Summary: Part of the Many Verses of Tsuna. Sawada Tsunayoshi was an enigma, a person that Reborn knew would hold the answers to the questions that he has been piling up since being assigned as Yoshimitsu's tutor. Upon meeting Tsuna that one summer, he had warned him once, and only once, "The answers that you seek is something only meant for the ears of someone who can afford them."

Chapter 1

The first time Reborn had met Tsuna was when he had to stay in Namimori for the summer to continue the training of the future Vongola Decimo, Sawada Yoshimitsu.

Ever since he was eight, Yoshimitsu, or Mitsu, had been living in Italy after being whisked away by his father, Sawada Iemitsu. It had caused a rift between husband and wife that almost went as far as divorce, but for the sake of him and his older brother Tsuna, the two had agreed to keep the marriage intact, but their civil cohabitation was never going to happen anymore.

Their agreement was that Yoshimitsu would stay in Japan to study along with his home tutor, Reborn, and he would go to Italy during summer vacations, no negotiations accepted.

So when Yoshimitsu was asked to stay in Namimori for the summer because of the issue concerning Xanxus, Reborn was also obligated to stay in Namimori to continue his mafia education.

That was when he met the mysterious Sawada Tsunayoshi who had gone home for the summer from his studies and work in Tokyo.

…

"I'm home!" Tsuna had announced at the genkan with a smile.

As soon as he said that, his mother came rushing to the genkan, spatula in hand with a bright smile on her face. "Tsu-kun!" she said with glee as she engulfed her son in a tight embrace.

"M-Mom! I can't breathe properly…" Tsuna replied as he returned the embrace anyway. When the woman released him, he looked down to see that the genkan had a lot of pairs of shoes. "I noticed we have some extra shoes here. Do we have guests?" Tsuna asked her.

Nana merely smiled and shook her head, "Mitsu-kun's staying here at the last minute, and his home tutor is here for the summer!" she informed. Her youngest son had told her not to mention anything to Tsuna about him staying for the summer to surprise him, and it seems like it was working.

Tsuna's eyes widened, "Mitsu is home this summer? I thought Iemitsu always takes him to Italy during the summer?"

"Something came up, and he was unable to go." His mother replied, but Tsuna knew that there was more to the story than his mother let on. Unfortunately, being an individual who respects privacy, he decided not to pry.

With a nod, Tsuna looked behind Nana to see no one following her, "Where are they?"

With a giggle, Nana replied as she led her son to the dining table along with his luggage. "They're running around the nearby park right now, but they will be back in a while in time for lunch."

At the mention of lunch, Tsuna seemed to brighten, "Then, shall I help?"

His mother shook her head and pointed the spatula at him, "No. You just came back, and I'm almost done anyways. You have free reign of the kitchen at dinner. I can't wait to see how your cooking skills evolved this year. Watanuki-san is doing wonders to you,"

"Oh, speaking of Watanuki-san," Tsuna said as he rummaged his carefully placed luggage and took out a four-tier bento wrapped in an elegant white cloth with chrysanthemum flowers, "Here. Watanuki-san told me to give these to you as a treat. We can have this for tea later, and since Mitsu and his tutor are here, I'll just make more if it's not enough,"

"Ah, Watanuki-san's famous Mokona red bean manju?" she guessed.

"He also sent along some tea to go with it."

"Wonderful! Mitsu is never home to eat the things that you and Watanuki-san make. It will be a new experience since your skills are way better than mine when it comes to cooking." She complimented.

At his mother's words, Tsuna deigned it right to refute her statement, "Nonsense! Your cooking is as good as ours! It's just…Watanuki-san's scope of cooking is broader than yours." He then took the rest of his luggage in his hands, "I'll go on up to unpack and get dressed into more normal clothes. Tell Mitsu that I'm here when he and his tutor gets back,"

"Do you want to take a bath afterwards?" Nana asked.

"I can take care of that," Tsuna assured the woman and made a beeline to his room upstairs.

Nana returned to the kitchen to finish her preparation for lunch.

Fifteen minutes later, Reborn and Yoshimitsu returned with her son dead tired from all the running he did. "We're…hah…h-home…!" she heard her son announce at the genkan as he took off his shoes.

