Mukuro Rokudo warily watched Iemitsu Sawada.

The man was goofy, seemingly brainless...That was why most people quickly labeled Sawada as a 'low threat'. They quickly moved on to Lal Mirch, Basil, Oregano...

But Mukuro saw those odd things. He picked them out as he ignored the fights and verbal fights around him when he read of the current events in the underworld. More importantly, the Mist noticed the quiet appearance of information and disappearances of enemies that happened every time Iemitsu wasn't seen for a few days.

There were larger, glaring mysteries. How the leaders of large famiglias rumored to be plotting to attack a member of the Vongola Alliance simply seemed to fall off the edge of the world. How smaller famiglias seemed to simply be wiped out, sometimes overnight, whenever they caused a problem for Vongola's people or missions. How anonymous sources regularly tipped Interpol off to enemy Mafioso operations.

There were smaller wonderings Mukuro had as well, ones that briefly passed through his mind. How Vongola had the monthly updated blueprints of every criminal organization's main bases. How there were well thought out plans of attack for each of those bases. How there were extensive files on key members in the Italian police, Interpol, and every European famiglia.

As he watched the blond Sky brightly smile from a far, he wondered what dark secrets were buried in the ground and what gut wrenching stories had gone untold.

Two of the Guardians noticed occasionally: Gokudera and the Skylark.

However, Takeshi did have times when he made odd comments to Iemitsu about enemies and killing. Perhaps the sports idiot suspected a bit more then he let on.

Tsuna was pretty oblivious to Iemitsu not being 'Dame'. It showed in how Tsuna grumbled about his 'No-Good father'. Honestly, Reborn should have worked on his student's lack of perception.

XXX

Tsuna had been looking into Iemitsu's past. Iemitsu knew it and knew that the investigation was inevitable. He was just surprised that it had taken his son five years to start looking.

Albeit, the man didn't think his son would find much of anything, most records of his jobs had been destroyed. But, for some reason, Iemitsu felt like he was forgetting something however. He waved the niggling thought away.

Today was a private Vongola Christmas party, just for the family. Tsuna and his Guardians, Iemitsu and his team, Nana, and the Varia.

Iemitsu and Nana talked with several people. Eventually, Nana went off to chat with the young women, she had taken a particular liking to Tsuna's girlfriend Kyoko.

Iemitsu liked Kyoko as well, she was kind and thoughtful, she got along well with Tsuna. At this point, he was waiting for Tsuna to work up to courage to propose. And he wasn't the only one. Nana had already started looking at possible locations and photography companies. There was a large betting pool that include many mafia dons and assassins. Several of the Arcobaleno had joined in as well.

Iemitsu sighed. He walked over to chat with Mammon, Oregano, and Basil. He and Basil traded looks when the two women started talking about makeup.

On the other side of the room, Tsuna sighed. His Guardians were a chaotic group as always. Gokudera was glaring at a laughing Takeshi. Lambo was bored. Ryohei was 'extremely' yelling about something. Chrome nibbled on some food with a smile, she was the only Guardian enjoying the party. Mukuro and Hibari were passive aggressively insulting each other. Hibari somehow managed to make his comments under five words each time while still being annoying.

The don gave up on coraling his Guardians and decided to move elsewhere. He headed towards the Varia-Squalo started shouting-and then changed his mind. The don turned on his heel and went towards his father.

Iemitsu was now at a table in the corner, watching the party with a smile on his lips. A wine bottle and filled glasswas on the table in front of him. Tsuna sat down in a chair across from his.

Tsuna took a deep breath and loudly asked, "I looked into my records...and yours. Dad, who's Renato Sinclair, your legal guardian when you were a kid? Why haven't I heard of him before?"

Iemitsu barely managed to keep a straight face.Inside, he cursed at his past self for not destroying the hospital records.

The entire room went silent, eyes fixed on the Don and his Outside Advisor.

"It's a long story," Iemitsu said in an awkward attempt to stall for time.

The Guardians, CEDEF members' and the Varia quickly clustered around the table. Xanxus sat down beside Nana, on the woman's left sat Lal Mirch and Colonello.

"I think we all have time," Tsuna replied with a smirk.

Iemitsu sighed. It seemed like there was no getting out of 'story time'. "Well, Renato Sinclair was my legal guardian after my parents died."

"Yeah, but who is he?" Takeshi asked, his tone full of curiosity.

Iemitsu grinned, "The cat is somewhat out of the bag, but it's up to him as to whether or not he wants his identity revealed now."

Reborn stood up with a sigh and strolled over to the group. The crowd cleared for him without prompt. He elegantly sat down half way between Tsuna and Iemitsu. "I, am Renato Sinclair," the hitman smoothly revealed.

Several people choked and Tsuna looked like he was about to have a heart attack.

"Yeah, I was Reborn's first student. You and Dino are lucky he toned down things after I broke my arm," Iemitsu happily chirped. Tsuna gave his father a horrified look.

"If you didn't act like a bumbling numbskull at the beginning, you wouldn't have had a problem," Reborn pointed out with a smirk.

"I was what, eleven? You can't realistically expect an eleven year old to do stuff like that," the blond man protested.

Reborn rolled his eyes. "You were nine and a half actually. And you did live up to my expectations, eventually."

"What?" Tsuna forced out, his eyes wide as saucers. His wide eyed stare was mirrored by his Guardians.

Iemitsu grinned, "Okay, okay, I'll start from the beginning. Everyone settle down for story time.

"My parents were killed in a turf war, my father was a rather well payed spy for the Vongola Family. However, no one knew his heritage. By age eight, I was on the streets running errands and smuggling packages for the local mobs."

A/N

As promised, Before Your Time is now going to be published this spring.

Welcome to the start of a new khr story.

-Silver