Warm Colours

Disclaimer: Don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn...

"Urgh, I'm so tired…" stated Tsuna with exhaustion.

"Is it me or is Nezu-sensei getting worse?" asked Enma.

"It's your imagination. You two are just dame. Lucky for you two, there is no homework today or I would have something to use to torture you with…I mean tutor you with." said Reborn with a disappointed voice. Enma and Tsuna stiffened.

'Thank you god for your mercy this day,' thought Enma and Tsuna. They didn't need any trauma today, like all those other days of crying for mercy. Thinking back, Tsuna realizes that he hasn't spent much time with Enma since the Arcobaleno Representative War happened.

"Hey Enma, do you want to play a game?" asked Tsuna with a smile.

"Sure, what kind of games do you have?" asked Enma.

"He probably just has childish games like Pokémon. You should play Assassin Creed or Alice: Madness Returns." Reborn teased with sadistic gleam.

'I don't want to know what those games are,' thought the poor students as they felt a cold shiver down their spine. Tsuna walked to his closet and opened a drawer.

"We-Well, let's see what I have…Mario."

"Childish." stated Reborn in amusement.

"Argh…Sonic," suggested Tsuna, trying to forget Reborn's comment and hold in his anger.

"Childish," Reborn said in a monotone. He knows what's in that closet, and it's all games everyone plays, from kids to teens. But Tsuna should really get new games that he is finally allowed to play.

"Digimon"

"Childish"

"Yugioh"

"Childish"

"Zelda"

"Childish"

"Argh…" Tsuna groans in annoyance and stopped to reflect on Reborn's words and his games. 'Being childish isn't a bad thing...is it?'

"Kingdom of Hearts," said Reborn.

"Childish…ah…" Realizing what he had said, Tsuna goes down to hugs his knees in depression and embarrassment. Reborn has a twisted smirk from trying to hold in a giggle while Enma got up and tries to comfort Tsuna. Reborn understands how the human mind works and how to manipulate it, especially Tsuna's.

"Let it go, Tsuna," said Enma.

Tsuna looked up so he can speak, but stopped as he sees something familiar in his closet. He starts crawling toward the object and pulled it out. He stared at in with a sad look on his face. Enma stared at the object curiously, but Reborn started to get annoyed from being left out.

"Oi, what's wrong, Tsuna?" asked Reborn.

"…It's just…an old memory." answered Tsuna. Tsuna stood up and showed Enma and Reborn what he had found.

It was a stuffed brown rabbit with pointy ears going up, much like Tsuna's hair. Its eyes were black and the inside of the ears were a lighter brown. The rabbit had arms up to his waist and its legs were long enough to make it look like it would stand. The strangest thing about the rabbit was its orange ribbon; it seemed a little strange in contrast to the rabbit's dark colour.

"It's was a gift. Its name is Shinta." explained Tsuna; his smile was a little strained.

"What a weak name," said Reborn.

"S-Shut up, Reborn; Shinta is very important to me! It was given to me by my very first friend!" yelled Tsuna.

That made Reborn curious; Iemitsu never mentioned Tsuna having friends in the past. 'Unreliable, arrogant, oblivious, useless idiot Iemitsu; may as well call him a Madao. Anyway, I'll need to kill him later for not keeping a closer eye on Tsuna.' Tsuna sees Reborn's cold stare, and backed away, thinking the stare was for him.

Enma stared at Tsuna as well. Now that he thought about it, he doesn't know much about Tsuna's past. Thinking back he probably should have tried looking it up earlier.

There was a moment of silence as everyone was waiting for someone to say something...mostly from Tsuna, but it seemed he's not about to say anything with the fear of getting into trouble and making Reborn torture him. But Reborn needs his explanation to complain to Iemitsu about.

Reborn turned Leon into a gun, "Don't just start a topic and stop there Dame-Tsuna. Hurry up and tell us who your friend is."

"Hiiiiiie stop! Don't shot! I'll talk okay, but please put Leon away!" shrieked Tsuna.

"No, just tell us the story already." Reborn loved Tsuna's cries when he threatens to shoot. Besides who knows if Tsuna will screw up telling the story.

