AN: This story has been posted on this site for a while, but finally I am taking some time to work on it with my wonderful beta reader The Neo Productions.

Written by Meikokuran999, Edited by The Neo Productions.

Numbers of Life – Ch.1 – How It All Began

Tsuna sat quietly at his regular desk in the back of the classroom. He was staring out the window aimlessly when he saw Hibari passed by, but he wasn't surprised because the prefect was right on time with his regular schedule. He was smiling until he noticed something that instantly had him standing up and heading for the classroom door. He ran out of the room as quickly as possible, ignoring the teacher's protests.

When he got outside, he looked around in search of Hibari to see him turning the corner. As quickly and quietly as he could, Tsuna followed Hibari from a distance. He knew that being seen would add more problems to the situation, so he tried to remain as hidden as possible.

He watched Hibari very carefully, paying attention to everyone and everything around him. If he could notice what was going to happen, then it was possible that he could stop it. It didn't matter if he didn't know the prefect very well. He didn't want the prefect to die knowing that he could save him.

No matter what others thought about him, he would try to do what he could.

Even if they all thought Tsuna was a selfish mute.

For as long as he could remember, Tsuna had known that he was special. That he could see things that other people weren't able to. Since he was young, he could see different numbers above the heads of other people. He only learned that it was the person's lifespan counting down at the age of seven when he had been out shopping with his mother, he had noticed her number was only at ten. He watched as the numbers above the adults' heads all around began to count down. He had noticed the numbers counting down quite a while earlier but hadn't really been paying them too much attention until they reached ten and began their path to zero. He didn't know what was going on; he was confused as he watched the number above his mother's head counted down its path to zero. When it turned zero, there were multiple loud bangs.

His mother, along with all the other adults in the area that had low numbers, began to fall with bullet holes in their chests one by one.

The person with the gun had taken Tsuna and the rest of the children in the small area. For four days, the children were with the man. For four days, Tsuna had watched his kidnapper's numbers slowly decrease. Yet, watching the killer's numbers decrease was different to him watching his mother's. After having seen his mother die, he now knew what the numbers meant, and he was happy that the man would soon be dead.

Tsuna was completely calm the entire time he was with the kidnapper, unlike the rest of the children. He wasn't even slightly scared and actually found that the other children were annoying. He stayed as far away from the other children as he could, since they were all scared and crying. Even though the situation should have been terrifying, he kept his composure and remained in a state that was completely opposite the other kids'. He remained calm and continued to keep his emotions in check. Something inside him said that he would be fine, so he believed in that small voice. That small voice had never been wrong before. He was even rewarded by the man for staying quiet. The man must have found the other children to be loud and annoying too, because Tsuna always received more food and water than the others. He knew that he was being rewarded for his good behavior even when it caused all of the other children to begin to ignore and hate him. He didn't care though, because as much as Tsuna wouldn't mind having them to talk and play with, he put more value on simply keeping himself alive.

The days flew by very quickly and on the fourth day, that's when he knew it would happen. Tsuna kept as close to the man as possible, so that he could watch. He wanted to see how it would happen. So that night, when the numbers finally showed that the man only had 30 minutes, he made sure to stay with him, not leaving the room for anything. When it showed that the man had only 5 minutes left, Tsuna got this sudden urge to countdown.

"Five", the man looked down at the child who hadn't made a single noise since his arrival. He even started to think that the kid was mute. Yet, this proved that his earlier assumption had been wrong.

"Four", the man noticed a slightly creepy smile forming on Tsuna's lips. This strange behavior had begun to creep him out.

"Three", the man was frozen by the child's actions.

"Two", Tsuna stood up and backed away from the man. His smile slowly disappearing.

"One"

BANG

A bullet hole appeared in the middle of his kidnapper's forehead. Tsuna stayed quiet as he watched the dead body hit the floor. This death seemed to suit the man in his eyes. The man wasn't mean to him, but he still killed a lot of people.

