Title: Graduation

Summary: Tsuna's Hyper Intuition was accurate—deadly accurate... which is why he wondered why he didn't try harder to stop him.

Disclaimer: Katekyo Hitman Reborn! belongs to Akira Amano

Pairing: None

Warning: Character death. Possible OoC-ness. Pre-Future arc (of sorts), so possible spoilers.

Graduation

When Tsuna thought back on it, his life probably shattered with his coffee mug.

It was the usual Guardians' meeting. Each Guardian was reporting on his/her division and what are the highlights of the missions they've done, analysis of the current movements in the Mafia, along with Famiglia matters. Gokudera was in the middle of his report when Tsuna picked up his mug to sip at the much-needed coffee, only for said mug to slip from his hands and land onto the ground, shattering into pieces. His Guardians had been concerned; calling and shouting his name, asking if he was alright, if he was injured, but Tsuna couldn't hear them.

All he could do was stare at that shattered coffee mug, its content spilling across the smooth marble floors.

His throat felt dry all of a sudden.

His heart almost stopped beating.

His Hyper Intuition was screaming at him.

"Get the car." Tsuna heard himself say.

"...W-What...?" The Guardians were understandably confused.

"Get me a car, now!" Tsuna shouted, slamming his hands onto the desk harshly.

And when none of the Guardians moves, still stuck in their state of confusion, Tsuna let out a growl in frustration before turning to run out of the room, not even bothering to grab his precious cloak hanging over the back of his chair, or to entertain the shouts of his name and titles behind him. Tsuna ran, down hallways and stairs, while dodging Mafiosi, butlers and maids alike at every turn, never stopping until he reached the garage. The staff at the garage were almost as surprised as the Guardians, but once again, Tsuna could spare them no attention. He ran for his motorcycle, easily swinging over it before driving off with a loud screech. His Guardians had caught up to him by then, but Tsuna couldn't care—not with his Hyper Intuition screaming louder and louder, like a siren gone mad. He simply drove, following the path his Hyper Intuition pointed out to him—not that he didn't already have the route memorized.

Even at a dangerously suicidal speed, it still look Tsuna nearly thirty minutes of driving to reach his destination. He jumped off his motorcycle, letting it skid on the ground haphazardly as he ran into the forest clearing. Tsuna didn't take long to find what—or rather, who—he was looking for.

"REBORN!"

Tsuna scrambled across the damp forest grounds, past the bodies that littered the bloodied ground, to the small, tiny body practically hidden in the undergrowth. He swore his heart stopped. Stopped at the sight of his tutor, the strongest hitman in the world, the one person whom he truly and completely believed can't ever be defeated, lying in a fragile pile on the ground.

Tsuna nearly broke down. "Reborn...!" He choked out, kneeling down beside his beloved tutor and mentor. Gently—too gently, almost as though he was afraid the infant would break at the slightest movements—Tsuna picked up the barely-conscious hitman in his arms. Tsuna inspected Reborn for injuries, choking on his tears when he saw no wounds on the hitman at all—as expected of his mentor—but the pacifier that signified his status as the Sun Arcobaleno was barely shining, glowing with a pale yellow light.

"T-Tsuna..." Reborn could barely speak—breathing was already a difficult enough task for him—but he mustered up the strength to anyway. "Dame... Tsuna..."

"Stop...!" Tsuna cried, his voice tight. "Please... don't talk anymore..." Tears welled up in his eyes, threatening to fall as he stared at his tutor through blurry vision. "I'll get you back, ASAP. You'll be fine, Reborn. Don't you dare die on me...!"

(And, at that point in time, Tsuna didn't know who he was trying to convince—Reborn, or himself.)

Reborn gave a weak, choked laughter. "You're... still a million years... too early... to tell me... what to do... Dame... Tsuna..."

"I'm sorry..." Tsuna sobbed. "This is my fault... I shouldn't... Shouldn't have let you gone on this stupid mission..."

"Idiot... Tsuna..." Reborn breathed, wincing as his wounds shifted. "I insisted on this mission... As if... You would have been able... to stop me..."

"Reborn...!" Tsuna's tears finally fell , but Reborn couldn't feel it; not with the rain falling around them. "Please... don't die... I... I can't... Not without you...!"

"Stupid..." His tutor scolded (and Tsuna knew he would have had a One-Ton Mallet smacking his head if Reborn still had the strength). "You're already... Vongola Decimo... You've already... graduated now... Just like your brother... Both of you... are great Bosses of your... respective Famiglia... I..." A rare smile lifted the side of the infant's lips. "I'm proud... of the two of you..."

"Reborn...!"

"Dame-Tsuna..." Reborn croaked, his breathing becoming shallower by the minute. "Don't... do anything... stupid... If... you die on them... I swear... I'll... kill you... myself..."

"RE—"

Tsuna knew his Hyper Intuition was accurate—deadly accurate...

"—BORNNNNNNN!"

...which is why he wondered why he didn't try harder to stop him.

There was no funeral.

Tsuna didn't allow for one.

It was a dangerous time and, as pathetic as it sounds, the longer the Mafia was kept in the dark about the Sun Arcobaleno's passing, the better it was for the Vongola Famiglia. The burial took place in a small clearing in the immediate forest surrounding the Vongola estate. The gravestone was unmarked, simply a small slab of stone that served to indicate its position. Anyone who stumbled across the clearing wouldn't have thought anything of the slab of stone—exactly what Tsuna wanted.

The Vongola Deicmo didn't visit that clearing too often; it was dangerous to. There were only a few instances where he visited that clearing—visited his mentor. One of those instances was when Gokudera was shot protecting his boss, and nearly lost his life for it. The last time Tsuna visited that grave, it was the night before he called his Cloud Guardian in—his final attempt to save the Vongola Famiglia from its impending destruction.

"What do you want, omnivore?"

His Cloud Guardian had cut to the chase as always. Sawada Tsunayoshi, Vongola Decimo, let a rueful smile slip on his face for one last time as he stared out at the back gardens of the Vongola estate. Without turning away from the scene, he spoke.

"…I have a plan. To deal with the Millefiore."

A/N: This ties in with my other fic, 6 Times the Guardians Came Back Injured, but it's not necessary for you to read that to understand this, because this is simply my take on future!Reborn's death in the canon pre-Future arc. This is actually something I wanted to attempt for a long time now, especially after my take on TYL!Tsuna's death in canon.

My apologies for not writing for so long. I've started university and the workload is killing me. I've barely had time for anything, much less writing. That said, I'm still trying to work on my fics in between schoolwork, and I'll try my best to update them.

Thank you for reading as always~ Ciao ciao~