"It is okay, Tsuna. Just tell us." assured Enma.

"Gulp, um let's see…" they took a seat around the table and Reborn stayed in his seat on Tsuna's desk. When Tsuna explains something, it takes a long time.

"I met her eight years ago…"

Flashback

One summer day, Tsuna was playing in a park sandbox. The seven year old was all alone, but that wasn't surprising to him; he has never had a friend for his seven years. He only had his mother and a father he doesn't even know. Making piles of sand was all he could do in the park; the swings always go too high and make him sick, he can't go on the teeter totter unless he had someone else to go with him, and every time he goes on the slide, it sends him flying.

He kept making his pile of sand until a small dog came. The dog was growling at the stranger, thinking of him as an enemy. Tsuna stood up and started backing away; he was always afraid of dogs.

"Hiiiiiiiiiiiiie!" shrieked Tsuna and started to run away with the dog chasing him. He turned corners and tried throwing objects at the dog. The game of tag continued until Tsuna got tired and climbed onto a garbage can.

"Waaaaah, w-why are you ch-chasing me, w-what did I do?!" cried Tsuna. Tears were forming in his eyes. 'Why does this always happen to me?!' Tsuna closed his eyes, thinking the dog was going to jump up and attack him.

Suddenly a girl appeared, sees Tsuna in trouble and approached them. She took off her back pack and tries to get the dog away from the boy by trying to hit the little dog. She succeeded and stood between Tsuna and the dog. The dog growled and barked, but backed away and ran when it sees the young girl's glare.

"Hey, are you alright?" she asked and offers a hand.

Tsuna opens his eyes and notices the dog has been replaced with a red headed girl with strange red eyes and a hair pin moving in her short hair with the wind. She was wearing a light pink summer dress that had flowers on it and ribbons along the ends of the dress, and she was also wearing brown sandals. She had a kind smile on her face; Tsuna felt he could trust her. "Ye-Yeah, th-thank you, sorry for the trouble." answers Tsuna shyly. He takes her hand and jumps down.

"You're welcome, don't worry about it; my brother gets into these situations every day." she says with a groan.

"U-Um, my n-name is Tsuna."

"My name is Mami, nice to meet you." Mami was shining with confidence and a smile.

End of Flashback

"M-M-Mami?" questioned Enma in shock.

"You weakling, getting saved by a little girl from a little dog; you are truly pitiful." said Reborn with a teasing tone.

"B-Be quiet, it was…really scary, okay!? Stop teasing me!" Tsuna shouted.

"You're fun to tease, that's why everyone does it to you." said Reborn bluntly.

Tsuna was about to say something when Enma stops him by taking Shinta out of his hands. Tsuna looked at him curiously.

"Um…can you tell us more?" asked Enma. He wanted to know if this was the same Mami as his sister. He did live in Namimori temporally, but never heard of this from his sister.

"Oh, okay…well we talked about each other and I learned she has a brother who is just like me. Since then, we went to the park every day and played together." answered Tsuna.

Flashback

"Wait, Mami-chan th-this is too high, hiiiiiie!" cried Tsuna.

"Hahahaha!" laughed Mami in amusement and only pushed him higher. She then grabbed a water gun her father gave her and shoots Tsuna.

"HIIIIIIIIIIIE!" shrieks Tsuna. He tries to stop the swing, but tripped instead and ran away when he got back up, but there was no escaping Mami. When Tsuna got home that day he was soaked.

Through the time they spent together, Tsuna has learned Mami likes messing with him. He knew there is a word for her actions, but couldn't quite remember what it was. Despite her strange nature, she was very playful, smart and has taught him how to be himself since before he was calm and had a dead look in his eyes and stuttered half the time from low self-confidence and bullying. So she taught him a few moves she picked up from protecting her brother, but in the end he never used them because he didn't want to fight and hurt others. Mami couldn't argue with that, he really stood firm with that belief.

Mami liked bringing dolls and telling ghost stories. They would play with different dolls everyday and Mami would tie Tsuna down and force him to listen to her stories. The horror of the stories were worthy of being for adults and ever since the first horrific ghost story Mami told; Tsuna has always freaked out at everything that has popped out of nowhere since.

