Summary: Tsuna has always been able to see soulmate thread bonds but that doesn't make it any easier for him to find his soulmate. Soulmate!AU in which soulmate bonds come in the form of strings and threads around one's wrist.

A/N: I love soulmate!AUs and I just want to acknowledge some really good ones out there like 'Colours of the Heart' by MadxRabbit. After reading countless of soulmate!AUs out there, this is the result. Enjoy!

He could not remember the first time he was able to see them. According to Mama, only a selected few in each generation could see these soulmate bonds and kami must have chosen her beloved tuna fish to be special. Tsuna could see these wrist threads and he always wondered where they led to. His own thread was a simple, thin, single piece of thread that glowed a bright orange and was looped once around his wrist, knotted, then disappeared into the distance to where he assumed his soulmate must be.

"Mama, what are soulmates for?"

"Silly Tsu-kun! Isn't it just so romantic?"

Tsuna didn't understand much but Mama seemed excited.

Tsuna enjoyed telling his Mama about the soulmate bonds he saw on others. While the other kids played in the playground, he would tell Mama about the special colours some of the other kids had. It was rare to have coloured threads and he enjoyed telling Mama whenever he saw a bright, interesting colour.

"Mama, what do these colours mean? Why don't some of the other kids have the normal white colour threads?"

His mother would just giggle and reply with "that's for you to find out, Tsuna."

'`ooo~OOO~ooo'`

Once, he saw a young boy who was probably the same age as himself with a bright blue thread. Takeshi was his name. His papa had a darker blue thread, but a blue thread none the less.

"Mama, why do I have a different coloured thread from you?"

"Maybe you take after Papa, Tsuna."

'`ooo~OOO~ooo'`

"Mama, why did Takeshi's papa's thread disappear?"

Mama had a sad smile on her face when she answered "It's best not to ask about missing threads, Tsuna dear."

Tsuna nodded in understanding, not wanting his mama to be sad anymore. It was just strange for Takashi's papa, who had such a thick piece of thread that it was almost a rope, to suddenly lose his thread entirely.

It was a few months later that Tsuna found out that Takashi's mama had passed away.

'`ooo~OOO~ooo'`

He was nine when he realised Mama's wrist thread was thinning.

"Mama, when will Papa come home?"

"He's really busy, Tsu-kun."

"But it's Mama's birthday soon!"

"It is all right, Tsu-kun! Mama and Papa's love for each other will overcome all the distance between us! That's how strong our bond is, Tsu-kun. One day, you'll find someone who can connect to you so thoroughly that you can never let go." She smiled. "Anyway, I can still feel Papa here," She touched her chest, "and here, even though I cannot see him." She held on to her own invisible thread, feeling it's comforting presence.

Tsuna nodded his head but decided he was going to call Papa anyway. One day, when Mama was out grocery shopping, he snuck into Mama's room to get Papa's number.

"Papa?"

"Tuna fish! I've missed you! How is my little Tuna growing!"

"Papa, will you be coming home for Mama's birthday?"

"Sure thing, Tuna fish! Papa wouldn't miss it for the world!"

Tsuna hung up feeling happy and excited. Mama was going to be so happy. He made sure to tell Mama the good news when she came back and watched as her beautiful shining white threads doubled up and became thicker. Over the next few days, Mama often played with her own thread and hummed when cooking in the kitchen.

When Papa called to say he couldn't make it two days later, he watched as a couple of Mama's threads broke and others withered. Mama stopped humming and she didn't even touch her threads anymore.

"It's alright Tsu-kun! Papa still loves Mama." Tsuna knows Mama can't feel the exact thread count in her bond and he knows when Mama is lying to make things better. He hated Mama's sad face and decided he would not talk about Otou-san any more.

'`ooo~OOO~ooo'`

He was twelve when the bullying started. It started from name calling, then yanks and tripping.

"You need to be more careful, Tsu-kun." His mum would say when patching him up. "Check ahead before you walk, hold the railings when you go down the stairs. I don't remember you being so clumsy when you were little."

"Sorry Kaa-san." Tsuna couldn't bear to tell his mother the truth.

"Silly Tsu-kun. You're probably just growing and your legs are trying to keep up with your growing body! Tsu-kun's going to be so handsome when he grows up, just like Papa!"

Tsuna doesn't say he never wants to grow up like his dad. He also doesn't complain that he's shorter than all his peers. He's just glad his thread did not grow after meeting his tormentors and he feels relieved that his soulmate wasn't one of the childish, heartless monsters that hurt him.

That night was the first time he felt tugging on his bond. Or rather, he felt tapping – tapping from the other end. Bruised up and beaten, he went to sleep feeling loved that his other half was trying to comfort him. The rhythmic tapping sent him straight to dreamland that night, and continued to do so for the following nights.

'`ooo~OOO~ooo'`

Two years later marked the first time he meets Reborn and he was surprised by the thread around the little baby's wrist. Babies did not have threads and they only appeared when a child became three or four. Reborn, however, had a single, yellow, piece of thread dangling loosely from his right wrist.

"Baka-Tsuna! Focus!" and that was the first time Reborn used Leon-the-mallet on his head.

He was immensely grateful both their threads did not grow from that.

He didn't want his soulmate to be a sadist after all.

He meets Takeshi once again, this being the first time Tsuna talks to him. Takeshi's wrist thread still shines a bright blue and hasn't grown in size. Later on, when Tsuna saves Takeshi's life and they become friends, Tsuna notices his own thread count increases but Takeshi's arm is in a cast and Tsuna did not want to pry. Reborn congratulates him for securing his first guardian and Tsuna moves on without thinking too much.

