Archive of Our Own

Tsuna doesn't know what to think about Hayato-kun's declaration because he doesn't act on it right away. And Hayato-kun says a lot of things. Tsuna's also not sure if he was joking or not, since it had to do with him. He had an odd habit of doing whatever he says about Tsuna unless Tsuna outright rejected it, but Tsuna was too flabbergasted at the time to say anything.

The next day, Reborn-san is attempting to teach him some sort of math that he probably should have already been taught but hasn't, with the threat of explosions laying heavily on him. Then, he hears it.

There's some shuffling noises outside the window. The room he's in is on the second floor. The only thing close enough to it for him to even hear is a tree. Normally, he probably would have dismissed it as a random animal, but the whole Mafia talk that's been going on in the past— um, just over two weeks, he thinks? Huh. It was kind of weird to think that he's been the heir to a whole Mafia Family (Famiglia?) he didn't even know existed before for two weeks and two days. About that long, anyway.

But, the noise is really concerning him. Especially with Hayato-kun living in the spare room. He would jump straight into danger if he thought it 'protected' Tsuna. For some reason. But Reborn-san is just ignoring it, so should he—

"MUORI, REBORN!"

... What? "Um, Reborn-san? Did you—?" The baby-not-baby proceeds to ignore Tsuna's questions and goes on to review what he had just explained. Tsuna grows twitchy as he glances out the window and spots a baby. One that looks slightly older than the tutor does, but the more concerning part in Tsuna's mind is the fact that he has a knife sticking out of his hair. And he doesn't look like he knows how to use it, unlike Reborn-san with his many, many guns.

"Er, Reborn-san, there's, um, kind of a child on the tree outside the window?" mumbles out the tired teenager, worry clear in his voice, and he's not at all pacified by the way the hitman tells him to just ignore it. "È molto tempo che non ci si vede, Reborn! Sono io, Lambo!!" the boy in a cow onesie screams in some unfamiliar language, staring right at them. Or just Reborn-san, considering he said his name.

"Remember this formula," Reborn-san says instead of acknowledging the child now in the room. Apparently, the child didn't like being ignored. "Hey! Non ignorarmi!!" he shouts, "TI AMMAZZO, DANNAZIONE!" He lunges towards the desk where Reborn-san is sitting, and—

Reborn-san easily bats the child away and slams them into the wall. The afro-ed (Mafia?) child wails some more, Reborn-san... diligently? ignoring it while instructing him. He... seems to get depressed? "Dame-Tsuna. Don't get distracted," scolds the tutor and Tsuna attempts to listen to what he's saying. He doesn't know the child; surely someone else will come for him?

For a little while, it works until the boy says something he does understand (Tolerate) and brings out a whole bazooka while saying something with "ten" as a descriptive word. He only knows that much because Reborn explained that "Decimo" meant Tenth (like Hayato-kun kept calling him) and the kid said "dieci". Luckily, he puts the thing away while muttering some more.

Unluckily, he somehow finds a grenade and tries to throw it. Reborn-san, once again, continues talking while launching the child away once again.

Unlucky for the child, he gets tossed out the (still) open window, back onto the tree branch. Tsuna knows for a fact that the tree can't handle that much weight, and his head thumps with a bad feeling he's come to know as future trouble. The tree especially can't handle a weight that's launched onto it. Especially when there's a grenade thrown on top, and especially when it explodes.

The branch breaks, as Tsuna expected, and the cow actually-a-child screams. He almost jerks right out of the chair if it wasn't for Reborn-san's pointed stare and him repeating the question he was too distracted to listen to. His brain clicks and his mouth stutters out the (right) answer (for once), blinking in somewhat shock at himself before mustering the courage to ask what that was about.

"Oh, he said something about being from the Bovino Famiglia, which is a rather small Mafia group in Italy. I don't know him; I don't associate with those of a lower rank," Reborn-san says dismissively, and doesn't say anything more on the subject.

Later, kaa-san calls just him down and Tsuna is met with the sight of a sniffling and bruised child with an afro clinging to her. He thinks, "Oh, it's the... Bovino? kid," and he blinks when he feels a tug on the shorts he's wearing as kaa-san says, "He's Reborn-kun's friend, right? Oh, did they fight? Tsu-kun, you're the eldest boy here, so help them out, won't you?"

It's phrased as a request, but kaa-san is already walking away to make dinner for the four (five now?) of them and, really, Tsuna doesn't have a choice but to comply. Tsuna doesn't— he hasn't needed to know how to care for kids or children, and with Hayato-kun bristling but offering to take the child outside instead, he doesn't really have to, but...

(He's always wanted siblings. A reason to not be Dame, for once. Someone to dote on and to shower with love, but tou-san was (dead) never around enough for it to happen.)

So, instead of taking the easy way out, he pats the teary-eyed kid (assassin?) on the head and shakes his head at the other teen living in the house. "No, I can take um, the boy, out myself. Thank you for— for, uh, offering, though, Hayato-kun." He pauses, and offers a weak half-smile to both of them, which somehow calms the younger boy clinging to him, and sends Hayato-kun into cutting himself off when he starts spewing poems of his unworthiness and instead just says "Of course you could, Tsuna-sama!"

Tsuna doesn't get why, he's perfectly fine the way he is, and he wouldn't blame the other boy for not thinking him capable. He doesn't quite look like the kind of person who was good with kids, after all. And he wasn't really, but learning to watch bullies' faces for their moods would translate well enough to gaging a kid's face, even if— if, um, the kid only speaks Italian.

That. That might actually be a problem; maybe he should've taken Hayato-kun up on his offer, but then the boy in a cow onesie starts speaking in Japanese, which is unexpected, but helpful.

"Lambo— Lambo-sama is— Reborn is so mean to Lambo-sama!" cries the—Lambo?—child, still sobbing, but now outside on the grass. "I guess. He's always like that, though. Your, um, name is Lambo, then?"

"Lambo-sama," mumbles Lambo-kun, no longer crying, but still looking miserable, and Tsuna suddenly remembers the wrapped candy he had grabbed while distracted just before he left the house. Kaa-san sometimes acts like he's still five or seven, and keeps the bunch of candies in a bowl there for kids. He offers one, and the leftover tears immediately stop as he holds the grape candy and chews on it.

A dream of being the boss (something he doesn't want) and a more childish one of making everyone bow down to him, but the next sentence makes Tsuna freeze (huh, he's been doing that a lot lately). "But, but, my boss told Lambo to defeat the super first-class hitman, Reborn." It's said so simply, ready to be dismissed, but Tsuna's mind focuses on the words.

"Lambo-kun—" and the boy interrupts, "You can have the honor of calling Lambo-sama "Lambo" because you gave him dolci!" and Tsuna's face goes soft in a way it usually doesn't. "Lambo, how old are you?" he asks, because this "hitman", this child couldn't be older than 7. He's barely taller than Reborn.

"Lambo is five years old!" says the now confirmed five-year-old, "Hey, hey, Fratello, what's your name?" And Tsuna resolves as he answers with a simple "Tsuna,"— if he's forced to become a Mafia Boss—to the bloodiest Mafia Famiglia—there simply will not be child killers, in either sense of the words. He'll make sure of it, even if he's Dame and never done anything right in life, there just won't be.

(He ignores the very telling numbers ticking down on his wrist.)

(Strangely, his mind doesn't include Reborn-san as a "child" killer, even though it adds Hayato-kun next to Lambo.)

"Tsuna-nii!" the child, Lambo, calls happily, grinning and leaving no trace of the bawling he had been doing previously, and Tsuna's response is a soft "...Yeah, that's right, Lambo."

...Lambo has a magical bazooka that can switch him with a ten-years-older version of him. Or anyone he shoots. Okay.

"Simply put, Flames are your Will and Resolve. How much you want to do something. The Dying Will Bullets usually work because it's scientifically proven, by a coworker of mine, Mafiosi just starting usually achieve the Resolve necessary to even spark Dying Will Flames when they regret on their deathbed. Vongola created the Bullets for that purpose, and later, the Pills," explains Reborn-san in one of the calmer moments of the day. Shamal-sensei wasn't visiting today— he was off doing... something, and Hayato-kun respects the hitman too much to stir up trouble.

Lambo was taking a nap in the kaa-san's bed upstairs, while they set up another one for him in the same room, so there wasn't anyone taunting him, either. Yamamoto-kun was with his dad in TakeSushi but would visit later, as he had cheerfully called out after school when his baseball practice was finished.

"You are currently gaining resolve that you should have naturally gained through things you enjoyed. Based on your file, the only true thing was that you didn't have any hobbies, so, you'll be... finding one you like." Tsuna— Tsuna did not like the sound of that. Huh. Before, he wouldn't have even commented on... Well, never mind.

(time's ticking down.)

("Eh, the thing looks around, seven or six years old?"

"I'm going to kill Iemitsu for doing that to his own son."

"You do that, Reborn. I'll prevent that guy from dying from it— I'm surprised he's even still alive.

Confused by the conversation in another language, Tsuna simply shrugs.)

After the utterly exhausting day full of activities Reborn-san had Tsuna (and Yamamoto-kun and Hayato) try out, he finally had two that he enjoyed somewhat.

Cooking and baking. Both were something he had thought about picking up when he was younger— he even had the supplies from years ago stuffed in some closet in a box somewhere, but he just forgot about it and everyone's comments didn't really help him want to pick up a hobby.

The fact that the bullies mocked him for being "short and girly" back when kaa-san got the supplies he needed only spurred him into forgetting he had ever wanted to learn how to make food. It was only when Reborn-san had cheerily stated cooking as the next activity that he remembered about the kitchen supplies shoved away. They were dirty, but he didn't want to make kaa-san pay for even more when those worked just fine after being cleaned.

When Hayato-kun ate the test run, he literally burst into tears. Tsuna worried that it was because he was a terrible cook, but Hayato-kun denied it and said that it was "absolutely wonderful and I'm upset I ruined Tsuna-sama’s food by eating it!" but Hayato-kun was the kind of person to say that about anything Tsuna made. For some reason. Though even Yamamoto-kun said it was great, and his dad was a literal chef.

