Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn.

Chapter 9

When Tsuna thought of men in black suits, she'd think of spies, agents or even Reborn, her tutor. After all, Reborn had used a mini-sized black suit most of the time. In any case lots of men in black suits would look suspicious, especially in places like neighborhoods.

That was exactly the case when Tsuna came home from school that day. Hoards of men in pitch-black suits were gathered in front of Hibari's house. They were big, buff, and very scary in Tsuna's eyes.

'HIIEEE! What are those guys doing here!? This isn't one of Reborn's crazy antics is it?' Tsuna thought.

Tsuna's first instinct as her dame-self—no, as any average teenage girl, was to turn around, walk away and hope everything goes back to normal when she comes back later on.

'If all this is Reborn's fault then I don't want to be involved in any part of it. I'll just go to either Gokudera or Yamamoto's place in the mean time.'

Tsuna turned on her heel and was about to walk away when suddenly her path was blocked. One of the men in black was thrown into the ground, which landed right in front of her.

"Urgh"

"HIEEE!" screeched Tsuna in alarm.

The man had his suit in a mess as well as bruises, cuts and other injuries on his body. His face was beaten into a pulp. Over all he turned out to look even more frightening than his comrades.

In this situation Tsuna didn't know whether she should check up on the guy or run away, screaming in terror. The latter being the more reasonable option to her. However, Tsuna didn't choose either. All because she heard that familiar voice.

"I'll bite you all to death for crowding!"

"It was Kyoya-kun!" That sentence was the first thing in her mind when she heard that voice.

Hibari Kyoya was targeted by men from all sides. Every single one of them had attempted to hurt him but none succeeded. The younger boy was much stronger than all of them combined.

He was about to swing his tonfa at another enemy when a black leather strap bound around it. The whip was pulled and the tonfa was jerked of from Kyoya's hand. It flew across the air before reaching the hand of the whip's owner.

The owner of the whip was a foreigner—with shiny blond hair, a long jawline and tall build. Even though his choice clothing consisted of a black-printed shirt, khaki pants and yellow-green jacket. Tsuna thought he had the looks of prince that came out of a fairytale. He already had the face, all he'd need would be a costume, a few props and a dashing smile and it'd be perfect. Sadly none of it was there.

The foreigner, in Tsuna's point-of-view looked very, very serious and that expression rather frightened Tsuna.

Kyoya's expression wasn't any better either. He looked just as scary. If looks could kill then the foreigner would already be dead from his glare. He definitely wasn't happy to be rid of his prized tonfa.

"I don't know who you are," the blonde man started with his eyes fixed on the younger boy's, "but it doesn't seem like you would stop if I ask you too. So I'm sorry but I'm going to have to use force on you."

Hibari smirked in response, "You'd better be strong, herbivore."

As both combatant shifted to their respective pose, the foreigner with his whip and Kyoya with his single tonfa, the other unscathed men backed up to create more space for them.

Things were turning from bad to worse and they had to be stopped before real damage was done. Between a fight of two strong men like these, a girl like her would easily be crushed. Yet that fact didn't cross her mind even once. Her main priority now was stop them from fighting and stop them she will.

"STOP IT!"

Tsuna screamed so loud that everyone who heard her flinched. Heck, she even surprised herself.

"Herbivore…" Kyoya muttered under his breath.

Everyone's attention all turned to her. Now that Tsuna was in the middle of the spotlight she panicked. Oh she really had done it this time. How could she untangle herself from this mess? Surely just running away was useless.

"U-um, t-that is I-I mean… " Tsuna tried stuttering quietly, "no one should fight… Well not here anyways… You'll bother the neighbors… and… and" Her volume kept decreasing as she continued to babble.

Luckily Reborn decided to show up and save her.

"Dame-Tsuna's right," Reborn appeared out of nowhere to stand in front of Tsuna, "You guys would destroy the neighborhood if you fight here."

"Reborn!" exclaimed both Tsuna and the foreigner. Both didn't expect the other to know him and turned to look at each other in confusion.

"Eh do you know him, miss?" the blonde man asked the brunette.

"Y—"

"Of course she does," Reborn interrupted, "and you should know her too, Dino. After all she's your senpai. Though the situation's rather reversed right now."

"What?" This time only Tsuna screamed, but Dino was equally as shocked

"T-that means, you're Sawada Tsunahime."

"Tch," Hibari clicked his tongue to show his discontentment with the change in situation, "Infant, take care of the crowd. I'm going home."

Hibari had already went and retrieved the tonfa Dino dropped and was dead set on returning back home.

"Ah, wait for me Kyoya-kun." Tsuna followed Hibari's footsteps to enter the house

Just as Hibari opened the door, Reborn spoke up again.