End of Flashback

'So that's why you're afraid of ghosts,' thought Reborn and Enma.

'Even when Tsuna was young everyone loved messing with him. Pft, Tsuna just admitted he's easy to tease. Case closed,' Reborn thinks to him-self merrily.

'This definitely sounds like Mami. She has always loved to do things like that,' thought Enma.

"So where is she?" asked Reborn. Enma and Tsuna flinched. Tsuna took Shinta back gently and looked at it. He lies down on the floor and holds Shinta up to block the light above, looking into Shinta's plastic eyes.

"Well, she… had to leave Namimori, her father got a job in Italy and the whole family had to go with him." answered Tsuna, but he didn't notice Enma's shocked face.

"But on the day before she had to go we met up again…"

Flashback

Tsuna was waiting at the entrance to the park for the last time. He still couldn't believe Mami had to leave, she had made him so happy despite most of the time she was torturing him. She was precious to him and can now no longer look at friendship like everyone else. It was important to him.

"Tsuna!" called Mami.

"Ah, Mami-chan. Um what's with the rabbits?" Tsuna asked.

Mami was holding twin brown rabbits. The rabbits looked bran new and the black eyes had a pretty gleam. They were as big as Tsuna's head, including the tall hair. Mami hands one of the rabbits to Tsuna.

"This is yours. These are going to represent our friendship. You better not lose it, or else I'll-"

"Ahhhh no, I won't lose it I promise!" cried Tsuna, who knows what terrors she could have in mind. He hugged the rabbit to comfort himself, if the rabbit was alive, it would be choking. Tsuna was also a little afraid to the poor rabbit go because he didn't want to loose his friendship with Mami.

"Wait…these represent our friendship? No way I had the same idea!" squeaked Tsuna in delight, and pulled out two ribbons, however unlike the rabbits, the ribbons were different colours; one was fiery red of passion and hope, while the other was sunset orange that captivated the eyes.

"Which one do you want, Mami-chan?" asked Tsuna, smiling brightly.

"Hmmm, the red one; it matches my hair." said Mami as she took the red ribbon. She had to admit, she loved this ribbon. It shined in the sun and leaving a beautiful gleam, "Where did you get these, their beautiful." she asked.

"I got them from my mom; I told her about you. She was really happy that I have a friend now. I asked her to give me these ribbons from her jewelry box since she can't use them." explained Tsuna, having difficulty holding the big rabbit and orange ribbon.

"I see." Mami looks at the rabbit and her red ribbon and she started to tie the ribbon into a bow around the rabbit.

"Oh, good idea!" exclaimed Tsuna and tried to copy her, only fail continuously.

"You're hopeless." Mami says with all the bored disappointment in the world.

Tsuna pouted as Mami does it for him and tried to come up some way to change the subject. 'Am I really that unreliable?' he thought to himself. 'I'll always be called Dame-Tsuna…oh.'

"Mami-chan, we should name our rabbits; mine will be called Shinta!"

Mami looked up, "Alright then, I'll call mine…hmm…Emma." says Mami happily.

The rest of the day was spent playing with their new toys, smiling together, same as all their other days together. However, it was unknown to them that it would be the last time.

"Ne, Mami-chan?" called Tsuna.

"Hm, what?" asked Mami.

"We'll meet again, won't we?"

"…Yes. How about I'll get dad to take me here every summer and we'll meet here in this park on…July 12th. I'll even bring my older brother." suggested Mami.

"Okay! I'll wait for you all day!" exclaimed Tsuna thoughtlessly. "Oh! I'll even bring a ribbon for your brother!"

"Awesome, I'll force him to bring a stuffed toy when we come!" Tsuna froze at that 'force' part. He hopes he hasn't brought Mami's brother to his demise, but Mami's brother might survive, he lives with Mami after all.

"Well...good-bye Tsuna!"

"Come back soon, I'll be waiting!"

But Mami was never going to come back, because Mami was murdered a few months after she left.