Tsuna has never made so much coffee before— the house didn't even have a coffee machine before Reborn-san came and kaa-san bought one because he drank coffee like it was water. Tsuna actually... liked the sweeter variations of coffee, with cream and other things, though Reborn-san teased (?) him for being a heathen for not drinking it black.

(Tsuna has a feeling that they were being watched when they were out before. He has a bad feeling about that...)

Two days after, Reborn-san tells him that Hayato-kun had called Yamamoto-kun out to some field (Hibari-san would killthem if they damaged the schoolyard) to test him in some "Family Entrance Test" because Hayato-kun didn't like how familiar he acted with Tsuna and the fact that he doesn't look strong enough to protect Tsuna.

"Let's state some facts. I'm the World's Greatest Hitman. Gokudera Hayato uses bombs and is Tsuna's right-hand man because Tsuna's the 10th Vongola Boss. To join his Family, you have to pass this test administered by myself and Gokudera over there. Failing means you've died, so there's no way out of taking the Family Entrance Test," bluntly says the tutor, swatting Yamamoto-kun's hand away (without his usual weapons or strength) when he goes to pick him up.

"Hmm, I see. It's a Mafia Game, then! Well, this is to join Tsuna's family in the game, yes?" and when Reborn nods, "Haha, I guess I'll just have to pass it then!" Honestly, Yamamoto-kun has impossible cheer in the face of bombs and death, even if he thinks it's only a game. Which, Tsuna will have to stop that kind of thinking. It's dangerous, after all. Hayato-kun shifts on his feet, hands gripping his bombs.

"Stand back, please, Tsuna-sama. This is his test; I wouldn't want to accidentally get you caught up in it," says Hayato-kun, and Reborn-san frowns and narrows his eyes, and Tsuna thinks he isn't going to let him stand out before he just huffs and gestures to the spot behind them. "No hiding behind Tsuna," he orders instead as Tsuna walks behind both Hayato-kun and Reborn-san.

"G-good luck, Yamamoto-kun," he waves from his spot, stretching his finger nervously as Yamamoto-kun frowns at him before Reborn explains further. "The test is simple," he claims, "Just dodge the attacks." And he takes out guns. That isn't Leon, he means. But he just puts them away and starts throwing knives.

Yamamoto-kun just dodges them with startling ease and easy laughter. But, Tsuna is used to watching faces for reactions, and there's an excited gleam in Yamamoto-kun's eyes that makes Tsuna think he knows it isn't a game; at least subconsciously. However, it's slightly worrying that he's enjoying it, with that in mind. Then, suddenly (or not so suddenly, because Reborn-san was very very dramatic and announced it) the weapons changed to arrows shot by some sort of bow-gun.

It stays like that for a while, before Lambo, from behind, declares his presence as a five-year-old in the middle school grounds, decides, again, that he does not like being ignored, and attempts to murder Reborn-san, again, with a missile launcher he pulls out of nowhere. Unfortunately, Tsuna hasn't been able to convince Lambo to stop attempting to assassinate Reborn even when it's gone terribly wrong for him every time.

Lambo, while a good shot (for a five-year-old), couldn't do distance very well yet and almost hit Yamamoto-kun. Tsuna tenses, and wants to stop the test already (why does he even need a test?), but Reborn-san just continues nonchalantly, finally using an actual gun (it was a... submachine gun, but Tsuna doesn't know what that even means) and shooting with it. He.

He encourages Hayato-kun into using his dynamite for Yamamoto-kun's test, too.

(Why is this his life?

Right, idiot biological male "parent" was a direct descendant of some vigilante group leader (now a Mafia Famiglia). And he was already the leader of some group, so he couldn't be Vongola Decimo, or whatever it was called.)

(If he really cared about keeping him out, he could resign. Apparently, the Ninth was willing to give it to him if he could find another CEDEF leader, but whatever. He knew he wasn't going to be anyone's first priority.)

Lambo frowns from his place up above and shoots himself with the Time-Swapping Bazooka Magic Mafia Thing™. He will never tell anyone what he calls the damned thing because he has a feeling Reborn-san would either be way too amused or shoot him on principle for saying "Magic Mafia".

The weapon Reborn-san uses for the test swaps for a rocket launcher— and Tsuna guesses that they're just going to be so overkill. Especially with Lambo-kun starting to use his Green (Lightning) Magic Mafia Fire™ (he will never tell anyone his description of Flames, either) and the fact that they were all heading towards Yamamoto-kun, who was, currently, nearTsuna.

He shrieks and slams his hands over his mouth on impulse, making a muffled sound instead when Yamamoto-kun grabs Tsuna by the arms and jumps away from the giant explosion, bruised, but not blown to bits. He glances up from the floor, his heart (still) beating, up towards Hayato-kun, who frowns and looks a little horrified but changes his expression to a thoughtful one, before marching towards Yamamoto-kun, who had let Tsuna go at that point.

He scowls, but Tsuna's pretty sure that's his normal expression (exactly why Tsuna was so terrified of Hayato-kun when he was still Gokudera-san and kicking over the desk) so he's not too worried. Hayato-kun's face lightens up a bit, though it'd probably just seem neutral, and he tells Yamamoto-kun "Good job on protecting Juu— Tsuna-sama!" he says, and huh, Hayato-kun hasn't switched out his name for "Juudaime" in a while.

Tsuna blinks, and, apparently, that time is enough for Hayato-kun to put back the scowl on his face and somehow get into an argument with Yamamoto-kun. Well, at least he isn't taking out explosives. He's taken Tsuna's words to heart, at least— that he shouldn't be so quick to go for his dynamite.

While he knows how to make it and has the brain to know how to use it, he was impulsive, and the fact that he didn't realize Tsuna was in the blast radius until after he threw them was proof of that. Tsuna would bring it up later and hope that he understood and didn't take it personally.

Yamamoto-kun wants to be called by his first name.

Tsuna doesn't know how to feel about that. Tsuna didn't— hasn't done much; he just stopped Yamamoto-kun's spur-of-the-moment decision that happened because of the constant stress on the poor teen. Anyone would've—should've—done the same thing had Tsuna not been already worried and told Hayato-kun to keep an eye out.

He could call Yamamoto-kun Takeshi-kun like he does Hayato-kun, but...

It's different for Yamamoto-kun. Hayato-kun wasn't even in the country when he was being teased and harassed and pushed, but... Yamamoto-kun was. He was there and he watched and laughed with his not-friends when Tsuna bled and nursed bruises and almost broken bones.

Yamamoto-san to Yamamoto-kun was a change he could make. Tsuna wasn't sure if he could— if he wouldn't flinch every time he said it, in memory of the days he didn't know how to hide as well as he does now, when he didn't have a schedule or when Reborn-san wasn't there to somehow prevent it, even when he gets to school early.

"Tsuna?" asks Take— Yamamoto-kun, looking worried, and, and, and—

(That was all he wanted when he was younger. A worried face, someone who cared he was injured all the time.

Why couldn't Yamamoto-kun have been like this back then?

But Tsuna has learned not to want, and he won't set himself up for foolish hope and the inevitable despair.)

But Tsuna is also terrible at refusing people when he feels that they're genuine, and Yamamoto-kun is the closest to anyone living in Namimori before the last two weeks that's genuine towards him, and not just to someone around him. "G-give..." he mutters, relenting, "Give me a week, okay, Takes—Yamamoto-kun? Just to— to get used to it."

Yamamoto-kun beams, and it's so unlike the fake one he gives out casually during school, that Tsuna blinks, and can't help but to laugh in that soft way he learned to, and smile slightly back at the boy who's changing.

It's almost summer break, and Tsuna honestly expected more assassination attempts.

It's strange to think this is the first, when a stranger with light-pink hair (Woman? Older teen? Tsuna can't tell) tosses him a drink on a particularly warm summer day, that he dodges because even if he is thirsty, he knows better than to take things from strangers and people he doesn't know very well.

(opening a box, bugs falling out, a scream, high pitched cruel laughter, and ignored wept tears)

It turns out to be a very good idea because the can spills open, and kills a nearby bird. Hibari-san isn't going to be very happy about that. Even if it was only a crow, Hibari-san adores birds—he found out when he tried to hide up on the rooftop and Hibari-san was resting with birds chirping next to him—and the bird was a Namimori bird, and somehow, to him, that makes it even worse.

Tsuna... Tsuna thinks he should rush back to the house now. And so he goes, out of breath because he still doesn't have the best stamina, and he calls, "Reb— Reborn-san! Out—outside, p-poison assassin? They—she? killed a bird, trying to kill me— oh my god Hibari-san is going to murder her—"

He catches his breath, evens his breathing, and then actually looks up to Reborn-san and blinks. Hayato-kun is in the kitchen, so he questions him lightly. "Is... Is Reborn-san covered in bugs?" He sounds incredulous, because he has never seen anything like what Reborn-san currently looks like, and only scrunches up his face at the confirmation Hayato-kun sends him. "They're my summer minions. They collect information for me," says Reborn-san with absolutely no more context.

"Speaking of which, Bianchi, a former fellow hitwoman, is in town. She's probably the one you met briefly. What do you mean Hibari's going to kill her, though?"

Well, Reborn-san must have information on who Hibari-san is, but there's some things you can't get with just a couple days or a week of watching, especially if it's split up watching other people, as well, so he explains what he knows, and turns worriedly towards Hayato-kun when he suddenly looks ill.

"B-Bianchi's in town?" he sputters out and just when he's about to ask why exactly he looks sick at the very idea, the doorbell rings.

"Italian Pizza Delivery!" the muffled voice beyond the door calls, and Tsuna looks like he can't quite believe someone believes him to be so stupid. Well, anyone not from Namimori and isn't Takeshi—Yamamoto-kun, anyway. Tsuna is, actually, only realizing that he's understanding things quicker and can learn things and that he's not really "stupid". "Wait a moment!" he calls instead, not moving any closer to the door.

"Hayato-kun, I don't know why this Bianchi-san makes you so uncomfortable to even speak about, but if you need to leave through the back before I have to open the door— because she might break it down if I keep her waiting for a few more minutes." Hayato-kun looks troubled by the fact that he's troubling Tsuna (which he's not) but eventually shakes his head. "Just," he hesitates. "Just, please, don't let her near me? Or— or let me see her at all," requests Hayato-kun, and Tsuna nods.