'`ooo~OOO~ooo'`

It was after Hayato's inclusion into the family that Tsuna realised his thread had thickened again. Takeshi's previously single thread had increased in thickness as well. Before Tsuna could conclude anything, he noticed that Hayato's red thread had become a twine of three strands. While Tsuna was pretty sure that he has met his soulmate by now, he wasn't sure who it was.

The following mess of events removed all thoughts of soul bonds from his mind, and it was only after the chaos with Xanxus and the Varia that he'd realise his bond had thickened to the size of one of his mum's thicker sewing threads.

"Trash! Come here!"

"You've lost, Xanxus. Accept it graciously with honour and leave." Reborn defended, unwilling to allow his student anywhere near the Wrath flame user.

Xanxus snorted. "I'm not going to hurt him." Then Xanxus redirected his piercing gaze back to Tsuna. "Trash, tell me, can you see where it connects to?"

"Pardon?" Tsuna blinked in confusion.

"Just get your ass here. This is not something I want to discuss in front of other, Trash."

"Tsuna, you don't have to listen to him." Takeshi held on to his elbow, unwilling to let him go.

"Juudaime, let's go." Hayato was tugging insistently on his other side.

That's when his intuition suddenly kicked in and he realised that Xanxus, of all people, was talking to him about the thread bonds.

"It's ok, Yamamoto-kun, Gokudera-kun. I'll just talk to Xanxus really quick." He felt his tutor's eyes watching his every move as he moved towards Xanxus who stood at the far end of the fight arena.

"You're talking about the thread bonds." Tsuna started.

"Of course, scum, what else." Xanxus gave an appreciative glance at the lack of fear Tsuna had when speaking to the other alone. "I just want to know if you can see where it connects to."

Tsuna shook his head. "No, I can't. I don't think anyone can. Do you see the wrist threads as well?"

Xanxus frowned. "Of course. Did no one tell you? All skies can see them."

Oh. Right. That's when Tsuna finally managed to connect the meaning of the colour of threads to the type of flames a person had. He also finally managed to connect his abilities to being a sky flame user. 'Only a few were chosen each generation' his mother had said. Reborn has also told him that there were only a few skies each generation as well. Right.

"You've met your soulmate." Xanxus stated. Why was Xanxus talking to him about this again?

"So have you."

"Just recently, apparently. It started growing only after I escaped from the ice."

What in the world was Xanxus trying to imply?! Tsuna did not even want to think about it.

"Mine started growing early this year."

"Around the same time mine did, then?" Nothing was said after that for a while. Tsuna did not want to acknowledge it. He had just fought the guy. No. This was not happening. Xanxus finally shrugged, called his team, and left.

"Baka-Tsuna, what did he talk about?" Reborn questioned almost immediately after Xanxus had left.

"Nothing to worry about, Reborn. He just wanted to ask about my Sky flames." Tsuna had learnt how to Not-Lie. That night, the continuous tapping was more insistent. Slowly, Tsuna began to accept that maybe, just maybe, Xanxus could be his soulmate.

The tapping lulled him to sleep as usual.

'`ooo~OOO~ooo'`

"Dame-Tsuna, what's gotten you in such a good mood?" Reborn asked him one day.

Tsuna had a stupid smile on his face. "I had a good rest, that's all."

"You keep fiddling with your thread bond."

"My soulmate is a nice person." Tsuna really appreciated the steady flow of comfort that his soulmate shared every night.

Reborn raised a brow. "Have you met them?"

Tsuna shook his head. "No."

"Then how would you know if they are nice? Baka."

Tsuna just smiled and shrugged. Silence followed.

Tsuna really loved these little talks with his Mentor and friend. Reborn understood that the sudden weight of Vongola sins wasn't an easy feat to carry and all the more when it was sprung onto someone without warning like it did on Tsuna. Reborn also understood that there was nothing that could be done about it and Tsuna had to suck it up, and be what everyone wanted him to be. It wasn't easy, it wasn't fair, and Reborn understood that. Tsuna would be forever grateful for the support and lessons from Reborn. He was pretty sure he would have gone crazy or hateful by now if Reborn didn't regulate his thoughts and emotions every now and then.

"Do you know who your soulmate is, Reborn?"

"No, I don't." Reborn replied honestly. "And I never wish to meet them."

"Why not?" Tsuna was surprised because it could feel that Reborn really meant it.

"I'm not a nice person, Tsuna. I wouldn't want to burden my soulmate with who I am."

"You never know, Reborn. Your soulmate could be in the Mafia as well."

"They are not."

"How would you know?"

"I just do." Reborn stated with resolution.

There was a long pause again as both parties wallowed in their own thoughts.

"I hope my soulmate isn't a civilian. They wouldn't understand what this life is like." Tsuna concluded.

"Me too, baka-Tsuna. Me too."

'`ooo~OOO~ooo'`

Tsuna started feeling emotions that were not his own some months after the ring battle with the Varia. Random bursts of excitement and satisfaction every now and then. Tsuna's intuition told him that he was starting to feel his soulmate's emotions through the bond because it had grown quite significantly. It was now about the size of the type of decorative threads that were tied around charms he would get from temples.

He was walking down the street one random day after the whole ring battle ordeal when suddenly he felt a sharp spike of worry. Before he could process much of it, Reborn had disappeared before his eyes and the ten-year bazooka lay harmlessly on the ground in front of him. After panicking and settling preparations to travel into the future, he took the time to settle down at night to sort out his emotions.

Was that spike of Worry his own? Or was it from the other end? Maybe he was overthinking things.

That night was also the first night Tsuna decided to tap on his own bond to comfort the person at the other end. His soulmate did this for him almost every night since he was twelve, so it was only right that he did the same for his soul mate. Strangely, his soulmate didn't tap back anymore the next few nights. Did he do something wrong? Was his soulmate freaked out? After all, Tsuna had never tapped back before despite feeling it all this time.

