Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

DISCLAIMER

This is a fan rewriting of Katekyo Hitman Reborn. We do not own any characters besides ocs and we do not own the story besides fan made arcs.

This rewrite comes from a place of love, as we are all fans of Katekyo Hitman Reborn

We simply want to see the story improve from a lot of the problems in it like its sexism, pacing issues, and underutilizing characters. So we (Jona and J) will be attempting to make it better in our own ways

If you find yourself disliking the story at any time then please just click off of the story and be on your way instead of leaving any hateful comments.

This story is not only going to be very headcanon heavy, but also very oc heavy. Including, but not limited to ocs related to canon characters, ocs in relationships with canon characters, and more.

Edits, drawings, and Pic Crews will be used to show characters with heavy changes or ocs.

Chapter Text

It was a normal, average morning in Namimori. The sky was a faded blue color as the sun began to break over the horizon, waking up all the residents for a new day.

A lot of students got ready for school while their parents got ready for work or ready to start their own days with some housework.

Soon enough, people leave their homes and head for school or work. All except for one student who departs his house later than normal after having accidentally slept in that morning. He fusses with his shirt, stumbling a bit over his shoes as he heads out.

“I’m heading to school!” he shouts back into his house with a slight rasp to his voice.

“Have a good day, Tsu-kun!” a faux kind sounding voice says back from somewhere in the house, “Try to pick up some apples on the way home! I’m going to make curry for dinner tonight, your favorite!”

“Ok…!” He calls back with a slight hint of disappointment in his voice.

He closes the front door and holds the straps of his backpack tightly for a moment, he lets out a small sigh then takes a deep breath. Afterwards he starts hurriedly walking to school.

One might expect him to run so he won’t be late, but as he walks to school, he starts adjusting the clear plastic tube coming out of his bag. The tube split in two then looped over the backs of his ears then it plugged into his nostrils. The brunet then tries his best not to pick at the medical tape that held the tubes against his face.

On his journey, he has to stop twice for small coughing fits. He sighs to himself after the second one, wiping his mouth with a handkerchief he keeps in his pocket. The smoke that came from his mouth during the fits didn’t even phase him anymore…

By the time he reaches the school, he has just enough time to relax a little before class. A few students are hanging around outside, including the school’s most infamous prefect; Hibari Kyoya. He is standing by the school's entrance with his arms crossed over his chest as he watches every single student entering through the school gates. His eyes are sharp and alert to his surroundings.

Hibari glances over at the sickly student, making him jump a bit. The delinquent gives him a brief nod and the other scrambles to get inside the building. Mostly so he’s not accused of crowding by his upperclassman… 

Inside, there are also some students hovering around in the halls and talking amongst themselves. Most only glance at him, but others stare at the brunet who’d entered. He sighs to himself, trying to ignore the looks of pity and occasional judgment. He is used to this treatment… Even if it does hurt…

“Hey, isn’t that Sawada? I heard that he wouldn’t be back in for the rest of the week… What is he doing here?” A girl with choppy, purple hair whispers, wrapping a strand of hair around her finger anxiously.

“I heard that he was a smoker and that he only comes to school to meet his dealer…” A blonde girl snickers to her friend in a hushed tone.

“What kind of smoker has a dealer, Hiyoko-san?” The choppy-haired girl grumbles back. “I heard that he has some form of rare disease and that it’s contagious…” 

“Ew, really? Why would they send him here then?” The second girl hisses, “He’s gonna infect all of us… He should just disappear if there isn’t a cure for him…” 

Their redhead friend sighs, shaking her head, “Geez… Now I see why no one talks to you two… He’s just a sick kid and he isn’t contagious, he just… has something…” 

“Then why don’t you go over and ask what it is then?” The blonde huffs.

The red-haired girl tenses then toys nervously with the camera around her neck before responding, “Uhhh… N-Nah…” 

He continues on his way through the hall with the gossip about him gradually getting quieter. Nowadays, most students barely even look at him. They avoid him like they actually believe that what was wrong with him is contagious in some shape or form. Yet again, hurting his feelings, but he just has to let it go…

Tsuna takes a deep breath in through his nose then out through his mouth, trying to calm himself down. He knows he can’t get too worked up right now… The day is still young after all! He just has to hope it’ll improve at least a little…

The sickly teen enters his classroom as quietly as he can, trying not to draw too much attention. While he’s not late this time, he still doesn’t want to give them more reasons to gossip...

There are two groups of students in the room already, all doing their own things together. 

He goes to his desk and places his bag at its usual spot, then rests his head on the desk quietly to wait for class to start. The teen grows bored after only a few minutes though. He silently huffs to himself, fidgeting with his fingers to pass the time, slowly losing himself in his thoughts. 

Suddenly, he feels a hand land quickly on his shoulder in an excited greeting.

“Hey, Tsuna!” The owner of the hand chirps happily.

Tsuna jumps nearly a foot in the air and let out a rather unmanly squeal of surprise and fear. He quickly turns his head and looks behind him only to see a boy with spiky black hair standing there.

Yamamoto Takeshi, one of Tsuna’s few friends, now held a sympathetic look as he pulled his hand away from Tsuna’s shoulder. Although his hearty and warm laughing betrays his current expression, making it clear he was still rather happy despite scaring his friend. Tsuna sighs a little, but gives a weary smile to the other.

“Sorry, Tsuna! I didn’t mean to scare you like that!” Yamamoto exclaims apologetically, “I was only trying to say good morning!”

“Well good morning to you too, Yamamoto… You seem to be in a really good mood today…” Tsuna mumbles, “Good news?”

Yamamoto opens his eyes and looks at his friend with a bright smile on his face as he nods his head with a small sound of confirmation.

“Mhm! The baseball team finally got those new baseballs that we’ve been asking for!” He cheers, “You know, the ones that we’ve been asking for since last week!”

“Oh that’s great!” Tsuna responds sweetly, “I’m so happy for you, Yamamoto! The school has been pretty stingy with its money lately after all…”

Yamamoto huffs before plopping down into his seat. “I know but I can’t blame them especially with the Disciplinary Committee breathing down their neck…” 

Tsuna briefly takes a moment to remember how it had been the talk of the school when Hibari had barged into the principal's office. Then he, according to the rumors, simply told the principal in that velvety, calm voice of his that he and the Disciplinary Committee would now be in charge of the schools' funds. Apparently the principal tried to refuse at first but only found himself on the wrong end of the skylark’s tonfa in the end. 

It was terrifying really in retrospect… Especially since everyone had assumed that the ambulance was for him when it showed up at school. Afterwards there were a lot of rumors going around about how “Sick Tsuna finally kicked the bucket” until people saw he was in fact still there and very much alive.

“Why did he do that anyway…?” Tsuna wonders aloud to himself. “I didn’t think Hibari-san would care that much about the school's budget…”

“I’m not sure why he would take it over either but I’m sure that he had a good reason,” his friend hums, leaning back in his chair with his arms behind his head, “I mean, would the Disciplinary Committee ever do anything bad? I don’t think so!”

“Well, I think that the word you were actually looking for is would…” A bored sounding, female voice speaks up.

Tsuna and Yamamoto both turn their heads to see who exactly is  talking to them now, seeing that Hana and Kyoko had both come over to see them. Hana has her typical blank, almost deadpan expression on her face as she looks at Yamamoto. While Kyoko held a semi-concerned look.

“The school was saving up to get him,” Hana points at Tsuna while she speaks, “Things that he needs to be able to go to school with us. Then Hibari just comes in and takes over like no one else matters… We don’t even know what he’s doing with the money!”

“Yeah, I agree with Hana… No one knows what they’re doing with it. And no one can even ask them either because everyone is too scared of Hibari-san…” Kyoko sighs and leans forward a bit, “It’s not fair to Tsuna-kun especially in the slightest…”

“Exactly! I mean, look how long it took the baseball team to get those new baseballs, Yamamoto. You had to ask like three different times these past 2 months and you’re only  getting them now.” Hana rants and crosses her arms while her expression shifts into a more ardent one, “And didn’t that take a week?”

“Yeah, but I’m sure that-” The baseball player tries to get a word in.

“Uh, uh, uh!! Yes, it did, I counted!” Hana interrupts, holding up a finger to stop Yamamoto from speaking, “So in conclusion, the Disciplinary Committee is hoarding all of the school's money most likely for themselves…”

“It’s not like we can do anything though… Hibari-san is too strong, not even Mochida-senpai could take him on…” Tsuna mumbles, shaking his head a bit, “And Mochida-senpai wins at everything…”

Tsuna closes his eyes for a bit and takes a deep breath from his oxygen tank. He feels a bit more relaxed, but he soon feels like someone’s staring at him, making him open one eye.

Both of his eyes shoot open when he sees that Kyoko is now standing right in front of his desk, gripping it like she wants to rip it apart. He sits up straight in his seat and stiffens as he stares at Kyoko’s dark face. Then she looks down at him with determination.

“Don’t say that about Mochida… And it’s extremely unfair to you, Tsuna-kun! You deserve to be able to attend this school as comfortably as anyone else here!” She passionately declares. Hana watches her friend, rolling her eyes a bit as she’s reminded of the similarities between her and her brother.

Tsuna feels his heart rate start to race as Kyoko semi-shouts at him. He speechlessly gapes, his cheeks dusting a deep pink. The brunet couldn’t believe that his crush was standing up for him so wholeheartedly… It makes him smile and muse, for a moment, that maybe Kyoko likes him as much as he likes her… He fantasizes for a moment, picturing what dating her might be like.

“Even if you will still have problems with things like attendance, your grades, and will probably have to drop out; you’re still my friend and I want you to be happy and comfortable!” She proclaims, even making Hana cringe at how insensitive it accidentally comes across as despite her good intentions.

There is practically an audible shatter as the daydream that he is having fell apart like a window, as he was brought back to reality. 

“A Friend…” he despairs to himself. “So that’s what Kyoko-chan thinks of me…”

“Same here,” Hana says quickly, trying to salvage the conversation, “If I’m going to be a lawyer someday then I need to start by standing up for what’s right in school.”

“... But Hana… I thought you wanted to be a nurse like me?” Kyoko looks over at her with a slightly betrayed expression plastered across her face.

“Huh? When did I say- Wait, are you talking about when we were like 5 and we played nurses that one time?” Hana questions, looking somewhat confused.

“Exactly! It’s not like you to forget promises like that,” Kyoko points out.

“Kyoko, we were kids…” Hana sighs in soft exasperation, “It wasn’t real…”

“It was real to me!” Kyoko fusses a little, “But if you really wanna be a lawyer… Then I have no choice, but to support you in what you’re doing. Just, while also secretly wishing you were a nurse like me.”

Kyoko then proceeds to cross her arms and turns away from Hana, clearing sulking. Yamamoto blinks then leans over to the brunette.

“Is she sulking as some kind of threat??” Yamamoto asks in a low voice.

“She is But that’s kind of what’s endearing about her…” Hana hums  with a soft smile.

The bell rings, drawing their conversation to a close. Kyoko settles in next to Tsuna and smiles, dropping her sulking act. Hana pats her head for a moment before moving over to the front row. It doesn't take long after the bell for the classroom door to slide open and for their teacher, Dohachiro Nezu, to walk inside.

“Good morning, class,” like always Nezu starts the day with one of his monologues, “I hope that everyone had a nice weekend and that none of you used your time off to simply slack off like you had nothing better to do. There’s always something better to do and that thing is studying. How can you hold any worth in the world if you get bad grades?” 

Internally Tsuna rolls his eyes. Hearing the same speech every morning for the last few months is getting tiring. Honestly, he’s pretty sure he could recite it in his sleep at this point. After hearing the same speech for the hundredth time. 

“And if we run into a test that we are not prepared for and we wind up failing it… Who do we have to blame?” Nezu asks as he looks around the room before his eyes land on Hana. “Miss Kurokawa… Could you answer this question for us?”

“No one but ourselves,” Hana replies reflexively as soon as Nezu had finished speaking.

“Exactly! We have no one to blame but ourselves, so I don’t want to hear any complaints. You’ll need this information after all, so pay close attention even when you are out of school.” He chirps at the class. “Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get through with attendance so we can get on with today’s lessons…”

Nezu begins to read off everyone’s names and each student responds with a “Here” on the call of their name 

“... Sawada Tsunayoshi.” Nezu spits out after a brief pause.

“Her-” Tsuna tries to respond only for an intense tightening and burning sensation to break out in his throat. He starts to cough harshly, grabbing onto his desk for a moment to steady himself while covering his mouth with his other arm. His eyes water a little during his fit. By the time the attack subsides and he can see clearly again, he notices that the teacher has approached his desk. 

Nezu got a breath of the smoke and grimaces in disgust at Tsuna. The sickly teen flinches and gives a shaky smile, chewing his lip a little and hoping he won’t be in trouble again.

“Are we already starting the day off with a coughing fit, Sawada?” Nezu asks with a harsh growl, only making the brunet curl into himself more. “You know that I do not tolerate distractions in my class.”

“S-Sorry-” He starts, but stops to clear the ashy feeling from his throat, “I’m sorry, Nezu-sensei… You know I can’t help it though, it’s a medical condition.”

“Well according to your individualized education plan, I’m supposed to send you to the nurse's office whenever you have a coughing fit.” The mean teacher clicks  his tongue. “So I want you to go to the nurse’s office right now and don’t bother returning to class unless you can guarantee no more interruptions.  .”

“But that’s not-” The student tries to protest  only to be interrupted.

“Nurses office! Now!” Nezu yells and points at the door. “If you don’t leave right now then I’ll be sending you to the principal's office for insubordination instead!”

“I don’t-” Tsuna tries again, feeling his eyes water.

“Last chance! I will not tolerate disobedience in my classroom, Sawada!” Nezu barks, his voice only getting louder. “Get to the nurses office right now!”

Tsuna pauses for a moment before nodding in defeat. He stands up, grabs his backpack and starts to walk out of the class. From the corner of his eye, he can see  Yamamoto glaring at Nezu who was too busy sneering at him to notice the baseball player trying to set him on fire with his mind. Tsuna walks out of the classroom, his shoulders slumped from the crushing weight of his exhaustion.

Seeing no point to stick around for long, Tsuna starts trotting towards the nurse’s office.  The only company on his journey are his own footsteps and the muffled voices from the neighboring classrooms. He takes a deep breath in through his nose and out through his mouth, trying to center himself.

The brunet starts to get lost in his thoughts again, imagining what life would be like without his oxygen tank, without his sickness. Maybe in that life… He could be the version of himself that he wanted to be and become a him that his younger self would have looked up to with awe.  Well maybe not that considering he wanted to grow up to be a super fighting robot that would protect the world , but still, the thought is there. 

Tsuna wishes he was completely normal. Just… Just an average boy his age. Yet deep in his bones he knows he’ll never achieve that. Even if he’s miraculously cured, he can’t imagine a normal life for himself. Rather than some robotic hero, he feels like some random villain they’d be defeating.

Tsuna closes his eyes, pausing for a moment and sighing to himself. When he opens his eyes, he jolts a bit in surprise at where he was. While he’d been lost in his thoughts, he managed to reach  the entrance doors. He stands there awkwardly, debating his choices in his head. He could head to the nurse’s office like he’d been told to do. But, he knows that that’ll just mean a day of laying around and doing nothing.

Not to mention the half-assed lecture by the nurse about the dangers of smoking. The other teachers would blame him for missing class either way, even though Nezu had been the one to send him out in the first place…

“You know what? No. I’m going home early, again” He sighs to himself, feeling a little disappointed in himself. But at least this decision is better for his mental health. Well, sorta, kinda, maybe…

Tsuna walks out of the school, nervously looking back to confirm that nobody was watching him.  Fortunately, Hibari seems to be busy elsewhere, so he can avoid being bitten to death for leaving school early yet again. The teen starts his walk home quietly, unsure of what to think of at this point, maybe his mind will be clearer once he’s home.

Tsuna is filled with dread when he approaches his front door.  He doesn’t know how his mother’s going to react to him skipping again.

Tsuna slips inside his home, soon enough finding his mother just watching TV. He hesitates in greeting her, but decides letting her know he’s here is a courtesy at least. 

“I’m home, Mom.”

“Oh!” She flinches before turning around to face him. “Tsu-kun! Don’t scare me like that, it’s rude!”

“Sorry,” he whispers, fidgeting with his finger while averting his gaze. “I just thought I should tell you I’m back.”

“You’re skipping again?” Nana huffs and shakes her head at him “Did you at least get the apples I asked you for?”

“Oh! Um no, sorry, Mom, I forgot.” Tsuna shifts in place, feeling guilty about his bad memory. “I can get them right now if you-”

“No, no, I’ll go out later . I was just hoping to avoid shopping today.” She cuts him off, only looking more disappointed.

Tsuna feels a small pang in his chest at her words, knowing he failed her. Knowing he can’t be trusted with even the simplest of tasks. Knowing not even his mother could stand the sight of a sick screw-up like him.

“I’m just gonna head up to my room,” he mutters, hunching in on himself.

He turns away from the door and shuffles up the creaking stairs. He could hear his mother call to him one last time.

“Tsu-kun! Since your home! Could you vacuum the rooms upstairs for me later?" 

Tsuna pauses for a moment, but doesn’t respond. There’s no point, he knows he won’t actually do it.  

The brunet closes his door and leans against it, tired and overwhelmed. Slowly, inch by inch, he sinks to the floor, his energy level low enough that even standing feels like a chore. Staring blankly into nothingness, he wonders why he even bothers getting up in the morning when every day just ends up being the same.

After some time of wallowing in misery, he takes out his breathing tank to check on the oxygen level. It’s not fully depleted yet but he should probably refill it anyway and switch to the one he uses while sleeping. His eyes start to feel heavy, the events of the day are catching up to him. He doubts he’ll stay up for much longer today. The sickly teen sluggishly grabs the latest Asuka magazine off his small coffee table. He needs a comfort read right now. Tsuna slumps onto his bed, magazine in hand. Reading is a struggle like always, but only when the words start to blur does he realize that he’s crying. His breath hitches while tears drip down his cheeks and Tsuna… Tsuna is just finished with today. He throws the magazine away, closes his eyes and waits for the sweet mercy of sleep.