Right. Here he goes.

(He completely misses the approving look Reborn-san sends him— for noticing Gokudera's tension and finding a way to resolve it, all while keeping a calm head.)

The conversation—battle—assassination attempt—whatever that was supposed to be called did not go well.

Tsuna is all quiet fury, at himself, for not keeping the Poison Scorpion away from Gokudera like he promised, and at Bianchi for causing him to lay on the floor, frothing at the mouth, groaning in pain.

"Get out," Tsuna all but demands, looking serious and not resigned for the first time Reborn has been on his assignment. "I—" starts Bianchi, likely confused on where the stuttering weak civilian Vongola Decimo candidate went, but Tsuna, currently, does not want to listen to reason.

Reborn thinks all that's processing in his head is that Gokudera is on the ground because of Bianchi, and she's still in the Sawada Household.

"I said, GET OUT!" shouts Sawada Tsunayoshi, eyes glowing with a faint orange Reborn can only see because he's trained in that, and Reborn wonders what cracked his Seal hard enough to let even that amount of Sky Flames out.

And, well, Bianchi might be a moderately strong Storm Flame user, but what could she do in the face of such pure Sky Flames, backed up by a Will Tsuna was all too willing to go through with, other than comply?

The Poison Scorpion leaves the house, leaving a steaming Tsuna turning into a worried Tsuna, Flames still fluttering weakly against his senses, flying around but not suffocating. There wasn't enough for it to even attempt it, not that Reborn thinks Tsuna would even if he could.

"Reborn-san," he calls urgently, eyes flickering all around the room. (And wasn't that a surprise? Getting respect in the body of a baby?) "Is there— anything you, I can do for Hayato-kun? to wake him up or—or even just make his situation a bit easier if—when he wakes up?" he asks.

("Good," the part of Reborn's brain tells him, still thinking of it as a job, "He can take care of his subordinates, and doesn't expect others to do the work for him.")

"Lay him somewhere more comfortable than the floor," he says instead, "And clean up the mess Bianchi left behind. I'd think the fewer reminders he has would do him some good."

"Tsuna-sama's really too kind," thinks Hayato while ignoring the annoying cow brat that's been living in Nana-sama's ("Call me Mama!") room. Not that it was a bad thing— Tsuna-sama was amazing if not the closest thing to perfect anyone could get, since he'd told Hayato that he wasn't perfect because he still didn't know a lot of the Mafia in general and would definitely make mistakes.

"All humans would make mistakes because they're human and I'm human, Hayato-kun," Tsuna-sama had said. He was nice and warm and soft, everything the Mafia just wasn't, but Hayato would follow him anyway. Even though he'd attacked him, even though he had admitted he was a bastard child, Tsuna-sama just hadn't cared.

And maybe part of it was his civilian mindset, that he didn't get the seriousness of Hayato being an unwanted bastard at first, but Reborn had explained after, and he still hadn't minded. And there was—

"I said, GET OUT!"

—that. Hayato couldn't remember much because Bianchi, his half-"sister", had shown her face to him, but Tsuna-sama's voice was clear. Just seeing Hayato fall to the ground was enough for Tsuna-sama to raise his voice. That. That might not be special to anyone, but Hayato was observant. Jyuudaime, Tsuna-sama, never yelled or said anything above a normal speaking tone.

That he would do something he normally never did, for Hayato of all people cemented his loyalty to Sawada Tsunayoshi-sama even further.

And Tsuna-sama was naturally charismatic, calming down the cow brat with only an hour spent outside with him. He even saved Baseball Idiot even when he didn't have to, who was so aggravating and obviously sometimes made Tsuna-sama uncomfortable with how he called him "Tsuna".

Oh no, Tsuna-sama hid it well (which was frustrating; it meant he had experience) but Reborn had pulled him aside and told him point-blank that Tsuna-sama's school situation was worse than what he had first been told, and then informed Hayato of it.

So, Hayato couldn't be sure of that Yamamoto's loyalty. Especially since he threatened some of his friends and was told that he laughed at Tsuna-sama in the past. At Tsuna-sama, who was comforting and warm and understanding and didn't deserve the nickname those idioti gave him.

"Dame-Tsuna", huh? He didn't see it. Maybe at first, he had, as much as he hated to admit it, but he'd learned that Tsuna-sama valued honesty over lies, even if they were a little harsh. But now? With Tsuna-sama opening the Sawada household to him, just because Hayato couldn't afford a good apartment just yet?

Hayato would make sure Yamamoto was loyal, just as loyal as he was, to Tsuna-sama, or Yamamoto would die in the process. He would make sure Tsuna-sama didn't have to flinch back from everything and could smile more without being made fun of or laughed at.

Hayato will.

She shows up again. At school, she replaces Kyōko-san's rice balls that she offered him with her poisoned ones, and almost gets Yama—Take-Takeshi-kun poisoned. Tsuna almost wants to glare. "Wait, Kyōko-san," he says, ignoring Hana-san's suspicious glare, "I think one of your ingredients must have gone off without anyone noticing. I'm sure they would have tasted great otherwise."

Kyōko-san looks disappointed and embarrassed, but she gets permission from the teacher to try again with better ingredients, and nobody gets poisoned; a plus. Hayato-kun had to skip school because of his stomach ache, which was real, so Hibari-san had no reason to "bite" him tomorrow when he'd feel better and could come.

He doesn't see her again in the school, which was good, he guesses. How she's even related to Hayato-kun, he doesn't know. How she could do that to him since they're related is something he knows even less of.

But, back at the house, Reborn-san says, "She's going to be another home tutor for you— for the "mafia" side of home economics, which include poisons, her specialty, and art." Tsuna can already tell he's already told her as such, though he has a vague feeling she has the completely wrong idea, and Tsuna can't change his mind.

"...Could you get her to wear a mask in the house? I know it probably won't stop Hayato-kun's reactions completely, but I asked, and it should help. And— and, she can't live in this house. Not while Hayato-kun is here, and I'm not kicking him out."

Reborn-san nods, and that's that.

It goes about as well as anyone would expect.

Not very, but Tsuna doesn't scream and order Bianchi-san to leave the house, and she does leave Hayato-kun alone, for the most part, which is points to her, even if he dislikes her as much as he can dislike somebody.

She comes, teaches him and whoever's with him that day, flirts(?) with Reborn-san, half-heartedly attempts to poison him, and leaves to the apartment she must have bought because she isn't allowed to stay in the house for anything but tutoring.

It's as good as it's going to get, in this time.

The less said about the (slightly, maybe insane) black-brown-haired high school girl named Miura Haru-san, the better.

It's actually summer. No more school— though, he still has the summer homework to do. Reborn-san made him do a fourth of it the second he got back to the house, which was absolutely exhausting, but he had time for slowly learning how to cook traditional Japanese dishes from kaa-san and slowly reading about foreign ones.

He once asked, a few days before school ended, why he was trying so hard— even if it was his contract. The answer he gave wasn't really an answer. "Don't worry about it, Dame-Tsuna. While it is my assignment that I won't fail, I'm your tutor. That's all you need to know."

(His tutor, huh?)

Tsuna smiles softly on reflex (when did it become a reflex?) and nods. Tsuna... doesn't really get it, but it's Reborn-san, and he says a lot of things Tsuna doesn't understand. Maybe he will, in the future.

And adding to the moment, Lambo comes down the stairs from kaa-san's room where he's been staying, and laughs loudly and taunts Hayato-kun childishly, causing him to react explosively. Luckily, not with any actual explosives he most definitely has on hand. Tsuna's been working on that.

The next few days pass normally, with Reborn-san cramming normal history and mafia history and where it doesn't line up because of hits done in the shadows, or incidents caused by Dying Will Flames that were swept under the rug. Tsuna finishes the summer homework that was assigned, though he'll probably be forced to go over it later on by Reborn-san.

"Try sparking your Flames. You obviously can; you did it with Gokudera, but we have to get you to a point you can do it by will, and longer than five minutes. Unless you suddenly gain the power to end a fight with an experienced Mafioso in that time limit, increase it."

Tsuna could remember what he felt when Hayato-kun had suddenly started threatening him with explosives, knew that he was hurting and lashing out and wanted it to stop. Remembers thinking, "I will," and suddenly feeling warm and not cold like he is right now. It was a nice feeling— but back to the assignment.

Flames were— are resolve. Just like Reborn-san had said before. It's will and do and how much he wants. Tsuna had forgotten what it was like to want, to stop himself from hurting and stop being constantly reminded that he didn't even have four years to live.

But— but, even with the "being forced to be Decimo" thrust on him by Reborn-san, the past school year was the happiesthe had been since he was four and warm and childish and still dreaming. Tsuna...

Tsuna wants. He wants to keep this life, this fun, for as long as he can. And then, as if responding, warmth comes. First from his forehead, which had always been the coldest and yet the warmest part of his body, and then it gently spread through the rest, flame bursting from the beginning.

Everything suddenly becomes clearer, in his eyes. Hayato-kun taking notes outside the closed door, the birds outside the window, Lambo's soft snores from kaa-san's room, and the fact that Reborn-san sort of feels like yellow.

"Oh?" hums the tutor, "You got it faster than I expected. What did you think of?" Tsuna barely manages to stop himself from feeling embarrassed, and only grins slightly while chirping out, "Ah. That's a secret!"

Reborn-san somehow frowns without moving any of his facial muscles, but he doesn't push, which makes Tsuna grateful.

Lambo... Lambo was launched out the wall. Again.

"Do you, do you have to hit him every time he tries to use a weapon? He's been getting about it," mutters Tsuna, eating the soumen leftovers again without complaint. Kaa-san's started getting up earlier because it's summertime.

Tsuna thinks it might be to keep busy. Kaa-san can only clean the house so many times, and with Tsuna cooking during the school year, she hasn't had much to do in the mornings other than cleaning the dishes and cleaning the house constantly. It was a lot worse when he was younger; sometimes she would forget to cook at all and just clean everything from head to toe.

Lambo's helped just by being a kid. Kaa-san always loved taking care of young children, and always wanted to have more kids just like Tsuna wanted them to have younger siblings. Someone who he could call his. But of course, dad was (dead) "off to become a star" and wasn't in the house often enough.