"My, my, Hibari. Are you really that upset you didn't get to fight with my stupid student?" Dino complained at Reborn's remark.

The black-haired boy stopped his actions to glare at the Infant as if to say "What do you think, infant?"

Reborn smirked at his actions, while both his students were both confused at the development.

"Then why don't you let Dino here stay in the house for a couple of days? That way you'd get another chance to bite him to death."

For a second, the pair of steel-grey orbs just stared blankly at Reborn before looking over to the foreigner.

"You," Dino looked left and right before pointing to himself, "If you dare to run away, I'll bite you to death."

His presence immediately disappeared as he entered the house with Tsuna skittering quickly behind him.

~MyMysteriousSoul~

The sun fled from the moon as night befall Namimori town. The sky always looked different according to the presence of the sun, bright in the day and dark in the night. And Tsuna thought that perhaps the same could be said for the young Cavallone boss. But instead of the sun his subordinates would fit better in the context.

When Tsuna first saw the blonde boss she thought that he was amazing boss. He had lots of followers that trusted him so much, good looks and impressive fighting skills. Tsuna didn't know much about mafia bosses yet she could have said for sure that Dino was a great leader that was suited to be looked up upon. However, she had yet to find out all there is to the blonde Cavallone boss.

Unlike Tsuna's first impression of him, Dino was surprisingly clumsy. He had tripped over nothing and knocked over so many things that Tsuna lost count. At first Tsuna thought that his actions were because of anxiety of being in a stranger's house or jetlag. Even so when his strange behavior continued until dinner, Tsuna no longer believed so.

During dinnertime Tsuna was taken aback at how messy Dino ate. He reasoned with the fact that he wasn't used to chopsticks. Nevertheless no matter how Tsuna looked at him, she thought he made more of a mess eating than a three-year-old child.

Reborn was the one to have put her mind at ease. Well not really—she still thought it didn't make much sense—but he made her feel closer to it than before. According to Reborn, Dino was the type of boss who's only reliable in front of his subordinates. In other words unless a family member is present Dino would only be as useful as Dame-Tsuna.

Overall Dino was a great guy, a good mentor to follow. He even said he'd be an older brother figure to Tsuna, although Hibari didn't really appreciate his good intent.

Throughout the day, Hibari was only interested in making the Italian fight him and most of the attempts ended up with a pissed off Hibari, a messed-up room and Dino tied up with his own whip.

The pattern continued until the following day.

The sun had barely rose when it happened. As usual Tsuna was still in deep slumber, off in the wonderful land of dreams when a very loud 'crash' awoke her. At first she thought that she might have imagined the crash and tried to return to sleep, until Reborn slapped her in the face.

SMACK

"Wake up, Dame-Tsuna."

If she wasn't so sleepy Tsuna have shown more of a response, but the slap wasn't all that painful and her mind was still fuzzy. Still she sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"What is it now, Reborn?"

"Tch, I should have hit her harder," mumbled Reborn.

"What did you say just now? I didn't hear you."

"Get up and go downstairs. There's a problem you need to solve."

Tsuna whined, "Aww~ But it's barely six in the morning."

"I said," Reborn retrieved Leon from the top of his fedora and pointed it at Tsuna once the chameleon changed into a gun, "NOW."

"Hieeee! Yes sir!"

Tsuna literally jumped from her bed and headed straight for the door. Once she opened the door, she sniffed something that smelled like burnt ash.

Immediately Tsuna rushed downstairs. She ran and ran from the hallway, down the stairs and into the kitchen, where she thought was the source of the smell. As she got closer and closer to her destination the horrible smell got stronger, a sign that showed how correct her hunch was.

Eventually she reached the kitchen and the scene before her was truly a sight to behold. Black smoke clouded the ceilings and pieces of silverware, cutlery and broken pieces of plates and cups lay dead on the floor.

Similarly to the other times Tsuna found a situation like this, Dino was trapped by his own whip. Apparently it also caused him to trip and fall to lay limp on the floor. Thankfully he was lucky enough to not hit any of the glass shards. Right in front of him was Hibari standing with a murderous glare that sent Tsuna shivers down her spine.

No matter how many times she saw it, Tsuna could never get used to a a catastrophe like this.

"HIEEEE! What had just happened here?"

Both male looked at her. Dino had a hopeful look on his face, while Hibari softened his glare.

"Apparently my student tried to make toast," said Reborn as he appeared besides her.

How could making toast lead to such a mess? Tsuna wanted to doubt him but there was a blackish looking thing in the toaster and she knew that Dino was good at making a mess out of things.

