Disclaimer: it is called 'fanfiction' for a reason.

"…That being said," Akashi said slowly, "why are you here?"

Tsuna smiled softly to himself; trust Akashi to get straight to the point. It seemed like his proclamation had not taken any of the guardians by surprise. Deep inside he knew that Akashi and the other members of the so-dubbed 'Generation of Miracles' had expected for him to make a move soon, but the thought of not being able to see their stunned faces made him want to huff. Many of them were difficult to read, even for Tsuna—Kuroko's impassive expression and Akashi's watchful gaze were always far too inscrutable for his liking.

He focused his gaze on the model, who met his eyes expectantly. "Actually, I have a request for Kise-kun."

Kise stared. "Me?"

Tsuna resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Yes, you. You are the newest member after all. I would like you to exterminate the Momokyokai, a local yakuza group in Namimori. The Momokyokai isn't a threat, but it'd be better if they were out of the picture permanently."

The blond stood up quickly. "I'll go get my things—"

Tsuna shook his head slightly. "Not now. I was hoping you would terminate them when you are about to leave. Killing them now would be cluing Reborn into your identities. At least, hold off your plans until after the game."

Kise wilted and sat back down with a mild pout, ignoring the sigh from Aomine and the continuous crunch of chips from Murasakibara. Tsuna hid a small grin; Kise's enthusiasm was refreshing when juxtaposed against Kuroko's indifference and Aomine's laziness. Though, there were times when he found the zeal annoying, especially when it hampered the blond's ability to think and strategize.

Smoothing his features into a leisurely mask, Tsuna turned around with a casual air and leaned against the door. "Akashi-kun, how has their training been?"

"Satisfactory," the redhead answered, "though Ryouta is still sloppy."

"Hm? Make sure he improves then; that's your job, after all." Lifting his gaze, Tsuna gestured for Momoi to come over to him, and she hastily obeyed. With her silky pink hair trailing long and far behind her, she bounced over and peered at him curiously. Turning back to the waiting guardians, he called, "Kise-kun, Momoi-san will gather the data on the Momokyokai for you. Based on the data, I want you to pick a weapon that you are unfamiliar with and learn how to use it for future use." Out of all the guardians, Kise was the fastest at developing new techniques, as long as he watched another person in action first. Sadly it seemed to be his only talent, but it was a useful one nonetheless. In fact, the main reason why Tsuna had accepted Kise as a guardian was because of the sheer speed that Kise learned. Within the first few weeks of his admission into the famiglia, Kise had managed to master knife-throwing to an extent that one would have thought that he had spent his entire life practicing how to aim and throw. Such talent was rare these days, and Tsuna was proud to have discovered and united a group of such accomplished individuals.

Even though he was their undisputed leader, he found himself wary of the guardians' abilities. They were constantly developing, constantly improving. If he didn't push himself hard, then the Miracolo Guardians could easily overtake him in skill. For that, Tsuna was glad that they were his allies and practically owed him their lives. Life debts were difficult to repay, even in the worst of circumstances.

Kise nodded and latched onto Momoi's arm. "Ne, let's go already, I want to learn about my job."

Momoi gave him the Look. "We have time, you don't have to rush."

Tsuna found himself grinning softly at the scene. At times, while assigning tasks, he found himself feeling the slightest pang of pity for his enemies. He himself never wanted to cross any of his guardians on the battlefield in a fight to the death.

Reborn was waiting for him when he got home, standing beside the front gate as he approached. When the brunet got within range the hitman hopped easily onto his shoulder. The overlarge fedora nudged lightly against Tsuna's ears, tickling, and he allowed a small smile to grace his face.

"I take it the project went well?"

"Yes." Tsuna pulled open the front door and headed to his room. Once there he dropped his backpack unceremoniously onto the ground before sitting on his bed, careful not to move too much to cause Reborn to fall from his spot.

Reborn shifted slightly, pushing the rim of the fedora deeper against his head, and Tsuna suppressed a grumble of irritation. "Yes, as in you'll get a good grade, or yes, as in you'll receive a passing grade?"

Tsuna lifted his shoulders slightly in a shrug. "Not sure. Passing grade, maybe."