Tsuna could hold grudges.

"Yes. How else will he learn attacking me is a stupid idea?" Reborn-san says in response. "I don't know, scolding him the normal way?" thinks Tsuna, ignoring the way Reborn-san smirks like he knows what he didn't say. "Um, Tsuna-sama, Reborn's actually being kind of lenient with the cow. Most Mafioso would just kill him and get rid of the annoyance—to them!—as the easy way out. Reborn's not even harming him that badly; his wounds can all be healed in a week."

And that is why Tsuna is starting to heavily dislike the Mafia. Even to Hayato-kun, launching a five-year-old out the window multiple times is considered fine and actually kind of nice. But it's not civilian laws Tsuna will have to follow, it's Mafia ones; both official Vindice laws and the unsaid ones.

Tsuna doesn't think he'll ever like or understand it, but he also doesn't think he can change a whole world; not as he is now. And maybe before, he never thought he would change, but now, with Hayato-kun's excited encouragement, Yam—Takeshi-kun's easy jokes, and Reborn-san’s effort, Tsuna thinks he can get to that point someday. Even in just two years, he'll be better than he is now.

Breaking Tsuna out of his thoughts, the doorbell suddenly rings. "U-um! I think you might've lost someone!" calls out the timid voice. Did... Did someone find Lambo that quickly? Or did Lambo find them?

"Tsuna-sama! I'll get it for you!" calls Hayato-kun, rushing down the stairs with Reborn-san hitching a ride. Tsuna follows at a slower pace. The scene he sees there, well, it's a justified reaction.

"Um? Hello, I'm guessing you're the one who found Lambo?" he says calmly, looking at the redhead currently hysterically screaming into his phone about Reborn-san being just a baby.

Huh. Tsuna had kind of forgotten about that part. It's sort of easy to ignore size if it's obvious that he still knows more than Tsuna does, and constantly shoots around Lambo and sometimes him, as well.

"E-eh? Oh, someone normal," mumbles the boy, "Why— why is that boy trying to kill the baby? And—and why does he have bombs?! Both the child and the silver guy!" Tsuna pauses. How does one explain the Mafia to someone unaffiliated?

"It's... complicated. It's sort of a family-work matter on dad's side, but he was busy with it, so Reborn-san was sent to teach me about it. Lambo's family also does things like dad does, but I think his specializes more in the sciences; hence, the grenades. Hayato-kun was born into it," Tsuna 'explains'. "I'm technically not supposed to tell you anything, but in light of the trouble Lambo's probably caused in damages, an explanation is the least I can give."

"And, and the explosions don't worry you at all?!" shrieks the other, non-Mafia-related teen. Tsuna simply shakes his head. "While Lambo might be childish, they can keep their damages down and are mature enough to know better than to hurt others. Well, other than each other, but Reborn-san doesn't really hurt Lambo that much. I'd prefer it if he didn't do it at all, but I can't make him."

The redhead looks incredulous. "He's... Reborn...-san is a baby," says the boy. "A "baby" who has no problem dealing with Lambo. But back on topic, I'm sorry for the inconvenience."

The teen, apparently named Irie Shōichi, is even more freaked out when Lambo takes out the Bazooka, and an older Lambo-kun appears in some sort of yukata(?) and simply walks away from the whole situation.

Ah. What has his life become? At least Bianchi-san isn't here to make the situation even worse. Even if there's going to be so much damage to be paid because of explosions. "I think you should go back now, Irie-san," says Tsuna. Irie-san erratically nods his head and runs away from the chaos.

...Why does Tsuna have a feeling something terrible is going to happen?

Lessons continue as usual. Nothing else really strange or weird happens.

Reborn-san comes up with an insane training schedule the second school starts up again. The time he had to get up changed whenever Reborn-san felt like changing it. It had no reason or any routine or anything that let Tsuna just go through the day with muscle memory.

At least thinking was slightly easier than it was before. And it— it kept him occupied. The last time he had even remembered about the timer ticking down was before Lambo came barging in. Because that child took every second of free time Tsuna had to keep occupied and not exploding something or attacking Reborn-san.

Or taunting Hayato-kun and Takeshi-kun, when he came over. Which was becoming more and more frequent. Somehow, Tsuna had started to get invitations to TakeSushi on a weekly to daily basis. Hayato-kun sometimes forced him over, which Tsuna didn't get because while Takeshi-kun and Hayato-kun most definitely were friends, it was more of "they both liked Tsuna enough to get along and banter and fight without breaking bones" than any “we hang out because we like each other’s personalities” kind of thing. Though, Tsuna thinks it’s getting there.

But the training. Somehow, Sasagawa-senpai (Kyōko-san's older brother by a year) was up at the same unholy time, also training (by running and yelling out "EXTREME!") and decides that he likes Tsuna enough to bother him about joining his Boxing Club.

(He was never interested before, why now?)

But Tsuna was never the best at telling people "no" and Hayato-kun had gone out to buy more dynamite and to try to find a weapon that wasn't so destructive and could do more than just explode. Takeshi-kun had more baseball practice and had said he could skip, but Tsuna had told him to go anyway, so Tsuna didn't have anyone with him that would reject the offer for him.

Reborn-san was there, but he had the gleam in his eyes that basically confirmed that he wasn't going to step in on Tsuna's behalf. In fact, he was probably expecting it and making the early-as-hell training sessions specifically to catch Sasagawa-senpai's attention. Probably something about the Guardians to the Sky, Reborn-san had mentioned a few times.

But Tsuna was going to ignore that problem for now until he couldn't anymore. He might not be as good at it as kaa-san, but he had inherited something from her other than just his coloring and short stature.

School itself is more or less the same, except Tsuna now spends far less time hiding and running than he did before. It was probably a mix of Reborn-san doing something, Takeshi-kun giving the rest a smile that wasn't a smile at all, and Hayato-kun waving his dynamite at the students who weren't deterred (somehow not getting in trouble? with anyone but Nezu-not sensei).

It was actually kind of nice not having to watch corners because people did it for him and made sure he was okay and not bothered and "played" with.

Lunch will probably be the same, though.

Unfortunately for Tsuna's (remaining) sanity, Sasagawa-senpai is nothing if not persistent.

The word "extreme" and any variation of the sentence/exclamation/demand "JOIN MY BOXING CLUB, SAWADA!" have started just not registering in Tsuna's brain. He's heard it so many times. Even more unfortunately, Sasagawa-senpai has taken this as a sign he's getting through to Tsuna on his not-even-an-offer. Hayato-kun is being Hayato-kun, but Sasagawa-senpai is just not deterred.

"I'll see you after school, Sawada!" calls the albino, and now Tsuna really has no choice but to just go.

And Tsuna does, but he really knows absolutely nothing about boxing and they spend around five minutes just explaining the absolute basics of boxing to Tsuna, with Reborn-san becoming someone called "Master Paopao from Thailand". Except neither Hayato-kun nor Takeshi-kun could tell it was him. Somehow.

Tsuna barely dodges the first punch he throws. Tsuna can't just go burst into fire— one, he's too distracted to even try and muster up the resolve for it, and two, he is not going to beat up Kyōko-san's older brother with the absolute calm it gives him.

And then Reborn-san shoots Sasagawa-senpai, probably mainly out of curiosity. Except, he doesn't yell anything out, a yellow Flames (Sun?) just burns on his forehead. Which— oh god that's absolutely terrifying that someone's always doing things with their Dying Will.

And Tsuna really should just forfeit, stop wounds and the disappointment, but somehow, something tells Tsuna it wouldn't be worth it. And that "something" has saved his life before, when he was more sluggish and slow and screamed, so he listened.

Tsuna fights, and he refuses Sasagawa-senpai's request. He dodges and tries.

Somewhere near the end, Tsuna decides that just dodging apparently isn't "fighting" enough and lands a hit on his face. Except— except that just makes Sasagawa-senpai like him even more.

And Reborn-san's being Reborn-san, bluntly asking him to join "Tsuna's Family". Sasagawa-senpai, and Kyōko-san, who was in hearing distance, only look confused, but Tsuna's already resigned at having the older Sasagawa around more, because if he was persistent, then Reborn-san stubborn and determined and absolutely not willing to change his mind.

(He was not calling him nii-san, though. Not... not any time soon. Thankfully, Sasagawa-senpai understood that much.)

The next day from that disaster, Tsuna is prepared to get the lunch in his bag stolen again because that's what has happened every school day for the past 8 years. What he does not expect is Takeshi-kun bouncing up towards him in the lunchroom with a bright (real) smile, and ushering him towards an empty table, where Hayato-kun is fuming silently, but still sitting.

(He immediately brightens when he sees Tsuna. He doesn't know why.)

"T-Takeshi-kun?" he squeaks out, because what is he doing? "Maa, Tsuna, we're your friends! And friends sit and eat together! Hey, do you want some sushi? My dad made some extra to share when I mentioned you." Tsuna is flabbergasted. He mentioned him to his dad? Why?

"Don't address Tsuna-sama so casually, Baseball Idiot!" cried Hayato-kun, immediately launching the two of them into another argument. Tsuna sits down, but he's a bit confused on why Takeshi-kun smiles pointedly at his old friends (who he doesn't really spend that much time with outside of baseball practice) when they attempt to go towards Tsuna or himself, and he doesn't quite know what to do with the lunch still in the backpack.

The lunch isn't getting taken, so does that mean he has to eat it? But he's gotten used to not eating anything during school lunch, and when he mentions it, Takeshi-kun's smile sharpens even more and Hayato-kun looks even angrier. He doesn't get it, and his hands twitch to scratch at the unseen timer on his wrist, for the first time in a while.

Whatever, it's probably a one-time thing, anyway, he dismisses as he finally opens and starts to slowly eat the lunch she had made that morning. He doesn't finish it, but he does eat around a quarter, and considering how long he's gone without actually eating lunch, it's decent, he guesses.

...The whole "actually eating a lunch" Tsuna had to do? It ends up not being a one-time thing.

It keeps happening, and he wants it to stop soon because if it doesn't it'll hurt even more when it does. His mind goes back to when Takeshi-kun called them both his friends, but that can't be right. He's "Dame-Tsuna" and can't have anything.

