Rewritten portions posted, though currently unbeta'ed unless noted at the top. Major changes: removed all portions of Tsuna's past and his thoughts regarding it, rewrote and added in some events/conversations, but overall kept everything in the same chapters that they were originally in. However, I suggest going back to reread the chapters, because there are new portions that are relatively important.

Why bother to rewrite? My writing has changed quite a bit since I first posted this fic, and when I went back and reread my writing, it gave me a headache. So yes, I rewrote parts of it and grammatically fixed the rest until I was happy.

Why take down Tsuna's past? While writing them separately does make reading more interesting, keeping everything together allows more chances for expanding on conversations, topics, etc. It allows me to cover more events in general instead of forcing me to focus on the most important ones. If the portions of Tsuna's past are not kept together, I'm jumping around far too much for my own liking on events and meetings that I want to bridge together and connect.

Then when will everything be shown? Soon, I promise: within a few chapters, Tsuna's past arc will begin, and should span a couple of chapters. Because portions of Tsuna's past has been posted before, these updates should not take too long—but then given my updating schedule it's hard to say.

Beta'ed by ShamelessDilettante

The head honcho ground his teeth in irritation at the man bowed before him. His subordinates were failures, all of them, and not a single one could provide him with the resources or the materials that they needed in order to challenge the mafia and make a name for themselves.

"What do you want?" he snapped. He wasn't in a good mood, far from it. If one more blundering idiot brought news of being intercepted and taken out by some stupid brunet, he'd murder them himself.

The man kneeling by his feet suppressed a shudder. "I have news."

"It'd better be good."

"It is," his subordinate promised, and the head honcho paused when he heard the elation in his subordinate's voice. "I've found the Vongola heir!"

"And?" he breathed in anticipation. He hadn't expected this; of course he had heard rumors, but he hadn't been stupid enough to get his hopes up. If he could get his hands on the heir, then everything could go his way. He could almost see it: the Momokyokai ruling over the Vongola family, gathering all of the resources and riches that they could possibly want before throwing them out like trash. But no, he thought, kicking himself mentally. He'd have to be careful and play his cards right.

His subordinate seemed to sense his jubilation, because when he spoke again it was quicker, more excited. "He's weak. Blond hair, brown eyes. Name's Sawada Natsume. He's just a teenager."

All around the head of the Momokyokai, his fellow yakuza began to murmur amongst themselves.

"Any potential threats?"

His subordinate fidgeted, fingering his Mohawk almost nervously. "Yes. The Poison Scorpion's there, as well as some cow brat. Bovino family, I think. And there's a baby with a hat."

The head honcho leaned back and flexed his muscles, allowing the beginnings of a smirk to cross his face. Yes, he'd have to be careful—but even so, he could see the beginnings of his vision take form. After all, who could resist the allure of fame and glory? To think that even the dream was made possible by that one odd ramen-man.

"Then," he said maliciously, "let's plan."

With a low exhale he regarded the teen before him. Tsuna grumbled beneath his breath, very irritated with how this day was turning out. He wasn't mad, far from it, but this situation was one that he had wanted to avoid if at all possible because of Reborn. But what was done was done, and now his actions had spiraled into something that looked irreparable, if Gokudera's expression was any indication.

Gokudera was staring at him, face pale, with his hands clenched tightly into fists. It wasn't hard to guess what he was thinking, his shock and disbelief shone clearly in his eyes. A few seconds passed before the delinquent could finally voice the question Tsuna knew he would say:

"You—you saved me?"

Shrugging, he answered, "Yes." Tsuna shot Haru a reproachful glare, and she ducked her head in guilt. He wasn't entirely sure where she had learned that piece of information from, but his closest guess was either Kyoko or Hana. The girls had gotten quite friendly around each other recently, and they were the only ones who could have seen and passed on the information to the brunette. No one else would have.

Gokudera was staring at him strangely. "Why?"

"'Why?'" he repeated, mulling the thought over in his head. "Because of Natsu-kun."

Natsume looked down, cowed by the intimidating air.

"What does he have to do with anything?" Gokudera asked quietly. In his mind's eye Tsuna could see the proverbial gears spinning in the bomber's head, trying to piece together his motivations, and decided to wait before answering. Even as he watched Gokudera's mouth popped open with a hiss of realization.

"Got it?"

Gokudera looked away stiffly. "If your only concern was saving Natsume-san, then you wouldn't have saved me."

Tsuna expression shuttered for the briefest of moments before he mustered enough self-control to give the bomber a crooked smile. Sometimes Gokudera was too smart for his own good.

"True." Before the bomber could say anything more Tsuna turned and vanished in a wisp of black.

Reborn was busy that night, leaving Natsume momentarily to deliver another phone call, just like Tsuna had suspected since earlier in the day. At least, to him it wasn't so surprising: damage control was never something that he liked to deal with. Natsume seemed confused, not that he was unhappy to escape Reborn's warpath.

Tsuna watched Natsume flounder around uselessly for a moment before walking to one of the bookshelves to read a book. As the blond pulled one out from the rows upon rows of books he hesitated, shooting a quick look at his backpack, then cast another wistful look at the book in his fingers. With an audible sigh Natsume slipped the book back into its place and pulled out his homework from his bag. From the tree branch outside Tsuna smiled. Natsume was changing, slowly but surely, at least enough to give his academic studies more thought.

"Tsuna-sama!"

He grumbled irritably, tearing his eyes away from the window to meet the curious stare of the bomber below. Ever since he had disappeared in the afternoon, Gokudera had been looking for him, whether to thank him or to simply just stalk him he didn't know. He had seen the bomber scouring the city hours before, and if Gokudera was here again then it meant that he still hadn't given up.

With a sigh of irritation Tsuna jumped down from the tree branch he had been sitting on, landing on the ground lightly. "What is it, Gokudera-kun?"

"I wanted to talk to you." Gokudera shoved his hands into his pockets, looking up at the window. "How is Natsume-san doing?"

Tsuna raised his eyebrows curiously. "He's doing homework; Reborn's out somewhere. So what do you want to talk about?"

Gokudera straightened up subtly, tearing his gaze away from the bright lights from the joint bedroom two floors above. "Why did you save me? Why not just save Natsu-kun, your charge?"

"Because you remind me of someone I once knew," Tsuna answered blithely.

