TROUBLESOME TOURISTS

Yeah, I know what you're thinking. "Omg, not another time travel story. Be original, dammit!" And those who know me will think "Why don't you finish the stories you've started? Stop starting new ones, stupid author!" To the first group: Sorry, I hope that you will still enjoy this story as much as I do writing it :) To the second: Don't hit me, blame it on KHR! My hands are flying over the keyboard to finish my other stories :) To those who belong to neither of the groups: ignore this message, please :) Let's start!

Edit 2018: Since I plan on continuing this story eventually, I decided to rewrite the four existing chapters. They were such a mess that I'm truly honored so many people enjoyed them despite the mountain of mistakes. Thank you so much~

Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn. This applies to all the following chapters since I hate to repeat myself.

"Er ... Reborn?"

"What is it, Dame-Tsuna?"

"If time travel to the past really works, why aren't there any future people visiting us?"

"Because once they return to their own time, every memory of them will be erased. I will make you read more books, Dame-Tsuna!"

Chapter One

Reborn's Preparations

A sixteen-year old boy with light brown hair stared lazily at his math teacher, who was still trying to explain a mind-bending problem to him. The blackboard behind the man was a clusterfuck of squiggly lines, numbers and random letters of the alphabet, which, in Tsuna's humble opinion, had no business being in equations. How was knowing x supposed to help him in the future? It certainly wouldn't help him control his chaotic guardians nor would it defeat their numerous enemies.

Tsuna just sighed and shook his head.

Maybe, if he stayed quiet and didn't make eye contact, Nezu-sensei would leave him alone. He knew it was unlikely, the man hated him after all, but a poor student could hope, right? Tsuna tried to appear busy by writing down a string of numbers that had absolutely no relevance to the problem, but just looking at the blackboard made him dizzy, so coping it was out of the question.

"Sawada," yelled the teacher, letting the name roll of his tongue like an insult. He shot an annoyed glare at Tsuna, who almost fell out of his chair in fright, and slammed one hand against the blackboard. "What is x in this equation?"

The boy in question stood up slowly and shrunk under the teasing gazes of his classmates, who were just waiting for him to say or do something stupid. Silence reigned over the room while he fiddled nervously with his hands.

What was x supposed to be?

Unfortunately, he had absolutely no idea and Gokudera waving his arms, trying to show him the answer with complicated gestures, didn't help at all. Yamamoto wasn't any better since his broad smile was as useless in this situation as his tactic to name a random number in hopes of getting it right. It may work for him, but luck had never been on Tsuna's side.

If Reborn heard about this, which he would without a doubt, he'd force him to take extracurricular math lessons—Vongola Style—later. He couldn't suppress a shudder.

"We don't have all day," Nezu-sensei reminded him impatiently. "Do you know the answer or not, Sawada?"

"I-I'm sorry, I h-have no c-clue ..." Tsuna stuttered while his classmates started to chatter among themselves. Some were laughing behind their hands while others didn't even bother hiding it and the young boss wanted nothing more than to fade out of existence.

"You bastards! How dare you make fun of Juudaime?!" Gokudera roared, silver hair flying wildly around his face when he jumped up from his seat, dynamite ready to throw at the offenders. "Let's see how much you can laugh when you're dead!"

"Maa, maa Gokudera calm down." Yamamoto reasoned in an attempt to pacify his friend. "You're scaring the teacher."

However, it had the opposite effect on Gokudera, who looked very much like a volcano that was about to erupt. Sensing the danger, Yamamoto bolted over to his seat in the front row and attempted to restrain him by gripping his arms. The smile never left his rain guardian's face, which Tsuna found kind of frightening, but was also grateful for since the rest of the class took it as a sign that everything was fine and dandy.

Well, they didn't know that the dynamite was real. Otherwise, they would be too busy screaming their lungs out to admire admire Yamamoto's bravery.

"Let go of me, baseball freak!" Gokudera protested while trying to wiggle out of the athlete's iron grip. "As his right hand man I have to defend him!"

After a particularly hard jab to his ribs, Yamamoto yelped and stumbled backwards, taking the resisting storm guardian down with him. Tsuna's eyes widened when their accidental fall caused Gokudera to drop the already lit dynamite and watched in silent despair as they rolled across the linoleum floor in slow motion.

Their classmates took a collective breath, finally recognizing the danger they were in, before they screamed in terror.

"Dame-Tsuna's friends went crazy again! Everybody save yourselves!"

Panic broke out like a wildfire as everybody tried to squeeze through the small door that was the only exit from their impending doom. Meanwhile, Tsuna had a tiny mental breakdown and could definitely relate to their teacher, who had curled up in a corner and was crying to himself.

How did a normal lesson escalate into this?

Sweat formed on Tsuna's forehead and the familiar feeling of despair settled in his chest. He was the only one who remained in his seat, knowing that with his rotten luck, he wouldn't make it out in time anyway. Also, Reborn would beat him up if he ran away and left his guardians behind, even when they were the root of the problem. If he had the option, the young boss would pick death by dynamite over Reborn any day.

At least, the explosives got the job done quickly.

Much to his dismay, the quarreling duo didn't even notice the dynamite lying at their feet. Well, they had survived through worse and the brunet was feeling spiteful enough to let them feel the brunt of the explosion. Maybe they would finally learn their lesson, though he seriously doubted it. Nevertheless, a very, very bad foreboding sent a round of shivers down his spine and he didn't need his hyper intuition to know that this will end very badly.