If he smiles the eighth time the two other boys argue over Takeshi-kun calling him just "Tsuna", no other student looks to see.

(Tsuna would do almost anything to keep this.)

"You're going to make a Vongola Hideout in the school," says Reborn-san suddenly. "... Why?" asks Tsuna over the excited chatter of his friends (once he was sure Takeshi-kun wasn't just going to go back to baseball). "Because you need one. I've decided that you'll use the reception room. It's almost never used, and it's a good place for a base."

"The reception... wait—"

"Reborn-san, the reception room is—" tries Tsuna, because while it might've not been used before, he knows for a fact it's being used by a certain someone. "I won't change my mind. The reception room is... perfect for what I've got planned," denies Reborn.

Oh. Oh. Tsuna isn't going to get out of this. Hayato-kun hasn't been in Namimori long enough to know escape routes and where to get gossip, and Takeshi-kun never had to know them because he's still popular and was a good enough student that Hibari-san never felt the need to "bite" him too much, other than for minor crowding when he was nearby.

Tsuna resigns himself to bruises and to getting his two friends out of the reception room while distracting Hibari-san. He's not a fighter, but he knows how to dodge and he is quick. He had to be, after all. The room should have potted plants near the door that Tsuna can use to block a hit, even if Hibari-san will be annoyed that he used it. It's better than Hayato-kun and Takeshi-kun getting hurt.

A plan made, Tsuna and the group trudge towards the trap Reborn-san had set for them.

"HRK— HAYATO, TAKESHI, GO!" yells the brown-haired Herbivore after blocking one of Kyōya's tonfa. He glowers darkly, glancing at the recently named other Carnivore, who was watching from a distance. "But— Tsuna-sama!" calls out the bomber Herbivore, who was lucky Kyōya didn't bite him to death for attempting to destroy Namimori Middle School property.

"Just— Just go!" the Herbivore shouts back, relaxing slightly when the other two listen and run away, but never taking his eyes off of him. He wonders what paper the brunet—Sawada Tsunayoshi, he remembers—slipped into the baseball player's hand, before dismissing the thought. It's not important right now. Not when this Herbivore is somehow using the things in Namimori Middle to block Kyōya's constant attacks. His Disciplinary Committee knows better than to interrupt.

He's playing, after all.

The Herbivore dashes away, quicker than most of the others Kyōya has bitten, but Kyōya should still be faster. He's had proper training because he is a Hibari, and yet... He glares at the back of the Herbivore's head, where he's ducking and hiding behind plants and boxes and chairs, and leaping through shortcuts that Kyōya couldn't use because he was too tall, just barely keeping in front of him.

And how aggravating that is, that this student knows his school this well and he didn't know about it. Sawada Tsunayoshi is merely a first year student, while Kyōya has spent almost three years in this school, and somehow, somehow, he knows Namimori Middle School just as well (if not better) than Kyōya himself does.

(Purple fire flares.

In excitement and intrigue or annoyance and outrage, who's to know?)

He twists through gaps and ignores the scrapes they give him, and if Kyōya didn't know and memorize just as many different paths (to catch Herbivores when they run) through his school, he might've (as annoyed as he is to admit it) lostthe Herbivore (is he really?) by now. Even if it wasn't after school, Kyōya suspects that the first year could weave through students just as well as he does the school.

Eventually, though, the not-Herbivore has to slow down. He does not have the training to block Kyōya's harsh and relentless attacks, nor the exercises to increase his stamina enough to play the game of cat-and-mouse he'd started. Kyōya takes a moment to check their surroundings. They've reached the rooftop, where the fence has still yet to be fixed from that baseball herbivore's stunt.

Actually... The not-Herbivore is standing right by the open ledge, and Kyōya glares at the amber (weren't they listed as a normal brown?) eyes of Sawada. He's bruised and has cuts over his forearms, though somehow, his Namimori Middle uniform is barely damaged. "Herbivore," growls Kyōya, because he does not have a correct label for this mistake in his system.

Sawada Tsunayoshi, when coming to Namimori middle, is (was) completely boring, weak, stupid, and an Herbivore. The student who stares back at him, barely flinching, mostly from irritating his wounds, is none of those things. Kyōya almost wants to grin; this is the most fun he's had in years.

He stalks forward, intent on dragging the brunet away to play more, but from out of nowhere, he has a shinai on its side and thrusts it forward, pushing him back, turning towards the open ledge, and jumps.

Kyōya is left on the ground of the rooftop, slightly winded, with a carelessly tossed kendo sword next to his beloved tonfas, alone. Kyōya, finally giving in to his urge, smirks, and mutters, "Sawada Tsunayoshi, hm?"

Tsuna yelps once he's at the place the quickly scrawled map he'd shoved in Takeshi-kun's hands said to go to. Hayato-kun fusses, asking panicked questions like "What happened?!" and "Do I need to blow that guy up?" Takeshi-kun, on the other hand, is silent. To Tsuna, there's a difference between being quiet and silent, and silence is always scarier.

"Tsuna," says Takeshi-kun in the split-second Hayato-kun took to breathe in, "How did you know to draw this map? Whendid you? How'd— how did you even fight Hibari?" Tsuna winces. They're all valid questions, but answering them would mean—

(taunting and hiding and failing and getting caught and hurting and cryinG—!)

—talking about things Tsuna doesn't like talking about. "I... before school started, I asked kaa-san to ask the middle school for permission for me to— to look through the school, and "get used to spending time there" was what I told them. It was actually more of, of um, looking for hiding places, and places I could sneak through. Because— Because I'm 'Dame-Tsuna', remember?"

Takeshi-kun looks slightly horrified at the implications of his words, and Hayato-kun looks so upset and angry, and Tsuna thinks to himself that he should've just stayed quiet if it would keep those looks off their faces. "It-it's fine, you two, I'm used to—"

"But you shouldn't have to be!" cries out Hayato-kun in outrage, "They don't have the right to— to do that to you, Tsuna-sama." That's— Tsuna wilts, and Hayato-kun blusters out apologies for being too loud. "The— the fighting Hibari-san thing was more of me just running away because— because I know the school and which spots are too small for Hibari-san to fit through. Getting away, it was, um..."

How does Tsuna tell Takeshi-kun he used the broken fence space that Namimori Middle's principal had still yet to fix to jump away? Would they even believe him? He didn't have any broken bones in his legs from jumping, after all.

The only reason he even knew that spot was safe to jump from was because he knew how to break a fall and the fact that the grass was still kind of soft from the rain, with bushes and a couple of trees to help him. It wasn't that high, so... He was—still is—covered in dirt, mud, and leaves, along with the scratches from wires and sharp stones, and bruises from when Hibari-san managed to hit him.

Tsuna's still wincing about the fact that he knows his arms are going to be so sore from blocking Hibari-san's hits, and the cuts he'll have to bandage from things shattering in his hands through the aches when Takeshi-kun's voice suddenly breaks the stillness in the air.

"I'm sorry," he says, and Tsuna blinks. Tsuna was just explaining how he got around the school. Why—or what—did Takeshi-kun feel the need to apologize? "...For what?" he asks, and Takeshi-kun actually looks serious for once.

"I— I laughed, when my old... old friends," he spits out the word like it's a curse, "bragged about locking you in rooms after school, and when they teased you and constantly said that they stole your lunch, or talked about who had your lunch that day. I even— I called you Dame-Tsuna. You're not dame, Tsuna, and I'm sorry that I couldn't see that until you stopped me from— from doing something I couldn't take back."

His voice is so soft, but Tsuna— Tsuna feels like a deer in headlights. Nobody apologizes to Tsuna. Not ka—not his mom or dad, not the students who tormented him daily, and certainly not Yamamoto Takeshi, baseball ace of Namimori Middle.

(Except that's not really all he is.)

Except, the last one just did. "I wish I'd gotten to know you sooner, if only so— so you wouldn't have had to suffer until Gokudera—Hayato transferred here. If— if you get into a fight again, don't tell me to run." Tsuna is just about to protest, but Takeshi-kun just keeps going. "My old man has this sword style— when I asked when I was younger, he said I wasn't ready. I'm going to ask him to teach me. It definitely isn't enough to make up for it, but we're friends now, Tsuna."

"I can't take back the time I thought baseball and the opinions of people who would drop me in an instant were everything, and what I'm starting now won't be enough, but, eventually, I'll make it up to you, Tsuna. I promise."

And, what can Tsuna even say to that? He clearly means it, considering the fact that Hayato-kun hasn't cut in like he usually does, but Tsuna has never in his life received an honest apology.

"...Okay," Tsuna says, voice just barely over a whisper, "I'll be waiting, then."

The Namimori Middle School Athletics Festival goes normally. Sasagawa-senpai (who is insisting to be called "Ryōhei-senpai at the very least!") tries to get Tsuna to be the leader, but with the fact that everyone (except him, apparently) knows how terrible Tsuna is with athletics, does not get picked. Tsuna is honestly surprised that Reborn-san didn't try and push the role on Tsuna, but he guesses it's the fact that he knows that Tsuna isn't up for it.

Maybe if he could just use the bullets, but he can't, and Tsuna just doesn't get worked up about things like sports. Not enough to get the resolve for Flames and keep them there, anyway.

So, the festival was completely normal, aside from the singular fact that Sasagawa-senpai... beat(?) an EMT.

Tsuna's murdered someone. Tsuna's murdered someone. He can't think oh god he's actually murdered someone.

Tsuna can barely hear the words of the people around him.

Bits and pieces fly through his head, and logically, Tsuna knows he didn't have that gun before, but—

There's so much of what seems like blood, and his head is spinning.

"—na?"

"—ake up—stop scaring—sama—burn with—cigarette—"

"He moved!"

Oh. So Tsuna isn't a killer at almost thirteen. Tsuna starts breathing again when Shamal-sensei comes in. He looks, and the man is drunk. He pauses. "Are—" his throat is dry "are we sure that he's dead? I mean, Mafia— the Mafia seems to have a lot of weird skills. Is— is being a professional at playing dead one of them?" he asks, blinking blearily at the stares Takeshi-kun and Hayato-kun are giving him.