Taken aback, Gokudera had the decency to look away, abashed, focusing once more on the windows above when nothing else proved catching.

Smiling softly, Tsuna redirected his own gaze to the glowing lights, changing the topic before the silence became too awkward. "So I'm 'Tsuna-sama,' and Natsu-kun is 'Natsume-san?'"

Gokudera drew himself up with a huff. "You are 'Tsuna-sama' because you saved my life."

"And Natsu-kun?" Tsuna enquired gently.

The bomber scoffed. "He isn't like you; he nearly killed me, even if it was through the Dying Will Bullet."

"But if you wish to stay in the Vongola, Natsu-kun will be your superior. Will you address him as 'Natsume-sama' then?"

Gokudera fell silent for a moment, lips pulled into a distasteful scowl.

"Perhaps."

Rubbing his head awkwardly, the brunet sighed. "Give Natsu-kun a chance, at least. What happened with you wasn't entirely his fault. Up until a day before he met you, he hadn't known that his family had any connections with the mafia, much less about being a heir to the most powerful famiglia in the world. He hadn't fully adjusted before you tried to murder him, and the only thing that he could do was react in self-defense. The Dying Will bullet inhibits rational thought, wiping out everything except for a single resolve. Natsu-kun's resolution was to defeat you in order to protect himself. You can't blame him for reacting the way that he did."

Though the frown remained permanently etched in his face, Tsuna could see the expression beginning to thaw, just a tiny bit. "…I'll try."

Tsuna nodded patiently, allowing nothing to change in his expression. "Would you like to come in, then, Gokudera-kun?"

Eyeing him warily, Gokudera agreed, and after a brief hesitation the two of them entered the house.

Sighing to himself, Tsuna shoved his hands into his uniform pockets as he walked back home. Natsume had forgotten his lunch (again), and Reborn had insisted that the brunet should be the one to go fetch the forgotten meal. "Dame-Natsu needs his classes," Reborn had said mildly, and with a disgruntled look Tsuna had relented.

He frowned when he saw yet another child wandering along the streets. This one had a long braid, an extreme lack of eyes, and seemed incredibly nearsighted as far as he could tell. At least, it would explain the constant squinting.

"Are you lost?" he asked as he approached the child. Now that he was closer, he recognized her: it was I-pin, the student of Fong. I-pin peered upwards blindly, clearly unable to discern a thing, and Tsuna wondered how someone so nearsighted could possibly be an assassin.

Stringing together a barely coherent sentence, the Chinese girl managed to say, "Namimori Middle directions?" Tsuna leaned back on his heels. He had the feeling that somehow, I-pin would manage to cross Natsume's path one way or another if he pointed out the direction. Not that she'd manage to do much harm either way, he mused, and Reborn was there. So with a slight smile he told her and bade her good luck.

When he arrived back at school, he was surprised to find Natsume getting tossed around like a ragdoll by I-pin. He was even more surprised to see another infant standing near Reborn serenely, the two chatting in low voices as he approached. Even Gokudera and Yamamoto were caught up in the moment, Gokudera attempting to blow I-pin up and Yamamoto laughing uselessly from the sidelines.

"Natsu-kun, here's your lunch," he called, setting it down a safe distance away from the pandemonium. Natsume pleaded something akin to 'help me' before dissolving into a fit of coughs. Ignoring the commotion, Tsuna batted away the garlic scent and made his way over to the two infants.

"Ciaossu," Reborn said casually, and Tsuna nodded to him in acknowledgement. Then he looked at the other infant, the one with black hair and a red pacifier. Thankfully his own was still wrapped tightly in its chains, otherwise the three pacifiers would have shone the moment he stepped into campus.

"Good morning," he said to the Hibari-infant look-alike. "Fong, I presume?"

Fong smiled and sank into a customary bow. "Sawada Tsunayoshi, nice to meet you."

"Likewise." Tsuna peered at them curiously for a moment, wondering: he had heard that I-pin no longer studied under Fong, at least not now. He hadn't seen Fong together with I-pin earlier either, and even now I-pin seemed unaware of her master's presence. Taking her myopia into account, it wasn't an improbable conclusion. "Reborn, what did you call him here for?"

"To help train Dame-Natsu," Reborn said with a cheeky smile. Tsuna raised his eyebrows, and Reborn elucidated, "Fong specializes in hand-to-hand combat."

Tsuna gave him the Look. "And not to test me?"

"That too," Reborn admitted, and Tsuna gave him a satisfied smile before returning his gaze to the scene in front of him. Presently there was something odd on I-pin's forehead: was it Mahjong? As he watched the number shifted from six to five.

Tsuna looked inquiringly at Fong. "It's I-pin's Pinzu Time Bomb," the storm Arcobaleno elaborated placidly. "When I-pin is nervous, the countdown will activate, and when it reaches zero it detonates a large explosion."

"And you aren't worried?"

Reborn quipped, "You won't allow a member of the family to get hurt."

Tsuna grinned in response, watching as the countdown reached three, then two. Gokudera, Kyoko, and Yamamoto arrived on the roof, and after some quick thinking, Natsume somehow managed to persuade the baseball player to throw the little girl off the roof as far as he could.

"She's falling," he pointed out helpfully as he watched the little girl plummet to the ground, hundreds of feet away. "From that height and speed she's falling at, she could die."

He grimaced at the widening smirk on Reborn's face; damn, he had walked into some sort of trap. Flicking his fedora up, Reborn smiled, and the calculative glint in his eyes made Tsuna want to groan.

"If you're concerned, then why don't you do something about it?"

Tsuna shook his head wryly as he realized what this was all about: just another test, but this time, to let Fong see exactly what he was capable of. Though he was tempted to prove Reborn wrong—that no, he didn't care in the slightest whether I-pin lived or died—but he could play Reborn's game, at least for Fong's sake. Without another word, he turned on his feet and disappeared.

An instant later he was in front of I-pin, falling beside her, and he swiftly wrapped his arms around her tiny form before bracing himself for impact. He landed on the ground easily, ignoring the look that I-pin was giving him, and turned towards Namimori Middle where Reborn and Fong were undoubtedly watching.

"I-pin," he murmured softly, "are you okay?" When she nodded hesitantly, he smiled down at her. "That's good."

But really, he didn't care either way.