The dynamite went off with a bang, blasting debris and sharp pieces of wood through the air.

Someone's schoolbag hit one of the windows with enough force to break it before it fell out of sight in the courtyard. He really hoped nobody was taking a stroll below their windows right now. Tsuna had ducked beneath his table, trying without success to escape the violent explosion and prayed his guardians were smart enough to do the same.

Black smoke filled the room, temporarily robbing him of his vision, but he winced when he heard another window breaking in the back of the classroom. After a few minutes, the dust started to settle and Tsuna coughed violently while he tried to regain his footing. He scanned the room for his friends and spotted them sitting in a pile of rubble with dumbfounded expressions.

"This is your fault." Gokudera slapped Yamamoto's shoulder, who looked a little disoriented. "Good job, idiot."

"I was trying to help." The rain guardian shrugged and brushed a piece of wood from his leg. "But I guess it couldn't be helped hahaha."

The young boss rolled his eyes and decided to ignore their antics for now. Instead, he assessed the damage around them, praying to all the gods above that Vongola's insurance would cover for this. Saying that the room was in need of repair would be the understatement of the year.

It was utterly destroyed.

While Tsuna was sure that seeing your school go up in flames was every student's dream, everyone would agree with him that this was not what they had in mind.

Shards of glass from the broken windows were scattered across the floor, glinting dangerously in the light of the flickering lamps that were dangling lifelessly from the ceiling. Most of the tables were incinerated, some burning at the edges, while charred pieces of paper from their math textbooks were floating through the stagnant air. Walls that were originally white were now coated in a think, black layer of soot.

The door got blasted out of its angles, but that was totally fine because they had a new, even bigger entrance now. Yamamoto must've kicked the dynamite on reflex at the last second, which is why there was a freaking gigantic hole gaping on their classroom's main wall.

Tsuna didn't really care that his mother would be disappointed, that Kyoko-chan had been put in danger, that Reborn would lecture him or even that he'd have to use dirty mafia money—again—to cover for the school property that was damaged.

His only concern right now was that Hibari would be royally pissed if, no, when he found them.

He buried his face in his hands and suppressed the urge to break down crying. To be fair, Tsuna had never seen Hibari in a good mood, unless he was fighting a strong enemy, but he was definitely more than familiar with his bad moods. The school's disciplinary leader may not like when they were crowding, but he hated when they destroyed school property.

It was a slight difference, but it could decide over life and death.

"Gokudera-kun? Yamamoto?" Tsuna asked, genuinely concerned now that they stopped arguing. "Are you alright?"

"Hahahaha! That was fun, wasn't it? It's been a while since we destroyed the classroom." Yamamoto grinned like an idiot and the tips of his spiky black hair were smoking faintly from the explosion. He stood up from the ground and searched for his Shigore Kintoki, probably hoping that the bamboo sword didn't get burned to a crisp. "Good thing we didn't hurt anybody seriously though."

At his words, the brunet looked for their classmates and was relieved to see that they had managed to escape to the hallway in time.

"Juudaime, I'm so sorry." Gokudera bowed in a perfect ninety-degree angle, before sinking to his feet and slamming his head against the floor repeatedly. "I'm so sorry. I can't believe I put you in danger. I'm sorry!"

"It's okay, Gokudera-kun. I'm fine," Tsuna pressed through his teeth, internally wrestling with the feeling of exasperation. "As long as you're not hurt."

If it wasn't for his right-hand man, then maybe he would be able to enjoy a day without anything exploding around him. Scratch that thought—he forgot about Lambo and his grenades. Well, at least there would be significantly less explosions.

Gokudera raised his head and looked at him with pure adoration. "You're so generous, Juudaime."

Tsuna would have been perfectly fine with calling it a day right then, maybe check in with the school's nurse before heading home, but of course, that wasn't in the stars for him today.

A dark presence made itself known at the new … entrance they had so generously made … aka the gigantic hole in the wall. An unpleasant shiver ran all the way down his spine and some ancient animal instinct screamed at him to book it, if he wanted to live.

"I'll bite you to death, herbivores!"

Tonfas raised for attack, Hibari glared at them as he slowly stepped into the room like a panther stalking its prey. The cute yellow bird on his shoulder sang the school's anthem happily, which the brunet had been conditioned to associate with upcoming pain. It was amazing how one individual could turn their cheerful school song into a prelude to death. Some students even labeled it 'The Last Melody You'll Ever Hear', which he thought was incredibly accurate.

"HIIEE!" Tsuna screeched, "It w-was an a-accident, Hibari-san."

"Hibari! Haven't seen you in a while." Yamamoto laughed. "Sorry about the room. How are you doing?"

At that moment Tsuna seriously questioned the sanity of his rain guardian. How could he laugh in the face of the certain death? It was as though he couldn't read the mood at all. Silently, the young boss watched as the prefect inspected the room, his aura growing more ominous as he assessed the destruction. He gulped audibly when his steely, gray eyes landed on him and narrowed dangerously.

"Small animal, you're first."

"Hi-Hibari-san, wait a second! I can explain—"

Before Tsuna could apologize or even try to defend himself, a steely tonfa connected with his face, making him stagger and trip over his own feet. He hit the ground with a painful crunch and debris were digging into his back. Every part of his body hurt, which was when he decided it was better not to move. If he got up, he'd only be hit again.

Hibari grunted, satisfied with his victory for now. One down, two more to go.