"Let me see it."

Thankfully Tsuna had been prepared for such an order; he wasn't stupid, he knew that Reborn would be suspicious of his movements and could use his status as a tutor to poke around a bit. He wasn't reckless enough to come up with a lie if he did not have such an assignment due in the first place. But he had finished it a while ago, before Reborn had arrived, and it was still sitting in its spot in his backpack.

Reborn jumped off of his shoulder onto the soft mattress, allowing the brunet to move around more, and he rolled his shoulders in relief. Reaching down he rustled through his bag before he found what he wanted and pulled it out. He passed the report to his tutor, who looked at it warily before accepting it and moved away to pick it apart, word by word.

As Reborn began to read, Tsuna moved towards the door. "Would you like something to drink?"

"Espresso."

He closed the door silently behind him.

The hallways were bright and lit, and every movement sent new shadows flickering across the walls. Tsuna moved down the stairs quietly, as if to not make a sound, and when he approached the last step he paused. His senses tingled slightly, marking the presence of flames in the kitchen, and he smiled. Kuroko's illusions were working perfectly; not even Reborn seemed to have realized what exactly was wrong with the family. With a suppressed laugh he stepped into the kitchen, where his mother was cooking food.

"Tsu-kun!" Nana called as he approached. The aroma of freshly cooked food wafted to his nose, and he breathed appreciatively. "Dinner will be ready in a few minutes, what do you need?"

"I can take care of it, it's just espresso." He grabbed a cup. "I'll be fine."

She nodded and returned to cooking.

A few minutes later he reentered his room, the steaming cup in his hands. Reborn was in the same place where he had left him moments ago, merely lifting his eyes in acknowledgement of his presence.

"Would you like me to taste-test it?" Tsuna teased as he passed the drink over. Reborn glared at him, a scowl crossing his face, before he sipped and relaxed on the bed. "Like it?"

"It's good," the baby admitted reluctantly. With his free hand he gestured at the scattered report. "And the paper is passable. Spelling errors here and there, grammar is wrong, paper doesn't entire address the prompt, lacking images to go with the explanation, but passable."

"Good enough." Tsuna sat down at the edge of his bed and rubbed his eyes, and then tensed. He rolled his eyes upward in his head until he was staring directly into the barrel of Reborn's gun.

Strangely enough the sadistic grin seemed almost natural on the small baby. "Not good enough," Reborn stated, glad to have any reason to try to shoot him. "Rewrite it, make sure to correct all of the mistakes that you intentionally made. Or at the very least you could look like you tried. What were you doing with your friends, chatting?"

"Guilty as charged," he yawned. Reborn twitched in irritation as he ignored the weapon completely and collected the papers, and the gun followed him around the room as he fetched his computer. "But you are a little paranoid, don't you think? I'm not going to blow up the room."

"Maybe I am, but it's better safe than sorry." Tsuna raised an eyebrow, so Reborn did suspect him for something, but he didn't comment as he pulled the document to the forefront of his screen. He set the laptop onto his lap and began to edit the paper.

Twenty minutes later he flipped the screen to Reborn, who approved of it before he selected print. From the corner of his room the printer stirred into action, sucking up pieces of paper and pressing ink concisely onto the sheets.

As he collected and stapled the assignment he noted that Reborn's gaze hadn't left him the entire time.

The basketball game went exactly as he expected. Teiko dominated the game, running laps around all of the players until they gave up altogether and stood still. From the sidelines Tsuna could see their depression and frustration, which was mirrored slightly on the Teiko's team's members, because it was torture for the Generation of Miracles too to have to play against such irresolute people.

Of course Namimori's basketball team had tried to recruit Tsuna to play, but he had declined. The basketball team had tried again and again, first with pleading then threats then bribes, but he turned them down and made it clear that he had no intention of participating. If he played Teiko, then out of respect he would have been inclined to go all-out. Though Akashi and the others knew of his situation in Namimori, it still would have been disrespectful to willfully throw the game.