How in the world can you fix this place?! But more importantly I have to help Dino-san!

As Tsuna scurried over to Dino's side, Hibari took this moment as a cue to leave.

"Herbivore, you should go to school soon too and make sure that foolish herbivore leaves from here," Hibari pulled out a tonfa, "permanently."

With that Hibari left an infant, two idiots in shock and a messed up situation at home.

"Haha, sorry Tsuna," Dino tried to brighten up the situation after he recovered, "I'm supposed to be you big brother, yet all I seem to do is just cause you trouble."

"O-of coursed not! You're a big help," Tsuna frantically denied.

"More like a big nuisance," added Reborn.

That statement really stabbed Dino's heart. His surrounding atmosphere turned gloomy straightaway.

Tsuna worriedly looked at him. She wanted to ease his worries but she couldn't really disagree with Reborn.

She clapped her hands together when she thought of an idea. The spotlight now turned to her.

"Ah, Dino-san, if you'd like why don't I show you around Namimori? If you hadn't gone already that is."

"What about your school?"

"Yeah, Dame-Tsuna, do tell. Did you really thought I'd let you skip school for a day?"

Reborn had approached her and was pointing his Leon-gun right at her head.

Nervous as she was, Tsuna couldn't help but to turn pale. Still, she gulped and decided to go along with her bright idea.

"W-well, Reborn," she started to sweat feverishly, "I-I w-was thinking t-that maybe I c-could h-have a few p-p-pointers from Dino-san to being a mafia b-boss? I wouldn't be a-able to a-a-ask freely if Yamamoto and Gokudera were to s-stick around and t-they'd probably worry a-and try to keep me away f-from Dino-san if they knew he's a m-mafia b-boss."

"Okay," Leon returned to his original form, "I approve of your answer, Dame-Tsuna."

Tsuna could only sigh in relief when the gun wasn't pointed to her head anymore.

~MyMysteriousSoul~

Namimori Shopping District was not as crowded as usual that morning. It was still busy as always, just without the younger generation walking around. Most of the young ones were at school. One of the only exceptions would be those who had skipped, which included the blond-brunette pair.

To ease her guilt for her deed she didn't dare to wear her uniform. It was a dead giveaway she was skipping and she didn't want to be found out, especially by a certain skylark, until much later. She wanted to be sure she properly got to spend time with her older brother figure. Just for that day, at least. If Kyoya were to know of the rendezvous, he would surely drag her back to school and really bite Dino to death without a second thought.

Sometimes Tsuna loved how Kyoya helped her from straying from the right path even if it was for the school. It made her feel wanted—cared for. Even so there were other times that she wished Kyoya actually cared less for her actions. This was one of those times.

Tsuna showed Dino everything she knew about Namimori. The best place to buy groceries, the best and worst cafes and restaurants, and the ideal places for hanging out. There was much to say about Namimori. After all, it was her one and only favorite town. Yet even if she had fun visiting the ups and downs of the town, there was still that nagging guilt pulling her mind.

Dino was quick to notice the strangeness in Tsuna's mood from time to time. His senses were especially keen since Romario, one of his subordinates, had decided to follow their little tour.

At first he wasn't quite sure what to do since he had barely known her. He would have asked Reborn for advice if he was around although Dino was partially relieved his mentor wasn't there. Eventually he decided to ask anyways.

"Tsuna, is there anything bugging you? I'm grateful you want to spend time with me and all, but if you want to go to school, go ahead. I'm sure there's still some classes left for the day."

"Oh no, Dino-san. I'm really enjoying myself being with you right now. It's just I kinda feel guilty…" Tsuna averted her eyes for a moment as she said the last sentence.

"Perhaps boss and I could do something to ease your worries, Sawada-san?" Romario asked.

Tsuna flinched and the trio halted into a stop.

"Is there something the matter, Tsuna?" asked the worried Italian.

"No, nothing's the matter, really. It's just that um..." Tsuna glanced worriedly at the oldest man among them.

"Romario," he reminded the brunette of his name.

"Yes, Romario-san. Sorry for forgetting your name again but please, just call me by my given name," suddenly Tsuna found the hem of her skirt very interesting, "It's just that I'm not used to being called by my family name just yet."

"Forgive me for my lack of attentiveness," Romario bowed.

"Ah, you don't need to be so polite. It's not a big deal. More importantly," she turned her attention to the other Italian, "do you mind if I ask you a question, Dino-san?"

Tsuna realized her blunder and blushed slightly, "Not the one from just now though!"

"Ahaha, of course. Anything for my cute little sister," said Dino as he winked.

"Well, I was thinking… Why… did you… decide to become a mafia boss? I'm sure there are plenty of other professions you would be suited for."