The rush to the future pushed back any worry or thought about his soulmate and the bond till a later time.

'`ooo~OOO~ooo'`

Tsuna met future Xanxus privately during his time in the future and noticed the older man's thread count had thickened into a rope like Mama's.

"So you know who your soul mate is by now, I would guess?" Tsuna was curious. Even though he wasn't in too good of terms with the younger version of the Varia boss, the idea that he would find his soulmate in the future excited the Decimo.

"Tch. You know I can't answer that, brat." Xanxus was looking at him with amusement despite his words. The older sky leaned forward and smirked. "Our past selves did promise not to talk about it after all."

"What? Seriously?" Wait. Did Xanxus mean what he thought he meant? Did something serious happen between them!?

Xanxus roared with laughter. It was the first time Tsuna had seen any sort of positive emotion on the man. Finding his soulmate must have done him well.

"Off you go, little Decimo. You'll find out in time." The Varia boss shooed and hung his head backwards signalling the end of this conversation.

Fine. Whatever.

Tsuna left feeling more confused than ever.

'`ooo~OOO~ooo'`

Long nights in a small room with his best friends made for small talk.

"Have you guys ever wondered about your soulmates?" Tsuna began. Takeshi perked up excitedly while Hayato stiffened.

"I know I've met them. I've started to feel emotions from the bond. I still can't figure out who it is though." Takeshi briefly shifted his glance between Hayato and Tsuna.

Tsuna nodded. "Yeah, I've started feeling emotions too."

"Do you think we're soulmates, Tsuna?" Takeshi shifted closer to his best friend and boss.

Hayato's foot flew towards Takeshi's face, knocking his 'ugly mug' away from his beloved boss. "Idiot! Of course Juudaime doesn't have a shitty baseball idiot as his soulmate!"

Tsuna's intuition shivered. He felt like Hayato was more agitated than usual.

"Do you perhaps suspect that you're Tsuna's soulmate then, Gokudera-kun?" Takeshi pouted while nursing his sore cheek.

"B-ba-baka! Of course not! Juudaime is too perfect for someone like me!"

"Do you know who your soulmate is then, Gokudera-kun?" Tsuna asked, being prompted by his intuition. Hayato stiffened and his eyes darted to the ground, unwilling to look at either of them.

"Hai, Juudaime. I'm practically 99 percent sure of it. The person doesn't know it yet so I do not want to talk about it."

"How did you find out?" Tsuna asked persistently not knowing how else to identify a soulmate. How do others do it when they cannot see the bond?

Hayato was frowning but answered anyway. "You can feel their emotions as if they were you own. The more positive experiences and emotions grow the bond which makes the connection between the two more intense. I've heard that people with established bonds can even talk though it." He sighed and took a moment to ground himself before continuing. "I started feeling strong emotions a while back. All I had to do was match these emotions to the people around me to find the one sending me their emotions. I took a while to acknowledge my soulmate. It wasn't easy. But once I did, it continued growing even more and I occasionally hear their voice in my head now."

"Who is it?" Takeshi's gaze was piercing and serious.

"Stop asking." And that was the end of any questions regarding Hayato's soulmate.

'`ooo~OOO~ooo'`

The crazy rush of events after coming back from the future pushed any soulmate queries further back until after the whole Man-with-the-iron-mask situation. The arcobaleno were set free, Vongola was stable once again, Byakuran was stable, and there was a sense of peace he hadn't felt in a while.

That night, the tapping started again. It surprised him because it had been such a long time since he had felt it. For once in a very long time, Tsuna was alone in his room and had the privacy to communicate with his soulmate.

Tsuna started tapping back.

Suddenly, the tapping from the other side stopped. Why did it stop? Should he stop as well? Was his soulmate feeling uncomfortable? Tsuna remembered the last time he tapped back only to receive no response. Maybe he really shouldn't be tapping back.

The tapping from the other end resumed after a while of inactivity from Tsuna's end. Maybe only one person could tap at the time? Maybe the vibrations felt uncomfortable if two people were tapping it at the same time?

The next morning, when the tapping from the other end had long stopped, Tsuna decided to tap. He tapped consistently, and rhythmically, according to his own heartbeat. It was then he realised that all this time, while the tapping from the other end was always the same, it did not follow a consistent tapping pattern like his was with his heart beat. Rather, his soulmate would tap a couple of times, stop, then start again for a different number of times, stop, then start tapping a different number of times again, then this whole pattern would repeat. After so many years, Tsuna could remember what the tapping pattern was like.

Tsuna then decided to change his tapping beat. Instead of tapping to his own heartbeat, he decided to tap to the unique rhythm his soulmate had always tapped to. Perhaps it was a melody to a song? Perhaps his soulmate was a drummer? He continued for almost fifteen minutes before suddenly, he felt tapping from the other end. This was the first time his soulmate had tapped in the day – Tsuna had only ever felt the tapping at night.

Strangely, for the first time ever, the rhythm of his soulmate's tapping had changed. The random tapping pattern was longer now – so long that Tsuna did not even realise there was a pattern looping until about an hour later. This confused him even more. He shrugged and decided to tap the original pattern back again. Then suddenly, all tapping stopped leaving Tsuna worried. Did he do something wrong again?

"Tsu-kun! Breakfast!" his mum called up.

"Hai, Kaa-san." He decided to think about this another time.

'`ooo~OOO~ooo'`

He was seventeen when they made a trip to the main Vongola house in Italy. It was then he finally got a chance to talk to young Xanxus privately.

"Trash, what do you want?" Xanxus was face deep in paperwork and Tsuna smiled at the hints of the man Xanxus would grow into. Xanxus had reigned in his temper over the last few years and now exuded gracefulness and danger. The predator underneath never disappeared and Tsuna really appreciated the maturity and self-assuredness Xanxus had now as compared to when the Varia boss was filled with confusion and anger during the ring battle.