He looked to the doorway of the room to see a tall man with curly sideburns and a fedora. The man came in and pointed his gun at Tsuna. He didn't even flinch at the movement of the gun. The man laughed at the strange child, "Are you brave or just stupid?"

Tsuna could see his reflection in the only mirror the now dead man owned. He saw the numbers above his own head, "There's nothing here for me to be afraid of."

The man started moving around the building. He seemed to be looking for the rest of the kids. Right before the man opened the door his numbers started counting down from five, Tsuna spoke, "Hey, mister, you have five seconds left."

The older man looked down at the smaller child as he stopped what he was doing for just the moment, "Five seconds left until what?"

"The end of your life", was what Tsuna said in response to his question. His voice was completely emotionless as the words left his lips. The man looked away and opened the door not taking the kid seriously. Tsuna felt a sudden need to stop him, so he jumped up, grabbing the man's arm and pulled him down. There was a noise as five bullets lodged themselves in the wall where the older man's head had just been. Tsuna watched as the numbers changed back into a really large one, "What the hell, kid?"

Tsuna let him go, "Had I not done that, you'd be dead."

The man looked down, "Had I not killed that man in the other room, you'd have wound up like the rest of the kids."

Tsuna glanced into the room to see a lot of blood. He knew that half of the kids had disappeared, but he really hadn't been paying too much attention to them. He had seen that their numbers were low, but he was only worried about himself. He looked up at the man, "What happened to them?"

The man in a fedora looked around, "He was hired to keep children for their organs when an important person's child needs a transplant. He provides the needed organ from the children he takes."

Tsuna didn't really understand too much but at least he understood that it was a very bad thing. He was looking around when he felt the man grab his arm, "Time to go, kid."

Tsuna was suddenly lifted off his feet into the air. The man started heading out of the house carrying Tsuna, "Where are you taking me?"

"With me. I can't leave someone who's seen me at the scene of the crime. It's either this or I kill you." Tsuna didn't struggle. He knew better than to fight. This man wouldn't hurt him. Tsuna believed that if anything, this man would be the one to protect him from any future occurrences.

"Kid. What's your name?" Tsuna glanced up at the man that was carrying him, "Tsunayoshi."

The man smirked, "Suits you. You can call me Reborn then."

Since that day, Tsuna had been with Reborn. Reborn had quickly become his new family. Reborn never asked too many questions allowing Tsuna to live a quiet and peaceful life. While living with Reborn, Tsuna remained a very reserved and demure person. It wasn't until Tsuna acted up one night that answers finally were needed.

At that time Tsuna had just turned 10. Reborn had been homeschooling him at the time so Tsuna rarely left the house. Whenever Reborn invited anyone over, Tsuna would just watch quietly. To be more exact, Tsuna never uttered a single word when around anyone but Reborn. Even when they tried to talk with Tsuna, he wouldn't respond to them. Lal and Colonello had attempted to get the younger to speak on many of their visits. They were jealous that the child would only ever talk to Reborn. Reborn had told them that the child could speak but they were starting not to believe him because the child just never spoke in front of them.

But it changed one night.

Reborn had been visited by his friend Luce who needed to talk to him about a job request she had gotten. Tsuna like usual was standing right behind Reborn's leg waiting for their guest to come in. Like he always had since Reborn had found him. But this time Tsuna acted differently. The second Tsuna saw her, he stepped out from behind Reborn's leg and walked over to her. He took her hand in his and muttered, "Ten."

Luce was completely shocked as this was the first time she has ever heard Tsunayoshi speak. They were both completely confused by what he said although it did remind Reborn a lot of the day he had met the kid, "Ten what, Tsunayoshi?"

Tsuna felt his feet leaving the ground as the woman carried him in her arms, "Tsunayoshi, could you please tell me what you mean by ten?"

Tsuna nodded at her request, "Ten minutes."