"Has he always been able to do this?" Fong asked from his spot on the rooftop.

Reborn leveled him an annoyed glare. It wasn't as if he didn't understand the reaction; if he hadn't seen Tsuna teleport with his own eyes then he would never have believed that such a thing was possible.

"He has," he admitted, "ever since we first met." Even now, he could still recall the way Tsuna had simply appeared behind him during the conversation he had been trying to hold with Natsume.

"I've never seen anything like it before," Fong mused, though he didn't look anywhere as stunned as Reborn had felt the first time he had crossed the strange ability. Then again, Fong wasn't the calmest Arcobaleno for nothing.

Reborn returned to looking in the direction that I-pin had been falling, though he couldn't see the brunet at all. "Neither have I."

Tsuna was mildly surprised when Reborn announced that he would have Fong teaching Natsume basic hand-to-hand combat, ranging from aikido to karate, mainly the latter. When he asked, Reborn explained that Natsume had been the one to request the martial arts training.

"'For self-defense,'" Reborn quoted.

Tsuna frowned inwardly, feeling rather ambivalent at the news, but outwardly he smirked. "Why not teach him yourself?"

Somehow the round eyes managed to look sarcastic. "I'm an assassin, I aim to kill. Fong, on the other hand, is an international martial arts champion. Whose fighting style would benefit Dame-Natsu more?"

After talking it over for a while, the two infants managed to settle on a schedule. Every day, Fong would take Natsume to practice basics and katas in the afternoon, and when night fell, Natsume would be handed to Reborn. "You'll be exhausted by the time the day's over," Tsuna had warned originally, but Natsume just shook his head determinedly and said that he wanted to do this. The brunet sighed, as if dynamite and mines weren't enough.

What Natsume didn't anticipate, though, was staying up until three in the morning trying to correct his homework. By the end of three days he had lost weight and looked plain ill. Even after Nana tried to reason with him, he remained adamant on his decision—Reborn too—because he was Natsume's rightful tutor, he needed to find time to cram everything that needed to be covered in a given day into the blond's hectic schedule.

Tsuna found himself on the bad end of the deal. Fong had moved in too, deciding to sleep in Lambo and I-pin's room to help mediate the fights, which helped significantly in reducing the amount of headaches Tsuna got a week. However, because of Natsume's schedule, the teacher and student were always up, blowing things apart at a decibel that could wake the entire world. Nana was barely managing to sleep due to stress and exhaustion now, and after a while, Tsuna became fed up with the constant ringing in his ears. So one day he took his bed and moved it to Lambo, I-pin, and Fong's room, at least there he had a wall muting the sounds of the explosions.

"Can't sleep?" Fong asked one night. Stifling a yawn, Tsuna looked at the clock and groaned. Four in the morning, just great, he'd been sleeping for roughly two hours a day for nearly a week now. He liked his sleep.

"Too many explosions, I can still hear them in my ears." Fong nodded understandingly. "How is Natsu-kun doing during training?"

"He's doing well," Fong said. "Natsume picks up the katas quickly, and his basic kicks and punches are improving."

"His balance and stance needs more work though," Tsuna pointed out, "he's still tripping over his feet as he moves."

"It'll improve with time," Fong reassured, and Tsuna suppressed a smile. Talking with the storm Arcobaleno was easier than talking with Reborn. Admittedly, his relationship with the assassin had been fairly cordial the first day, but ever since Reborn had discovered that he was nearly four hundred years old, things between them had become incrementally strained.

Tsuna sat up in his bed, careful not to jostle the unconscious forms of the two children. Thankfully, Lambo and I-pin had long since crashed. The poor children didn't deserve to be kept up so late by what was going on all around them. While they were Mafiosi, they were just five, and no one of that age should have been thrust into such a cruel world.

"Aren't you curious about me?" he said abruptly. Fong hadn't once asked him about his past since Tsuna had moved in, and Tsuna found it rather annoying; he was bored.

Fong gave him a slight smile. "I am, but if you do not wish to divulge information then I will not pry."

Blinking in surprise, Tsuna chuckled and lay back down. Sometimes it was hard to remember that while some of the past counterparts were exact carbon copies of their predecessors, others acted like entirely different people.

Dino arrived shortly after, causing a general uproar in the town of Namimori, which was to be expected. It wasn't every day that the residents saw hundreds of black-suited men all gathering around a single house.

Natsume, of course, wasn't used to it either. When he had come home the first day to the sight, he had been stupefied. "Why are all these people here?" he asked Tsuna nervously, but Tsuna just smiled and answered, "You'll see." And he did see, maybe even too much. While walking to his front door, he seemed entranced by the possibility of having so many followers under his influence.

After stepping through the front door and into the privacy of his own home, Natsume dropped his bags and dashed up the stairs like a madman. "Reborn," he called, nearly stumbling over another step in the process, "is this your doing again?" Barging through the door without restraint, he stumbled to a halt in the midst of more suited men.

"We've been waiting for you, Dame-Natsu."

Reborn cast Tsuna a cursory look before disregarding his presence entirely, focusing on the blond standing shakily in the middle of the doorway. There was a new black chair in the room, and given the shelves and shelves of books and twin sets of tables it could barely fit. In order to cram all of the Mafiosi into the room, some of Natsume's bookshelves had been removed to god-knows-where, and Tsuna's bed had been turned to the side so that it leaned against the wall, providing more room to stand. Ruffling his hair with a sigh, Tsuna gently guided the teen out of the way so that he could move to his usual place against the wall.

"Reborn!" Natsume stared, aghast, at the blank walls where his books had once stood. "What did you do to our room?"

"I moved everything around."

"I can see that," he said with a slight emphasis. "Where are my books?"

Tipping another cup of tea into his mouth, Reborn answered, "Nonexistent."

Leaving the two to bicker (or rather, let Reborn continue bullying Natsume for a while longer), Tsuna slid his gaze to the rest of the men in the room. Ever since he had walked in he could feel at least twenty, if not thirty, pairs of eyes fixed on him, accessing him warily to see if there was any real danger from his presence. He lifted his gaze to meet one of the Mafiosi's, and the other man's fingers twitched and slid closer to his belt; so they were armed.

"Yo, Vongola boss," the man behind the oversized chair said, and theatrically he turned slowly around in his chair. Blond hair and a casual green coat instantly denoted him as the leader of the group of suited men.