End of Flashback

"…and I've waited every July 12th with Shinta all day for eight years, but for some reason she never came. I hope she's okay." finished Tsuna.

"Seriously? You waited each year? That's some serious dedication, too bad you don't use that dedication in your studies." said Reborn. Tsuna was once again pouting; there is no hope for him.

While Reborn was glad Tsuna had the patience to wait so long, it's still ridiculous. Moreover, why didn't he ask for her phone number or address or give his phone number to her? 'Dame-Tsuna will be Dame-Tsuna no matter how many years pass. This is why you don't have a girlfriend, Dame-Tsuna.'

"W-Well, what if she came and I didn't wait for her." said Tsuna in the hope of redeeming himself. But it wasn't really working since he was blushing from embarrassment.

"If she didn't come for eight years, what makes you think she'll appear the next time?" stated Reborn. He was about to say something else until he noticed Enma, who seemed disturbed for some reason.

Enma was feeling very uncomfortable. He's shocked that Tsuna may have met his little sister and may have even meant to meet each other again. What would have happened if Daemon never came? Would Tsuna and Mami still be together, maybe even in a relationship? Enma stopped there; he didn't have proof that Mami and Tsuna met, besides what could he do if they did meet. Should he tell Tsuna that Mami is dead and he waited eight years for nothing? 'I need a break.' he thought to himself tiredly.

"Um Tsuna?" called Enma, catching Tsuna's attention from his pouting. "I need to go…Adelheid said she'd need me tonight. I don't want to die yet." said Enma. Best excuse he could think off.

"Urgh…I understand. Want me to walk you home?" asked Tsuna. Tsuna did feel something was wrong, but he felt afraid of the answer. Besides he should respect Enma's privacy, knowing fate, he'll find out somehow anyway.

"No, I'll be fine. See ya." replied Enma.

"Bye," Reborn and Tsuna said together.

Reborn found Enma's actions suspicious; Enma definitely knows something about Mami. As all who know Reborn, being left out is very uncomfortable for him. Reborn hates it with his entire being. Tonight is going to be a long night of research.

The next day wasn't much better than yesterday. Enma had stayed up most of the night thinking about Tsuna's story and Mami, now he was just wandering around Namimori. Enma knew he should probably go back to his old house in Italy and look for Mami's rabbit, Emma, but that house was the house where his nightmares began. Enma shivered at the thought.

"You know, there is a difference between knowing and acting."

Enma turned. It was Reborn with a serious look on his face. 'Was he reading my thoughts?'

"Why does everyone come to that conclusion?" asked Reborn.

"Eeek!" squeaked Enma.

"Anyway, you know that Tsuna might have met your sister Mami-" started Reborn.

"H-How do you know that?"

"An entire night's worth of research." answered Reborn. "Back to the subject, you've learned something that greatly affects you as well as Tsuna, but you need your proof. So tough up and go to Italy or else Tsuna will wait forever for someone who might never come."

Enma's eyes widened at that. Tsuna would wait till the end of his days for Mami. Tsuna is a loyal and kind friend. Even if he was fed up with waiting, he would put others, including Mami, before his own feelings and wait or even go search for Mami on his own. Enma had to go or everyone would be unhappy.

"You're right, Reborn. I'll go."

"Good." answered Reborn with a smirk. "I'm coming with you by the way. I'm curious as well you know."

"S-Sure," he answered. 'I hope I won't get into trouble.'

"But, I don't really have any money…can you…pay?" asked Enma. 'Please don't hurt me.' Enma begged in his head.

"…Fine, but you better pay me back or I'll hunt you down and force you to pay me back in any way I please." said Reborn with a dark look, strangely darker than usual. Enma nearly fainted from it and was extremely pale.

"We'll leave today." Reborn said playfully.

"Huh, now?" questioned Enma.

"Yes, now let's go." Enma never got to protest because Reborn had already hit him with his signature hammer, putting him in a daze and unable to stay focused.

"Why can't these Dame teens just do what their told?"

And so Reborn dragged Enma to the airport and Enma never said a word on the plane. Reborn liked this…a lot. Uncomfortable silence can be a wonderful thing.

