While taking a break from typing up the next chapter of my pokemon fic, I decided to jot down some random prompts that took root in my mind. After I had those down, this one came out of nowhere and started shooting up like bamboo. I've got at least ten other stories I'm working on right now, but I had to get this out too. Also, the plants were just supposed to be regular plants that received a lot of love, but then I decided what the hell. Let's add some drama and angst in here as well. Now they're the reincarnated souls of the dead. One last thing, if you're looking for a super tragic story where the best case scenario would be a bittersweet ending, this story is not for you. I love happy endings!

Summary: Tsuna has a green thumb. A magical green thumb. When Reborn orders him to find candidates to join his family and no suitable ones appear, Tsuna's favorite plants become human to fill the position for the one who has given them the love and care they needed when they needed it the most. But why do they look like people who have already died?

No pairings, but this can be taken as Allx27 in a familial way.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything! Not even a KHR keychain!

Chapter One: In Which a Garden is Formed

For the years to come Sawada Tsunayoshi would cement his nickname of Dame-Tsuna with his constant bouts of clumsiness and his failure at everything in school, both physically and academically. The title blinded the eyes of others who never took a second, much less third look at the perpetually clumsy boy. Therefore, it was years before anyone aside from his mother realized that he had a green thumb. A magical green thumb that is.

Plants just seemed to flourish under his care. Nearly dead shrubs came back to life. Broken twigs would be miniature bushes in a few short months. Even seeds that seemed like they would never sprout sprung forth new greenery after a single night on his windowsill.

Nana, for all her airheaded tendencies and occasional tactless words, was still a caring mother and smart woman. She quickly had her son join her during her usual yard work sessions once she discovered his ability. Her vegetable garden soon was the envy of the neighborhood, but when asked about the secrets of its rapid and prosperous growth, her reply would always be, "It's been blessed by someone with much love and kindness."

In an effort to encourage Tsuna, because she had doubts that he'd ever actually accomplish anything in school, she spared no expense when it came to any plant, pot, or gardening tool he wanted which really wasn't much. He was happy with a few shovels, gloves, and simply just working with the plants. It gave Nana no small amount of relief that at the very least, her son had a future in horticulture or as a florist.

Tsuna certainly saved her a lot of money on groceries. Nothing could beat fresh produce. She even had a small green house built and attached to the kitchen so Tsuna could grow things that were out of season or needed a more suitable environment than the outdoors offered.

Then one day, Tsuna came home cradling a small sickly looking rose bush. He was soaked to the bone from the heavy storm outside. From what Nana could make out from his cries of "I need a big pot! And new soil! And paper towels! An-and the pruning shears!" The plant had come from a nursery truck that had been unloading them into a local florist's shop. The manager had noticed that the small bush was showing signs of gray mold, a fungal disease that turned the vegetation black. Strangely enough, it had been the only diseased one out of the entire shipment, but he had the other plants sprayed down anyways. This particular plant though was deemed too infected to be worth the trouble to save and was put aside to be destroyed.

The sudden storm had sent people rushing to the closest shelter to wait out the rain and Tsuna had ended up in the florist's shop. When her kind hearted son heard this, he wanted to give the plant a chance to live and convinced the man to give him the bush for free. He spent the money he was supposed to buy the new Dragonball Z manga with on fungicide and immediately rushed home with his prize.

It took three hours for him to carefully prune and clean all the heavily infected parts. It took three weeks for him to be confident enough that the gray mold was truly gone and once again repotted his new rose into a red ceramic pot with the richest soil he could find. It took three months for the bush to begin budding again and one morning Tsuna awoke to the most beautiful display of bright red roses he had ever seen. As if it was saying 'Thank You' with all its might, the rose bush named Storm had shown off all of its prettiest flowers in an explosion of gratitude to its nine-year-old savior.

It was the first of many special plants that Tsuna kept in his room.

The next one was a small lily that had just started to bloom. There had been a funeral for a young boy and this particular pot had been left behind in one of the relative's car. No one really wanted a reminder from such a morbid event, so it was left in an alley next to a dumpster for the garbage collection truck. Tsuna, taking this particular alley to escape from bullies, saw the lonely plant and scooped it up on his way home. Days later, the lily spread its beautiful yellow petals wide open. It was named Sun and eventually moved to a yellow pot by a ten-year-old Tsuna.

After that came another rose. It laid on the marble-tiled flooring of a large fancy department store that Tsuna and his mother had been shopping in. The plant's pot had somehow fallen from a tall display pillar and nearly concussed a passing customer. The man, after angrily shouting and threatening to sue the management, stomped on and destroyed most of the small bush. What was left was salvaged by Tsuna and placed into a plastic bag given to him by a kind cashier. Tsuna spent more time carefully nurturing this damaged bush and nearly six months later was rewarded with a single dark purple rose blooming from the newly named, Mist.

There was another flowering plant found around the same time as Mist. A week after Tsuna had brought home his new rose; he found a young sprout growing near a remote area at Namimori Elementary School. It was a testament to the small plant's tenacity, that it had taken root in a large crack, against the wall of the school in a shaded area where most of the nutrients in the soil had been taken by trees and larger plants.