In an instant, Gokudera and Yamamoto were in a similar situation, leaving a scowling cloud towering over his newest victims. Maybe Hibari was disappointed that none of them put up a serious fight and dropped to the ground after one hit like ragdolls. Of course, Tsuna knew it was probably a very bad idea to trick his cloud guarding by pretending to be out could, but he'd take the risk if it meant avoiding another encounter with the tonfa.

Carefully, Tsuna cracked one eye open and cast a quick glance at his two best friends, who were laying not too far from him. They had apparently caught onto his master plan and were following his example of impersonating lifeless bodies.

Eventually, Hibari would get bored and leave them alone.

"SAWADA!"

They flinched when they heard the familiar voice, which was impressively loud despite the culprit still being far away. The yell was followed by rushed, heavy footsteps and there was only one person he knew, who had that much energy.

"I heard an explosion!" Ryohei shouted from the other end of the hallway, "What happened TO THE EXTREME?!"

Since Tsuna was unable to reply verbally because that would ruin his dead-man act, the brunet tried his best to communicate telepathically with his sun guardian, begging him not to enter the classroom. Unfortunately, Ryohei was immune to anything subtle or supernatural and ran straight into the room, almost knocking over the glaring prefect in the process.

"SAWADA! Wake up!" Ryohei yelled and shook him violently. "Sleeping in class is extremely uncool!"

Tsuna couldn't decide what was worse, being bitten to death by Hibari or getting his breakfast shaken out of him by Ryohei. He swore, if he hadn't been used to this kind of treatment, he'd definitely be unconscious by now. The thought made him kind of jealous of his past self, what he wouldn't give to faint and escape reality for a blissful few hours.

However, the young boss wasn't sure how much more shaking his head could handle, which is why he decided it was safer to abandon his plan to act like a dead man for now. "Onii-san, stop! I'm awake."

Ryohei stopped shaking him and let out a relieved sigh, before he punched his shoulder with a laugh. "Don't worry me like that."

"O-ow," he whined, rubbing his throbbing shoulder. The boxer really needed to learn to control his strength.

Meanwhile, the physical abuse of his beloved boss awakened an angry storm guardian from his pretense death and Tsuna watched with mild surprise as Gokudera charged at Ryohei. "Oi, turf top! What do you think you're doing to Juudaime?!"

"WHAT?!" Ryohei raised his bandaged firsts in anger. "Who's a turf top, octopus head?"

The fell into their usual banter and he was about to relax when he remembered that Hibari was still there.

"For pretending to be defeated, I will bite you to death."

The threat was thrown at him from across the room and sent a new round of goosebumps down his spine. Why was Hibari always attempting to kill him first? It was unfair. He didn't do anything wrong, so why was he always getting punished? Reborn would argue that it was because he was the boss and responsible for his guardians' actions, but he was sure that was just an excuse to see him suffer.

Enough was enough.

Normally, Tsuna was very tolerant when it came to his guardians destroying their environment, but their behavior in the past week had been too much. If they continued to be like this, then it would be a miracle if he survived until graduation.

Gokudera had bombed the school twice in one day and threatened everyone who did as much as glance at his boss. Yamamoto hadn't been any better since he slashed several trees in pieces out of paranoia because Reborn felt like training him spontaneously from time to time. Ryohei, despite being loud and cheerful about it, had dragged a bunch of innocent and frightened first year students around school and forced them to join the boxing club. It had resulted in many infirmary visits and teachers threatening to close the club forever.

All of these incidents had ended with a furious Hibari, who had decided that their actions were entirely Tsuna's fault, and chased him across the school yard. Admittedly, it had made him quite good at running, but the prefect was faster, so the end result was always the same.

The young boss observed the scene in front of him, wondering if they would actually get expelled this time.

Hibari was glaring daggers into Yamamoto, who tried to keep him away from Tsuna by shielding him with his body. Gokudera was threatening Ryohei with a new round of dynamite sticks between his fingers while the boxer yelled something about fried octopuses. Their teacher still cowered in the corner of the room, too scared to interrupt, and mourned the loss of his rimless glasses, which had broken in the explosion. Meanwhile, his frightened classmates were huddled together in the hallway like penguins, hesitantly peaky through the gaping hole with wide eyes.

A rare wave of anger spread through his entire body, fueling his confidence.

"Everybody," Tsuna said calmy and the authority that slipped into his voice made it sound deeper than usual. "Stop fighting or I swear, I'll make you regret it."

Everyone in the area froze into stone statues. Even their teacher and his classmates, who usually mocked him, stared at him in disbelief.

Outwardly, Tsuna radiated the bossy aura that his tutor had managed to beat into him in those horrid three years of training. Internally though, he was a nervous wreck. He barely ever directed his anger at his friends, which made it all the more frightening when he did, but the young boss didn't know that.

Much to his relief, the four troublemakers obediently lowered their weapons. Tsuna wondered whether it was really his command that stopped them or the fact that he could enter Hyper Dying Will Mode at will ever since Reborn's friend forced him into the Ultimate Dying Will Mode during his fight with Bermuda.

Well, it didn't matter as long as they listened to him for once.

"Uh-hum," Nezu-sensei cleared his throat, finally remembering that he was the only adult in the room and supposed to take charge of the situation. He stood up from his corner and brushed soot from his white dress shirt, casually pretending that he hadn't been weeping in a corner. He bowed his head towards the rest of the class in an attempt to be reassuring. "Everything is fine now. You are dismissed for today. Please get checked at the infirmary before you head home."