As the man introduced himself as Dino, Tsuna scrutinized him as much as possible even while the latter was doing the same to Natsume. Casual and relaxed, he thought with approval; as Dino began to chastise the younger blond for not having 'the aura,' Tsuna found himself dropping his guard a fraction.

"You're ambitious," Dino was saying, "but the way you present yourself is terrible. Eager, but unwilling, and your boss disposition is zero." Natsume drew himself up with a scoff, but Dino merely raised his hand in a silencing gesture and plowed on. "Not bad, don't let my descriptions disappoint you. Before Reborn tutored me, I was just like you."

Natsume's face shuttered. "'Just like me.'"

"Or not," Dino corrected lightly.

After telling enough stories to fill The Autobiography of the Amazing Dino and His Pet Turtle Enzio, they finally settled down enough to have a more sensible conversation. Seeing that he had nothing else to do, Tsuna picked up Lambo and I-pin and carried them back to their room, scolding them for nearly dropping grenades on the members of the prestigious Cavallone family. He wasn't sure where Fong was for the day, but given that the martial art training had been cancelled, he was probably otherwise occupied for the moment. Not that it mattered, because if Fong respected his privacy then he could do the same. Fong's life didn't matter, anyway.

"Lambo," Tsuna said with a sigh as the five-year old vehemently denied any fault, "don't carry grenades around the house in your hands, they could explode and potentially harm others."

"Tail-head pushed me!"

I-pin squinted (read: glared) at him. "Did not!"

"Whether I-pin did or did not is not the problem," he said patiently. "The problem is that you fell and nearly killed the Cavallone in the process. Lambo, if anybody had been hurt, Dino would have had a right to avenge his family without further involving the Bovino family."

Lambo stuck out his tongue, "Then Lambo-san would have just beaten them up!"

"Hai, hai," Tsuna murmured as he set the two children down. "Do you want candy?"

Anything to shut them up.

He learned fairly quickly that Lambo adored grape-flavored candy, given that he hoarded every single piece, leaving I-pin trying to argue with him in her broken Japanese. "Lambo bad!" she scolded, but her words weren't really effective, and instead of listening Lambo laughed loudly and ran away. As she began to tear after him, Tsuna scooped her up in a single movement and lifted her up, squirming, off of the ground.

"I have some more, you know," he said gently, handing her several wrapped assortments in her tiny hands, and she stilled enough to look at him with a look of blank confusion. "Here, five of them—one more than Lambo. Don't give him any, alright?"

I-pin smiled at him adoringly. "Xie xie!"

In the end he spent the rest of the time with her, initiating new conversations every once in a while when she fell shyly silent. Lambo joined them too after a while, and the moment he stepped into the room he called her 'Tail-head' again to which she jumped to her feet and screamed 'Broccoli Monster.' Tsuna rubbed his temples tiredly; why did children have to have so much energy? He could barely muster enough to stand up.

Later, while the rambunctious family began to eat dinner with Reborn's newest guest, Enzio completely demolished the bath. Which was such a shame, he thought distantly, but it wasn't that bad. Luckily no one had gotten injured. Nana had been terrified, Natsume and the two children had been whipped, but overall everything was okay.

After promising to fix the bath for the hundredth time in a minute, Nana finally accepted Dino's apology with a grumble. "Be more careful next time!" she chided, placing her hands firmly on her hips for a semblance of authority. Dino rubbed his head sheepishly as he watched her storm away from the bathroom.

"Oops," he laughed, looking very contrite. At least he looked like he was feeling guilty, Tsuna thought with a shrug of his shoulders, but really, the attempt at the conversation was half-assed at best and definitely not subtle, given Reborn had already ushered Natsume away.

Tsuna glanced at Enzio, who was tied up and overturned on its shell. "Is it worth it having a pet that you can't control?"

"Enzio?" Dino asked in surprise. "He's my friend, of course he's worth it. Though, it's sometimes a pain to have to blow-dry him every time he touches water, and to have to replace whatever he destroys in the process."

"Damage control, huh?" The brunet lingered for another minute, watching the stilling turtle, before turning around and walking away.

Tsuna knew that Reborn was up to something even before the car drove up to Natsume and tattooed hands dragged him away. The mischievous grin was enough to tell him everything that he wanted to know.

"Don't interfere this time," Reborn said from his usual spot on the top of the fencing of the houses.

"What are you planning?"

"Just watch and listen."

So Tsuna did, leaning against the wall, watching as Reborn lied about how the Momokyokai had kidnapped Natsume and how Yamamoto and Gokudera stood no chance. After seeing one of their friends get kidnapped, neither teen was in a particularly good mood to be told that they weren't strong enough to help.

At least, Yamamoto wasn't. "I'll leave the cops to you," he said without missing a beat to Reborn's heartless statement about calling the police instead. "I'm going after them."

Gokudera hesitated briefly before catching Tsuna's eyes, and the brunet could almost see the bomber recalling their previous conversation. 'Give Natsu-kun a chance, at least,' he had said, and he was pleased to see that Gokudera had enough control to swallow his pride and to acquiesce. "I'm going too," Gokudera said tightly, and Reborn watched him closely before giving them both a short nod.

As they dashed madly after the car that they wouldn't catch, Tsuna exhaled, trying to ease the tightness in his chest. Come to think of it, he had been holding his breath. Reborn popped by next to him, jumping onto his head, and Tsuna could find no reason but to let the infant stay where he sat.

Dino stepped out of the car as it recircled around the neighborhood, watching as Natsume was tossed unceremoniously out of the car with his wrists and ankles still bound tightly together. "They're trustworthy," Dino remarked, "thoughtful enough of protecting their boss. Natsume, you're lucky to have such a kind family."

Natsume flushed, staring down at his still-bound feet. "They're not my family, they're my friends—or, at least Yamamoto-kun is." But he looked uncomfortable at the last statement, shooting looks in the direction that the two teens had headed, and Tsuna could see quite clearly that he was worried for not just the wellbeing of Yamamoto but also Gokudera.

Then Reborn happily announced that the Momokyokai was, in fact, a real yakuza family that he hadn't made up on the spot like Dino had assumed, and both blonds dissolved into a floundering panic.

"They aren't just delinquents, they're strong martial artists!" Dino admonished severely. "What happens if they get hurt?"