Chapter Text

The sun is setting in a beautiful array of yellows, oranges, and reds over Sicily, Italy. The street is quiet besides some couples chatting and the sound of small feet walking. Most would be concerned over a well dressed toddler being out alone at this late hour, but the people who notice the fedora-hatted child swiftly look away or hush up.

 The infant quietly pets a vividly green chameleon in his hands, smirking to himself as the creature shifts indecisively into different inanimate objects. The baby knows what this indicates and he can’t help but be excited. Last time he’d seen Leon change so much in such an impatient fashion while still having his tail, was right before the Cavallone Familglia had hired him to whip their next boss into shape. 

However, that Bucking Bronco has long since graduated from his teachings which can only mean the dark-haired child will soon have a brand new student.

To be fair, the Vongola Famiglia has contacted him already about a student and he is meeting his informants soon, but this doesn’t deter the hitman’s excitement. The words from someone’s unfulfilled dream echoes in his head as he contemplates teaching another student again.

“Someday… I want a big family...”

The distant woman’s words fade as he shakes his head a bit. He doesn’t have time to reminisce right now. The baby soon enters the bar where he’s supposed to meet his informant, carefully looking around  the seedy place. It isn’t a common location for mafia meetings, especially for these two… But Reborn isn’t complaining.

A blond man lounges at a grimy table in the back of the bar, glass of whiskey in hand. His suit is tidy and crisply pressed, contrasting the sour expression on his face. 

"What would my precious wife think if she found me in a place like this?" 

He wrinkles his nose in disgust at the sticky table. 

His older companion, dressed equally sharp, shakes his head at him and sighs.

“You very well know we can’t meet up at any of our usual places. Not for information as sensitive as this.” 

Reborn approaches their table with sure steps. The trio looks at each other in silence before the toddler breaks the tension. “Ciao-tsu.”

“Hello, Reborn.” The old man greets while the blond simply nods his head in acknowledgment of the hitman’s presence.  

Reborn sits down across from them while Leon climbs up to perch on his hat. 

“So, tell me about my new student.” Reborn cuts right to the chase, watching the men with unblinking dark eyes. The Ninth Vongola boss, Timoteo, gives a soft sigh as he adjusts himself in his seat.

“Since my sons are dead and there’s no more blood ties from my side of the family, we’ve had to trace our way back through the family tree to Iemitsu’s bloodline.”

“You’ll be training my useless son. Unlike some of your previous students, he knows nothing of mafia etiquette and he’s barely passing his regular classes.”

Hearing those words doesn’t bode well thus far for Reborn. Though he can’t say he’s a fan of how quickly his new student’s father is willing to slander him.

“And one more thing. When he was a young child, Timoteo sealed his flames. His flame output was simply too powerful for someone his age and he was a risk not only to himself, but bystanders as well. It was the best solution at the time. However," Iemitsu sneers, "his body couldn't handle the procedure. He's quite sick and frail right now."

Reborn’s face doesn’t falter or react, but internally he’s seething. Flame seals are unethical because they can result in sickness or death, there’s no way a man like Timoteo isn’t aware of that.

Then again that’s how the Ninth handles every issue that comes his way. Conceal, don’t feel, don’t let them know, and don’t think about it too much. A rather cold way of handling things in the long run.

The two Vongola men stare at Reborn in silence before the baby sets a paper and pencil down on the table. Before the two can question it too much, Reborn changes into a chef outfit while Leon transforms into a pot. 

“What are you doing-” Iemitsu tries to speak up, but Reborn shushes him  before he starts to write on the paper he set down.

“Right now I’m Reboghetti Penne, a pasta chef down on his luck here in Sicily, and I’m writing to my pen pal Takeshi Yamamoto, the son of a successful sushi chef in Japan.” He informs them, sending a shiver down Iemitsu’s spine. 

It isn’t too surprising how the hitman has already scoped out information on his own, but it is discomforting to learn the man is already aware of the people close to his wife and son. 

Timoteo clears his throat. “Then, in that case, I’m sure you already know the name of your student; Tsunayoshi Sawada.”

“I promise, I’ll be an excellent tutor,” Reborn reassures calmly, setting his current feelings aside to be professional. 

The plane ride to Japan wasn’t anything too eventful. At this point in his life, he’d taken plenty of private plane rides for all sorts of jobs and grown quite used to the whole experience. However, it didn’t make it feel any less lonely and empty for him. The dark haired boy sighs to himself as he pulls his phone out, looking through his contacts. Calling someone should make the silence less suffocating. 

He starts from the bottom up, starting at Viper. He’d love to talk to his spouse, but he’s sure they’d demand 137 euros per minute they talked. Besides, communication with them has lessened and lessened over the past 8 years… Next was Verde who never answered his calls or texts or even letters anymore. Ever since the scientist got himself a remote island, he’s limited his communication with everyone from what Reborn knows. All he’s gotten thus far from him is the medicine meant for his new student.

Next letter up in contacts was S, meaning his dearest lackey. As much as he’d love to tease the man and get him worked up, Skull too has stopped contact. Last time he’d talked to all of them he was bragging about being the head statigest for some up and coming mafia famiglia. Then he refused to tell them anything else in case they “ruined this opportunity for him” . As much as the man means to him, he can be so stupid at times. 

With a roll of his eyes, he goes to N. Only contact there was Noel. The woman is amazing when he thinks about it. Energetic, adventurous, but also stubborn and very independent. However, much like how he’s busy because of his title as the World’s Strongest Hitman, she’s often busy as the World’s Most Talented Adventurer. 

After N was L, which makes him pause at the first contact with it. He’d love to call the number… He’d love to hear her old voicemail talking to him again like it has so many times now… But today wasn’t the time for it. After her was Lal Mirch. He adores the woman, he really does, but he knows she’s also rather preoccupied by that boss of hers. And not to mention he’s a bit closer to her husband than her herself. 

F was after L and… As much as he’d love to call Fon and it’d make sense, since he knows he’s currently living somewhere in Japan right now. He also knows it’s night there and that the martial artist is a light sleeper. Reborn chuckles quietly to himself as he remembers the time Viper and Skull accidentally woke the man up one night, then got chased until the Storm Flame decided to forgive them. Either way, he wouldn’t put it past the other man to find some way to get to his plane just for a fight because he woke him up.

There was D and he could call Dino, but… He can only think back on how the blond man practically sobbed at his feet when he graduated from his training. He just knows the Cavallone boss would drop everything he’s doing just to join him in training his new student if he calls him now. Onto C, his finger hovers over the contact for his childhood friend. The man might be napping… But he has no qualms about waking him up unlike with Fon. After a few rings, the other end is finally picked up.

“What do you want, kora?”

“Ciao-tsu to you too.”

“Make this quick, I’m really busy today, kora.”

“Don’t lie, I know Mafialand is dead this time of year.”

“... Shut it. But really, why are you calling, kora?”

Reborn relaxes in his plane seat as he talks to his friend, glancing out the window for a moment.

“I’m heading to a new job and the plane ride is simply a long one.”

“I’m assuming tutoring instead of a hit since you have your phone, kora. Where are you going?”

“All the way to Japan.”

“That far? Want me to stay on call with you until you fall asleep, kora?”

Warm nostalgia fills his heart and brain at the other man’s words. He remembers doing that a few times when he was away at boot camp then a good few times with him and the others once they were grown and fully involved with mafia things.

“Think you’d have the time?”

“Well, we aren’t that busy. I’m sure I can slip away and take a break for a bit, kora.”

It doesn’t take long at all for him to fall asleep while talking to his husband.

As he drifts to sleep, he doesn’t notice the soft yellow glow of his Arcobaleno pacifier. However somewhere else, someone else notices when his pacifier glows a tender red.

The early morning streets of Namimori are still blanketed in dull cyan blues, small rain clouds drizzling softly from the sky. A dark haired teen, Yamamoto Takeshi, laughs happily as he lightly jogs to his baseball practice without any umbrella. 

 A certain head of the disciplinary committee also quietly heads to the school in the early hours before it opens, however he has an umbrella in hand that has a handle much like his iconic tonfas. However, besides these young men, there’s very little activity happening for now. 

Nana stretches and yawns, grabbing a coat quickly before heading outside her home to get the mail. She practically squeals at the top of her lungs and rushes inside with a letter from her husband. 

The brunette reads over it, smiling happily to herself as her dear lover gushes over how much he loves her and how much he misses her while he drills for oil in the jungle. At the end of the letter he casually mentions hiring their son a tutor/stay-at-home doctor. Just then, before she can read more of his compliments, Nana hears a knock on the door. She pouts to herself, puffing out her cheeks a bit before opening the door.

“Yes?”

“Ciao-tsu, I’m Tsunayoshi’s new tutor and doctor, Reborn.”

“Oh! I just got my husband’s letter about you! Come on in!”

As the woman invites the toddler in, she doesn’t question how this is the doctor and tutor her husband hired. In fact, she focuses more on rambling to him about her said husband rather than her son who he’s here for. The boy only half listens, nodding slowly while setting up the nebulizer he brought with.

“Where’s Tsunayoshi’s room? I want to start his first treatment.”

“Oh it’s just upstairs! It has a little fish plaque with his name on it on the door, you’ll see it right away.” She chirps. To which Reborn simply nods and heads to the room. 

The place was a mess to put it simply. But he can  hardly blame the kid in the slightest. He calmly wakes the brunet teen up, getting a groggy yawn and mumble in return. Reborn carefully puts the face mask for the machine on him before turning the machine on.

“Relax and breathe in deeply, but don’t fall back asleep.” He commands, to which the sleepily headed Tsuna listens, not questioning too much yet. 

While he waits for his new student to finish his treatment though, he quietly explores his room. Hidden tests with poor grades, torn report cards from past school years, and other little things that make it obvious he has a long way to go with his new student. It’s going to be a hard time… But not the worst at least.

Tsuna was finally more awake now though and staring at the baby rummaging around his room. He goes to talk to him, but the boy quickly shoots Tsuna a glare and points to the machine.

“Not until your treatment is over. Give it a few more minutes and I’ll get everything set up for you to head to school including your breakfast.” He scolds like he’s the older one here.

 Tsuna almost wants to laugh, but he continues his treatment. Maybe he has a new doctor and this is his child? A little weird for a doctor to be here this early. But honestly, anything that helps him at least feel even slightly better is welcomed. The kid gets Tsuna’s uniform and bag ready for him before heading downstairs to set up breakfast. 

Tsuna waits until the medicine in the cup of the machine is gone, this not being his first nebulizer treatment. Though, the medicine does feel like it’s actually helping this time. His lungs aren’t burning right now at least. He gets dressed and sets up his breathing tank for the day, not seeing the time yet and heading downstairs to eat. 

Breakfast is… Interesting to say the least, it looks like the kid combined elements of a traditional Japanese breakfast with some obvious outliers. Namely the bowl of apple slices and blueberries, anchovies for the grilled fish, and coffee instead of tea or some other drink.

“Um, what are these for?”

“Apples, blueberries, anchovies, and coffee are all good for lung health. Now, eat up.” The toddler calmly commands. Tsuna rolls his eyes as he sits down.

“Where’s your parent, kid?”

“I’m your new doctor and tutor.”

Hearing those from a baby makes Tsuna start to laugh which, thankfully, doesn’t become a coughing fit for once. However his amusement is cut short when his arm gets painfully pinned behind his back.

“Ow ow ow ow!!”

“Laugh all you want, I’m here to help you and train you into a mafia boss. My name is Reborn.”

This kid has to either be insane or he’s dreaming. Tsuna hopes his mom will say something once she enters the room, but instead she just smiles at Tsuna.

“Oh, Tsu-kun, I forgot to make your lunch this morning. So you’ll have to buy something today!”

Of course… She has a bad habit of doing this when she starts thinking about his dad. He can’t blame her considering the man, to his knowledge, is still missing.

“Um, can I have some money then to get lunch?” He asks carefully while the baby finally lets go of his arm.

 The woman just giggles at him before starting to eat her own breakfast. Tsuna sighs quietly before going back to eating, almost completely forgetting about his tutor-doctor.

“Don’t worry, topolino, I’ll get you lunch when the time comes.”

Tsuna just sighs to himself at the kid’s words before he finally sees the time. He shoots up from the table and quickly grabs his bag.

“I’m going to be late!!” He cries, already imagining how Hibari’s going to bite him to death for this.

Heading school would’ve been infinitely easier if this strange toddler wasn’t following him. 

“Can you go home, kid? Please?” He pleads with a sigh. The black haired boy simply smirks at him and shakes his head.

“Did you not hear me? I’m your tutor and doctor now, I have to keep an eye on you. Not only to ensure your health’s improvement, but also to make sure you become a talented mafia boss.”

“I’m not going to play mafia with you, Reborn…”

“This isn’t a game, Tsunayoshi.”

“Say I believe you for a second, why would a guy like me be the next boss? I’m a complete loser! Sure I’m like distantly Italian on my dad's side, but I doubt that’s enough for bloodright.” Tsuna complains, turning a corner then blushing when he sees Kyoko there. The girl smiles and waves at him.

“Good morning, Tsuna! Are you okay?” She greets warmly.

“I-I’m fine! J-just this kid is bugging me and trying to get me to play with him…” Tsuna trails off, gesturing to Reborn who is watching the two of them from atop the fence. 

The light brown-haired girl looks at the young boy by Tsuna and blinks a little.

“You shouldn’t be up there, it’s dangerous for little kids.”

“It’s fine, I’m a very talented mafia man.”

“See what I mean?” Tsuna sighs when Reborn doesn’t listen to Kyoko. 

Kyoko can’t help giggling a little, reaching up to pet Reborn’s head.

“You’re so good with kids though, Tsuna. I’m sure you’ll be a great stay at home dad someday.”

The compliment makes Tsuna’s mind go blank for a moment. He’s so happy to hear Kyoko compliment something about him! His face starts to heat up though as he thinks more.

“S-stay at home dad?” He questions softly. Kyoko nods, reaching out and touching his cheek for a moment, only making Tsuna blush more.

“Someone like you deserves someone who’ll take care of you, especially since you put up with so much health wise… Speaking of, you’re feeling feverish, maybe you should head back home soon. I can bring you any homework you miss.”

“I-I’m okay, t-thank you!” Tsuna squeaks, resisting the urge to lean into her touch. She pouts a little, clearly unconvinced, however their moment is interrupted when Hana calls out to her.

“Kyoko, come on, we have to get going now unless you want to be late.”

“I’ll be right there, Hana!” Kyoko chirps, looking back at Tsuna for a moment and handing him a water bottle.

“Here, just in case you need it.” She tells him before going back to her friend.

The brunet teen can’t help standing there stupidly, just holding the water bottle and watching her.

“She’s so perfect…”

"La tua piccola cotta? You like her a lot, don’t you?”

“What’s there not to like? She’s amazing in every way and so kind even to me… I’d love to confess to her someday…”

“Would you say you’d love to confess to her with your dying will?”

“What?” Tsuna questions, turning to face Reborn. 

However, to his horror, the baby is pointing a gun at him. Sure, it’s a bright green, but every detail is so realistic even for a replica. He can’t help taking a step back, opening his mouth to try to talk the toddler down from shooting. However with a loud bang that rings out, he starts to fall back instead. Is this really how it all ends? He gets shot by an infant without ever getting a chance to confess his feelings to the love of his life? Everything is already fading to black… No. No he won’t let this happen! He… He will!

“REBORN!! I will confess my love to Kyoko with my dying will!” Tsuna shouts out, getting back to his feet as he does so. He doesn’t seem to notice his clothes have burnt off him or the fact orange flames have sprung forth from his forehead. 

His body moves on its own without him having to think about it. For one of the few times in his life, he is running at full speed. If he takes a shortcut to school, he should be able to catch up to her! He takes a sharp turn, skidding a bit, but swiftly getting himself straightened back out. He rushes past a slightly older teen with white hair, not seeing him nor hearing him congratulate him on being extreme. After 2 minutes and one more turn, he can finally see the school. His eyes lock onto Kyoko, his body running up right in front of her before stopping completely.

“Sasagawa Kyoko! I love you dearly! Please accept my feelings!” He yells loudly as a confession, making the whole school yard fall into a stunned silence.

Kyoko stares at him, trying to process everything that was just said to her, the fact Tsuna’s only in his underwear, and the flames coming from his forehead. She opens her mouth to talk to him, but gets pulled back by Hana.

“What are you doing, Sawada?! You’re only in your underwear, perv!” The other girl scolds, making Kyoko a little confused. Can she not see the obvious flames coming from him?? 

However before she can even say anything again, the flames on Tsuna’s head calm down and soon fizzle out. He blinks his eyes slowly, clearly confused over his own actions. That’s when it clicks for Kyoko what just happened. His fever earlier drove him to do this and he’s not in the right state of mind. Her face turns sympathetic quickly and she starts to approach Tsuna again.

But then Mochida, the head of the Kendo club and Kyoko’s worst enemy, punches Tsuna hard in the head. The sick boy cries out, snapping out of his confused stupor.

“You creep! Look at what you did to poor Kyoko!”

“I-I’m sorry!” He whines, trying to back away to leave. Hana rolls her eyes and starts to pull her best friend away again.

“Let’s get going.”

“But-”

“Hibari’s already on his way, beside.” Hana says, pointing at Yamamoto who’s clearly about to hit Mochida with his bat. Kyoko frowns and clenches her hands into fists a little, but leaves. 

It takes moments for the head of the disciplinary committee to show up. With one tonfa, he hits Mochida and with the other he blocks Yamamoto’s bat.