His classmates looked relieved, if not a little giddy because the math lesson got cut short. Those whose who were lucky enough to find their schoolbags still intact, picked them up before they left and soon after, they were alone with their teacher.

"Sawada, Ryohei, Gokudera and Yamamoto," Nezu-sensei spat their names out with a heavy dose of disgust. His bushy eyebrows pulled together and deepened the wrinkles between his eyes, making the man look much older than he actually was. "Detention for all of you! That's the third time this week, you don't learn from your mistakes at all. Luckily, I expected this to happen, which is why I arranged a special detention tutor for you. He is very famous for working with teenage prisoners, so you better behave yourselves."

Tsuna groaned and hid his face in his palms. Apparently, Reborn had managed to infiltrate his school again.

"Hibari," Nezu-sensei continued, "Make sure to bring them to the right place. I don't trust them to find it on their own. Who knows what else they will do when they're left unsupervised."

If looks could kill, their teacher would be on his way to hell. Naturally, Hibari didn't take well to orders from herbivore teachers nor did he appreciate being assigned the role of babysitter for a crowd of noisy herbivores. However, he prided himself on upholding the strict rules in Namimori as the leader of the disciplinary comitee, which is why Nezu-sensei got away with being glared to death.

"Hahaha, looks like we're in trouble again." Yamamoto laughed and dodged before Gokudera could whack him over the head. "Well, this detention tutor sounds interesting. Maybe it won't be so bad?"

"Shut up, baseball idiot." Gokudera snapped back. "Can't you see that Juudaime is upset?"

Ignoring his guardians, Tsuna sighed and mentally prepared for whatever torture awaited him in detention. This was going to be a long, long day.

『ボンゴレファミリー』

His Hyper Intuition told him that opening the door to the rooftop wasn't a good idea.

However, his rational judgment warned him that letting Reborn wait had as much of a happy ending in store for him as cutting random wires on a time bomb. There was no need to make his day more stressful than it needed to be, which is why Tsuna ignored his intuition's warning and opened the metallic door, only to be greeted by a kick in the face. He stumbled backwards for the third time that day, but he was saved by Gokudera before he hit could the floor.

"Ow, Reborn. That hurts," he complained, "What was that for?"

"It's not Reborn, it's Reboyama-sensei, your detention tutor." Reborn smirked through his fake, black beard while showing off his teachers' uniform. He pointed Leon at him in accusation, who had transformed into a green ruler for the occasion. "You made me wait, Dame-Tsuna."

"It's not like I knew that you were waiting for me," Tsuna argued, "and how was I supposed to know that I would get detention?"

"Speaking of detention," Reborn replied with a dangerous undertone, completely ignoring the valid points his student made. "Your guardians have been wrecking havoc in your school the past week and you completely failed to stop them, Dame-Tsuna. What kind of pathetic boss are you? You still need more training than I thought. In the end, you needed me to come to your rescue again."

The young boss frowned, finding several faults in his mentor's arguments. First of all, he never wanted to become the boss of the Vongola Family in the first place and secondly, he did actually manage to stop his guardians by himself earlier. Granted, it was after everything had escalated, but he hadn't been entirely useless. Well, he knew better than to talk back to Reborn and should probably glad that he didn't grill him about math.

"Don't think I forgot about teaching you math," Reborn interrupted his internal rant, making his student freeze in shock. The brunet would never get used to his tutor's uncanny ability to read his thoughts. "I can't have the future heir of Vongola embarrass himself over a simple equation again."

"Sawada." Colonnello, who had suddenly popped up at his side, joined the conversation and effectively cut Reborn's lecture short. "It's nice to see you again, kora!"

"Master Colonnello," Ryohei yelled happily and punched a bandaged fist in the air. "Did you come here to train me to the extreme?"

"Ryohei, you're looking strong as ever, kora!" The blonde child grinned and soon after, the fell into an animated and loud conversation about training methods.

However, Tsuna's attention was occupied by the six other presences on the rooftop. He hadn't noticed that all the former Arcobaleno had gathered in his school, making him wonder what exactly was going on. They were on friendly terms with most of them, but it's not like they were hanging out on a regular basis. Usually, their visits meant that there was some kind of problem.

Verde was busy with his laptop, typing stings of code into a complicated looking program while Mammon hovered in the air next to him. Lal Mirch was having a pleasant conversation with Yuni, who smiled sweetly at him when she noticed his gaze. Skull's helmet was peaking out from behind a corner, probably to afraid to approach them because of Reborn. Fon was meditating on the edge of the roof, though he shot wary glances at the distant trees from time to time.

All of them had grown an inch or two since the curse had been lifted, which made Tsuna glad that everything worked out fine in the end. They deserved to get their normal lives back, even though they would have to spent a big part of it as teenagers.

Meanwhile, the group behind him, consisting out of Ryohei, Yamamoto and Gokudera, stepped forward to greet their guests and gathered in the center. Hibari jumped on his usual perch in the farthest corner of the rooftop, but remained in hearing distance.

"What's going on, Reborn?" Tsuna asked finally, turning to his tutor in confusion. "I mean, it's nice to see everyone again, but why are they here?"

"Be patient and wait until the others arrive, Dame-Tsuna." Reborn smirked mysteriously while he pulled his signature fedora down. "It would be annoying, if we had to explain everything twice. I don't like repeating myself."

"Others?" Tsuna yelped. "Who else is going to come?"

