Katekyo Hitman Reborn! 1. Prologue - Genesis

**Summary: **She's small, useless, clumsy, scared, young—everything a Mafia Boss should never be. Worst of all, she doesn't even have Flames. Her core is empty. There wasn't even a seal put on her when she was younger. She should never be a candidate. That's what she wants them to think. The only thing they don't know about her is the most important thing to know.

**Warning/s: **Fem!Tsuna; Dark!Tsuna; Mild Language

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the rights to Katekyo Hitman Reborn! because if I did, I would rub it in your faces. :)

* * *

**Prologue – Genesis**

The baby is a girl. Short tufts of soft brown hair is atop her head, with big brown eyes and healthy, glowing skin. Iemitsu is proud of her. He's prouder of her than he is of any other accomplishments he's made, even as he served Vongola and took on the coat of arms of being the adviser of the Ninth.

But he was disappointed.

His baby girl could never become a Mafia Boss. At the rate of how she's growing up and what Nana had talked to him during his time away from them, Tsuna could never become a proper candidate.

The rights and privileges would all go to the Ninth's sons unless there be any casualties. Any casualties, and the throne goes to Xanxus.

* * *

Tsuna weaves her hands through her hair, untangling the tangled locks of brown hair. She stares into the mirror, which reflect a pale girl with a small stature. A girl with useless talents and no future. She carefully ties her hair with a black hair band, brushes her fringes to one side and stares at the girl in the mirror.

She frowns and ties her hair messily, up to a messy bun that dictates what she feels now. What her life feels like. What she's been feeling since the day she was born.

A mess.

* * *

The girl is a mess.

Reborn watches her all day as she trips over nothing, gets food all over her uniform, runs away from her bullies and cry about it all the way home. He watches as she just reads a book and falls asleep halfway. He watches as she proves that there's a reason why she's the last candidate for the title of Vongola Decimo.

Reborn licks his lips. He had a lot to do.

Xanxus must never become Vongola Decimo.

It will ruin everyone.

* * *

Tsuna locks her room. She locks herself in. She locks the door and windows, turns on the AC to medium, pulls the thick red curtains together and sits in the middle of the room with the lights closed, AC on, alone and comforted by the dark.

She closes her eyes.

Puts her hands in front of her. Relaxes.

A flame ignites.

Orange.

Dark orange.

* * *

**A/N: What did you guys think? It's the prologue but it's very important.**

**Review? :)**


	2. 1 - Exodus

**A/N: Just so you guys know, this is my first fic, but I'd love constructive criticism. :)**

* * *

**Chapter 1 – Exodus**

Tsuna finds out the Flames on a cold winter night and her mother went to the store to get her favorite hot chocolate. She is in her room, reading a novel. The AC is turned off, with the weather already cold enough as it is. She, however, still gets colder by the second, though her mother was only gone for five minutes. The heater is not on, since only her mother knew how to activate it.

She was a child, only five year of age—horribly ignorant and very disrespectful. She marks her book and wails about the cold weather. She calls for her mother. Three minutes later and her mother was still in line with Tsuna's favorites in tow. Tsuna pouts and lies in her bed. She covers herself in blankets. Still cold.

She throws them off and marches into the kitchen. She hates the cold. She'd rather it be a hot summer day than a cold winter night.

She rubs her hands together. _I want warmth, _she thinks. She thinks those words in her mind repeatedly. _Warm, warm, warm. _She rubs her hands more.

_Warmth._

Her arms ignite. Soft, bright orange flames cover her arms and she wails in response. Cries. Asks for her mother.

She realizes afterwards that they do not hurt her. They are keeping her arms warm. She closes her eyes and counts to three. Closes her eyes and try to think like an adult instead of the five-year-old she was.

She concentrates on the flames, trying to warm her body. The flames spread, still warm, but not enough to burn her skin. It is a ticklish sensation—she finds that she likes the sensation. The flames cover her body, making her look like a living, breathing, walking, human inferno. Her entire body is warm now—to her childish mind, that's all that matters.

There is the sound of jingling keys. In response, she turns and the flames dissipate from her body like it is suddenly frightened. Her mother enters, unaware of the flames that had been on her child's body, that had gone, and she closes the door behind her and hugs Tsuna.

"I have the hot chocolate," her mother says brightly. Tsuna immediately forgets about the flames. "With the little marshmallows you like!"

Tsuna claps and makes her mother lift her from the ground. Her mother laughs and guides them both to the kitchen. They share blankets and hot cocoa that night and watch cartoons on TV.

Tsuna does not tell her about the flames.

She forgot.

* * *

Tsuna is seven when she found that the flames will not be accepted if it was ever found out. Or so she thinks.

She shows it to a dog, a small dog that licks her hand a lot and plays fetch. The dog is named Suzie, and it belongs to their American neighbors. She plays with it everyday with the American child who is two years older than her. The child's name is Wilbur.

Wilbur is inside the house, getting toys so he and Tsuna can play. Tsuna is in the yard with Suzie, making the small pug catch a ball and give it to her. It is a hot summer day and Tsuna remembers a time when she is five years old and alone in the house.

"Hey, girl," she says to the pug as Suzie slobbers her arm. "Do you wanna know a secret?" Suzie yipped in response. Tsuna thinks that she means yes.

She puts her hands in front of Suzie and the small dog sniffs at it. Licks it. Tsuna closes her eyes and small and soft flames erupt from her hands.

Suzie whimpers and runs from Tsuna. Barks at her and growls, eyes focused on the flames between her hands. Suzie growls more at her, and Tsuna flinches at the hostility.

Tsuna puts it out, staring at her hands and chokes back a sob. Suzie sprints back to her, licking her face, and paws at her hands.

Wilbur comes out with cars and dolls and a helicopter. "Let's play!" he says brightly in accented Japanese. He sees Tsuna's crestfallen expression and asks, "What's wrong?"

Tsuna shakes her head. Forces a smile. "Everything's fine!" she says with false cheer. "Let's play!"

She does not show her flames to anyone else. Dogs were always the greatest judges in the world to her impressionable mind. Dogs will tell you the _real_ good and _real_ evil.

And a dog had hated the flames.

Flames are evil.

* * *

She is eight when she is first bullied, coming home with a scratch on her cheek and knee from a few boys and girls who think that she is useless. She is not good at math, or science, or drawing, or anything in school. They laugh at her for that. They dislike her for that.

She wants to use flames against them. Show them that she's not useless.

_But flames are evil. _Tsuna does not use the flames.

She would be heralded as evil.

A devil child.

_No place here for a Dame-Tsuna, _she remembers one of the girls saying. The name had stuck to her. Even her mother calls her that sometimes.

She hears it so many times a day. She believes it to be true.

* * *

When she is nine, she decides that she does not like getting bullied.

The boys and girls are teasing her again. They are pushing at her one by one. They are older than her. Smarter than her. Stronger than her.

Well, maybe not stronger than her.

She slaps at the hand of a girl and the girl glares in response.

"Ooh," the girl sneers, "Dame-Tsuna's fighting back!"

"Let's teach her where she belongs!" a boy says, approaching her menacingly.

"No!" Tsuna shouts, because she will not tolerate this. She does not care. She will let her flames go all out against these children. She does not want to take all their punches without fighting back at least _once. _"I'll teach _you _where you belong!"

She glares at them, feels the familiar heat in her arms. The heat is hotter. Stronger. They do not hurt her. The flames erupt from her arms, on the top of her head (odd), and she shoots a fireball at one of them.

"Run!" a girl screeches and her dress is singed as it is hit by a fireball. A tree stump ignites and the other children scream. "It's the devil!"

The boys and girls scatter. Tsuna's eyes glow from the rage underneath her skin. The glow slowly fades.

She notices that the flames have healed her bruises.

She smiles.

She is not Dame-Tsuna anymore.

* * *

She is ten when she learns the word 'bullshit' and learns that it is also her father's job.

He has visited. He only comes home once every four years, with the only thing that let her know he is alive is the fact that her mother never works and yet there is always a form of delicious food on the table.

It is three months after her birthday and she does not know what to think. Why is he here? She does not have an idea.

He talks with her mother in the living room. She tells him that some children are afraid of her. Tells him that there's something wrong with Tsuna. Or the children, her father insists.

Tsuna decides not to use her flames too much anymore.

She takes his laptop and goes to the kitchen. She turns the laptop open. A password.

She thinks for a while, writes 'Sawada,' and red light flashes on the screen. She takes a peek at the kitchen and her father is kissing her mother. She makes a face and writes 'NanaSawada.'

The screen turns green and she has entry to every file he is keeping.

_How easy, _Tsuna muses. Then she wonders if her father was ever intelligent.

Tsuna is told by her mother that her father is a construction worker. But he is wearing a suit. He has a laptop filled with encrypted files. Her father is not a construction worker.

She opens a file named 'VX' and reads.

It is a private document. Password please.

She types 'Tsunayoshi.'

It is opened. _He does not expect anyone to have access to his laptop, _she realizes. _Much less his databases. _She scrolls through the file, a quick read. Skims it. _Much less his own daughter._

Words pop out. Vongola. Mafia. Xanxus. Timoteo. Ninth. Successor. Federico. Massimo. Enrico.

Tsunayoshi. Vongola Decimo.

Writes them down.

She closes the file. Opens a messenger. Iemitsu Sawada and someone named Oregano.

She then learns the word bullshit after reading the messenger.

_Sawada Tsunayoshi is fit for a nomination as a Vongola boss._

_Bullshit. She's useless._

_Your own daughter, honestly._

_She doesn't have a flame._

_Bullshit. Direct descendants always have flames._

'Bullshit,' she then thinks, is what her father's job is.

Betrayed. She feels betrayed.

It is a new word.

She feels it.

She logs out of the computer, shuts it down, and returns it to her father's bag.

He does not notice that he needs a better security system on virtual files. Does not know that confidential files have been breached by his own daughter. Does not know that his daughter knows what the Mafia is. Does not know that his daughter knows about her possible position for Vongola Decimo.

The next high-ranking Boss in the underworld.

* * *

She lets him have his moment to be blissfully ignorant in his own way.

She trains herself for the time being. Trains her flames. Trains her mind. Soul. Psyche. Body.

She is not useless.

But she'd rather have people think her useless.

Out of sight.

Maybe she can prove herself then.

She is not useless.

She is Sawada Tsunayoshi, and she'll be damned if she was going to let people step on her again.

* * *

**A/N: This is just the start. How do you like it so far?**

**Review? :)**


	3. 2 - Leviticus

**A/N: Fun fact—the title is actually from Avenged Sevenfold's **_**Desecrate through Reverence, **_**whose lyrics I interpret being "I hate my friends."**

**But, you know, in a deeper meaning. Anyone out there who's a fan? XD**

**Also, I'm posting this early because the laptop has problems and my mom's gonna get a dude to fix it. I might not have access to it for a week or so.**

* * *

**Chapter 2 – Leviticus**

She manages to keep her flames on a tight leash at the age of twelve. She does not study her exams. She does not work hard for good grades. She only has decent grades and her mother does not like it.

Because of her grades, the entirety of Namimori know her as Dame-Tsuna, the childhood nickname that nearly everyone forgot. Some kid her age managed to remember it, called her that in a crowded area, and the town has affiliated the nickname to her ever since his little slip.

She's useless to their eyes.

She let them think that she is.

Her first training was to control the movement of her flames. The second was to make the biggest flames that she possibly could. The third was to make the flames smaller and concentrated. The fourth was to burn an entire tree with a flame that's as small as a basil leaf.

The fifth to eighth were harder than the first four.

The fifth was to cover herself in flames and walk through the forest while maintaining it. The sixth was to make concentrated fireballs. The seventh was to make weapons out of the flames. The eighth was to channel the flames through different weapon.

The problem now is stamina.

She gets tired easily, and so she takes a hike in the weekends, each weekend having less equipment than before. She jogs early in the morning and sprints to school. She goes to the forest and kicks and punches trees until they crash to the ground. She earns stamina better that way.

It's impressive, she thinks, on how much improvement she made without anyone noticing.

And only in two years' time.

* * *

She searches the meaning of Mafia and organized crime. She researches the positions of each member. Boss. Adviser. Pawn. Family.

But the internet can only get her so far.

She gets a contact. His name is Hayato. Other information about him is undisclosed. Just his name and gender. He tells her about the Mafia, families and whatnot. Limited information—he's not allowed to talk much. It's the Mafia. They'll find out if he's been disobeying _omerta._

She chats with him sometimes, finds telltale sign of their similarities—abusive homes, lonely natures, a desire to prove oneself—but they've never evolved into anything more than a relationship between contact and contactor.

Besides, he doesn't even know her gender. Mafiosi are known to like their women soft and fragile.

She logs in through her laptop to have a short chat with Hayato.

_Hayato: Vongola? You have something against them or something?_

_Tsuna: No. Just curious._

_Hayato: You really are a civilian._

_Tsuna: Get to the point._

_Hayato: The Vongola are the most famous and most powerful famiglia in the world. If you have some vendetta against them, I'll only say good luck_

_Tsuna: I see. Other information?_

_Hayato: All I know is that the NInth is finding a suitable candidate for the next in line for the Vongola throne. He's sending someone to somewhere that's not Italy. Well, if his sons die, that is._

_Tsuna: Have they?_

_Tsuna: Died, I mean._

_Hayato: Of course not._

_Hayato: They're expected to be strong enough to go through anything headed their way. They're the sons of Vongola Nono, they are not allowed to die in anything but a battle for their famiglia._

Tsuna licks her lips, hands hovering the keyboard. They always were formal on chats, perfect grammar and no sarcasm.

_Tsuna: Who are they sending?_

_Hayato: Not sure. Someone strong._

Hayato knows something. He's holding back.

_Tsuna: I see. Thank you for your cooperation._

She logs out of the chat, drumming her fingers against the wooden desk that carried her laptop.

_Someone strong._

For such a powerful famiglia, it is likely that they'll be sending one of their most powerful men to train their next boss. The question is, _who?_

Tsuna closes her laptop, tucks herself into bed.

Does not matter.

No one can pry her secrets.

She is strong.

She has a strong will.

She's not going down without a fight.

* * *

She is twelve and a half when she meets Hibari Kyouya.

He is a ruthless demon, but she find art and beauty in the gracefulness of his fighting moves and the way he uses his tonfas. She walks up to him after a bloody fight and asks him if they could go somewhere to talk.

He glares at her and stalks away.

Tsuna blushes, realizing that it may come off differently. Hibari Kyouya was a teenage boy who _knew _things that she does not. She might have been asking him on a date in his ears.

"I'm not asking for a date," Tsuna says as she opens the door to the prefect's room and brushes off a piece of lint off of her shoulder.

Hibari (no use for titles if she does not mean them) looks at her and raises an eyebrow. "How did you get here?"

"I walked," she deadpans. She then flinches, remembering that she is talking to the alleged Demon of Namimori.

"I do not mean that," Hibari says stiffly. He stands from his seat and opens the door wider. "What—"

"Um," Tsuna says, looking over her shoulder. "I may have been a bit hard on them, but I wanted to talk to you."

Hibari examines the unconscious bodies on the ground. They were all of his men, and they were beaten by a girl of small stature. Others were unconscious, others were shaking, others could barely stand and fight the girl again.

"Impressive," Hibari commented.

Tsuna blushes at the compliment. She had heard him as a ruthless leader who barely gives a smile unless he is killing someone. A compliment, indeed. "Sorry about that—"

"Why are you sorry?" he asks, turning his gaze to her.

"Um," she says, "they're your men, and I kind of beat the shit out of them."

He tips her chin upward using his index finger. Their faces are close. Tsuna can feel his breath fanning her face. "Such language for a lady," he says, clicks his tongue, and lets her go. He crosses his arms. "Why did you want to talk to me?"

"Fighting," she said dazedly, blushing from the proximity. No one—other than her mother and, occasionally, father—had ever been on such close proximity with her. She clears her throat. "Your style of fighting—you _know_ what to do."

"You seem to know that as well." He looks at the unconscious men as a hint.

"Yes," she admits, "but not as much as you. Your fighting is graceful and seems to be your nature." She had to commend herself for not stuttering. Hibari was very handsome, and boys in general made Tsuna make a fool out of herself. "Can you please teach me?" She bows her head as a sign of submission.

Hibari is looking at her. She can tell. He is scrutinizing her before he makes a decision.

Finally, he says, "Do not bow your head. An enemy will think that you are surrendering to them."

She quickly stands straight, immediately overwhelmed at the piercing gaze sent her way. He walks around her, looking into every detail of her body. It made her blush harder and she dearly wanted to ignite a flame.

But even Hibari cannot know that.

"You are known as Dame-Tsuna, are you not?" he inquires, standing in front of her with crossed arms. She nods stiffly, crossing her arms as a gesture of unfamiliarity. Hibari hums, tilting his head and making a small smirk. "Not so useless, I see." He looks at her once more. "It is impressive that you have managed to escape my attention."

"Very impressive," Tsuna mutters under her breath. Hibari seems to ignore it.

"I accept your request," he then says.

Tsuna looks at him with wide eyes. "Really?" she asks, unbelieving.

"You must be at the forest near the park at exactly five in the morning Saturday every week." He looks at her. "Any objections?"

She shakes her head. "No."

"Good."

It was then brought to her mind that she got herself a mentor for fighting.

* * *

The first month of training with Hibari and Tsuna almost regrets it.

Her own regimen was strict as hell, she knew, but Hibari's was worse. There were rigorous tasks, assignments and _time limits_ for each task. Hibari sends her home with several biology books about the circulatory system and quizzes her about different pulses and pressure points.

Although she may say that she hates the bruises left on her and the strictness of Hibari, she knows that it was necessary. Although she is twelve and not nearly old enough to know which part should hit to kill a man, she knew it was necessary.

At times, he spars with her—a little practice. Those spars leave her with fractured bones and a trip to the hospital. She detests those spars, but love them at the same time. She manages to become stronger, quicker, _smarter _and she focuses more on an opponent's weakness instead of worrying about their strength.

She thinks that that is what Hibari is trying to teach her.

* * *

Everyone backs away once they learn of Tsuna's relationship with the prefect.

The bullies that messed with Tsuna after school one day got the brunt of Hibari Kyouya's tonfas.

They don't mess with her anymore.

* * *

Three months into Hibari's training, and she has obviously high marks in biology and, very surprisingly, physical education.

Everyone wonders how.

The smart ones wonder why.

* * *

She _does _think of telling Hibari about the flames. The mafia. Her position in the Underworld.

She doesn't.

She waits.

She waits until she deem it necessary.

* * *

Along the way, her flame isn't as bright as it should have been. As it had been.

It was dark orange and translucent.

She never remembered it to be like that.

* * *

**A/N: Yes, the chapters are short now but they will be much longer in the future. These chapters are just the introductory chapters filled with introspection and meetings and the pre-Reborn.**


	4. 3 - Numbers

**A/N: This point onwards, I realize that I reveal a lot to readers when I answer their questions.**

**So I'm probably not gonna reply anymore. I have a big mouth, and despite the wording of my responses, I probably slipped somewhere.**

**Also, Happy New Year, everyone! I hope 2015 will be nice to you guys! :D**

* * *

**Chapter 3 – Numbers**

Six months after her thirteenth birthday, she meets Reborn.

She knows who he is. She has already read so much about him in the hacked files she got from her father's databases. Reborn is an Arcobaleno, the strongest one. He used to be an assassin—_is _an assassin. He takes the form of a baby because of a curse, not allowing him to reach his full potential.

Tsuna wants it that way.

Extensive research (meaning questions to Hayato) says that he was due to arrive in nine hours, seven minutes if Tsuna had calculated his time of departure and the time zones correctly. He is headed to Japan, headed for Tsuna. The three sons of Vongola—Federico, Massimo and Enrico—had all died during different tests in order to become the boss.

The deaths had affected her. She cannot end up like them.

Although Tsuna wants to decline the position for that very reason, she admits that the power appeals to her and is certainly advantageous. _Capo di tutti Capi. _Boss of all Bosses. Definitely appealing.

She hummed to herself, fixing her hair. Maybe it would be best if Hibari were to know about this. She checks her watch. _21:55._

She has nine hours and five minutes till the assassin arrives. Plenty of time to tell Hibari.

She takes her revolver with her, a gift from Hibari on her thirteenth birthday. Although Hibari stated that she fought greatly with her bare hands, a little surprise weapon also won't hurt. She has been using the revolver as a catalyst for her flames (Hibari does not know this) since her own skin might not be able to take the heat if she were to extend the temperature of her flames.