Reborn fell asleep, and Tsuna sighed.

"They'll be fine," he said blandly, "they aren't just schoolboys. They're Mafiosi."

And nothing could change that.

True to his word, both Yamamoto and Gokudera successfully managed to defeat the group that was in the yakuza reception hall before Tsuna and the others arrived. Aside from a couple of unconscious men, none of them were terribly hurt, more comatose out of shock than anything else.

"Natsume!" Yamamoto called in relief. "You're alright?"

Natsume nodded with a brilliant smile. "I'm fine, don't worry about me."

Gokudera tched and kicked at another unmoving body as he headed over to join the celebrating group without any real emotion. He paused in front of Tsuna with a considerably brighter attitude. "Tsuna-sama," he said in low undertones, "I did what you asked, giving him another chance."

"And?"

He squirmed uncomfortably at Tsuna's piercing stare. "Natsume-san's alright."

Humming softly, Tsuna turned around and pushed his hands into his pockets. "Not enough, you haven't been with him long enough. Natsu-kun's your sky, Gokudera-san, your boss, your head, your peer. Stay with him longer, you have time to just watch before you have to make a decision. He's always willing to accept you with open arms, should you choose to accept, just remember that."

A few minutes later Tsuna sent them out of the Momokyokai door. Something about the place continued to unnerve him, but he couldn't quite figure out what. All of the members were unconscious or otherwise incapacitated, and none of them had presented any real threat. So what was triggering his intuition?

When they returned back to their respective homes, Natsume parted with the pair more reluctantly, especially after Yamamoto had talked with him for the entire walk back home. Of course, Gokudera had pitched in his two cent's worth. "Shut up, Baseball-Freak!" he had snapped after a twenty-minute reminiscence about Yamamoto's latest game, but if the baseball player remotely cared at all about Gokudera's harsh exclamation then he didn't show it. Instead he had just chuckled, the innocent smile still stretched across his face.

"You should try playing," the Asari carbon-copy had suggested. "It's fun, you'll enjoy it!"

"Like hell I will!"

Tsuna had to suppress a snicker, because really, some things never changed, not at all.

Ranking Fuuta appeared the next day, after terrifying Natsume with a bout of anti-gravity and an oversized book. Tsuna exhaled as he listened to their conversation from outside the bedroom; their conversation was conveniently cutting into Reborn's training time, and he knew that the entire Sawada residence would pay for the interruption with their sleep.

"Mafiosi are chasing me," Fuuta grinned. "Save me, Vongola Decimo!"

Natsume groaned, "Why me? We can barely handle so many children in the house as it is."

Tsuna could practically hear the smile widening from the other side of the door. "You're ranked 859th of 872 in combat ability when it comes to mafia bosses, but you're ranked number 12 in inability to turn down requests! Not to mention you're—"

Footsteps padded across the floor, and Tsuna inclined his head with a small exhalation. "Nana-san, is something wrong?"

Nana twisted her hand in her dress. "Is the boy going to stay here too?"

He pushed himself away from the wall, tuning out the conversation beyond the door. He was fairly certain what would happen anyway, when it came down to Reborn's intervention and Fuuta's slyness and Natsume's reluctance in general.

"Ranking Fuuta is not a Mafioso," he said quietly, "at least, not the in the way that you believe he is. He's a child, and he doesn't fight. He's just an informant."

Biting her lip, Nana relaxed minutely, although she still cast wary glances at the door. "How many more Mafiosi will come? There's already so much."

"No more people will come to stay over," he promised, "though a few more people may come to visit from time to time."

She gave him a queasy smile. "Alright."

Tsuna grinned back softly; she was strong, at least in the face of uncertainty, and somehow she reminded him of the family that he once had so long ago. It was strange, though, because his mother and Nana's personalities weren't much alike, aside from being so caring about their families and children. He knew that his mother had been firmer, much more decisive, but in her own way, Nana was just as strong. Not many could bear living with constant smiles and lies.

From beyond the door they could hear Reborn piping up, contributing his own meddling into the conversation. "Why don't you help him?" he said to Natsume. "You're not going to leave a weak child to deal with the Mafia alone, are you?"

Natsume stilled, and when he spoke next he spoke grudgingly. "Fine, you can stay."

Fuuta gave a whoop of joy and jumped on the blond's bed. Curving his lips upward in amusement, Tsuna opened the door and poked his head inside. All eyes focused on him.

"Tsuna-nii!" Natsume said, scrambling to his feet. "Is something wrong?"

Ignoring the question, the brunet looked at Reborn with a sly smirk. "I'm going out for a walk, is there any trash that you want me to clean up?"

Reborn watched him for another moment before nodding in Fuuta and Natsume's direction. "Yes, the book's, don't leave a single trace. Do you know where they are?"

"Hey!" Natsume protested.

"Of course," Tsuna continued, and Natsume shot him a betrayed look. "Well then, I'll be going now."

Natsume crossed his arms. "Tsuna-nii!"

Closing the door behind him, Tsuna stepped past Nana, who stood there with a frown. "Nana-san, I'd suggest you stay indoors for a while and keep the children from heading outside. I'll be back in ten minutes." Lifting his hand in a gesture of farewell, he waved off her protests and moved outside.

The suited men who had been hunting Fuuta were loitering around the house when he stepped out the door. He eyed them carefully: three of them, none of them were particularly strong. Forget ten minutes, this wouldn't even take one.

"Hello," Tsuna said pleasantly, "do you need something?"

One of the three men was stupider than the rest. After glancing at the other two in his group, he moved up toward Tsuna until they were nearly an inch apart. Tsuna sighed inwardly, he hated being so short. It was irritating to have to have to look up in order to meet the gazes of those that tried to look down on him condescendingly.

Then again, he grumbled, he couldn't see the man's eyes anyway. The stupid black fringe hid them.

"Spit it out!" the-man-with-a-fringe demanded. "Where did you hide Fuuta?" If the spittle flying into Tsuna's face wasn't enough, the-man-with-a-fringe grabbed his collar and lifted him up roughly.

"'Hiding Fuuta?'" he said blandly. "You seem to be mistaking something. I'm not hiding him, he's in the house. Feel free to pick him up…" The-man-with-a-fringe gestured at his friends to go ahead, and with a nod, they moved toward the house, securely out of reach of Tsuna's hands. The brunet sighed, they had all dropped their guard so easily it was unbearable.