The second Tsuna said minutes, Reborn knew what he meant and grabbed Luce's hand. He quickly moved her from that location. As they moved, Tsuna kept his eyes locked above her head as he watched the numbers. He counted out loud as they moved as fast as they can away from the place, "Fifteen, twenty..."

Luce looked at Reborn confused about what was happening, "Why is he counting?"

Reborn let her go and pulled his gun out, "I don't know anything for sure, but I think I have an idea." He looked at Tsuna, "Take her to your safe spot, okay?"

Tsuna nodded jumping from Luce's arms, "Come."

He quickly led her through the house into his room. Once there, he pulled three books on the shelf as a secret door opened in the wall. Once they were both inside, he hit a button and it locked, closing behind them. Tsuna smiled at her when he saw the new numbers. "It's okay now."

Twenty minutes later, Reborn returned to them. He picked Tsuna up as Luce walked towards them still confused, "I took care of them all. You had quite a lot of hitmen after you."

Luce gasped clearly surprised, "You have to be kidding me?"

Reborn shook his head "I wish I was. You need to call your men for some protection before you even think about trying to leave. Whoever sent the men today, seriously wanted you dead."

Tsuna shook his head, "She's okay now. She'll be fine."

Reborn glanced at him, "How do you know that Tsunayoshi?"

Tsuna pointed his fingers at Luce, "The numbers above her head are back to normal."

Reborn set Tsuna down on the bed and knelt in front of him, "I need you to explain what you mean by that."

Tsuna looked straight at Reborn, "When your number hits zero, you die. That's why I knew to stop you, years ago. When Mommy's number had hit zero, she died."

Reborn and Luce just stared at the child, "Why did you never tell me?"

Tsuna frowned, "Even with proof, no one had ever believed me before, so I stopped trying to tell people about the numbers before you found me."

Luce took his hand in hers with a smile, "We believe you. If I can see the future then there's just as much of a chance that you can see life spans. It just means that you're special. It's your gift."

Tsuna shook his head and both of them saw tears for the first time fall from his eyes, "It's not a gift. Daddy always said it was a bad thing and would hit me. He told me if I ever told anyone he would lock me up. I didn't want to be locked up anywhere, so I stopped telling people."

Luce could feel the anger leaking from Reborn as he heard that. Reborn quickly questioned the child, "Tsunayoshi, what's your last name?"

Tsuna looked into Reborn's eyes then shook his head. The voice in his head told him not to say a thing, "I can't tell you."

"Why?" was all that Reborn asked.

Tsuna looked down at his hands, "Because you want to hurt Daddy and that would have made Mommy sad."

Luce looked at Tsuna. She felt so bad for what the child had been through. She looked back at Reborn who was still angry, "Calm down. Your anger is really showing right now. You're lucky that he's not scared of you."

That night was when Tsuna truly started opening up. That was the day Luce basically became his mother and he started to really trust her and Reborn. That was also the day his training had begun.

It had been twenty minutes since Tsuna started following Hibari around. He watched the numbers continue to count down. When it finally dropped down to 5 minutes, he took the risk of being spotted and moved closer. The second that he saw the person who would cause the prefect's death, he quickly made his move.

It had been a very normal day for Hibari, following the same regular schedule of biting to death any students who broke the rules. The same schedule in his life that hadn't changed since he first became a prefect. Yet, strangely enough, he had bitten to death someone from out of town the other day which was a very rare occurrence.

Hibari looked around when he felt like he was being watched but did not see anyone. When he was sure no one was there, he continued to walk. Suddenly, there was someone literally right beside Hibari attacking him. He knew he was strong but at the same time, he knew that he wouldn't be fast enough to block the man's attack.

All of a sudden, a brunet appeared between him and his attacker. Instantly, he could tell the brunet had been hit. Yet, at the same time with what was in the boy's hand and where it was aimed he knew that the attacker would be dead a lot quicker. The man dropped dead in front of them as the brunet placed his hand on his stomach, clearly hurt. He winced in pain, "Shit, that asshole poisoned the blade."

