Notes: Thanks to Toraffles for the last scene and for giving me so many wonderful ideas to play with in future chapters. I'm afraid I didn't do it justice, but it was really ridiculously fun to write! I'll make sure to point out your lovely contributions whenever they pop up! To everyone else, I hope you enjoy!

I.

After learning about his role as Guardian Mercury, Yamamoto has apparently warmed up to the idea of saving the galaxy or whatever Reborn claims their 'destiny' is. Tsuna's only about sixty percent sure the other boy understands what that actually entails. Frankly, he doesn't really care about his supposed past life or his duties as the Moon Prince or whatever. He just wants to live a normal life and grow up to be a normal adult and not do abnormal things like transform into a revealing sailor uniform and fight crime like the protagonist of some magical girl anime.

Alas, his sadistic adviser is apparently above the qualms and concerns of a mere thirteen year old boy, even a magical one, and Tsuna's very valid protests fall on deaf ears. At least Yamamoto seems to be having fun.

"Yo, Tsuna," the other boy calls out to him, heedless of the various gossiping classmates around them.

"Hey, Yamamoto-kun," Tsuna greets him as they begin walking home together. "Do you want to study at my place at again?"

He laughs, a bit sheepishly, and rubs the back of his neck. "Yeah, I didn't really get the English lesson today."

"...Me either," Tsuna admits, and they share a sympathetic grimace at the gruesome workload they have ahead of them.

This Moon Prince nonsense has given him one good thing, at least - he actually has a friend now. Yamamoto had approached him the day after they fought that batting center youma (Tsuna's taken to associating them with their stupidly effective schemes) and chatted with him as if they'd always known each other. It had been awkward at first because Tsuna has zero social skills, but Yamamoto is genial enough for the both of them and really easy to talk to.

Their friendship fell into place just like that, and as they both soon discovered, school assignments were much easier to slog through when another person was suffering with you. Studying and then hanging out at either of their houses has quickly become a common occurrence. Reborn usually coaches from the side via vaguely helpful yet derogatory comments, and he acts very put upon the whole time.

After Yamamoto leaves and heads home, Reborn finally returns from wherever it is he goes when he's not stalking Tsuna. He's probably out harassing random bystanders or making real babies cry or overturning some foreign country's government. Tsuna wouldn't put it past him.

"Ciaossu." He comes in through the window - because he doesn't want to be mistaken for anything approaching sane, Tsuna figures, not that he really has to worry about that - and immediately spots Tsuna's recently failed test on the table.

"Wow, Dame-Tsuna, you somehow managed to get every single answer wrong," Reborn observes. "And even after I spent so much of my free time tutoring you. I'll be the laughingstock of the galaxy at this rate. Take responsibility, Super Dame-Tsuna."

"Of course I'm not going to learn anything when you shoot at me while you're teaching! I'm too busy worrying about my life to listen!" Tsuna shouts, defensively and rightly so.

Reborn smirks. "This is the normal teaching method in the Moon Academy, Dame-Tsuna. Are you trying to undermine your heritage?"

Tsuna bangs his head on the table, repeatedly. He'll never win an argument with this stupidly unflappable person.

Once, Tsuna snaps that they don't need his help, and Reborn explains that he wouldn't be doing his job as Royal Adviser if he allowed Tsuna to remain so hopeless in any of his studies. Then he kicks Tsuna in the face and scolds him for being ungrateful. Yamamoto laughs at his pain because underneath that perpetual grin and clueless persona he's actually a horrible person, and somehow, Tsuna attracts them like flies to honey.

This is his life now. It's pretty pathetic that despite all of the craziness and crime fighting in booty shorts he's never been happier.

II.

"It's not that bad," Yamamoto actually manages to say with a straight face. Tsuna was watching him very closely. He didn't even hesitate. "I mean, sure, the shorts could be a little longer-"

"It's very warm out in space." That was Reborn. Also with a straight face. Why.

"And I'm not sure what the tiara's for-"

"It was the height of fashion out in space." Tsuna kind of wants to scream. It's an urge he gets quite often around these two.

"Haha, oh, well, the whole thing's also really tight? It's, well, you know, it doesn't leave much to the imagination," Yamamoto adds, a little embarrassed now.

Reborn raises an eyebrow, silently judging. "Space has less air, so the clothes were made for scientific reasons such as that."

"Oh," he laughs, appeased. "I guess it's okay then."

Tsuna can't take it anymore.

"That doesn't even make any sense! You're definitely messing with us! I know you can change the design because you're Reborn, and you can do anything you want!" He practically shrieks in his outrage and disbelief. "'Space' is not an acceptable answer to the question 'why do I feel like a fan-service character?' or anything else actually! And you," he rounds on the ever-smiling Yamamoto, with a glare, "I can't tell if you actually believe what he's saying or are just playing along, but stop it. For the sake of the last little bit of my remaining sanity, stop it!"