While basketball was merely a hobby for them, it was one that they enjoyed, and Tsuna didn't want to start a fight because he insulted them by forfeiting. The bonds that held the Miracolo Famiglia were fairly strong, but Tsuna didn't want to test them, since anything could go wrong before they launched their attack on the Vongola. If he had known originally that basketball would be such a large part of their lives then he would have suggested another sport, because they had taken the sport to another level of extreme in the competitive field. The Miracolo Famiglia didn't need that sort of fame, not yet. The entire world seemed to be stalking Teiko's movements, and it was difficult for Tsuna to order them to do anything without someone noticing.

Which was why he knew that Reborn was watching them carefully. Reborn was no idiot, definitely not, so naturally he was suspicious of why a well-known team was playing against a third-rate school. It wasn't as if Reborn would find much though—at least, Reborn wouldn't find anything unless they talked to the members of the team themselves—because it had been Akashi who 'persuaded' the coach into coming to the school. Not that the coach would admit it, because he needed Akashi to not be expelled or something of the like, and he didn't want to seem weak in front of the entire team and world.

Then the game ended, 354-0, to Tsuna's everlasting amusement. Namimori's basketball team would be disbanding soon due to lack of skill and motivation; after such a disastrous match, he doubted that any member could bear to look at the court anymore. Even as they were lining up the seniors were beginning to cry.

How pitiful.

Tsuna moved from the bleachers, politely congratulating Momoi and Kuroko (who was benched, apparently he hadn't needed to play) and her team as he brushed past, and made his way out the gym door. Someone was waiting for him; he could feel the gaze piercing his back, but he didn't turn around. As he walked away he surreptitiously led the stalker to a more remote place, where no one but Reborn and perhaps the Teiko team could find him. But the Miracolo Famiglia wouldn't interfere. He had made his orders clear.

Tsuna walked until he was behind the school. Most of the people were in a daze after watching the one-sided game, and wouldn't approach the area until much later. Those that were moving around would head for the classrooms, do something, but not approach him. No, they would either be spreading rumors about the amazingness of the Teiko players or the incompetence of the Namimori players; no one would pay him any heed.

"You can come out now."

There was a mutter followed by a stream of curses, and then a silver-haired man stepped out from behind a building. Rings decorated his hands; from his lips a cigarette smoked. He was the type of person that anyone would have labeled as a delinquent, from his petty scowl to the narrowed glare to the stance and posture. Hands shoved in pockets, evil glare fastened on his face—to an experienced Mafioso, it was very unimpressive.

"Gokudera Hayato," Tsuna greeted casually. "Is there anything you want from me?"

"If an idiot likes you becomes the Tenth, then the Vongola's done with."

Tsuna raised an eyebrow, so it was about the Vongola. He should have known, really, that Reborn would pull something like this. His intuition was telling him that Reborn was, in fact, watching the entire exchange at the moment from the rooftop of the building behind him, but that was irrelevant. He needed to deal with the smoker first.

"And…?"

Gokudera scowled. "I refuse to accept it! I'm the one who should become the Tenth!"

How stupid, Tsuna thought, and he laughed. He led a famiglia, eluded Reborn for a day now, so what was the bomber to complain? At the very least he hadn't played directly into Reborn's hands, like Gokudera was doing. Clearly the guy had a sense of self-inflated ego; Tsuna recognized the guy now as Smoking Bomb Hayato. He was a lone wolf, a fighter, just the type of person to be killed within seconds. He couldn't lead the Vongola—Gokudera would drive it to the ground within minutes.

Gokudera twitched, pulling out bombs from his pockets. "You dare laugh—"

"You're naïve," Tsuna said, pushing his own hands into his uniform's pockets. "Don't bother me again about this again, it's not worth my time." As he began to walk away, a gunshot smashed into the ground an inch from his foot, and he sighed.

Reborn drifted down from his spot on the roof with a parachute, smiling widely at his student's blatant irritation. "Ciaossu, Gokudera Hayato. As agreed, if you can kill Sawada Tsunayoshi then you can become the next successor of the Vongola."

Gokudera lit a handful of dynamite and threw them.

When Tsuna had guided Gokudera to the corner of the school, he hadn't been expecting the idiot to actually use his bombs. It was as if the guy was trying to get the police, the authorities, anyone to crack down on him and cart him off to jail. Clearly the guy had no knowledge of 'subtlety,' if the bombs were any indication, and was far from being an assassin despite his affliction with the mafia.