Her skin was already blistering from the flames, which turn stronger everyday. Any media would prove useful for channeling them. She does not appreciate first degree burns. She appreciates the revolver.

The gun, it seems, was perfect in concentrating and pressurizing the flames to make them act like explosive bullets. Its metal casing made it hot to touch after Tsuna uses it, so she modifies the nozzle and the handle—the parts affected the most and therefore the hottest areas t touch. She is just glad that she doesn't have to buy any actual bullets for the gun.

Fireballs seem so much better.

* * *

"I see," Hibari said after processing the entirety of Tsunayoshi's news.

He wasn't much surprised that her family was involved in the Mafia. The fact that Tsunayoshi was powerful in fighting and fighting tactics yet so useless in majority of her subjects was already enough for him to comprehend the fact that she is involved in the Mafia. It does, after all, explains several mysteries that he had been wanting to ask since she beat down Hibari's own men.

One thing still baffles him, however—Tsunayoshi's family is supposedly the strongest Famiglia that the Italian Mafia had seen in centuries. The Vongola Famiglia, as Tsunayoshi had called it, has existed for four hundred years at least and was the most renowned group in the Underworld.

As strong as Tsunayoshi is, he cannot believe that this girl is of the same blood as the strongest Mafia Family in the world.

"A tutor is also coming here at six thirty in the morning," Tsunayoshi says, as though remembering the news. "Apparently, he will be my tutor until I am fit for the title of Vongola Decimo. You must know a man named Reborn on your contacts, don't you?"

Hibari looks at her, who is cross-legged on a large rock next to a riverbank. The forest was indeed dark at night, with only the dim light of the moon illuminating everything around him. Tsunayoshi wears nothing but a shirt, a jacket, and pajama pants. Her eyes are shining.

"Yes, I do," he says, familiar with 'Reborn' through his illegal contacts. "He has quite a reputation in the Underworld. An alleged _Arcobaleno, _a baby who holds one of the universe's secrets. Supposedly the strongest living human in the world. The greatest assassin who has lived and is living.

"Weirdly enough, that's not a secret if you have contacts with a mafioso." He tilts his head, almost anticipating a fight between them. "I want to meet him."

"Of course you'd react like that," Tsunayoshi mutters. Hibari ignores her. "And one more thing, Hibari-san," she says louder.

Hibari looks at her. "What?"

She looks nervous for a moment before she abolishes the emotion from her face. Even with a year of training, she cannot seem to put away any unconscious expression on her face. Hibari will have to deal with that.

"Flames," she then says, hesitant and reluctant.

Hibari raises an eyebrow. "Flames?" he repeats.

She nods. "The Mafia…it's not _just_ about guns, ammo, garrote wires, or any random weapons. There are _flames. _The people who hold them can be a Mafia boss, and anyone who does not have these rarely can."

"Explain."

"Flames," she repeats. "They're literal _fire_ that stems from inside of a person. It is a mafioso's designated weapon and is usually used for statuses in the underworld."

Hibari is confused, but he does not show it. "Is this a joke?" he asks, deadpan.

"No," she says, shaking her head. "Come closer."

Hibari approaches her, stepping into the lighter side of the forest. Tsunayoshi holds out her hands, and a spark ignite between them. It is bright and hovers over her hands. Hibari is, at first, shocked, but he then scrutinizes it, and he is suddenly hit with the realization that Tsunayoshi really is an eligible Mafia boss, if he had not heard wrongly.

"I see," Hibari says, humming. "So you will be accepting the position?"

Tsunayoshi shrugs, puts out the flame by closing her hand. Hibari can smell the residue smoke. It is the same scent he's been smelling over the past years on Tsunayoshi, though he had always only suspected her of smoking cigarettes.

"That's why I'm here," she says, crossing her arms. "I need to understand the pros and cons—you're my best chance at deciding."

"Ask yourself why," Hibari then said. He had no time for trivialities and personal debates. Tsunayoshi should know if she needs to accept the position of the Boss of all Bosses which, to him, was very attractive. "Why would you become a Mafia Boss? Are you seeking something? Do you want something?" He pauses. "Tsunayoshi, for now, think of personal and selfish reasons instead of selfless reasons. Watch out for yourself—I will not be here all the time."

"I watch myself just fine," she pouts. "And you don't ensure my safety."

Hibari actually smiles at that and, from Tsunayoshi's rather frightened expression, meant that the smile seemed feral. He should smile more if that is the reaction that his smiles obtain, but he argues that it is not worth the effort.

"Really, Tsunayoshi?"

She glares.

"The pros of being a Boss is that you have several contacts to Underground businesses to take care of your problems," Hibari says smoothly, ignoring the glare and the petty argument. "You have subordinates, fame and fortune—worldwide recognition. Isn't Vongola also a known jewelry establishment in Italy?"

"Hm," Tsuna says, "sounds fair. But cons is that there are enemies and bloodshed."

"Everyone has enemies," Hibari points out. "And you're not afraid of bloodshed."

"My loved ones will die," she says.

"You mean the family that never cared much for you and calls you useless?" Futile argument from the beginning, Hibari thinks. She should accept the position.

She does not flinch, but gives a sigh. "I suppose you're right," she says. "Besides, you can already take care of yourself just fine."

Hibari starts at that statement. She has implied that she considers Hibari a loved one. Not even his own family had described him as such—after all, he was the Demon of Namimori. People feared him and respected him more than loved him or liked him, at that. Then…

"Say that I am a loved one and I will bite you to death, Sawada Tsunayoshi," he says emotionlessly but menacingly.

She giggles and gives a mock-salute. "Yes, sir," she says sarcastically.

"Tsunayoshi…"

"You do know that I just really care about you, right?" she interjects. "You're important to me, and you should be okay with that. Do you not care about _me_?"

Hibari considers her question and reasoning. "Yes," he begrudgingly admits. "I do care, somewhat."

She smiles slowly, her eyes sparkling under the moon. "See?" she says, giving a toothy grin.

Hibari grunts in reply.

* * *

Reborn is taken aback at the restrained attitude of the young girl before him. She _does_ express her disbelief of the Mafia, his position and, most especially, her position, but she refrains from showing her true colors—her attitude is held back. She _is_ incredulous and tells him to go home. That makes Reborn's lips quirk upward. That seems to be everyone's default reaction when seeing him.

He does not walk her to school, but rather, he keeps an eyes out for her. He sees her exchange formal pleasantries with a girl and go through school like a normal person.

Very normal, in fact, that Reborn had to double-check the file sent to him by Iemitsu.

She was described as a short girl with long brown hair and a very clumsy persona. She has very low scores on her report cards in all subjects, and she is severely mocked and bullied by her classmates. Reborn would like to object in all those statements.

She is a short girl with short brown hair and a normal persona. Her posture is straight and healthy, she walks just fine, has average grades in all of her subjects, and has normal relationships with her classmates. Iemitsu does not know anything about his own daughter, Reborn thinks. In fact, nearly everything on Tsunayoshi's profile is completely incorrect.

Reborn beams at the mission being much easier than described. He still wonders if _everything _Iemitsu wrote in the report was incorrect. It wouldn't hurt to check. He flips through the papers, a single line catching his attention.

_Flame Status: Negative_

* * *

Reborn is very good at detecting a person's flame, even with the weakest flame. It came with being an Arcobaleno. The only thing he needed was close proximity. He had been in front of the girl, even touched her arm, and there was one thing Reborn knew for sure—she did not have any flames stored inside of her body.

Her core was devoid of any flames.

He closed the folder, looking at the young girl writing her lectures in Chemistry class. It makes the mission harder. At least Reborn was sure that Dino had strong Sky Flames.

Sawada Tsunayoshi didn't seem to have any.

* * *

**A/N: Oh my! Tsuna does not have a core! What does that mean? Why can she spout out flames?**

**Lol, you guys will know in future chapters. Also, yay for other people!POV.**

**(BTW, yes, I AM naming the chapters after books of the Bible because…um…well, I just think that the books of the Bible sound badass.)**

**Review? :)**


	5. 4 - Deuteronomy

**A/N: **_**Thank you **_**so much for your reviews! They make me so happy and motivates me to write longer chapters! Thank you for that support! :)**

**Also, I have school. :(( So, updates will be much slower but still regular. And longer. I promise they'll be longer. Instead of the usual 1k+, it'll skip ahead to 3k+ or something.**

* * *

**Chapter 4 – Deuteronomy**

Tsuna's hands feel clammy.

She's been seeing Reborn everywhere around school for the whole day. She plays it off as nothing, indifferent to the secret compartment and rooms that Reborn had managed to make inside the school. Though she thinks that it is impressive that the baby had made all of these just to spy on her, she does not think that Hibari will tolerate any desecration to the school on his watch.

She decides to go to Hibari, wanting to tell him that the strongest person in the world is stalking her (she does not think that he has stopped). She enters the prefect's room and is a bit shocked at what is in front of her.

Hibari is already talking to the baby, a cup of tea in front of him and another cup perched on the hands of the small baby.

"Oh, ciaossu, Dame-Tsuna," Reborn greets, sipping his tea.

"Hello, Reborn," Tsuna replies. No use staying shocked, looking stupid and questioning the baby. "What brings you here?"

"I'm having a chat with Hibari here." He chose to state the obvious, but Tsuna sees underlying motives. Reborn sips his tea, not breaking eye contact with her. "I have to ask myself. What brings _you _here?"

"She is my student," Hibari interjects calmly. Tsuna casts him a look. She is trying not to feel betrayed and only hopes that Hibari will not speak the truth. "I am teaching her the wielding of tonfas." Liar. "You must be aware of the weapon, yes?"

"Yes." HIbari's tonfas glint from underneath his gakuran; Reborn's eyes do the same. "Old Japanese weapons; I was not aware that people still used them." Liar.

"Is there anything you want from my student then?" Hibari gives her a glance. Tsuna looks at him before turning back to Reborn.

"Yes, actually." The baby is brave. Hibari's a scary man, after all. "I have not made myself clear earlier this morning."

"Yeah, you have," Tsuna says, playing dumb. "You're here as my tutor for my recently low grades."

"Other than biology," Reborn supplied. "And physical education."

"Yes." Tsuna keeps it a secret on why she knows so much about those two subjects. Hibari does not care much for any other subjects. He explained that physical education builds patience and stamina; biology, on the other hand, is a good way to know your enemy and their _personal _domains. And, you know, spots to hit in order to maim someone. "Mama said that you're just helping me with other subjects. Is there a reason why you're with Hibari-san talking…?"

"Talking about you," Hibari quips. He drums his fingers against his desk. "The baby is very curious."

"Very curious," Reborn says. "Hibari here tells me that you're a quick learner—depending, of course, on whether or not you have a liking for the particular subject." He clears his throat. "But I am not here for school subjects and afternoon sessions."

"And what other reasons are you here then?" Tsuna questions.

The baby's eyes glint. "Such formalities, Dame-Tsuna," he casually mentions. Tsuna visibly starts at the comment and nickname. It seems to not be lost in Reborn's eyes. "But, to the important part of the…ah, agreement."

"Agreement?" says Hibari with a bored expression. "I'm sure that you're just Tsunayoshi's tutor for the time being."

"Well, yes, I am." Reborn smiles and Tsuna remembers that he is the world's strongest man trapped in the body of a baby. "But I am here because of your father, Sawada Tsunayoshi. He has hired me for this special occasion."

Tsuna purses her lips, hands clenched in anticipation. "And what occasion is that?" she asks curiously.

Reborn's smile widens. "Have you heard of the Mafia?"

Tsuna steals a glance at Hibari.

He does the same.

* * *

"You're a very good actress, Tsunayoshi," Hibari says, sitting down next the girl. She sits cross-legged nest to the riverbank, its waters cold and flowing swiftly, barely making a sound.

Tsunayoshi dips a foot in the cold water, goosebumps suddenly erupting from her flesh. "Thanks, I think."

"The display would have been weak and foolish in my eyes—naivety and ignorance with a mix of open emotions," Hibari describes. "Had I not been aware of your plan to exterminate your father, I would have thought that it was an act of weakness."

Tsunayoshi sighs, her breath forming a mist in front of her face. "I don't know if I can keep this act up," she confides. "Reborn's strong and definitely smarter than what most people would think. Also, he's stealthy. Are you sure you checked the perimeters?"

Hibari nods. "Twice. Do not doubt me again, Tsunayoshi, or I will bite you to death."

"You never seem to fulfill that promise when it comes to me," she muses.

Hibari gives her sideway glance. Then he looks at her arms, folded against her lap. A cool nighttime breeze settled in the air and Hibari furtively stood up. Tsunayoshi looks at him with a curious expression.

"Is something wrong?" she asks.

He side-eyes her. "I want to see how you fight," Hibari says bluntly.

Tsunayoshi blinks. "You already have," she says slowly, "ever since I approached you and asked you for lessons."

Hibari almost questions her usage of 'lessons,' which sounded much of an innuendo, until he realized that it was his hormones acting up once again. It's been acting up more than usual now that he was of the adolescent age and not of the pre-teen anymore. Being a human male is very inconvenient. He can only imagine becoming a human female.

"Yes," he starts, "but I've never seen you in action with your flames." He holds his hand out. "That is very new to me, Tsunayoshi, and it is also very interesting."

Tsunayoshi takes his hand and heaves herself up. She does not wear her shoes, Hibari notices, leaving her feet bare.

"Are you asking me to spar with you with my flames?" Tsunayoshi questions.

Hibari nods. He takes a step back, tonfas suddenly in hands. "If I was not any clearer," he says, giving her a cool glance, "then yes."

"Huh."

Then a large flame ignites on her forehead, arms catching on fire. She sprints and Tsunayoshi is behind him, blazing hands on his, fighting for dominance. Hibari swiftly turns, almost hitting the girl in the face before she retracts and does a back flip with her hands. Her eyes are colored bright orange, and the odd flame flickering on her forehead excitedly. Her expression is cool and calm as she stands with her arms on fire.

Hibari almost grins at the competition. "Impressive," he says. Then, he throws a tonfa at her. She dodges, the weapon cutting instead through a tree and making it collapse.

Tsunayoshi regards the fallen tree. "Not bad yourself," she replies coolly.

Hibari quickly sprints to the tree and grabs his fallen tonfa, holds it in front of him just in time. Tsunayoshi is quick and nimble, her bare feet leaving a trail of small flames. Her flaming hand had almost hit him in the face before the tonfa defended it. Hibari applies pressure on the tonfas and pushes back _hard_, and Tsunayoshi gets thrown back, messily regaining her footing mid-flight by thrusting with her flames. Her feet slide against the grass, leaving a small trail of sparking flames in their wake.

Her left hand goes to her hip, and Hibari sees a weapon that he hasn't heard from in a long time.

It is the revolver. A black Smith and Wesson 642 that he got her for her thirteenth birthday. It was a relatively small gun, but even then, the arms dealer had been reluctant selling a gun to a fifteen-turning-sixteen-year-old, especially one that was planning on giving it to a twelve-year-old for her upcoming birthday. He caved in, hoever, after Hibari's insistence of its lack of bullet (and, of course, Hibari's _special_ threats).

The only thing he knew about the revolver and Tsunayoshi is that she had never bought any bullets for it.

_Apparently_, he thinks, watching as Tsunayoshi's gun arm glowed, fire seeping into the revolver, _she didn't need any._

He jumps out of the way, a fireball exploding right behind him. The gun glows orange, looking as though there was a small fireworks festival located in its cartridge. Tsunayoshi is fast at reloading, not seeming to run out of special "bullets." But her aim is weak.

Hibari evades the next round of bullets, twisting his body to dodge the admittedly mesmerizing display of dark orange flames. He nears her, and she notices and tries to aim at the ground beneath him to make him jump back. Hibari only leaps forward, the 'bullets' exploding behind him.

Soon enough, Hibari manages to get close enough for Tsunayoshi to drop the gun and fight hand-to-hand. The flames make her stronger—strong enough to repel the strength of him and his tonfas.

_But she is not as fast as I am, _Hibari thinks as he twists his body, maneuvering around the girl and pinning her to the floor with his hands on hers and his legs against her back.

She is still struggling, a lesson that she has learned from him. Never surrender to an enemy. Even then, it is useless. Futile to a high degree. Hibari will not be letting his guard down any sooner, and so Tsunayoshi will remain pinned to the ground until further actions.

And then Hibari feels like he is on _fire._

He hisses and cradles the blisters on his arm and parts of his left leg, jumping away from Tsunayoshi, who seems to find it the perfect time to turn herself into a human inferno. Dark orange flames covered her entire body, from head to toe. Her eyes and mouth look as though flames were fighting to get out of her body.

She charges at him. Hibari barely has the time to dodge the offensive attack before his body is pinned to a nearby tree.

The flames dissipate from Tsunayoshi's body. Her clothes are badly singed, seams ripped and hems burnt, and Hibari only then realizes that she does not allow her flames to be _free _most of the time, especially if this is the kind of damage it does to her clothing. She most likely has a limited amount of flame-resilient clothing. He has to change that.

He hears a crack, and he realizes that it is the trunk of the tree he is pinned to. The top of the tree falls off, falling sideways.

"Wao."

Tsunayoshi blushes—she could never seem to stop blushing like a schoolgirl with a crush. Hibari has been her teacher for a whole year and she could never manage to be rid of her blushing problem.

"T-thank you," she says, her orange eyes fading into their normal brown.

Hibari tries to dislodge himself from Tsunayoshi's grip. She doesn't seem to know her own strength and is still, remarkably, blushing, but with a darker flush on her cheeks. "You can let go of me now, Tsunayoshi," Hibari says flatly.

Again, the blushing problem.

Hibari finds it terribly distracting.

* * *

An hour after the fight, a baby visits the nearly-demolished forest.

He examines the burn marks, which were suspiciously precise and…

He touches the burns.

They're very special.

* * *

**A/N:** **I suck at fight scenes. For that, I am sorry. I just really suck at fight scenes.**

**Also, there was a person who recommended a Smith and Wesson for a gun, but honestly? I'm just bullshitting through and wikipedia-ing everything. :/ Also, I found the 'best for a girl' part of your comment a bit sexist. Is there a difference between guys' guns and girls' guns? They both just shoot things anyway. :P**

**Review and tell me what you guys think! :)**

**EDIT** The dude I mentioned and asked about the Smith and Wesson,****_idea. getthe_, explained his/her reasoning and I saw my mistake, so I changed the gun from 686 to 642. Thank you so much for pointing it out!**


	6. 5 - Joshua

**A/N: I'm actually a **_**big **_**All27 fan.**

**But don't worry to those who aren't; there's gonna be **_**one**_** ?27 at the end. I just need to choose.**

**BTW, I should probably tell you guys this: the story is mostly _manga-centric_, so the things that happened in the anime (Arcobaleno Trials &amp; Inheritance Succession) will not be featured.**

* * *

**Chapter 5 – Joshua**

Reborn examines the scorch marks in the surrounding area. He had watched the fight between Sawada Tsunayoshi and Hibari Kyouya, albeit only the last part. However, the last part was enough, seeing Tsunayoshi hold her own against the alleged Demon of Namimori. It gives Reborn a sense of hope and relief that his new student won't be as much a pain as Dino was.

He wonders, still, on just why there were so many burns in this area. Several trees have fallen, and according to the singes on their cuts, it was caused by Flames. A single person could not have done this, much less two teens who barely know anything about the Mafia.

Reborn crouches, touching the singed grass. Black marks littered the grass in a wobbly but sure diagonal pattern—precise enough that Reborn crosses of dynamites and explosives off of the possible lists. There were only so few people who could wield explosives so expertly, even in the Mafia.

There are actually more marks similar to them. It surrounds this particular area, and Reborn has already formulated his own hypotheses for this. Tsunayoshi's clothes were badly scorched, and there were several developing blisters on her arms, but the other teen had much more blisters—on his arms, hands, legs.

The scorch marks were most likely instigated by the flames of Hibari Kyouya. He is, after all, the strongest man in Namimori, and despite his lack of knowledge about the Mafia, it's not impossible for him to have Flames.

Reborn smiles. He'd be perfect for the role of Tsunayoshi's guardian.

* * *

Tsuna is not sure how she managed to get in this situation, but she is sure that she is cooking a meal for Hibari Kyouya.

She spreads the sauce over the hamburger steak languidly as she ponders how one was able to actually cook for _Hibari_ _Kyouya_, of all people, and how she could stay so calm about it. Then again, she has been by his side since she was twelve and a half years old, and they are quite close enough to entitle each other as friends.

Also, she wonders if sushi paired with hamburger steak is a good idea.