"Welcome home!" Nana replied to her son.

Mitsu appeared at the kitchen with Reborn on his shoulder as usual, his brownish blond hair matted with sweat as he went to his mother. "Mom, do we have a visitor? There's an extra pair of shoes here…"

"Not a guest dear!" Nana replied with glee. "Tsu-kun arrived fifteen minutes ago!"

At the words of his mother, Mitsu's brown eyes brightened as he stood on the balls of his feet with glee, much to Reborn's surprise. "Really? Nii-san is back?"

Nana smiled and nodded. Growing up, the twins had a rocky relationship up until ten years ago, when she and Mitsu almost lost Tsuna to a mafia-related incident. His hospitalization had awakened Mitsu's dormant twin brother instinct, and since then, the two had been closer and cannot be separated for long.

Until five years ago when Tsuna had to leave for Tokyo because of his school and his part-time job.

Since then, the two would only see each other physically for a few hours a year. Tsuna would go home to Namimori during summer, while Mitsu would go to Italy, and when school comes along, Tsuna would return to Tokyo and Mitsu to Namimori. They could only spend time with each other for less than twenty-four hours a year. Not even the home tutor of her youngest has ever seen her eldest, and Nana had preferred it that way until now.

"He's upstairs unpacking. He'll be down for lunch, so take a shower and fix yourself~!" she said as she ushered her youngest upstairs to his bedroom to get ready for lunch.

…

"Why are you feeling so giddy?" Reborn asked him when they got to his bedroom.

"Well…" Mitsu started as he took off his sweaty clothes, "Nii-san and I rarely see each other, and when we do, it would be only a few hours a year in this house because he had to leave for Tokyo," he explained, "He's only here during summer vacation, which is conveniently the time when I am bound to get back to Italy for you to teach."

Reborn raised a brow at that, "Why does he go to a school in Tokyo instead of here?"

"It has something to do with a debt." With a sigh, Mitsu went to his bathroom, with the door open so that Reborn could hear his explanation as he took a shower, "Mom incurred the debt to a shopkeeper and the price involves Nii-san. That debt started to be collected when we turned eleven." Mitsu reached for the shower head and turned it on as he continued, "Unfortunately, the former shopkeeper died a few years ago, but the new owner had sent his friend, Doumeki-san, at our house to pick him up to collect the debt and to take care of his transfer papers in a new school since the shop is located in Tokyo. After that, Nii-san only had a few months to spend with us before we parted ways after summer of that year." He stated, "He's pretty good in school work now, and his scholarship proves it."

When Mitsu turned silent, Reborn knew that he was too distracted to speak and take a shower altogether, but it did give Reborn enough time to take in the information that his student knew about his older brother. 'Sawada Tsunayoshi should have been the first candidate to consider. Why was he bypassed? Did Iemitsu really think about this clearly? Only one way to find out…' he thought.

"This brother of yours, what is he like?" Reborn asked when Mitsu came out of the shower.

"Hm? He's a good cook. He's already surpassed Mom since Watanuki-san—that's his boss—taught him. His cooking skills are levels higher than Mom. Nii-san goes to this exclusive school…I think it was Clamp Gakuen…yeah, that's the one." Mitsu reached for his clothes in the closet as he continued. "He's also a member of a culinary research club and…oh, he's the only errand boy of Watanuki-san apart from Doumeki-san."

"How old is the shopkeeper?" Reborn wondered.

"Nii-san said he's already twenty-seven, but I beg to differ. The picture of him he sent me recently looked like he's nowhere near above twenty. But since Doumeki-san and he went to school together, I figured he was just baby-faced." Mitsu explained.

"That's all you know?"

Mitsu nodded as he got dressed. "Nii-san said that if I asked any more questions about the shop, I will have to 'pay the price' so to speak."

Reborn didn't like the sound of that. Usually when one says that, the price is usually the life of the asker. "A bit threatening, don't you think? What does the shop this Watanuki person sell anyway?"

At that, Mitsu stopped. "Hm…Nii-san said it's more of a bartering kind of shop. You give them something of equal value of what you want from the shop. No more, no less. He said that there are a lot of stuff there that he has never seen before. Rare stuff, mind you, most of them were leaning on the folklore rare."