“No fighting on school grounds outside of school approved matches. Go to class, now.” Hibari commands firmly. 

Mochida glares at the other teen, but quickly listens. The baseball player shakes his head though.

“Not until I’m sure Tsuna’s okay.”

“I’ll take care of Sawada, you get to class and wait there for him.”

The two were at a standoff, neither one wanting to back down. However a small whimper from said sickly teen snaps both of them out of it.

“Get Kusakabe for me, tell him code 2774, he’ll know what it means.” Hibari orders next and Yamamoto finally complies. In the meantime, the older teen investigates Tsuna.

The brunet jolts a little and starts to babble out apologies, but Hibari just silently pulls him to his chest and investigates the side of his head.

“Hm… Mild bruising, nothing serious.” He hums plainly, opening an odd container and spreading an ointment on Tsuna’s bruising.

“Kusakabe will be here soon with a new uniform and breathing tank for you and this will help heal the bruising. However, if you cause a scene like this again, I’ll bite you to death. Do you understand?”

“Hiiie! Y-yes! I’m so sorry, Hibari-san!” Tsuna quickly yelps, pulling himself away from the man’s chest and out of his arms. The second year nods calmly at him before leaving, letting Kusakabe finish the rest.

“This is the worst day of my life and I don’t even know what just happened…” Tsuna whines to himself.

“I shot you with a Dying Will bullet, I’ll explain more during your lunch break. You will be joining me on the roof.” A familiar child’s voice chimes up. He really doesn’t want to deal with Reborn right now…

Chapter Text

After that embarrassing situation, Tsuna encounters Kusakabe. Who seemingly appeared out of thin air with a clean uniform and a spare breathing tank for him to use. It’s a little jarring seeing the man just pop out of nowhere, but honestly it seems like all of the disciplinary committee has that power.

He just has to get through the rest of the school day without any more incidents. Maybe this will just be written off as a one time thing caused by his illness or something.

“Like I would ever be that lucky.” He murmurs to himself during class without realizing.

“Oh? And what’s so important that you just have to blurt it out in the middle of teaching?” Nezu growls and looks back at the sick boy with a raised eyebrow, “Go on and tell the entire class, Sawada.”

“I-It’s nothing important!” he exclaims in a panic, waving his hands rapidly, “I’m so sorry, Nezu-sensei! I didn’t mean to interrupt!”

“Well if you don’t mean to interrupt, then start actually paying attention.” The teacher snaps before getting back to what he was doing.

Tsuna just turns his gaze down to his desk and shrinks from embarrassment. Why couldn’t time just hurry up and let the school day end already? God, he would give almost anything to just go home.

The brunet tries distracting himself, knowing a watched pot never boils or something like that… Even so, he can’t stop looking at the clock throughout the day. Eventually, it’s lunch, giving him a moment to relax.

Tsuna closes his eyes, taking a deep breath to soothe his frazzled nerves. He reaches for his bag for a moment only to remember the fact his mom didn’t make him a lunch today. The baby is supposed to handle that apparently. The sickly teen can’t say the thought excites him…

“Yo, Tsuna, want to share my lunch with me? My dad made too much again.” Yamamoto’s voice warmly laughs as the baseball player approaches him. A small smile plays on his lips as he internally thanks Takeshi for being such a life saver.

“Yeah, that sounds nice. Thank you so much-” The brunet starts, only to pause when he notices something outside the classroom window. His eyes widen and he chews his lip, unsure of how to react right away. 

“Tsuna? You okay?” Yamamoto asks in a concerned tone, cocking his head to the side a little.

Outside of the classroom window is Reborn, hanging down from some rope. His dark, beady eyes stare at Tsuna before he sees the teen has noticed him. The toddler waves before holding up a sign.

The sign reads “Remember to meet me on the rooftop!!” with a little doodle of a green chameleon at the bottom of the paper. Tsuna shudders to himself, feeling oddly uncomfortable. The brunet blinks and Reborn’s gone just as suddenly as he appeared.

“Tsuna, are you okay? Do you need to see the nurse?” Takeshi asks, finally catching his friend’s attention again.

“Oh! Sorry, Takeshi, I just remembered something I have to do. Um, I’ll be right back.” The sickly boy apologizes quickly before leaving.

“Okay? Would you like me to come with you? You seem anxious.” His friend gently points out, frowning at this point.

Honestly Tsuna would like to say yes, just so he won’t have to deal with Reborn all by himself. But then he imagines a bang ringing out with the visual of Yamamoto collapsed on the floor face down in a pool of blood, as the crazed baby stands over him with a grin and a smoking gun in his hands.

“Now that we’re alone, Tsunayoshi… Let’s talk about you becoming a mafia boss…”

His blood runs cold and he feels himself tense up at the thought. There is always the chance that it won’t happen. But would you trust a small infant with a gun who has ties to the mafia to not shoot your friend directly in the face? Tsuna doesn’t want to risk it, all for the sake of Yamamoto’s safety.

The brunet shakes his head a little before offering his friend a nervous smile.

“I’ll be okay, don’t worry, Takeshi. Thank you though.”

The baseball player doesn’t look convinced though. He crosses his arms and frowns more at him.

“What if there’s a medical emergency, Tsuna,” He calmly points out before resting a hand on Tsuna’s head, “I don’t want you getting hurt or worse…”

Tsuna blushes and averts his gaze before pulling away from his friend carefully.

“I’ll be okay, I swear,” He mumbles quietly before starting to leave, “I-I mean I doubt Hibari-san or any of the disciplinary committee will let there be an emergency like that happen on school grounds anyways! Either way, I have to go, I’ll be back as soon as I can. I promise, Takeshi.”

“But-”

“I’ll see you later!” The sick boy calls back before heading up to the roof quickly.

The dark haired teen watches his friend leave and couldn’t help worrying more. He was acting cagey and clearly trying to hide something. Not to mention the weird fire thing that happened this morning with Tsuna. Takeshi sighs to himself, holding back the urge to follow his friend and instead goes back to his lunch.

By the time he gets to the rooftop, the brunet can’t stop himself from wheezing a little. Maybe almost running wasn’t the best decision considering his ailment, but at the same

time, what difference did it make? He’s pretty sure even if he walked here, he’d be in the same state.

“You shouldn’t run like that, Tsunayoshi.” Reborn scolds, shaking his head before sipping his espresso. The teen glares at the baby while catching his breath before puffing out.

“You’re the one who told me to come up here!!”

“And where did I exactly say to run?” He hums, raising an eyebrow at the boy, “I wouldn’t have minded waiting for a bit.”

Tsuna rolls his eyes at him. Sure, he’s going to make the infant that shot his earlier wait on him. Totally smart decision when it comes to some mafia toddler!

“Now sit down and have your lunch while I answer whatever questions you have about the Dying Will Mode.” Reborn commands while gesturing to a spot of the roof where a paper bag sits. The brunet walks over carefully before opening the bag and finding some sandwich. He looks it over slowly, seeing it has melted mozzarella cheese, tomato slices, and some type of green leaves. Oh! Caprese! He’s heard of this from some manga!

The dark haired baby smirks to himself as he watches his student eat the food he got him. He doubts the sandwich is as good as it’d be in Italy itself, but it should suffice. Besides, it still has all the same lung healthy ingredients.

“Take some deep breaths first before you start asking questions, Tsunayoshi,” Reborn instructs plainly, “I am your doctor after all, I know what’s best for you. Drink some water too.”

“I don’t-”

Tsuna doesn’t get to finish his sentence before Reborn offers him a full bottle of water. He hesitantly takes it and carefully sips at it, unsure if this is actually safe.

“There you go, isn’t that better?” Reborn questions, getting a nod in response, “Very good. Now, ask any question that you like about Dying Will Mode, Tsunayoshi.”

“Well I think that I know a pretty good one to start off with… What the fuck is Dying Will Mode?” Tsuna asks bluntly, “Like I know it’s what made me run to school in underwear and confess to Kyoko-chan, but what is it? Why did it make me do that?”

“It technically didn’t make you do anything. As when you're shot with the Dying Will Bullet it kills you and revives you with the determination to do whatever you regretted doing or not doing when you died.” Reborn explains, “Some people call it Deathperation Mode but I prefer Dying Will Mode, it’s easier to explain.”

“I don’t think that’s how sheer determination works… Maybe it can keep you from dying, but I don’t think it can bring me back from the dead or make me basically invulnerable to my surroundings,” Tsuna sighs, “How did it do that?”

The dark haired boy pauses for a moment, closing his eyes before shrugging his little shoulders. 

“In full honesty, I don’t understand the complete how myself. What I do know is it’s more like a manifestation of your soul rather than just being determined,” he starts while petting his chameleon, “A representation of one’s will to live and how they’d react when faced with death. The metal the bullets are made from help to spring the power of a person’s will and soul forth.”

Sure, soul powers, makes as much sense as a baby with a gun does. Tsuna quietly eats more of his sandwich, listening to the toddler in front of him continue on.

“They can be rather rare, so most use dying will pills. However I’ve always had a knack for finding them and Leon here can even make them. They’re also where I get my name; Reborn.”

If he hadn’t encountered it himself, Tsuna would think this all was beyond crazy. Hell, he did encounter it and it still feels insane!

“So why does it…” He trails off, not wanting to think too hard about his humiliation earlier. The baby chuckles, pulling his hat over his face for a moment before adding on.

“Normal dying will mode removes one’s physical limitations towards their goal. Don’t worry too much though, I’ve already ordered clothes that can resist the power of it. It’s just going to take awhile since you’re a rather special case.”

“How long will it take?” The brunet asks, hoping that he won’t have to experience another moment like this morning ever again.

“I can’t give a proper estimate on that.” The toddler states, “You’ll just have to deal with it for a while until your special outfits get here.”

“I only hope that it’s soo-” Tsuna hums, only to be cut off by his own coughing.

The hacking is less severe than usual and it doesn’t turn into a fit. It’s a few harsh coughs that only results in some smoke escaping through his lips and a little ash in his mouth.

He can’t help pausing for a moment, awkwardly sitting there with ash in his mouth as he thinks. The brunet doesn’t know what to think at first! He isn’t used to his coughing being so short!

“You should spit that ash out of your mouth, it’d be bad for you if you swallowed it.” Reborn advises, handing a handkerchief over to him.

The sickly teen hesitates before taking it from him. The baby’s dark eyes stare at him unblinkingly until he finally spits the ash out the best he can. What he can’t get out by himself, the brunet quickly swishes out with a bit of water.

“There you go. Don’t you feel better having listened to your doctor?” Reborn chuckles, finding it funny how the teen doubted him at first.

“It wasn’t even that much this time! Normally I have to wash my hands off even after using a handkerchief,” He starts only for something to click and his eyes go wide, “I haven’t coughed until now!”

“Mhm, there you go. Glad you’re noticing now.” The mafia child snorts, finding humor in his sudden realization. The teen is spiraling though. This has never happened to him before! At least never since he got this sickness. No matter how hard he thinks, he ends up coming to the same conclusion every time.

“Did… Did that bullet you shot cure my cough…?”

“Sort of. It, along with the medicine I gave you this morning, alleviated your condition just a little bit. The best way to describe it is to imagine a garden. Like any garden, there’s weeds. The medicine mostly just cuts the leaves of the weeds, but the roots remain,” Reborn attempts to explain, “It’s not a permanent cure, as your coughing will return soon enough. The bullet however will slowly destroy the roots.”

“Wow… I kind of forgot what it was like to not have multiple coughing fits a day.” Tsuna murmurs with wonder, “Any chance that I could take out my breathing tube and-?”

“Try it and I’ll make sure that it never comes off, even when you don’t need it anymore.” The toddler threatens, his chameleon changing into a stapler as he does so, “Got it?”

“Hiiie!!” The mafia heir yelps, moving back a little from Reborn and nodding, “G-Got it, got it! Just please put the chameleon stapler away!”

“His name is Leon, not chameleon. And good. Now, eat your lunch. Your break doesn’t last forever and you’ve barely eaten half of the panini.” Reborn hums lowly as Leon turns back into its normal form, “I don’t want you to go back to class hungry after all.”

Tsuna nods more while eating more of his sandwich. His chocolate brown eyes nervously watching the coffee drinking toddler as he does so. He really doesn’t want to piss off this bizarre baby…

By the time he finishes some more of the caprese panini, the bell rings to signal the end of lunch. The brunet takes a deep breath of relief, gathering his things before leaving the roof. 

Reborn remains for a few moments before looking off to the side and smirking.

“How long were you listening?” The hitman inquires calmly.

“Long enough to know that you can make that herbivore feel better with those bullets of yours and some medicine,” Hibari Kyoya makes himself known now that Tsuna’s gone, “Is there any chance that you can cure him of what’s hurting him?”

“That information is classified and on a need-to-know basis, so all I’ll say is, perhaps,” The dark haired infant says with a slight click of his tongue, “Why do you ask?”

“I don’t need to tell you… The little herbivore is an integral part of my school, so his care falls on my shoulders when he’s here. This includes his already frail health.”

The toddler cocks his head a little before looking into the other’s eyes firmly.

“Is it really just his health you’re worried about? As I can assure you on that front, it will be handled.”

Hibari doesn’t respond and the two of them are locked in a brief staring contest. Then the disciplinary committee leader proceeds to leave the rooftop with his jacket cape swaying a little as he does.

Reborn chuckles and shakes his head. He knows the true reason and it honestly brings a smile to his face, not to mention, it puts plenty of ideas in his head for the future. Maybe he should try tracking Hibari’s uncle down for a small chat at some point…

Getting back to class isn’t as exhausting as leaving it had been. Maybe the prospect of hope for his health simply brightens his mood more than he thought?

On his way though, he notices people are staring at him. Normally it wouldn’t phase him, but the pitying expressions on their faces are enough to give him concern. Is there something happening that he hasn’t heard about? The brunet starts chewing on his thumb anxiously, his mind is flooded with worse case scenarios. Finally, once in the classroom, a classmate calls out to him.

“Sick Tsuna? What are you doing here? I thought that you would have died by now or something…”

“H-huh?? Why…?”

“Didn’t you hear? Mochida-senpai is going all around the school telling everyone that he’s going to fight you for Kyoko! Because you’re a gross pervert who asked her out in your underwear this morning!” the student declares, “And he’s not letting you get out of this either! He claims he’s dead serious!”

Tsuna feels his heart drop down to the pits of his stomach upon hearing that… Not even his brain could’ve come up with this worst case scenario! Mochida is someone very skilled at kendo and just about everyone in the school knows it, more than a few sports trophies have been won by him! Mochida always comes out on top in nearly every single kendo match that he is fighting in!

“What do I do?” The brunet mutters to himself, looking at the floor and starting to despair. 

“Did you do it though, Sick Tsuna? If you did then I can’t blame him for wanting to teach you a lesson,” A different student asks, “That was gross of you. Sick or not…”

“Yeah, I agree with him…” another classmate chimes in, “Did you really do it? Everyone is saying that you did?”

“Wha? No! I-I mean I did but!” Tsuna sputters, trying to figure out the best way to explain it.

“Eww! You really did it? You actually did that sort of thing to Kyoko-chan this morning? That’s so gross. You already cough up smoke and ash every single day in class, can you get any grosser?” One of the students complains loudly, “No wonder Mochida wants to fight you!”

Tsuna isn’t sure what to do as he can feel tears lightly pricking the corners of his eyes. He tries to find a good solution; something that won’t make him sound crazy. Maybe even a solution that could save him from Mochida!

His eyes land on Kyoko, who’s sitting at her desk looking like she is about to burst with anger at what everyone was saying about him. She grips her desk so hard that her knuckles are white and grinds her teeth together harshly. The beautiful girl looks over at Hana who nods her head briefly.

The second that the signal is given, Kyoko stands up from her chair so fast that it falls over then looks at everyone darkly. She inhales deeply, before slamming her hands down on her desk with an audible crack.

“You should all be ashamed of yourselves! Don’t any of you realize that Tsuna was clearly very sick this morning?!” She screams in pure rage, “He clearly couldn’t control himself and probably didn’t even know what he was doing when he confessed like that!”

“Kyoko-chan…” Tsuna mumbles lovingly, feeling overjoyed that she’s standing up for him. She’s so cute, even when she's basically foaming at the mouth like a rabid animal!

“And even in the impossibility that he did know what he was doing, then that still doesn’t give Mochida a single damn right to beat up Tsuna-kun!” She yells, starting to tremble a little with adrenaline,  “Mochida is the bad guy here, not Tsuna-kun! You should be disparaging Mochida! I’m extremely open about how much that asshole creeps on me!”

A lot of the class starts to shrink down into their seats looking a little guilty now that the very girl that Mochida was fighting for is chewing them all out. 

Once Kyoko finishes shouting, she picks her chair back up and sits back down. Though her pissed off expression doesn’t lessen at all, still looking like she’s going to snap at them again any second now.

The class is silent for a moment before Tsuna feels a hand on his back. Looking back, he sees Yamamoto who pulls him close. He carefully ushers Tsuna away from the classroom door and over to his desk. Then the dark haired teen settles himself into the empty desk behind Tsuna rather than his assigned one.

The sickly teen can tell that the taller boy is worried about what Mochida said. He can’t help blushing a bit over how much his friend cares for him. The only thing he worries over is how he’s going to try to respond to this. He’d hate for Yamamoto to try handling this for him.

“Even if it is bad that Mochida is going to fight Sick Tsuna… What I honestly wouldn’t give to have a boy like Mochida do something like that for me…” A girl in the class looked up at the ceiling with a dreamy expression on her face.

“You say that, but it’s really gross that Mochida is fighting for Kyoko. He’s only doing this because he thinks that if he beats up Tsuna then he can get together with Kyoko, just for ‘defending her honor’…” Hana points out before cringing at what came out of her mouth, “Just saying it makes me die a little inside.”