It's such a weird and specific skill, but Leon can turn into a gun and a hammer and who knows what else. So, Tsuna thinks it's definitely possible.

"Oh, is this about the Mafia Game?" he laughs and grins, and Tsuna's got to talk to Takeshi-kun about that. Hayato-kun might have the right idea, but he's just yelling that it's not a game which isn't helping much.

Words flutter around, Shamal-sensei refuses to even touch the man on the floor, and Hayato-kun concludes that he isdead, just as Hibari-san comes in through the door, stares at Tsuna, and declares that he's here for the body.

(Why would he even want a favor from Reborn-san?)

And so, Tsuna is swept up by the sudden realization that Hibari-san's Disciplinary Committee gets rid of bodies. Okay. Hibari-san is Hibari-san, and Tsuna won't (can he even?) stop him from being himself.

And then Hayato-kun gets into a fight with Takeshi-kun, which prompts Hibari-san into attacking the two for "crowding" and "being too noisy" in his presence. While Hayato-kun has been working on different weapons, his go-to is still dynamite, and he throws it in the house in response, just as Tsuna lunges forward to stop damages from happening, the "dead" body jumps out of the way.

Good news: there's no explosion and Tsuna is definitely not a murderer. Bad news: Tsuna now has burns on his hands and Hayato-kun and Takeshi-kun stop fighting with each other and Hibari-san to fuss over them.

Tsuna...

Tsuna is fine. He's not a murderer. He has not killed anybody.

(But he won't be. He'll have to be. He'll have to.

This is the Mafia, after all.)

"Tsu-kun!" kaa-san chirps, clapping her hands together after school when Reborn-san was out. "Ah? Yes?" Tsuna answers distractedly, attempting to do the math homework with Hayato-kun over his shoulder. "Did you know that it's Reborn-kun's birthday soon?" Oh, is it? Tsuna did not know, actually.

"You should help out with the party. It's in two days, so you have plenty of time to get the supplies for me." She smiles brightly in that ditzy way, and Tsuna could never say no to kaa-san— to his mother, and so he readily agrees, even when only halfway done with math homework. Tsuna's so glad that Nezu got fired; he wasn't that great of a teacher.

"Okay," he says, nodding, "What do you need me to get?" And a present... "What would Reborn-san even want as a gift?"Tsuna wonders, noting down to ask kaa-san for the money to buy supplies. Tsuna might have the allowance to pay for it all himself, but... He doesn't use that money.

But something he would get for Reborn-san... Hmm, that store might work. The owner was out more often than not, but it usually had things Tsuna wouldn't be able to find in a normal store for a good price. Honestly, it seemed like the owner just didn’t know how to price things…

"Happy birthday, Reborn-san/kun!" calls the Sawada Household when Reborn steps foot back into the house. He blinks. Even Tsuna is there, which is... Isn't it his birthday tomorrow? Shouldn't he have assumed everyone was preparing for his birthday instead of Reborn's? How'd he even get here before him?

Reborn had wanted to play a small prank on his student; of course, they would still celebrate Tsuna's birthday, Reborn's would just come first. And maybe his would be spent very differently depending on what Gokudera had planned, and would probably rope him into doing because Tsuna wouldn't have known to prepare a present/show for a Vongola Style Party.

However, it looks like Tsuna had helped with setting up for someone else's birthday. Which was a day away from his own. And unless Iemitsu was so incompetent that he got his own son's birthday wrong—

But Reborn doesn't let any of it show, and instead ranks his student and his (future) Guardians' gifts. It's a modest party; there's only a couple of people there. Even that brat Lambo, who Tsuna has apparently weaseled out a promise to behave for today.

Nana gets a 100 just for making coffee and the food, which they all agree is fair. Yamamoto has apparently brought his dad's sushi, which gets an 80 on Reborn's part because while it's good, he didn't make it himself and it's just not as good as Nana's food. He shows what he has so far on his dad's Shigure Sōen Ryū, which is decent progress for less than a month of actual formal training, so his score increases to an 89.

(Superbi Squalo of the Varia is better at wielding a sword, Reborn can't help but think. Because Reborn has always had high standards.

Even before.)

Bianchi, who'd shown up after Yamamoto was finished outside, got a 79 because she destroyed and cut through Nana's house in the process. She sulks with the mask she actually remembered to wear before coming, but she seems to actually get his reasoning instead of claiming "Love will power through it".

Gokudera did some sort of magician's trick with a stuffed toy since Tsuna already had a gift. A solid 90 for the effort, but he docks it for only being a stuffed, oversized animal instead of a real person.

Tsuna... Tsuna didn't have a show because he'd only told his Guardians, and Nana only knew of the party aspect of it, and apparently, Nana was the one who'd told him about Reborn's birthday, and he gave him a yellow band with an orange stripe for his fedora ("From that somewhat-of-a magic shop," he said) and actual Italian coffee beans that were somehow fresh (apparently also from that same shop).

He gives him a 95 because it's good Italian coffee beans and because the band he's apparently bought was amusing to him because apparently, he'd only bought the mostly yellow one instead of the same orange Reborn currently had on (to identify that he was tutoring a Sky) was because he had a feeling. Well, Reborn has a feeling that Tsuna's Vongola Hyper Intuition might be waking up.

Reborn doesn't actually know why it's waking up now after being sealed for seven years along with his Flames (which Tsuna apparently also has access to and can learn the normal, prodigal way) and shouldn't have been broken yet because Reborn's only used one bullet (and never will again) but he isn't complaining. If it wakes up on its own, that means he doesn't have to explain to Vongola Nono why he refuses to shoot his student with Dying Will Bullets.

(And it's not his fault that Nono fails to ask questions other than "Is Tsunayoshi-kun getting used to using his Flames?" and "How is he progressing?" and just assumes he called Shamal over to heal Skullitis.)

Eventually, at the end of the party hours later, Reborn's curiosity wins and he asks about Tsuna's birthday. "Hm? Oh, it's October 14th, why?" he says casually, and Reborn realizes what has happened. Evidentially, so have both of his teenage guardians.

"Tsuna, your birthday is tomorrow?" asks the Latent Rain, in a calm Reborn can see through straight away. "Hm? Oh, is it the thirteen already? If so, I guess it is. Kaa-san and I don't really celebrate... my birthday. I honestly forgot about it, and I'm pretty sure kaa-san forgot for years, too."

And god, the nonchalant way he says that his own mother forgets about his birthday on a regular enough basis that Tsunabarely remembers it when it comes makes Reborn faintly homicidal. Mostly towards that idiot Iemitsu. "The only reason I remember the date is because the account in the bank kaa-san set up a while ago gets more money sent to it that day. And I only check it on Saturdays, so it's usually past that day anyway. There's no reason to remind her that her husband—" Reborn notes he doesn't say his dad "—hasn't come back to the house."

Tsuna shrugs, and Reborn has told Gokudera who Tsuna's father is, and he's pretty sure Tsuna's comments are destroying a lot of the faith the bomber had for Vongola's CEDEF leader. "But— Tsuna-sama, it's your birthday! You even made a cake for mine when Reborn-san told you about it!" protests the Latent Storm. He looks about half ready to commit murder (likely Iemitsu) and half like a kicked puppy (likely because he didn't know Tsuna's birthday).

"I haven't celebrated it since I was around six and that guy at least called on the day of. I'm pretty sure he's not dead, considering I've got to have gotten this Mafia blood from somewhere, and no offense to kaa-san, but she's not really screaming out a Mafia affiliation. Especially since she'd have to have told Vongola, and she doesn't leave the house except for groceries," says the semi-Active Sky, and if Reborn wasn't nearly as good at reading people, he would have missed the wistful tone to his voice. Interesting.

"That's not right, Tsuna. Hey, we can have a party at my dad's! I'll just call him, hold on," says Yamamoto, grinning and already reaching for his phone, stepping out to make that phone call, presumably. Gokudera grumbles, but he doesn't argue. "I'm off to get a gift, Tsuna-sama! Don't worry— it'll be the best gift ever!" Tsuna laughs and smiles, but his eyes look sad as Gokudera jumps out the door, mumbling something under his breath.

It's only Reborn's superior hearing that lets him hear it, and Reborn is definitely going to shoot Iemitsu. Probably not fatally— Tsuna still needs an External Advisor, even if he's only adequate at his job. Unless he can find a better one (which should be easy because of how stupid Iemitsu is), that is.

("Considering the gifts I've been given before were mostly just money, you probably won't have to try too hard, Hayato-kun.")

The surprise on Tsuna's face that Hayato (who still yells at him, but they're friends and Tsuna calls them by their first names!) and Takeshi had gotten him actual presents made something in him stir. It was the thing he hid around his mom when she was still alive, and the thing his dad said was normal for people on his side of the family.

But back on the topic of Tsuna's party and his shock: it might've also been the fact that Takeshi dragged the two of them out at four in the morning. And the fact that he had somehow gotten the older (and louder) Sasagawa invited.

(Takeshi would protest, later, that he was awake and that Tsuna deserved being celebrated by absolutely everyone, but Takeshi didn't know everyone, and considering how his old friends felt about Tsuna, he settled for adding Sasagawa.)

"This is an extreme party, Sawada!" shouts the older white-haired teen. "I— I guess? I didn't really think that..." mumbles Tsuna, looking slightly overwhelmed and fiddling with the birthday hat Takeshi's old man had put on his head the second Takeshi had dragged them into TakeSushi, which was closed today just for Tsuna's birthday.

Oh! That's his cue, along with Hayato, when Tsuna starts to walk backward, for them to come to his side without a second thought like it's completely instinct. Takeshi grins and laughs, letting an arm hang off Tsuna's shoulder, to get his mind off the fact that his mother isn't there, and hasn't called for why Takeshi dragged her son (though he's questioning that part) and his friend out of the house at five.

And Tsuna smiles back, a small and soft one, but that's okay because it's real, like he has been recently. "Get your hands off Tsuna-sama," grumbles Hayato, but it's more of a token protest that he's been doing lately. It's fun to playfully argue with someone without overthinking every word and if they would still be his friend after it.