"You mean ancient stuff?"

The boy shook his head, "More on family heirlooms and relics." He then stopped and looked at Reborn, "Why the sudden interest, Reborn?"

Reborn sighed, "Maybe because he is rarely mentioned. Iemitsu does not even talk about him that much, and up to this day, I still wonder why."

Mitsu rolled his eyes at the information, "Maybe because Nii-san actually despises Dad. He's made it known ever since we found out that he was in the mafia and never bothered telling Mom before they even married." Mitsu as well, didn't mask the fact that he was a bit displeased about his Dad, but not so much as his older brother who actually acts like his name is poison in the family. After all, his bloodline was the reason Mitsu was slated to become the next boss of one of the most powerful mafia families.

He didn't really have a choice in the matter, considering that he knew that there was a reason why Tsuna was bypassed as an heir. That was a subject that Mitsu didn't need or want to revisit at all.

Shaking his head, Mitsu sighed and turned to the door, "Come on, let's head to the kitchen."

"I'll be down in a moment. You go ahead." Reborn replied. Mitsu didn't ask why, and simply proceeded to get down the stairs.

Reborn, now alone in the room, had time to think things through. Taking out a pen and paper, he wrote down the questions about Tsuna that he needed answered.

Why is Tsuna paying for the debt of Maman?

What kind of payment does it entail?

'Pay the Price.' Is it threatening, or literal? If so, what kind of price?

What is the name of the shop Tsuna works in?

What does it sell? (I don't believe it's simply a barter store. Monetary needs of the shop need to be put in question.)

Find out more about Watanuki, Tsuna's employer. Seems suspicious.

Could they be related to the mafia?

As he continued with the list, he didn't realize something outside Mitsu's window observing him from afar.

…

At another part of the room, one Sawada Tsunayoshi sighed as he felt the presence of his brother leave the bedroom. Tsuna didn't need to be psychic to know that Reborn, his little brother's home tutor, was already trying to find out more about him, the twin of the future Decimo. He knew that the Arcobaleno would be more than eager to know what he is hiding, but for now, Tsuna had to conceal himself.

As if that was the case.

Tsuna also knew that whatever Reborn would find out in the future, his paternal DNA provider would catch wind of it as well.

Sighing, he returned to unpacking, all the while, sending a messenger courtesy of Watanuki to watch the hitman undetected.

…

"Welcome home Nii-san!" Mitsu's voice was laced with happiness as he greeted him when he went down to the dining room when Nana had called him from the bathroom while he was soaking in the tub.

"Glad to see you actually here hours after I arrived." Tsuna said with an amused smile. He then took notice of a baby clad in a suit and fedora with big beady black eyes and a smile that seemed to be plastered in his face. "Hm? Who's this little guy? Are you babysitting for the day, Mitsu?"

Mitsu shook his head, even though he wanted to keep Reborn being his tutor a secret.

"I'm his home tutor, Reborn," the hitman blurted out instantly.

"Huh?" Tsuna said with his eyes blinking. "A kid?" he asked once more and tilted his head to the side.

Mitsu sighed. He expected his older brother to have this kind of reaction, "Yes, Grandfather sent him to tutor me."

In a split second, a sort of acknowledgment came to Tsuna. "Ah, I see. At first I thought he was teaching you academics." He said as he proceeded to sit on his place in the table. "So when I heard you say Timoteo-san, it seemed obvious enough."

Reborn looked at Tsuna and then at Mitsu. "You mentioned something about me?"

Tsuna chuckled. "No." that caught his attention immediately, "Looking at Mitsu's face when we video call as reference made me think that your world is utterly mysterious. I'm quite fine being blissfully unaware about the inner workings of the mafia and the fact that they hire an intelligent baby to train a fourteen year-old to be a mafia boss." He explained. "I learned never to ask questions about things that are not meant for me to know."

Reborn's eyes sharpened, alert at the perceptive yet mysterious boy.

Mitsu sighed, "There you go again, being all respectful. Really, Nii-san, what has Watanuki-san been teaching you?" he wondered.

Tsuna smiled as he leaned on his brother, "Well, apart from life lessons, he's been teaching me to make a feast fit for the gods." he said with a wink.

