"Aa! Dame-Tsuna? You're still alive-ugh!"

"Tsuna!" Takeshi says excitedly, not looking back at the pair of second-years he ran over to get to Tsuna. "Your mom finally let you come back?"

The courtyard is silent. Everyone notices the track (and band, but less people care about that) star talking to Dame-Tsuna. It does not compute. Before Dame-Tsuna can answer, however, Sasagawa Ryohei comes out of absolutely-goddamn-nowhere, yelling "Extreme! Tsuna! You're back in school!"

Further silence, because Sasagawa Ryohei may mostly be known for trying to convince absolutely everyone to join the track club, but his younger sister is Sasagawa Kyoko, who has managed to become an idol for the whole school in the short months since she started. In this silence, everyone can clearly hear Tsuna's words as he says softly, "Yeah. Hibari-sensei insisted that keeping me at home any longer would just be detrimental."

Even further silence, because Hibari-sensei? Like Hibari Kyoya? Everyone abruptly notices Kusakabe-sempai, Hibari Kyoya's right hand man, standing behind the group of three and glaring at everyone else.

The conversations abruptly start up again, this time with a fresh helping of gossip. Everyone is so focused on trying to figure out the implications of Dame?-Tsuna's new friendships, that none of them notice the group of three slip into the school building, followed by their irritated watcher.

"So, Tsuna," Takeshi asks as they pause to switch shoes. "I'll get you a copy of my notes tonight."

"Ah- no offence, Takeshi, but I'll be fine."

"Tsuna, you know you shouldn't be writing this soon," Ryohei says immediately. "Your wrist is still too weak-"

"Honestly Ryohei, I'll be fine. Beside, you didn't think Hibari-sensei would have sent me back to school if she didn't think I could do it?" Tsuna turns around, and his gaze narrows unearlingly on Kusakabe. "My notes, please."

Kusakabe hands over a thick packet in a color-coded multiple-partition folder. "Don't forget to come to the reception room after school, alright?"

"Of course, Kusakabe."

Kusakabe eyes Tsuna like he wants to believe that every word which comes out of his mouth is sarcastic, but can't quite make the effort. Then he turns on his heel and leaves, stalking towards the staircase and likely returning to the reception room.

"Wow, Tsuna," Takeshi says once he's judged that Kusakabe is out of hearing range, "when you said that you made friends with Hibari-san, I thought you were joking!"

"I extremely figured that you managed to evade him, and told us you befriended him so we wouldn't be embarrassed that you managed it even though you're not on track," Ryohei says.

"I didn't say we were friends," Tsuna replies with a slight air of exasperation as he opens the folder and riffles through the papers, and the three of them start towards their classes. "He took one look at me, got this horridly guilt expression, and kidnapped me off to the reception room to pet me hair and mutter about endangered animals. And hilksoyng . . ."

Tsuna trailed off with a frown

"What was that?" Ryohei asks. "I couldn't quite hear you."

"He looked so young," Tsuna repeats a bit louder. "I forgot how young he was. Hibari-san is two years younger than us, but he's already taking over."

"Are you jealous?"

"Wow, Tsuna, I didn't take you as one with plans to take over the town."

"Wait- Takeshi, that's not what I meant-"

"Don't worry! I'm sure that you can take back the town with our support!"

"And Hibari-sensei would kill me for hurting her baby cousin, no thank you Takeshi," Tsuna says quickly.

"Not to mention my extreme little sister's friend," Ryohei adds with a dramatic shudder. "Have you seen what she does to boys who try to ask Kyoko out?"

"We can do it!" Takeshi insists cheerfully.

"Please no," Tsuna says. He sounds resigned though, like he knows that Takeshi is going to insist on taking over the town anyways. The three of them part ways at the next branch, Tunsa and Takeshi turning to take the stairs, and Ryohei going straight.

Takeshi sits on Tsuna's desk as they wait for homeroom to start, absently going through the fingerings to his favorite song as Tsuna reads the notes in the folder Kusakabe gave him.