"I met your future counterpart recently. You have a nice laugh, Xanxus."

Xanxus's eyebrows rose from the compliment. "Did you find out if I had a soulmate?"

"You had a thick rope around your wrist. You must have found your soulmate." Tsuna assured.

"Do you know who it is?" Xanxus wasn't even using his normal 'Fuck', 'Trash', and 'Scum' vocabulary anymore which was a telling sign of his excitement.

"You wouldn't tell me." Tsuna frowned which garnered a snort from the other. "But you did say that we made a promise not to talk about it."

"Why would we make any promises to each other? We're not even on talking terms. What the fuck, brat?!"

"I'm just the messenger! Don't get angry at me!" Tsuna was frustrated as well. Xanxus was rubbing his own temples at this point trying to figure out what the future Xanxus was up to.

"So what now?" Xanxus gritted out. Tsuna swore he heard the underlying questions of 'are we soulmates?'

"Has your bond thickened recently?" Xanxus asked again.

"Yes. Consistently."

"Mine too." Xanxus confirmed.

Then suddenly, as if the other had a light bulb moment, Xanxus sat up straight and his eyes stared intensely at Tsuna.

"Come here."

"What?"

"I said come here, brat, just fucking listen. I want to test something."

"What are you trying to do?" Xanxus had that crazed look in his eyes when he was hunting for something. That same look when they were fighting for the rings. That same look when he spoke about Vongola.

"Look. Just trust me for a moment. We both can see our bonds. It's fucking stupid that we haven't tested it out." Xanxus looked like he was having an internal conflict all of a sudden. "Just. Fuck. Would you just fucking trust me for a moment and get your ass here?"

There was a moment the two just looked into each other's eyes, sky flames coating the surface of their skins. Tsuna felt the will and intensity of the moment and decided that yes, he was going to trust Xanxus. Walking forwards, he stopped in front of the other. Immediately, Xanxus shot an arm out, grabbed Tsuna's right hand, tugged the brunette down onto his lap, and with both hands cupping the young sky's face, Xanxus kissed him.

Tsuna's first kiss. It was firm, straightforward, not wet, and simple.

Sky flames roared around them and he felt a sense of trust and harmony, finally feeling a connection with the man he used to fear and fought with.

The kiss ended and in tandem, they both looked to their own wrist.

Xanxus snorted. Tsuna groaned.

The treads did not increase.

"Ok. Get the fuck off. It's not you."

"Right. I'll just go."

"We're never talking about this."

"You're right. Your older self was right. We're never talking about this."

"Ever."

"Right. Ok. Bye." And Tsuna was out of there like a bullet.

That night, he comforted himself by tapping his soulmate's special rhythm down the bond that did not lead to Xanxus.

'`ooo~OOO~ooo'`

Hayato on his right, Takeshi on his left, Ryouhei's warm hand on his shoulder, Kyoya's heavy presence behind him on the right, and Mukuro's cold aura coupled with Chromes's on his left. Finally, Lambo was in front of him and stood up to chest height. This was how they were introduced to the rest of the famiglia when Tsuna turned eighteen.

It was an internal ceremony to officially crown Tsuna as the Tenth Vongola Boss, as well as some sort of ceremonial handing over of power.

He hated it. He didn't want Vongola in the first place. And yet, he wouldn't exchange his famiglia for anything else. He would accept the mantle today.

His father stood across from him, next to Nono. Nono's guardians framed one side of the pair, while CEDEF framed the other. Lal looked around twelve or thirteen years old now. The arcobalenos were all growing at the same speed since the last stint with the Man-with-the-iron-mask. Verde estimated them to be growing at thrice the speed of an average human and all of them should reach their original age in just a couple more years.

Basil stepped past Iemitsu and several members of CEDEF, including Lal, followed behind. Basil moved until he was in front of Tsuna, bowed, and said his vows. Tsuna was only half listening as he caught a look of pride shining from his father's eyes.

Whatever. Tsuna was just satisfied with the fact that his father would finally return to Namimori and spend his retirement life with Mama.

"… CEDEF will support Vongola Decimo with all our heart and might." Was all he heard before Basil ended and looked at Tsuna with expectant eyes.

Tsuna nodded. "I accept." And that was that, CEDEF was his to control. Basil and his team moved past him and his guardians and stood behind the tenth generation.

A couple members from closely tied famiglias were up next and they swore loyalty to Vongola Decimo. Dino was one of them and Tsuna clasped the other's hand while Dino gave a pat to his shoulder before walking past Tsuna and His guardians. He swore Dino winked at someone on Tsuna's right. Enma followed with his guardians after giving a short oath of friendship.

Reborn, dressed in a suit looking all confident with his twelve-year-old body, with hands in his pockets, casually moved from behind Nono, past Tsuna, and found a spot somewhere behind him without saying anything. The hitman didn't have to - Tsuna knew Reborn was his. The gesture came as a shock to many of the older generation though. They knew Reborn as an aloof sun, an independent hitman, and were unaware of the ex-arcobaleno's loyalty to his student. Tsuna felt a warmth in his heart with the sun shining on his back.

He was just about to end the ceremony with his closing speech when the doors to the hall burst open and in walked the Varia.

Hayato's exclamation of 'what the fuck' and Takeshi's groan almost made Tsuna snigger. Kyoya's 'I'll bite them to death' got a cough out of him while Ryouhei's 'EXTREME' was more than expected. Surprised murmurs filled the room and even Nono looked flabbergasted (and that's saying a lot because Vongola Bosses should always be prepared). Tsuna allowed a smile to break through his formal mask and he couldn't help it when his flames involuntarily started to mesh with Xanxus's playfully. When that happened, both Iemitsu's and Nono's jaws drop and Tsuna saw their eyes quickly scanning for both Tsuna's and Xanxus's thread count.