“I think you might have too little faith in Mochida-senpai…” the girl looks at Hana with a somewhat hopeful expression on her face, “Maybe he means well, I’m sure that Mochida must be doing what he thinks is the best option!”

“Means well by beating up the school’s really sick kid for someone who didn’t even ask for it and doesn’t want it…? Besides, again, Kyoko is very open about the fact Mochida stalks her,” Hana huffs and rolls her eyes, “Yeah… Total knightly gentleman who just wants what he thinks is best…”

This caused the other girl to pout with disappointment. The student puts her attention right on Hana, who didn’t even turn her head, but instead opting to simply side eye her dreamy-eyed classmate.

“You’re such a dream crusher, Hana… You can’t even let me have one scenario about Mochida-senpai without shooting it down, can you?” she complains with a whine, “If you keep up like this then you’re not ever gonna get a boyfriend…”

“Like I would ever want one.” Hana replies, shaking her head a bit as she thinks about the boys in this school.

Soon enough, the rest of the class shows up, including the teacher. However, try as he might, Tsuna just can’t focus on the lesson. Normally he can explain this as the words or numbers just not making sense to him for some reason. But this time, it’s because he keeps thinking back to the inevitable fight with Mochida. 

It is truly horrific to think about and the next chance that Mochida would likely get to kill him is when school is over. Maybe he should find some way to sneak out without him noticing? Though that’ll probably be near impossible, especially given the fact Mochida has followers practically everywhere in the school. There is the awkward window in the bathroom, but would his breathing tank fit through that?

His head feels like a giant beehive with how many ideas keep buzzing around it. Maybe he should just accept his fate… But at the same time, he’d rather not die because of a creepy guy. Escaping might be his best option. Before he knows it, class ends and he has to leave and face Mochida or escape.

Tsuna does his best to quickly slip out with the other students, keeping his head down a little so he’s not spotted. If he can get to the bathroom with the window, he’s sure he can get home scott free…

“You can do this…” He mutters to himself, trying to stay motivated.

Finally Tsuna reaches his destination and quickly rushes in, closing the door tightly behind himself. He briefly looks around for the window, quickly finding it. It was smaller than he’d thought originally. But, it’s worth a shot at least, right? Hopefully…

He reaches up and slides open the window, only to immediately jump back with a characteristic scream when he sees Reborn hanging upside down on the other side of the window. The toddler was even dressed like a bat, complete with fangs that almost made him look cute.

“Re-Reborn!!” He shouts, finally noticing the thin lizard-like tongue wrapped around Reborn’s ankles. So that’s how he’s suspended…

“Are you really running away from your problems, Tsunayoshi?” the baby questions, “If you run away now, nothing will be solved. You’ll just have to face it tomorrow.”

“You’re not wrong, but!” Tsuna starts, but pauses to find the right words,  “Mochida-senpai is going to absolutely destroy me… I can’t fight him! I’ve never even held a kendo sword!”

“It’s not that hard, besides, I’ll be there to help you.”

“That’s exactly what got me into this mess, Reborn! You won’t help! Besides, what could those magic bullets do besides strip me and have me confess to Kyoko again??”

“You sound so sure about that when you haven’t even had a taste of their power yet… Besides, most are going to see you as brave if you face his challenge head on.”

“Huh? Why would they think I’m brave? They’d probably think I’m more stupid instead for not running while I can…”

“You’d be more of a coward by running away. Besides, even if you lose, you still faced the challenge head on despite your condition,”  Reborn explains while toying with one of his hair curls, “Do you think people are going to respect an underdog like you more or the creep who just beat up the sick kid?”

“Well…” The brunet starts then sighs, closing his eyes, “I see what you mean.”

“Now make a decision, Tsuna. You can either run away like a coward and continue living your life as is,” He starts while stretching out the wings of his bat outfit, “Or you can face Mochida and be seen as your true self.”

My … true self ? 

Before he can ask Reborn what he means, the infant closes the window then glides off in his bat costume. … He should be worried about that, but hopefully Reborn’ll be okay. Babies are light enough right? The brunet shakes his head to get himself to focus back on the task at hand. With a deep breath, he steps outside the bathroom.

Only to be instantly found by two of Mochida’s fellow club members. They sneer at him and try grabbing him to drag him to the fight, but Tsuna pushes them away and starts walking there by himself.

Meanwhile inside of the school's gymnasium, a crowd of students has gathered to watch the fight between Mochida and Tsuna. Ryohei leans against the wall, his hands clenched in frustration. As Hibari makes the disciplinary committee clean the floors, so no one would slip. Kyoko and Hana are huddling together on the sidelines, the dark haired girl all she can to ease her friend’s ire. Yamamoto however stands by the court with a kendo sword draped across his shoulders, ready to fight in Tsuna’s place if need be.

Mochida stands in the middle of the gymnasium, fully dressed in kendo gear, he smirks to himself as he mentally recounts his plan of the match’s referee not raising the flag for Tsuna. Even if the sickly boy somehow does score a point on him, it won’t mean anything. This match is completely rigged in his favor, he’s made sure of that!

Five minutes pass and everyone starts to get impatient. Ryohei mutters to himself and his fingers twitch a bit, but one look from Hibari is enough to make him settle back down. Yamamoto starts adjusting his hold on the kendo sword, prepared to tell Mochida to fight him in Tsuna’s stead. However, before the words can even come out of his mouth, the gymnasium doors open. Tsuna walks through with Mochida’s goons behind him. The brunet’s face was blank, not confident at all or even nervous, just blank.

Seeing how many people were here to watch his downfall does make him falter for a moment, but he quickly brushes it off. He knows he’ll regret running away or doing nothing now, especially in front of Kyoko.

“Oh, so here’s the nearly naked pervert now.” Mochida sneers, puffing his chest out and adjusting himself to stand up straight, “What took you so long? Did my friends have to drag you out of the bathroom or did they find you running out of the school?”

Tsuna steels his nerves before speaking, “I-I came myself to fight.”

“You’re actually not gonna run away like the coward you are? I’m almost impressed, but that stutter tells me all I need to know.” he pointed out, “But there’s no getting out of this, I came to defend Kyoko’s honor by defeating the pervert that harassed her this morning. I’m not going to go easy on you!”

“I… I don’t expect you to.” Tsuna says, pausing for a second to collect his nerves again. He feels like he’s looking death in the eyes though…

“Good, I’m sure that you know the rules of kendo, right?” He questions as a club member rushes over and hands a kendo blade to him, Tsuna nods his head in response, making Mochida grin.

“Then, Sick Pervert, are you ready?” The black-haired teen challenges.

“Wait, don’t I at least get a helm-?” Tsuna tries to ask, looking very distraught and panicked now.

However, before he can finish, the club member overseeing the match blows his whistle. Mochida rushes at Tsuna swiftly, unleashing a series of blows on him in quick succession. The brunet yelps, stumbling back a bit and trying his best to block with his shinai. He bites his lip harshly, soon turning heel and starting to run away.

Mochida snarls loudly and chases after him, glaring harshly at the sickly boy.

“Get back here, coward!”

Tsuna dodges the best he can, starting to cough a little while his chest heaves. Maybe running when he still has breathing problems wasn’t the best idea! He can feel the tips of the wooden sword graze against the back of his shirt, making him yelp and try his best to hop forward a little. Once he gets more space in between them, he turns around and swings his sword desperately with reckless abandon. The taller teen didn’t even have to block half of them.

The brunet’s eyes widen, quickly realizing all he’s done is manage to piss the other teen off more. Mochida thwacks his shinai against Tsuna’s chest hard, making him fall over completely winded. The sickly teen hacks and gasps for breath, his coughing the worst it’s been all day. Mochida grins sadistically while the audience grows more and more horrified. 

“You’re so pathetic! You didn’t even stand a chance!” The older teen cackles, starting to raise his hands above his head to hit Tsuna again. The brunet closes his eyes tightly, preparing for the inevitable killing blow, but moments before it happens, someone shouts out to him.

“Don’t give up, Tsuna-kun!!” Kyoko yells, her hands cupped around her mouth, her eyebrows furrowed, and eyes narrowed into a glare at Mochida, “You can do this!! I believe in you!!”

Tsuna couldn’t help reopening his eyes and looking over at her, surprised she still believes in him despite everything. She really has so much confidence in him despite everything. He… He needs to prove her right!

There’s a muffled shot, then Tsuna feels something hit his head before the world goes cold. Is he really dying again? In front of her while losing? She believes in him though. An orange flame appears on Tsuna’s forehead again and he starts to rise to his feet while his uniform burns off him once more.

“RE-BORN! I’LL WIN THIS FOR KYOKO’S SAKE LIKE MY LIFE DEPENDS ON IT!” Tsuna screams, eyes brightening then narrowing with a determined fury. The feral boy grabs Mochida’s helmet and throws it off, stunning the older teen before he tries hitting him again.

“What are you trying to do??”

“I NEED IPPON RIGHT THEN I’LL JUST,” The teen yells before ripping a large chunk of hair from Mochida’s scalp, “GET HYAKU-PON!”

A hushed silence falls over the gym for a few moments before much of the crowd starts to laugh at their humiliated senpai. Tsuna glances over at the club member holding the flags before snarling with determination. 

“THAT WASN’T ENOUGH, HUH?! GUESS I’LL JUST HAVE TO GET MORE THEN!!”

“Wait, what?!” Mochida shrieks, still trying to process the first chunk of hair loss.

Tsuna starts ripping more and more of the man’s hair out of his head, holding the locks tightly in his grip. The once dark haired teen starts to cry, not having expected this turn of events in the slightest! By the time he was done, Mochida was as bald as the day he was born. The brunet gets off him slowly, but stands over him for a moment. He stares down at him before dropping the lost hair onto him.

“SEN- PON- ZAKURA! WAS THAT ENOUGH NOW?!”

The overseer yelps and quickly raises the flag indicating that Tsuna has gotten a point and won.

“SA-SAWADA TSUNAYOSHI WINS!! HE WINS!!”

At the same time as the declaration, the flame on Tsuna’s head fizzles out slowly. Tsuna’s eyes gradually lose their orange and slightly golden glow. He blinks a few times before what he just did full dawns on him.

“U-um! I’m so sorry!” He squeaks out, looking at the bald and crying Mochida. The only response he gets is a glare from the senior’s teammates, but they quickly focus on just ushering their leader away.

“I really am…” He mutters, frowning to himself. As he says this, he doesn’t register the sound of shoes against the floor as someone runs up to him. Until he feels someone wrap their arms around him in a hug that almost cracks his ribs.

“Ah!” He whines a little, but his assailant doesn’t care as they nuzzle into him a bit.

“Tsuna-kun! You did it!!” Kyoko cheers as she hugs him, “You beat Mochida! Thank you!!”

“Ky-Kyoko-chan!” He calls out, his face heating up as he realizes she’s the one snuggling him, “Y-you’re welcome?”

“Now! Let’s get you some water to cool down and get your breathing tank.” She chirps warmly, holding his hand and leading him to the bleachers. 

Tsuna almost mindlessly follows her while people start to leave the gym. Yamamoto happily joins them and holds up a hand to high five Tsuna.

“You did great out there!” He cheers while Tsuna awkwardly meets his gesture.

“Uh, t-thank you.” He mumbles. However, feeling someone firmly grasp his shoulder from behind makes him yelp loudly. 

He turns his head slowly, fearful that he’s about to be bitten to death. Instead, he’s met by a smile as bright as the sun and a warm voice exclaiming.

“Thank you for defending my sister! You should join the boxing club!”

“Ryohei, Tsuna’s too sick to join your club, I’ve told you this. He’s lucky his breathing problems didn’t bother him too much during the kendo match…” Kyoko scolds, looking away from Tsuna to the elder teen behind them. The white haired boy nods to his sister, thinking for a moment before giving a thumbs up.

“Then, he can be my club’s manager!”

“Actually, senpai, he’s already going to be the manager for the baseball team.” Yamamoto chimes up, smiling at Ryohei. 

Tsuna is about to question him, when a subtle wink from the dark haired teen tells him this is a part of some plan. The two athletes stare at each other for a moment before Ryohei smiles, motioning Yamamoto to follow him.

“Let’s discuss this out while Kyoko patches him up then!”

“Of course!”

Once the other two guys walk to the side, it clicks for Tsuna that he’s mostly alone with his crush. He can barely hear anything outside of his own rapid heartbeat. What should he do?

“Here, you need this,” A flat voice says, dropping another spare uniform in his lap and making him yelp again. 

“Oh! Thank you, Hibari-senpai, I was just thinking about where to get a new uniform for him.” Kyoko says warmly, only getting a curt nod from the disciplinary committee leader at first.

“I can escort him home.” He then adds, making the sickly boy shiver at the thought. However, Kyoko lays a hand on Tsuna, almost possessively.

“Actually, I’m going to walk home with him, I have something I want to talk to him about.” She tells the upperclassman firmly.

Suddenly the boy feels like a hunk of meat stuck between two starving carnivores. After a few moments, to Tsuna’s shock, Hibari backs down.

“Fine, I need to discuss something with someone else anyways… Get dressed and get going though. If you linger any longer, I’ll bite you to death.”

The threatening promise makes Tsuna squeak and scramble to get his uniform on.

Hana watches her friend leave with Tsuna once the two of them are ready to go, shaking her head and sighing.

“I don’t know what she sees in him or even men in general.” She hums bluntly to herself before heading on her way alone.

The first few minutes of their walk is quiet and awkward. Well, at least for Tsuna, it feels awkward. He doesn’t know what to say and he keeps glancing over at Kyoko. Finally, she pauses and looks at him herself. She gently reaches out and grabs his hands in hers.

“Tsuna-kun…”

His face is quick to heat up again at her actions and he slowly opens his mouth to reply.

“Y-yeah?”

“I’m so sorry about this morning. I should’ve realized that you weren’t feeling well and should’ve taken you home right away,” Kyoko says softly, squeezing his hands as she talks, “Because I failed you as your friend, I accidentally got you in an embarrassing situation.”

“I-it’s okay, really.” He mumbles, only to hear the smaller brunette huff and pull his hands close to her chest.

“It’s not okay though! I promise from now on, I’ll do my best to take care of you, especially when you’re clearly sicker than normal. And, don’t worry, I’ll forget what you said this morning too. Clearly, you weren’t in the right headspace to make a statement like that.” She states sweetly. The sound of his heart shattering echoes in his ears, but he just gives a shy nod.

“I can’t thank you enough…”

“You don’t have to, Tsuna-kun! Let’s get you home now.”

Lying on his bed in his messy room, the boy was still trying to process the day. Everything got so weird after Reborn showed up. He’s still not fully sure how that baby managed to convince him to go to the fight in the first place. Not to mention he’s the cause of the weird, almost naked fire thing he keeps doing! Sure, they talked about it at lunch, but it now seems like more trouble than it’s worth!

“That’s called dying will mode, I told you that already.” Reborn states plainly, making Tsuna scream in surprise. The toddler casually hops up onto Tsuna’s bed, making the teen sit up and back up quickly.

“H-how-”

“A little tip I learned from a psychic friend; read minds by looking at people’s faces.”

None of that makes any sense. But then again, can he question anything right now really? 

“No, you can’t. Now stop interrupting me.”

“I’m not saying anything!”

“But you’re getting lost in thought.” Reborn scolds as he gets Tsuna’s nebulizer ready with another treatment. 

Tsuna sighs in frustration with the infant, but takes the mask for the machine and puts it on. Reborn makes sure it’s on him properly before turning the machine on.

“Now, while you do your treatment, allow me to explain more about your mafia family and why you’ve been chosen.”

That’s right… He’d almost forgotten about that conversation this morning. Surely he can refuse right?

“No, you can’t refuse. Now… I’ve been sent by Vongola Nono to train you, Tsunayoshi Sawada, into being the Vongola Decimo and to take care of your sickness. The famiglia and title now rests on your shoulders due to many personal tragedies that’ve happened with the other heirs,” Reborn explains, sitting down in front of Tsuna as he talks,

“The first son was killed in a duel gone wrong, the second son was drowned by a rival family, and the third son was found… Let’s just say dead to make it less graphic for you.”

 Tsuna can only imagine what happened to the third son and it makes his stomach churn uncomfortably. But why him? Is there really no one else that can take the role of Vongola Decimo or whatever? He stares at the bizarre baby in front of him with pleading eyes before the dark haired boy sighs at him.

“By technicality, there’s another heir. However, he’s unavailable currently for confidential matters… What matters now is that you’re the one young enough to take over and have the blood right to the position.” Reborn says carefully.

Well isn’t that just great! He has blood right to what’s clearly a dangerous position when he can barely do a sit-up without being sent into a coughing fit. The brunet closes his eyes for a moment, only to flinch and open them when he feels a small and warm hand rest on his. Reborn is staring at him intensely with his beady eyes before they soften for a second.

“I know this isn’t ideal for anyone involved, especially you. But Vongola has no choice… Besides, think of this as an odd apology from Nono and your father… They’re the cause of what’s making you sick.”

W… What? No, there’s no way. Sure, his dad was shitty when he was around when Tsuna was young, but… Besides, he was an oil miner in life! How could he be involved in mafia things?! Reborn starts to pet his hand slowly, trying to soothe the boy and get him to even out his breaths again.

“I’ll explain all of that some other day… It’s not for you to worry about. I’ll be handling it while you just have to focus on getting better. Once your treatment is done, I’ll bring you up some dinner to eat then you should get ready for bed. We have an early day tomorrow.” The home tutor consoles. 

Questions are swarming around Tsuna’s head, but he nods quietly in understanding. It really seems like he has no choice in this matter does he…

Chapter Text

Hibari sighs quietly to himself as he treads down familiar streets. Kusakabe behind him stiffens up a little, but relaxes as when his boss just keeps on his way. The disciplinary committee leader glances over at a closed gyoza stand before shaking his head. His second in command follows in silence despite his confusion. He’s learned long ago not to question the other man, especially when he’s clearly determined about something if Hibari’s quick pace was anything to go off of. When they get close to a small dojo, Kyoya finally looks back at him.