"Sorry," Yamamoto apologizes, utterly insincerely.

"Don't get so flustered, Dame-Tsuna. It's not good for your health," Reborn retorts blithely.

Tsuna resists the urge to strangle them both and then seriously wonders why it would be a bad idea. Seems like it would take out three birds with one stone. No more crime-fighting, no more harassment, and no more appallingly unhelpful friends. It's disturbingly appealing. A small, reasonable voice reminds him that murder is illegal and that his mother would miss him in jail. He sadly dismisses the idea.

"So how many Senshi are there in total?" Tsuna brings up something that's been bothering him since Reborn mentioned there were other Guardians.

Reborn tilts his hat down to hide his expression. "I don't know how many made it through, but ideally, there should be seven other Guardians somewhere on this planet. Now that I've found you, the search should be easier," he explains, tone unreadable.

"Why is that?" Tsuna asks, confused.

Reborn smirks. "They'll be subconsciously drawn to you, like moths to a flame. Yamamoto is the norm, not the exception. We'll probably run into more Senshi as we battle youma, and they'll stand out one way or another."

"Great," Tsuna says, sarcastic. "Wonderful."

"What if there aren't any more Senshi?" Yamamoto asks in a rare moment of seriousness. "What if it's just us?"

Since properly befriending him, Tsuna's gotten the impression that Yamamoto Takeshi is far more perceptive than he leads people to believe, and this is just more proof of that. He looks to Reborn for an answer as well.

After an intense few minutes of silence: "The other Guardians are out there. We just need to find them."

Tsuna shares a look with Yamamoto. The other boy smiles. "Sounds easy enough. Tsuna just has to show everyone how amazing he is, and the others will come running."

Tsuna rolls his eyes. "I doubt - with every fiber of my being, by the way - that that is even a thing or that it would work."

In a blink-and-you-miss-it movement, Reborn whips out gun-Leon and levels it at him. "Don't be so pessimistic, Dame-Tsuna. These soldiers will look up to you as their leader. Have a little faith."

'I'm not even a leader in my own home!' He thinks with a healthy amount of irritation and fear. 'You're clearly the one who's giving orders here!'

"And don't you forget it," Reborn warns him smugly, somehow reading his thoughts yet again. Leon changes back.

Tsuna bites his tongue and screams internally.

III.

"Oh, hi, Tsuna-kun!" A sweetly familiar voice greets him as he steps inside the Sunset Cafe and Arcade, and a smile lights his face as he spots the voice's owner. Sasagawa Kyoko waves him over. "It's been a while since I've seen you."

Tsuna tries not to grimace at the reason why he hasn't had time to stop by and see his first crush. Or reasons, rather. Instead, he says, "O-oh, well, I've been busy. With, uh, school, you know?" He laughs, a little nervously.

Kyoko nods as if he's said something totally reasonable. She gets a glint in her eye and observes, "Hmm, you seem different, Tsuna-kun."

"Different? How?" He asks, aiming for casual and probably hitting concerned.

After some thought, Kyoko smiles at him, and he holds steady against the sheer brightness of it. "You seem... happier. More relaxed."

He blinks. "Oh, really?" He certainly hasn't felt very relaxed with all the fights and insults and inappropriate outfits, but he's not about to mention that to one of the only people he knows who doesn't actively try to embarrass him.

"Mm-hm. I'm glad," she tells him, as she begins sweeping again, and Tsuna only feels a little guilty for stopping her from working. She goes on, heedless of his inner struggles, "Rumor has it you've become friends with Yamamoto-kun."

Tsuna doesn't fight the grin at the happy feeling those words bring him, even if the boy himself is carefree enough that it makes his head hurt sometimes. "Yeah, I am."

"That's wonderful - for both of you. I told you to keep your chin up, and things would work out, didn't I?" She meets his gaze and then does a full-on crinkly-eyed smile with roses and sparkles popping up in the background, and Tsuna just knows his face is tomato red. She's too cute for his own good. Ugh.

And then he takes in what she just said, and he's overcome with so much adoration and gratefulness for this one person that his heart swells. He clears his suddenly clogged throat. "You did. Thank you, Kyoko-chan," Tsuna says, warmly.

It's a nice moment, and it's probably the only time in the last month that he's felt so serene and at peace with himself. That's exactly why he really should have been prepared for something to come along and completely ruin it.