Because no matter what anyone says, Takeshi isn't an idiot. He knows that the baby Reborn is strange and that Tsuna wants to talk to him about something— probably about the Mafia "Game" and the Famiglia thing Reborn brought up before. Takeshi jokes about the Mafia Game because he hoped that it would take the tension out of Tsuna (because joking about the thing in question usually does that), but it only really made him more panicked.

However, stopping out of nowhere would've done an even worse job at calming his best friend down, so he kept to it, if less often than he would have joked before. Takeshi wonders if it's really the real Mafia Tsuna's gotten himself into. He wonders why it makes his hands twitch for a sword he doesn't yet have because his dad says he's not yet ready to wield Shigure Kintoki yet. Wooden swords help, but...

Ah, he's getting off-topic, and he smiles even brighter when his dad brings out sushi and cake that they'd bought from the bakery a couple of streets down yesterday. Tsuna, who was looking slightly off-put since the start of the party, immediately brightens at the sight of the cake. Takeshi notes the type and tells himself to ask his dad where he got the cake later.

In all honesty, Tsuna is kind of, maybe, very confused. He was half asleep when Takeshi-kun dragged both Hayato-kun and him out of the house, and into TakeSushi, barely after he ushered them to get dressed.

The party, even if Takeshi-kun had mentioned it on Reborn's birthday, he had assumed it was a joke and his birthday would be spent doing nothing in particular again, was loud (with Takeshi-kun inviting Sasagawa-senpai, of all people), and Tsuna ended up having sushi and his favorite cake for breakfast. There was even enough left over for him and the others to have more when they got back.

When was the last time he'd had cake, actually?

But Tsuna doesn't have any time to think about that because he's spent the better part of the morning eating and laughing, and now it's school because Hibari-san (eerily, he hasn't bitten Tsuna to death for jumping off the school roof and running away) probably wouldn't let them get away with skipping just for Tsuna's birthday. So, Tsuna goes about his day, Takeshi-kun and Hayato-kun both staying close, preventing most of the usual bullies (who really, spent more time running away from Tsuna, now) from coming near him.

Takeshi-kun does it with his sharp, pointed smiles, and Hayato-kun just uses his blatant threats of blowing them all up while waving around his (very real) dynamite. He also has a switchblade, but Tsuna's pretty sure Reborn-san's only cleared Hayato-kun's dynamite with Hibari-san, seeing how he's glaring from the corner, but not engaging, and Hayato-kun isn't taking the blade out.

When school ends, it's straight back to Yamamoto-san/Takeshi-kun's place, eating the rest of the cake, and then it's gift-giving time.

Hayato-kun gives him a notebook he had apparently written the day before (which meant he didn't sleep at all) about Mafia customs he knew when he was still a part of a Famiglia, along with the unspoken words and cues he had learned while on the streets, along with another empty notebook for Reborn-san's lessons and anything he thinks is worth noting down.

Takeshi-kun gives him a very pretty single earring that makes Yamamoto-san look at Takeshi-kun, who only smiles and nods. It's... really pretty and, quite frankly, looks like a family heirloom, but the black-haired boy has to know not to give Tsuna something like that, right? But, back to jewelry. It has what seems to be a raindrop and a sun, with a tiny, shiny sword connecting the two. It's not really a classic accessory, but Tsuna adores it already.

Luckily, kaa-san's husband had gotten his ears pierced when he was younger, and he still has them, even if he doesn't have earrings. Yamamoto-san doesn't give anything, but he made the food and set up the party, so he doesn't count.

Sasagawa-senpai, who comes by again to drop off his gift before going back to Kyōko-san, gives him a boxing glove keychain he apparently found and bought a while ago, but he didn't have anyone to give it to until now. Tsuna's not particularly into boxing, but the thought is nice, anyway.

Lambo gives him a drawing that's sketchy and messy; that's expected of a five-year-old, but Tsuna loves it anyway. He reminds himself to remember to put it in a safe place where he can look at it.

Even Shamal-sensei comes for and hangs around for a bit, staring at him unnervingly for a couple of minutes, before sighing loudly, and muttering that his present is treating anyone in "Tsuna's group" if they're under the age of 20. Which, considering Tsuna himself is just turning 13 and the oldest person he "knows" in his school is Hibari-san, who's only two years older, and the other fact that Shamal-sensei barely wanted to treat Takeshi-kun just months ago.

Reborn-san doesn't give him anything physical, either. But, he's wearing the mainly yellow ribbon band around his fedora, and that makes it okay to Tsuna. It means a lot that he even kept it. The sight makes him happier than he thinks he could express.

Bianchi wasn't invited, but he honestly didn't want her there, anyway. It was a few months since their disastrous first meeting, but Tsuna still remembers how Hayato-kun fell to the ground, and she didn't even comment.

Yamamoto-san takes a group picture— Tsuna wasn't prepared, and his face is stuck in a bewildered expression, and Yamamoto-san refuses to take another one— and then Tsuna is whisked off to play video games in the comfort of Takeshi-kun's room that ends in a sleepover that sends a warm feeling down to his stomach.

It's the best birthday he's ever had.

It's one of the days Hayato-kun has to work part-time right after school because someone canceled at the last minute (all cleared with the school) and Takeshi-kun has baseball practice, so Tsuna has to walk back to the house alone.

It’s okay, though. He's wearing the earring Takeshi-kun gave him and the boxing glove charm is attached to the backpack, with the notebooks (while impractical at school for non-Mafia) are in it, and it makes up for his...friends' missing presences, though! Lambo's drawing is safely in a frame hung on a wall in the bedroom that he's made both Reborn-san and Hayato-kun promise to not wreck. With bombs or guns or other weapons and non-weapons.

Kaa-san only realizes today that Tsuna's birthday has already passed, and apologizes like she always does, and gives him more money as compensation, but that was all usual business. Tsuna doesn't really mind; he forgets half the time.

But... Tsuna might not be a lot of things, but he is terrified of dogs of all kinds. And when the chihuahua owned by Chiba-san, who doesn't really care that letting him off of his leash and leaving the gate open prompts a certain kind of quiet fear in Tsuna, chases after him once again. She knows, of course, she just doesn't change.

(How is it still alive after all these years?? Is Chiba-san just getting a new one??)

Tsuna barely doesn't trip past houses on the long way back, but on a particularly sharp turn, he does fall, and his eyes widen as his face hits the floor.

He stares at the dog, barking and coming closer, and and and oh god go away!

(playing and giggling and loud barking

sobbing and wailing and fearfear fear

cold and alone and cruel, cruel laughter)

Tsuna tenses up even though it's a terrible habit, and he braces himself for dog bites and hopes he won't get infected with anything. Hayato-kun will swear up a fuss about it, and Takeshi-kun will frown and they'll both feel bad about not being there. "Aah, it wouldn't be their fault though," muses Tsuna with his eyes screwed shut, not quite curled up into a ball.

He opens them when he hears more noise, and a sound that sounds more like a whimper than a bark, before the sound of footsteps fades in the distance. He has to blink a few more times to make sure he didn't suffer eye damage somehow. "Um... thank you? Dogs are a— a weak spot of mine."

The child (male? Tsuna's never been the best with them) doesn't say anything and simply scrunches their face up and jumps away. Well. Tsuna's had weirder encounters. Like Reborn-san's, for one.

He sighs, dusts himself off, and heads back to the house.

Tsuna opens the door and steps inside the living room to find Reborn-san is covered in some sort of insect again. Luckily for him, he’s only slightly disquieted by them. He’s had years of practice to not scream.

“Is this— are they another, um, one of your information minions?” he asks because Tsuna is honestly still half reeling from the dog encounter that makes him remember—

...Remember what?

"Yes. They tell me I-Pin's in town. She's a student of a... colleague of mine. It's also a bit difficult to tell if she's female, according to him." Difficult to... "Oh! Does she have a braid on the top of her head and wear red? I think I might've— might've seen her just before. She helped out with a dog," he says without clarifying much of anything.

Reborn-san stares at him, but he also doesn't ask any questions, so Tsuna counts that as a win. "She's also known as the Human Bomb," he continues after nodding, "from Hong Kong." Ah. That was why she hadn't said anything, then. Though why was she on a mission (he resolutely ignored what assassins and hitmen did for the moment) in Namimori, in Japan, if she couldn't understand or speak Japanese?

There was also the fact that she looked Lambo's age. Which, considering the promise he had made regarding child killers, and it's probably not good for anyone's health if he finds out who sent her on a potentially deadly mission. Even Lambo's"family" could be given some benefit by knowing that Reborn-san wouldn't really kill him.

It's days like these he really wishes he would argue more about being a Vongola Boss because if just thinking about young killers (and how he almost broke when he thought he murdered someone) hurts him this much, then how much worse would giving the orders?

The only upside is that he probably won't get to that point. But that's not really a great thing, either.

... I-Pin-(san? chan? Tsuna doesn't really know her that well) was in the school. Somehow. Did Hibari-san miss her and let her through by accident, or did he know her from somewhere? He wouldn't know if he was part Chinese— or involved in the Underworld more than just knowing how to get rid of bodies, and Tsuna can chalk that up to his... hobbies making it a need.

Apparently, she had helped Kyōko-san yesterday with her wallet, like she had with him with the dog. Wait— what's that in her hands?

"A piece of paper? A note? Picture?" he wonders before she catches sight of him and rushes over, furiously gesturing upward before running off. Huh.

"Tsuna, you know the weirdest kids," says Hana-san drily, "First, there was that cow brat that snuck into the school, and now that one." Kyōko-san only giggles, asking if he knows the kid too? "Lambo wasn't that bad," he protests because he really wasn't. Mochida was a lot worse, and he was older and supposed to be more mature.

"And it's not my fault, Hana-san, really. I only met yesterday when she helped me out, but she didn't even say anything to me. I only know her name because Reborn-san knows her teacher." Tsuna did not pout when Hana-san just barks out a laugh and leaves with Kyōko-san when Hayato-kun and Takeshi-kun make their way to Tsuna.

Upwards, though... Hibari-san spends a lot of time on the roof— is that where she wants him to go? Why did she look so frustrated today?

In the end, Tsuna makes his way towards the rooftop with the two of them.