"How did you find out about the Mafia?" Hibari states, flipping through one of the magazines that Tsuna's mother keeps on leaving around the living room. By his expression, he does not seem fond of the numerous advertisements for women's cosmetics.

"I have a contact." Tsuna doesn't know if she should tell Hibari about Hayato. Hibari might offer important questions, but would most likely drill hard questions on the other teen (or at least she thinks that Hayato is a teen) when Tsuna isn't around. That's good for neither Tsuna or Hayato. He, after all, prefers cautious questioning more than inquisitive questioning.

"I see." Hibari flips through the magazine again, almost grimacing at the sale on lingerie, thigh-highs and stockings. "Does your mother really buy these scanty clothing?"

"The lingerie?" Tsuna sputters, because she could _not _picture her mother wearing sexy underwear. "No! She just buys those magazines out of boredom. She doesn't buy them, god…"

"These would look good on you." Hibari does not seem to be perturbed. He flips another page.

Tsuna sputters again. She hasn't sputtered in a long time. She guesses that Hibari always brings out her clumsy side. "What?"

Hibari was referring to a red cocktail dress. He should have been much clearer. Tsuna almost feels pitiful for Hibari and his lack of social prowess.

* * *

Honestly, Yamamoto didn't mean to fall on top of the girl who so happens to be walking by just as he fell.

He is just teetering at the edge of the school rooftop, his good arm gripping the fence that divided him and the other students who are trying to talk him out of committing suicide.

"No, Yamamoto-kun!"

"Don't jump!"

"Yamamoto, you're not thinking clearly!"

Yamamoto just finds it tiring, to say the least. He always has to act like the good guy everyone expects him to be, to smile and be optimistic even if he's not. Baseball is the only thing that kept him going as far as here, but even that one ran away from him.

He moves his damaged arm, grimacing when a shot of pain bolted up his arm. He turns to his spectators.

"Listen, guys," he starts saying, and everyone is silent, anticipating his speech. Others are still teary-eyed and frightened, and Yamamoto supposes that he hadn't meant to make them so worked up about this. But that's what he's sick about—a little anger, a little sadness, and people suddenly wonder if this was really Yamamoto Takeshi.

"I'm sorry it had to end this way." Of _course _his parting words would be cliché. "But, here's the thing—I'm really tired. I don't want to live anymore, not since my arm broke and I have to give up baseball. Baseball's my only passion, you know? It's the one thing I really loved at all, and now it's gone. It's like…like the baseball gods decided that I wasn't worth it, and—and maybe it would be fine if Yamamoto Takeshi would just stop playing. I love baseball so much, I…" He bitterly smiles. "And even then I can't keep it. So…" He looks at the crowd of students, who are all anxious and scared, and some already rushing towards him (that's not going to work). "Goodbye. Tell my dad I love him."

Then he let go of the railing that was, weirdly enough, his literal lifeline. The students who were about to catch him missed by a thread, and Yamamoto was falling to his death.

And then.

_Tell my dad I love him._

In hindsight, suicide might not have been a good option.

His dad. He forgot about the only person who truly care about him!

Wind rushed through his ears as he fell, screaming and yelling and frantically searching for a leverage in the building. There were none, and so Yamamoto screamed helplessly, realizing that he really is going to die.

Serves him right.

He squeezes his eyes shut, waiting for his death. He should have written a note, at least, for his father so that he wouldn't have to be called by the school officials stating his son's demise, heartbroken by the fact that his only remaining family had died.

Weirdly enough, the harsh fall did not happening. Something cushioned his contact to the ground.

Yamamoto hears a short groan.

_Someone, _then. Yamamoto scrambles off of the person in a frantic motion that made him look ungraceful, and even nearly stumbling in the process. The person in question is a girl with short brown hair that barely reached her shoulders, and is wearing the school uniform that, thanks to Yamamoto, is sullied and dirty. Small scratches with a thin layer of red on her elbow and part of her calves catches Yamamoto's attention.

"Oh, god, I'm sorry!" Yamamoto reacts instinctively, helping the girl up. She is short, barely reaching Yamamoto's shoulders, and he is _sure_ that he's seen her before.

"Do you always fall from rooftops?" the girl says dryly, glaring at Yamamoto.

Then it clicks.

It clicks in his head that this girl is Sawada Tsunayoshi. From the Namimori gossip mills, she's the girl that used to be known as Dame-Tsuna for her uselessness. The nickname departed once her grades were pulled up, but then a few years later, she was known as the Demon's Advocate after living witnesses (Sawada's former bullies) stated that Hibari Kyouya now has a soft spot for two things: Namimori, and Sawada Tsunayoshi.

Two weeks later, Sawada was more than capable of taking care of her own bullies. Or she was just holding back the time when Hibari saved her. Yamamoto doesn't really know which rumor is true or false, or if neither rumor was true.

Everyone stayed away from her after that. She either didn't care, or pretended that she didn't.

The impact of Yamamoto's fall didn't seem to damage any vital parts of the girl, but Yamamoto's father had always taught him to value life and health (the irony of the statement is not lost on Yamamoto), and so he asks the girl, "Are you all right? Do you need a trip to the infirmary?"

Sawada seems surprise at his display of courtesy, and Yamamoto remembers that this girl has barely experienced courtesy directed at her. Her only friend seems to be Hibari Kyouya, and even then, Hibari doesn't seem to have much courtesy either.

"No?" She shakes her head, blinking out the fuzziness in her eyes that Yamamoto concluded came from the fall. "No," she says more firmly. "Listen, I just want to know what the hell you're doing on the rooftop, and _falling. _Were the railings not strong enough?" She gives him a once-over, paying special attention to his bandaged arm. "Maybe not, you're pretty tall." She seems to be talking to herself now. "Really heavy, too. Fucking athletes."

She then looks at him, scrutinizing him with soft-brown eyes. "What?" he says, almost defensively.

"Are you going to offer a reason, or are you just going to stand there gaping at me like an idiot?" She used to be soft-spoken from the days they played together in the sandbox—Yamamoto at least remembered that before he went on and became popular, and Sawada became Dame-Tsuna. Hibari must have been a big influence on her for _this_ attitude to suddenly emerge. Or maybe she was just sick of all the teasing and bullying, which he made no move to stop.

Yamamoto hesitates in telling the truth, but Sawada's eyes—scrutinizing, glaring, determined—made it nearly impossible to lie. "I was trying to commit suicide," he says with a grudging tone. "Didn't end well, as you can see."

Sawada raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Why what?"

She looked _subtly _ticked off. "Why would you want to _die_?"

He blinks. He motions for his damaged arm. "You know that I play baseball, right?" She nods, and he continues, "Well, one afternoon, I was practicing for the finals. It was really important, so I stayed at school until nighttime. I got a permit from a teacher, so I didn't get in trouble."

Sawada's expression didn't bear any emotion, so Yamamoto continues, "Well, I guess I strained myself too hard, trying to be the absolute _best. _I just really wanted everyone to be proud, you know? And then I ended up with a broken arm and broken dreams." He sighs. "I'm better off dying than having my dreams crushed."

Sawada stares at him for a moment, making a face that was both angry and disgusted.

Yamamoto feels a sharp sting on his left cheek.

Sawada just slapped him. Hard.

"Listen, you idiot," Sawada starts with barely-contained anger, "that _broken _arm you have will be _healed _after a few weeks—"

"But I can't even play in the finals—!"

"—did I finish talking?" Sawada says sharply. Her eyes turned bright orange for a moment. Yamamoto is sure that it's just his imagination. "You have something to _live _for. You're loved by everyone who you might not even love back. People _care _about you. You're a _star. _You're Yamamoto Takeshi"—he starts at that, because since Sawada glared at him, he didn't think that she knew him, because everyone was so _nice _to him—"and there are people who would die for you."

Yamamoto is rendered speechless.

Sawada crosses her arms, lips pursed tightly. "Do you think it's nice to be called Dame-Tsuna? Or the Demon's Advocate?" she says quietly. "Do you think it's nice that you only have a single friend in the world, and he's a psychopath who keeps on using animal metaphors?" Yamamoto snorts at that, but at Sawada's serious expression, he straightens up. "Do you, Yamamoto Takeshi, think that it's nice being all alone?"

"I—"

"I don't think so," Sawada says in finality before she walks past him, leaving him staring at the space she stood.

"Yamamoto-kun!" someone shouts from behind him. A girl. Not Sawada.

Yamamoto turns, catching sight of a head of short brown hair disappearing in the sea of jubilant students.

"Oh, thank god, you're not dead!"

"We were so worried!"

"What happened to you?!"

Yamamoto forces a smile. Sawada may have been wrong in her assumptions about people caring for him, but he could not deny that there are people who _love _him. And she's right about people dying for him—the person he last thought of before he prepared for his death.

He goes home and buys his father the gelato ice cream he was incredibly fond of.

* * *

Tsuna is annoyed.

She had given that Yamamoto Takeshi a lecture about committing suicide and how much of an idiot he was to even consider doing the act.

She hadn't meant to _care _so much, but the fact that there was so much for Yamamoto to look forward to and just waste it away because of some broken arm, she got particularly upset. Yamamoto, as she knew him, was always so cheerful and happy (though she _did _find out that it was a pitiful façade), with popularity and love and a father who actually loves him and sings praises to him.

Tsuna admits that she's a bit bitter about other people's familial love, but Nana and her father already neglected her as a child and, frankly, there's nothing she can do to change that. She just learned to accept it and fend for herself instead.

Yamamoto is (again) cheerful and happy, hanging out with people and eating properly. His arm was healing quickly, as she hears a few boys and girls say, and that he should be fine in two to three weeks time. Tsuna _is _kind of happy for him (she had, after all, been one of the dumbstruck girls who used to crush on him, and that made her care just a _tiny_ bit), but other than the 'kind of' emotion, she couldn't be more indifferent.

She just wishes that Yamamoto knew that she didn't particularly care anymore, because the other boy has been _following _(stalking, more like) her ever since.

It started on a sunny school day and Tsuna was eating her lunch alone on the school field on the bleachers. She sits with a few girls who only came out to watch the baseball team train. The bleacher she sits on is empty besides herself, meanwhile the other bleachers are filled with girls with lovesick expressions.

Tsuna is eating a bento made by her mother (she's improving as a parent, but Tsuna thinks that it's too late; she could take care of herself just fine, especially with Hibari by her side) until Yamamoto decides to sit next to her, ignoring the whining and flirtatious offers of the girls at the other bleachers.

After the whining and shouting, everyone just goes silent, wondering what _Yamamoto Takeshi_ is doing with _Sawada Tsunayoshi. _

Neither Tsuna or Yamamoto particularly care.

Well, Tsuna does. Not for the whining, but what exactly is _Yamamoto Takeshi _doing with _her_? She turns to look at him in the eyes, which Yamamoto returns with a carefree smile.

"What are you doing?" Tsuna says bluntly.

"Sitting, eating lunch, resting," Yamamoto replied offhandedly, grin still plastered on his face.

"Why?"

"Because I'm resting—"

"Cut the crap, Yamamoto," Tsuna interjects. She is not at all sure as to why the most popular person in school (other than Sasagawa Kyoko) is sitting next to her during lunch time when there were other people that were just _begging _for Yamamoto to pay them any attention at all. "What's the reason for sitting next to me? You have"—Tsuna looks disdainfully at Yamamoto's fans, all of which still staring with incredulous and indignant expressions—"other willing _fans_ that want you to sit next to them."

"Yeah, but you seemed really lonely." He's lying. Tsuna can _feel_ it. "So, I wanted to provide you with some company." A half-truth, which isn't technically a lie.

Yamamoto wants something from Tsuna. Tsuna cannot explain how she can feel it, but she can. It manifests inside her like…a conscience. Except not really, since it also appears when she's sparring with Hibari, and consciences weren't supposed to permit fights. Maybe an intuition, or something similar.

"I'm fine on my own," Tsuna replies flatly, "as you may have noticed from the, ah, nearly eight years we've been in Namimori."

Yamamoto still had the gall to grin. "Yeah, but it must have been lonely for those years, right?"

Not exactly. Being alone was peaceful and serene—the presence of another person would destroy the peacefulness. "No," Tsuna says.

"Ha-ha," Yamamoto laughs, and Tsuna feels a tick mark appear on her forehead. "Everyone needs friends."

"I do have friends," Tsuna says, immediately thinking of Hibari. She stands, packing up her nearly finished lunch. She glances at Yamamoto. "I have to go."

Yamamoto's grin falters for a moment before returning to his happy-go-lucky attitude. "Okay!" he says brightly. "See you around!"

Tsuna sighs heavily.

There is a recurring pattern after that damned day, and Yamamoto's been following her around like a dog. A distanced dog, but Tsuna cannot pretend not to notice when Yamamoto stares at her for an entire period. Sometimes two. In a row.

It's been a week and Tsuna has learned that it's better to ignore him than be surprised or shocked of how he can be here at a certain place and certain time. As much as she hates to admit it, but Yamamoto _is _growing on her. Like an annoying moss, maybe, but growing on her nonetheless.

Yamamoto, however, also had the (dis)pleasure of meeting with Tsuna's unofficial tutor.

* * *

"What are you doing here, Reborn?"

The baby hitman only smiles and jumps on Tsuna's head in response. Tsuna loses her footing for a while because of the sudden weight. Thankfully, she can hold.

"I'm your tutor now," Reborn says, sitting down on Tsuna's hair. "Or did we not clear that up?"

"We have," Tsuna says, sighing exasperatedly. Honestly, she actually _had _to accept the position. There aren't any important casualties aforementioned when becoming Vongola Decimo, but she knows that if she accepts too easily, Reborn would get suspicious. "Just—why me?"

"We've cleared that up as well," Reborn replies, and then promptly smacks Tsuna on the side of her head. Tsuna bit her lip to keep from yelling—the baby may be small, but he sure was strong. "Of course, I still need to train you." Tsuna feel like he is eyeing her. "And to train you, I think we should go about one of Vongola's newest weapons."

Tsuna's ears perked up at the statement. She may not exactly be a violence-lusting maniac like Hibari, but she isn't one of the quiet conservative anti-violence hippies either. She makes sure not to make her interest known to the hitman.

The hitman is still eyeing her. Tsuna could literally sense that. Reborn jumps to the ground and his chameleon—a green lizard that Reborn calls Leon that always seems to be next to the hitman—turns into a gun.

Tsuna blinks at the chameleon-turned-gun.

Ah.

The Mafia has many surprises in store.

Tsuna really thinks that she should worry about bystanders calling the police. And maybe her safety, as the gun is pointed to her direction. The safety of the gun clicked.

"Now, Dame-Tsuna." The effect may have been long gone, but Tsuna still grimaces every time Reborn casually says her old nickname. "This"—he shows her a bullet with Vongola's insignia embedded onto it—"is called the Dying Will bullet." Reborn jumps up to a fence so that he was eye-to-eye with her. "It's one of the less defective types, so you don't need to worry." He inserts the bullet into the gun's cartridge.

_What the hell do you mean by _less _defective?_

Tsuna licks her lips and eyes the gun warily. She doesn't get scared easily—not anymore, at least—but she knew that she is facing the world's greatest hitman, and the strongest human in the world. She had reason to be scared. "What does it do?"

"Well," Reborn starts, "I shoot you with it."

Tsuna steps back, glaring at the hitman. "What." Her tone is flat.

Reborn smiles. It is a sinister smile that is the last thing Tsuna wants to see. "I shoot you with it," Reborn continues, "you get reborn"—his eyes sparkle, almost amused with his own pun—"and you do the last thing you regret not doing. You're going to have the resolve to complete that task for five minutes before you revert back to your wimpy self."

_Did he just call me wimpy? _Tsuna internally shakes her head. "That's it?"

"Well…" Reborn's smile gets wider. "There's just this one _problem _with the bullet."

"What?" Tsuna is almost scared of the answer.

Reborn seems to ignore her question as he suddenly looked at her, up and down. "Hm, she's a girl, and she'll be a bit exposed. That's a bit too harsh, since she's only thirteen," he mutters, mostly to himself. "Oh, well, a little scandal won't hurt."

"Wait, what scandal?"

Reborn only looks at her, cocks his gun, aims, and says, "Die, Dame-Tsuna."

Out of reflex, Tsuna's arms shoots up and slaps the gun's nozzle away from her just as Reborn pulls the trigger.

"Hey, Sawa—" _Bang!_

_Oh, crap. _Tsuna turns and sees Yamamoto sprawled on the ground, a gaping hole on his forehead smoking.

"Reborn! What did you—"

"MAKE TSUNA BECOME MY FRIEND WITH MY DYING WILL!" Yamamoto shouts and he jumps, standing in front of Tsuna. A blue flame ignites on top of his forehead, and his pupils are suddenly gone. Reborn is still (suspiciously) smiling.

To both Tsuna's and (later) Yamamoto's embarrassment, the other boy had no clothes on save for his underwear.

"Tsuna!" Yamamoto yells, almost frantically. "Will you become my friend?!"

Tsuna blinks. She…did not expect that.

"S-sure, Yamamoto-san," she replies, almost unsure.

Then, Yamamoto's body shudders, and suddenly he looks at Tsuna again, a determined expression on his face.

"Tsuna!" he yells again. "Will you at least call me Takeshi or take away the honorifics?!"

Tsuna, again, is surprised. "All right…Yamamoto-sa—Yamamoto."

Yamamoto smiles a toothy grin as his flame fizzles out.

The smile falters when he realizes that he isn't wearing any form of clothing. Other than underwear.

* * *

**A/N: I'm sorry if the seriousness of the fic is suddenly lessened, because I realized that comical effects would be nice to ease the tension a bit, you feel? Especially since the manga borders a lot on comedy than seriousness. And I kind of like a little comedy to go with seriousness. Anyway, yay! Yamamoto's here!**

**Also, the next chapters will probably be as long as this one.**

**Review? :)**

**(PS: I have no idea how you cook hamburger steak. My cooking skills are limited to beverages and desserts.)**

**(PPS: The lingerie scene between Hibari and Tsuna wasn't supposed to happen. I just really wanted it there. *face palm*)**

**(PPPS: Did you actually **_**like **_**the lingerie scene?)(****Because I kind of did.****) **


	7. 6 - Judges

**A/N: I am honestly sorry for any mistakes on this chapter, the past chapters and future chapters. Still kind of justified, though, since I'm 14 years old going on 15 in seven months' time (haha I'm as old as Tsuna when the series ended!). I lack actual experiences and knowledge. Sorry about that.**

* * *

**Chapter 6 – Judges**

Tsuna goes through Reborn's files, knowing that the hitman should have her files somewhere. After all, Reborn won't just blindly train a girl to become a Mafia Boss, right?

It is nearly midnight and Reborn is already asleep on a hammock beside her bed, a large bubble forming from his nose. Tsuna would have thought it adorable if she didn't know his violent tendencies. His violent tendencies that, without her so-called _gut_ _feeling_, would have fired an army of grenades on her had she not been able to got through the traps laid around the baby's hammock. Slowly and silently, she slipped out of her bed, wondering where Reborn would have kept the files.

_If I was Reborn…_ Then she would have been sleeping on top of the files. She looks at the sleeping baby, who, despite the serene expression, has his eyes wide open. It was eerie and _off_. Tsuna frowns, thinking of a way to take the files without waking up the hitman. She isn't even sure whether or not the files were actually stowed underneath his sleeping body.

She quietly opens her drawer, taking out a small pair of scissors. She crouches underneath Reborn's hammock, trapping a small piece of cloth between her fingers. She cuts through the fabric with the pair of scissors, making sure that she wouldn't nick Reborn's own pajamas. She cut almost surgically, and she made the cut wider using her fingers. She feels something papery and hard.

She licks her lips and checks on Reborn, making sure that the hitman was still asleep. He is, and she goes back to her work. She slips the folder underneath Reborn slowly and patiently so that he wouldn't be awoken.

She got the files, but she wonders briefly on how she will be able to return it to Reborn's hammock.

"It's all right if you don't return it to me," Reborn replies as though reading her mind. Tsuna whips her head to the source of the voice, an alarmed look on her face. "Ciaossu." Reborn smiles almost indulgently. "Those files are outdated anyway."

"What do you mean outdated?" Tsuna asks. No use being surprised—Reborn's the strongest hitman in the world, so of course he would detect her presence and actions. Damn, though.

She looks at the files in her hands. Well, if Reborn tells her it's okay, she might as well see what her father says about her. Or other members of Vongola, if her father wasn't the only source.

"Majority of those files are made by Iemitsu, your father," Reborn starts. "Nearly all of them contradict what and who you are now. I think that Iemitsu might have been a little disillusioned that you are growing out of your…young and clumsy self." He tilts his head, amused at her father's character. "Maybe it's a part of being a parent, don't you think?"