Takeshi glances down once, and he stops to watch Tsuna's eyes as Tsuna reads with military precision. Takeshi's fingers still, poised around thin air, before he tears his gaze away. He doesn't look down again.

Takeshi files it away with all of the other things that are different about Tsuna since Ryohei started dragging him on their morning runs, like the way he moves (confident, not slouching and trying to make himself smaller) and the way he speaks (way to polite for a kid, he speaks like an adult). He leaves when the bell rings.

Tsuna spends most of the day looking out the windows, looking like he's looking for something. One teacher asks him a question and is cowed by his quiet, immediate, correct response. It was something that even the better students had been struggling with, something Dame-Tsuna, with three and a half missed months of school definitely shouldn't have been able to. Takeshi files it away.

Hibari-san appears at the class room door at lunch, a command in the way he motions impatiently for Tsuna, and as Takeshi follows the both of them out, he can't help but watch the back of Hibari-san's head.

Young, Tsuna had called him. No one thinks of Hibari-san as young when he's known for beating both bullies and innocents up on the thinnest of excuses, but even just watching him from behind, he looks so small.

Then suddenly the school day is over, and Ryohei and Takeshi are laughing at some joke as they walk up to Tsuna's house, and Tsuna opens to door to a European kid in a black suit with a yellow pendant hanging from a silver chain around his neck. The kid eyes Takeshi and Ryohei for a moment before his dark eyes settle on Tsuna.

"Ciaossu, Tsuna," he says. "I'm Reborn, your new home tutor."

He pauses for a moment, eyes dancing over then again. "I'm here to train you to be a mafia boss."

Ryohei and Takeshi look at Tsuna. He doesn't look the faintest bit surprised. Just resigned.

"Extreme! Tsuna, is that a game you're playing?" Ryohei asks.

"Ah," Takeshi says, laughing. "Tsuna, this is awesome! You'll be able to take over the town even easier this way!"

"Takeshi - no," Tsuna groans, dropping his head to cradle it in his hands. "I told you I don't want to take over the town, I think Hibari-san is doing a perfectly good job."

"Tsuna, is that you?" a male voice calls from somewhere in the house.

Tsuna freezes. Takeshi looks at him. Ryohei looks at him. Reborn looks at him. Ryohei makes an executive decision; he slams the door shut in Reborn's face, picks Tsuna up, and starts running away from Tsuna's house.

"Takeshi, I think it would be an extremely good idea to go visit my sister now, don't you?" Ryohei asks, as if he's not casually carrying Tsuna.

Back in the house, Reborn's eyes narrow and he turns on his heel as Iemitsu pokes his head out of the living room. That is not how someone should act in response to their own father, and considering what recently happened . . .

Outside, Tsuna starts struggling after only a couple of houses, and Ryohei quickly stops to set him down.

"Are you extremely alright?" he asks as Tsuna as he watches the younger boy collapse into himself, hunching his shoulders and ducking low.

"I'm fine," Tsuna mumbles.

"That didn't look like fine to me," Takeshi says. He's eyeing Tsuna's house like he's contemplating the best way to burn it down - preferably with Iemitsu inside, and Tsuna safely under Tsuyoshi's supervision.

"Really," Tsuna insists, and Ryohei can see him making an effort to uncurl himself, but the moment he tries to smile at Takeshi, his shoulders roll right back up. "I'm fine." It doesn't make for a very convincing picture.

"Right," Ryohei says. "Let's extremely visit Kyoko anyways. Takeshi-"

"I'll call my dad, get him to arrange a sleepover," Takeshi says, and he slings an arm over Tsuna's shoulder as the trio starts to walk again. "It'll be fun! We can stay up way past our bedtime, eat a ton of junk food, and not brush our teeth!"

". . . I think we have different ideas of fun," Tsuna mutters, but as Takeshi and Ryohei keep talking about all the things they'll do at the sleep over that night, he slowly relaxes. He doesn't stop glancing over his shoulders though, and Takeshi and Ryohei notice this.

I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn, nor do I intend to make a profit with this.

Also, yes. This is really really AU. Welcome to my world.