“You stay out here, Tetsu.”

“Of course, Kyo.” Tetsuya says calmly, stopping where he stands and watching the dark haired leader enter the building.

The inside of the dojo is dim and looks like no one’s there, but even still, the teen quietly gets out one of his tonfas. In moments, he’s blocking a person’s flying kick with the weapon just as he suspected. Right after, before a fight could fully start, someone else flicks on the room’s lights. 

“Kyoya? Normally you don’t visit us so suddenly.” A man calmly questions in Chinese while the young girl who tried to quick him gets a little flustered before she speaks up in Chinese as well.

“Cousin! I’m sorry! I didn’t realize it was you! Did I miss my Japanese lesson??”

Meanwhile, Hibari quietly puts his tonfa away again. He kneels down and carefully pets the girl’s head a little.

“It’s fine and no, I’m simply here to talk to Uncle.”  He tells her, making her smile.

“Before you do, I got a new mafia name for jobs and such! I-Pin!”  She eagerly explains, making him look over at his said uncle with a questioning look. The small boy with a long braid gently waves his hands awkwardly, making the scarlet sleeves of his slightly oversized tangzhuang swish a bit.

“It’s a long story as to why Yu was given that for her nickname.”

“... We’ll discuss that later. I have something else to ask you about, Fon.”

Being referred to so casually by just his first name clearly makes the boy in red deflate a little, but he nods in understanding.

“Yu, go play with Lychee while me and your cousin talk.”

“Okay, Dad!” The girl chirps before running off to play, her twin braids bouncing a little with each step. Hibari watches her for a moment before looking at his uncle. 

The silence between them is strong for a few moments, before Fon gently clears his throat and toys with the red, stone pacifier on him.

“So…”

“Do you remember Tsunayoshi Sawada?”

“The boy you like and are worried for his health? Of course… Why do you ask?”

“Did you invite one of your friends over to take care of him?” The teen asks, narrowing his eyes a little to glare accusingly. The martial in front of him pauses before shaking his head.

“No, I didn’t, though this does explain something… What did the infant look like?” Fon gently questions, assuming his nephew saw someone to be asking him this.

“... Fedora, dark eyes, black hair with two distinct curls, wears a suit, has chameleon, and has a yellow pacifier.” Kyoya explains while crossing his arms. The toddler nods and snickers a little to himself. 

“That would be Reborn, the Sun Arcobaleno and World’s Greatest Hitman. He mentioned tutoring mafia heirs to us ages ago, but I didn’t know he was serious.” He hums casually. Hibari freezes up for a second, processing the information for a minute.

“So… Tsuna is a part of some Mafia family?”

“Seems so if he’s in Reborn’s care now…” Fon responds easily, watching his nephew carefully.

The teen pulls out his tonfas slowly as he approaches one of the many training dummies in the dojo’s training room. In seconds he ignites them with violet dying will flames before slamming them on the dummy of his choice. His uncle watches quietly, crossing his arms and not interrupting his rage.

“He’s sick, he needs medical help, not to be given a task a small animal like him can’t bear.”

“Hm… You really care about him, don't you?" Fon hums, tilting his head slightly. 

"I care about all of the students of Namimori. He is simply one that causes the most trouble with his existing condition. This does not help." 

"How about you help him with the burden then?" Fon questions, hopping onto Hibari's head and petting him soothingly. Hibari pauses, lips pursed into a frown. The idea isn't horrible, but he's going to have to be around more crowds and more people in general if he does that. 

"I'll consider it. ... Get off me." He states, making a grab at his uncle. Fon smiles, jumping away from his grasp with ease. 

"If you need anymore advice, you know I'm always here for you."

Chapter Text

If it was up to him, Tsuna would still be peacefully asleep and cuddled up in bed. If it was up to him, Reborn wouldn’t even be here… Sure, he isn’t one to have bad blood with an infant usually, he’s starting to think he should though! Said toddler is currently literally dragging the brunet out of bed with unnatural ease.

“I told you 10 minutes ago it was time to get up, Loser Tsuna.”

“The sun’s not even up yet, Reborn…”

“Perfect time for your breakfast, treatment, and early jog.” The hatted boy replies cooly. When they approach the stairs, that’s when the sickly teen gets himself up and out of the baby’s grasp. He’d rather not hit his head on each step going down.

Entering the kitchen, he wasn’t surprised to see that his mother wasn’t up yet. Not only would he count this as too early, but… She was pretty bad at the “traditional Japanese housewife” thing, even though she made it her whole purpose. The only times he can remember her getting up really early was when his dad was around and she made him breakfast every morning. He frowns to himself, glancing over at one of the many pictures in the home of his parents together, looking at the grinning blond man in it. 

The brunet zones out for a moment, shivering when he thinks about the comment Reborn made last night. What could his dad of all people have to do with his sickness? Sure, Iemitsu wasn’t a good father by any means from everything he remembers of him, but he couldn’t be bad enough to get his son sick like this somehow. … Right?

Tsuna snaps back to attention when he hears someone clearing their throat. He glances over and deadpans when he sees Reborn now dressed as an old woman in a traditional kimono.

“What are you wearing?” He asks, only to be smacked by a broom.

“Enough of that, sonny, you go sit down while I feed you! You’re practically skin and bones!” Reborn nags in a croaky, old woman’s voice. 

Tsuna can’t believe that the baby is in character too. The brunet is at a loss for words as he watches the young boy dart around the kitchen and make him breakfast and lunch for school later. Part of him wants to get up to help him, but one dark glare is enough to signal to him to stay where he’s at.

“How can you cook?”

“I’m a man of many talents, including basic ones.”

“Reborn, you’re a baby.” He sighs, getting another glare from the toddler. When the costumed boy is done, he sets Tsuna’s food down in front of him.

“Eat up now, I’ll set a timer for ten minutes.”

“Wait, what?!”

“We have a busy schedule this morning, so you only have a set amount of time for your breakfast. But you better eat it all.” Reborn hums casually, setting a timer and hitting start. Tsuna panics for a moment and eats as fast as he can, whining a bit when he burns the roof of his mouth on a hot egg.

After he finishes breakfast and another breathing treatment, Reborn has him change into workout clothes. He’s a little hesitant honestly, not wanting to be late to school later. Tsuna adjusts his orange hoodie a little, looking over to his tutor who’s now dressed in a yellow tracksuit. Part of him wants to call it tacky, but he also feels like that’s a guaranteed way to get a chameleon gun to the face.

“Are we ready?”

“Yes, you’re going to take a light jog around Namimori.” Reborn hums, making Tsuna fully accept the idea that the infant’s insane.

“Are you sure I won’t be late?”

“Yes, now less complaining and more working out.”

Despite not fully believing him, the brunet listens to the dark haired baby. His jog is a little awkward given he’s not used to a lot of physical activity. He does what he can when in P.E, but that’s about it. Surprisingly, the town is rather peaceful at this time of day. Then again, maybe it’s not a surprise since most people would be asleep or just getting ready for work at this time. He pauses at a crosswalk, looking around before looking at Reborn behind him.

“Um… I don’t know where I’m going…”

“This is your hometown.”

“I’m bad with directions and I don’t know every little street!” Tsuna huffs defensively, looking away in embarrassment as his young companion sighs.

“Ask for help then.” He states, Tsuna’s about to question what he means when he sees someone nearby also jogging. He’s in a grey tracksuit and his hair is a short silvery-white. The man glances at Tsuna and smiles happily, quickly moving over to talk to him. It takes moments to recognize him.

“Kyoko-chan’s brother?”

“Sawada! Nice to see you out here this morning! And call me Ryohei!” The boxer chirps happily, resting a hand on his shoulder. Tsuna blushes a little and shakes his head.

“Sorry, senpai, we’ve barely talked before. I wouldn’t feel comfortable being that casual.”

“You’re so cute! Don’t worry, as my future manager, you can be as casual as you want!” Ryohei laughs warmly, pulling Tsuna close in an awkward one armed hug. 

His grey eyes scans their surroundings for a moment, taking note of everything before looking back to him.

“You getting into morning jogs?”

“Um, sorta?” The brunet answers hesitantly. Reborn casually jumps up onto his student’s shoulder, smiling cooly as he replies.

“We’re starting some special training for him, could you help?”

As he asks this, Ryohei’s eyes widen. The older teen stares at the toddler then to the other teen then back to the infant. In moments he’s opening his jacket and pulling out a picture of what’s clearly Reborn in some type of boxing outfit from a magazine or maybe newspaper clipping

“Master Pao Pao?” He asks with such genuine earnestness that it has the hitman on Tsuna reeling for a moment. Reborn then casually holds a finger to his lips to signal Ryohei to be quiet.

“Don’t tell anyone. I don’t want people harassing my student here.” He hums, making the boxer’s eyes light up and he nods quickly. He gently grabs Tsuna’s hands and looks into his eyes. The man seems to be on cloud 9 as he eagerly whispers.

“You’re so cool, Sawada. I can help you with your jog, I take a morning jog around Namimori everyday.”

“T-Thank you.” Tsuna mumbles, completely unsure as to how his life has gotten to this point.

After getting accompanied by the boxer, the jog gets a little easier. Not only does he now have someone who knows where he’s going, but the man’s excited rambling helps take up the silence once around them. However, Tsuna definitely tuned him out by accident at some point.

“And so, even though American Boxing will always be my first love for martial arts and full-contact combat sports, I wouldn’t mind learning Muay Thai someday. So many of my idols, like Master Pao Pao as you know, do it. Like one who I really like even though he doesn’t do much publicly anymore is this man from Italy who’s been a star since a really young age. But 8 years ago he disappeared from the scene for the most part and only makes occasional appearances. But his matches are always brutal in the way you just have to respect.” The man rambles, clearly excited to talk to someone about this. 

Tsuna awkwardly smiles as he nods along, not wanting to interrupt.

“Y-yeah!” He chirps, making Ryohei pause and chuckle a little.

“Sorry, I’ve been ranting again, huh? Geez, I haven’t been this bad since me and Kyoya were in Elementary.”

“Kyoya? … Hibari-senpai?!”

“Huh? Oh, yeah! I used to be in the Disciplinary Committee back then and rambled about boxing and my idols to him and Tetsuya all the time. I bet it annoyed them to the extreme, but they always let me!” The white-haired teen laughs while Tsuna stops in place for a moment. 

Never in a million years would he have guessed Sasagawa Ryohei, the big brother of Kyoko and the school’s ever ambitious boxer, would’ve ever been in the Disciplinary Committee. The brunet tries to reorient himself mentally before carefully asking. “Um… Why’d you quit then?”

“Oh, well… Some personal things happened in my and Kyoko’s lives. So I quit for her sake. Me and Kyoya aren’t as close as we used to be, but I’d still call him a good friend! He even invites us over for dinner sometimes!”

God is dead and we’re his festering corpse. What the hell is that information bomb that was just dropped on him? Then again, now it makes sense why Hibari backed down from Kyoko yesterday after the kendo match. If they’re friends, then he must’ve trusted her to take care of him and keep him out of trouble.

It doesn’t take them long at all to get near the school on their jog. It’s still early, but Tsuna’s not sure if he’d have time to head back home and change then come back. Ryohei looks at him and smiles, patting his shoulder again.

“Want to head in early?”

“Um, is it okay?”

“Yeah! Plenty of people show up early! Namely those with early morning practices, but I do it sometimes too!” He explains warmly, taking Tsuna’s hand and leading him into the school. 

The brunet bites his lip nervously, holding the older teen’s hand back in an attempt to reassure himself. Though when a familiar committee leader shows up in front of them, he can’t help yelping.

“... You’re normally asleep at this time, Sawada Tsunayoshi.” The dark haired teen greets bluntly, his eyes widen ever so slightly like he’s surprised to see him.

“Uh, yeah, well…”

“He took a morning jog with me to train to be my manager! Don’t worry, I made sure to go gentle on him!” Ryohei steps in, happily explaining a sorta lie to his friend.

“You better have. It… Would look bad on Namimori if he passed away from his breathing issues after engaging in club activities.” 

“Of course! We’re going to take a quick shower now!”

“Make sure he gets dried completely and don’t use too hot or too cold water.” Hibari lectures firmly before walking away. Tsuna blinks a little to himself as he watches the man walk away. Does he think Tsuna doesn’t know how to care for his breathing issues himself?

Ryohei laughs once they’re in the clear and pats Tsuna’s back.

“He cares about you so much! Anyways, do you have a spare uniform to change into? I’d offer you one of mine, but I think it’d be too big.”

“Oh! Um, uh…”

Tsuna glances around for Reborn, relaxing when he sees the toddler holding up his school bag over his head like an elven video game character finding a gem in a broken vase.

“Right here, I always make sure my students are prepared.”

“Master Pao Pao, you’re amazing… Can I be your student someday?” Ryohei asks softly. The young tutor nods calmly and smiles.

“Of course, when I’m done with Tsuna.”

“Thank you extremely, sir!”

As they head to the showers, someone happily runs up behind them.

“Yo! Tsuna!! You’re normally not here this early!” Yamamoto greets happily, making said brunet jump a little in surprise.

“Oh! Yamamoto-kun, are you here for baseball practice?”

“Nah, volleyball today. Some of their teammates got food poisoning last night and can’t make it, so some of us on other sports teams are subbing in.” The dark haired boy happily explains as he walks next to them. Ryohei shakes his head a little and hums.

“Do they need anyone else to help out?”

“They might if you’d be willing to join in, senpai.” Yamamoto chuckles warmly then looks at Tsuna again.

“I’m glad you’re here though! I was going to head to your place to ask you to come to the game.”

“Huh? Why me?”

“Because you’re my lucky charm of course! I win every game you attend and have some of my worst losses when you’re not there!” The baseball player laughs like it’s common knowledge. The white-haired boxer smiles when he hears that.

“Oh! So Sawada’s like a lucky jersey or boxing shorts, but a person!”

“Yeah!! You get it, senpai! And since I can’t wear my usual lucky stuff for the match, I need him there.”

The two athletes chat, sounding mildly insane to their not-so-athletic friend. 

When they’re in the locker room, Tsuna quickly realizes it’s busy from people who were practicing for the volleyball match later today. He tries to find a good place for himself and his breathing tank to stand for the shower, but sees the best place is taken by someone he doesn’t recognize. Maybe he should just head to class sweaty? But that’d be gross… He can only imagine what smelling bad will do to the rumors about him…

Yamamoto and Ryohei quickly pick up on his problem. The baseball player pats his shoulder though and smiles.

“Let’s just get ready to shower and I’ll handle him.”

“H-huh? No, it’s okay, I’ll figure it out.” Tsuna squeaks, but Takeshi is already far ahead of him. He silently sighs to himself as he sets his things down in a locker and starts to take his clothes off. Ryohei sets his stuff down by him and hums.

“With a breathing tank, you need some space to set it to the side, right? I’ll take the shower next to yours to help make sure no one ruins that space!”

“H-huh?! Sasagawa-senpai, you really don’t have to do that.”

“But I want to; anything for my future manager! Besides, Hibari would bite my head off if I let anything happen to you.” The older teen laughs. 

“Okay, but only if it won’t cause you any trouble.” He mumbles, watching Yamamoto approach the boy taking the shower he usually uses.

 He chews on his lip, part of him wanting to hide away. Not only is it just an embarrassing situation in general, but it happening while all of them are in the shower definitely didn’t help.

“Hey, new kid, mind scooching over to a different shower? My friend needs this one.” The dark haired boy asks warmly, catching the attention of the silver-haired boy. The other teen rolls his eyes before looking over fully.

“And why should I? I’m sure he can find another shower.” He grunts, crossing his arms. Ryohei huffs at that though.

“Hey, don’t be rude, he’s being nice and Tsuna needs that one!”

“And what are you going to do about it, turftop?” The teen slightly growls at the boxer, though his attempt at an intimidating sneer is ruined by the rainbow bands of his braces. One of the white-haired teen’s brows twitches though.

“Octopus head, listen here-” He starts, but Tsuna quickly holds up his hands and waves them.

“Wait, wait, wait!” He squeaks, making his friends pause. The brunet then looks at the new student and bows his head a little.

“I’m sorry about them! Please, feel free to use that shower! I’ll just go find a different one.” He says nervously. Though when met with silence, he looks up to see the other teen cringing a little with obvious sympathy, a look he’s all too familiar with. He then clearly looks away from Tsuna, glancing at Ryohei again.

“Fine, whatever, take it.” He grunts before leaving. At least that fight was won, even if it hurt Tsuna a little.

After the shower debacle, Tsuna just wanted the rest of the school day to go smoothly. After all, it’ll be a short day because of the match later! Then he just has to play bleacher cheerleader for Yamamoto until he can go home for the day. But he should know by now that life is never in his favor. As class starts, Nezu has someone enter the classroom. The person just so happens to be the new student from earlier as well. 

“Everyone, meet this class’ new student from Italy. Introduce yourself.” The teacher orders with his grating voice. The delinquent looking student shoves his hands into his pockets as he looks over the class, accidentally making eye contact with Tsuna. He clearly cringes again before quickly looking away and introducing himself.

“I’m Hayato Gokudera.” He states plainly before walking off to his seat, which just so happens to be right behind Tsuna’s. He completely ignores the brunet though, acting like he doesn’t exist. Kyoko clearly frowns, then looks at Tsuna softly and whispers.

“Are you okay?”

“Y-yeah, we just had an awkward first meeting this morning, I don’t think he likes me.” He whispers back. Hearing that only makes Kyoko’s frown deepen, but she nods softly in understanding.

“I’m sorry, Tsuna… I’m here for you.” She consoles, reaching over and holding Tsuna’s hand for a few moments, only letting go when it looks like Nezu’s about to look over. Tsuna meanwhile is still mentally short circuiting over his hand being held.