"Uh, well, that's a bit hard to explain," Dino scratched the back of his head unsurely, "At first I was like you, Tsuna. I didn't want to be involved in the mafia even if I was born in that world. I wanted to be a normal person."

"Eh, really?"

"Yeah. I guess the past me was similar to how you are right now. Bad at sports, clumsy, an idiot, wait sorry I didn't mean to insult you Tsuna."

"It's okay, just continue please, Dino-san."

"My point is that I wasn't suited to be mafia boss at all. Reborn was the one who changed all that."

"Is Reborn really that great?"

"Hmmm, you could put it that way. You were supposed to know him better than I do anyways."

"Oh..."

Dino pats Tsuna's head. "It's fine, I'm sure you'll gain your memories soon. In any case, do you still want to hear my reason?" Tsuna nodded.

"I'm sure you know this, but Reborn has a very… different style of tutoring from most, if not all people. And most of them involved pain to the boot. I really didn't want to be trained by him of all people but it was not like I could escape, you know." Dino chuckled lightly.

"Gradually his efforts bore fruit. Slowly but surely I found a reason to be a mafia boss—my subordinates. One by one they grew to be very important to me that I no longer had a chance to let go and abandon them anymore. That was why I decide to chose this path and get stronger in order to protect everything precious to me."

Tsuna saw as Dino walked a bit in front of her. His back seemed to be so broad, accepting all the burdens and pains as a leader. Tsuna decided that her first thought of the guy was right. He was truly a wonderful boss.

Over the sky black clouds had come and covered it. Small droplets of water started to pour down.

"Speaking of precious, Romario, have you seen Enzio?"

"Eh? Enzio?" Tsuna couldn't help but to be curious of who or what Enzio was.

"Yes. He's a pet turtle Reborn gave to me when I graduated. It was actually because I wanted Leon and since he couldn't give me his partner, he gave me Enzio. He's Leon's child." Dino flashed a boyish grin.

'H-how can a chameleon have a turtle as its child?!' Tsuna thought, sweat dropping.

"Weren't you keeping him yourself, boss?"

"Huh? But… he's not with me—"

ROARRR

Like it was on cue, a loud roar was heard. At the sound Tsuna noticed both Italian turned pale.

"What… was that?" questioned Tsuna.

That question was hardly a rhetorical one so it was obvious Tsuna wanted someone to answer her. Sadly she didn't get any because before her companions were able to hear her question, they had already ran off to the origin of the roar.

"W-wait for me!"

~MyMysteriousSoul~

Gigantic.

That was the only word that passed through Tsuna's mind the moment she saw it. There were other words that could describe the monster too. For example; green, spiked and reptile could have been easily used.

Tsuna stopped at a bridge closest to where the monster was along with the two Italian.

"Boss, this is bad. If we don't do something Enzio will most likely destroy the town."

"Romario! Quickly call the other for back up. Make sure they protect the townsfolk from getting hurt! I'll hold Enzio back."

"Straightaway, boss!" Romario saluted briefly before running off.

Dino was also about to leave when Tsuna held him back.

"Wait, Dino-san! Just what the heck is that thing?"

"That's the pet I was telling you about earlier. Enzio is a turtle that can expand its size by absorbing water. It must have been thrown into the river for it to get this big. You heard what Romario said just now, right? It could destroy the town, that's why I need to stop him from rampaging."

"But, Dino-san—"

"No buts! I've g—" Dino tripped over his own foot and landed flat on his face on the concrete. "Ack!"

"—none of your family members… are here…" Tsuna wanted to warn him but it seems he was too late.

"Sorry about that small blunder. Now I'll definitely stop En— Ah!"

Dino tried to unwind his whip to show his determination but it ended up tying itself around both his legs instead. Dino could not help but fall again. Tsuna ended up having to untangle him again.

'Without his men Dino-san has no chance of winning against that ferocious thing! What will happen now?'

Just as the thought passed her mind when they were overshadowed. Enzio had noticed them and approached. His form was a shock to Tsuna. Thunder flashed and Enzio looked scarier than ever to her.

'Oh no, I'm scared. I-I c-can't move.'

That was when a black figure suddenly jumped from behind her. In the haze of the downpour her visions were slightly clouded. It took her a moment to notice who it was exactly.

"K-Kyoya-kun!"

"Kyoya!"

Hibari was the same as him, soaked to the bones from the storm.

"Hebivore, get that fool back on his feet. He has to take responsibility for this mess."

"Geez, Kyoya you could loosen up a bit you know."

"Hmph"

After Kyoya arrived the fear was washed away along with the rain. His presence always helped her feel safe. Tsuna once again set to work on untangling the whip.