Tsuna snorts, flipping through numerous reports about her clumsiness and naivety. Her picture is on the third page out of seven, when she was ten years old with long hair and nervous smiles. At the age of eleven, she cut her hair because of its hindrance to her self-inflicted training, always getting in her line of sight and giving her blind spots, and she rarely ever smiles anymore. She wonders if that's a part of growing up—smiling, she means. Shame, but she doesn't mind not smiling.

"These are _three_ years outdated," Tsuna notices. "I may be thirteen years old, but I'm not exactly in elementary either. And you might have notice, despite your nickname for me, that I'm not exactly useless anymore either."

"Your father was far too much of an empty space in your life, Dame-Tsuna," Reborn comments,evidently ignoring the last part, "and you to him."

"A bit obvious." She still couldn't get rid of that hate inside her chest—a personal and growing dislike for her father. "Apparently, his Famiglia is more important than his family."

If Reborn noticed her bitter tone, he chose not to comment on it.

Tsuna continued reading through the files, Reborn's eyes boring a hole into her. She finds out from the reading that she is an eighth-Italian from her father's side, information that her mother never shared with her.

At the last page, her eyes widen considerably at what is written.

_Flame Status: Negative, No Seal_

_Tsunayoshi Sawada displays a lack of Flames from early childhood to adolescent. No Flame core can be detected from her persona. She is a final candidate for the position of __**Vongola Tenth **__and will only be considered in emergency situations (e.g., tragedy involving the primary candidate, etc. [see back of the page])_

_Blood Status: Direct Descendant of __**Vongola First**__, Paternal Relation of __**Iemitsu Sawada**_

Underneath the last line is a family tree not unlike what Reborn showed her earlier, when they first met.

Reborn notices her furrowed brows. "I'm sure I discussed with you the topic of your bloodline," he says. "I also showed you your family tree."

"You never told me anything about Flames, though." Flames. A capital F. The Mafia was undeniably peculiar about the title. "It says that if I don't have Flames, I'm unfit for the position." She looks up, staring straight into Reborn. "Why waste your time with me, then?"

"Because you're the last candidate and this is an emergency, as stated in the file," Reborn answers. Tsuna notices that he doesn't specify what the emergency was. "There are no other available heirs to the throne, and you'll have to do, Flame or no.

"Besides, Hibari can help you in the field. He seems to be an efficient practitioner. Maybe you have a potential and no one's looked into you." At her look, he adds, "I saw what happened in the forest."

Tsuna pales at the word 'forest.' "What?"

"I saw the damage," Reborn says, smiling. Tsuna feels a stirring in the pit of her stomach. No one else was supposed to know about her Flames. If Reborn ever found out about those, there'd be questions, especially with everyone thinking she had none. She didn't have a core—what did that even mean? "Hibari's strong, but I can see that you can hold your own without the Flames."

What?

Oh.

_Oh._

He thought _Hibari _had the Flames.

"Which makes me wonder if he's as strong as people say he is," Reborn muses. "He was defeated by _you, _while his Flames were activated." Reborn shook his head. "Anyhow, he's going to help you with your own Flames. No back outs, Dame-Tsuna."

This information is interesting—Reborn doesn't know that it was _her_, which is a relief_—_but she knows that she has to keep her guard up around Reborn. He's watched the end of her and Hibari's fight without either of them noticing and even inspected the aftermath of the spar.

Tsuna grits her teeth, pretending to look upset and troubled. She had no difficulty in doing it, since in the majority of her life, she really _is _upset and troubled, especially when she's reaching _that _time. Hibari had only taught her to never show her emotions to untrustworthy people. Right now, Reborn was one of those people. "So, no way out of the Mafia?"

Reborn looks like he's enjoying her pain. "Nope."

Tsuna straightens the sheets of paper. She exhales sharply. "Will it be harder staying away?"

"Very much so."

Tsuna licks her lips. "No way out…" she says, almost in a sing-song tone. She looks up at Reborn, dull brown eyes piercing into Reborn's empty black ones. "All right."

"All right?" Reborn repeats, sounding nearly confused.

"I'll become Vongola Decimo."

Reborn looks almost pleased, and a bit surprised, with a miniscule change in his expression (not much, though). He hops back into his hammock, eyes sparkling in the dark room. "Great. Less resistance." He settles down. "And, Dame-Tsuna"—she still feels contemptuous at the nickname—"you better replace my hammock before dawn, tomorrow."

Tsuna gave a groan as she hid the files underneath her drawer. She climbs on her bed and pulls up the blankets, giving a long exhale as she screws her eyes shut. The silence in the room was deafening, but the quiet was calm, serene—peaceful, as her life used to be.

After a moment, Reborn says, "They didn't like it at first."

Tsuna opens her eyes and gives him a glance. "Who?"

"Everyone."

She looks up at the ceiling, the dim aftermath of turning off the fluorescent light still shining. "Ah. Figures."

"You know your position in the Mafia. They know it better."

_Flameless. An ignorant heiress. A mofioso who doesn't know anything. A weak-willed schoolgirl._

"I know my position."

_A girl._

"Be careful."

"I will."

Tsuna flicks another glance at Reborn.

"Why are you saying this?"

He does not answer.

* * *

She contacted Hayato three in the morning. They've never been much for time and schedules, and any time of day would be just fine unless one of them says beforehand that they are busy at the time. Tsuna saw Hayato's username pop up on the screen of her laptop and typed in her question.

_Tsuna: Who is Vongola First?_

_Hayato: The first boss of Vongola._

_Hayato: Listen I can't feed you any more information about Vongola._

Tsuna narrowed her eyes at Hayato's message.

_Tsuna: What do you mean?_

_Hayato: I'm hired by one of their men. I cannot risk being found out of giving out information._

_Tsuna: Who hired you_

_Tsuna: Hayato._

_Hayato: Confidential. Goodbye, Tsunayoshi._

_**Hayato has logged out.**_

Tsuna slumps back in her bed, fingers drumming against the casing of the laptop. Losing Hayato to Vongola wasn't exactly much of a tragedy, however, Tsuna doesn't exactly have other contacts left, and this proved to be disadvantageous.

She _had _found out about Vongola First, though considering the title, she should have found out easily—god, it only took common sense to find out about _that! _She hums dejectedly, questions barraging her mind. Other than Vongola First, she had to find out about the current boss, Vongola Ninth. He must be dying if they're so adamant on making Tsuna train at such an early age.

And the Flames. The capital Fs. They're more confusing now that Tsuna snuck a peek on her files. No Flame core meant no Flames. What did that make her?

Flameless.

She's supposed to be Flameless.

But she's _not_.

_Why?_

* * *

Yamamoto is in her house.

_Yamamoto is in her house._

Somehow, it takes her more than a few moments to accept the fact that Yamamoto Takeshi is lounging on the living room sofa, broken arm still in sling, allegedly waiting for her to get ready, and making small talk with her mother. No, Tsuna does not know why the guy is here. Other than the avid staking and declaration of friendship, Yamamoto isn't exactly who Tsuna would refer to as a close friend.

She slowly enters the living room, bag slung on her shoulder. Yamamoto noticeably brightens up at the sight of her.

"Ah, Tsu-chan," her mother says brightly as she catches sight of Tsuna, "I didn't know you were friends with this handsome boy!"

"Hey, Tsuna," Yamamoto says, waving. "Sorry to come unannounced."

Tsuna raises an eyebrow. Why exactly _did _he come unannounced? "It's all right," she says tonelessly, still wondering about Yamamoto's motives. He probably didn't have any, since Tsuna couldn't sense anything that screamed danger, and the fact that being friends with Tsuna was his primary regret. Tsuna still feels warmth in her chest whenever she remembers the incident (it was really touching) but she growls at herself.

She's not a lovesick schoolgirl anymore, dammit. Her crush on Yamamoto passed when she was eleven and more serious. Besides, she never actually thought that Yamamoto would seriously take notice of her.

Hm. Maybe giving him the lecture about suicide wasn't a good thing, since his attention steered away from _everything_ _else_ and onto _her_.

She sighs. "Let's go. Hibari-san's going to bite us to death if we're late," she says. She kisses her mom on the cheek out of habit and heads out the door, Yamamoto following suit.

Tsuna turns to Yamamoto once they were out of the door and walking out into the sidewalk. "Listen—" She stops, sighs. "Don't come unannounced. I don't like being caught off-guard." She looks at him with narrowed eyes. "Why _are _you here—"

"Um," Yamamoto cuts in politely, "do you mind if we can talk about what happened yesterday? That's—that's why I came."

"Yesterday?" Tsuna questions. The gears in her mind turn and her brain recalls the image of Yamamoto in only his underwear with a blue Flame blazing on his forehead. "Ah, yesterday. Underwear. Of course."

Yamamoto blushes as though he thought of the same thing as Tsuna did, which he most likely has. "Underwear," he sputters. "Please tell me you didn't remember the—" He gestures in front of him. "The, uh—uhm—"

"It's all right, I can forget the sushi patterns," Tsuna says emotionlessly, but inside, she is snorting and may not actually forget.

Yamamoto blushes. "Yeah, that bit was embarrassing, but"—Yamamoto looks _nervous_, Tsuna realizes, and quite frankly it was an out-of-place expression on his face—"you _do _remember the other things that I said, right?"

Ah. Well, of course. Tsuna's never been more conscious in her life than when Yamamoto Takeshi asked her to be his friend.

What's more is that being her friend was Yamamoto's primary regret when he 'died.'

Of course she remembers.

"Yes." Pink dusts her cheeks but she tries to play off as indifferent. Only now does she realize that her experience with boys is limited to Hibari (and now, possibly Reborn, but the baby couldn't possibly be a peer she can associate with), and even Hibari isn't like other boys. Or other humans. Hayato didn't count, and her father _absolutely _did not count.

"Why?" she questions afterwards, noticing Yamamoto's silence.

"Just…" Yamamoto himself blushes and he shoves his hands in his pants pockets. "When I asked you to be my friend, and you agreed—you said _yes_, did you mean it?"

Tsuna blinks. Being Yamamoto's friend isn't a big deal as the other teen had _loads _of friends and is the type of person to become everyone's companion and/or acquiantance, but she is flustered at him announcing it so formally. "Yes," she says, drawing out the word. "I was very serious."

She was. She is. Maybe she can be Yamamoto's friend. Just one who won't get him involved in the Mafia. She only hopes.

She looks at Yamamoto. Oddly enough, he looks relieved.

* * *

"Ah, you're Dame-Tsuna's friend?"

Yamamoto looks at Reborn sharply despite giving him a bright smile. The baby hitman doesn't look at all fazed, but Tsuna can see the way his eyes sparkle at Yamamoto's fiery glance. She feels slightly affronted at the athlete's sudden protectiveness. She can handle herself, thank you very much.

"Yeah," Yamamoto says. They all stop in front of the entrance, Hibari just past the gates rough-housing a few students who were caught smoking in front of the school. "Hey, you're the little guy that shot me, right?"

Tsuna inhales sharply. _He's not going to be sucked into the Mafia's business, is he?_

Reborn smiles wanly at Yamamoto, ignoring Tsuna's glares. "Yes," he chirps. "I'm a hitman from the Mafia, and I'm training Dame-Tsuna to become the boss of the most powerful family in the world."

Tsuna mentally smacks her forehead, not daring to look at Yamamoto. A small glance says that he looks shocked and intrigued. She closes her eyes and sighs heavily. Doesn't the Mafia have a rule? What did Hayato call it…omerta? Didn't that ban Reborn from entering a civilian into the Mafia?

She looks at Reborn, and he caught her gaze. His eyes gleaned with knowledge. Tsuna feels a shiver down her spine. This guy is the most powerful man in the world. He knows a _lot._

A sudden laugh from her side makes her stop her thoughts. Yamamoto is laughing. Chuckling.

"That's nice," he says brightly. "Is this a game you two play?" He smiles at Tsuna, and she gives a nervous half-smile back. "He's your cousin, right? Or baby brother?"

"Uh…"

"Tutor," Reborn pipes up. "Like I said, she's going to become a Mafia boss, and I'm the one who has to train her."

Tsuna shoots Reborn a glare. She suddenly remembers the reason why she stopped trying to obtain friends since she found those files on her father's laptop.

Yamamoto only laughs in reply. Thankfully, Reborn looks more amused than irritated.

"That's a nice game," he says. "Can I join, too?" He shoots a playful look at Tsuna, who raises an eyebrow in return. "If you don't mind?"

_Do I?_

_Well, he thinks it's a game._

_Or I hope he thinks that it's a game._

She shrugs her shoulder half-heartedly, giving Reborn a cold stare. He does not look disturbed in the least. "Sure."

Yamamoto grins. "Great!"

* * *

"Oh, what a cute baby!"

Tsuna turns her head and sees Sasagawa Kyoko, a bright smile on her face, with some grumpy-looking guy trailing after her. She recognizes the guy as Mochida Kensuke, an upperclassman who was in second year…or third year? She isn't sure.

"Kyoko-chan, it's just a baby," Mochida whines when Sasagawa crouches down and squeals over Reborn and his apparent cuteness.

Tsuna snorts at Mochida's statement. It is _way _more than just a baby.

Sasagawa still finds time to carry Reborn in her arms and coddle him like he was a real baby. It was a sight that Tsuna feels weirded out seeing, but it was nonetheless amusing. Reborn still doesn't look perturbed.

"C'mon!" Mochida insists loudly from the background. "I'm more interesting than a baby! Kyoko, look at me! You still haven't answered me about the date yet." He waits, but Sasagawa is making baby faces at Reborn. "Your silence means yes, then? All right. I'll come by your house and—"

"I already said no, senpai," Sasagawa says politely, setting Reborn down. She turns to Mochida, a friendly smile still on her face, but Tsuna notices a hard edge to it. "I'm not actually attracted—"

"Why not?" Mochida interjects, cutting of Sasagawa's patient reply. "I mean, I'm Mochida Kensuke!"

Tsuna snorts. God, these types of bastards were so hard to get rid off! Despite their differences, there are always special connections between two girls, even if they haven't exactly met or got to know each other.

"Senpai," Sasagawa insists, "I don't want to go out with you."

Mochida frowns, suddenly taking hold of her arm. Tsuna's eyes narrow. She flicks her gaze from Reborn to Yamamoto, who both have the same troubled expressions, and to Mochida, whose arrogant face she felt the need to punch. "Hey, come on, your opinion's going to change after one—"

"I really think that you should listen to Sasagawa-san, Mochida-senpai," Tsuna says, crossing her arm with indignation. She shoots a glare at Mochida's hand, which is still tightly holding onto Sasagawa's forearm. Mochida catches the glare and, though scowling, lets go of the other girl's arm.

"You don't have the right to butt into our conversation, Sawada," Mochida growls.

"Sasagawa-san is clearly uncomfortable with your insistence," Tsuna refutes. "I think she's more than fine with my interference."

Sasagawa cuts in kindly, "I am, and I'm sorry, Mochida-senpai, but I'm really not interested."

Mochida looks as though he wanted to say something more before an ominous voice cuts in.

"I will bite all of you to death if you do not stop crowding immediately."

He pales and sputters at the sight of Hibari before glaring at Tsuna once more and huffing inside the school, casting one more glance at Sasagawa. "This isn't over," he sneers at Tsuna.

Tsuna only rolls her eyes at him, not minding the threat.

Sasagawa turns to Tsuna, giving her a smile. "Thank you so much, Tsuna-chan," she says, and Tsuna decides not to correct her on the honorifics. They weren't exactly close, though maybe the other girl preferred calling people like that. "You didn't have to go through the trouble."

"It's fine," Tsuna replies, waving it off. "Mochida was an asshole anyway. Doesn't know how to respect people. Besides, you're too good of a person to actually be with a guy like that." She's rambling, she knows. Maybe it was a vindictive…something, that overcame her, watching a girl being harassed like that. She shakes her head. "Anyway, I'm pretty sure we have to get inside the school already before we're marked as late."

"Three minutes," Hibari pipes up from behind them.

"Pardon, Hibari-san?"

"Three minutes and you're late," Hibari says again, giving all of them a cold stare. "No exceptions, and that means you, Tsunayoshi."

Tsuna only rolls her eyes and hikes up her bag further on her back to a more comfortable position. She gives Hibari her usual nod of greeting, not having done it a while ago, and enters the school.

* * *

"Sawada-san!"

Tsuna turns around from her conversation with Yamamoto, facing a kid their age with a flustered expression. "Yes?" she questions.

"Mochida-senpai has challenged you to a duel!" the student says, a bit nervous about the proclamation. "Um, he said to meet him in the school gym at three o'clock today, and if you don't show up, he wins by default."

"Wait," Yamamoto cuts in, and the other student looks overwhelmed by the fact that the school's baseball star is talking to him, "what do you mean duel? What kind of fight is he asking for?"

"Huh?" The students looks taken aback before blushing again. Tsuna rolls her eyes discreetly. Mochida should have picked a less flustered underclassman to be his messenger. "Oh, I heard him say something about you quitting and him winning Sasagawa-san as the prize…"

"Wait, what?" Tsuna interjects, narrowing her eyes at the teenager.

"Uh, yeah." The guy scratches his cheek and he says, "He said that if you forfeit the duel, he gets to date Sasagawa-san."

"Why Tsuna?" Yamamoto questions.

"Um." The guy blushes. "He seems to think that Sawada-san is interested in Sasagawa-san…like he is."

"Like what?" Yamamoto question, ever oblivious.

"That, er." The guy shoots her a stare, wondering on how to break to the baseball ace that Mochida thinks that Tsuna is a lesbian interested in Sasagawa Kyoko. Or, at the very least, bisexual. "Mochida-senpai thinks that Sawada-san is a…_romantic _competitor for Sasagawa-san's affections."

Yamamoto stares at the guy, who squirms in his position while occasionally shifting his weight from one foot to the other. Yamamoto turns silent next to Tsuna, his grin faltering slightly and turning more like a confused smile than a happy one.

Then Tsuna snorted.

"He's more of an idiot than I thought he was."

* * *

"So, do you plan on backing out?" Reborn asks her as she makes her way to Hibari's office, about to deliver him his lunch. He jumps on her head, an action that he frequents enough that she gets used to it.

"Back out of what?" she says airily.

"Mochida Kensuke's proposal for a duel," Reborn answers. Pauses. "Or, well, demand."

"What makes you think I'm backing out?"

"He's the Kendo captain, you know," Reborn supplies. "Two years in a row. He's a formidable opponent. And when you lose, everyone would most likely be there to watch your defeat."

"You seem to forget the fact that I single-handedly defeated Hibari." She brought up the fact, one she was admittedly proud of despite everything being half-truth not yet unveiled in Reborn's eyes. She's actually quite weak compared to Hibari, her Flames giving her an unfair advantage by heightening her strength, dexterity and senses.

Reborn smiles. "True," he says. "And besides, you're a Mafia boss, and bosses don't run away."

Tsuna halts in her steps. Then slowly, she smiles. "Even before agreeing to that position, I already told myself that I'm never going to stand down without a fight."

Reborn's smile grows wider. "Your father," he starts, "is completely wrong about you."

She gives a wry smile. "I know."

* * *

"Dame-Tsuna!" Mochida yells once Tsuna enters the gym, bag slung on her shoulder as she looks at him with a flat stare. Yamamoto follows just as she stands in front of Mochida and, like Reborn said, her batchmates. Again, that nickname. Why does it keep reemerging? She doesn't exactly remember throwing it around like it was a juicy red steak and everyone else was a hungry shark.

"I'm here," she says flatly. She hands her bag to Yamamoto, who slings it over his left shoulder. She walks over to Mochida, hands on her hips. "So, what kind of duel is this?"

"A kendo match, obviously," replies Mochida sardonically. "But since you're an inexperienced girl, you get to have more armor than I do."

One of his underlings gave her a bunch of heavy-looking equipment that looked far too big for a small girl like her. The _shinai_ she was given was also relatively hug compared to the medium-sized one that Mochida held.

"Well?" Mochida snapped when she only stared at the bulky armor instead of putting it on. "Put it on then!"

"No," Tsuna replies, only clutching the shinai. It really is heavy, but she could hold. Or she hopes that she can. "I can handle myself."

Mochida looks less than pleased at having his plan backfire (the look on his face says so), but he huffs and announces the rules for the duel. "You only need one hit for a win," he says, "while I need three. Aren't you glad that I'm such a fair person, Dame-Tsuna?"

Tsuna only looks at him coolly. Fair. Hah. She could laugh if she thought that it was a funny statement.