Once it’s lunch, the brunet heads to the roof. He doesn’t have a hard motivation like he did yesterday… But he wants to take a moment to himself before he goes to watch Takeshi and Sasagawa-senpai practice volleyball. The mafia heir sighs softly to himself as he finds himself a place to sit down for a moment. Only then does he notice there’s someone else up there from the corner of his eye. He yelps a bit and turns his head to look at them, assuming it’ll be Hibari. Instead, it’s the new student Gokudera staring at him with the same sort of disgusted look on his face while smoking. Tsuna relaxes and shakes his head a little at himself before smiling at the other teen.

“H-hey, sorry, I didn’t see you there at first. And, um, I wouldn’t smoke up here.”


“Why? Because it’s bad for me or something?” The silver-haired man snarks like he’s gotten those warnings before. The brunet shakes his head again though before replying.

“No, it’s just that the head of the disciplinary committee likes hanging out on the roof sometimes. I’d hate for you to get beat up by him on your first day here.”

The other averts his gaze while taking a long drag of his cigarette before putting it out. Tsuna smiles to himself, preparing to get his lunch out to eat a little before Gokudera chimes up again.


“Why do you care?”


“Huh? Why wouldn’t I care?” He questions, causing there to be another awkward pause between the two of them. The tense air makes the brunet squirm a bit and wish he hadn’t engaged with the man at all. Maybe it’d be less awkward that way. Right before it could get any worse, Yamamoto walks out and beams at them.

“Hey! There you two are. It’s time for some more volleyball practice, new guy. Tsuna, you should come watch!” He chirps. Tsuna nods and starts to get up, ready to join his friend. Gokudera rolls his eyes and huffs.

“I still don’t understand how I got roped into playing on my first day.”

“Hinata-san’s a little eccentric, but he means well and just thinks you’ll be a good replacement.” Yamamoto laughs warmly, holding a hand out to the other. The silver-haired student ignores it though and brushes past him, clearly glaring at him from the corner of his eye and bumping his shoulders up a bit.

Heading to the volleyball practice wasn't much of a hassle at all. Takeshi and Tsuna chat with each other and try getting Gokudera to join in, but the other teen just ignores them.

In the gym, Ryohei was eagerly chattering away to the blond volleyball captain, attempting to convince the upperclassman to let him join in.

"Come on, senpai, I'm extreme enough to help out with volleyball!"

"I don't doubt it! But I'm not sure you're the right fit for what I'm looking for with this last replacement..." Hinata hums, crossing his arms as he thinks. Tsuna smiles awkwardly at them while Yamamoto splits off to get himself ready. The captain's green eyes go wide then he smiles brightly.

"You! You're the perfect fit!"

"H-huh?!" The brunet yelps in surprise while the other players now turn to look at him.

"Captain... That's Sick Tsuna, he can barely do anything in PE, I don't think he's a good fit for the team." One player tries to tell Hinata, but the upperclassman shakes his head.

"No, I can just feel it, he'll do great!"

"Um..." Tsuna wants to protest, but instead sighs and closes his eyes, "Okay, I'll try my best, but I can't do much."

"Perfect! Go get changed and I'll help you learn the basics!" The volleyball captain chirps, patting Tsuna's back.

He was even worse at volleyball than he thought. He could barely jump without pulling on his breathing tubes and he's going to be bruised in the face for days with how much the ball hits him.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?! This is too much for him!” Yamamoto shouts as he crosses the court.

"It's not that bad," Hinata says warmly. "He's not doing too awful at all in fact! I've seen worse."

The silver-haired teen looks things over from where he has been practicing with a couple of others. "Why don't you have him over here with me? I'm sure I can manage to do something good with him."

Ryohei quickly steps in though, placing a hand on Tsuna's side and pulling him close.

"Better yet he should rest to the extreme on the sidelines and I will take over for him!"

Tsuna chews on his lip nervously as bickering starts up around him. He should handle this, it's his fault this is happening after all!

"Hold on, I can do this, I swear! Um..." He declares then glances back to Gokudera, smiling at the other, "You said I can train with you, right? Thank you. It should be easier on me since we're both new at this."

"I'm only offering because it's tiring to see you getting your face pummeled by a ball." He grunts back, his eyes darting away from Tsuna as he talks. The brunet laughs in embarrassment before walking over to him. He still wasn't doing great, but hopefully Hinata-senpai isn't wrong.

As the game nears, he nervously glances out the locker room a few times and looks at the stands. Kyoko's sitting there with Hana and her brother, clearly glancing around like she's waiting for him. He's at least glad Ryohei hasn't told her yet, but he's pretty sure the gym floor is going to crack with how fast he's tapping his foot. Tsuna inhales deeply, rejoining the other players as Hinata gives them a pep talk. Yamamoto looks at him and rests a hand on his shoulder, rubbing it a little.

"You can sit this out you know..."

"I'd feel bad, especially since I spent so much time training with the others." He shyly admits, rubbing his thumb against the side of his index finger to fidget.

"You'll trade out with someone if it gets to be too much, right? None of us want you to hurt yourself further."

Tsuna nods. "Of course."

"Good!" Yamamoto laughs happily.

Heading out onto the court is overwhelming, only making the brunet sink more into himself and feel out of sorts. He cringes when he hears Kyoko chirp out his name in surprise, his face heating up and the feeling of humiliation clawing at his heart. This is just the perfect display after yesterday's Mochida affair... Wait, the Mochida thing. Dying Will Mode. Reborn! Why didn't he think of contacting the weird baby earlier?! Everything here would be so much easier with one of those magic bullets! 

As the match starts, he's as useless as ever. He tries his best, but he can't put everything about himself into it like the others can. The brunet can't stop himself from feeling guilty, wishing he could do more for the team. Hinata-senpai's believing in him after all and depending on him! ... He's going to regret this and he knows it. While the team takes a quick break, he carefully takes out his breathing tubes then takes the tank over to Kyoko.

"Um, can you watch this for me real quick?"

"Tsuna! You need this!" She quickly fusses, resting one hand on his cheek then trying to get it back in.

"I-it'll just be for this round! I want to put my all in like the rest of them are..." He protests, regretfully pulling away from her touch. 

"At the risk of your health though? That's just idiotic, Sawada." Hana sighs, shaking her head at him. 

"I know! But, I have to try something, right?" He mumbles, before swiftly heading back to the court when the whistle is blown for the next round.

As time passes, they still haven’t managed to get any more points, even with his extra attempts to do so. Maybe he should listen to the people around him, as his chest starts feeling tighter. He knows very well that he is prone to losing his breath over just about anything. And the level in which his ability to breathe is gone is the most concerning part of the event currently.

Even so, he tries his best to persist! Tsuna pants as he fails to properly hit the ball. He wobbles in place, suddenly realizing how hot the room feels now. He faintly hears Yamamoto trying to talk to him, but it sounds like the other is underwater. He opens his mouth to ask him what he said, only for a harsh and smoky hack to leave his lips instead. As he's sent into a coughing fit, he slips to his knees while the world spins. Then there's nothing…

He gasps for air deeply while sitting straight up, blinking and slowly processing he's in the nurse's office now with his breathing tank back on. Before he can do anything, Kyoko hugs him.

"Tsuna, you idiot! I'm sorry for being mean, but you could've gotten extremely hurt doing that!" She scolds, her voice warbled like she's holding back tears.

"K-Kyoko-chan, I'm sorry!" He squeaks, awkwardly hugging her back while Takeshi pets his head.

"You promised me to sit out when you felt wrong..." His voice is drenched with disappointment which only makes his heart hurt more.

"I-I'm sorry, Takeshi, I thought I was fine one second then the next..." He tries to explain, shaking a bit. A new voice clears their throat before they speak up.

"Sawada-san, I'm sorry you felt the need to risk your health for the game. That's not what I meant by you having something special to you." Hinata apologizes, making the brunet only frown more and attempt to say his own.

"Now, now, he still needs his rest and all of you here are going to overwhelm him. Head home now while we wait for his mother to arrive." Reborn's voice chimes up, making Tsuna relax before he sees the toddler is dressed in some type of nurse uniform.

 His friends and senpai clearly don't want to go, but one harsh look from the baby gets them to leave. There's a long silence and the mafia heir squeezes his eyes tight, remembering the boy's stabler threat from yesterday.

"That means you should leave too." Reborn calls out, making him slowly open his eyes. Gokudera carefully moves out from behind some curtains and clicks his tongue.

"How did you know? I was as stealthy as I could be."

The disguised infant smirks, before waving his hand, seemingly changing his clothes like magic.

"Hard to trick a master hitman, even if the Vongola family hired you too." He explains, making the silver-haired teen's eyes widen in surprise and Tsuna feel confused.

"Wait, what?? Gokudera-san here knows about the mafia too?"

"Indeed, in fact, he's here to test you." Reborn hums, gesturing to the other to let him take the floor.

"... You sacrificed yourself when it should be your men doing that for you, you're needlessly kind to everyone around you, and more. You just don't make sense as a mafia boss!" Gokudera yells at him before grabbing something from his pocket.

“H-huh? I mean, what I did was stupid and I know that, but I had to… Everyone else was giving their all and I was holding them back…” Tsuna mumbles, making the silver-haired teen growl.

“That’s not how a mafia boss, especially for Vongola, should talk either! Fight me!”

His first time interacting with the mafia world outside of Reborn and they already want to fight him. Truly, he’s the most charismatic person around. Doesn’t help that the other teen is holding an explosive now at him.

“Listen, can’t we talk this out or something? I mean my breathing tank is like explosive or something, so we shouldn’t.” He awkwardly laughs, seeing the other just get angrier. Tsuna sighs, getting off the nurse cot carefully and grabbing his tank.

“Let’s head outside at least, so there’s not a mess…”

“Fine, but don’t try to get away from this!”

Tsuna really wasn’t sure what to feel here. He wants to calm Gokudera down, but Reborn didn’t try stopping them so maybe this is part of the test? Thus far, this mafia thing really isn’t appealing to him… Ignore the obvious things, the only benefit is the fact he has access to a temporary cure. The brunet glances at his opponent seeing the teen’s brows are furrowed with concentration. Finally Gokudera lights his sticks of dynamite and throws them out in a manner to avoid hitting Tsuna’s breathing tank. The sickly boy moves away from them as quickly as he can anyways though, yelping when one goes off. The sound is way louder and scarier than it seems on TV! 

“Are you running away now? This is a fight! Prove you can be a mafia boss!”

“I don’t even want to be a mafia boss! How about you just take the position?!” Tsuna yells back, squealing when the other responds by throwing more bombs. Okay clearly that’s not the way to go, he needs a different solution. Trying to think clearly while avoiding an attack like this is hard though! As more dynamite goes off by him, he can’t help starting to worry about all the damage this is causing. Such a stupid thing to worry about in a time like this, but he can’t help it. While he backs up more, Hayato takes a few steps forward with lit sticks. The ground gives out a little under the silver-haired teen’s food though, making him trip and drop the explosives around himself.

The brunet panics, trying to figure out how he can help him fast. 

“Just die for it, it’ll be easier.” Reborn quips before shooting the boy. The familiar feeling of death encompasses him. Is he really dying like this when Gokudera needs help? What’s the point of any of this if they’re both dead? No… He will!

“I will save Gokudera-san with my dying will!” Tsuna screams out, his eyes brightening and an orange flame flickering to life on his forehead. Right as Hayato sits up from his fall, Tsuna’s already in front of him and extinguishing the dynamite with his bare hands. He gasps a little, trying to stop him from getting hurt, but the other teen just shoots him a determined look before continuing his task. Once he’s sure every last stick is out, his flame starts dying down. Being almost naked again is humiliating still, but at least Gokudera’s safe now.

“I don’t… I don’t understand. I tried to hurt you, yet you still…” The other teen mumbles, catching Tsuna's attention. He turns to look at him more only for his hands to be snatched up and held. Hayato looks at him with a conflicted expression, but his dewy eyes shine with admiration.

“You’re so unconventional for a mafia boss… But maybe that’s what we need. I swear to you, Vongola Tenth, I’ll be forever loyal.” 

The brunet opens his mouth to protest, only for the silver-haired teen to kiss at his knuckles. His brown eyes dart over to Reborn for help, but the baby’s simply smirking with satisfaction and giving him a thumbs up. Fantastic, so helpful, exactly what he needs here.

“Um… Gokudera- kun , there’s no need to swear yourself to me. I just didn’t want you to be hurt as you did nothing wrong, you were just upset.” He carefully explains, only to see his eyes start to shine more and make him lock their hands together.

“I swear, I will do everything in my power to help you achieve the boss position! I’ll even grow out my hair!”

“That seems excessive… How about for now you just be my friend?” He offers, but before the other can respond, Yamamoto shows up.

“Tsuna! Are you okay? I heard loud sounds around here and got worried!” The dark haired boy calls out, trying to get closer. However, Hayato quickly pulls away from the brunet and stands in such a way to block the baseball player from him.

“What happened here is between me and the boss, it’s none of your business!”

So much for being friends, guess he’s just the boss now. Tsuna gets up and brushes himself off.

“Um, it’s nothing important, Takeshi. Gokudera-kun just, uh, helped me after I kinda…” Tsuna trails off, gesturing to his lack of clothes and hoping his friend will think he just got sick again. Takeshi doesn’t look too convinced though before he nods along.

“That makes sense. But, ‘boss’? If you’re playing a game, remember to invite me too.” He laughs, making Tsuna smile. He doesn’t want to involve his friend in something dangerous… But it’d also be a comfort to have him here. Maybe, just for a little, he can pretend it’s a game.

“Of course! Um, would you guys mind getting me something to put on real quick?” He asks, making his two friends pause. Hayato starts taking off his white overshirt while Yamamoto slips off his jacket, silently making Tsuna question his choice in companions. Thankfully, Reborn tosses over some clothes to him. Things are getting chaotic now in his life… But it’s not too bad honestly.

Chapter Text

It has been a week since the volleyball game, and Gokudera is practically glued to Tsuna’s side whenever he’s out of the house. The brunet didn't hate it per say, but it was growing a little suffocating. Not to mention, his new friend practically foamed at the mouth when others got "too close" to him... This morning at least, it was just him and Sasagawa-senpai... And Reborn, who's lurking somewhere in the background, but that's not important! As their jog got closer to the school, the mafia heir can't stop smiling when he sees the baseball team practicing.

"Ah, Takeshi's going to be here this morning again!" He accidentally chirps aloud, making his white-haired friend laugh a bit.

"You two really are best friends, huh?"

"Well, yeah. He's basically been my only friend since kindergarten... Though he's been kinda distant as of late." Tsuna admits, thinking about how he really hasn’t spent a lot of time with the athletic boy. It was either the two of them with Hayato, he was busy helping his dad, or he was busy training. Honestly, it felt a little lonely without him… The boxer with him hums a bit, before warmly stating,

"Really? Probably just him being extremely focused on the upcoming baseball games!"

"Yeah, you're right, Senpai. Thank you." Tsuna hums with a smile, politely splitting away from Ryohei to see the end of his friend's practice.

"Yamamoto, you need to step your game up, you're really falling behind." One of the other players heckles, making the dark haired man awkwardly laugh.

"Yeah, sorry, I've been trying. Just need more practice I guess."

"I swear if we fail because of you..." Another grumbles at him. Tsuna frowns when he overhears, but his friend just nods and smiles while brushing it off. He wants to talk to his friend about this, but soon practice ends and the players head off to the showers.  The brunet walks up to Yamamoto and smiles at him.

“Hey, Takeshi!”

“Oh, Tsuna! Hey!” The dark haired teen chirps back, making Tsuna feel relieved. Maybe the comments really didn’t bother him! Before he can ask though, the other interrupts him.

“Oh yeah! You should come over later! My dad’s caught some really good mackerel! Some of his best sawara sushi!”

“Really? Thank you! Yeah, I’ll just head home with you today then!” The boy says warmly. Takeshi nods, eagerly rambling to his friend about sushi now. That’s right, if baseball didn’t work out, Takeshi has always wanted to take over his dad’s sushi business. Tsuna would hate to ruin how excited he is, he’ll ask him about the comments later!

In the classroom, he tries to look back to talk to Yamamoto.

"By the way, Takeshi, are you okay?" 

"Huh? Oh, you heard my team earlier, didn't you? Don't worry, all sports players get a little harsh sounding with their teasing, especially before important games like our upcoming one." The dark haired teen chuckles, making Tsuna frown. Those comments just feel too harsh for just some teasing, even if they’re stressed about the upcoming game.

"But-" Their conversation is quickly interrupted by an excited voice entering the room.

"Juudaime!"

Hayato prances over and smiles brightly at Tsuna before settling in the seat behind him.

"Sorry I wasn't with you on your run this morning, but given that you're safe, that turf top is good for something."

"Don't be so mean to Sasagawa-senpai." Tsuna whispers, anxiously double checking that Kyoko's not there yet. He relaxes while Hayato pouts at him over being scolded. Takeshi watches them, his lips twitching before he makes himself laugh.

"You have so many friends now, Tsuna!"

"H-Huh? I guess I do, yeah." Tsuna replies, getting the feeling something's wrong with his friend even if the man hasn't said anything yet. Gokudera rolls his eyes and shoots a glare at the dark haired teen.

"You shouldn't speak to the boss so casually. You're just a grunt while I'm his right hand man."

Since when was this decided?? He brushes that off for now and quickly chimes up.

"Um, you can be not a grunt in this game if you want, Takeshi. Uh, left hand man is a position, yeah?" 

The silver-haired bomber gets the most betrayed expression on his face while Yamamoto shakes his head.

"No, it's fine, don't worry about it. If grunt is what your new friend thinks I should be then that's okay."

