Chapter I: Memores acti prudentes futuri (Sawada Household / Namimori / Japan / Present Day)
Becoming a mafia boss as a teenager honestly had very little to recommend it, Tsuna mused to himself as he struggled to wake up at what he considered to be a painfully early hour of the morning. It wasn't just the dodgy legal aspects of the job; it was also the people, the paperwork, and the insanity that had come along with it. None of that merged well with making your way through middle or high school at the same time, and far too often he had to force himself up early to handle a few things before breakfast and his normal dash to school. It had been hard enough with just training and learning when he was in middle school, but now that he'd started high school and taken on more of the adult Family responsibilities, there were days it just seemed overwhelming.
It didn't help that his sleep was constantly haunted by nightmares that some deep, aware part of his mind knew weren't his imagination. They came every night now, these dreams in which people he cared about were gone; lost forever, or worse, being hunted, simply because they were his to protect. He saw himself mourning person after person, felt himself shake with the strain of worrying whether the people he cared about would make it back to him safely. The worst, however, was watching the person he was closest to in the world suffer as his subconscious mind flailed desperately to find ways to save him.
He could see it clearly, even though he was awake and sitting up now. It had become a sequence of images that haunted him to the depth of his being. He could see Reborn growing paler with his energy waning as his body gave out on him. Just sitting there in his bed, Tsuna could hear the rasp of Reborn's breathing as he faded; always struggling with everything he had in him to survive, until he finally couldn't anymore. Tsuna's body shook with the memory of the dream, his hands clenching painfully hard on his arms.
This wasn't something that Tsuna could allow to happen. There was a lot that Tsuna would sacrifice to protect his growing Family, but Reborn was not now, nor would he ever be, one of them. Still, he knew that telling Reborn about his dreams wouldn't solve the problem. Every time his mouth opened to mention it, a jolt would go through him, slamming his mouth shut again. It had taken a couple of years for Tsuna to grow used to this inherent insight that he was told was part of his bloodline, but at this point he knew himself well enough to listen to it.
Shaking himself to clear his head, Tsuna looked over to the corner of his room and had to chuckle lightly. He'd managed to wake up before Reborn for once, which meant no violent shock or beating to wake him up and no commentary on being lazy for the morning. Wedging himself back into the corner of his bed, he let the wall take the bulk of his weight, leaning against it as he watched his tutor sleep.
There had to be something more that he could do to prevent all of this. If he couldn't talk to Reborn, who could he talk with? While his friends were an integral part of his life at this point, he knew they'd brush off his concerns as nothing to worry about. He was sure they wouldn't understand the sense of urgency that drove him to solve this puzzle. He set his mind to untangling the puzzle until Reborn woke for the morning and sat up, glancing over at him and smiling slightly. By the time Reborn spoke, the start of the answer had finally come to Tsuna.
"You're up early," Reborn commented, hopping down from his hammock and pulling off his nightcap. "Don't tell me you had nightmares about your chemistry class again."
"No, not this time," Tsuna rubbed his head in embarrassment. It had been just the once, and it wasn't his fault that a spicy dinner and stress over his homework had him dreaming about vampire test tubes. "It must have been your snoring that woke me up. Maybe I need to buy earplugs."
He expected the whack in the face that came in the form of a projectile pillow and took it with good grace, groaning as he fell over on the bed. "Why do you have to be so violent? Babies should be cute and sweet with angelic hearts. Don't you ever listen to what Haru tells you, Reborn?"
"I'm a hitman," Reborn replied, as if that held all the answers to the world's questions. In a way, Tsuna supposed it did, really, especially in regard to Reborn. Still, he didn't have time to banter back and forth the way they normally did. His mind had finally thrown out an idea that he thought might work.
"Reborn, summer break is coming soon," he offered thoughtfully. "We don't have anything planned, so I want to take a trip."
Reborn's attention focused on him like a shark in bloody water; sharp, alert and dangerous. "It's not like you to just decide something like that. I thought you'd want to sleep the whole time."
"I know," Tsuna shrugged lightly. "But Takeshi will have baseball camp for most of it, and we can take Hayato with us, if he wants to go. It would be nice to break up the routine a little bit and get away."
"What kind of trip? You want to take the girls to an onsen, so you can peek?" Reborn teased him lightly while dressing for the day in his customary suit and fedora, settling Leon on the brim of his hat. He chuckled as Tsuna blushed and flailed for a minute at the suggestion before the boy calmed down again. As always, Reborn ignored the indignant look Tsuna sent his way.
"I want to go to Italy." It was the last thing Reborn would have expected from his student and Tsuna was slightly amused to see those dark, dangerous eyes blink in honest surprise. "Yes, you heard me. I want to visit the Ninth and talk to him for a while. I haven't really had a chance to see any of our facilities in Italy, except on paper or on the computer. It wouldn't hurt to get to know them better."
"You can talk to him easily enough on the phone or over the webcam, Tsuna," Reborn told him bluntly. "You do it every couple of weeks to report in, now that you've taken over small bits of responsibility for the Family. It's a long trip just to socialize and see what things look like."
"I need to speak with him in person, Reborn." Tsuna didn't offer a reason why this would be different than the other conversations he had with the old man. Reborn knew the difference between somewhat private and something truly secret. "Would you please arrange it? I need at least a week, maybe two. I'm sure you wouldn't mind visiting the old country for a while, right?"
With that, Tsuna got up and started changing into his school uniform, hoping Reborn would for once in their relationship simply accept what Tsuna asked of him without question. There was no way he was going to risk Reborn overhearing what he had to discuss with the Ninth, much less risk anyone else overhearing any of it. It was too dangerous and too important to leave to chance like that.
Reborn watched Tsuna thoughtfully while he dressed before finally nodding sharply in agreement. "Practice your Italian then, because I won't translate for a boy who thinks he can order me around like a servant. You're decades too young to even try it."
"Yes, Reborn." Tsuna smiled gratefully at him. "I'll brush up on it with Hayato every day after school until we go." It would be something fun for the both of them and give Hayato a chance to do something for Tsuna, which the other teen needed regularly. It had taken a while for Tsuna to learn how to meet Hayato's needs effectively, but doing so had helped the other boy grow a lot in the past couple of years. It was really all about being needed for him, in the end.
Satisfied for now, Reborn turned and headed downstairs in search of breakfast. Tsuna rushed to finish dressing and head down, knowing that his breakfast would be gone if he didn't make it in time. That was just another aspect of his crazy mafia life these days. Thankfully his extra work brought him some money as well, so he could afford to buy something to eat on the way to school if he lost the battle royal that was breakfast in the Sawada household.
*Title translates to "Mindful of what has been done, aware of what will be".