Before the hitman could answer, an icy feeling crept over his skin that made goosebumps crawl up his neck. The young boss felt the mist flames before he saw them and his heart nearly jumped out of his chest when a familiar presence materialized directly behind him.

"Kufufu … What is the meaning of this, Sawada Tsunayoshi?"

Tsuna whipped his head around and wasn't surprised by the sight of three pointy ends of a trident only inches away from his face. In fact, he couldn't remember a time when Mukuro didn't greet him with some kind of threat or thinly veiled insults. In a way, he had gotten used to it and would actually be more concerned for his safety, if Mukuro suddenly treated him kindly.

"Are you going to drag Chrome and me into your mafia business again?"

"M-Mukuro." Tsuna's chocolate eyes darted to the other side of the roof automatically, watching a certain prefect's aura darken considerably. If there was one lesson he learned over the years, it was that he should absolutely keep Hibari and Mukuro away from each other. "Uh-oh."

"Oya? Is that fear I hear in your voice?" Mukuro teased, smirking in self-satisfaction as the inhabitant of his future body backed away from his trident. "Well, you should be since I will posses your body and destroy the mafia one day."

"A-ah no, that's not what I'm worried about," Tsuna admitted nervously, still observing his cloud guardian's reaction.

Mukuro followed his gaze and frowned in distaste, understanding lighting heterochromatic eyes. The young boss swore the temperature on the roof dropped a few degrees when his two most violent guardians entered a glaring competition.

"Don't worry, Boss." Chrome said shyly, peaking out from behind Mukuro. "Tutor-san made them agree not to fight during the meeting."

He exhaled in relief, glad for once that Reborn was there.

"Since everyone is here now, we can finally begin the meeting," Lal Mirch announces in her strict voice, which left no room for argument. "During my explanation, I expect absolute silence. If you have a question you may raise your hand, however, I won't show mercy to anyone who says that they don't understand it. Are we clear?"

Lal shot pointed glances at Ryohei and Yamamoto, who grinned sheepishly, before she continued. For their own safety, Tsuna hoped they would heed her warning. Lal's slap attack really hurt, he knew from experience.

"I'll try to keep this short and to the point. You're here today because we have a problem," she began, "The container which was supposed to keep the power of the pacifiers safe was stolen."

"WHAT?" Tsuna yelled in shock and he wasn't the only one. It looked as though his guardian's jaws had simultaneously dropped to the ground and even Hibari sat up straighter on his perch in the distance. Reborn silenced them with a shot from his gun before Lal could blow a fuse.

"Did I stutter?" Lal pressed through her teeth, one eyebrow twitching in anger. "The good news is that we've already identified the culprits. CEDEF investigated Vendicare Prison and we were able to trace the crime back to the Pesca Family. Their rivalry with Vongola actually dates back centuries to when both families were founded. They still hold a grudge against Vongola for becoming the most influential mafia family, thinking they are undeserving of the title. It was only a matter of time until they got revenge and searched for new ways to gain power."

"How could they possibly steal it from Vendicare?!" Gokudera interrupted heatedly, "I mean, Bermuda and the Vindice were guarding the container and they are freakishly strong. Also, how would they sustain the balance of the flames without the Flame of the Night?!"

"Ma, ma Gokudera. Calm down," Yamamoto replied cheerfully, though he looked just as concerned. "We should wait until she finishes her explanation."

Tsuna expected his storm guardian to snap back, but he didn't, which was evidence of how much the news upset him.

"Anyways," Lal continued, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Their revenge runs deeper than overthrowing the current mafia. The reason why we couldn't locate the container at first was because they traveled back in time. We suspect that their goal is to wipe the floor with the first generation of Vongola, thereby eradicating all following generations as well."

"In other words," Reborn added, "if you don't stop them, it's very likely you won't ever be born."

As grateful as Tsuna was that they were ripping off the band aid instead of sugar-coating the news, the gravity of the situation left him feeling sick to his stomach.

"That's why you need to go back in time to prevent that from happening," Fon explained calmly, "One month in the past equals about forty minutes in the present. However, you may only stay for three months in total because otherwise, your bodies will disintegrate."

Disintegrate? The young boss started to sweat. He didn't want to disintegrate.

"As far as I'm concerned this is Vongola's problem," Mukuro stated evenly, unfazed by their shocked expressions, "Why should I involve myself in your mafia games?"

"You damn bastard," Gokudera yelled enraged, "I swear, if Juudaime wouldn't stop me, I'd blow you to thousand tiny pieces. We'll see if you can still 'kufufu' in the afterlife."

"Oya? I'd like to see you try."

"Unfortunately, Pesca threatening Vongola is the least of our problems." Lal explained and narrowed her eyes at the mist guardian in disapproval. Tsuna wondered what could be worse than getting one's existence erased permanently by a violent mafia family bent on revenge. "As you should already know from what happened in the future, if one of the sets disappears it throws the trinisette off balance, which will eventually destroy this planet. They literally sustain the world you are living in, so it should concern you, Mukuro."

Silence settled over the group like a blanket as they digested the news.

Mukuro looked thoughtful as though he was calculating the risks and Tsuna couldn't blame him. If he could, he'd rather not involve his friends in this either, but it's not like he had choice. Either way, his friends would be in danger and them refusing to go to the past wouldn't only have consequences for them, but the entire world.

"AAAH! W-What are we going to do?!" Tsuna broke the silence, gripping his head in frustration. "This is so complicated, I think my brain is going to explode. What am I gonna do?! I'm not cut out for this."