Hibari watched as the teen dropped down. Clearly, he was in a lot of pain, and with what he had just heard he was slightly worried, but he didn't know why. This kid wasn't anyone important to him even though he had seen him before a couple of time in school. If he could remember correctly, the boy's name was Sawada Tsunayoshi, but everyone just seemed to call him the school's mute even though he clearly had just spoken, "Herbivore?"

Tsuna looked up at him, "I'm not an herbivore Hibari-san."

Tsuna pulled his phone from his pocket, having a hard time dialing as his hands shook. He raised the phone up towards his ear before cursing under his breath. Whoever he had just phoned must have failed to answer.

Tsuna couldn't fucking believe it as he hissed out in annoyance. Of all days to let someone stab him, it had to be this one. He had called Reborn's cellphone the second he realized the blade was poisoned, only to receive absolutely no answer. Which was a very rare occurrence, since Reborn always answered his phone unless he was on a mission. He closed the phone not even thinking twice before ending the call and dialing in the next number. He begged to god that she would answer because he really didn't know how much longer he could remain conscious. So she was his last chance. He was so relieved when he heard a click and her voice, "Hello?"

Tsunayoshi opened his mouth to talk but started coughing in pain. He managed to force out, "Luce. Help. Stabbed."

Luce instantly changed to a stern personality, "Tsunayoshi, honey, calm yourself and breathe slowly. Now, tell me where you are."

Tsuna could feel his consciousness slipping as he stared at Hibari. He lifted his phone and handed it to Hibari before he passed out. The male prefect was his last hope.

Hibari acted fast as he caught the small brunet that had saved him. He raised the phone up to his ear, "He passed out."

He could hear a very worried but stern sounding woman on the other end, "Who are you and where is Tsunayoshi?"

Hibari breathed out as he told her, "He's hurt."

The woman reacted quickly, "Please, I need you to bring him to me."

Hibari made a scoffing noise before agreeing, "Fine, where should I take him?"

She quickly gave Hibari directions before he hung up and shoved the phone into his pocket. Hibari removed his belt and tied a piece of fabric to apply pressure to the stab wound before he picked Tsuna up. He carried the boy in his arms as he made his way to where she had given him directions. When he got there, it was a large mansion and he just stared at the gate. He was just about to knock when a woman with blue hair pushed the door open. She had two men in black suits behind her that took Tsunayoshi from his arms. She led Hibari in following the men carrying Tsuna.

The men had set Tsuna down on a bed and Luce had started working on him quickly. It didn't take her long before the wound was closed and bandaged. The only problem was that she needed to do something about the poison that was in his system. Tsuna was already extremely lucky that he had a high immunity built up to poison thanks to Reborn. If he hadn't then he would have probably already been dead.

Reborn was carefully watching his target from a rooftop, quite a distance away. He lined up the reticle of his gun with the man's head before finally pulling the trigger. Just as he was pulling the trigger, his phone vibrated from his pocket. He was already really ticked off. Tsuna had just phoned a while ago which was something they were going to have to talk about. Tsunayoshi knew better than to phone him when he was on a mission. He pulled it from his pocket and looked at his caller ID this time to see that it was Luce. He sighed and opened the phone knowing that if he didn't answer this call that he would never hear the end of it from her, "What do you want?"

Luce was freaking out on the other end of the call. She sounded like she was in tears as she yelled at him, "Tsuna's dying, you need to get your ass here now. If you don't get your ass here and heal him, the poison's going to kill him."

Reborn's eyes widened as he grabbed his gun and started quickly making his way down to his car, "What happened?"

"He got stabbed protecting someone. The blade must have been poisoned with something really potent", was all Luce said before she hung up on him. Reborn slammed his car door after chucking his sniper rifle into the backseat. His foot slammed on the gas as he sped down the back roads towards Luce's mansion. The gate was open when he got there so he drove straight up to the front door. He got out of his vehicle, walking in quickly. He saw Luce as he walked down the hall, "Where is he?"

