Tsuna rested his chin on his folded hands as he leaned over his desk, warily eying his former tutor.

"You wanted me, No-Good Vongola?" The statuesque man gave him a mock bow as Gokudera shut the door to Tsuna's office behind him; then promptly returned to stand beside his boss.

"I heard you paid a visit to the Lombardi Family recently? There was blood." Tsuna gave him a disapproving look, though it went ignored.

"One of their hitmen took it upon himself to try to kill me. It would have been an affront to my name if I had someone from such a lowly Family get away." Reborn smirked. "Now what did you really call me here for?"

Tsuna sighed, stilling his nerves, determined not to show how the hitman's piercing gaze still gave him chills. He was the Neo Vongola Primo, and, as much as he had never wanted the position, he had a certain persona to uphold, if not for himself, then for the sake of his Famiglia. As much as he hated to admit it Reborn could still see through him easily. He could only hope that his Super Intuition would benefit him just slightly here.

"I'm going to be straight to the point: I don't want you to associate with Lambo anymore." Tsuna forced out, face as straight as he could make it in the face of Reborn's intimidation. As much as he had perfected a fairly intimidating façade over the years he still felt like the same 14-year-old No-Good Tsuna he had been ten years ago when faced with his old tutor.

Reborn's brow was raised slightly under the shadow of his fedora. "What does that stupid cow have to do with this?"

"Lambo is one of my guardians; he is important to me. You are important to me too Reborn, but right now I need to think about what is best for him. Lambo is at a sensitive age right now, with everything that has happened over the past ten years he never got the chance to slow down and grow up outside of this mafia business. I know I can't give that back to him…" A sad, wistful look passed across the young boss's face.

Gokudera set a hand on Tsuna's shoulder. "It's not you're fault, Tenth! That dumb c- I mean, Lambo should be happy to be able to work at the side of such a magnificent boss!"

Tsuna gave his right-hand man an awkward smile before returning his stern face to Reborn.

"I just don't think you are good for him right now." Tsuna continued. "He's shown an obsession with you in the past and I don't want him get so absorbed with that hitman stuff again."

"You're right, he would make an awful hitman."

"Reborn!"

Said man waved him off. "Who would have thought that No-Good Tsuna would be giving me demands?" Reborn asked, though that face he was making suggested that he knew it. He was never surprised by how things turned out, as if he knew everything that had been and would be behind those dark eyes.

Tsuna shook his head, suddenly feeling worn out. "Please…? Reborn, please?"

"All you have to do is say so, Vongola."

If it were that easy I wouldn't be here right now. Tsuna thought, exasperatedly.

"It doesn't matter to me what that stupid cow does anyway." Reborn turned towards the door to leave. "If you don't want anything else then, I'll be taking my leave."

Tsuna smiled, lightly. "Thank you, Reborn."

Though he was turned away, Tsuna could practically feel the man's foreboding expression as he added. "Let's both hope that you've made the right decision for your subordinate."

With that he was gone.

Tsuna groaned and leaned his head against the back of his chair. "Even with this intuition he always seems to know more than me."

Tsuna nearly jumped when he felt a pair of hands grab him, then remembered his right-hand man. He felt a little bad about forgetting Gokudera was there, but he soon forgot it as skillful thumbs dug into the tense muscles beneath his suit. "Ah."

"If the Tenth can't figure out Reborn then absolutely no one can."

"You have entirely too much faith in me, Gokudera-kun."

Gokudera immediately jumped into a rant about every reason Tsuna was the most amazing boss in all the mafia, but the man wasn't paying enough attention at this point to notice.

Suddenly he was very worried for his lightening guardian's future.

/

"…bo-kun…Lambo-kun…LAMBO!"

Lambo jumped slightly in his chair and then directed his attention back towards his tutor.

"I'm taking time out from building the Family's defense to teach you, at least pay attention." Shouichi scolded him, though it sounded more whiny than stern.

Lambo didn't blame him though; he didn't want to be doing this any more than Shouichi did. He would much rather be given important missions like the other guardians, or at least be allowed to accompany Tsuna to meet with the bosses of other Famiglia, but Tsuna was persistent in him continuing his education for the time being. Somehow Shouichi had gotten stuck with the job, probably because of his smarts and the fact that most of his work took place around the base as it was.

The Vongola was surprisingly strict with his subordinates when he made up his mind about something.

"Yare yare, maybe I would pay attention if you taught me something more interesting." Lambo gave an exaggerated yawn, as if to punctuate the statement.

Shouichi shook his head, though he grinned slightly. "How about we leave off here for today?"

Lambo nodded, though he wasn't exactly sure where they had left off. Shouichi had a habit of rambling and it made it easy to doze off for long periods of time.

The redhead packed up some of his books, spinning to give Lambo a curt wave before skipping out of his room with a grin on his face, undoubtedly going to see what Spanner or Giannini was up to. Those guys are entirely too obsessed whatever weird computer stuff they do down there.

Lambo's stomach growled not a minute later not that it was a surprise. The boy was always hungry and since he had skipped breakfast that morning he was especially ravenous.

Lambo exited his room, making his way to the kitchen, down the familiar halls of the Vongola mansion. It had been an especially hard decision to decide living here. After returning from Japan nearly a year ago he had been approached by the Bovino Famiglia boss and asked whether he would return to the Bovino or stay living with the Vongola. Tsuna had told him to make the choice that made him happiest - the man was always most worried about his subordinates' happiness - but it was already too late. The decision had been made for him the second he inherited the Lightening Ring.

Lambo sniffled, holding back some tears at the memory of his old boss, his aunt Ottavio and the other Bovino. Gotta…Stay…Calm. He would have to go visit them one of these days.

Lambo was almost surprised when he reached the kitchen, but he was more surprised to see Reborn sitting casually at the kitchen table, a cup of coffee in one hand and a newspaper in the other. The man was always coming and going as he pleased, and he had been missing from the estate for nearly a week.

"Ah, Reborn, you're back."

His greeting went ignored, not that that was unusual. Reborn was usually either ignoring him or insulting him, always letting the young man know that he was below him.

Lambo shrugged, started boiling some water for linguini, and then took a seat across from the hitman.

"Reborn."

Still ignored.

"Hey, Reborn, you stingy bastard! Don't ignore me!"

The man sat for a moment, still sipping his coffee and then began to fold his newspaper.

"Yare yare, took you long enough to- HEY!"

Reborn set his mug in the sink, tucked his newspaper under his arm and promptly left the room. There wasn't a single thing to suggest that he even noticed Lambo's existence.

Lambo pouted. Normally the man would at least give him some infuriating smirk just to punctuate his superiority, but even that was forgone.

"AH!" Lambo didn't have much time to think about it as his water began boiling up out of the pot. He quickly lifted the lid and poured in his noodles, setting a timer for himself in case he forgot again.

Lambo sighed heavily and slumped down in a chair. He let his open eye slip closed, his mind wandering back to a certain infuriating man.

So mean…when will you stop being so mean…