Tsuna rolled his eyes. He saw Xanxus's smirk and knew the older sky was up to no good. Xanxus had that stupid 'fuck everyone' look again, so Tsuna mentally prepared himself.

The Varia boss moved until he was in front of the Decimo and kneeled. Cue the crazed whispered and shocked gasps.

"Trash."

"Xanxus." Really? Must he? Tsuna gave Xanxus a deadpanned look while Xanxus just continued to smirk like an idiot.

"Decimo." That one word silenced everyone while Tsuna had to blink a couple of time to process the new information. Finally, Tsuna smiled gently. The future Xanxus had called him that as well. His intuition told him Xanxus wasn't going to say anything else. Their flames had harmonised and it was all the affirmation Tsuna needed.

"I accept, Xanxus. It is my honour." He watched as the corner of Xanxus's mouth twitched in almost-laughter. The wrath sky flames swirled around them, poking and prodding the younger sky every now and then in jest.

And as usual, his thread count did not increase. Tsuna swore he heard a sigh of relief from his dad and saw Nono nudged Iemitsu in irritation from the corner of his eye.

Xanxus still had that playful smirk on his face which told Tsuna this wasn't over. As quick as a predator jumping onto a helpless prey, Xanxus shot upwards and familiar hands cupped the back of Tsuna's head, pulling his face closer to the other's smug mug. Tsuna really hoped that Xanxus wasn't going to kiss him in front of everyone. This was so not part of the ceremony!

The hall was so silent all you could hear was the click of a gun.

As in, Reborn had whipped his gun out, cocked it, and Tsuna could see a familiar muzzle resting on the center of Xanxus's forehead, milimeters away from Tsuna's own face, stopping the older sky from kissing Tsuna.

"Back off." snarled the world's greatest hitman.

Xanxus grinned. Tsuna was so close he could see all the way to the back of Xanxus's molars. Why? Just why would someone purposely antagonise Reborn?

"I'll repeat just one more time. Back off, Xanxus. I won't hesitate to blow your head off in front of all these people."

"What's wrong with a little kiss, little arcobaleno?" The Varia boss sneered. "It's part of our initiation isn't it? The Bucking-Horse got to hold him as well, didn't he?" Xanxus's flame was seriously suffocating him now. Tsuna glared at Xanxus but he could tell the older man was having too much fun. Reborn's sun flame was scorching his back too and Tsuna could see the muscles on the hitman's trigger finger starting to tighten.

Tsuna knew he had to intervene. Sky flames ablaze, he took a hold of Reborn's hand with the gun and slowly lowered it.

"It's ok, Reborn. Xanxus isn't going to hurt me."

"And how would you know that, Tsuna?" Irritation laced the hitman's voice. "Is he your soulmate or something?"

Murmurs broke through the crowd again. Tsuna swore he felt Takeshi's rain flames wrapping around him protectively, trying to create a barrier between the two skies. Takeshi must not have liked the idea that Tsuna and Xanxus could potentially be soulmates.

Strangely, another set of rain flames shot out from the Varia's side to push Tsuna away as well. At that point in time, he saw Xanxus's thread count increase. There was a slight glow coming from the orange bond on Xanxus's wrist. Tsuna watched as a new glowing pale orange thread emerged from where Xanxus's bond disappear into the distance, slithered itself inwards into the knotted area, and settled itself firmly in a darker orange colour between the other looped threads around Xanxus's wrist. A quick check at Squalo's wrist showed a bright blue thread settling into the band of strings around the shark's wrist before dimming into a dark blue shade. Tsuna's eyes widened which triggered Xanxus to look at his own wrist, only for the wrath user to mirror the look on Tsuna's face, understanding the significance of the look on the other sky.

Squalo was Xanxus's soulmate.

"Well, shit." Xanxus breathed out then spun around to face his soulmate (who looked none the wiser), and the Varia. "Let's get out of here, Scums!" and they stormed out leaving shocked and confused faces all around the hall.

"What just happened?" Takeshi's confused question was followed by Hayato's "Xanxus is fucking mental."

"Baka-Tsuna, what did you see?" Reborn's cold tone surprised him. He was unsure as to why the hitman was so against the relationship between he and Xanxus.

"It's not for me to say, Reborn." Tsuna shook his head, took a moment to acknowledge the magic moment of witnessing a soulmate thread form on both sides. Finally, he clapped his hands to gain the attention of the rest of the hall, and gave his closing speech as if nothing happened.

That night, Tsuna slept feeling happy for Xanxus, and decided to share his elation with his soulmate by tapping the special rhythm down the bond until he fell asleep.

'`ooo~OOO~ooo'`

It was winter when Tsuna went out on his first mission with Takeshi alone. Reborn preferred to keep Tsuna working from the main Vongola base but would occasionally send Tsuna out with specific guardians for missions.

In summary, Reborn was a super protective, overbearing advisor who only allowed Tsuna out when absolutely necessary. Honestly, it was a complete one-eighty from when the hitman was tutoring him.

Reborn never allowed Tsuna to travel alone with Mukuro or Lambo. The former because Mukuro was still a coin flip, and the latter because Reborn didn't trust the youngest guardian with the life of their boss. Reborn also disliked sending Tsuna out with both Hayato and Takeshi because the three would end up so distracted because of the friendship and chemistry they had. That was why Tsuna ended up on this mission alone with Takeshi despite it being quite a high-key mission.

At nineteen years of age, Takeshi had grown into quite the man. The casual, friendly demeanour was still there but underneath it was a hitman in training – calculated, cunning, and intelligent. Takeshi's bond had grown steadily over the years as had Tsuna's but neither knew who their soulmates were. Tsuna did consider testing it out the Xanxus way but decided that he was comfortable with the friendship he had with Takeshi at the moment.