The door to the gym opens, revealing a familiar dark-haired person with steely grey eyes and a red arm band. The atmosphere feels tenser than before, now with Hibari Kyouya in the room.

"H-Hibari-san!" Mochida sputters fearfully, the arrogant aura from before dissipating. "W-what brings you here?"

"I am here to see to it that there would be no actions that involve the destruction of the school," HIbari replies darkly, "or I will bite everyone in this room to death."

Tsuna looks at the faces of her schoolmates. Yes, they were definitely terrified of Hibari. Yamamoto was terribly correct about that. No wonder no one could approach her, with her being Hibari's 'true companion' or some other bullshit everyone likes to spout out.

She turns back to Mochida, who suddenly looks terribly pleased at the presence of the prefect. A gleam of realization is in his eyes, and she narrows her eyes at him. "What are you smiling at?"

Mochida gives a smug smirk. "Hibari-san can see his companion lose to a great person such as myself!" he declares shamelessly. Tsuna gives Hibari a glance and she receives a flat one in return.

And yet, despite the flat look, she can see the muscles on his face, discerning an expression no one can see—expectation.

Ohoho, she is _not _going to lose to this idiot if Hibari's here. And besides, she thinks as her eyes flit over to Kyoko, who looks miserable at being the 'prize' of the duel, no way is she going to let an innocent girl be left at the hands of an ignorant asshole.

"All right!" someone announces from the sidelines, asking Tsuna and Mochida to position their shinai. Out of the corner of her eye, Tsuna can see Reborn sitting on one of the high windows of the gym with the same look of anticipation and expectation as Hibari had. "Ready?! Fight!"

Mochida immediately went for her, hitting right, which she dodged easily. She furrowed her eyebrows, her shinai dragging along. The weight's a big trouble, though she does have a lucky advantage of needing only a single hit to win.

"I can stop this if you stop harassing Sasagawa-san," she says calmly, but Mochida only snorts at the statement and swings his shinai through her with little force—he's giving her a chance, albeit a poor one. She jumps and dodges the shinai, in which the audience stares in awe at the cheap trick ("As expected of the Demon's Advocate," one of them pompously comments), steps to the side and looks at him with a more exasperated look. "Is it really bad being told no?"

"Women are only trophies," declares Mochida, still looking confused on how she managed to dodge his attacks. He hit with more force, and much more aim. She holds her shinai in front of her, against his, effectively halting it. It's still rather hard, though—Hibari's the one who's skilled with weapons.

"Really?" she says, voice dripping with sarcasm. "Because my mom says that men only say that to boost their ego."

Mochida turns red at the statement and sends a quick jab Tsuna's way. Tsuna is able to dodge, but her dragging weapon did not. Mochida's shinai hits hers with a resounding _clack_. The shinai is getting annoying quickly. She doesn't like working with heavy weapons.

"Hey, if I win," she starts, moving her body slightly to the left to avoid a wobbly blow struck by the upperclassman, "can I ask you a favor?"

"No," Mochida spat out. His eyes narrow at her, and he swings the shinai with force and dexterity. Oh, taking her seriously now, huh?

Tsuna holds her shinai in front of her, applying pressure to it to keep the other away from her. "Shame," she says. Mochida growls, and his shinai is swung over head head, which she easily evades. "You still have to do it anyway."

Mochida gives her a look. "What—"

Her eyes sharpen, turning orange in the light, and she lifts the shinai with intent and swings it against Mochida's sides with a loud _thwack! _Everyone in the gym flinches, and a few hum 'ow!' under their breath. Mochida howls in pain and doubles over, clutching his bruised sides. Tsuna contemplates her action. That was a bit more force than necessary. It shouldn't have left a cracked rib, though. Just bruises at their worst.

"A-ah," breathes the announcer, looking at Mochida with worry and confusion. He gathers the people next to him, the ones holding the flags that determine the winner. "Mochida-senpai—at us—ke her lose?—unfair, though—"

Amidst the mumbling, Hibari stands and walks over to the announcer and the flag-holders. He says something, and in turn, the announcer and the flag-holders' faces pale. One of them clutches his stomach, and the announcer immediately declares Tsuna as the winner.

"Hold up," Tsuna says loudly, digging the sword into Mochida's stomach. He groans pitifully. "I asked for a favor if I won," she reminds.

He glares at her. "Well, you're not getting it," he spits out, ignoring the subtle push of the sword against his stomach.

"I didn't say that I won't," Tsuna says darkly. She drops the sword and tells Mochida to get up. He does so after being the receiving end of a glare. "I want just one simple thing, Mochida-senpai," Tsuna says slowly, as though she were talking to a baby. "Apologize to Sasagawa-san."

Murmurs break out, and majority of the students look at Mochida weirdly. Tsuna suppresses the urge to shout at them. They were all right at Mochida's misogyny when they thought that he won, and now…

She only sighs. Humans were difficult to deal with. She understand Hibari in that aspect.

Mochida's formal apology reverberated throughout the gym, with Sasagawa looking both shocked and pleased at the apology. Tsuna is glad—Sasagawa, despite her occasional air-headedness and oblivious nature, still never deserved what she got from Mochida.

"Great show," a squeaky voice says from next to her and a weight settles on her shoulder. She yelps at first, and is nearly brought down from the weight—despite being a small baby, Reborn still weighs _something_—but she sees Reborn smiling with any type of ridiculous aura around him, and she signifies that as a good thing.

"Yes, well." Tsuna clears her throat. Despite the lightness in her chest settling when Sasagawa looked pleased and gave her a look of thanks, it was still uncharacteristic of her to stand up for someone that's not Hibari or herself.

"That's good," comments Reborn, giving her a pat on the head.

A moment of silence as the crowd slowly leaves the gym, realizing that no more exciting event will be taking place, and it was getting dark (Hibari would surely bite them to death), Tsuna says, "We should go home."

* * *

**A/N: I don't know shit about Kendo. The only thing I'm actually proud of was the nearly irrelevant R27 bonding scenes. Also, longest chapter! 5K+, and 14 pages on MS Word!**

**Review? :) (PS: Thanks for all those reviews! They _still _make me smile and idk why, I just smile. :D)**


	8. 7 - Ruth

**A/N: Hey, guys! This was supposed to be posted yesterday but I couldn't get into my account. It just showed a 503 error page. Did anyone else have the same problem? :/**

* * *

**Chapter 7 – Ruth**

"So, that's her?" Shuffling.

"Yep."

"Sawada Tsunayoshi. Weird name for a girl."

_Familiar. The name. Tsuna._

_Tsuna._

"Perhaps. Are you sure you can defeat her? She's actually quite strong."

"Girls are pitifully weak, Reborn-san. Why do you think there are barely any women in the Mafia?" A snort.

"Your sister would disapprove of your saying that."

Huffing. "Like I give a shit about her."

"…well, everything else aside, appear _very _intimidating."

"Small girl like her…" Grumbling. "I don't think I have to be intimidating."

"She doesn't get scared easily."

"Oh, when she meets me, she will."

Amused laughter. "We'll see about that, Smokin' Bomb."

* * *

Tsuna is dozing off in her Science class, which isn't a good thing, considering both Hibari and Reborn insist (rather violently, too, she supposes) that she keep her grades to a steady above-average. Fortunately, she already knows the material that the teacher was discussing. Pulse sites definitely weren't new to her.

She closes her eyes and leans against the palm of her hand. Black spots in her eyes shrouds her vision and feels the familiar embrace of slumber before…

The door slams open and Tsuna jerks back, growling softly. She looks up to see who had disrupted the quiet lesson and is faced by a teenage boy with a scowl on his face. He has white hair and glaring green eyes—foreign features mixed with Japanese—with numerous piercings on his ears, rings on his fingers, a lot of bracelets and wristbands, a modified Namimori uniform (that are ripped—she wonders why he's not dead yet or how he managed to bypass HIbari without a bruise), and chains dangling _everywhere_.

The girls are swooning over the delinquent, and she has to admit that he really is an attractive boy (and the fact that he is foreign makes much more of a, ah, _turn-on _for her classmates).

Tsuna does not know him, but her gut is tugging at her, a warning about something. The gut feeling she senses about this person is mostly negative, but somehow she senses a…more _positive_ kind of judgment about him.

The positivity went as soon as he glared, kicked her desk, and nearly sent it toppling over.

She glares back just as fiercely, and he looks slightly taken aback, but goes back to glaring at her. A metaphorical spark of hatred ignites between them, and Tsuna notices that her classmates seem to be scared of catching their attentions to stop this…whatever this is.

"Do they know each other?" one of them asks.

"Yamamoto-san, you seem to know Sawada-san…are they rivals?"

"Or relatives?"

"That hate each other?"

"Or ex-lovers perhaps?"

Yamamoto, who sits just next to Tsuna—an arrangement that he made just after the bullet incident—shrugs in return, but noticeably blushes at the last question. He laughs nervously, scratching the back of his head and saying, "I think she's too young, haha…I don't exactly know…Tsuna?"

No.

She has never had a lover before, nor has she had the pleasure of meeting this…excuse her crude language (not really), _asshole, _but she had a feeling in her stomach, spiking inside of her and pointing outside.

Outside.

Her feeling was pointing outside.

She turns around slowly until she is facing the front of the classroom, the new student grumbling and insulting her under his breath.

Slowly, she turns her eyes to look out of the window.

Ah.

Of course.

Reborn.

* * *

Other than the incident that particular morning, the new transfer student didn't exactly cause any much of a fuss the rest of the week. True, Tsuna would have to avoid him once they made eye contact, and she had to turn the other direction if she wished not to punch the silver-haired teen in the face or even kick his groin, and she even had to act like the civilized person and try to evade any baiting that the other would bestow upon her, most likely hoping that she'll fight back to defend herself.

Luckily, Hibari (quite literally) beat discipline in her person despite being someone who (ironically) isn't the type to be fond of the characteristic. Tsuna ignored every single one of the baits and challenges thrown her way and instead put on a poker face and hoped that the other would go away.

He did, and Tsuna was glad to have even the smallest semblance of peace during the times he ignored her.

The peace was completely obliterated when he demanded a one-on-one battle on the roof.

Tsuna had hesitated in her answer. On one hand, denying the challenge might agitate the teen, resulting in him pestering her (more), give her more things to worry about (she already has Hibari, Yamamoto and Reborn to watch over—god, she attracts _so_ many idiots and psychos), and even deny her the quietness that she craves; on the other hand, accepting seemed like a waste of her time. If she wanted to fight, she could always ask Hibari for a spar or even go to dingy alleyways and abandoned buildings that delinquents frequent in.

She was going to deny the challenge, but cold metal pressed itself against the nape of her neck, a weight settling on her back, with tiny arms holding onto her shoulders, a tiny but sure finger pressing on a pressure point in her neck.

_Reborn._

She meets Gokudera Hayato's (Hayato. _Hayato. Waitwaitwait. _Fucking—_wait_—) smoldering gaze filled with anger, and she sighs.

"All right. When?"

Hayato.

_Hayato._

* * *

That day, after classes, apparently.

Tsuna sighs as she tugs on the latch of the door that led to the school rooftop. Yamamoto is next to her, his carefree smile still stuck to his face. She notices that they seem to be less fake, but she doesn't dwell much on the fact.

"Who are we meeting anyway?" he asks.

"Exchange student. Asked for a duel."

Yamamoto raises an eyebrow, gives a cough, then a forced laugh. "Ask?"

"Demand, then." She turns to the raven-haired boy. "Don't butt into the battle."

It's an order that she doesn't know whether or not Yamamoto will follow.

(Actually, scratch that, he's not going to follow it if Tsuna's foing to get seriously injured. Idiot.)

A soft breeze hits her and makes her clothing ruffle and her short hair lightly whip around her face. She enters the rooftop, the other teen following behind her.

Gokudera Hayato sits in the rooftop against the fence (Hibari managed to replace it after Yamamoto's incident, as faulty things always seem to 'disturb the peace of Namimori'), legs sprawled in front of him as though he was bored of waiting. A lit cigarette lay on his lips, and the only thing Tsuna could think of is that Hibari would kill him if he saw him smoking.

And, well, if he knew that he was talking to his old contactor.

At the sight of her, the cigarette's tip lights up slightly, and he blows grey smoke from the side of his mouth. "Took you long enough, bitch," he says gruffly, standing and placing his hands in his pockets. He takes the cigarette from his mouth. His eyes zeroes in on Yamamoto. "Who the fuck are you?"

Yamamoto gives a smile. "Tsuna's friend," he replies amicably. "Came for…Tsuna, I guess. And I wanted to know if you wanted to join our game."

Gokudera (she can't bring herself to call him by his familiar moniker since that was, after all, strictly business)(but then again, this was—is, too) raises an eyebrow. "Game?"

"The Mafia Game!" Yamamoto responds cheerfully.

Gokudera shoots him an incredulous look that seemed to be the universal expression for 'what the fuck.'

"It was started by the kid—Tsuna'a 'tutor,' but I'm pretty sure he's just her cousin or something…"

"On the contrary," interrupts a squeaky voice, and an infant in a black suit lands between Gokudera and Tsuna, "I'm not related to her at all."

Tsuna gives a sigh. "Reborn, tell me why he's here," she says flatly, sparing Gokudera Hayato, who is still smoking, a glance before turning her brown eyes back to Reborn.

The baby's lips curve into a smirk, but it is Gokudera who answers.

"I have heard about the candidate for the position of Vongola Decimo, which is _you, _a weak, pathetic, fragile, useless—" At this point, Tsuna rolls her eyes.

"Cut everything," she cuts in, stopping him from the numerous adjectives that are all just synonyms and phrases that correspond to _useless, weak and pathetic. _She's tired of all the name-calling and labeling—has been since she was eight. "What the hell are you expecting anyway? So what if I'm going to become Vongola Decimo and you don't approve? What are you, the person who dictates the final decision?"

The other student is taken aback by the statement, judging from his expression, but the scowl that mars his handsome features returns almost immediately.

"I may not be a high power in the ranks of Vongola," he admits, eyes glaring into her, "but I know that I can defeat someone like _you, _and that I can become Vongola Decimo once I do!" His eyes glisten with a fiery determination.

Tsuna looks over at Reborn, eyes narrowing. "What did you tell him?" she asks quietly, voice menacing. She doesn't want to have another dislocated shoulder from another spar, dammit! It isn't even Hibari this time—if it was him and his weekly spars, she's totally fine, but if it's some kind of low-life delinquent with unnatural hair color, Tsuna doesn't know if her pride can remain.

"Just enough," Reborn replies. The baby turns to Gokudera. "So, do you think you can defeat this girl?"

Gokudera snorts haughtily. "Damn right I will," he declares, fixing a glare on Tsuna. "Question is, can _she _defeat _me?"_

"Of course," Tsuna says absently, which made Gokudera furious at her lack of response. She tilts her head. "Listen, Hibari-san will be angry if we stay later than five-thirty, so may we please hurry on?"

"Disrespectful bitch," Gokudera growls out.

Suddenly, his hands were occupied with several sticks of dynamite. Tsuna's eyes narrow at the explosives before she tumbled out of the way when Gokudera threw lit sticks of it. Her back crashed into the rattling fence, and a small jolt of pain goes up her spine. The dynamite explodes and debris hit parts of her body.

"A bit unfair to give your opponent no warning," Tsuna comments, brushing dust off of her uniform and forcing her Flames down. She can feel them humming underneath her skin, her emotions causing them to go haywire, wanting to be freed. But Reborn is here, and only Hibari is supposed to know about this.

Gokudera snorts at her statement as he more sticks of dynamite appear on his fingers (where does he hide them?).

"And idiotic to actually give them one, stupid little girl," he growls out, igniting the explosives and throws it at Tsuna's direction.

Tsuna jumps out of the way, feeling the impact of the dynamite against her back. Luckily, she didn't get injured. She slides on her back and lands next to Yamamoto, whose smile suddenly looks forced and whose eyes shines with concern.

"We're the same age, though," Tsuna says flatly.

She groans and sighs, realizing that she should have delayed the challenge. She is not dressed properly, it is the end of the day where she is most tired, and this felt like an English impromptu speech for someone who can speak in any language but the aforementioned one.

She also realizes that she is not even wearing cycling shorts underneath her skirt.

She blushes red (and suspiciously, so does Gokudera), closes her legs and counts to ten, breathing in and out, trying not to let her Flames show. She can control her Flames wonderfully, of course, but if Gokudera chooses to spurn her on using bouts of explosives and destruction of property (Hibari _really _will not like that) and make much more aggressive tactics, her eyes might just turn a shade of gold and orange.

And that little change will be noticed.

She shakily stands and Gokudera glares at her, grunting.

"Can't even handle a few explosives?" he taunts.

Tsuna eyes the rooftop, noticing two gaping holes in the middle of them that would have had several human innards and blood had Tsuna not reacted accordingly.

"And yet you can't handle a little girl," Tsuna taunts back in an amicable tone that was quite the contrary. She clenches her fists. "Listen, I'm not sure why you're going after me since, as you very well know, _I _was the one who was chosen and _not you." _Her tone turns sharper. "So just give up, Gokudera Hayato—you're not needed."

Her words seemed to stab him where it hurts—his pride.

It did not, however, work to her favor.

"I _will _be the Tenth boss," Gokudera declares with a strong conviction. Tsuna clicks her tongue as he continues on with his speech. "A foolish little girl has no right to the throne of the Mafia—they're to cower and weep while men fight their battles. Especially when they're as Flameless as you, _cagna._"

Tsuna is finding it really hard not to release her Flames.

"So, Sawada Tsunayoshi," Gokudera says with a concluding tone of voice, "just give up—you're not needed."

"Like hell I'm not."

Unconsciously, her eyes turn a shade of dark orange and gold mixed together. Tsuna speeds toward the bomber, who looks in surprise, before she jumps, twists her body and gives him a sickening kick to the head. He flies in the air, back hitting the now-rather bent fence.

Tsuna's eyes calculate the boy, who now has a river of blood flowing from his nose.

_I didn't even hit him_ that _hard._

"I think you should notice, Dame-Tsuna," Reborn starts, "that you're only wearing polka dot panties underneath your skirt." He gives off a smirk that looked out of place on his baby face (but at the same time, looks perfect in place). "And your opponent seems to have a good view of it."

Tsuna blushes, the color in her eyes fading out before turning back to their original hazel shade.

"I still can't believe you'd look," she accuses, before catching red in the corner of her eyes and doing a back flip to get away from it. It explodes, missing her by a thread. She lands on her feet, hand on the ground to balance herself.

"I'm just very observant," Reborn defends, although a large smirk is on his face. "Now, focus. The hormones in Gokudera is most likely gone and—"

"Double bomb!" Gokudera shouts, cutting off Reborn's speech.

Tsuna turns, sweat breaking out on her temple when she notices that the bombs that Gokudera had thrown were twice the amount he had thrown last time, and all of them were ignited!

Her first thought was _Hibari-san's going to kill me._

The second would be _Wait, I'm_ _going to be killed either way if I just sit here like an idiot!_

Nonetheless, Tsuna knows that it's futile trying to extinguish the explosives. There were far too many of them, and despite her speed and skill, she doubted that even Hibari could extinguish the bombs. Out of the corner of her eyes, she sees Yamamoto quickly drop everything he was carrying, and Reborn cocking his gun, and aiming. Somehow, Gokudera has a slightly frightened look on his face when she makes no move for the lit dynamite.

But she focuses on one thing.

The baby is aiming at her.

It happened fast, Tsuna knew, but everything was slow.

To her.

She remembers standing, halfway to flinging her body towards Gokudera, knowing that he might as well be fried octopus if she didn't get in his way. Yamamoto is yelling something. Something. Her name, maybe. Careful, maybe.

Then, the shot.

Reborn shot her, and everything _hurts._

"AAARRGGGGGHHHHHHH!"

She throws herself to Gokudera's direction, ignoring the _burnburnburneverythiNG'S BURNING _in her body. The _hot _burn in her arms, in her legs, in her torso—the piercing ache in her head, and the way she feels like someone ignited a Molotov cocktail in her body, and now the flames were spreading. Spreading _everywhere_.

The dynamite explodes behind her, and she is struck with how her skin feels so _tightanduncomfortable_ against the impact. Gokudera is laying in front of her _burning_ body, a shocked expression on his face. Tsuna curls up into a ball, faintly feeling wetness in her cheeks.

She closes her eyes, feeling more tears spill from her eyes.

She's crying.

Oh my god, she's _crying._

But she can't help it.

It's _burning._

Everything fucking _hurts and she doESN'T LIKE IT._

_"AAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH!"_

"Tsuna, listen to me."

