Disclaimer: The Reborn manga and anime series do not belong to me

Chapter 1

Age 6

The sound of laughter echoing through the halls was not a normal noise in the Vongola headquarters yet it had been heard more and more frequently as time wore on. The Ninth had allowed Iemitsu to bring his daughter to Italy, though it had taken a while and some shouting before he'd agreed. Tsuna now spent most of her time in one section of the mansion. The quiet girl rarely spoke to anyone except her father and one or two members of CEDEF. The death of her mother had increased the bond between father and daughter greatly and Iemitsu was one of the few people who she would smile and laugh around. The other person she got on with was Lal Mirch. The corrupted arcobaleno got on surprising well with the girl despite her impatience and rather sharp temper.

It had been about 7 months since she'd first arrived here and she was still skittish around the numerous people working here. At the moment she was sitting her room reading a fairytale book her mother had bought her for her 4th birthday. She missed her mother so much and she still suffered vivid nightmares from that day. Her eyes scanned over the words on her book; absorbing the tale of Beauty and the Beast (it had always been one of her favourites). She was taught via home tutor in a small classroom and had next to zero contact with other children. This isolation was understandably worrying her father.

There was a knock on the door and she looked up to see one of her daddy's "friends" standing there. His name was Tumeric. She smiled and closed the book.

"Ch-Ciao Tumeric-san." She greeted. Her knowledge of Italian was growing but she would often revert back to Japanese. The language barrier was just another thing keeping her from fitting in and the glamorous beautiful mansion didn't feel like home.

"Good morning Miss Sawada." He stepped inside and nodded his head. "Would you come with me please?" She blinked and closed her books, wondering what was going on. Usually she was left on her own to do as she pleased with one or two guards; who, she felt too scared to speak to. She jumped off the chair and followed Tumeric out the room. The ominous hallways of the mansion were still scary so she stayed close to the man. Eventually the odd pair came to a wooden door. Tsuna blinked as Tumeric said something in Italian and the door swung open.

She timidly walked in after Tumeric who dropped onto one knee and whispered something she couldn't catch. She blinked and looked up to see an old man sitting on a big chair behind a desk. It was that nice man who came over to visit with her daddy. Only he wore a colourful shirt last time not a suit. He'd looked up at their entrance and as now smiling kindly at her.

"Thank you for bringing Tsuna to me Tumeric. You may leave." He spoke in Japanese for her benefit and she slowly returned the smile. Her bodyguard stood up and left. The old man stood up and slowly walked over to her. Bending down to her level he held out his hand.

"It's a pleasure to see you again Tsuna-chan. Do you remember me?" She nodded and then looked away shyly.

"You came over with my daddy one day. He said you were his boss." The smile didn't slip from his face and she relaxed slightly.

"That's right and do you know where you are?" Tsuna looked around the room with big curious eyes and shook her head. "Well why don't we go over to my desk and I'll show you." She nodded and accepted the hand he offered her. When they got to the desk he carefully picked her up and placed her gently on the wood. He opened up the interactive screen on his desk (technology had moved on and of course Vongola got the best). Loading up the screen he brought up a map of Italy.

"We are here in the country of Italy in Europe." She nodded and moved a little closer to the screen. He zoomed in until a picture of the mansion was on the screen. "This is the building you're in right now. It's the headquarters of the Vongola family." She frowned at the new word.

"Vongola?" He nodded indulgently and showed her a picture of the family crest.

"I'll tell you more about that a little later. Now are you enjoying your time here?" She blushed and appeared to find the ceiling very interesting. "It's alright if you don't, this place wasn't built for children." Thinking she'd offended him she began to babble.

"I-It's not that. I-I like the building very much it's really nice but...it doesn't feel like home...Sorry." The Ninth stared at the young girl squirming under his gaze. He felt mildly shocked at her behaviour: the girl had lost her mother in a horrific way, she had actually heard it, and she was apologizing to him because she didn't like the mansion.

"No, you don't need to say sorry. I want you to be comfortable which is why I called you here today." He turned and met her gaze. "Is there anything you want or would like to make you feel better here." Tsuna sat back, a little surprised at the offer. For a while she was silent her mind working through the possibilities before she slowly shook her head.

"No sir, I don't think there's anything you can do." He waited patiently for her to continue. Her eyes misted up and she rubbed the side of her face. "I want to see my m-mummy again, I want to go back to our house a-and I want to see my daddy more b-but he has to w-work all the time and I-I don't want to bother him.." On the final word her voice broke and big tears started to roll down her cheeks. The trauma and the sudden change had finally caught up to her. She cried for her mother, she cried for her father, for herself, for the life she'd once had and the innocence she'd lost. She cried until she couldn't cry any more. When she was drained both emotionally and physically she saw what she'd done: somehow she'd wriggled her way onto the old man's lap and was currently squeezing him with all the power in her arms. What surprised her was the hand stroking her hair and the other one holding her steady. Her head looked up of its own accord and the eyes she saw were so full of guilt and sorrow, so...tired that it made her want to cry all over again.

"I'm sorry Tsuna." The words were the only noise in the room apart from her occasional sniffle. Tsuna remembered her mummy telling her that people said sorry if they felt they'd done something wrong and wanted to be forgiven. Now she couldn't understand why he was sorry (nor would she for a couple of more years) but she could see that he truly did feel guilty over whatever had happened. She didn't want to add to the sadness in his eyes.