"…that is, if you can."

The-man-with-a-fringe didn't have time to react as Tsuna slipped his hands out of his pockets and twisted, freeing himself from the grip, spinning around to deliver a powerful neck-chop. The man dropped to the ground like a rock.

At the sound of the pained moan from their friend, the two other men hissed and turned around, hands on their guns, but Tsuna was already in motion. Quickly, without a sound, he darted forward and ducked beneath the guard of one of the men, slammed his palm upward and into the man's jaw. With an agonized screech, the man stumbled backwards and dropped his firearm, blood flowing from his mouth where he had bitten off his tongue. Tsuna snagged the gun out of midair and smashed the butt into the man's head, knocking him out instantaneously.

The last one was backing away now, fear clearly shining in his eyes as Tsuna approached, spinning the gun in his fingers playfully. "Now, now," he chided, "it'll be less painful if you don't resist."

"W-What do you want?"

"Hm?" he grinned, taking another step forward. "Just taking out the trash, you see? I don't appreciate you targeting my charges, and Fuuta and his oversized book counts." He raised the gun.

"Wait, if you leave us alone I can give you anything you want—!"

"You don't know me very well then," Tsuna sneered, "because you see, the things that I want are the things you can't give me. And unfortunately for you, I was told to not leave a trace."

The gunshot exploded through the air, and all was still.

Natsume perked up at the sound. "Reborn, did you hear something?"

"No, what did you think you heard?"

Frowning skeptically, Natsume turned to the closed window. "Nothing. Maybe I was just imagining things then."

Fuuta was rather surprised when he discovered that the men who had been hunting him had mysteriously disappeared a few days later. When he heard the news, he crossed his arms and stared at the wall.

"Maybe they lost interest," Natsume suggested offhandedly.

Fuuta shook his head. "They were willing to chase me from Italy to Japan to get my ranking book, so why would they give up after locating this house?"

But after another week had passed, no one had seen any trace of them, and eventually the topic became worn out and shoved aside. Thankfully, Tsuna thought, because every time he heard the topic come up he felt like banging his head against the wall. Of course, the bodies were well-hidden, and he doubted that any person would find them anytime soon. No one would have enough boredom to try to dig through the entire Namimori forest, where the bodies were buried a good thirty feet under.

In the end, Reborn never voiced his part in orchestrating their disappearance, and after watching the hitman for a while Tsuna did the same. Occasionally he caught Fong watching him whenever the topic came up, and after a while he admitted his part to the storm Arcobaleno. "I disposed of them," he told Fong bluntly, and Fong only nodded, unsurprised. "Reborn wanted them out of the way."

"Did you?" Fong asked curiously.

Tsuna gave him a small smile. "Perhaps."

Despite the time that had passed, Natsume seemed very much fascinated by the rankings that Fuuta was able to give. One night he asked the young brunet for some of his. And of course Fuuta didn't mind; after all, Natsume had promised to protect him, even though there seemed to be nothing to protect him from. Somehow the word got out so that Gokudera and Yamamoto were in the room twenty minutes later, the former looking genuinely interested and the latter looking adequately confused.

With a small smile in Natsume's direction, he lifted his gaze to the ceiling and slipped into his ranking mode. Luckily the bookshelves were no longer in Natsume's bedroom, because as soon as Fuuta went into a trance, everything and everyone (except for Fuuta himself) began to float.

"Haha, I'm floating!" Yamamoto laughed.

Natsume looked peaky.

"To begin," Fuuta intoned, "Natsume is third out of 652,183 people who is most likely to take in a child if they really needed it." Blinking rapidly as all of the gazes in the room fixed on him, Natsume looked away and turned tomato red. Tsuna allowed himself an indulgent smile, that sounded quite like him whether the reasons were selfish or not. Swimming to the corner of the room (read: flailing clumsily), he opted to stay out of the ranking session for his own good.

"Gokudera is first out of 401,938 people who is most likely to become the right hand man of the next Vongola boss. Yamamoto is first out of 872,639 with the most potential to become the world's best swordsman."

While the two aforementioned teens pondered what their rankings could mean, Fuuta spotted Tsuna hovering in the corner and frowned. "Tsunayoshi is first out of 912,719 who is most inclined to follow his heart."

Yamamoto and Gokudera swerved to look at him, which Tsuna dutifully ignored. When everything reverted back to normal and gravity returned, Reborn shot him a furtive look, indicating that they needed to talk later. But Tsuna just smiled to himself: Fuuta's rankings were uncannily accurate. No one before had caught him in that light.

Reborn eyed the brunet carefully as he settled into Fong and Tsuna's shared room with the other children. He had cancelled Natsume's nightly torture for the day, given that he had something more important to do at the moment, and had practically thrown Natsume the responsibility of handling Lambo, I-pin, and Fuuta. He didn't want them to have any chance of interfering with this meeting, because he needed to hold it, now that both Fong and Tsuna were here in the same room with no other distraction. Besides, it was a good chance at family bonding. Fuuta was already attached to Natsume at the hip, so Reborn didn't mind, but Lambo and I-pin seemed to be spending more time with Tsuna recently. Whether that was good or bad Reborn didn't know.

"So," Tsuna said mildly, "what do we need to talk about?"

"Quite a lot. How has Fuuta been doing lately, settling into the house?"

Raising a skeptical eyebrow, Tsuna answered, "He's doing fine, he's made friends with Lambo and I-pin recently. I don't talk to him much."

Reborn began pulling at his sideburns, lost in thought. So they weren't close, he mused, perhaps this was a good thing. At the very least, he wouldn't have to worry about Tsuna possibly taking Fuuta under his wing too, like he had with I-pin. She was closer to him than Natsume, and that wasn't good. Unless Tsuna joined the Vongola under Natsume, then things could go drastically wrong.

Crossing his arms, Tsuna said, "Is this about Fuuta's assailants?"

"No, not entirely," Reborn responded, and after a moment he added, "though I am curious about what you did to them." He was; he hadn't been able to watch with Natsume in the same room with him at the time, but when he looked out the window five minutes later no one had been there. There hadn't been a single trace of violence, not a single drop of blood, to show for the gunshot that had rung through the street just minutes before.

