"So Tsuna… what is it you wanted to talk to me about?" Nono adjusted his position to sit forward a little more. They were currently in the Vongola gardens, Timoteo had claimed he was tired of being the stuffy indoors so he had led them to a small spot next to a fountain. There were two benches that faced each other, a small coffee table in the middle with some refreshments on it and flowers growing out a hole in the center.
Gokudera and Yamamoto had been the only ones of his guardians to come. The others were busy with school or life stuff - Lambo had returned to the Bovino family for a short period of time, Ryohei had his studies, Hibari and Murkuro were doing who knows what. Chrome had been busy keeping Chickusa and Ken in check (and fed). So there was just him, his storm, and his rain, sitting on his right and left respectively.
"Yes, I…" Tsuna took a deep breath. "I don't want to be the Vongola Decimo." Tsuna closed his eyes, he couldn't look at his grandpa's disappointed face.
"I thought Reborn already talked to you about this - if you don't like the name Vongola Decimo, a simple change to Neo Primo is easy enough."
"T-that's not it. I don't want to be the Neo Primo either." Nono nodded slowly.
"Well whatever vigilante title you choose I'm sure will be fine, it's okay to break tradition every now and then. It would still be best to do something that relates back to the Vongola, maintain the united front we have." Tsuna shook his head.
"I don't think you understand gra - Nono." Tsuna bit his lip. "I don't want to be a vigilante, I want to become a real hero, with a hero license and everything. I want to work with the law and not around it." There was a tense silence as those present digested the information. The Vongola was a long line of vigilantes, one of the largest groups on the world (especially after their brief period of delving into the mafia world for a while there). To break that cycle would be… unthinkable.
"Of course Tsuna, I wouldn't ever want to force you into something." Tsuna breathed out a sigh of relief. "Why don't you and your guardians stay over the night, we can talk logistics of getting you your hero license in the morning."
"That sounds great grandpa!"
"In the meantime, if you'll excuse me, I have some coordinating to work out." Nono got up from his seat and exited the sitting area, mind already turning ideas over.
"You're soft on him." Reborn, of course. The hitman had been aging faster since his curse had released a year ago, but that didn't mean much. He looked to be somewhere between 4-5 years old now, Verde predicted that they're somewhat accelerated growth would return to normal once they hit their original age (Timoteo hoped so - no one dared speak of the fear that they would continue to grow older and older until it they died of age far sooner than they should).
"If he doesn't want to be the next leader of the Vongola he shouldn't have to be." Nono replied, and Reborn gave a hum that wasn't quite approval.
"You don't want to become the Vongola, Tenth?" Gokudera turned to Tsuna once Nono was out of sight. Tsuna seemed to shrink slightly in on himself and Gokudera made an effort to relax his shoulders a little bit more and to lean back.
"Being wanted and on the run, having to be so secretive my whole life…" Tsuna shuddered a little bit.
"Well if you're going to get your hero license than both me and Gokudera will have to as well, right?" Yamamoto gave Tsuna a bright smile and glanced up to meet Hayato's eyes.
"I thought that went without saying." Gokudera huffed, swinging his arm around Tsuna's shoulder. "You and I are going to make the best Superhero duo the world has ever seen!"
"Don't you mean that Tsuna and I are definitely going be legendary partners?" Yamamoto replied, but the argument had no bite to it - the small smile that graced Tsuna's face was all they needed.
"You guys are really okay with that?"
"Of course Tenth - wherever you go I'll follow!" Gokudera gave Tsuna a thumbs up.
"What kind of friends would we be otherwise?" Tsuna relaxed finally and stood, stretching a little.
"Thank you guys, it really means a lot to me." He glanced around the garden. "I guess we should go and find out where we'll be sleeping for the night."
"After having the night to work things out, Ninth and I have come up with a plan to help you on your course to become a legal hero." Reborn faced his charge, who was nervously sitting on a couch in one of the many meeting rooms in Vongola mansion. Yamamoto was sitting to his left while Gokudera was on his right, poised over a notepad and already copying down information from Reborn's planning board he had up on the wall. Nono stood off to the side, leaning on his cane.
"Getting a license at such a young age is difficult - many facilities simply won't allow it, and the process to even getting considered it extremely difficult."
"We can do it." Gokudera said confidently.
"Or we could be smart about this." Reborn replied. "There are some elite hero course high schools that give their students the opportunity to try out for the license. You may have heard of some of them, such as Yuuei." Tsuna couldn't help the gasp that escaped his mouth. Yamamoto sprung forward from hsi reclined position, eyes sharp. Even Gokudera looked somewhat shaken.
"R-Reborn, you can't seriously mean-"
"The tryouts for Yuuei are coming up swiftly. I've already signed you all up for them."
"What can we expect?" Yamamoto asked, relaxing once again. The only indication that he was still somewhat startled was how he tugged on his Necklace of Rain. Reborn began to gesture to his board.
"The test has two parts. One half of it is a practical portion. Yuuei is unclear on what exactly it contains form year to year but our sources indicate that it's usually a point system implemented in different ways depending on the year." Tsuna nodded - they could do that easy. He had confidence in Gokudera and Yamamoto's ability and, after everything he's been through, confidence in his own.
"The other portion… is a written exam." The blood immediately drained form Yamamoto's and Tsuna's face.
"Another easy one! We've dot this in the bag Tenth!" Gokudera declared, even as Tsuna even as a single tear fell from Tsuna's face.
"A wr-written test?"
"Of course Tsuna - it's a school I don't know what you're expecting."
"Isn't there another way to get our hero license? Or can't we just get in on a recommendation?" Tsuna asked desperately. Reborn let out a deep sigh.
"No, Tsuna." He fired a warning shot past Tsuna's head, ellicting a small shriek from Tsuna. "There may be other ways to attain a hero license, but this is the most logical way that's not against the law. The added bonus is if you attend Yuuei it will help to teach you how to do hero work…" Reborn ground out the next word. "...legally."
"And then there's the next point - the Vongola can't recommend you because we're a group of Vigilantes, they're diametrically opposed to us. They'd like our heads on figurative spits."
"I see." Gokudera nodded, a shadow falling over his face. "So we'll also have to keep our connection to the Vongola hidden."
"Correct. They're are a lot of moving pieces here, but the chief among them is your secrecy. Meaning no calling Tsuna 'Tenth'." Gokudera shuddered. "As you know you're flames aren't quirks - they're determination given a physical manifestation, but since you'll be doing hero work with them we are going to update your files as if they are your quirks." The three of them nodded. "It'll be easy enough for Gokudera and Tsuna - it's common for vigilante and mafia Families to refrain from giving away such information, so both of your will just need to apply for an update to your files. Yamamoto will be harder since you're actual quirk is on the records - we already have some men working on it though."
"Dad really never filled out my quirk form?" Tsuna thoughtfully put his hand on his chin. "That does explain some things."
"It may be odd for three unrelated students to have the same quirk, but without a logical explanation they'll have to accept it as fact, and while I highly doubt anyone on the school board is aware of flames, if anyone is they should be as keen to keep them a secret as the rest of us." Reborn finished, cracking his knuckles and rolling his shoulders once. "...Any questions?"