"Dame-Tsuna, calm down!" Reborn kicked him in the side and the pain distracted him from his panic attack. "We already thought of a plan to counter them, so stop worrying yourself for nothing. Remember that your goal isn't to save the world, it's to protect your friends here in Namimori."

"Re-Reborn." Tsuna nodded in determination, lips pulling into a grateful smile. "You're right."

"Of couse, I am."

"That still doesn't explain how they were able to steal the container from the Vindice," Gokudera muttered bitterly, "or how they broke into Vendicare."

"Yeah," Ryohei agreed and crossed his arms over his chest with a frown. "I don't understand to the extreme!"

As soon as the words left his lips, Lal stepped in front of the sun guardian, eyes ablaze, and smacked his head violently. She muttered curses beneath her breath while Ryohei rubbed his throbbing head and apologized. He felt a wave of pity for the boxer because, to be quite honest, he didn't understand how someone could overwhelm the Vindice either. It took the combined effort of Vongola, Simon, Varia, Cavallone, Millefiore, Giglio Nero and the Arcobaleno to take them down.

However, Tsuna had the odd feeling that he would get his answer sooner than expected.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he spotted a shadow moving through the trees in the distance. Now he knew why Fon had been so on guard earlier because not a second later, a black vortex of flames appeared on the edge of the rooftop. Heavy, iron chains scraped against the concrete floor as Bermuda and Jaegger stepped through the portal.

Everyone stiffened at their presence. Tsuna wanted nothing more than to faint right on the spot, but Reborn hopping on his shoulder reassured him, the familiar weight giving him confidence.

"We were overwhelmed by their numbers," Bermuda answered somewhat irritably. "They allied with those in the mafia world who oppose your pacifistic ideology, Sawada Tsunayoshi … or should I call you, Neo Vongola Primo? Either way, their allies weren't strong individually, but together they made quite the decoy. While we were busy disposing of the garbage, one of their guardians snuck into our dungeons and stole the container."

Tsuna frowned. The way Bermuda worded it made it sound as though he blamed him. The young boss always knew that reforming the mafia would be anything but a walk in the park and had expected to make enemies along the way, which is why he couldn't disagree entirely with the veiled accusations.

"They basically used their allies as cannon fodder," Reborn concluded grimly, "That's not a bad strategy, especially since temporary alliances are fragile. After a mutual goal has been reached, everyone wants their cut of the spoils and that kind of greed usually makes them fall apart. As their leaders, it's very likely that the Pesca Family would've gotten rid of them after they used them, which made them more than expendable during that fight. In the end, they were probably happy you took them out."

"Sharp as always," Bermuda commented, "I expected nothing less of you, Reborn."

"How is that a good strategy? It's terrible," Tsuna argued passionately. "How can they play with people's lives like that?"

"Don't be naive, Tsuna." Reborn pulled on a strand of his chocolate hair. "That's how the mafia operates."

"While I honestly couldn't care less what happens to those cursed pacifiers," Bermuda began, inspecting his own clear pacifier with hatred, "I cannot let Pesca go unpunished. We do not take kindly to those who attack our prison and steal our property. Bring them back to the future and we'll take care of the rest. That's the only reason we agreed to lending this to you."

Jaegger dropped a small box that was wrapped in chains on the floor, before he vanished together with his leader. Tsuna felt the tension in the air that pressed down on them while everyone seemed to be lost in their own thoughts.

"What's in that box?" Yamamoto asked curiously, in an attempt to lighten the mood. "It looks mysterious hahaha."

"More like a coffin," Gokudera corrected, "It's from the Vindice, so it can't be good."

"It contains the sealed Mare Rings, kora!" Collonello answered with a serious expression. "What we're about to do is risky. In order for you to match the strength of the pacifiers, Verde is going to transfer the power from the Mare minerals to your Vongola Gear."

"That sounds too good to be true," Mukuro said skeptically and raised an eyebrow. "Where is the catch?"

"The combined power of the rings will be too much for your bodies." Reborn lowered his fedora, attempting to hide the frown on his face. "You will be cursed, just like we were."

Tsuna could tell that Reborn wasn't happy about this development and neither was he. If there was one thing in the world that his tutor truly despised, it was the Arcobaleno curse. The hitman wouldn't wish it on his worst enemy and even though he tried to hide it, the young boss knew he was concerned for them.

"Do we actually have a say in this?" Tsuna asked, already knowing the answer. "How do you know that our regular gear won't be enough? I though that our resolve is what really matters in the end, not the rings."

"You're not wrong," Yuni said, smiling sadly. "But in this case, we simply cannot take the risk. We would never ask this of you otherwise. Please, believe me."

He couldn't argue, not when Yuni looked at him like that.

"Tsuna." Reborn jumped down from his shoulder. "You have five minutes to discuss this with your guardians."

The former Arcobaleno huddled together and started a discussion of their own while Verde got to work. Sunlight reflected off of seven silver-winged rings when the scientist opened the box to appraise the goods. Verde readjusted his round glasses before he went back to his laptop, small hands flying over the keyboard at lighting speed.

"Everyone," Tsuna addressed his guardians and turned around. "What do you think?"

"Juudaime, I will follow you whatever your decision is," Gokudera said confidently, making his boss smile at his utter trust. "Those Pesca bastards won't know what's coming for them."

"I think we'll be fine like always haha," Yamamoto added with a grin, "We've been through worse."