The brunet sighed. "Fong?"

"I'm curious as well."

With another exhalation, Tsuna relented. "They're dead. I killed them and moved their bodies to where they won't be found. But that's not pertinent, is it, Reborn? That's not the real reason why I'm here."

Reborn pulled the fedora lower on his head; more than often he hated the way that Tsuna seemed to be able to see through him. He did catch the intentional change of conversation though, and marked it for future reference. "No, it's not."

"But it's related to Fuuta," Tsuna guessed. "Fuuta's ranking of me, is it not? 'Tsunayoshi is first out of 912,719 who is most inclined to follow his heart.' Not quite the ranking that you expected, is it not?"

Reborn suppressed a grumble of irritation. Next time he wanted answers, he would find someone other than Tsuna to question; trying to talk to the brunet was either like talking to a wall or talking in circles. It was impossible to get straight answers when the brunet decided to be difficult, and somehow everything Tsuna did managed to leave him with a migraine.

"What I called you here for," Reborn said tersely, "is to ask you questions, not the other way around." He wanted to get this over soon, but he had the sinking feeling that the three of them would be here for a while.

The brunet just smiled. "So it's not a meeting but an interrogation, is it?"

"Yes."

Fong raised his hands placatingly. Though Reborn had never been the calmest of all people, it was still fairly difficult to rile the assassin up. It wasn't a good sign that Tsunayoshi was able to do so, Fong thought with a sigh, but honestly, he couldn't do much if both Reborn and Tsunayoshi were eager to jump at each other's throats. "Reborn, Tsuna, both of you should calm down and relax."

"I am calm," Tsuna objected. "It's Reborn who's not."

"Tsuna," Fong chided. Somehow they reminded him of two bickering children.

Tsuna stuck out his lip in a pout, "Alright, but Reborn, hurry up and get to the point. If you're going to censor your words, then why bother calling me out now when I could be sleeping?"

Fong sighed, shaking his head, opting to stay out of the conversation for now. When Reborn had called him so many days ago, he had been curious to know what had Reborn on edge. After requesting him to send I-pin over to Namimori (which Fong allowed, since it would be a good learning experience for her), he had been ready to hang up before Reborn interrupted his good-bye:

"No, Fong, you're coming over too."

Fong had to admit that Reborn's suspicions were well-placed. From what he had come to observe, Tsuna was charismatic but indifferent to what was going on around him. Even if no one else saw, Fong noticed the apathy in Tsuna's eyes whenever he smiled at Lambo or I-pin, or when he interacted with Natsume and Fuuta. It was as if he was distanced, in some way, which prevented him from connecting with everything else going on around him. In fact, the only time he could recall seeing a flicker of genuine emotion was around Gokudera and Yamamoto, which by all accounts, was perturbing.

Whether he cared or not, Tsuna had managed to worm his way into the minds and hearts of everybody connected with the Vongola in the house. Or at least, everybody except the two Arcobaleno and Fuuta. While Fong was tempted to say that it wasn't a bad thing, he couldn't because the fundamental issue with Tsuna's relationship with everybody else was that he simply didn't care.

Yet Tsuna was still civil enough to interact with Fong politely, and he suspected that this was because he was calm and unexcitable. Reborn, on the other hand, was sadistic and easier to annoy. On some levels, it seemed that Tsuna specifically targeted Reborn not only because Reborn was an assassin and therefore a challenge, but because he was easier to aggravate. Given how long Tsuna had been alive, playing with Reborn seemed to be just a game, and nothing more than a game.

After all, four hundred years was a long time, and certainly everybody (or at least, nearly everybody) Tsuna had come into contact with must have died inevitably. With people dropping dead as the years passed, he would have been hard-pressed to continue to manifest honest relationships with others.

Fong understood this much, though he couldn't possibly understand the depth of the apathy and empathize with the brunet. The only thing he truly felt for the teen was sadness. Nobody, after all, deserved to have to watch everybody that he possibly cherished die before him and continue living, no matter what else happened.

But even so, Fong knew that Tsuna's behavior was not good for the family. If Tsuna treated Reborn as a source of entertainment, then what was to say that he didn't think the same of Natsume? As it was, he doubted that Tsuna would ever stand beneath Natsume, not if he found it more interesting to resist control and disappear. He would still outlive everybody else because he was outside the jurisdiction of time. When everybody else that knew of his existence was dead then he could simply start all over again, choosing new players and new roles on the metaphorical chess board and watching where everything went.

So Fong found Fuuta's ranking of Tsuna interesting, because he hadn't believed that Tsuna would be likely to 'follow his heart.' Shut in a world of apathy, Tsuna seemed to be the one person who wouldn't give in to his emotions. He of all people understood what it was like to lose what he treasured the most. Being likely to follow his emotions despite all of the deaths he had seen seemed odd.

Fong could understand Reborn's concern regarding the topic, too. If the only people that Tsuna had shown genuine emotion to was the carbon-copies of Primo's family, then there was a chance that Tsuna would take matters into his own hands. There was a chance that Tsuna would try to take everything away from Natsume, if that was what it meant to 'follow his heart.'

Quite frankly, it wasn't reassuring.

Reborn, being Reborn, jumped immediately to the crux of the matter. "I need you to distance yourself from the potential guardians. Your presence is unnecessary, and the potential guardians are being swayed in your direction. If you truly don't wish to become Vongola Decimo, you will close yourself off from them as much as you can."

Tsuna rolled his eyes. "Aren't I doing that already? I've already told Gokudera-kun that Natsume's his boss, and Yamamoto's spending more time with him anyway. Hibari-san spars with me on a daily basis, and he's not going to take it well if I suddenly stop. More likely, he'll hunt me down on his own accord. Sasagawa-san won't stop trying to recruit me for boxing, which I can't control. And I sleep in the same room as Lambo. That problem can be fixed if you stop staying up until three screaming, or if you take Lambo into Natsu-kun's room for some 'family bonding.'"

Though Reborn remained stoically silent, Fong could feel his disapproval radiating from his tiny form. Reborn hated Lambo.