Italy

Enma unlocked the door to his old house. He really just wanted to rest from the plane flight, since Reborn is really scary to be on a plane with. Enma put his hand on the door knob and stops. Daemon's massacre was flashing in his head. The screams, blood, and the evil illusion of Tsuna's father in his mind were causing him to hyperventilate.

"Calm down, Enma. You need to let it go, Daemon is dead and you're stronger now, it won't happen again because you and Tsuna won't let it happen again." said Reborn, trying to calm Enma down. "Take deep a breath, I'll enter first."

Reborn opened the door slightly since he was so small. Enma followed a little after, forcing himself to calm down and think about looking for Emma. The entrance to the door was small and it led to a hallway with many entrances to other rooms in the house. Everything was dusty; no one took care of the place. Enma led Reborn to his sister's room a little down the hall. When they entered Mami's room, they searched for Emma. Moths flew around and it was hard to breathe.

"Emma isn't here." stated Enma.

"She probably brought it around the house, let's try somewhere else." suggested Reborn.

Enma shivered, he wanted to get out of this place as soon as possible, but there was no way Reborn or his heart would let that happen. Re-entering the hallway, they went down to the living room since there was no way it was in any other room. Just as they were about to turn into the living room, Enma started to feel sick and crouched down. The living room was where his family was killed and it was the last place he wanted to be. 'Damn, I can't do this.'

"Yes you can. Just think about Tsuna, remember that he's waiting and Mami wouldn't want you to leave this be." Reborn is starting to get tired of Enma taking so long to fight his demons of the past, "You need to move forward into the future, you've been stuck in the past for eight years."

Enma slowly got up, still holding his stomach but still tried to enter the living room. He nearly threw up, there was still dry black blood on the floor and the room was still destroyed. Reborn kicked Enma to snap him out of it, "Stop looking if it's so hard." he said coldly, but with anger.

Reborn decided to look on his own, it was going to be hard since there was broken furniture everywhere, Daemon really trashed up the place. Taking a quick look around and paying attention to detail, he found something that stood out.

There was something red under a piece of the broken coffee table. Reborn walked over and pulled it out. It was Emma and it was attached to the red ribbon. Emma was ripped and had blood on its brown fabric. You can only conclude that Mami was holding Emma when she was killed and let it go on some sort of impact and the coffee table broke afterwards from a struggle.

Enma was looking at Reborn and Emma. There was no doubt now, his sister, Mami, knew Tsuna, and Tsuna was waiting for someone who can never return. Being in the house of his nightmares and the shock of the new found discovery was too much for Enma. He fainted.

Reborn looks back at Enma, the boy had a very big day. Enma had faced his past and discovered the truth. Leon transformed into a cell phone and called Vongola to come pick them up and get a plane ready. Reborn then waited with Enma and Emma. 'So troublesome, but it will strengthen the bond between Enma and Tsuna.'

Namimori

Tsuna had just gotten back from a long day at school; thankfully it wasn't as bad since Reborn was gone. 'Please, please let Reborn be gone for a few more days.' Tsuna prays. Reborn wasn't the only one who wasn't with him today. Yamamoto had to help his father and Gokudera had passed out from his sister, so he was alone, he finally got his much needed peace.

Tsuna stops, whenever something good happened, Reborn would do something to ruin it. Which means something was going to happen and Reborn would definitely be involved. Heaving a deep sigh he resumed his walk.

It was a very peaceful walk and he soon reached his room. When he entered, Tsuna is surprised to see Reborn and Enma talking. 'Were they waiting for me? Wait Reborn's back…Damn, couldn't he stay away a little longer,' Tsuna curses to himself, apparently even fate likes bullying and being mean to him.

Reborn suddenly came up and kicks Tsuna his head for the insulting thoughts. Enma is confused as to why Reborn did that, but was too scared to question it. 'Be careful what you think…or say.' thought Enma, the silent warning to himself somewhat helped his worry for what was going to come next.

"Sit down, Tsuna. We need to talk." said Reborn.

'Well, here we go.' thought Enma, taking a deep breath.