"But..." Tsuna trails off, frowning and feeling unsure of what else to say. He doesn’t even want this boss position in the first place, so who is he to speak on making Takeshi his “left-hand man”? Not to mention, maybe grunt would be safer for him as a position, since he thinks this is some silly game…

Once lunchtime arrives, Tsuna quickly tries to find Yamamoto. It’s just a ritual that they spend their breaks together, though nowadays they have additional company. Hayato had not let go of his almost obsessive need to stay by Tsuna's side, following behind him like an overeager guard dog, glaring at anyone who alone dared to cross their path.

When he finds Yamamoto, however, Tsuna halts for a moment. He was... training again. That was odd. Yamamoto has always been a bit more anxious before important games but he had put his health above all else, taking frequent rests and always eating healthy and balanced meals so his body could recover from the extensive practice he did every day. Now all of a sudden he’s training even in his lunch break. It’s worrying to say the least.

Before Gokudera can ask why Tsuna stopped, he’s already moving again, approaching Yamamoto with genuine concern.

“Takeshi, shouldn’t you take a break? It can’t be good to train as much in one day...“, he mumbles quietly, watching how Yamamoto did another swing with the baseball bat, not even stopping to acknowledge Tsuna.

“I’m fine.”, Yamamoto huffs,a bit strained before swinging again, sweat already running down his face. He looks anything but fine!

“I really think you should stop now.” Tsuna tries to assert, just wanting his friend to stop for his health’s sake. Finally Yamamoto stops swinging, but when he turns to his friend, a cold shudder runs down Tsuna’s spine at the sight of his frown.

“What would you know? You didn’t exercise until a few days ago!”, he snaps, breathing heavily from the strain of his practice. As soon as the words leave his lips however he regrets them, eyes widening.

“I’m so sorry, Tsuna! I-” He starts, grabbing onto the roots of his hair in a display of frustration,

“I didn’t mean-”

“No, you’re not wrong.” Tsuna interrupts him quickly, unable to look at his friend and gripping his bento box a bit tighter. He was shaken by the sudden outburst of his friend. 

Of... of all people, he had not ever expected Yamamoto to be someone that would say something like this. It hurt. After all these years of his best friend comforting him and taking his side, Yamamoto voiced what he thought deep down. He presses his lips together in an attempt to compose himself, trying to put on a smile and waving off what the other had just said.

“You’re right. I shouldn’t have tried to butt in. You know what’s best for you and your body, after all you’re the one who’s been doing sports almost all his life.”

Yamamoto looks even more distressed, taking his hand out of his hair and reaching for Tsuna when suddenly Gokudera steps in between and swats away Yamamoto's hand, glaring daggers.

“Hands off. Do you really think you deserve to even get close to Juudaime after what you said?” He huffs, clearly looking down on Yamamoto as he lifts his chin.

“The moment Juudaime becomes a threat to your status as a jock you lash out. That’s pathetic.”

Yamamoto steps back in shock, staring at Gokudera before with pain in his eyes he looks at Tsuna. The brunet is just as shocked, stumbling over his words and trying to make this all stop.

“No wait-  Gokudera-kun-!”

No no no no no! This is wrong! Despite what Yamamoto said, he is his closest friend! They’ve been together since kindergarten! Even if he snapped at him, this didn’t justify how Gokudera just spoke with him!

But before Tsuna can say anything in retort, Yamamoto grabs his bat even tighter, smiling widely. Nothing about it is genuine though. It looks completely fake, as though molded into plastic.

“Yeah, you’re right, Gokudera! I’ll be taking my leave now! Sorry again for what I said Sawada, it was out of line, he’s right! Have a good lunch you two!”

No, nonononono! Yamamoto turns around, leaving, but Tsuna heard the slight shaking in his voice, saw the quiver of his lips the moment he turned around-

“Let’s go Juudaime, we should find a place for you to eat in peace, before lunch break is over!” Gokudera says cheerily, a wide grin accompanying his words.

“No! Gokudera-kun-- just now---!” He groans in frustration. He can’t put it into words! Something is terribly wrong but he doesn’t know how to voice it! Damn it!

“That must’ve hurt, I know. But let's find a place to sit first.” the other says with compassion and worry in his voice, gently leading Tsuna back towards the school building.

Again, Tsuna has no idea how to properly explain himself. Like the smoke before, he feels like something is stuck in his throat and just won’t leave no matter how hard he tries. And as with the smoke, he gives up and accepts that there is nothing he can do right now and follows Gokudera.

Eating lunch without his best friend just feels... Wrong. Tsuna silently picks at his lunch, giving occasional hums to Gokudera as the other teen tries to talk to him. Only thing that snaps him out of it is when a hand rests itself on his head.

"Tsuna-kun, are you okay?" Kyoko asks, making the brunet blush brightly.

"Ky- Kyoko-chan! Um, uh! When did you get here?"

"I've been here for five minutes now, Tsuna-kun... I saw Yamamoto wasn't with you guys and got worried." She tells him honestly, making him chew on his lip. Kyoko, though never officially a friend until recently, has been there since the start of his and Yamamoto's friendship.

"Well... I think I really upset Takeshi. He snapped at me then started calling me by my last name... I'm just really worried I messed up." He admits, making Kyoko frown and Hayato huff a bit.

“Can you tell me more of what happened? That doesn’t sound like how he acts normally… You and I both know Yamamoto tends to be rather collected.”

"Juudaime just expressed his worry over that baseball idiot practicing during lunch and he goes and snaps at him!" Hayato interjects before turning to Tsuna,

"It's completely that asshole's fault, Juudaime. Don't pay him any mind." Kyoko shakes her head though and closes her eyes. She pulls Tsuna into a hug and smiles.

"Don't listen to Gokudera-san over there… In that case, I'm sure he's just stressed and worried he upset you, hence the name change," She pets his head slowly before continuing, "You two have been friends for just as long as me and Hana have been. Her and I have had small spats a few times, but we always got back together in the end and were closer than ever. I'm sure before you know it, everything will be back to normal." 

Tsuna smiles, leaning against her and closing his eyes. She's right! He's sure everything will be okay by the end of the day!

Hearing sirens approaching the school is terrifying. Lunch had only just ended and Yamamoto wasn't back yet. Tsuna tries not to panic, counting in his head while toying with his fingers to stay calm. Then one student  rushes into the room  and yells:

"Yamamoto Takeshi got hurt while practicing! He might've broken his arm!"

It takes what feels like several minutes until the words finally register in Tsuna's brain and he feels his heart sink to his feet, a bottomless abyss ready to swallow it hole. Everything seems to turn black for a bit, as Tsuna moves on complete reflex, up, out of the classroom, down the hall, down the stairs, jumping over the last three and almost falling, stumbling back up and running towards the gates. His lungs are on fire with every step, but before he literally crashes into the paramedics, Hibari pulls him back. 

The paramedics look at him, then proceed to step into the ambulance, a small window between the people in the car giving him a glimpse of the injured Yamamoto.

"N-no! Takeshi! I-" He tries to move out of Hibari’s grip despite common sense, but as expected, he doesn't get a single centimeter closer to the ambulance as the doors close and the car starts to drive away. He barely hears anything, only snapping out of his daze when the ambulance has been out of sight for a while and the crowd of gawking students slowly disperses. 

"---wada! Sawada!"

Tsuna jolts at the sudden loud voice and then looks at Hibari who exhales in relief.

"You need to head back to class... He'll be okay." The committee leader commands, trying to comfort him a little. But it sounds like an empty promise. Everyone has so far tried to tell him that things would sort themselves out and get better. Could he really still believe that?

Getting through the rest of the school day is far from the easiest task. Even when he gets home, the nagging feeling that something was wrong keeps him from relaxing or even falling asleep easily. He can only hope that his friend is alright...

Tsuna isn't sure what he is expecting as he arrives at school. Maybe he was hoping that Yamamoto would be completely okay and yesterday was just some cruel nightmare? Instead, he feels a pit in his stomach start to form when he spots him. The bright white of the cast on the baseball player's arm stood out amongst everyone else around.

"Takeshi..." He mumbles with a frown, catching the boy's attention for a moment. His eyes aren’t as bright as usual though and his smile feels hollow.

"Tsuna, I'm sorry about yesterday. You really were right about taking a break."

"I'm so sorry, Takeshi. Um... Does it hurt?" The brunet asks carefully, glad his friend is calling him his first name again despite all of this. 

"Only a little." Yamamoto sighs, making the other teen’s frown deepen. He... He should try to help him! Tsuna awkwardly takes Yamamoto's bag from him, trying his best to hold it along with his own.

"Can't trust me to carry my bag? Can't say I blame you, it seems no one can trust me with anything anymore..."

"H-huh? No that's not... What do you mean?" Tsuna squeaks, stiffening up in fear that he's upset him again.

His fears grow worse when he sees Yamamoto look away from tsuna, holding onto a smile like his life depended on it while his eyes looked as if they teared up a bit. What was happening...? The other fidgets, lips parted then closed again, a breath in, then a sigh- he’s clearly struggling to say something before he presses his lips together and shakes his head a bit. 

"The doctors-" he starts and clears his throat when his voice breaks. Tsuna feels his body run cold.

"Doctors.... aren't sure if-... um.-... if I'll be able to play baseball ever again with-" his voice breaks again and he takes a deep breath as if he is trying to force himself to say it out loud,

"With how the break was. I don't even know if I'll be able to take over my dad's business. And it's all my fault-." At the last sentence his voice breaks for the last time and Yamamoto doesn't even try to correct this time, instead looking away as if searching for an escape from this conversation.

"I'm so sorry, Takeshi!" Tsuna bumbles out, unsure of anything else to say.

"There's nothing to apologize for, Tsuna, I did this to myself after all. At least you have other friends to rely on..." Takeshi mumbles, shaking his head before walking off to class. Tsuna quickly tries to follow, stumbling a bit with the extra weight with him.

Throughout class, Takeshi just isn’t himself. Tsuna could just feel it with how his friend is holding himself. Even as other students are trying to talk to him between classes, he’s only half paying attention and giving short answers. He’s clearly thinking about something… An annoyed huff behind him snaps Tsuna out of his own thoughts and he glances at Hayato. The delinquent-like boy shakes his head a bit with his eyes closed.

“I don’t get why they’re making such a fuss over him, it’s his own fault that happened to him. Right, boss?” He chimes up, ignoring the fact Yamamoto’s right next to him. Tsuna gasps a bit and shakes his head.

“Gokudera-kun! No-!” He starts to scold, only for the baseball player they’re talking about to interrupt with a half-hearted chuckle.

“Oh, don’t be upset with him, Tsuna. He’s not wrong after all.”

But… But he is… He’s so wrong. The brunet tries to speak up again, only for the teacher to enter the room. This’ll just have to wait then…

Lunch comes and Tsuna can’t have less of an appetite… None of this would’ve happened if Reborn hadn’t shown up and dragged him into these mafia shenanigans. Maybe he can talk to him and get his peaceful life back. Maybe then everything will be okay for Yamamoto… As he gets up to leave, he hears Hayato chirp up,

“Juudaime! Let’s go find a good place for our lunch now-!”

“No.” Tsuna spits firmly, only to flinch at his own tone. He’s not usually the type to be this angry… He inhales to settle himself a little before shaking his head.

“I… I mean, not right now. I need to go talk to someone. How about you and Takeshi go find somewhere and I’ll join you guys after my talk?”

Neither one of his friends look completely happy with the suggestion, only making him feel worse. Why can’t they just get along? Maybe if there wasn’t this stupid “boss” position in the way, the three of them could be a normal friend group… He heads out and tries to find Reborn, though he’s really not sure where the infant stays when he’s here at school…

“I have my places, Tsuna, now what do you need?” A young voice questions, making the mafia heir yelp a bit. At least he found him.

“You need to find someone else to be the boss.” He answers as firmly and bluntly as he can, drawing a hum from the baby.

“Do you think none of this would’ve happened if you weren’t the boss?”

“Of course! Everything would’ve been normal and okay if you hadn’t shown up and dragged me into all of this!”

“And you’re confident about that?” Reborn questions, setting his espresso aside and locking gazes with Tsuna. The brown-eyed boy shivers, but clenches his fists and forces himself to nod. The hitman clicks his tongue while Leon moves into his hand.

“And why do you think this? Did becoming the heir make Yamamoto’s team be hard on him?”

The question catches him off guard a little. Tsuna wraps his arms around himself, looking at a different part of the ground to avoid staring at the baby.

“Well… No, obviously not…”

“Then, is it the cause of the financial problems his father’s store is facing?”

The brunet frowns, tightening the grip on his arms. He didn’t know his dad’s business wasn’t doing well. Why hadn’t he mentioned it to him? Then again, how could he have helped?

“You’re right, you couldn’t help with that at first , but now you have the chance to. When it comes to tradition, rules, scale, power, and wealth; very few are a match for Vongola,” Reborn reassures before resting a hand on Tsuna, “What’s important now though is just being there for him.”

“But, Gokudera-kun…” He trails off, closing his eyes before they get too dewy to see.

“Wounded dogs will bite. What he’s doing right now is trying to protect you and protect what he sees as his position. You just have to talk to him.”

That makes sense… He nods slowly before smiling a bit.

“Thank you, Reborn…”

“No need to thank me, it’s my job to help you through things like this. Now go to your friends.”

The rest of lunch went… Well enough. He apologized to Gokudera for snapping at him earlier, but there was still an awkwardness in the air between the trio of them. Yamamoto was still distant… Then the rest of their classes were a slog to get through too… At least it’s the last 15 minutes of the day though! Now it’s time to clean up then head home. Maybe he can head home with Takeshi today, both to spend time with him and try to learn how he can help with their financial problems…

The brunet stretches up awkwardly, sticking out the tip of his tongue in concentration as he does the best he can to clean the classroom’s dry-erase board. Normally Takeshi helps him with this part, but he’d hate to burden someone injured and his friend had left a few minutes ago to go to the bathroom. 

“Yamamoto is about to jump off the roof!” A classmate screams as she bursts into the classroom. What?

"Wait, are you serious?!" someone yells back.

"YEAH! COME QUICK! He's standing outside the rail! He's really gonna do it!"

At first he doesn’t want to believe her.… Then he thinks back on how distracted he’s been acting all day. He drops what he’s doing and rushes to the roof, feeling simply overwhelmed by the chaos around him. The brunet has to squeeze and push past so many people before he can finally see the scene. His best friend stands there on the edge of the roof, his uninjured hand holding the railing being the only thing keeping him steady. 

“T-Takeshi!” Tsuna cries out, catching his friend’s attention. He smiles sadly at him before looking back down at the drop in front of him.

“Tsuna… You shouldn’t see this. Please go inside…” He says softly, closing his eyes for a moment.

“How can I just go back inside when my best friend is trying to kill himself?!” Tsuna yells, moving closer as tears start welling up in his eyes.

“It’s going to be okay, Tsuna, you have so many other friends now. You don’t need me anymore.” Takeshi tries to insist, only frustrating Tsuna more.

“That doesn’t mean shit! Takeshi, I still need you! You’ve always been there for me!” He shouts, his voice trembling as he does so. This idea is going to be stupid, but he needs Yamamoto to listen… The brunet awkwardly climbs over the railing as well, standing next to his friend the best he can on the ledge. Yamamoto’s eyes widen and he tries to stop him, only for Tsuna to use him to help steady himself. 

“Takeshi… Please don’t leave me…” He finally pleads, making the athletic boy start to cry himself.

“Tsuna… I’ve failed everyone else in my life, I’m going to fail you too…”

“I don’t care! What am I if not one massive failure?! You could fail me a hundred times and I’d never care! What I do care about is never having you again!” He sobs, making Yamamoto start to cry too. The two of them start to hug, weeping into each other… Until Tsuna’s foot slips, causing both of them to fall. Is this how it’s all going to end? Despite his best efforts, he’s going to be why they both die? Before he can hiccup out an apology, the school’s speaker system comes to life.

“Code 8027-Z, move.” Hibari’s voice commands, clearly directed at the disciplinary committee. Meanwhile, the said teen was racing through the halls of his school, trying to find the right floor to catch the two from. He throws his walkie talkie aside, focusing on his goal rather than giving another code.

“Damn it.” He growls under his breath, shattering one of his windows with a tonfa. He has to just hope this’ll work… 

“Only hoping? I doubt that’s like you knowing how your uncle is.” Reborn hums from behind him, earning a swift glare from Hibari.

“I don’t have time for this, shouldn’t you be more concerned about your student?” He grunts, stepping onto the window frame.

“You’re right, there’s no time for monologuing. So, save them with your dying will.”

The dark haired teen doesn’t get a second to respond before there’s a loud bang and he feels something hit his head. No… No, he won’t let things end like this. Not when he needs to help people and keep his school safe. Hibari’s forehead lights up with violet flames and he jumps from the window, grabbing Tsuna and Yamamoto as they start to fall past it.

“I’ll save you with my dying will…” 

Hearing those words from someone not himself this time makes Tsuna’s eyes bug out of his head a bit. But what good is three people falling now? The brunet finally glances down and sees a net set up to catch them. How did they have the time to do this? Is this what the code was for? He doesn’t get long to dwell on that thought though when Hibari pulls them both closer and manages to do a flip in the air with them. 

He simply can’t make any sense of it… One second the world is spinning , the next they’ve managed to safely land in the net. The flames on Hibari’s head sizzle out once they’re not falling anymore. He quickly lets go of the two and gets up, glancing back at them for a moment.

“For attempting this on school grounds and making me have to destroy school property, you’re both suspended for five days. … Use this time to heal and better yourselves.” He commands before walking away. The mafia heir is speechless though, blinking and just watching the man leave.

The sound of someone stumbling over to them and panting harshly catches his attention though. Gokudera nearly falls on them, but manages to catch himself enough to help both Tsuna and Yamamoto out of the net and onto their feet.

“Thank you-” Tsuna gets cut off when Hayato tightly squeezes him.

“Boss! Don’t do that again, please!” He wheezes out before turning to Yamamoto, “And you! You’re the boss’ left hand man and my rival! You can’t die either! Even if I’m giving you a hard time!” 