"It's OK." She said and in those few moments a bond was formed between adult and child. Tsuna's world opened just a little and the Ninth boss of the Vongola saw the hope for the future in her smile. He hadn't been sure before but now he knew: if the Vongola was ever going to change, and become what the First had wanted it to be, then the tenth boss had to be Tsuna. Her entry into his world had been horrific and far too early yet she was already showing a great strength and more importantly a great heart that would only serve her well in the future. It may not have happened the way he wanted it but she was involved and know he had more time to prepare her to deal with the challenges.

He watched as she played with his interactive screen her eyes lighting up with a childlike joy and smile growing on her face. A miracle. A frown crossed his face as he recalled Iemitsu's concerns over the girls isolation and lack of contact with other children. Unfortunately, he had a strict rule about young children in the Mafia: they weren't allowed at least not in the Vongola. The nearest person to Tsuna's age was a good 7 years older than her and that was his own son. He paused at that. The woman had brought Xanxus to him 3 years ago and since then the boy had remained aloof from everyone, his anger was a big concern and he hadn't seen him smile once. Despite the fact that the boy wasn't his biological son Timoteo cared about him. His eyes flickered over to Tsuna once again. Maybe if he couldn't reach his son this special little girl could. He just wouldn't mention to Iemitsu just who he'd found to be his precious daughter's companion.

2 weeks later

Tsuna was in the gardens, it was her favourite place to be in the whole mansion and the sun felt great on her skin. Ever since that cry her heart had felt a little lighter as if all the weight had been cried out. She saw the old man (whom she was now calling grandpa) a lot, he would summon her to his room and then let her play on his desk for a bit whilst he tested her on her Italian. She still couldn't speak it very well but she could understand bits of conversations and was able to do more than just sit quietly in a corner. What she really loved was reading. Whenever she was reading her mind would take her to far off places all over the world and her loneliness didn't seem as bad. Her teacher (whose name she still couldn't remember) often had to snap her out of a daydream in order to get her mind back on task.

She sighed and ran over to where her favourite flower was: daisies. There was a whole flowerbed of the plants and for some reason they always made Tsuna feel warm inside. Even though there were more beautiful and sweet swelling flowers she preferred spending time amongst the simple plant instead. She knelt down next to the flowerbed and brushed her hand over the petals. Yet it seemed her bad luck was still with her as she managed to knock a bee off the flower. A bee that was now very disgruntled and angry over the sudden intrusion.

Tsuna had a couple of seconds before it darted for it and with a small yelp she was running in the opposite direction as fast as her little legs could carry her. She didn't like bees and ran in a sort of blind panic. One foot landed in front of the other with an impressive speed and before she knew it she was at the other end of the garden.

"Please stop chasing me. I'm sorry!" She yelled out in a frantic voice. Unfortunately, this involved turning her head slightly to yell at the angry insect and as a consequence she could no longer see where she was running to. So it came as no surprise when she ran into a passing bystander. The collision with a body was enough to send her falling to the floor with a thump. She sniffed slightly at the pain on her bum from the landing. Her sniff was cut off at the dark shadow that covered her. Tsuna looked up into a pair of red glaring eyes belonging to a scowling teenage boy.

"Who the hell are you?" She flinched at his cross tone and curled up on the floor.

"My name is Tsuna." She had to be polite. Manners where important. "H-How do you do?"

Xanxus looked down at the quivering girl in confusion. He'd never seen her at headquarters before and she clearly had no idea who he was. He took in her small form and instantly dismissed her as weak. What was a child doing here anyway. He grunted and looked away. Ordinarily he would have punched the idiot stupid enough to run in to him but even he wouldn't hurt a small child especially a small girl. He settled for glaring at her.

"These are private gardens trash. What are you doing here?" She gulped but didn't move off the ground.

"I-I was looking at the daisies. But then a b-bee started chasing me." He snorted at that.

"You were running from a bee?" She nodded and he just shook his head.

"What are you doing here if you run from fucking bees?" At this she actually pouted and crossed her arms.

"It was big." She finally got off the ground. "B-Besides last year when I was out picking flowers a big nasty one landed on my lip and stung me. My mouth was all puffy and red." She saw his lips twitch and stomped her foot. "It wasn't funny, it hurt a lot."

Xanxus couldn't help it the sight of a small girl standing up to him of all people over her fear of bees was just too ridiculous and he let out a sharp laugh. One that wasn't cruel or caused by battle but from real amusement. She wasn't scared of him and that was a factor that already made her more interesting then the rest off the trash he worked with.

Tsuna blinked at the boy, unsure of what to do or say. She settled for waiting until he had stopped before asking:

"What's your name?" He stared down at her again but she held her ground; the bee was still out there.

"Xanxus." She nodded and gave him a shy smile. At least he actually talked to her. Suddenly there was an irrate buzzing noise from behind and with an eep she jumped behind the b- Xanxus for protection. Xanxus started slightly as he felt her cling to his waist. Nobody came to him for protection, nobody. A little unsettled he waved the annoying bee away. He heard her let out a small sigh of releif and looked down to see her looking at him with gratitude in her eyes.

"T-Thank you." He didn't say anything, just grunted and looked away, unwilling to admit that the girl had gotten to him or that those trusting brown eyes affected him either.

AN: Love it, hate it? Please tell me. I've modified the ages a bit and I hope I kept Xanxus in character, I think that at 13 he wouldn't be as hard or as angry as he is when he's older. Do you think that Tsuna is acting her age or is she being too mature? Thank you for the reviews already. Pairing wise I'm still not sure but thanks for all the suggestions. I think her relationship with Xanxus will be sisterly/friendship at the start but that may or will change later on so all those wanting X27 don't worry I'm keeping my potions open. Thanks again and I hoped you enjoyed it!