'Alright, just one more knot and it'll be loose. How did it get tied up so tightly in the first place?'

As she pulled on the last knot, the impact made her fall backwards. She thought she'd hit the ground on her head, but that didn't happen. A hand wrapped around her shoulder stopped her.

"Need some help?"

Brown orbs meet black ones.

"Yamamoto!"

Yamamoto grinned, "Yo!"

"Hime! Are you okay?" Gokudera exclaimed from her other side, catching up to them.

"Gokudera, you're here too!"

"You're precious to us Tsuna, so it's a natural that'd we'll save you when you're in a pinch." Yamamoto smiled to her gently.

"I hate to admit it but base-ball idiot is right. I don't know about him but I'll always be on your side! I'm your right hand man after all!" Gokudera exclaimed.

"You guys," Tsuna was moved to tears.

"Hate to break the touching reunion guys, but we still have a quite bad situation here." Dino interrupted.

"Is he your friend Tsuna?" Yamamoto asked.

"Well…"

Gokudera widened his eyes. "You're Bucking Horse Dino! What are you doing here?"

"I'll explain later. Take care of Tsuna for me, okay?"

"Haha, sure thing."

"Of course! That's my job as Hime's right hand man."

Dino joined Kyoya in battling against Enzio. They may have fought again and again yesterday but they actually make a good pair, Tsuna had to admit.

'Wait, why did Dino become reliable again?'

"As expected of our boss," Romario said, standing next to them.

"Romario-san! What are you doing back here?"

"I got worried that boss might mess up, but looks like my worry was useless."

Tsuna sweat dropped. 'No, you're wrong there, Romario-san.'

As the fight commenced the rain slowly dissipate. Once the sun started to show again, it dried Enzio and the turtle shrunk to it's original size.

~MyMysteriousSoul~

It's been a full day since the incident. There was only a little damage from Enzio's rampage and Dino's Family had taken cared of it. Tsuna also got a lecture and detention from Kyoya for skipping school. As one would have expect, Gokudera had tried to blow him up for doing such a thing. Tsuna was really glad Yamamoto and Reborn managed to convince him otherwise.

Reborn also gave Tsuna punishment for skipping school. In exchange for a whole free day, Tsuna had to complete a pile load of homework by the day and get a score of at least 90 for them all. She had of course complained, whined and tried to escape but eventually she gave up and did it. Both Yamamoto and Gokudera had offered to help her but they were chased away by Reborn.

It was during the time she did the work that Tsuna realized Dino hadn't contacted them since the day before. Therefore, she tried asking Reborn about him.

"Reborn, do you know where Dino is?" Tsuna asked, tilting her head sideways.

"Dino? He already went home this morning," answered Reborn blatantly.

"What?" Tsuna cried out.

'But I was really looking forward to spending more time together…'

"What did you expect, Dame-Tsuna? Dino has a mafia family to take care of in Italy. So it'd be a natural for him to return sooner or later."

"I guess… But he didn't even say goodbye," said Tsuna slightly disappointed.

"It couldn't be helped. You were at school when he left. Now get back to studying, Dame-Tsuna." Reborn once more pointed Leon in gun form at her head.

"Hieeee! H-Hai!"

'I decide to chose this path and get stronger in order to protect everything precious to me.' Those words that Dino had said before resounded in her mind. Because of that sentence, even if it was just for a second Tsuna's reluctance to be a mafia boss wavered, and that if someday she did become a family head, she was sure that would be her reason too.

Finally, Dino makes his appearance! Yay~ Though I don't think this chapter was all that good... Even so, I did enjoy making it as always, so I hope you guys enjoyed reading it too~

So, I actually didn't mention anything the yellow canary (AKA the soon to be hibird) again. It's not that I've forgotten about it (well to be honest I did a few times... Sorry Hibird! :'( ) but it was because I couldn't seem to find the right time to mention him. I'll be sure to include it in the next chapter.

For the next chapter I'd make it more unique because the concept was one I thought of myself without referring to the original plot of KHR. I was also planning to put in a bit of 1827 fluff too but I'm still not sure yet.

Here are the thanks for chapter 8's reviewers:

Soul Vrazy

Belletiger BT

Ayz283

BrokenBlackCat

RoseJustice

onepiecefannumber1

RandomReviewer00 (anonymous)

To all seven reviewers thank you very much! I'm sorry I wasn't able to reply to any of your reviews DX

Lastly, I want to thank MiyumiMisaki for becoming my beta reader! XD Thank you so much for your hard work~

Okay that's it for this chapter. Don't forget to RnR! Ciao~