"Kufufu, it's just destroying another mafia family, right?" Mukuro twirled his trident in one hand, probably already planning how to torture them. Suddenly, his eyes lit up in delight. "And I can't wait to get my hands on Daemon Spade. I still haven't payed him back for torturing Chrome and possessing my body."

"I don't think that's a g-good idea." Tsuna shuddered, hoping he could prevent a reunion between the two illusionists. No matter how evil Daemon was, they were going back in time to protect the first generation and not to kill them.

Well, they would deal with it when they got there, so he let the topic drop for now.

"Boss … I want to help," Chrome murmured shyly, though her violet eyes burned with determination. "I want to protect everyone."

"I don't understand what's going on," Ryohei started, making Lal shout curses at him in the background. Luckily, Colonnello was able to stop her before she could slap the boxer into next week. "But we will beat the bad guys TO THE EXTREME! ADVENTURE TIME!"

They turned to Hibari, knowing how unwilling the prefect was to leave Namimori. He noticed their questioning gazes and glared back fiercely.

"I will bite them to death!"

Ah well, that settled it.

Tsuna smiled brightly at his guardians and vowed to do everything in his power to deserve their support. The fact that they arrived at a unanimous decision made confidence swell in him. It would be dangerous, but they would figure it out together. He couldn't complain about the group either since Reborn didn't insist on bringing the girls or Lambo with them this time. Besides, his lighting guardian was still a child, which would make taking on the curse impossible … right?

"We're doing it," Vongola Decimo declared without hesitation, earning a round of approving smiles from the former Arcobaleno. "We're going to the past."

"The transfer was a success." Verde grinned proudly and stared at them with scientific interest. "Now, I just need a guinea pig to test it. Who wants to go first?"

Tsuna was about to offer himself as tribute when the door suddenly burst open to reveal a kid in a cow costume.

"WHAHAHA! The great Lambo-sama appears!" Lambo reached into his afro and pulled out two pink grenades, which he promptly threw in Reborn's general direction. "Prepare to die!"

Of course, the hitman dodged them elegantly and called for Verde, who shocked the cow kid with lightning bolts.

"Lambo, you need to leave." Tsuna pleaded, though it was already too late. "It's dangerous around here."

"Stupid cow!" Gokudera muttered beneath his breath, but made to save the poor kid nontheless. "Don't make Juudaime worry."

While his lighting guardian was scarily immune to large amounts of electricity, the remaining grenades in his afro weren't. The explosion shook the building before Gokudera could reach him, leaving a crying Lambo and a small crater in its wake.

"Ooow! Gotta … stay … calm." Lambo tried to pull himself together, but as always, he failed miserably. "CAN'T!"

Much to Tsuna's dismay, he pulled out his 10-Year-Bazooka and dropped it on himself. A cloud of pink smoke surrounded his small figure, before it was replaced with the darker, much taller silhouette of a teenager.

"Yare, yare. What has my younger-self gotten himself into this time?" Adult Lambo asked and scratched the back of his head. "And I was about to take a nap, too. Talk about bad luck."

"Reborn! That was your plan all along, wasn't it?" Tsuna exclaimed angrily. All of his guardians were strong, but Lambo was like a little brother to him and he didn't like putting him in danger. "I can't believe you've done this."

"He is your lighting guardian. Of course, he has to go with you," the hitman replied calmly. "Now stop arguing and let Verde do his job."

"Come on, Tsuna. It's not as bad as taking the kid," Yamamoto reasoned and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Adult Lambo is our age and he's a lot stronger than he looks. It'll be okay."

"Fine," the young boss agreed begrudgingly. "I just don't want him to get hurt, that's all."

They gathered around Verde, who was standing next to the box and held out his hand expectantly. One by one, they handed him their Vongola gear, which he hooked up to a complicated mechanical device. The scientist pressed several bottons and soon after, their gear glowed in the colours of the rainbow. Tsuna watched the glow fade with mixed feelings.

Would they be able to lift the curse when they got back?

Reluctantly, he took the sky ring in his hand and slipped it on his middle finger. It felt warm and familiar, though he could tell there was an inferno swirling in its depths. He briefly wondered whether Nastu was okay in there, though the sky lion probably appreciated the abundance of flames.

After seeing it was safe, his guardians copied his movements and put on their heavily modified rings. However, once the last guardian touched their gear, all of them stated to glow brightly. White light filled Tsuna's vision and blinded him temporarily, but he didn't feel any pain at all. It was almost peaceful.

After a short while, the light started to dim, revealing seven confused looking children.

Hibari, who still stood farthest from the crowd, looked like a carbon copy of Fon with his pitch black hair. Even in the body of a five-year-old child, his angry gray eyes and the disciplinary committee uniform demanded respect. Nevertheless, the cloud guardian was anything but happy about this development and glared daggers into everyone around him.

"Yare, yare. I time-traveled to my childhood only to be turned into a child again," Lambo said boredly, examining his small hands with a hint of panic. He looked like his younger self, minus the cow costume and the afro hair. "Will I ever grow up to be an adult?"

"What happened to the extreme?" Ryohei flexed the muscles on his arm in concern. "I'm extremely too young for the boxing club now."

"Kufufu. If that's your biggest concern then I worry for your remaining brain cells." Mukuro chuckled quietly, secretly annoyed by his unintimidating appearance. His regular trident was too big for him to carry, so he quickly created a smaller one and aimed it at Verde. "You better know how to reverse this when we get back."