Yamamoto.

Tsuna groans in pain.

Fire.

Fire is destroying her.

And here she thought that it was her ally.

But…

It _hurts_.

There's fire everywhere in her body.

Like a flamethrower and a staple gun were combined together, and it was aiming for her vital organs as she's encased in a metal casing, already being cremated with no way out but death. Her skin is melting in a puddle of wax, her insides are being roasted, and every single one of her nerves being burned.

"Tsuna, stay with me."

She tightens her eyes.

Sleep.

She wants sleep.

Everything _hurts so much she wants it all to go away._

Sleep.

"Tsuna." Yamamoto. "Just stay with me. We're going to help you. Breathe. Come on, Tsuna…"

Tsuna whimpers.

The burn.

It's just so _sick and it's hurting her and she feels like a kid again and Suzie and she hates the Flames no matter how pretty they look._

Black spots invade her vision.

The burn in her stomach feels numb.

"Tsuna…" Yamamoto. That guy doesn't know when to stop. "Stay with me."

_I can't._

* * *

**A/N: I admit, it's shorter than the last few chapters, but it's something. :/ It's nearly 3K anyway. Also, I'm not well-versed in the Italian language, but I know a few words. **_**Cagna **_**just means bitch, and I have a headcannon about bi/multilingual characters reverting to their mother tongue when angry/emotional/aroused and other intense emotions.**

**Blame tumblr for that headcannon, though, as I myself am bilingual and just switch from my mother tongue to English and vice versa randomly. It happens when nearly everyone around you is bilingual and can actually understand you.**

**Review? :D**


	9. 8 - Samuel

**A/N: All right, guys. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE REVIEWS, THE FAVS, THE FOLLOWS AND BASICALLY EVERYTHING ELSE BECAUSE **_**GAH**_** THEY'RE SO OVERWHELMING AND I JUST CAN'T—**

**LIKE, WOW, THIS STORY ISN'T EVEN THAT AMAZING BUT YOU GUYS JUST SEEM TO ACTUALLY **_**LIKE **_**IT AND ASDFGHJKL**

**(There's also that thing where **_**one of the authors I look up to and adore reads this story and **_**hernameisEchoingFantasy**_** and I don't know how to respond to that info. I'm literally just crying and my hands are shaking like wtf she reads this piece of crap? I don't know whether to feel flattered or embarrassed. OwO)**_

* * *

**Chapter 8 – Samuel**

Reborn sits beside his student's hospital bed, watching her chest rise and fall, short spiky hair on her head instead of the shaggy neck-length she sported. Numerous tubes and wires are connected to her, and on her face is an oxygen mask. The beating of her heart is steady, what with the rhythmic beeps of the ECG and the stability of the pattern of the electrodes.

Her mother came by earlier, fretting over her prone daughter and fussing over her state like a mother should. She had requested for Tsuna's stats before leaving, out to get dinner and a change of clothing for Tsuna or something similar. Sawada Nana cares for her daughter deeply, Reborn is sure, but he also knows that Nana can barely read between the lines when it came to her daughter, her ignorance of the younger brunette's state already bordering on negligence.

Hibari had come by earlier in the morning to visit her, leaving a vase of flowers and watching her closely for any signs of critical damaging (there weren't any more, unlike yesterday, thankfully). He monitored her for a whole hour before leaving for his usual duties. He demanded Reborn of what had transpired, and later threatened Reborn if Tsuna were to die. Something about 'biting the baby to death.'

The prefect did care for her, as Reborn suspected, but Hibari didn't answer any of his questions regarding his relationship with her, merely checking up on the brunette before leaving. Reborn did not pry—he knows a serious situation when he sees one.

And he knows that Hibari already has a soft spot for Tsuna, despite their brief time together.

Hibari did, after all, mutter, "She's never been in this state before. Even after…" He had trailed off, leaving the room. What that event was, Reborn did not know, but he does know that it was—is—highly unusual for Tsuna to be so close to death.

Yamamoto Takeshi barely left her side. She's been confined to the hospital for nearly a full twenty-four hours, and she hasn't woken up as of yet. Her system may be stable, but the baseball-player seemed adamant on watching over her when Hibari couldn't, skipping a few classes and practices in the process.

(Oddly enough, Hibari seemed to turn a blind eye on Yamamoto's skipping when he offers Tsuna as a reason.)

Yamamoto cared—cares—for the girl. Maybe a bit suspiciously so, Reborn notices, but the raven-haired teen seemed genuinely sincere in regards to his opinion of her health. Maybe that's what happens when the person who prevented you from dying is nearly dying themselves.

And he seems to be shooting him looks, knowing that Reborn—no matter how oblivious he was to this type of situation happening to Tsuna in the first place—was the instigator for this. He saw everything—the gun, the bullet, and Tsuna's hysterical screaming and out-of-character actions. She cried and curled up in a ball. She whimpered and looked truly scared and frightened for the first time Reborn's saw her. Yamamoto looked deeply perturbed.

He didn't have to be the world's greatest hitman to know that this was highly unusual.

Yamamoto left a while ago, leaving a few treats—pocky, chocolate bars and a small canister with sushi from his father—at her bedside table. The hitman stared back at him.

When Tsuna was unavailable, unconscious but shivering, Reborn shot _him_—the next best thing. He couldn't shoot the bomber, as the hitman hadn't been entirely sure of what he would do in his dying moments filled with regrets. Yamamoto managed to extinguish every single one of the bombs before all of them exploded (and he actually hit the other teen in the face out of anger), and Gokudera didn't make a move after that, shell-shocked at the girl laying before him.

Reborn straightens in his seat, facing a teen with silver hair and unfathomable green eyes. Gokudera Hayato's face was scrunched up in worry and concern for the brunette. Considering Tsuna had saved him, this type of behavior was explainable. Yamamoto was wary of the teen, hiding it through smiles and laughs. Reborn knew that Yamamoto was uneasy, given how Gokudera attacked Tsuna in the first place, thus getting her in this pitiful situation.

But Gokudera seemed sincere, Reborn can tell. He is a bastard—that wasn't a secret, and everyone looks down on him because of that. Although he and Tsuna exchanged snarky banter and harsh words, the silver-haired teen may not be able to forget what Tsuna did for him exactly.

She saved his life, completely disregarding her own.

And she was in unbearable pain the whole while.

To someone who's been stepped on for most of his life, the impulsive action meant quite a lot to Gokudera.

So, yes, he was justified, but Tsuna? Not quite. Reborn didn't know why the brunette saved Gokudera, especially considering his initial threats and attacks. Instinct, perhaps? But he had yet to confirm, especially as Tsuna is in a short-term coma, unable to answer any of his questions.

And Tsuna's own reaction. The reaction to the Dying Will bullet was something that Reborn couldn't ignore easily, and neither was it something he had expected. He's never seen anyone react with such negative violence to the bullet before. Tsuna experienced pain unlike any other.

The thing was, Reborn already saw the potential Sky Flame inside of her when her eyes flicked from hazel to golden. He could also see the disparaging look in her eyes when Gokudera threw in his Double Bomb move; hence, he shot her with the bullet.

What happened to her was…hellish, and terribly frightening, and even Reborn wondered if _he _could survive through the process.

Tsuna's body…malfunctioned. There was no other way he could explain it. Her eyes flickered from brown to golden, and vice versa. When she flung herself to Gokudera, orange Flames shot up her arm and legs, her torso and her forehead, her eyes and mouth, all flickering like broken light bulbs. Unstable Flames, Reborn knew. And then the Flame spread to her body, flickering and completely dysfunctional, occasionally exploding like a bomb and sparking like static while she screamed as if her life depended on it.

He wondered if she knew that, at that time, she screamed for a solid ten minutes, cried and yelled before turning into a human inferno. Her entire body erupted into dark orange Flames as she curled into a ball, yelling.

Much of her hair and clothing was burnt and Hibari arrived at the scene wondering who was destroying the peace of Namimori, and turned as shocked as he can get, when he saw Tsuna laying on the ground, naked, unconscious and dry tears forming on the corner of her eyes and cheeks.

The doctors and nurses couldn't identify what had happened to Tsuna, only saying that although she only exhibited symptoms of extreme fatigue and high fever, her current state of being was extremely physically (and possibly mentally) fragile. They questioned it, though, as these couldn't warrant for someone to be in such a physically critical state of health. Reborn only told them that she's a small girl, and her body most likely couldn't handle it.

They _were_ curious—the scientist's most common trait—but Hibari threatened them against prodding or experimenting on the girl, so only a few nurses and doctors come by Tsuna's (suspiciously private and rather luxurious) hospital room to check on her status and take her blood pressure, constantly replacing fluids and taking blood samples.

Reborn's eyes turn to the boy in front of him.

So…weak.

"I didn't…" Gokudera Hayato starts, fidgeting in his seat. Reborn's eyes slide from Gokudera's nervous persona to Tsuna's prone body.

No use scaring a child. "Didn't what?" He keeps his tone light, removing any tone that might imply that Gokudera was at fault for the near-death of the future Vongola Decimo.

After all, it's all Reborn's fault for not considering the aftermath.

"I…I'm—I'm not—why—" Gokudera swallows a lump in his throat, and pleading eyes give Reborn a wilting glance.

_I'm sorry. I'm not a killer. Why did she save me?_

"No, you're not," Reborn says gently. Gokudera visibly relaxes, but a quick glance at the girl lying on the bed made him tense up and clench his fists. "You're not at fault," Reborn repeats, reassuring him, " and you know that. She saved you because she's a stupid girl." His tone commanded finality, because Gokudera himself knows that he is not the one at fault.

It's mostly pointing to Reborn.

* * *

Tsuna wakes up at seven in the morning, when Reborn went around the hospital to purchase a cheap cup of coffee (they didn't have better quality brews, unfortunately). Around her bed were the three teenagers that Reborn demanded to act as her bodyguards while he is not in vicinity and she is unable to protect herself.

The brunette cracks an eye open, squinting at the harsh lighting of the hospital room and wrinkling her nose at the smell of disinfectants and chemicals. Pain throbs in her head, and she notices things. She notices three people in her room, all breathing steadily and giving an occasional sigh, humid hot breath mixing with cold dry air—

Notices the squeak of the wheels of a medicine cart outside the hall, bottles, glasses and syringes rattling—

Notices the nurse's high heels make _click clack _steps against the marble tiles—

Notices the air conditioning in the room whirring and continuously blowing cold dry air in the room—

Notices the occasional scratch at the head and mumbling voices and even growling stomachs—

Her pupil trails around the white-painted room—no, crème. Crème-painted room. Hibari is sitting on one of the benches that usually serves as a bed by the visitors of the patients, made of polished wood, most likely cleaned just a few hours ago judging from its light sheen. His arms are crossed around his chest and his eyes are closed, chest going up and down in a steady rhythm—he is asleep.

There are two other people in the room with Hibari—Yamamoto, absentmindedly playing with a worn baseball, its covering white horsehide, not cowhide; and the white-haired teen that threw a lot of bombs sitting at her left with jade eyes glaring at Yamamoto and hands fiddling with the white wrinkly hospital sheets made of polyester and felt scratchy against her skin.

Her skin that once upon a time ago felt so hot that even she couldn't handle it despite being around warm, glowing dark orange Flames that blistered her skin.

Gokudera makes a sound that sounds like words were being said but at the same time sounding like a distressed sigh. He leans back in his chair, the screws of the legs squeaking in protest when he leans back and the front legs of the chair rises half an inch from the floor—

Tsuna shuts her eyes tightly. Gokudera Hayato. They need to talk, and it's not about her injuries.

She moves to sit up, suddenly feeling a throbbing pain shoot up from the base of her spine. She gives a grunt, alerting the three males of her consciousness.

"Tsunayoshi, do not move."

Hibari's familiar voice—

Deep, rough, formal, controlled, almost stern and a bit concerned (was she imagining the last one?)—

Calms her down, weird as it may be. She goes lax on the bed, a cold calloused hand touching her forehead. She feels wires and tubes trailing her body, wires connected to an ECG and tubes inserted inside her body, connected to an IV drip, and the loss of her scratchy hair between her neck and pillow. An oxygen mask is settled on her face, and she wonders just how many tanks of oxygen she used up. The tank's color is dark green; the paint at the top where the metal turner meets the cover is chipped.

"Hiba…ri-san," she calls out. Her voice is weak and cracking and pitiful, and she wants to stop talking because she sounds absolutely pathetic and she's embarrassed at returning to her old self when someone other than Hibari is with her.

Yamamoto stares at her curiously, his brown—_hazel_, with a touch of caramel around the irises with specks of amber—eyes giving off a concerned look with irises shining, pupils dilating by a fraction and eyebrows furrowed.

She closes her eyes, the throbbing in her head more painful but she did not want to scream. Nonetheless, Hibari, removing his hand from her forehead, sits next to her. The sheets rustle, and the mattress of the bed dips down as Hibari settles. Gokudera mumbles something, rough voice light and muttering something she couldn't hear.

She started. "What…what happen—"

"Do not talk," Hibari says softly, weaving a hand through her short, short hair. The bangs Hibari pulled bounces back on her forehead, but they were shorter, not even reaching her eyebrows. "You will first regain your strength before doing anything."

Without any protests, she nods. There is some shuffling from Yamamoto as he calls up a nurse to her room. The _click clack _of her stiletto heels come back and Tsuna takes a deep breath, feeling the oxygen reach her lungs, chest expanding as the air accumulates—no, exchanges with—

She clenches her hands. The pain in her head is throbbing and it _hurts. _She wants it to stop and she squirms, the cotton of her gown scratching against the polyester of the bed. The nurse offers calming words—her lips covered in light pink lipstick and her voice soft and melodious—trained for subduing agitated patients—

Tsuna relaxes.

She's not in danger, she reminds herself.

Although the feel of the nurse's soft, warm hands against her clammy skin feels nice, she can hear them and feel and see—the whirring of the air con—

Hibari's breathing—

The erratic heartbeats of the nurse—

The squeak of the chair against the floor—

The creak of the metal bed as the nurse makes her swallow an amber pill with the help of lukewarm water, purified and safe—

The cold dry air—

The sweat pooling at the base of her neck—

The scratchy polyester sheets—

The tag on her wrist, naming her _Sawada Tsunayoshi, patient 0999027_—

The white room light that turned dimmer with each flutter of her eyes—

She feels her eyes drooping, the details in her mind fading away.

The throbbing in her head stops, and she falls asleep.

* * *

"Unusual, in my professional opinion," Shamal says after thoroughly examining the girl on the bedspread with her arms slightly spread out and blankets gone, exposing her legs, wrapped in wires connected to the ECG.

Reborn hadn't allowed him to touch the girl in any inappropriate ways, but there wasn't even a need for threats regarding the girl. Shamal's inner doctor shone out and debriefed Reborn about her state of being.

He didn't plan for the doctor to come at such an early point in Tsuna's life—but right now, her problem is Mafia related, and he had to get an expert in Mafia terminology and diseases for him to find out what caused her to go berserk. Shamal was only supposed to come to Japan when his student acquired the Skull disease and a new acquaintance would be made—Tsuna being a girl making that alliance easier than if she was a boy.

Tsuna's condition is highly uncommon and despite being a womanizing sex-freak, Shamal is still a doctor and these types of prognoses made him curious and intrigued, even by the slightest.

Especially now since it involves the Mafia world's newest and youngest heiress.

"Unusual," Reborn repeats. "Explain."

"Well," Shamal starts, pointing to the girl in front of him, "for starters, there is absolutely no sign of damaging—external or internal. In fact, if we detach every single one of the machines hooked up to her, she'll be fine, but the only thing she _will _have in a worst-case scenario would be fatigue and a longer coma.

"The doctors here probably told you that already, but the thing is, that's the only thing that I could find, and it's caused by over exertion. Nothing that involved Flame whatsoever." Shamal gives a sigh that sounded both intrigued and exasperated.

Reborn nods, satisfied with the answer, but he has more questions. "Then why did she react like that?" he says, mulling over the question. "The Dying Will bullet was manufactured by Leon, and you know that Leon doesn't make mistakes." Like his owner, but that isn't the point. "By inspection, the bullet was absolutely perfect in every way possible with no defects." Reborn trusts his pet, but he couldn't help double-check every bullet that he loads into his guns' chambers.

"I'm not sure why, either," Shamal responds. "Dying Will bullets have only one defect and that's rendering a person into their underwear instead of their normal clothing." The doctor gives the brunette on the bed a thoughtful look before Reborn aims a rough kick to his head.

"No one molests my students while I'm here," he states as Shamal rubs at the bump on his head.

"Y-yeah, anyway." Shamal clears his throat. "Since there's nothing wrong with the bullet, maybe what's wrong is with the target."

Reborn blinks.

"I've heard a few people in the business shot by the bullet, and some of which were Flameless, much like Tsunayoshi right here, though Flameless people are _highly _uncommon. They make up about point zero four of the entire human population." Shamal turns to look at Reborn. "They were reported to convulse violently and screamed for hours on end because of the pain—think several hit to a male's groin while experiencing a woman's labor and wading through fire—depending on how fragile their psyche is. In fact, compared to Tsunayoshi, they seemed helpless."

"What happened to them?"

"Some died," Shamal replies with a nonchalant attitude that's commonly found in the underworld when one has seen and even faced death for more than a few times. "Some stayed in a coma. Others were fine, but attained PTSD and paranoia."

"I see," Reborn complies. "The Flames contained in Tsuna seemed to go berserk, though. Kind of weird for a supposedly Flameless girl to have unstable Flames, but it must be more of the bizarre sensation of pain."

Perhaps no one was purely Flameless and the only thing they had to go through was trauma and possible death, and there's hope for Tsuna after all.

He notices that Shamal has become silent all of the sudden, scrutinizing Tsuna's body.

"What?" Reborn says, breaking the silence.

"You know, Reborn," Shamal says, "when I said that the victims convulsed and screamed, that's _it. _They only convulsed and screamed. There were no Flames that went berserk, and there is no such thing as an unstable Flame—none recorded, at least."

Reborn freezes. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that I don't know _what_ this means," Shamal clarifies. "Tsunayoshi exhibited Flames but she has no core. A core, Reborn, as you can care to remember, is the body's canister for growing Flames, located just by the pituitary gland of our brains. Without a core, one would be rendered Flameless."

"But Tsuna has Flames—I've seen them myself."

"Maybe, but it's unnatural. Recorded of her was the fact that she has absolutely no Flame core and she's never showed Flames…until now." Shamal furrows his eyebrows. "I just—I just don't know what this means. In the autopsy results of most Flameless people, they had no core. For people _with _Flames, there always is. I've seen them myself."

Reborn clenches his hands. Tsuna doesn't have a core—she was already tested for one and she failed that. Even he couldn't sense it, even with the help of the pacifier. But then she showed Flames—Sky Flames, on top of that. What did that mean?

Or the question was, _what _is Sawada Tsunayoshi?

* * *

**A/N: Well, there's my horrible explanation for Flame cores. I can't explain it properly because my brain **_**just doesn't like me**_**.**

**So, if you're confused, here's a more (hopefully) comprehending explanation:**

So basically, Flame cores are inside people's brains, located by that tiny pituitary gland. The Flame core is also small, maybe a bit smaller than the pituitary gland, but definitely useful and powerful though not necessary. (Please note that I'm not well-versed in the parts of the brain so forgive me if this seems scientifically inaccurate.)

Now, there are two types of people: people with Flames and people without Flames.

The people with Flames have Flame cores stored in their brain. It can be awoken when they are mere children or be reserved and contained. Canon! Tsuna's Flame core is sealed because the Ninth/Iemitsu didn't want him to be involved. (just so you guys know, Flame cores seem to be my invention, as I haven't read anything about them in the manga/anime…I think. Correct me if I'm wrong. Please.).

Flame cores, let's say, are the _roots_ of a _plant_. They just grow and voila! _Fruit_. AKA the Badass and Wonderful Flames.

Now onto the Flameless.

They don't have these 'roots.'

It's like they don't have a plant, and are therefore unable to bear any 'fruit' (because really, how can you bear fruits when you don't even have a plant in your backyard?). The reason for why it's unusual for Tsuna to have Flames when she doesn't have a core is because she doesn't have a _root_ to begin with. You need _roots_ to grow the _fruits_, and yet Tsuna seems to have (unstable, in Reborn's eyes) _fruits_ without needing a _root_.

Now, Reborn's question is: how the hell did that happen? (You will, of course, know how that shit happens to Tsuna.)

I hope I cleared up any confusion.

