Eight years earlier…

His first official mission is when he's nine years old, one year after Tsuna finds a way (like he always finds a way) to break the arcobaleno curse without destroying the 7^3.

… Alright, it's not an official mission… nor is it HIS mission… but he considers it a self-appointed official mission because it's Reborn's (who's now as he was before the curse; a full grown sexy adult) mission appointed by Tsuna to try to assuage a rebellious group attacking the Vongola base in Italy. If needed, Reborn was to use force; Tsuna asked that he try to refrain from killing anyone.

When Reborn gets on the airplane, Lambo had already snuck into cargo. It never occurs to him that he might worry his Vongola family; he had followed Reborn to them and now he would follow him away. It never dawns on him to not follow Reborn.

When they arrive in Italy, Reborn checks into a hotel, a safe distance away from where the rebellion is said to be housed but close enough to hear the moment anything happens. Lambo sneaks through the window and makes his home on the couch in the living room, laughing obnoxiously when Reborn comes in and then crying pitifully when he's completely ignored.

Nevertheless, he follows Reborn the whole day, safely out of sight as Reborn goes about whatever it is that he's doing.

When Reborn first runs into the rebellious group two days after arrival, Lambo sits down and watches, knowing that, despite the odds, Reborn will come out for the best.

By 'despite the odds', Lambo's referring to the six guns pointed at Reborn and the two guns pointed at a young female hostage; it's a lose-lose situation all around as far as a spectator would be concerned (a win-win situation as far as the group is concerned).

Suddenly, the sounds of gunshots echo through the air and then the taste of smoke fills the mouth once inhaled through the nose. There's a moment of stillness before all six of the bad guys fall to the ground without a sound, the hostage miraculously untouched, despite two of the gunmen having hid directly behind her.

She collapses after another moment, fainting from the shock of her near-death experience.

Lambo huffs, having not expected anything more or less. Reborn calls someone to pick up the bodies and the girl before sauntering on his way, hands in the pockets of his one-button Armani suit. He passes Lambo without a word, but Lambo smirks and follows after him, teasing him about he must have been terrified going up against all of those big bad guys!

Reborn still says nothing; continues to ignore him all the way back to the hotel room where he slips into the bathroom and locks the door behind himself. Lambo frowns at that; usually, Reborn would leave it unlocked, if only for the fact that if anyone did dare to walk in, Reborn would shoot at them and that was much more affective than a locked door.

Now he feels concern; instead of voicing it, he goes into the stocked kitchen and begins making dinner; it's late at night, sometime pass two in the morning, but neither of them have eaten since around three in the afternoon. He doesn't know about Reborn, but he's starving!

He makes salad and fried rice (I-Pin showed him how to make it the best way a year ago) and then grabs a quart of milk to go with his own serving. He finishes eating and there's still no sign of Reborn. He puts his fried rice into the stove to keep warm and the salad into the refrigerator to keep it cool. And then he goes to the bathroom and taps (almost uncertainly) at the wood.

"Reborn? You've been in there for a long time…" His voice is filled with concern instead of mockery.

There's a grunt from the other side of the door and the lock clicks. "Be useful, you stupid cow, and wrap this for me."

Lambo growls, slamming the door open. "I'M NOT STU-…pid…" Reborn's back is facing him; there's a tiny hole near the top of his right shoulder, just above the rib cage and to the right of the back of his heart.

Lambo chokes, eyes widening. "Wh- what happened!"

Reborn smirks. "What do you think happened?"

Lambo huffs and grabs the alcohol and gauze; the wound looks angry and wider than it should be. That's when Lambo notices the bloody tweezers and the even bloodier damaged bullet next to it on the sink ledge. He pales and looks away.

"Well, how am I supposed to help if you don't sit down?" He growls instead of making fun of Reborn for getting shot in the first place.

Reborn sits down on the toilet seat and Lambo goes about cleaning it; he's still very young, but he was raised in the mafia, so he knows a little more than others his age should about wounds.