A scream pierces the comfortable silence, and with instincts unwillingly drilled into him, Tsuna whirls around toward the source of the noise rather than giving into his flight instincts and running away as fast as his feet can carry him. He spots the girl it belonged to immediately, cringing away from an older woman who is - now that he's searching for it - polluting the air with her dark energy. He bites back a curse (here? now? really?) and dithers between ducking into the back room to transform or calling Reborn or Yamamoto for backup, and in his indecision, the youma reveals her true grotesque, beetle-like form and wrecks the furniture around her with a swing of her enormous, spiked tail.

"This wasn't part of the plan, but surely Lord Byakuran will be pleased that I've found his lost, little jewel," she purrs, leering down at a frightened girl Tsuna's age. He doesn't recognize her. She has dark green hair and some kind of mark underneath her right eye, and she's clearly really scared.

The youma raises her arm as if to strike the girl, and Tsuna tenses to leap at her now that it's too late to slip away and change.

And then suddenly he doesn't have to. Seemingly out of nowhere, a broom smashes into the youma with deadly force, and she goes down hard enough that Tsuna's sure she won't be getting up again, especially when she crumbles into dust a few moments later.

A bell-like laugh chimes in the wake of the youma's defeat, and Tsuna stares at his friend, struck dumb with shock. Kyoko smiles sunnily, falling back to a normal stance with the broom at her side. "Please don't disturb the other customers, okay~?"

What. The. Heck.

Tsuna blinks, and then rubs his eyes, and blinks again. Kyoko hasn't moved, has actually begun calmly sweeping up the ashes of the fallen youma, actually, and at the alien, incomprehensible sight, Tsuna just... gives up. He's done so much flailing and denying and panicking these past few weeks that he's too tired to react to- whatever this is. So Kyoko can one-hit K.O. a strong youma (and she must have been for her to be able to hide from Tsuna's Hyper Intuition, some of which has bled through to his normal state) with nothing on hand but a broom? Sure. It figures, actually, because he's always found her a little terrifying, and maybe it was just his Intuition being on point again.

So instead of freaking out or interrogating his friend, he simply droops a little, shakes his head, and drops into a nearby seat, suddenly exhausted.

"I was hoping for a better reaction than that," Reborn appears, hopping onto the table across from Tsuna. He sounds vaguely disappointed. "Your normal, human crush just did your job better than you, Dame-Tsuna. Aren't you feeling surprised? Dejected? Inadequate?"

Tsuna scowls at him, irritated and not interested in rising to the sadistic baby's bait. "Not even a little bit."

"Oh?" Reborn drawls, raising an eyebrow. "So you don't want to know why Sasagawa was able to do that?"

"Tsuna-kun, do you mind helping me pick up the tables and chairs?" Kyoko calls to him from the other side of the room, as she shuffles around some of the other furniture and reassures customers. Tsuna would be surprised the remaining bystanders haven't fled yet, but Kyoko-chan has always had a magnetic pull that drives away common sense.

He shoots a dark look at Reborn, who is looking far too amused, and bites out, "No. Kyoko-chan kept whatever it is a secret for a reason, and I'm not going to pry. She's my friend."

He strides over to her, and with his help - and eventually her brother's once he returns from boxing practice - they get the store back to what it looked like before a demon wrecked the place. Sort of. The broken tile is going to need a professional, at the very least.

When Ryohei asks what happened, Kyoko catches Tsuna's eye meaningfully and then explains to her brother cheerfully, "A few kids from another school got into a fight. I was so scared! But they left soon enough, and Tsuna-kun helped me straighten up afterwards."

Ryohei grins just as brightly as his sister, his concern melting into relief. "I'm extremely glad nothing happened to you, Kyoko! I'll make sure to come home earlier tomorrow just in case they come back."

Kyoko returns his smile. "Thank you, nii-chan."

Tsuna has to look away from the blindingly bright scene unfolding in front of him, growing weirdly fond of Ryohei after this display of brotherly love and exasperated that two people could be so much like the sun in human form. He sort of understands the name of the cafe now.

A strong hand clamps down on his shoulder, and he finds himself crushed to a hard chest. A booming voice laughs in his ear.

"Thanks for looking after my sister, Sawada!" Ryohei exclaims gratefully, shaking him in his enthusiasm.

"You're welcome," Tsuna says awkwardly, unused to praise of any kind, much less for something he didn't do.

As Ryohei begins listing all the reasons Tsuna should join the boxing club (how did they get on that topic, exactly?) and Tsuna pretends to be interested, Kyoko giggles at him, and he sighs, a smile of his own pulling at his lips. He can handle a little awkwardness for her.

End Notes: Thanks again for the reviews! I'm so pleased you guys are enjoying this as much as I am. Also! This fic is going to be longer than I originally planned because I've become way too attached to the idea, so that's good news for you readers, yeah?

(Oh! I should mention that while Tsuna considers Kyoko a friend, he didn't think she returned the sentiment, which is why he says he has no friends at the beginning. Silly boy.)