Tsuna cared for and talked to the plant during his lunch breaks as it was growing in his favorite hiding spot from bullies. He occasionally snuck a stick of fertilizer and a cup of his darkest potting soil to it and once even brought his pruning shears to school to cut the overhanging branches of a nearby bush, ensuring that the young plant would receive enough sunlight. Three months later, the school began to remodel the area to add a new sidewalk and Tsuna dug out and brought home the carnation on a late Friday afternoon, before the bulldozers had begun tearing his best hiding place apart. Cloud, perhaps as a point to Mist, bloomed with a single purple flower as well on the same day for Tsuna's twelfth birthday.

Lightning, a green chrysanthemum, had been an apology gift to a neighbor whose suitor wanted her to forgive him after a horrible date. It and he had been rejected and the depressed man handed it off to a passing Tsuna with a gruff, "Here kid. Trash this for me will ya?" before heading off to drink away his failure. Tsuna, of course, ignored him and added the plant to the growing collection in his room.

Little Dragon was also a gift, but it was one of thanks. The small plum blossom bonsai was part of a prized collection that belonged to an old man, named Hibiki, whose house could have burned down from the carelessness of a discarded glowing cigarette. As it was, only a small part of the place actually caught on fire, but at least he wasn't dead, which he would have been if Tsuna hadn't alerted the man's neighbors who in turn woke him up from his nap.

The man offered Tsuna any of his smaller plants and Tsuna chose to take the only one that had been damaged by the fire. He was incredibly stubborn about his choice. So in turn, Hibiki offered to trim off the damaged parts and teach the young boy how to care for this particular plant. To his surprise and delight, Tsuna's green thumb had an effect on all of his other plants as well. Nana was proud of her son and had no qualms about the constant visits between Tsuna and the old man who tried to teach everything he knew about his beloved bonsai to the young boy.

Hibiki passed away four months later, and while the rest of his collection was split between his surviving families, various plant care guides and several handwritten notebooks full of advice had already been given to the twelve-year-old Tsuna to be added to his growing collection of books.

The latest one was taken in shortly after middle school started. A screaming couple had taken to throwing things at each other and could be heard from the open window on the second story of their house. Some unknown feeling caused Tsuna to duck as a large china bowl sailed past the spot his head used to be, shattering as it hit the ground. It made him freeze as a heavy encyclopedia brushed against his nose and finally stopped him before he stepped on a green stem half hidden under more broken crockery. When he removed enough debris, he uncovered the broken back of a wicker chair that had more greenery clinging to it. Amidst the destruction, the roots had remained intact so Tsuna rushed home and away from the danger zone with his prize. He had potted it, chair back and all, into a large blue ceramic pot. Rain would eventually grow to cover the entire piece, looking more like a bush that a vine.

But for all his talent and skill, Tsuna was still Dame-Tsuna to his peers and teachers. He was still shy and somewhat clumsy. Still horrible at both academics and sports and his mother was slowly losing hope for improvement in those areas. His only friends were his beloved plants and even if they couldn't say a word, sometimes Tsuna felt as if they were listening. Which was probably just his wishful thinking, but it still felt nice to think that something cared even if they weren't capable of sentient thought.

Honestly, Tsuna wasn't too sure why he continued to go to school. He really had no love for the place itself and there was no one he wanted to see, not to mention plenty of people he didn't want to even think about. Nana still pushed him to go and tried to convince him to at least finish middle school. Afterwards, he could try to get a job at a nursery. It would be hard if he didn't at least finish high school, but near impossible if he became a middle school dropout.

Still, while things could have been better, Tsuna still had something to smile about everyday as he entered his home. Life wasn't really all that great, but as he greeted the rainbow of colors in his room, Tsuna felt that it wasn't too bad either.

"Everyone! I'm home!"

It should be obvious who most of these plants are. For those who will want a more specific plant typing here's the list. I was looking more for color than anything else to represent them, so ignore any possible flower meanings attached to them. I had half a mind to turn them all into roses, but I wanted them be different. Everyone is named for the patterns on their pots.

Gokudera "Storm"-Rose, Breed: Crimson Bouquet

-Almost became a Hibiscus, but I was oddly fixated on a red rose.

Hibari "Cloud"- Carnation, Breed: Moonshadow

-A serious toss-up here. The moon series of carnations are all really pretty. He nearly became either a lilac bush or another rose.

Yamamoto "Rain"-Clematis, Breed: Roguchi

-Almost became a Morning Glory (Breed: Heavenly Blue).

Lambo "Lightning"- Chrysanthemum, Breed: Shamrock

-Nearly became a Zinnia (Breed: Envy) until I discovered the one above.

Mukuro/Chrome "Mist"-Rose, Breed: Burgundy Iceberg/Ebb Tide

-Mukuro was supposed to be an Iris (Breed: Gypsy Romance), but for the future plot for Chrome, he had to become a rose bush.

Ryohei "Sun"-Lily, Breed: Fata Morgana or Asiatic Double Lily

-Was supposed to be a Sunflower (Breed: Teddy Bear), but those are annuals and I wanted all the plants to be something that comes back.

I-Pin "Little Dragon" – Plum Blossom (with red flowers)

-Nearly became a Peony (Breed: Maroon Dragon Claw or Coiled Dragon in the Mist).