His little brother's eyes widened at the prospect of a feast by the hands of his older brother that they were about the size of saucers. "Really?!" he asked with glee.

The older twin simply smiled and nodded. "I can make a venerable feast that could feed an army, so be sure to invite your friends at dinner one time while I'm here!" At the thought of his friends, he suddenly froze, much to the wonder of Tsuna. "Mitsu?"

…

"So Reborn-san," Tsuna addressed the hitman, "How long will Mitsu be here? Will it take the whole summer?" he wondered.

Reborn observed the boy carefully before answering promptly, "Depending on how the situation back in Italy will go, Mitsu will stay here as long as it is possible." He informed.

"Oh, good then," Tsuna said with a smile. "I'm planning to spend my summer immersed with my culinary research, and I would very much like for the two of you to be my test subjects, if you're available." He informed, eyeing his little brother who was obviously drooling at the thought of his cooking.

Reborn noticed it too, which earned a raised brow from the hitman. "Hey, Baka-Mitsu, snap out of it." He called out.

Tsuna laughed at the reaction of his little brother. "Don't worry Reborn-san, he'll snap out of it in a second when he realizes that he's the only one missing out on Watanuki-san's Mokona manju."

After that, Mitsu got to his senses and for the entire afternoon, Reborn could only hear about him praising the cooking of Tsuna's boss and Tsuna himself.

…

When five in the afternoon came, Tsuna all but shooed them out of the kitchen, even his mother, saying that he doesn't want any interruption from them until dinner. In the middle of cooking dinner, however, Reborn heard a very peculiar conversation on the phone. Reborn saw Tsuna digging his pockets until he found his Bluetooth headset and answered his phone wirelessly.

"Doumeki-san. How is everything there?" Tsuna said on the phone. A few seconds later, he laughed. "There Mokona goes again causing trouble to Watanuki-san. Didn't I leave him five bottles of the sake he wanted? What? Already?" he said as he continued his cooking. "I've only been gone less than twenty-four hours!"

"Who's the customer?" he wondered. "Oh. This is quite similar with Kohane-san, isn't it?"

Suddenly, Reborn heard Tsuna drop his ladle on the counter. "Hie?! Doumeki-san! You should be more careful!" he lectured. "Since this is also involving a murder case, I think it's best to assume that it has something to do with that." He stated. "We're not above seeing the Yuurei, so what else is new?"

Yuurei? Ghosts? What is Tsuna talking about?

"For now, I think you should investigate the place. Where is it? Eh? Here?!" Tsuna muttered. "I'm supposed to be on break with the legwork…" he sulked. "Okay. I'll check it out myself and I'll contact you at the end of my investigation." He bid and cut the call.

Reborn didn't hear anything else from Tsuna in the kitchen after that until dinner, when Tsuna had relayed to his mother that there was an errand from Watanuki that he needed to do while in Namimori.

…

He was going to burn the reports that was sent to him about Tsuna.

None of those notes were helpful or in any ways accurate except for the fact that Tsuna now lives in Tokyo for most of the year. His performance in school was also not included. He was going to kill Iemitsu for his negligence in gathering information about his son where it mattered. He will have to ask Tsuna the questions, as much as he'd like to just go and spy on him. If he really does have the Vongola blood in him, then spying would be something that would fail not a second too soon. He had gotten information from his conversation with Mitsu the day Tsuna arrived, but he really needed to know straight from Tsuna about himself.

Thankfully, Tsuna was all for agreeing to talk with him when Nana dragged Mitsu for an errand the next day.

Tsuna sat on the living room table and looked at Reborn who was sitting on it with his usual baby armchair just across from him. "So, Reborn, what do you want to talk about?"

Reborn knew that he had to careful with his words towards the older brother. To him, he was an unknown variable that had been discredited for too long. He might be dangerous in the future, and he was not going to single that possibility out even if he is the heir's older brother. "I'd like to just get things over with the information about you. Your file is…outdated, and it would not do if we are to ensure that your entire family will be protected by us should something happen. It's better if I get it straight from you instead of others. It proved unreliable in the past."