At the moment, though, was freezing cold and Tsuna was in a substantial amount of pain. The brunette had taken a hit to the back from a lightning flame user before managing to dispatch the enemy's forces. The skin on his back burned, his feet hurt, his shoulders were sore, and there was a massive bruise on his cheek. And yet, the only thing Tsuna could think of was that Reborn was going to kill him. The eighteen-year-old Spartan tutor still treated him like his fourteen-year-old dame self when dishing out punishments.

Takeshi wasn't any better and had taken several hits to his torso and legs, many of which were blade wounds. The fight was over, mission completed, but there was a freaking snowstorm at the moment. The two took cover in a dingy shack along a river somewhere between the Vongola base and enemy territory.

"You alright, Takeshi? You're a little quieter than usual." Tsuna commented. The two were settled down on the ground, next to a floor vent where the heat was coming out from. They had closed all the windows and moved any furniture available to surround themselves (and their heat vent) to block the wind out.

"I'm fine, Tsuna." Takeshi smile was assuring. "I just can't wait for the storm to be over. I need to send a message to Hayato as well so just give me awhile."

Tsuna nodded, on the verge of falling asleep. It might have been the cold or blood lost or just fatigue, but he was really, really tired. The rhythmic tapping sounds in the background was lulling him to sleep too.

Familiar rhythmic tapping.

Tsuna's eyes shot open immediately, fully alert. That tapping – his soulmate!

Takeshi had an earpiece in his ear while he tapped away at his phone. A similar tap tap stop, tap tap tap pattern that Tsuna was now so familiar with.

"Takeshi? What are you doing?"

"Hmm?" Takeshi's sent a look of innocent confusion, Tsuna couldn't believe that the other wasn't feeling the same level of intensity at the moment of revelation as he was. This was it! This was the moment Tsuna would acknowledge his soulmate!

"That tapping! My soulmate does it every night."

"This?" Takeshi looked shocked but didn't stop his tapping. "I'm sending a message to Hayato, though. You can feel it in your soul bond?"

"No. No, my soulmate uses the same tapping pattern on our soul bond. It started ever since I was twelve." Why wasn't Takeshi getting the same revelation he was? "It's you, Takeshi!"

Takeshi blinked twice. "Sorry Tsuna, it isn't me. I never used the bond to send messages to my soulmate before."

"Huh? But that tapping…"

"It's morse code, Tsuna. It's a form of coded communication through tapping. Many people know it, Tsuna."

"But…"

"Here," Takeshi moved to tap his soul bond instead of his phone. "Do you feel anything, Tsuna?"

No.

Takeshi wasn't his soulmatae.

Disappointment settled in Tsuna's stomach, the adrenaline from having thought he found his soulmate wearing off leaving him even more drained than he was.

"Hey, it's alright, Tsuna. You say that they've been tapping every night, right? Why don't you uncode the message they're sending? Maybe then you'll find your soulmate." Takeshi smiled encouragingly. "At least now we know for sure that we're not soulmates. Just hang in there, Tsuna. Hayato is sending Ryouhei to pick us up. They should be here in another two hours or so."

'`ooo~OOO~ooo'`

Two nights later, after Tsuna was declared healthy enough to move out of 'intensive care' (wherein Hayato would stop fussing over him and Ryouhei wouldn't check up on him every half an hour), Tsuna finally found the time to sit down at his desk in the privacy of his own room to decode the message.

The disappointment from realising Takeshi wasn't his soulmate had disappeared and in its stead, anticipation swelled, sending thrills and tingles down his spine and fingers as he googled about how to understand morse code.

Ok, so a dot is one unit and a dash is three units. And there's supposed to be a unit between every letter, and seven units between each word. Tsuna slowly read up the rules and decided that he was going to write out what the familiar tapping pattern was first.

With a fresh piece of paper set up in front of him, he drew the dots and dashes that made up his soulmate's tap tapping pattern.

"Okay, so if this is A and this is B… The first letter in the code would be C."

C.

Slowly, Tsuna began to uncover the code. The second letter was H.

H.

The third letter was easier to find because it was the first.

A.

Cha? Chance? Chat? Chap? Charlie? Charge?

The fourth letter took a while longer. It was an O.

O.

No way…

The fifth letter was an S.

There, on his piece of paper, were the words C.H.A.O.S.

He knew who his soulmate was.

'`ooo~OOO~ooo'`

C.H.A.O.S…..C.H.A.O.S….C.H.A.O.S….C.H.A.O.S….C.H.A.O.S….

H.E.L.L.O.

There was silence for around five minutes.

W.H.O….A.R.E….Y.O.U….W.H.A.T….I.S….Y.O.U.R….N.A.M.E.

I.T….I.S….N.I.C.E….T.O….F.I.N.A.L.L.Y….T.A.L.K….T.O….Y.O.U.

W.H.A.T….I.S….Y.O.U.R….N.A.M.E….D.O….Y.O.U….K.N.O.W….W.H.O….I….A.M.

W.E….W.I.L.L….M.E.E.T….O.N.E….D.A.Y….B.U.T….U.N.T.I.L….T.H.E.N….L.E.T….U.S….L.E.A.V.E….I.T….T.O….F.A.T.E.

W.H.A.T….I.S….Y.O.U.R….N.A.M.E….W.H.O….A.R.E….Y.O.U….D.O….I….K.N.O.W….Y.O.U.

Tsuna did not reply. He did not know what was stopping him from confessing to the other. Just a while more. He just needed a little more time to accept this.

W.H.O….A.R.E….Y.O.U….W.H.A.T….I.S….Y.O.U.R….N.A.M.E….A.N.S.W.E.R….M.E….N.O.W….T.E.L.L….M.E….W.H.O….Y.O.U….A.R.E….D.O….Y.O.U….K.N.O.W….W.H.O….I….A.M….A.N.S.W.E.R….M.E.