“I’m sorry…” Takeshi starts, but Tsuna then chimes up.

“It’s my fault! I slipped while talking him down…”

Hayato looks back to his boss, nodding a little while catching his breath.

“The donna and her turf top brother should be here soon too, Boss.”

The donna? Kyoko?!  He can feel himself getting a headache from all the chaos happening…

He wasn’t sure what he’d thought would happen after all of this… But, it wasn’t a giant sleepover at his place. Kyoko had insisted on staying with him to check on him when she’d showed up, which led to everyone wanting to stay with him. Reborn right now is calmly checking over Tsuna and Takeshi over for injuries, humming a bit to himself. The brunet watches him, silently swearing the baby’s yellow pacifier is glowing a bit as he looks over his friend.

“You too should be fine, if just  a little shaken up.” The infant finally declares, making most of the group relax. Kyoko frowns though and crosses her arms.

“Let me double check… I don’t doubt you, Reborn, but…”

“No, go right ahead, you want to be a nurse, right? I’m sure you know about what to look for with injuries too.” He says calmly, moving away from the group and changing into his pajamas. Tsuna opens his mouth to protest a little, only to bite his tongue when Kyoko starts by looking him over first. Takeshi watches them for a moment before winking at Tsuna and getting up.

“Actually, I should be heading out. I’m sure my dad is worried about me.” 

Hayato rolls his eyes a bit before pointing at Yamamoto.

“We’re here to watch over you and the boss, we can’t just let you leave alone.”

“You’re extremely right, Octopus Head,” Ryohei butts in with a grin, “We should go with him!”

“What? No-”

“Yeah! My dad won’t mind having some guests!” The dark haired teen chirps, heading to the door. Ryohei gets up and grabs Gokudera before following after him. The bomber squirms in the boxer’s grasp while arguing for his freedom, but is dragged out nevertheless. Tsuna’s face flushes deeply when he realizes he’s alone with Kyoko. He glances over at Reborn, hoping the baby tutor-doctor would be awake still; only to find him snoozing away in his hammock already with his eyes wide open and a bubble coming from him.

Kyoko laughs a bit and pauses her examination.

“Our friends and my brother have left us in an embarrassing situation, huh?”

“I-I’m sorry, Kyoko-chan.”

“There’s nothing to apologize for, Tsuna. You haven’t done anything wrong.” She tells him calmly before resting a hand on his cheek. She inhales deeply and closes her eyes before informing him, 

“I’ve been worried about you though… What you did at the volleyball game was really concerning and now this…” 

He’d almost forgotten all about the volleyball incident… Tsuna carefully rests his hand on top of hers, his face only growing redder as he talks.

“I’m sorry about that too, Kyoko-chan. I’ve been really stupid these past few days… I really didn’t want to make anyone worry so much though…”

Kyoko nods quietly and smiles at him.

“I forgive you, Tsuna. I figured you didn’t mean to make me or anyone else worry so much. Here, let me get you something to eat while you get some rest. Okay?”

“Yeah! Okay!” He chirps, smiling back at her. Maybe things will really be all okay.

Chapter Text

Being suspended from school wasn’t so bad. Sure, his mom got on him for it the first day, but ever since it’s been mostly quiet. Though, he does feel a little lazy… He still went on morning jogs with Ryohei, but afterwards, he just headed back home and stayed there all day. Only really getting up and doing something when Gokudera brought him his homework. Then again, maybe he’s being too hard on himself. It’s only day 3 of his suspension now after all. The brunet stretches in bed and sits up, deciding to at least do more than laze about his room for today. Though, doing what, he doesn’t know yet… Tsuna glances around his room, grimacing a little to himself at the mess. His room was never the most organized or clean, but it was getting pretty bad now. Guess he’ll pick up a little as he figures out what he wants to do today. 

He starts by cleaning up his leftover instant noodles, silently wondering how he’s managed to eat so many this fast… Well, he did make some for Reborn too. Maybe they’re also his? Tsuna shakes his head a bit and continues with his task. Should he sweep? He’d rather not vacuum, but he might have to… 

As he finishes gathering the garbage and recycling, he debates what to do next still. Reborn hands him a broom which he takes before yelping as he registers the baby's sudden appearance.

"When did you get here?!"

"I've been here, watching. But I didn't want to ruin your concentration as you cleaned," The other hums plainly before pulling out a note from his suit jacket, "Though now that I have your attention, your mother wants us to go do some errands for her."

Tsuna deflates a bit at the news, though maybe going out will be good for him. He can even check on Takeshi while he's out and maybe catch lunch with him. He takes the list from his tutor and reads it over, humming a bit to himself.

"I think I know the way to these places from here. Should we head out now?"

"That's up to you, Tsuna, though with your memory I'd do it sooner rather than later."

The jab at his bad memory stings a little, but Reborn isn't wrong. Hell, he was thinking the same thing if he's honest. Either way, he makes sure he has everything he needs before heading out to the first store. Reborn soon hitches a ride on his shoulder during their walk, making the sickly teen have to awkwardly tilt his head a little to make room for him. 

"Do you have to sit down on my shoulder like this?" He questions, getting a glance from the infant that makes him shiver. However, the black-haired hitman easily slips off him, brushing himself off as he lands.

"You need to adjust to more discomfort, it's good training, however for today I'll let it pass."

As they continue on their journey, there's rustling behind them. Tsuna glances behind them and sees a young boy dressed in a cow onesie. The boy couldn't be more than 6 and clearly looks so lost. As he opens his mouth to talk to him, seeing how distressed he looks, the boy suddenly makes fierce eye contact with Tsuna. The brunet freezes up for a moment, growing stiff as the boy suddenly rushes at them.

Sensing someone coming up behind him, Reborn quickly grabs the assailant and throws him forward on the ground before kicking him. However when he sees and processes who the boy is, his face darkens.

"Lambo." Reborn mutters while the boy starts bawling his eyes out.

"Papa!!" The boy, now identified as Lambo, sobs loudly. Tsuna stares at the scene, now confused about what's happening.

"You know him?"

"He's my son..."

As yes, babies with 6 year old sons. What perfect sense.

Reborn shifts his attention back to the child, awkwardly patting his head. 

"Now, now, there's no need to cry. You're okay. Now, where's your mom?"

"He has a mom??" Tsuna questions from the sidelines, getting a snippy answer from the tutor.

"Yes, my wife."

Ah, married babies with 6 year old children. Wonderful. What is this day becoming...

Lambo hiccups a bit, soothing a little while glancing away with a guilty look.

"I left Mama to go find you..."

Hearing that, Reborn rests a hand on his forehead and goes quiet, growing deep in thought. Tsuna awkwardly approaches, smiling at the young boy.

"Were you worried about your, uh, dad?" He asks carefully, attempting his best to be comforting. The curly-haired boy makes direct eye contact with him again, narrowing his large green eyes while grabbing something from his hair.

"Yeah! Cuz you stole him!" He shouts, throwing what he grabbed at Tsuna. Tsuna juggles it a bit before catching it, yelping when he sees it's a pink grenade. Normally he'd assume it's some toy, but given this is Reborn's son somehow, he knows not to trust that. He throws it the best he can, watching it land away from them then explode on the pavement and leave a small crater. He shivers with discomfort, silently acknowledging that it was almost him. 

Reborn snaps out of his thoughts and looks at Lambo firmly. He opens his mouth to scold him, but the boy quickly gets up and scrambles away from them. 

"Lambo-san will get you next time!" He shouts, before running off. Tsuna looks at Reborn, blinking a little.

"Should we follow him?"

"No, he'll be back soon enough. Let's finish shopping though, before your mother gets home."

Right, that's what they were doing before this chaos happened...

Thankfully, they have a list of the specific groceries they need from each store. Problem is, Tsuna doesn't know how to check for good fruits. Making sure the apples don't have bruises or marks is a good way to determine good ones with them, right? 

The small tutor sighs as he watches his student struggles. "You're doing it wrong. Have you never watched your mom pick out the good ones?"

Tsuna shakes his head. "I've never really paid attention to any of it. It wasn't something that I thought would be that difficult."

"Pick up a couple of them and put the lighter one back. You always want the ones that's heavier while not being bruised."

Tsuna nods, picking up heavier ones and looking them over with scrutiny for any bruises. He picks out the best ones and smiles, opening his mouth to thank Reborn, when he hears laughter.

"Wahaha! Lambo-san has you now!" Lambo cries out, peeking out from behind other produce and attempting to shoot Tsuna. The brunet backs up quickly and prepares to run away when he hears an audible clicking sound. Lambo scowls and puffs up his cheeks, pressing the trigger more and only getting the sound more.

"... Is your gun jammed?" Tsuna asks carefully, making the boy look at him with watery eyes.

"No! Lambo-san's gun works just fine! It's just..." Lambo trails off as he tries to think of a good lie. Reborn meanwhile approaches and holds his hand out towards Lambo.

"What did we say about you having guns if you can't take care of them?"

"I have to give them back..." Lambo mutters, handing the gun over carefully. Reborn takes the gun, flicking the safety to safe and taking out the magazine. 

"I'll give this back if you can prove you can take better care of it. You could've hurt yourself trying to repeatedly fire it while it's jammed."

Lambo sniffles before running off again, tripping for a second before getting back up. Reborn sighs while fixing the jam with practiced ease, shaking his head a little.

“Should we go check on him now?” Tsuna questions, feeling bad for the kid now. Sure, he’s been trying to kill him… But he’s barely a kindergartener. He can’t hold a grudge against him too bad, right? Reborn looks at Tsuna and shakes his head calmly while Leon becomes a carrying case for the gun he took from Lambo.

“No, again, he’ll come back. I’m sure he’ll be calmer next time. Besides, consider this a test. Being a mafia boss is dangerous, no matter how much good you bring, there will be people gunning for your head.”

Such fantastic and comforting words to tell him about a job he’s still refusing to accept. He so wants to take the position this very second after hearing that. 

“Don’t sass me.” Reborn warns, making Tsuna remember he can somehow read his thoughts by looking at his face or something like that. The teenager sighs, shaking his head before heading to his next task.

What was earlier that he thought about grudges? Specifically holding ones against kindergarteners? Turns out he was dead wrong! Try as he might, Lambo was growing on his nerves. He just keeps showing up, trying to kill Tsuna! And he has to obviously avoid all those attempts, which only upset the kid. The brunet huffs to himself, deciding to take a break in a park from his errands, his chest feeling slightly tighter than normal.

Reborn settles himself down next to Tsuna, pulling out his phone and calling someone. The brunet was about to question what his tutor was doing when he could hear a woman talking frantically on the other end in what sounds like Italian. The black-haired baby makes a shushing sound before talking back to her in the same language, sounding disturbingly soft and warm for Reborn. 

Tsuna shivers, deciding to move to a different bench and give the infant some privacy. His brown eyes scan over the park lazily, soon spotting the cow patterned pest that's been stalking and attacking him all day. He sighs, preparing for another attack. The young boy looks at Tsuna before looking at the nearby park equipment, then repeating the process multiple times. He's debating what to do first, isn't he? It'd be cute and amusing if Tsuna wasn't already annoyed with the kid. He waves his hand at him though, trying to signal that he can play first.

"Did you pick up babysitting?" Takeshi asks, making Tsuna yelp at his friend's sudden appearance. The other teen snorts before sitting down with him.

"Sorry I scared you."

"It's fine and, uh, not quite. He's Reborn's... Friend? And he's just been trailing us all day while I try getting some errands done."

"Maybe he's just bored? How about I distract him while you complete your stuff!"

"That'd be godsent... Thank you, Takeshi."

"Anytime!" The other chirps with a bright smile.

That was one problem solved for the moment. With the kid distracted, he’s now able to head to a nearby bakery. It’s a relatively smaller one, but it still has more than enough options for what he needs. He wasn’t quite sure what the exact type of bread his mom needed though, but he doubts that it matters. His eyes drift to the specialty they have on display. While it mostly looks like a typical milk bread, there seemed to be chocolate drizzled on top of it as well as leaking from under. Maybe it was filled?

He really shouldn't, he knows he's going to be tempted to buy it if he looks for too long. 

"Oh that looks so good!" A girl with chestnut brown hair says next to him. He jolts a little with surprise before awkwardly nodding.

"Right? If I could, I'd get it."

"Oh? How about I get some for both of us then!"

"Huh?? Oh, you don't have to do that." He says as politely as he can before pulling away from the conversation to get what he came here for. Not long after heading to the counter to get the actual bread he needs, the bell to the store jingles. There's quiet Italian grumbling before Reborn firmly says from behind him,

"You left me."

Tsuna nervously sweats and forces a small laugh, glancing back at the baby and smiling.

"Sorry, I just thought you'd follow along when you saw I was heading off."

As they talk, the girl from earlier goes from staring at Reborn with an adoring look to glaring at Tsuna.

"You shouldn't leave kids so young alone!" She introjects before picking up Reborn against his will. The infant hitman clearly doesn't look pleased, but lets her hold him for now. Tsuna stumbles over his words, wanting to defend himself, but the girl isn't exactly wrong. He sighs, holding his head as he feels a headache forming like a brewing storm. After he gets his bread, the girl orders two slices of the bakery's new special sweet bread. For a moment, Tsuna thinks he was forgiven, only to see her give it to Reborn once the staff get it to her.

"Here, since your big brother is so mean, have this!"

"He's my student," Reborn corrects calmly before starting to eat the treat bought for him. The girl giggles and nods, playing along with him. She looks at Tsuna and huffs, mumbling under her breath before handing his tutor over to him.

"Don't be so mean to babies." She scolds before leaving with the item she bought. Tsuna frowns and awkwardly adjusts Reborn and the bags he has before the toddler gets out of his arms.

"You should have gotten me before heading out," Reborn scolds, eating the sweet treat and changing the subject from the girl. It wouldn’t do him any good to linger on her.

The brunet sighs. "I just wanted to get the next thing on the list done. It wasn't supposed to take that long since it was just bread."

"Mafia bosses, especially ones high up in mafia society like you, can die in moments. I'm here to protect you just as much as I'm here to train you and get you better." Reborn sighs, pausing his eating. The bell jingles again and Lambo's laughter fills their ears.

"I got you distracted!" He asserts like he somehow caused all of this. Tsuna adjusts the bags with him, getting ready to escape whatever this tiny terror has planned for him. The curly haired boy rummages around his pockets and hair with his hands, but soon trips over his own two feet and hits his growing bruise from earlier when Reborn had thrown him. The brunet cringes, imagining the pain of it. Reborn waits for a moment, not checking on his son right away like he's expecting him to do something. 

Lambo soon gets up and pulls out what looks like a large, purple bazooka from his hair. Tsuna's eyes widen in shock and bewilderment, opening his mouth to try to stop the kid from whatever devastating attack he was planning. Except instead of aiming it at him, Lambo throws it up in the air and pulls a string that pulls back the trigger once it lands on him. A plume of pink smoke billows out, making Tsuna have to cover his mouth and nose to not risk a coughing attack. As the smoke dissipates, a boy around his age or a little older stands in the spot Lambo once stood. 

The new teen yawns and closes one of his eyes, looking around with a relaxed look before smiling at Tsuna. 

"Ah, big brother. Or, wait, this is the day we first met isn't it." He hums plainly, only increasing Tsuna's current confusion. 

"Big brother?? What??"

His question isn't answered though while the other looks around.

"Normally little me knows better than to pull out the bazooka in front of civilians, but of well, the sight scared them off enough," He starts to roll his shoulders and pop his neck before glancing at Tsuna again, "This is nothing personal, I just know baby me will be upset if I don't at least try for him."

The tutor sighs and reaches for Leon. Things weren't likely to go well if he didn't do something to help his student. A simple Dying Will bullet should be more than enough to give him an edge enough to get the older version of his son to back off.

Tsuna is stuck somewhere between shock and fear as he watches the other teen pull out a set of horns and attach them to his head. They start sparking with green electricity which he could feel along his skin. His eyes widen as he sees the teen lower himself in a manner that made him look like a bull about to charge.

"Elettrico Cornata!!!" 

The shout doesn’t quite reach his ears as he hears a gun go off and a familiar numbness washes  over his body for a moment then everything is ablaze with more energy than what he knew what to do with. "REBORN!!!"

"I'll defend myself like my life depends on it!"

Reborn hands his student Leon after he finishes his statement, the chameleon turning into a sandal.  Tsuna takes it and quickly slams it against his opponent's cheek the best he can. The other teen stumbles, thrown off course from the harsh hit and crashing into the wall. He crumples right there, clearly starting to cry like his younger counterpart does. 

"That hurt so much!!" He whines, soon getting interrupted by his father feeding him a forkful of his chocolatey bread. He calms a bit and sniffles, rubbing at his eyes. 

Tsuna’s dying will fades slowly and he lets out a breath before gesturing to the older Lambo.

“What’s happening??”

“What Lambo just used is something his family made called the “10-Year Bazooka”. It’s a bazooka with special ammo that makes whoever’s hit by it travel 10 years into the future.” Reborn explains. Lambo nods a little, but slightly pouts.

“That’s a rough explanation of it, but that’s basically it. Little me’s version only lasts 5 minutes though for safety reasons. So, I’ll be gone in…” The teen holds up his hands and does a countdown on his fingers before a puff of pink smoke appears again and the child version of him is back. 

Young Lambo looks calm, even happy for a moment, then he looks at Tsuna. He scowls the best a five year old can at him. The boy starts to search around for something to use against him when Reborn casually offers him a bite of the baked good like he had his older version.  Tsuna sighs, closing his eyes and shaking his head a little.

The bakery door quickly swings open and Yamamoto steps inside, looking around before relaxing when he sees Tsuna and co. 

“Oh good, you have the kid! Sorry, I lost track of him. I threw the ball too hard and he ran off before I could check on him.” He explains, walking closer and slipping off his jacket for the brunet. He should be concerned for how used to this his friends seem to be getting.