That made Tsuna tilt his head to the side a bit. "Well, if you put it that way, then I'll agree, as long as it doesn't cross certain lines of course." He conditioned.

"What lines?" Reborn inquired.

"Things like the particulars of my work, the specific names of people I work with and under, my associates, those kinds of details." He bargained.

"Confidentiality agreements with your employer?" Reborn guessed.

Tsuna nodded, "You can start asking questions now."

Reborn hated interviewing people, but for the sake of things, he had to do this. "Tell me about your education first."

Tsuna chuckled and started, "Well, I'm on a scholarship at Clamp Gakuen in Tokyo. I'm the president of the Culinary Research Club there and conduct fundraisers from time to time. I'm also the head of the Festival Planning Committee." He stated. "I've been there since I was eleven, and I live on a dormitory within the school grounds on the weekdays and stay at the shop on the weekends." He started. "I have friends and classmates whom I can talk to, unlike back here in Namimori where all I could remember from my childhood is being bullied." He said with a semi-dark look in his eyes. Reborn noted that Tsuna didn't have a very happy childhood in this town besides spending them with his family minus Iemitsu.

The aura of the boy seems to lighten up after shaking the feeling off though. Reborn continued, "And the reason why you are working for this…Watanuki person? Is it a part of your Confidentiality Agreement?"

With a small smile, Tsuna shifted from his seat, "Well, I can tell you the basics." He informed. "A few years ago, Mom incurred a debt with the former owner of the shop I work in."

"So, this is about money?" Reborn asked, wondering how much Sawada Nana owed the former owner to the point of Tsuna working for it.

"No." Tsuna brushed off. "In exchange for a help that she had given Mom, the moment I turn eleven, I would be working under the shop until the debt is deemed paid in full. Sadly, Yuuko-san, the former shopkeeper, died before that, and Watanuki-san took over. Doumeki-san was sent here to collect the debt. They took care of everything, from my education to my relocation, and the rest is history."

"A peculiar shop you have there. Mitsu had said before that the shop you work on is not normal in a sense." Reborn pried a bit.

"No. He's right." Tsuna said with a shake of his head, "The shop grants people's wishes." He started. Before Reborn could speak, Tsuna elaborated, "It's nothing like wishing on a shooting star and it will come true and all that. We grant a customer's wish and we grant it for a price the same as the wish they make. The price varies from items to services, anything if the price is of equal value of the wish that is made. Do you get me so far?"

"I see." Reborn muttered. "And the reason you work for this…Watanuki person is the product of this shop?" he will have to keep this in mind. It would do no good if he didn't clarify the reason why Tsuna decided to work for a faceless man because of something that Nana had decided years ago.

Tsuna nodded with a smile. "Exactly." He stated. "And to be honest, this arrangement is something beneficial for all of us."

"The reason being?" Reborn pressed on.

"Well, I'm in front of you right now, am I?"

The tone on Tsuna's voice made Reborn alert. What did he mean by that?

He was about to ask some more when a call interrupted the two of them. Tsuna took one look on his phone and smiled apologetically at Reborn, "I'm sorry, I have to take this call,"

Reborn nodded in understanding. "It's alright. Let's conclude this. I have all the necessary information needed anyways."

With a smile of thanks, Tsuna took the call to the other room, leaving Reborn with everything he needed to know. It wasn't detailed, but it was enough to get by and respect the boundaries that Tsuna had set.

But it still wasn't enough to quench his thirst for answers. Rather, it only added more questions about the enigmatic eldest child.

TBC

Yay~! I finally decided on doing a Shopkeeper Tsuna! This has been nagging me for months ever since I decided to re-immerse myself to some of the anime series that has had a great impact on my life, and xxxHolic was one of them.

Currently, I'm re-watching The Prince of Tennis and I have every intention of watching the New Prince of Tennis after that, and the movies, and the OVAs, the manga, you get the idea. That's why I haven't been writing that much.

Back to the fanfic, I still have no idea how long this will be, but I think it wouldn't take more than four or five chapters.

For those who also read my fanfics in AO3, good news. I finally updated Sweet Serendipity again~! Motivation is hard for me to get these days, so I hope I could get to keep these motivations until the very end!

See you next chapter!

-Cathy Rin