When he's done, he pauses; he rests his hands on either side of the now cleaned and wrapped wound, leaning forward and pecking the white bandage softly. "Mmmwah!" He adds sound affects to the action. He pulls away with a big, happy grin; Reborn scowls over his shoulder at him but Lambo only leers at him. "I bet it feels better now that I've kissed it better!"

The scowl disappears and Reborn looks almost contemplative. Lambo stretches his arms above his head, the bottle of alcohol and the roll of gauze still in each hand, and yawns loudly; he brings one hand back down and rubs sleepily at one gritty eye – now it's nearing three in the morning and he's beyond exhausted.

"The fried rice is in the oven and your salad is in the refrigerator." He glares, though it hardly looks threatening with his large green eyes and small stature. "Don't let it go to waste! I worked hard to make it!" He sets the gauze and alcohol down at the sink and walks out. He slips into his black and white spotted pajamas and then pulls the blankets around him as he snuggles into the comfortable couch, the length of it twice as long as his body.

He's asleep the moment his head hits the cushion… and then he's awake not too long afterwards, his eyes flittering open as he feels himself being lifted, blankets and all. He blinks twice, trying to clear his vision. He sees black, but that's about all as his eyes drift shut once more.

When he wakes up the next morning, he's alone in the bedroom; a bad sign on two accounts: one, he had fallen asleep on the couch, and two, where was Reborn?

He's dressed and out the door the moment he's done in the restroom; he's an expert on tracking Reborn, after all. It takes no longer than five minutes to find him, though he can't actually go to him because he's in a bar and Lambo – unescorted and underaged – isn't allowed in and there are too few people to go unnoticed.

So he sits down outside the door and waits without moving, just like old times, and thinks about random things nine year old children think about; he wants to go the playground, he wants to get ice cream, he wonders about what Mama's cooking at home and when they're going back.

A man stumbles pass, pauses, and then smirks down at him. "Ti sei perso, ragazzino? ( - Are you lost, little boy?)" The man asks him with a dirty smile.

Lambo blinks and then smiles. "Sto aspettando! ( - I'm waiting!)"

The man crouches down and rests a hand on his shoulder, his thumb stroking Lambo above the collar of his black and white spotted sweater. "Chi? ( - Who?)"

Lambo tilts his head, not quite certain why the man is being so touchy feely and not really liking it; it feels weird, like he's doing something wrong which is impossiblebecause he never does any wrong.

A gun is cocked. "Non mi piacciono i pedofili. ( - I don't appreciate pedophiles.)"

The man touching Lambo jerks to his feet and pales, his jaw slacking and his eyes widening. "Ah hah hah…" His laughter is nervous as he takes slow steps backwards. " Reborn! Non ero niente di male, stavo tenendo la società ragazzo! Ma ora vedo che sei qui, così sarò per la mia strada. ( - I wasn't do anything wrong, I was just keeping the boy company! But now I see that you're here, so I'll be on my way.)" He turns tail and runs away.

Lambo leaps to his feet, grinning up tot Reborn. "Clever Reborn! What did you find out?"

Reborn puts his gun away, stuffs his hands into his pockets, and walks away without a word. Lambo trots after him, trying to keep up with Reborn's long, sure strides and with success.

It is seven hours before they get back to the hotel and Lambo is whining for the hunger and tiredness he feels. Reborn's ignoring him (per usual), so Lambo sticks his tongue out at his back.

He makes dinner again, switching it up by using the cookbook also supplied by the hotel (such a nice place!) and materials in the cupboards and freezer to make mini calzones and mashed potatoes.

He puts the calzones and mashed potatoes left over in the oven to keep warm once he's finished and then gets dressed for the night; having forgotten the night before, he nuzzles into the couch. It's hot enough that he doesn't miss his blankets (which are still on the bed), so he doesn't notice their absence.

He's asleep before too long and wakes up – for the second time – in the bed, no Reborn to be found.

For whatever reason, this goes on for the two weeks they're in Italy. Lambo cooks dinner, falls asleep on the couch, wakes up in the bed, and is ignored by Reborn the rest of the day.

When they get home, Tsuna hugs him and tells him to not go off somewhere without warning him! Mama welcomes them both back with a warm smile and I-Pin grabs Lambo and goes off to play at the park.

Life went on as normal…