Reborn woke up. He blinked, looking out the window and recognizing the airport. His plane was taxiing to its gate.

A dream then. He didn't remember falling asleep on the plane but it was a long flight over. His mind was clearly jumping forward to teaching his newest student. Iemitsu's son. Reborn had plans for that. Was it petty to inflict pain on the son for the sins of his father? Yes. Did Reborn care? No.

After all, he was here as a favor to Nono. With any luck, the boy wouldn't be as difficult to train as Dino. Though, according to his sources, that might be a futile hope. Still he would judge for himself what kind of person Sawada Tsunayoshi was.

-.-.-

Sawada Nana was quoting, Reborn realized with horror. Exactly quoting, word for word from his dream. As if she was reading off a script. Right on cue, Tsuna came stumbling into the room, shrieking and repeating the same words he had shouted to Reborn in his dream.

This made absolutely no sense. Reborn delivered his lines perfectly, informing the mother and son why he was here, his home tutor cover (which was honestly true from a certain point of view) while his thoughts whirled. Perhaps this was a vision? Along the lines of what Luce use to see? Though it made no sense that Reborn would have that ability. It never manifested for him before. Not to mention, Luce had described her visions as flashes, not so completely vivid as if she was physically present in the vision the way his dream had been.

An uneasy feeling settled in the pit of his stomach as Reborn followed after Tsuna who had dashed ahead. He found him, just like his dream, chatting to one Sasagawa Kyoko.

"That is the girl who you have a crush on?" Reborn asked mildly. He wondered if Tsuna's response would be the same.

"No," Tsuna said, unable to keep a small smile from forming on his face.

Reborn could have fired a Dying Will Bullet at this time, but his dream stayed his hand. No sense chancing anything. There would be plenty of other times to try the Dying Will Bullet. Perhaps Tsuna had been telling the truth in his dream and he didn't have a real crush on Sasagawa Kyoko.

There were records of that happening. A person's regrets weren't strong enough at the moment of dying from a Dying Will Bullet despite having other regrets that could have brought them back. It was rare. A moment of utter contentment, the stray thought of 'if I die right now, I'll be happy'. The calculated odds were one in a billion of it happening at the right moment, at the right time. (But Reborn was the best for a reason so, perhaps it was just a matter of him being too good.)

He could try it out later, with a stronger regret. Perhaps a failed test? There was plenty of ample opportunities for that.

"SAWADA!"

Reborn turned to look to see Tsuna had drifted ahead and ran straight into a taller more muscular boy.

"Mochida-senpai," Tsuna greeted meekly, ducking out of his way.

Mochida grabbed him by the collar of his uniform, shaking him. "I thought I told you to stay away from Kyoko!" he said, snarling. He pulled back his arm, preparing for the punch.

Reborn paled, Leon transforming into a gun. No! At that angle that kid would do more than just bruise Tsuna!

SMASH!

Tsuna crumpled to the ground like a limp doll. Mochida sneered, shaking off the blood. He never took another step before Reborn shot him straight through the chest.

He would dispose of the body later. Reborn looked over Tsuna, grimacing over the amount of blood. Internal bleeding? Contrary to belief, it was quite easy to die from being punched in the face. Your skull could only protect so much and there were still points of vulnerabilities, your ears, your eyes. Enough force could shake and rattle the brain.

There were days that Reborn wished he studied medicine more fervently. Today was one of those days. Even with Sun Flame's healing ability, Reborn was not a brain surgeon. He could not guide the healing part of his Sun Flames (an aspect he rarely used and admittedly was largely out of practice with) with the precision it would need. Not to mention the potential issue of applying Flames anywhere near the brain. This would need Shamal's expertise or a hospital.

Reborn whipped out his phone, dialing for an ambulance. He rattled off the information, eyes never leaving Tsuna.

"Tsuna," Reborn said harshly. "Focus, stay awake."

Tsuna blinked at him, eyes out of focus. "Reborn?" he mumbled, speech slurring.

"Stay awake. The ambulance is on its way," Reborn said. Was Tsuna's jaw broken? There was more than enough blood spilling out of his mouth.

Tsuna blinked once, twice, then closed his eyes. The rise and fall of his chest stopped and his body going limp.

"Tsuna?!" Reborn said, shaking the teenager's shoulder. Where was that ambulance? He swore violently, Sun Flames gathering. He would do it blind if he had too. "You're not dying on me. You're not." This entire mess was maddening. Crazy impossible. Reborn refused to accept it. He ref-

Reborn woke up.


I love red herrings.

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