You know, for a character I can't actually stand, I write way too many Lambo fics. But none of my planned multi-chap KHR fics are providing fruit, and I find the 10 Year Bazooka far too interesting not to play with.

Wasted Youth

Lambo's bracelet is flashing.

It's a tiny little thing, a small blue bulb hidden into an expensive watch, and appears to be there just for decoration. However, its activation fills Lambo with a far too familiar loathing.

Tsuna is in the middle of a meeting with a rival familia – the kind of meeting where every gesture has a dozen subtexts. Hibari and Mukuro were absent as their boss couldn't guarantee they'd get the subtlety (Kyoya) or choose to ignore it for their own amusement (Rokudo).

As for Lambo, it had taken him weeks just to convince Tsuna to let him sit in. And now this.

He gritted his teeth, and caught the eyes of Gokudera, standing guard at his boss's side. They widened, and then narrowed in frustration.

'Now?'

Lambo gave the tiniest of nods. 'Now.'

There was an entire novel of emotions going through the right hand's eyes, enough to catch the attention of Tsuna, who spared an eye to catch Lambo's wrist. He sighed, and held up a hand, stalling their guests.

"My apologies gentlemen" he began. "But I'm afraid one of my Guardians will have to leave for another engagement. Lambo, if you would?"

The blue light was now flashing red, and Lambo bowed, walking out the door at a steady pace. Once the door was shut, he flung himself down the hall, aiming for the door 100 metres to his right.

He only had about 30 seconds left…

The door was yanked open, and he bolted the inner lock shut. It was a cupboard, once used for basic cleaning equipment, but now served a much more chaotic use.

As his final seconds counted down, Lambo took stock. Grape candy, a comic book, a TV that would turn on to a cartoon channel, a lock that wouldn't open for anyone under 5 foot…

The pink smoke enveloped him, and the cupboard disappeared. When the cloud dispersed, he found himself standing in the middle of the Sawada's living room. I-Pin and Futa were there, as well as a rather frazzled looking teenaged Decimo. In between the kids, there was a plate of ruined cake.

Lambo sighed.

"Hello again Young Vongola" he greeted.

He was really getting tired of this.

Most would agree that self-loathing is a fairly common trait among teenagers. As is a resentment at their antics as a child, which seemed fun at the time but only appear to cause humiliation and embarrassment to their now mature(ish) and adult selves.

However, Lambo doesn't consider himself part of that majority, he has a legitimate reason for his hatred. For one thing, he's relatively certain most of those teenagers don't get replaced with their younger selves every other day.

If he was honest, Lambo would admit that he had never thought about the flip side of the ten year bazooka. Frankly, when he was five it was just an awesome toy, that when he was in trouble or upset, he could use and find himself in a place that was usually comfortable or fun or just better, and when he calmed down would go back and find whatever was bothering him had gone away.

It hadn't occurred to him that for every time he went into the future, eventually, future him would be sent back.

At take him from a time in which it was very, very dangerous to be five years old.

It was ironic, that the very thing that got him his position as a Guardian in the first place was the very thing stopping him from being one. When he was thirteen, he'd been sitting in one on of Tsuna's very first diplomatic meetings with allied familiars, when he'd suddenly been poofed away to the Bovino headquarters. When he returned, it was to a rather chaotic meeting room, full of rather annoyed and stressed out Mafioso. Lambo at 3 had been a screaming, wailing mess – just what you needed for a serious first impression.

Fortunately, Lambo was certain he hadn't been given regular access to the weapon until he was five and punted out the door to Japan – that incident had been random. It gave Giannini and Spanner enough time to work out a warning system. They argued that since, technically, the cause of going back in time had already happened, it was easy enough to create a warning system for the effect. The maths made Lambo's head hurt, but in layman's terms, when the watch flashed blue, he had five minutes to get himself somewhere safe. The red light was when he had less than a minute.

It proved functional on his fifteenth birthday, approximately ten years after he received the bazooka. And then never seemed to. Stop. Flashing!

Seriously, did no one think to take away the bazooka at any point? He'd lived the past and even he couldn't believe how many times he was getting spirited away. One week saw 20 trips. 20! The majority of which seemed to be accidental. And people thought Tsuna was clumsy!