Just the type of person to be killed within seconds.

He dodged the bombs with ease, stepping away just enough to make sure the explosion wouldn't catch him. Smoke filtered through the area, and he used it to his advantage; quietly he circled around to the bomber's blind spot, where he couldn't be spotted. When the smoke cleared Gokudera spun around, trying to spot his target, and as fast as a striking snake Tsuna grabbed the bomber and slammed him against the wall.

"So weak," he said lowly as he removed the cigarette and smashed it onto the ground. Without the flame the dynamite was useless; Gokudera seemed to recognize this because his face flushed, angry at being defeated so easily, and tried to move away.

"Let me go, you little—"

Tsuna lifted him up and slammed him again, this time ramming his head against the wall hard enough to see stars. "Listen to me, Gokudera Hayato. You're weak, you won't last a second in the mafia. If I were anyone else you would dead on the ground right now. Do you understand?"

Gokudera stared at him stonily.

"The mafia is cruel, merciless, and won't hesitate to kill you. If you keep this up you'll die. Stay out of the Vongola, and don't get further involved, before someone—" or Tsuna himself— "decides to dispose of you." With one last look he released Gokudera and began to walk away.

"Wait!"

Tsuna twitched, what did the bomber not understand about his wish to be left alone? He turned around, careful to keep the annoyance from his face, and stared down at the teen bowing shamelessly before him.

"What?"

"I"ll follow you anywhere, Tenth! When I first heard that the Tenth was a teenager like me, I wanted to test out your strength. But you're strong, and kind to warn me, and I'll place my life in your hands."

This was unexpected, annoyingly so. He didn't need a weak subordinate, especially from the Vongola side.

But…

But Reborn was there, watching him in anticipation, and having a follower did have its merits. If he needed it the blind faith that Gokudera was showing him now could come into use. No doubt that Gokudera wouldn't question his actions, if he believed that Tsuna always acted for the best, because after all Tsuna was strong and compassionate in the bomber's eyes.

So he smiled, one that didn't reach his eyes. "Okay. Welcome to the tenth generation Vongola family, Gokudera Hayato."

Gokudera beamed at the words, and Tsuna resisted the urge to laugh. So easily manipulated, the bomber was.

"I'll return to class now," Tsuna said absently.

And of course Gokudera jumped up, nearly bouncing in Tsuna's shadow, in the newly found admiration that he seemed to live in. Tsuna waved him away, Reborn too, stating that he had to use the bathroom. Thankfully Gokudera still had enough sense to know when he was unwanted, because if the bomber had insisted on following him then things would have become unnecessarily complicated.

As he made his way to the front gates something stirred in the shadows beside him. He could see the heterochromatic eyes staring from the darkness, and the blue-haired teen who was ready to hide the duo if it became necessary, though it took longer to spot the latter.

"Akashi-kun, Kuroko-kun, something wrong?"

"We heard the explosion," Akashi said shortly. "Kise wanted to check on you, and Aomine had to restrain him. The others are keeping him in check before he does something—unnecessary."

"The matter has been taken care of," Tsuna replied, answering the unspoken question. "Smoking Bomb Hayato is now a member of the Tenth Generation Vongola. Weak, loyal, easily exploitable. He'll be useful later."

Akashi frowned. "So Reborn's focused on gathering guardians. Any idea who's next?"

"A little."

Tsuna waited.

"We are returning to Teiko later," Kuroko said in his monotone. "Unless we are needed…"

Tsuna lifted his head slightly. "Don't, go back. It would attract too much attention otherwise. The whole world's watching your movements, Reborn's watching mine, and it'd be strange if you suddenly stayed."

"True," Akashi acknowledged with a frown, and they relapsed into silence.

All of them were discontent with the situation, but none of them said it. Tsuna trusted them to come up with a solution to the separation, one that hopefully would solve both issues, but for now they were content to remain quiet and observe the moving world.

Kudos to the first one who can correctly guess what exactly I'm hinting between the illusions and the problem in the Sawada residence.