Tsuna raised a pointed eyebrow. "You see?" he said. "I can't help Natsu-kun gather his guardians for him, that's your job. At least, when he gets better at sparring, maybe then he can capture the sun's and cloud's interests. I can't change the opinions of those who are solely interested on strength. As for Lambo, what do you want me to do if you don't make concessions? I find giving him candy more rewarding than tormenting him. At the very least he doesn't cry. If Lambo appreciates it, it's not my problem. It's yours because you're so violent toward him and Natsu-kun is always around you."

"You sleep elsewhere, or leave entirely," Reborn suggested coldly.

The brunet's expression darkened. "I will leave when I am no longer welcome," Tsuna said icily, "and that is by Natsu-kun's decision. Not yours, never yours." With a sneer he stood up, making his way toward the door. "This conversation is over. If you need me, I'll be on the roof. And Fong?"

"Yes?"

Tsuna resolutely avoided Reborn's eyes. "I'm not cruel enough to strip Natsu-kun's entire world from him just for a temporary reprieve."

The door slammed shut loudly, and the two infants could feel the vibrations travel through the entire house.

"Well," Fong said mildly, "that went well."

Reborn grumbled.

"Shut up."

"You know, Reborn didn't mean it," Fong said quietly.

Tsuna stirred as the cool night breeze tugged at his hair. He loved this weather, cold and windy, and he loved the feel of having the cool wind brush against his cheeks. Aside from sparring, it was one of the few moments that he felt truly alive, instead of walking through the world in a dull robotic monotony of motions.

They were both sitting on the rooftop. Because Reborn had cancelled the nightly explosions for the day, it was silent and peaceful outside. Tsuna could get used to the silence; he hadn't had much of it ever since he had arrived at the house ten years ago. Oftentimes he felt the need to get away, to separate himself from civilization, because everything was so overwhelming and suffocating.

Fong sat beside him, watching the ground from above, listening as several flocks of birds flew overhead. Crows, Tsuna noted absently—he could barely make out the black feathers against the bespeckled night. Black against a lighter black, pockmarked with stars.

"Reborn's just frustrated," Fong continued when Tsuna said nothing. "He only has certain pieces of the puzzle that you've presented, and at times it's hard for him to sort everything out."

Tsuna twitched his lips upward. "So you're saying that telling him all my secrets will resolve the whole ordeal."

Fong shook his head, folding his hands into the sleeves of his crimson robes. "Not necessarily," he admitted. "But if you trust him enough to tell him the truth, it can go a long way."

"Trust isn't the issue," the brunet said softly, "because I can already guess how he will react."

"Hmm, and what is that?"

"Denial. Acceptance. Maybe an alliance, depending on his mood." Tsuna wrapped his arms around his knees and hugged them to his chest.

Fong raised his eyebrow inquisitively. "Oh? If it's not so bad, then why not just tell him?"

"It's not my place to tell him, and besides, it's not his time to know yet." The brunet looked off into the distance, and suddenly Fong was struck by how small and frail the teen was. No matter how much he had been through, Tsuna was still stuck in the body of a child, and the knowledge and experience in those jaded eyes was disconcerting when paired up with such a small form. It reminded Fong of Reborn and the other Arcobaleno, condemned to live as infants despite having the minds of adults.

Arcobaleno.

Wait.

"But I will tell him eventually," Tsuna was saying with a small smile, and Fong could almost see the resemblance between Luce and Tsuna's expression, however feigned it was. Aside from Luce, Tsuna had the brightest smile that he had seen. Perhaps…

"Tsuna."

"Hm?"

"Are you an Arcobaleno?"

Tsuna gave him an odd sort of grin. Keeping his gaze fixated on the infant, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small orange drawstring bag.

Fong peered at it curiously, and with a nod from Tsuna, he carefully took the silken pouch into his hands. Something was inside it, something small and hard, and he turned it over in his hands a few times before looking back up at Tsuna. "What is this?"

"Open it," Tsuna invited.

With small stubby fingers Fong managed to free the strings, reaching into the bag with utmost care. His eyes widened as his fingers brushed against the cool surface within. At another nod from Tsuna, he turned the bag upside down and allowed the object to fall into his hand.

Fong's pacifier glowed a soft red as Tsuna's orange pacifier shone for the world to see, and with a quiet reverence he gave the next boss of the Arcobaleno a respectful dip of his head. He didn't notice the flicker of black as Tsuna stowed the chains away. All he knew was that somewhere a floor below, Reborn was watching his own pacifier pulse yellow, unaware of what was happening just a few feet above.

Thankfully, Fong continued to act the same after the conversation on the roof. Tsuna was grateful for it, because he didn't know what he would do if Fong suddenly started to bow head-over-heels now that he assumed that Tsuna was his boss. Nothing seemed to have changed, although occasionally Tsuna caught Fong watching him pensively, but that was normal. Fong tended to watch him in a similar manner before, although now, it was most likely for different reasons.

Surprisingly, Fong hadn't told Reborn about Tsuna's new 'status'—which was a surprise, Tsuna thought, because he had given express permission. Before they had left the rooftop, Fong had asked, "Should I tell Reborn?" to which Tsuna had answered, "What you do with the knowledge is up to you." It seemed like Fong felt that not divulging the information was in Reborn's best interests—at least, not yet. Not after the recent argument.

Later, the following morning, Tsuna had eavesdropped on a conversation between the sun and storm Arcobaleno.

"My pacifier shone last night," Reborn said brusquely, skipping all pleasantries.

Fong nodded his head understandingly. "Ah, that's right. I went out to get some tea, and when I returned into range my pacifier reacted again. The tea works wonders on calming me down. Would you like some?"

After declining, Reborn didn't mention the incident again. He wasn't fond of tea, after all.

As a whole, the evening started off peacefully enough, if one disregarded the general din that Lambo and I-pin routinely caused. Bianchi lounged around as usual, having nothing venomous to cook, and Natsume decided to spend that time trying to find his nonexistent books. Tsuna wasn't sure if Reborn had truly discarded them or not, but if not then they were well-hidden. In the end he had joined the fruitless search after being badgered endlessly by Natsume.

So none of them had anticipated the doorbell that rang through the night like a trumpet in the silence. None of them had anticipated the trouble that one man could bring. Giving Tsuna a perplexed look, Nana quickly changed out of her apron and hurried to the door, and from the stairs he could hear her gasp of surprise.

"Why are you here?" she asked, caught completely unprepared.

Tsuna closed his eyes as his hyper intuition flared.

Iemitsu had arrived.