky Flames then you shall still be hired to tutor Tsunayoshi. Still, Primo’s bloodline is strong; the odds of the boy being a Sky are high. Try not to cause too much chaos in Karakura while you’re at it, though, my friend.”
Iemitsu relaxed back into his chair. As long as the Kurosaki boy proved to be a Sky, then his own son was safe.