**Thanks for reviewing, everyone! I really loved your reviews! They keep me bright and smiling even though I hate life right now and I'm always so busy with school work.**

**(IT'S OK IF U DON'T READ THIS. THIS IS JUST SOME RANT-Y TYPE OF THING ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED LAST SATURDAY AND WHY I WASN'T ABLE TO UPDATE.  
**

**My very first prom just happened [a Juniors/Seniors prom], and at first I keep on worrying about it and just complaining like, "I AM TOO YOUNG FOR THIS" because I was not kidding about me being 14 y/o. Everyone else was 15-18 like no [but yes, because a bunch of my senior friends danced with me...or like I danced with them but it was nice. My friend kept on emoting about her dance partners' (yeah, plural) broken promises and was like 'Duuuude, they promised that they'd take me to the dancefloor!']. :/ **

**Aaaaaaaaand prom night sucked [The decorations and souvenirs did, anyway, as was the venue and the lighting and ugh the only thing that made it fun were the people.]. The dancing was pretty fun, though. [There was also something that I dubbed 'The Same-Sex Stirrup' which was just basically same-gendered friends having fun and dancing with each other to _slow, romantic songs. _It was fun. I danced with about three girls.] My friend was just disappointed that there wasn't any wine [especially considering the fact that our prom was very formal]. XD**

**My hair looked fab.)  
**

**Review? Thank you! Again. XD**


	10. 9 - Kings

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait, because final exams happened, and I had to get my clearance signed (ugh, Idk if other countries do this), and I just got stressed because of a bunch of projects and life and like**

**No.**

* * *

**Chapter 9 – Kings**

She is discharged only a week after the incident, and everyone took careful consideration in her health and stability. She's fine, of course. She's not dizzy anymore, and she's forgotten about the stabbing pain in her body. She feels normal, especially without needles and wires poking her body every time she slept.

(And really, the only thing that's making her uncomfortable is the amount of blood dropping out of her vagina.)

(Yes, vagina. No need to be conservative about a natural thing.)

(Reborn keeps on shooting her blank stares, too, and she _knows _that there's something he's thinking about, but she doesn't know _what_ and that infuriates her. It's not about her cycle, she knows.)

Gokudera, weirdly enough, follows her around. He's always at least three meters away from her, watching her actions closely as though she'd faint in the middle of the school canteen, or assassins would attack her in the middle of history class when she's reading about the Tokugawa shoguns. He follows (well, stalks technically) her around so much that Sasagawa and her friend, Kurokawa Hana, are suddenly asking her if she needed protection.

She doesn't—she can handle herself, but after the trip to the hospital and a whole week of schoolwork missed, they found it hard to believe.

Maybe because Gokudera was the instigator for her impromptu trip.

There's a veiled look in his eyes—concern and fear, and Tsuna, for all her confidence in her gut feeling, doesn't know what to do. Her gut feeling keeps on telling her to make amends with the boy but her brain tells her that it might not be such a good idea. She briefly wonders, however, as to why he would follow her around without any…motive, maybe? He didn't seem to have one, just content on seeing her.

But seeing her for what reason? His green eyes pierce her all the time, constantly on guard and she doesn't know if it's for her benefit or his. She decides to confront him on a Thursday, five days after her discharge.

(And thankfully, after the end of her cycle, so at least she doesn't have to worry about that problem if they manage to get into a brawl.)

"Why do you keep on following me?" she asks him.

The classroom is empty except for the two of them, and Tsuna had locked the door when the last student went out, her fingers running down the newly-polished wood. The evening sunlight streamed through the windows and Gokudera Hayato's hair seemed to turn golden underneath it (and a few hairs stand on end, like a cat would when frightened, and Gokudera wore less ripped clothing and piercings as though to seem less intimidating and her gut feeling tells her that it's for _her_—).

If Tsuna were any other girl, she's sure to go weak in the knees right now. As it was, she thought Gokudera annoying and a bit of a bitch, so the silver-haired teen's fangirls should forgive her a bit for that one.

(At least they don't have another competitor for his affections.)

"I am trying to ensure your safety," Gokudera replies professionally, the previous signs of the stubborn delinquent completely erased from his mentality. Tsuna couldn't help but notice the way dust motes dance around the sunlight, or the way she smells hair dye and cologne emanating from Gokudera even though he's three meters away.

She closes her eyes for a brief moment, not allowing this…this _thing_ to distract her. What the hell is this anyway? Why does she keep noticing everything, starting from the dog barking beyond the windows and the clatters of papers and ballpens from the next room—

"I can handle myself—"

Okay, based on their last duel, she might actually not. In fact, Yamamoto had informed her that even he didn't know what happened after she went down, just that he was in his boxers, unlit dynamite with burnt wicks were everywhere, and that she was naked with majority of her hair burnt.

She clutches at her skirt, hands clenched painfully. She's sure that her knuckles were white and that her palms would have crescent imprints embedded into the skin.

The fact that she had been weak, vulnerable and naked for prying eyes to see almost enough to set her on the edge. She hated—_hates _being so weak and pathetic. This little incident nearly made her pride break and it's all _this _asshole's fault.

"I know you can, Tenth," Gokudera says, giving a submissive bow that made Tsuna's eyes widen. The respect is there, and even the acknowledgement of her being the Tenth boss of Vongola. What exactly happened the day of her breakdown?

Ah, another question she has to ask.

"If you know I can, then why do you insist on following me around?" Tsuna clicks her tongue sharply, and Gokudera flinches at her annoyance. What, is he some kind of submissive puppy now? What the _hell _happened, and why is Reborn not telling her anything? "Did Reborn put you up to this?"

"I am trying to ensure your safety," Gokudera insists with a sincere tone of voice that made Tsuna do a double-take.

"Why?" Tsuna says harshly. "As far as I can remember, _you _were why I was in the hospital in the first place." Gokudera flinches again, but Tsuna continues, "_You _were the one who threatened me and personally deemed me unfit for the position of Vongola Decimo. _You _were the one who challenged me to a duel that ended in shambles."

Her tone of voice was, is and always will be calm and emotionless, but she knows that the wave of anger she's feeling is in her aura and presence, and that alone seems to make Gokudera feel guilt and remorse over what transpired.

"And I was wrong," Gokudera manages, looking up and meeting Tsuna's eyes. The brunette starts at Gokudera's eyes, filled with the same conviction that he had when they were about to face off on the rooftop. His body language turns submissive, and even his eyes sparkled with adoration when he met her eyes.

"Wrong about what," Tsuna says flatly, looking away.

"You _are _fit to be Vongola Decimo," Gokudera says. "The fact that you survived my bombs and went through hell is enough proof, Tenth. You're not the weak girl I thought you were, and neither are girls pitiful enough to not be able to lead. I'm entirely wrong about you, and…" He took a deep breath, eyes shining. "For saving my life—no one's ever done that before, saving my life and disregarding theirs—I want to devote my life to you."

He walks forward and bows to Tsuna, shocking her more than she'd ever care to admit.

To both of their surprise, she laughs.

"You live in a shitty world," she starts, "if no one's ever bothered saving your life." And it was true. Despite Tsuna's cold demeanor, she couldn't just let someone die because of something so petty, especially when they were just innocent people who barely knew anything.

Gokudera just gives a bitter smile in response.

* * *

"Well, that went well."

Tsuna isn't even surprised at Reborn's near omnipresence. She does question it from time to time, however, both due to annoyance and curiosity (she wants to learn that skill—being able to sneak up on anyone or hide in the most unusual places).

(She doesn't mention the fact that she already felt his presence when he was an estimated five meters away from her and Gokudera.)

"You just earned your first Family member."

Tsuna grunts. "Yes, great start," she says sarcastically. "My first Family member tried to kill me."

Reborn does not answer to that statement. "Take care of him, Tsuna," he says instead. "You don't know what he's been through."

Tsuna gives him a look. "I can guess what he's been through."

Reborn gives her one of _those _looks in turn, a mix of expressions that made Tsuna think 'knowledge' and at the same time think 'confusion.' The hitman is always this maze in her head that she could never get around, a puzzle that has another puzzle just when you thought you were solving it.

Then her head throbs unexpectedly, her ears ringing and the slam of the school's doors being closed and chained echoes in her ears.

"I'm going home, unless you care to join me," Tsuna says, gripping at the worn straps of her bag before turning her heel and walking away.

"Nah, I have plans for tonight."

And suddenly, Tsuna shivers at the baby's tone.

* * *

After Gokudera, more freaks and psychos started appearing on Tsuna's metaphorical doorstep.

Occasionally, they'd appear on her literal doorstep, too.

The first one would be an assassin with a fetish for food poisoning.

Tsuna met her on a hot Saturday afternoon, intending to go to the local grocery store and buy a few snacks and ingredients that her mother asked her to buy. Despite Tsuna's short hair, the back of her neck was sweating due to both the sun and the humid air.

A motorcycle whizzes by and stops just next to Tsuna. The rider offers her a drink in a purple can.

"Um…" Tsuna trails off, eyebrow raised at the drink. She sniffs lightly, smelling a putrid odor hanging in the air. She hears a small fizz coming from the bottle and her eyes slide over to the rider.

"You can have it," the rider says. The voice isn't something Tsuna could identify as a man's or a woman's but bordered more on femininity, and the rider did look suspicious, wearing a black leather suit despite the hotness of the day. The leather suit also didn't make the rider's gender very known, with a flat chest and tight pants that hugged the crotch area tightly. But it was hot, so Tsuna caught the drink (which the rider threw at her), and says a thank-you.

The rider immediately leaves, motorcycle whirring loudly as they speed away. The rider most likely broke a few traffic rules in the process, and Tsuna wonders if she has to reprimand the person (Hibari wouldn't be happy if someone broke rules—especially when Tsuna was around to be able to stop it).

She just sighs and shrugs her shoulders. She snaps the drink open, a threatening fizz emanating from it as purple bubbles with a violet mist fizzes out from the opening. She notices that the drink is slowly disintegrating the aluminum metal of the can as though it was acid and she throws it in the garbage can. She watches the violet fumes rise from the garbage can before shoving her hands in the pocket of her shorts.

Huh.

She's sure that she just experienced her very first assassination attempt.

Frankly, it was…anticlimactic.

* * *

The second attempt happens a few hours later, and Tsuna is in the kitchen stacking cans and packs of food in the cabinets and cupboards. A knock resounded from the front door just as she set the last can on top of another.

"I'll get it!" she called out, closing the cabinet and walking to the front door. She opens it and is greeted by a pink-haired woman (the hair color actually seemed natural) wearing a tight black leather suit and a helmet with tinted visors. In her gloved hands was a large box of pizza.

"Pizza delivery for Sawada!" the woman says loudly and hands Tsuna the box before sprinting away on her familiar motorcycle, not bothering to listen to Tsuna's protests. She skids away recklessly, and the brunette vividly remembers the incident just this morning.

She sniffs lightly again, smelling the same odor from before (and there's also the weird vibrations come from her arm—like something was exploding, but a wall prevented her from feeling the blast), and she opens the box of pizza in her hands and confirms her suspicions. The pizza is a dark violet with bubbles and froth forming in the middle, and purple fumes start exiting the box until Tsuna slams it shut and throws it away into a nearby garbage can.

She's pretty sure that she heard a _groan_ coming from the box.

Shivering lightly, she walks back to her house and locks the door.

A kick is delivered to her head and she ducks. "I see you've met the Poison Scorpion," Reborn says, easily landing on her head and almost making her jump from shock and surprise if she hadn't known that he was there in the first place.

Tsuna looks up to him instead, eyes narrowing. "Were you the one who sent her?"

"Not quite," Reborn says with a playful tone of voice. The one that tells her that he knows something that she doesn't. "She stalked me."

"Stalked you?" Tsuna questions. "What the hell did you do to that lady?"

"Language," Reborn chastises before pulling on her short hair. She yelps. "And I didn't do anything to her. I just ended our relationship, is all."

"Relationship?" Tsuna says with an eyebrow raised. "What relationship do you guys have—"

"REBORN!" A woman's shout echoes through the house, and Tsuna's gut feeling spiked dangerously before she jumps out of the way of several projectiles launching themselves at her. They were all purple and frothy with dark fumes, and all look like distorted versions of delicious food.

"Ah, Bianchi," Reborn says calmly and Tsuna refrains from glaring at the hitman, instead clenching her teeth.

"Reborn!" the woman repeats lovingly from above and jumps next to Reborn from out of nowhere. Tsuna looks up and has a sneaking suspicion that Reborn put a trap door there to trick Tsuna, and this 'Bianchi' lady found it and put it to good use. "Ah, _mi amore_! I've been tracking you for so long! It's only fate that I've found you after you've moved around for _so _long—"

"Um, excuse me," Tsuna deadpans at the woman, who showers Reborn with hugs and kisses on the cheeks. It is a particularly comical sight, seeing Reborn, the alleged greatest hitman in the world, being treated as an actual infant.

The pink-haired woman looks at her with intense green eyes that are strangely familiar to Tsuna. In fact, the woman's facial structure was all too familiar, but Tsuna doesn't know why it's familiar or where it came from. She was terribly beautiful with exotic features, but the brunette can't pinpoint the looks. The cheekbones…the eyes…lips…

Where had she seen those?

"Oh," Bianchi says, almost disapprovingly. She turns to Reborn, her long hair swishing lightly. "Is _this _the Vongola girl you've left me for to train? A flat-chested skinny prepubescent girl who's most likely a virgin?!"

"Hey," Tsuna says, a tick mark growing on her forehead.

Bianchi either ignored her, or didn't care (or both, really). She continues, "Oh, Reborn, I could give you much more than that! You don't have to train this pathetic little girl! Let us be partners again, kill assassins and make love under the stars!"

First of all, _make love under the stars?_

That was either the most romantic (and rather dramatic) thing Tsuna's heard in a while, or the most disturbing thing, considering Reborn's state as an infant.

"Who exactly are you and how did you get into my house?" Tsuna says with force. She actually already knows how she got into the house, but she may not be able to get an answer as to _why _she broke in instead of asking nicely.

(Well, Tsuna understands why people _can't_ ask _nicely_.)

As a reply, or a proxy or whatever it's called, Bianchi throws a tray of sizzling purple slime that appeared out of nowhere at Tsuna. The brunet barely ducked before the tray slammed against the wall behind her. She hears a light hiss as the cement melts under the influence of the poison.

"Hate to admit it, but that's actually very useful," Tsuna mutters and almost gains an approving look from the pink-haired hitwoman. The brunet turns to Bianchi, who goes back to coddling Reborn, and clears her throat.

Bianchi throws her a glare and Tsuna throws her hands up in a surrendering manner.

She does not believe she's going to say this.

"Listen, Bianchi, right?" Tsuna starts as the woman's eyes narrows at her. "Reborn can't actually leave—he told me so, since he's kind of under the debt—"

"—a favor, actually—"

"—of the Ninth boss of Vongola," she says flatly, giving Reborn a glance. "So, basically, whether anyone wants it or not—I _promise _that I don't—he has to stay." She takes a deep breath, spurting out the words she dreads. "But you can, too. We have a spare room."

Bianchi actually smiles at that, a bright smile with conviction and determination, and Tsuna only realizes the resemblance.

Gokudera Hayato.

(Whom she has not yet talked to about their nightly conversations.)

* * *

The second would be the girl next door—Miura Haru, a cheerful Midori School (isn't that for smart and rich people?) student with a penchant for annoying the hell out of Tsuna.

And an anti-child abuse activist, apparently.

It starts on a Friday morning, where Tsuna takes her daily route to school with Reborn constantly pestering her about her health and her training and a dark-haired girl following both of them behind a stone wall fence. She was the same height as Tsuna—and therefore short—with large eyes and pouty lips, and she was wearing a uniform that Tsuna recognized to belong to a prestigious school.

The brunette knows that she's there, of course, and Reborn most likely knows that, as well, but considering her irrelevance to their lives, Reborn continues with his assault of harsh and embarrassing words.

Tsuna makes the mistake of replying to the hitman with sass (as he would refer to it), and Reborn kicks her in the head, nearly making her hit the pavement face-first. She really wonders if Reborn cares about her health at all.

Then the dark-haired girl springs out of her hiding place and slaps Tsuna across the face.

_Hard._

(She should probably apologize to Yamamoto if slaps really stung this much.)

"You don't just hurt babies, you monster!" the girl shouts and scoops Reborn into her arms and coddles him. If Tsuna wasn't so annoyed with the current situation, she'd most likely stop and just laugh at how Reborn's being treated.

But she's annoyed, so in an icy tone, she remarks, "Who are you exactly?"

The girl glares at her as she pulls an amused Reborn close to her chest. "Miura Haru!" she says proudly. "I'm from Midori High, and I hate people who hurt babies!"

Tsuna blinks. "I—"

"Tenth!" a voice sounds from behind Tsuna, and the brunet whips her head to the sound of the voice. Gokudera, in his dedicated expression—were those sparkles around his face?—and his immediately lit-up face at seeing her, approaches with his bag bumping against his back because of the slight jump in his steps.

And suddenly Tsuna senses someone nearing her with a threatening intent, and her hand reflexively wraps around a thin wrist before she turns around and exerts enough force to make the owner of the appendage flip forward and land on their back.

Miura Haru groans on the ground and sneers at her.

"And you hurt people, too!" she shrieks, even though Tsuna knows that the girl had been the first one who intended to give her a long, hard smack against the cheek.

The girl stands just as Gokudera starts yelling out insults about her being stupid, and threats about bombing her if she dare lay another hand on Tsuna (well, he says Tenth, but Tsuna's still uncomfortable with the title even though she's accepted it long ago).

"How dare you insult the Tenth!" Gokudera shouts. "She is an esteemed future Mafia Boss, and she should never be treated this way by commoners and peasants!"

'Commoners and peasants.' Well, she's being defended, so she can't really complain.

"Hahi! A Mafia Boss? That's it!" Miura angrily proclaims and points at Tsuna with her index finger in an accusatory way. Tsuna wants to kick Gokudera. And this airheaded girl. "Meet with me today at three o'clock—we will fight."

"Why should I?" Tsuna says blandly. This was just some annoying girl who just so happens to be Tsuna's neighbor—she's insignificant and a nuisance in Tsuna's life, and she already had enough of those to keep her entertained.

"I must test your ability as a Mafia Boss!" Miura says vindictively with a high-pitched squeal in her tone. Tsuna squints her eyes shut from the piercing shriek echoing in her ears. "Prepare yourself, or I'll destroy you!" Again, the girl points an accusing finger at her. "At the bridge near Namimori park!"

"Excuse me?"

But apparently, Miura's words were the end of the discussion.

* * *

Tsuna always prided herself on her promises and pledges, and even more so on her punctuality.

Well, that's total bullshit—Reborn forced her, Gokudera and Yamamoto encouraged her, and Hibari just encouraged the fight that Tsuna would have with someone that's not him (for once). Tsuna had cursed at all of them, especially at Reborn and Hibari, before they made her dress into a pair of pants, a black shirt and her old combat boots that were still surprisingly snug.

Even though the clothes were comfortable, she had a feeling that she looked like a member of the Guerilla Warfare, especially with her short boyish hair and a red bandana, which Reborn tied to her neck and told her that should it be accidentally or purposely removed, her training the next week would be worse than what she's experienced her whole life.

That little bastard's just playing with her now.

Gokudera, on the other hand, had told her with sincerity that red was the color of passion, which he thought was appropriate for the situation, although Tsuna would think otherwise. Miura was a harmless little girl who didn't even know anything about the Mafia even if she claims that she does—and come to think of it, wouldn't Reborn be violating the Omerta?

Hm, maybe being the world's greatest hitman had something to do with all the shit Reborn pulls on her without suffering any consequences.

Heading over to the bridge, which led to Namimori park, Tsuna waits and tries not to focus too much on the small splashing of the water beneath her or the blow of the wind to the South. Instead, she squints and is able to make up a figure—a figure wrapped in a large metallic armor with an obvious difficulty in the steps.

Also, a ponytail in the head.

Tsuna sighs and mentally slaps herself. This girl is a fucking idiot.

"Hahi! We will—fight—now!" Miura cries, huffing a bit due to the heaviness of her armor and the sweltering heat of the sun. Tsuna really wonders how it was necessary to wear armor into what may dissolve into a pointless catfight.

She feels someone pushing at her, and she cranes her head to see Yamamoto and Gokudera giving her encouraging looks while Hibari just looks extremely bored. Reborn, as usual, had the expression of someone who stood in the fine line between emotionless and amused.

"Is this really necessary?" Tsuna flatly says to Miura as she's dragged by her comrades to the center of the bridge. Beneath her, she can feel the soft vibrations caused by the water current in the stream and soft waves as the water travels to and fro. She estimates that the water is at least six feet tall in the center of the trench, but shallow—about three to two feet—near the surface.