Once Tsuna sat down, Enma pulled out Emma. Tsuna recognized the rabbit and looked at Enma. 'It couldn't be, right? But that's definitely Emma, Mami's rabbit. Why does Enma have it? Mami was supposed to have Emma and bring her older bro…no…way. Enma is…but that would mean…'

"HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIE!" screeched Tsuna and fainted.

"Hey, it's the same reaction you had when you figured it out. The two of you really are dame." says Reborn teasingly. Enma blushes as he sulks to himself. They really are alike. "Lucky for you, you now get more time to think about what you'll need to say next."

Enma groans and starts going through scenarios for the explanation to come and tell it to Tsuna without hurting too badly.

"Urgh…" groans Tsuna and looks out the window; it was sunset.

"Are you okay, Tsuna? You were out for three hours. Your mother is home and cooking dinner." said Enma.

"Oh. Yeah, I'm okay." answers Tsuna and gets up from the bed and looks at Enma and Reborn. He was still half asleep until he saw Shinta and Emma together. He snaps out of his daze and rushes to the table to pick up Emma. Tsuna was on the verge of crying; Emma was stitched up and there seemed to be washed blood marks. 'Blood…does that mean Mami really is…'

"Mami is dead, Tsuna…she's my little sister…R-Reborn and I think Mami was holding this when she died." said Enma with hesitation and sorrow.

Tsuna broke down crying and Enma readily embraced him, whispering comforting words while Tsuna weeps on his shoulder. Tsuna cried for thirty minutes, by now it was dark outside; only the clear moon was shining and giving a source of light to show the way.

Once Tsuna calmed down, he goes into his drawer and pulls out the yellow ribbon and gives it to Enma. The yellow ribbon was pretty much glowing and seems to light up the room like a candle. "This is for you, Enma-kun."

"Thanks, Tsuna. I'll take good care of it! Thank you for being friends with Mami and I!" exclaimed Enma, glad everything worked out okay. Apparently scenario number 73 was the right approach; tell him slowly, carefully and with as little detail as possible.

Enma decided to put the yellow ribbon around Emma's neck with the red one. Tsuna and Enma started to smile and laugh together.

Meanwhile Reborn smiled as well at the deepening bond between the two. 'Now you two are stronger, I'm proud of you...' However, normally someone would leave this scene be as warmth filled the air, but unfortunately Reborn decides to end the smiles with his own selfish reasons.

"I want a ribbon too." said Reborn childishly.

"What?! But I only had that one, Reborn! Why should I give you one anyway?!" exclaimed Tsuna. It wasn't long until Tsuna's room was full of explosions and the screams of horror of Enma and Tsuna as they tried to get away.

The rest of the day was spent arguing. In the end, Tsuna lost the argument as usual and soon after that day, Tsuna had given Reborn a white ribbon that sparkled beautifully in the sun and moon. He didn't really want to keep it on him, but he put it on Shinta. Now together the twin rabbits, Shinta and Emma, sit together in Tsuna's room, symbolizing the strong friendship between Enma, Tsuna, Mami...and Reborn. And they would never be separated again.

If your wondering what a Madao is, it is a word that has many different meanings, but they are just shortened Japanese phrases.

ex.

1.(ma)ru de (da)me na (o)ssan: good-for-nothing old man

2.(ma)jide (da)ssai (o)yaji: the really uncool old man

3.(ma)ssa ni (da)rusou na (o)yaji: really uncool-looking old man

4.(ma)ttaku (da)rakushite (o)ssan: really depraved old man

5.(ma)zui (da)shi to (o)age: horrid bean curd

6.(ma)ttaku (da)ijobu ja nai (o)kyaku: customer who's really not all right

7.(ma)tomo ni (da)karetakunai (o)toko: men no one wants to date

8.(ma)ji de (da)kaetai (o)toko: man one seriously wants to date

9.(ma)ttaku (da)masenai (o)toboke: fool who unconvincingly feigns ignorance

10.(ma)ssugu ikite no (da)inashi na jinsei na (o)jisan: old man who lives as he wants, but accomplishes nothing