Well, three, but Reborn-san's usually always out of sight for these kinds of things. Watching from a distance, but ready to intervene. Huh. Before, he didn't even know "intervene" was a word; let alone how to use it in a sentence and not in class. "Guess that means Reborn-san's lessons are working, at least a little."

"What would a brat want to do with you, Tsuna-sama?" asks Hayato-kun at the same time Takeshi-kun exclaims, "Oh! Does this have anything to do with the whole Mafia thing?" He's still not taking it as seriously as Tsuna would like, but it's better than just calling it a game. Comparing it to a game is one thing, which Tsuna hopes Takeshi-kun will do.

Tsuna can't answer either of their questions, though, because I-Pin-san/chan appears and rattles off a sentence in what Tsuna thinks is Chinese. What version, he has no idea, but apparently Reborn-san decides that now is a great time to come out.

"Yesterday, I didn't realize that you were my target so I helped you, but today I will kill you."

To carry translated death threats from a child.

Why. "T-target? Wasn't my whole existence supposed to be a secret? Isn't that why kaa-san's husband stayed away for years? Who would even set an assassin after me?" he asks, half trying to find logic in the situation, but half also expecting an explosive outcome.

"Yes. However, the man in charge of intelligence is incompetent most of the time." Before Tsuna can retort something back, I-Pin says something in Chinese again before doing something with her hands.

It turns out to be an attack. Unluckily, Tsuna does not realize it until he gets shot back and can't breathe. Luckily, Hayato-kun and Takeshi-kun were standing by his sides and were not hit.

That still doesn't change the fact that he can't breathe, though.

Tsuna hears, "No other way, then." with a sigh, followed by a loud bang. Then, it somehow clears up the air, or whatever was making Tsuna suffocate. "Tsuna-sama! Are you alright? Reborn-san, what did he do?"

He? So Hayato-kun doesn't know her gender or what happened. Makes sense, if I-Pin really is Chinese, that Hayato-kun wouldn't know. He mentioned that he was living in Italy, before, and didn't travel out of the country a lot (ever), for all that his surname and given name were Japanese.

"Gyoza-ken. It's some obscure form of martial arts. I-Pin condensed the smell of the dumpling, garlic, and it made the muscles move by themselves because it numbed the brain. When I shot at it, it broke the garlic vapors, freeing Tsuna," explains Reborn-san after being prompted. Hayato-kun looks disgruntled. "How could a technique like that exist? And here I was hoping he was an U.M.A," he grumbles.

"Um, Hayato-kun, I-Pin's a girl." Both Hayato-kun and Takeshi-kun blink. "Huh. Really? Wow, I couldn't tell at all!" cheerfully states the baseball player. Tsuna glances back at the only actual girl on the roof, but...

"Um. Why is she sweating? Reborn-san, is she alright?"

"She's fine. Oh, look, that's the Pinzu-Timed Super Explosion, where she got her title. It seems your two subordinates have made her embarrassed enough to activate it. It seems Fon hasn't sealed it away. Don't get exploded, you three!" And if Tsuna was a little more oblivious, he might have missed the amusement in his tone. He isn't though, so he doesn't.

Why is his tutor such a sadist? How to make sure no one gets hurt, um...

"Oh? Is the door locked?" Tsuna hears from the door behind where Hayato-kun's standing. "K-Kyōko-san! Sorry, we're doing something right now. If you need the rooftop, could you wait a bit?" and without waiting for a response, he turns to Takeshi-kun, "Um, when the timer—" not now "—on her forehead just reaches one, do you think you could throw her up into the air? And then catch her once everything's done with?"

Takeshi-kun nods and when I-Pin is on like, 3, he walks over and she clings to him, but Takeshi-kun has strong arms and did just what Tsuna said.

There. Explosion in the air, the school is fine, and no one is hurt.

Problem solved for now.

As it turns out, he wasn't I-Pin's target. Nor did he look anything like the picture, but she was very nearsighted, so Tsuna really couldn't blame her.

("Would your colleague really send out his five-year-old apprentice without glasses on an assignment when he probably... definitely knew about her eye problems? And the fact she doesn’t have the ears to wear them?"

"... Actually, he probably wouldn't. For all that he's an assassin, he has a soft spot for children and most likely wouldn't let them go on assignments at all if he had any say about it. I'll call him about that.")

I-Pin is also apparently going to be staying in the house. It's getting a bit crowded, with both Reborn-san in his room, Hayato-kun in the guest-room-turned-his-room, and now both a little girl and boy staying in kaa-san's room. She's actually thinking of expanding the house. "Especially if my Dame-Tsuna keeps bringing new friends home!" is her reasoning.

It's not like she doesn't have the money.

Ah, that’s actually not the point he was trying to make. Because of that, though, she could afford to get I-Pin prescribed, custom glasses when he told her about the issue, at least. She now has glasses (with a string to tie it because she apparently doesn't have ears) that help her long-distance sight and still make sure she can read. If it’s in Chinese because I-Pin can barely read/write or speak Japanese unlike Lambo, who can speak it just fine and needs a bit of help reading and writing.

At least she can understand Japanese. And Reborn-san doesn’t mind translating most of the time.

...Most of the time.

Oh dear. Oh no. Lambo woke up. He's difficult enough to handle when there isn't another child nearby. Especially one that mistakes him for a broccoli monster. It just has to be when she doesn't have her glasses nearby, doesn't it?

“Hey, no, don’t insult—!” Never mind. There goes the wall. Again. Tsuna’s not going to die from the stress of it all, right?

Checking... Nope, he still has two years and then some. “YOU BRAT—!” And there goes Hayato-kun. At least he isn’t using bombs? At least Takeshi-kun isn’t here goading him on? Tsuna has to find some bright sides to the house being destroyed.

Reborn-san being the only one translating is not a good thing. Tsuna despairs at the time he thought it was great Reborn-san could understand Chinese (only hours ago).

He has absolutely no problem with calling out insults and misunderstandings (then again, the whole murder attempt was a misunderstanding) and causing such messes. Reborn-san takes pleasure in causing it. The sadist.

(No, Tsuna was not pouting. He was not.)

“Hello. My name is Fon, and I’m I-Pin’s Master. I believe you're the ones taking care of her currently?"

"Oh— yes, we are."

Tsuna didn't.... when Reborn-san said he was going to call his colleague, Tsuna didn't think it was another (not) baby. Not that it changes anything— he was still I-Pin's Master, even if he was as small as she was. "Tsuna-sama? Who's at the door?" Hayato-kun calls from the living room.

"It's I-Pin's Master, Hayato-kun," he informs, before turning back to Fon-san. Er, would you like to come inside? Or should I call I-Pin here? I think she's playing with Lambo right now..." he muses. Fon-san blinks, still with a smile on his face. "I will come inside then, thank you."

Well... He was polite, at least. "Oh, uh, Fon-san," he calls before stepping away from the door, "My one request is that you don't add onto the damages? Reborn-san already shoots through the walls and Lambo, I-Pin, and Hayato-kun usually somehow explode a wall once every two days."

And with that agreed upon (with some amusement from Fon-san), they both step into the house.

(Tsuna does not question why he looks like a mini Hibari-san. He does not want to know.)

Fon-san stayed for a week before leaving on business. I-Pin was going to be staying with them because the Triads in China (apparently, different groups in different countries had different names other than just "Mafia") weren't trusted. They were the ones to send I-Pin on the mission without Fon-san's permission.

Good news that came out of that: Fon-san sealed (somehow, that word makes him uncomfortable) I-Pin's Pinzu-Timed Super Explosion, so no more dangerous super explosions that are set off from embarrassment. Now all he has to deal with are Lambo's explosions that miss most of the time, and Hayato-kun's reflex in taking out his dynamite.

He also had a talk with Reborn-san in a language that was neither Japanese, English, or Chinese. He might only understand two (and one of them just somewhat), but he's heard enough of the last one from I-Pin to tell what it is; just not what's being said.

He has no idea what they talked about, but Fon-san frowned at him for a few seconds until he noticed that Tsuna saw him do it.

Ah well. Nothing he can do about it now.

"Hello! So you're Sawada Tsunayoshi, hm?" he mutters, grinning. "HIE—!" jolts the boy his other selves had been informing him about. Really, he didn't see how such a scared boy would turn into the very embodiment of a Mafia Boss.

"Call me Mallo Marsh!" he chirps. Aah, he really does love marshmallows. Hmm, maybe he should get Shō-chan to buy him some? Oh, but that'll have to be later! Because he can't meet him yet— it'll freak him out too much! Oh, right, Vongola's in front of him. Maybe he should pay attention.

"M-Maro Marshu?" he repeats, and Byakuyran can see what thoughts are going through young Vongola's head: "What kind of name is that?!" Hmm, his Japanese pronunciation is funny, too!

Honestly, he's a little surprised he hasn't shouted it out. Hey, hey, why haven't his counterparts ever met him early? It's not like he's smart enough at this point to cause trouble in his plans. Oh, maybe 'cause he's the smartest! Byakuran's having loads of fun, after all, and he's barely gotten started on his World Domination Plan!

He would start it sooner, but Aria's still the Giglio Nero Leader, and Byakuran wants Yuni-chan to be the second Millefiore leader. He doesn't know if he could even get Aria to do what Yuni-chan did—will do?— for Black Spell. Oh, right? Isn't it such a cool name? He thought of it just after Shō-chan gave him the ability!

(Well, he cheated a bit, but it was still him, so it counts, okay?!)

He giggles, probably disturbing Vongola. Hmm, he should probably listen and say something else before the Sun Arcobaleno catches up. "Want a marshmallow?" he offers, because even though he's definitely going to murder him sometime in the next ten years, Sawada Tsunayoshi of the Vongola should know the greatness of marshmallows!

"...No?"

Aww, how boring. "W-what?" Ah, Byakuran said that out loud. Oh well. "Time, time, what's the time?" Oh dear, it seems like he's been here longer than he'd thought! And he was having quite a bit of fun, too... "Bye-bye, Tsuna-kun! I'll see you in the future!"

Grinning even wider at the wildly confused look on Vongola's face, Byakuran skips away, back to the plane that's going to take him back to the Gesso base in Italy. Work will be waiting for him there, but the fun that'll occur if he does it all properly...

"Hm, hm! How fun, indeed~!"