Tsuna feels her gut feeling spiking.

"Hahi! Of—hah—course it is!" Miura declares, her breaths stopping short as she walks toward Tsuna, her eyes glaring at her with intensity that admittedly compares to an angry puppy. Due to the weight of her armor, her body moves ungracefully and would occasionally saunter sideways in varying distances.

Tsuna narrows her eyes. Alarms ring in her mind, alerting her to danger. "Hey, be careful—"

Miura loses her balance and she falls, breaking the wooden bars attached to the bridge.

Immediately, her body shoots out from Yamamoto and Gokudera, sharply grabbing onto Miura's hands. Unfortunately, the body armor was much too heavy and instead of launching both of them onto solid ground, Miura dragged Tsuna down with her to the stream.

_Well, _Tsuna thinks as the sting of water splashing against her hits her, engulfing her in water, _this is what I get for being the hero. _She holds her breath and looks over at Miura, who is struggling to keep her head over the water, but was proved difficult what with the helmet. _Never again will I be the hero._

Tsuna fumbles for the edge of the helmet, which proved to be difficult with the way Miura thrashed about, but with luck, she finds a latch that probably locked the helmet and she yanks it out. The helmet snaps into two pieces and sinks to the bottom of the stream, Miura's head resurfacing.

"Hey," Tsuna says, grabbing onto the other girl's shoulders. Miura stops thrashing for a second, but her eyes are wide with panic, teeth chattering from the cold water. Then, because of the lack of movement, she nearly sinks, her head going underwater.

Tsuna curses and dives underneath the water, stopping just behind Miura's armor. The poor girl is suffocating, air bubbles forming from her lips and taking away the air she's already so desperate for. Tsuna can't talk (both literally and metaphorically), because she herself already has difficulty breathing.

Mustering her strength, Tsuna yanks out the parts one by one, throwing them wherever. Luckily, Miura wasn't the best blacksmith, and the parts were shoddily pieced together, making it easier for Tsuna to dismantle the armor.

When half of the parts were removed, Tsuna jerks a nearly unconscious Miura by the arm, swimming towards the shallow part of the stream. Her head breaks through the water and she breathes in heavily.

"Tenth!"

"Tsuna!"

She crawls toward land, where Gokudera and Yamamoto awaits her with wide eyes and concerned faces.

"I'm—okay," she wheezes out, closes her eyes and drops to the ground, unconsciously tightening her hold on Miura's arm. Dirt sticks to her clothes and exposed skin, but Tsuna's tired, possibly because of how much oxygen she lost and need to gain.

"T-Tsuna-san," Miura whimpers, trying to yank out her arm from the brunette's grip.

Tsuna is much stronger, even though she seems smaller. She cracks one eye open and releases her grip on the other girl. "Ah, sorry." Her arm falls to the ground and she closes her eye again, trying to steady her breathing.

"I—" Miura starts but abruptly stops, discontinuing her statement. Tsuna can feel the other girl's nerves bundled up inside of her, her mind frazzled with what just happened. A droplet of water drips from Tsuna's temple to the ground, and she hears Miura and her rapidly beating heart.

_Stop it, _she tells herself, blocking out the sounds and the sensitivity in her skin. _Stop focusing so much on trivial things. Don't get distracted—_

"Tsuna-san," Miura repeats, her voice wavering, teeth chattering. "I—I'm sorry!" Tsuna opens her eyes fast enough to find Miura bowing to her, hands clasped as though in a prayer. "You really are a rightful Mafia Boss! Only a Mafia Boss would risk their life for a woman!"

What the fuck. Does this girl even know anything about the Mafia? Tsuna was about to retort when Gokudera gave a cry of agreement, praising Tsuna and her actions.

"Of course!" Gokudera says, a figurative fire burning in his eyes. "It's the Tenth, after all, and she'll be the one to lead the most powerful Famiglia in the world!"

"Yes!" Miura says, the same fire already sparking in her eyes. "And because you have saved me from a perilous death, I promise to become your wife in the future!"

After Miura's words, time came to a standstill. Or, well, to put it simply, everyone became silent.

Gokudera breaks the silence, with a very loud proclamation. "You can't marry the Tenth!"

"Hahi, why not?!" Miura argues, standing and meeting Gokudera's eyes. "It's only right for a woman to marry a Mafia Boss! Why can't I marry Tsuna-san?" Tsuna can feel the spark of dislike the two had for each other, and she groans. Reborn must be laughing at her.

"Because you're a woman, like Tenth!" Gokudera says.

"Hey, women can love other women, too!" Yamamoto interjects with an amused smile.

"Shut up, baseball-idiot!" Gokudera shouts before turning back to Miura. "You _can't _be the Tenth's wife! She must have an eligible man as her partner."

"Hahi! Who says it had to be a man?" Miura defends. "Tsuna-san can marry Haru-san if she can, since she's a boss, and no one can stop her from marrying a woman! _She's the boss!"_

Gokudera glares at her, and Tsuna feels like the glaring is only caused by the fact that he doesn't have an argument for that.

"Tenth wouldn't marry _you,_" Gokudera says, directing their conversation somewhere else—somewhere familiar but not the same. Tsuna's seen that type of strategy in conversations before, and _Hayato _was the one who used that strategy.

"Why not?" Miura says with a dignified squawk.

"No one here is eligible to marry Tsunayoshi," Hibari says all of the sudden, cutting into their conversation. Tsuna starts at that, surprised that _Hibari _would be included in a discussion about her marriage.

"Eh?" Yamamoto says, confused. "Why not?"

"I am!" Miura says, almost proudly. Tsuna has to resist herself from kicking the girl on her behind. "Tsuna-san needs a woman by her side, especially with all the idiotic men in her life."

"What did you say, woman?!" Gokudera yells out, glaring at Miura.

"Tsunayoshi doesn't need anyone," Hibari says firmly, "especially not a herbivorous woman." He looks at Miura, and the girl gives him a stare of disapproval.

"Hahi! What a rude man!" Miura huffs.

"Tsunayoshi does not need marriage in order to be stable, physically, mentally or emotionally," Hibari continues. "If she does marry, the man _or _woman," Miura sticks a tongue out and gives Gokudera a mocking glare, "must be just as strong or stronger than she is."

"You're right." Yamamoto gives a contemplative nod. "Yeah, Tsuna's pretty strong, even for someone as small as her."

"Hey—" Tsuna starts, getting up into a sitting position, but Reborn sits on her shoulder and puts duct tape—where did he get these things randomly?—on her mouth to prevent her from speaking.

"Continue, Yamamoto," Reborn says, sounding curious, but a glint in his eyes gave him away to Tsuna. Really, he just seemed to want to prolong her suffering.

"Well," Yamamoto rubs the back of his neck, "Tsuna's this strong girl who doesn't really need anyone to help her, you know? Maybe _guide_, but she already has Hibari-senpai for that, and maybe you, too, kid," he motions to Reborn, "but you guys aren't married, and you're still guiding her.

"She might marry for love," he finishes. "The guy—or girl," he adds, looking at Miura's direction, "doesn't really have to be strong—Tsuna's strong enough for them both. She just has to _love."_

Everyone is in silence, and the only thing Tsuna could think was: _how did this become a conversation about who I should marry?_

"I agree!" Miura cries out.

Gokudera grunts. "Yeah, maybe," he admits.

"I disagree," Hibari settles. "A strong animal should have an equally stronger mate."

"Ugh! Why are we even discussing _this_, of all things?!" Tsuna says loudly, standing. "I'm going home. I'm still fucking wet."

Yamamoto couldn't help but snort.

Tsuna turns to look at him weirdly.

"Sorry!" Yamamoto says, raising his hands as though in surrender. "That's just the immature hormonal teenage boy in me talking."

Tsuna rolls her eyes just as Gokudera attempts to hit Yamamoto with his fists.

"How dare you think of the Tenth in a perverse regard!" he cries out in anger. "Baseball-idiot!"

* * *

Tsuna met _way _more weirdos, and all three of them in a span of a day. Unlike Bianchi, Haru or that perverted doctor back at the hospital, these three were special.

Special because they were _children._

She should start with Lambo, a five-year-old from the Bovino Famiglia, who Reborn said dealt with a lot of time machines/weapons (she didn't quite remember which one), but only succeeded in creating a single successful prototype.

Lambo, as the child himself said, was sent to Japan to kill Reborn.

He could not, since it was _Reborn,_ so he cried a bit and almost hit himself with a bazooka if Tsuna hadn't intervened with grape candy.

"The Ten-Year-Bazooka," Reborn informed her, directing her attention from the crying child to the pink bazooka that was, weirdly enough, contained in Lambo's afro. "It transports the user to the future."

Tsuna just gives a sigh.

* * *

The next child…I-Pin, who had mistaken her for a criminal that she was hired to kill. She only spoke Mandarin and broken Japanese. After the slight misunderstanding that suspiciously led to several food stall broken down and a weird garlic smell around a certain area in Namimori, Tsuna made the decision to buy the child candy and take her to Hibari.

I-Pin, as she found out, had a crush on her mentor, judging by how nervous she was at Hibari's appearance. Tsuna didn't even know that Hibari could speak Mandarin. Or maybe he's screaming a different, rapid-fire dialect on the phone.

Also, the little girl explodes. That was something.

* * *

The last child was much less destructive than the previous two.

Until Tsuna found out about his abilities, which, according to both Reborn and Bianchi, was very sought out in the Mafia world.

Well, that explains the men that almost shot Tsuna in the back.

She is so _done._

* * *

"Reborn, one thing," Tsuna says, drying her hair with a towel. It is night, and Tsuna had just taken a bath, which, in hindsight, was probably not a good idea as she feels an itch in her nose.

"Hm?"

"I hate what you brought into my world."

"Ah," Reborn says, giving her a grin, "but you enjoy it."

Tsuna looks at him with a look, a corner of her lip quirking upwards while the other corner remaining a scowl. She hangs the damp towel over the towel bar.

"Maybe."

* * *

**A/N: Okay, the three kids—Lambo, I-Pin, Fuuta—are going to have **_**way **_**more descriptive characters in the next chapter. I actually have an explanation as to why the last part of this chapter is shoddily written and almost hasty…but I can't tell you that explanation, because I'm disappointed in myself right because of that.**

**But anyway, disappointments aside, were you guys disappointed by this chapter?(Oh, the irony.)**

**Review! :)**


	11. IMPORTANT

**A/N: (very long tbh)**

**Okay, so, good news: I am not actually discontinuing this story, so if you saw 'A/N' at the summary and had an anxiety/panic attack—it was but for naught 'cause this shit ain't ending.**

**Bad news: I'm rewriting the story.**

**Or maybe that's better news…? Idk, but point is, I'm rewriting the whole story.**

**A lot of you are probably wondering why, because I'm **_**this **_**close to writing the climax of the story, but then **_**suddenly **_**I decide to rewrite it completely.**

**I have a legit reasons. **First, I'd like to say that the way this story is told—formal, brusque, cold and not very Tsuna-like (in fact, it's not me-like)—is what I didn't like. At the beginning, when I started writing this, I thought that it fit the mood perfectly, since this story is supposed to have dark undertones clashing with the slightly humorous ones.

BUT it's not a narrative that I usually do. If you looked at my other stories, it flows much easier because they're raw with emotions and not curt at all. The writing here makes me uncomfortable because of its coldness by maybe the fifth chapter because it's not _me, _and I have trouble writing it which is why I get frequent writer's block which results in less frequent updates.

2nd—the storyline. Like, I already have it planned in my head, the events mashing together to reach the climax and ultimately the ending. Except that I suddenly included the subplots—the friendship between Tsuna and her guardians (and possibly her romantic interests), her bond with Reborn and Hibari, her journey to becoming a, ah, "full-fledged girly girl"—and it's been taking over my mind because I didn't plan those subplots, and—hurrah—more writer's block. They're all over the place, quite frankly, and my mind switches from one plot to the other.

3rd—Tsuna. She's cold and distant, I can't properly make her personality complementary to other people unlike canon!Tsuna, and I feel like I'm writing her as a Mary Sue. I honestly didn't know how to execute her character in this story, because I'm nothing like canon!Tsuna—like, I'm used to being an honor student, or at least the Top Ten in class, I don't trip over thin air, I love books, learning, and even interested in martial arts and (admittedly) Spartan training (which is a thing, apparently), and I'm not the next Mafia Don(na) of an ancient and influential Famiglia, haha.

**So with all that said, in the rewritten version of this story, the solutions are:**

1 – The narrative will be my usual narrative so that the chapters will be smoother and easier to write.

2 – It'll probably take very, very long if I do this, but I'll be writing summarizations for each chapter so that the storylines won't go off someplace else.

3 – I've already planned this one—Tsuna will still be aloof, since that's the character that was made out from the main storyline—the Flames, the bullying, the Mafia, etc—which means I can't change that she'll be aloof and rather distant. BUT, her POV will be the one that's changing to suit her personality better.

**The first chapter of the rewritten work will be longer (and not named after a book from the Bible (curse that idea of mine)) under the same title (Desecrate Through Reverence _unless _I can find a better title. 'Killer Queen' is a rather enticing title. Also, I'm disgustingly in love with the song). I don't know, however, when I will finish it, as I am quite busy this school year because the shitty DepEd-approved grading system in the PH required more group projects, group presentations, and basically group work which I **_**loathe **_**because**_** I am literally the only who actually **_**does**_** shit.**_

**Also, if some of you were curious of how the 10****th**** chapter of DTR****original ****went, here it is:**

**:X:**

**Chapter 10 – Chronicles**

The first Mafia Boss she's ever encountered would have to be Dino, the Boss of the Cavallone Famiglia, which, according to Reborn, was one of the many allies of the Vongola. True, the first boss she's encountered would be Naito Longchamp, her goofy classmate who wears punk clothing, but he was the same age as her, still in training, and…quite frankly, a bit too idiotic to be a full-fledged Mafia Boss.

(Not that she could talk—her first fight made her spend nearly a month in the hospital. )

Dino _is_ a bit intimidating, if she was honest, with a posture that radiated intelligence and composure and how his men would obey his every word without hesitation. He was nicknamed 'Bucking Horse' for whatever reason Reborn offered, and was one of the youngest bosses to ever take the mantle as the head of the Famiglia.

Tsuna secretly admired him (she couldn't say that out loud, mindful of how Reborn would tease her about the 'crush' that doesn't even exist) because he was Hibari in nearly every way but his talkativeness, his former affiliation to Reborn, and the _nice guy _aura that always surrounded him. He was smart and strong and persuasive and calming. Really, Dino was something if Tsuna looked up to him, as Tsuna only ever looked up to Hibari Kyouya her whole life.

_Well, _she looked up to him _before_ he tripped on thin air just as his subordinates leaved their house as per Nana's request.

"Should I get an ice pack?" she says blandly, a bit disappointed. Dino makes a groan before Reborn swoops down from who-knows-where and kicks him in the head. He yelps.

"I'm disappointed, Dino," Reborn says, 'tsk'ing at him. "I'd have thought that your days of being a clumsy, no-good loser would be over by the time you inherit the Cavallone Mantle."

"You're so cruel to me, Reborn," Dino cries out as he slowly stands back up. "Is this what you do to your sweet student?"

"Sweet?" Tsuna deadpans.

"Tsuna's anything but sweet," Reborn informs him, a smile stretching through his lips. "And she's not as useless as you were—or are, especially without a single subordinate to help you out."

"Still the same Spartan torturer, huh?" Dino says, giving them a cheeky grin.

"Not exactly," Reborn quips. He sneaks a glance at Tsuna, who scowls at him. "Not yet, anyway."

Tsuna glances down at Dino, who stands and dusts himself off. "I'm a bit disappointed, to be honest," she mumbles, knowing full well that Reborn could hear and understand her.

Reborn 'tsk's at Dino again. "And so your legacy is disappointed by her predecessor," he tells him.

"That doesn't really make any sense," Dino mumbles. "She's not exactly my legacy…she's more like your next target practice."

"As if I'll let him make me into one," Tsuna says flatly.

:X:

Tsuna is floating and she's not quite sure how this happens. Surely this was against any laws of physics, but considering Reborn's mostly the instigator of nearly every weird thing happening in her life, she figures that maybe floating _can_ be possible despite the lack of media.

_"Number one most likely to survive a zombie apocalypse," _Fuuta intones, his eyes unfocused and looking as though it was containing a universe, _"Reborn. Number two is Hibari Kyouya."_

"We already knew that," nearly everyone else says loudly, with some sounding rather bitter. Tsuna pushes a floating chair out of her way, almost hitting Gokudera in the eye. Lambo moves his hands up and down, successfully floating to the ceiling.

_"Bianchi's poison cooking ranks third overall in most dangerous killing techniques," _Fuuta continues, his statement making Bianchi smile with glee. _"Yamamoto Takeshi's smile ranks second in brightest smile in the universe—first brightest is Sawada Tsunayoshi."_

Everyone looks at Tsuna, who gives them a glare. "No," she says threateningly, "I'm not smiling."

_"Gokudera Hayato ranks first in being the most loyal dog in the Mafia," _Fuuta says, flashes of stars galaxies sparkling in his eyes. Gokudera mutters indignantly but says nothing to counter the statement. _"Dino Cavallone is ranked the number one clumsiest boss in the Mafia. Sawada Tsunayoshi's first option as a love interest is…"_

No one even pretends to _not_ look interested in the opening statement, and Tsuna just wonders when the hell she had options for a love interest. Still, she couldn't help but sneak a glance at Hibari, who looks as though he couldn't care less.

_"…Leon, Reborn's chameleon."_

"All right, what the fuck?" Tsuna says loudly in protest.

"Ah, Tsuna really is a weird girl," Reborn comments. "And mind your language, Dame-Tsuna. There are children here."

Fuuta blinks a few times, his body shaking a bit before everyone is suddenly falling to the ground, more than one of them hit by a few object, which include a flower vase the Yamamoto caught effortlessly.

"Ah, sorry," Fuuta says. "It's raining outside and rain interferes my connection to Ranking Planet." Almost immediately, a loud thunderclap boomed, resulting in both Lambo and I-Pin crying and clutching at Tsuna's legs.

"Good," Tsuna says, "because I'm sure that I don't fancy a lizard for a lover."

:X:

"Sawada!"

Tsuna tries her hardest not to turn around. Instead, she jams her earphones into her ears and sets the current song to the highest volume as she tries to reach her house without any incidents. The voice, she vaguely recognizes, is Kyoko's older brother who was _loud _and exuberant, and definitely persistent when it comes to boxing and recruiting boxers.

She honestly doesn't know why he's calling for her, but she has handled enough shit for one day (meeting Dino and being absolutely disappointed, and the front row experience to Fuuta's power—and the bazooka incident. It was only a good thing that Lambo turned back just as Bianchi was about to _melt _him).

Tsuna doesn't want another…_thing_ to happen this day, because she's already so relaxed when Miura—who wanted Tsuna to call her Haru—treated her to cake at her favorite shop, bumping into Kyoko and having a calm, relaxing (a bit loud, she supposed, as _Haru_ was there) conversation over blueberry cheesecake and a vanilla frappe (or whatever they call it).

She focuses on the scuffing of her soles against the cement pavement and the loud bass and drums blistering in her ears and trying to ignore the loud, heavy footsteps behind her and the repeated screaming of her last name.

And then a baby jumps out of a tree and kicks her on the head, her head jerking back and knocking her earphones out of her ears.

"What the _hell_, Reborn," Tsuna hisses, catching her ear buds by the wire before they hit the ground.

"I really have to correct your language," Reborn says breezily. "And your manners. A Mafia boss doesn't turn away a guest in their territory."

"I'm not in my house," Tsuna says before lowering her voice. "And even then, he's a _disturbance_ in my…metaphorical territory, not a guest."

"Despite that," Reborn says, "you must always treat everyone you meet as though you and them are equal. I'm sure you've heard of Al Capone."

"Sawada!"

"He was a gentleman, a typical Don—an honorary member of La Cosa Nostra," Reborn continues, and as Tsuna glances back, she recognized that flat head of white hair and the bandage on the nose. "If you really will take on the mantle of the Vongola Decimo, you _must _have lady-like attitudes—while, of course, looking absolutely badass."

Tsuna feels like that's just the summary of every mafioso, except the 'lady' would be replaced by 'gentlemanly,' in terms of male mafiosi.

"Sawada!" The voice is just beside her and it took her strength not to glare at him and punch him.


End file.

Katekyo Hitman Reborn!, Drama, Family