Tsuna went to sleep that night trying his best to ignore the constantly accelerating tapping from the other end of his soul bond.

He didn't manage to sleep that night.

Neither did Reborn.

The tapping didn't stop until sometime the following day.

'`ooo~OOO~ooo'`

Tsuna was having a massive headache.

It's been three days since he had revealed to his soulmate that he knew morse code and Reborn hadn't compromised on the crazy morse questioning every night.

It started off with 'WHO ARE YOU?' and 'WHAT IS YOUR NAME?'.

More recently, Reborn started trying more cunning methods. Tsuna was doing his paper work in his private office one afternoon when he felt Reborn tapping 'LOOK OVER HERE' down the bond. Tsuna looked around the room, a little freaked out because he had believed the Hitman was spying on him from some weird secret hiding spot Tsuna didn't know about.

The next message that came was 'LOOK BEHIND YOU' and Tsuna complied, feeling more confused than ever. Then, in the privacy of his own room, Tsuna faced-palmed upon realising that Reborn was trying to weed his soulmate out by using a guess-and-check method.

If Reborn was in the room Tsuna would have given himself away.

This incident prepared him for what happened the next day during the Vongola Guardians' weekly meeting. Mukuro was giving a report on the latest information gathered on a growing sex-trafficking scene when suddenly tapping came down the bond.

L.O.O.K….A.T….M.E….

Tsuna almost grinned at having one-up over his soulmate. He made sure to look steadily ahead at Mukuro, ignoring the heavy presence of his external advisor on his left.

"… my people have found evidence of a fifth property owned by the El Franco family down south and we are almost certain that they are using it as a storage facility before the women get shipped off to new owners."

"What do you think we should do Hayato?" Tsuna continued the discussion flawlessly, ignoring the 'LOOK TO YOUR LEFT' message that Reborn was testing out at the moment.

"There are two options here, Juudaime. Firstly, we can send Chrome on an undercover mission. Or, we could send Kyoya down straight away."

"The first option is definitely out." Tsuna frowned at the thought of risking Chrome on a sex related mission. "Any other options?"

L.O.O.K….T.O….Y.O.U.R….R.I.G.H.T.

"What if we pretend to make a casual visit? Hayato and I can go." Takeshi suggested.

"It'll be too obvious. " Mukuro waved the idea off.

L.O.O.K...D.O.W.N….T.H.E.R.E.S…A….L.I.Z.A.R.D….U.N.D.E.R….Y.O.U.R….F.E.E.T.

Tsuna almost snorted. That was a low blow for Reborn, to use Leon like that. It seemed like the Hitman was getting desperate.

"I think we shouldn't do anything with this new information yet. We are not a hundred percent sure that the El Franco family is involved and it might be detrimental for us to show any signs of suspicion towards them. Perhaps we should continue watching them and let Mukuro-nii gather more information." Lambo suggested.

S.E.N.D….K.Y.O.Y.A.

"Kyoya, what do you think is the best course of action?" Tsuna asked after steeling himself and making sure not to be fooled by Reborn's tapping. If Tsuna needed any more evidence that Reborn was his soulmate, all he had to do was look at Reborn shamelessly tapping on his own bond next to Tsuna under the table.

"This issue is a matter of urgency. We need to take action fast."

Tsuna nodded. "Kyoya's right. We need to set a plan of action then consider ways to minimise the backlash if we made a bad call."

S.E.N.D….R.Y.O.U.H.E.I.

"Kyoya, you will head down to the location with Mukuro. He can further scout the area and you can attack immediately once you get the all-clear from him." Tsuna concluded, ignoring Reborn's advice.

Kyouya frowned. Mukuro scoffed.

"You're not sending me and the birdie together, Tsuna. That's just not happening." Mukuro and Kyoya have gone on mission together, but they were all missions Tsuna didn't send them on but rather, the two chose to go because of mutual interest.

Tsuna sighed. His guardians were such a handful.

S.E.N.D….R.Y.O.U.H.E.I.

"Alright, how about you two travel with Ryouhei? He can be there to support anyone who needs immediate medical attention." Tsuna suggested.

"I don't think I can handle the two of them alone, Tsuna." Ryouhei smiled sheepishly.

S.W.A.P….M.U.K.U.R.O….F.O.R….C.H.R.O.M.E.

"How about instead of Mukuro, Chrome goes? The final team would be Ryouhei, Kyoya, and Chrome." Tsuna suggested, believing this was the best plan. Chrome would be safe with the two older boys and Kyoya's wrath would be reined in by Ryouhei

T.H.A.T.S….M.O.R.E….T.H.A.N….E.N.O.U.G.H….M.A.N….P.O.W.E.R….F.O.R….S.U.C.H….A….S.M.A.L.L….M.A.T.T.E.R.

Tsuna frowned, irritated. Sex-trafficking wasn't a small matter at all.

"That sounds good. We'll leave tonight." Ryouhei agreed.

"Is something wrong, Tsuna?" Takeshi picked up on Tsuna's frown.

C.H.R.O.M.E….M.A.Y….N.O.T….B.E….G.O.O.D….E.N.O.U.G.H….F.O.R….T.H.I.S….M.I.S.S.I.O.N.

"It's nothing, everything's fine. Are there any objections to this mission?"

M.U.K.U.R.O….S.H.O.U.L.D….G.O….

"Sounds good, Bossu!"

C.H.R.O.M.E….W.I.L.L….B.E….A….B.U.R.D.E.N.

"Just stay safe and take care of Chrome first and foremost, ok?" Hayato directed to Ryouhei and Kyoya.

S.E.N.D….M.U.K.U.R.O.