She pointed to the door, "He's asleep in that bedroom."

Reborn opened the door to see Tsuna on the bed and a black-haired boy standing in the corner. After one glance though, he didn't pay the black-haired boy any more attention as he sat down beside Tsuna on the bed. He pulled up the sheets and started quickly removing the bandages as he placed his hand on the stitched up cut. His hand shined yellow as he forced the flame into the younger's body. It took him twenty minutes before he was sure that all poison had been removed from Tsunayoshi's system. He sat down beside Tsuna on the bed, tired from the strain of the sun flames caused to his body.

Hibari was quiet as he stood in the corner of the room. He was really confused about what he had just seen. He was watching as the man with curly sideburns closed his eyes to get a little rest when the teen lying asleep on the bed, awoke.

Reborn instantly was up, looking at Tsuna the second that he heard movement coming from the bed. He had a strong grasp on Tsuna's hand now as he looked at him, "Are you okay Tsunayoshi?"

Tsuna glanced down at him clearly exhausted. Tsuna nodded, "You didn't answer."

Reborn shook his head, "I'm sorry, I was on a job."

Tsuna nodded, "It's okay. How did I even get here?"

Reborn looked towards the corner of the room at the black-haired teen. Luce walked into the room and answered Tsuna's question. She pointed at Hibari, "He carried you here after you passed out."

Tsuna smiled at the male prefect, "Thank you, Hibari-san."

Hibari made an annoyed noise, as he thanked Tsuna in his own way, "I just didn't want to owe you anything for...saving me."

Tsuna just smiled, "It was nothing, but thanks anyways for not just leaving me there to die."

Hibari glared at him, "Herbivore, no one would just leave someone there to die."

Tsuna laughed, "You would be surprised what some people would do. I know a lot of kids from school that would have just left me there to die. To them, it wouldn't have made a difference whether I was going to live or die. My life really doesn't affect theirs."

Hibari was rather surprised by how little faith the boy had in others. Well, he was even more surprised by how much he talked. He watched the boy and the man interact. They stayed close together and for some reason, he felt upset at the sight. No, the word for what he was currently feeling would be jealousy. He suddenly felt the needed to embrace the younger child, but he refused his body's request anyways. Quickly, he said his goodbye after getting Tsuna's cell number saying that he would see him again soon. Luce followed Hibari out of the room.

The second Hibari left, Reborn went around the bed and then slid in beside Tsuna. Tsuna moved closer towards the other's chest enjoying the increase in heat. He felt Reborn's arms wrap around him as he pressed his head against the elder's chest. He heard Reborn whisper to him, "I almost lost you today. Don't you ever make me feel this way again!"

Tsuna smiled into Reborn's chest, "I'm sorry, but I had to protect him."

Reborn smiled as he rubbed the boy's back, "I know."

Reborn was surprised when he felt tears staining his shirt. He didn't expect Tsuna, who was usually so calm, to start crying. Reborn continued to rub gentle circles on his back, "I was really scared when you didn't answer your phone."

Reborn sighed saying the only thing that he really could, "Sorry."

Tsuna just hugged him, "It's fine. I just phoned Luce for help."

Reborn shook his head as his hold on Tsuna tightened, "It's not fine. You almost died because I didn't answer my stupid phone."

Tsuna didn't say anything as he kept his head pressed against the elder's chest. He felt really tired now. Reborn noticed quickly and moved down cuddling the younger one. He had truthfully been really scared when he heard Luce tell him Tsuna was dying. He wouldn't know what to do with himself if Tsunayoshi died. Tsunayoshi was like the world to him now and he knew that if he ever lost Tsuna then he would be lost. He was the world's best hitman but even he wasn't immune to the loss of someone so extremely important. Tsunayoshi had easily become Reborn's reason for living. Something Reborn didn't think could ever happen. Reborn had been so emotionless around everyone before he found Tsuna. Yet, something about the child had changed him and he would never allow the child to leave his side.