When it became clear the trips back had become the norm instead of the rare, Lambo found himself banned from nearly all meetings and field work, instead stuck in the lucrative field of administration or escort duty (and only so long as there were at least two other guardians with Tsuna, so it usually involved him tagging along behind and doing nothing). Tsuna had even been talking about taking him off even the most basic duties so he could 'concentrate on school.'

It wasn't fair! He was the Lightning! It was his job to protect Tsuna, to protect his family. Instead they acted as if they were a man down, having to pull additional shifts to protect him. He'd finally become the Guardian everyone had spent 10 years waiting for him to become, only to be stuck waiting for his child self to grow up.

It all came to a head, ironically enough, in a hospital. In a stroke of unbelievably bad luck, Lambo had been caught in the crossfire with a rival familia while being escorted home by Ryohei. Despite the boxer ordering him to stay down, he'd chased the sun into the fray.

He'd fought as well as he could, even planning to take out the Vongola gear. Unfortunately, numbers and location had acted against him, and a lucky blast had seem him crashing into a wall and unable to count his fingers. When he'd woken up, he'd found Tsuna, Gokudera in his room, Ryohei fast asleep on the opposite bed, sporting bandages around a bare chest but otherwise fine. Once it was clear he was conscious, Gokudera had wasted no time tearing into him for not following orders.

"Dammit Lambo" Gokudera growled at the end of his rant. "If you're so damned determined to fight, use the damn bazoo-"

"NO!"

They all paused at his outburst, and Lambo looked away, fingers clenched in the blankets.

"I won't use the bazooka ever again. I won't."

It was an unpopular statement, but protests died off when Tsuna raised a hand and took in his youngest Guardian.

"Why not Lambo?"

The teen swallowed, braced his shoulders, and turned to face his brothers.

"When you were all my age, you were fighting opponents you shouldn't have won against" he began. "You didn't get a 'cheat' like me, you had to earn every ounce of flame and skill in order to win. If I keep using the bazooka when things get tough, how am I ever going to get tough enough to be the Lightning?"

Tsuna sighed. "Lambo, I know that it feels like we coddle you, but I'm just trying to protect you. We should never have had to live through what we did. The bazooka gives you that option."

"But every time I use it I become a liability!" Lambo argued. "I can't help you because I'm a walking time bomb. If I keep using it, I'll still be useless in ten years – I'm so…tired of being useless."

His eyes dropped, picking at the blanket's edge, when he felt Tsuna's hand on his head. When he looked up, Tsuna was smiling, though his eyes were sharp.

"The last time you used the bazooka, you were thirteen, correct?"

Lambo nodded, and Tsuna closed his eyes and sighed.

"Well, that means you have seven more years to prepare. If you agree to stay out of Mafia business until you're 23, I'll arrange the best training I can, so you'll be ready once your…liability runs out."

The teen's eyes widen, mostly in fear.

"R-Reborn?"

Tsuna blanched, face paling and hands waving in front of him.

"God no! Do I look like a sadist?"

That broke the tension in the room, and Gokudera and Lambo couldn't hide their smirks. Finally, Tsuna recovered and held out a hand.

"So, do we have a deal?"

Lambo frowned.

"I want to be useful now."

"I know" Tsuna admitted. "But as cruel as it sounds, you can't be."

"Yet" Gokudera is quick to add. "Take Judaime's offer and you will be one day."

Lambo sighs, looks at his brothers, and takes Tsuna's hand.

Of course, this is the moment he realises his watch is flashing red, and sighs as the pink smoke engulfs him.

Tsuna has him sent on a plane back to Japan, where he is greeted by an ecstatic Nana and I-Pin. The female martial artist had chosen to remain in Namimori to continue studying while Lambo went to Italy, but was elated to have her partner in crime back. Within days Lambo found himself enrolled in Tsuna's old school, and enjoying the luxury of being the mysterious and exotic transfer student.

But three days since arriving, he hears the door ring, and comes down when Nana calls out that he has a visitor.

When he gets to the bottom of the stairs, he pales considerably. Hibari was there, tonfa's in hand and a sharp smile on his face.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi has put me in charge of your training herbivore" he greets, hint of fang. "Prepare to be bitten to death."

Perhaps he should have requested Reborn after all…

Lambo gulps, and scrambles for his horns.

It's going to be a long seven years…