"We've decided. We're sending Chrome and that's final." Tsuna grounded out.

"Yeah, that's the plan, Tsuna. Everyone's in agreement." Takeshi assured.

H.E.L.L.O….B.A.K.A….T.S.U.N.A.

Fuck.

Tsuna groaned and rubbed his eyes. This was seriously taking a toll on his mental health. Crap. He had only lasted four days against Reborn. Damn it.

"You're all dismissed. Baka-Tsuna, stay." Reborn commanded. Kyoya was first out the door, followed by Ryouhei and Chrome who were discussing about transportation. Mukuro left next but not before chuckling and saying the words 'I knew it'.

"Juudaime, are you sure you're fine?" Hayato was reluctant to leave after he noticed Tsuna's famous freaked-out-stressed-out look.

"Get out." Reborn growled. Takeshi pulled the other out of the room and quickly closed the door.

There was silence after the door clicked shut. Reborn sat still on his left and Tsuna knew the other wasn't looking at him. Shit. What should he say? Reborn was bound to be livid at Tsuna for keeping this matter to himself.

"You knew."

Fuck. The hitman sounded hurt. This was the worst outcome. He had never heard Reborn in this tone of voice before. Tsuna didn't dare look at the other.

"And you didn't say anything."

It was just four days!

"Why? Were you ashamed? For how long did you know?"

"Reborn, I'm sorry. I wasn't ashamed I just-"

"How will you ever justify not telling me, your closest advisor and dare I say friend, when you knew but didn't say anything?"

"Reborn, let me explain."

"No, I'm your soulmate. Your fucking soulmate, Tsuna. And you couldn't even tell me."

"Stop. Reborn, calm down. You know me. I don't do things like that."

"Then fucking explain to me why I was kept in the dark for so long! Why did I ever need to play this fucking stupid guessing game with the person who's my soulmate? You knew about how the arcobalenos feel about their soulmates. You knew how I felt about it!" Reborn snarled. Finally, both of them were looking at each other and Tsuna had to look away after seeing the look of hurt in his mentor's eyes.

Tsuna knew about how Reborn feared that his soul bond would disappear at any time during his long stint at being cursed as an infant. He also knew Reborn thought that his soulmate was a civilian. He often caught Reborn with that faraway look where Tsuna knew the other was imagining a life of peace and normalcy to match and be accepted by his soulmate.

"I've been feeling trails of my soulmate's emotions for years now – hurt, sorrow, pain, helplessness. Do you know how that makes me feel? Me – being the greatest hitman in the world, not being able to do anything to protect my helpless civilian soulmate? All I could do was send messages down the bond hoping that they'd respond. But what fucking civilian knows fucking morse code?!" Reborn hissed, a mix of pain and anger swirling down the bond and Tsuna could feel his wrist burning. He didn't want to look at his threads.

Okay, fuck. Four days seemed kind of long now.

"Reborn, I'm sorry." Tsuna took a gamble with pulling the hitman into a hug. Their first hug. Reborn stiffened and Tsuna felt hurthurthurt down the bond. "I just found out four days ago. I didn't know how to react. You were still an infant a couple of years back and you were my tutor! I just needed some time to come to terms with the discovery that's all."

"How? How did you know it was me, Tsuna? Why did it take you so long? You're a sky – can't you see the bonds?" This tone of voice was so unlike Reborn, Tsuna didn't know what to do. "I had ruled you out so long ago because I knew skies could see the bonds and no matter how dame you were it was impossible to not notice the bonds growing together." He accused.

"I'm so sorry, Reborn." Tsuna flinched a little because of all the times Reborn had called him dame, this time the hitman meant it, and it hurt. "I never noticed. There was too much going on these couple of years and everyone's' bonds were growing at the same time so I couldn't determine who my soulmate was."

The ex-acobaleno took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "And the morse?"

"I told you once that I thought my soulmate was the most caring person in the world because they would send me comforting pulses down the bond and it made me feel better. I didn't know morse until recently and that's how finally realised it was you."

"Baka-Tsuna. How can you mistake a systematic, regular code for comforting pats?"

"I'm sorry, Reborn." Tsuna gave a couple of comforting pats to Reborn's back. C.H.A.O.S….C.H.A.O.S…. "But they were really comforting. Thank you. You were there for me even before I knew you. You supported me in every way through my journey in becoming Vongola."

"You're such an idiot."

There was silence for a couple of moments as Tsuna felt the tension being drained out from the man in his arms. Calmness flowed through the bond and Tsuna could sense that his soulmate was feeling a sense of relief. Tsuna didn't let go, Reborn didn't move away. It was kind of sweet and Tsuna smiled into the other's hair as he rested his face on Reborn's spiky, rough tufts.

He could actually feel the bond settling and accepting.

"I'm thankful that it's you, Reborn." Tsuna confessed in a moment of clarity. "You really were my closest confidant."

Reborn snorted. "Don't be so melodramatic."

Tsuna smiled anyway, and the soul bond hummed at being acknowledged and Tsuna watched as golden bond stretching out from the darkness and wound itself around Reborn's wrist before changing to a bright yellow hue. Warmth flowed down the bond and there was a happy tingle thrilling deep within the threads.

"I'm thankful too." Reborn confessed.

"You are?" Tsuna never thought he would hear Reborn say those words. "What are you thankful for?"

Reborn's arms snaked around Tsuna's waist and he felt warmwarmwarm reciprocation.

"I'm thankful that it wasn't that bastard Xanxus. It would have been hell to have him around all the time."

Tsuna blinked and burst out in happy laughter as he watched more strands of bright threads settle around both his and Reborn's wrist.

And to think the thick rope around his wrist was just the beginning of what he and his soulmate were going to have made Tsuna even more grateful he could always see the beauty of it.