"Hahahaha our voices sound so funny," Yamamoto commented cheerfully while he stretched his short limbs. "Isn't that what it sounds like when you inhale helium? Well, it doesn't matter as long as I can still play baseball."

"Is that they only thing you ever think about, idiot?! Juudaime got shrunk," Gokudera, who had turned into a small silver-haired boy, yelled and glared at the rain guardian. He was about to grab his dynamite, but was unable to fine them since they were too big for his pockets. "You've got to be kidding me! How am I supposed to defend Juudaime without weapons!?"

In the middle of the commotion stood a shocked brunet, whose bedhead was even worse than when he was a teenager, although it did make him look cuter. Concerned chocolate eyes observed his guardian's reactions and Tsuna was relieved to find that they were doing pretty okay for their standards. At least, nothing was broken … yet.

"Boss ..." Chrome made herself known, though her voice sounded distant. "I'm still the same ..."

His eyes widened when he realized that his second mist guardian was still the same height. She hadn't changed one bit. The young boss turned towards the scientist for an explanation.

"Well, we couldn't split the Vongola Gear now, could we?" Verde shrugged uninterested. "You should be grateful that this worked in the first place."

While Tsuna was glad that Chrome would be safe by staying behind, he could tell that's not what she wanted at all.

"I want to go with Mukuro-sama and Boss," Chrome protested, "I want to help, too."

"If that's really your wish then I don't see why you can't," Lal announced, smiling at her in a motherly way. "I have a soft spot for determined girls and there is no reason to leave one of the guardians behind. It won't be a strong as the others, but as Sawada said, it's the dying will flame that matters."

She pulled her corrupted pacifier out of her pocket and tossed it at Verde, who looked at it with interest. Tsuna thought that it got destroyed with the rest of them, but apparently Lal had held onto it for some reason. If he remembered correctly, hers was an odd combination of mist and cloud flames, even though her original element was rain.

Verde hooked up the pacifier with the mist earring Mukuro lent him and transferred some of its power to the empty mist Mare ring. Once Chrome had slipped it on her finger, a bright light engulfed her and moments later, she was a child as well.

"Now that that's settled, we can finally move onto important matters." Reborn said casually as though transforming teenagers into children was a daily occurrence. "You need to change your clothes. Otherwise, you'll stand out in Primo's time."

"Somehow, I feel closer to you." Tsuna said slowly, referring to their height. As soon as the words left his lips, the brunet regretted them and Reborn didn't waste any time to kick him in the head. "B-but your kicks still hurt just as much."

"You better not forget that, Dame-Tsuna. Stop wasting everyone's time," Reborn muttered. "Minion, bring them their outfits."

"I'm not your minion," Skull protested as he dragged eight, heavy bags towards them from behind the corner. "I'll make you regret this one day, Reborn."

Regardless, Skull followed the command and handed them their bags which contained clothes befitting for the period. They dressed themselves and Tsuna was grateful that it was just a simple white shirt with black pants since clothing from the 17th century could be kind of extravagant. It would have been embarrassing, if they had to wear a cravat or frilly dress shirts. Apparently, the former Arcobaleno decided that it was safer to go for a look that screamed lower-class farmer boys and girl.

Everyone got a jacket in a different colour and Hibari promptly attached his red prefect badge to it. The outfit was completed by black army boots that looked a bit to big for the children, but would be sturdy enough for any kind of terrain. They spent the next minutes storing their weapons on their new bodies. It proved less difficult than they expected, however, Lambo had to separate from his 10-Year-Bazooka, which he did very unwillingly.

Moreover, Verde handed them a set of stealth rings which he had modified with the sole purpose to make the Vongola gear invisible to others. Lal gave Gokudera a map of Sicily since she deemed him the only one of the group with a good sense of direction, who was also responsible enough not to loose it.

"I expect you to pay me back ... with interest." Mammon reluctantly forked over some ancient looking Lira—Italy's currency before the Euro—from his money collection. "My interest rate is 10 percent per hour, but since you're family you'll get a discount. My family interest rate is 5 percent for Varia members and 25 percent for Vongola members. You better come back quickly, if you don't want to go broke. Also, Varia reserves their right to personally punish debtors."

"That's not how family discounts work," Tsuna wailed. "I'd rather not have the money at all."

All set to go, the group assembled in the middle of the rooftop in front of Reborn, who was loading his gun with a bullet.

"I'm about to shoot you with a time travel bullet." The hitman smiled at the tenth generation, who were shuffling their feet nervously. "It's the first time it's used, so I don't know what will happen."

Tsuna's nervousness increased tenfold.

"When you arrive, remember to always stay on your guard and work as a team." He stared intently at his student. The brunet got the underlying message. As the Vongola boss, he was responsible for the eccentric bunch. "Failure isn't an option."

"Our fate lies in your hands again." A small smile graced Yuni's lips and her blue eyes shone with emotion. "Good luck!"

In a matter of seconds, Tsuna was staring down the barrel of a gun, which made him wonder whether he made the right decision. Reborn didn't give him time to contemplate as he mercilessly pulled the trigger. The small, silver bullet exploded and engulfed them in a whirlwind of flames that was colored like a rainbow.

Then they were gone.

"Um … Uncle Reborn?" Yuni asked hesitantly. "I think we forgot to tell them where they'll end up, when exactly they will enter the time period and where they should start looking for the enemy."

"Tch. Dame-Tsuna made a mess out of everything!"

To Be Continued ...

REVIEW THIS WITH YOUR DYING WILL!