Um... so I was right about it being shorter. It's like a 1,000 words less, LOL. orz, honto ni gomenasai. BUT GOSH I STILL CAN'T BELIEVE I MANAGED TO UPDATE THIS like I honestly thought it would take me half a year but wooo I got to you guys like three days later. Happy New Years! (Just another year of no accomplishments for me, cries.) Thanks to everyone who read/reviewed/followed, you made me super happy! And also, for anyone reading Crossfire, next chapter should come in a few days. ;) Er, I think I confused quite a bit of you last chapter, so I hope this clears a few things up. ;w; Hope y'all like!

Ah, almost forgot to mention this but Hideyoshi is now the older brother (changed it in the description) for plot reasons. (You might think it's just on a whim but I swear it's not omg XD) Hope you don't mind!

Do I even have to say this because c'mon people, this is a fanfiction website. But, Katekyo Hitman Reborn is not mine, but Akira Amano's! (I still want it but oh well gotta deal.) But my Hideyoshi is mineeee! Please don't take him from me! x)

"Gokudera, what's wrong?!" he cried out, barely being able to dodge the incoming fist. His eyes widened as paled skin brushed his temple.

The older boy was clenching his teeth, muscles tense as though trying to stop them from moving, stop them from harming him. "Run!" As he shouted the warning, his hands reached for explosives, and pure dismay crossed the white-haired teen's face.

He didn't know what was going on. He didn't know why their ally was attacking them. All he knew was that amidst all the flames and explosions in the background and bombs raining towards the ground, were the tears running down Gokudera's face, and his steel-colored eyes screaming for help.

Gasping, Tsuna awoke, drenched in sweat that came with last night's horror. His eyes flicked towards the digital clock beside his bed, the red digits glowing.

Two o' clock?... he thought drearily, trying to sit up. The past few hours' events then rushed to his mind, and he almost fell back again. The shocked faces of his old friends resurfaced from his memories, and replayed themselves in his head. Tears trickled down his cheeks, tears he thought he had long spent, and his chest tightened into a painful knot.

Everyone… why… You're already dead, so why?

"You're awake."

Tsuna slowly turned his head towards the voice, and held his gaze for a moment before turning away. "Reborn."

"That's right." The said person hopped from the floor to the dresser, situating himself beside his head.

Reborn frowned at the child. He looked no better than last night. At this rate, things will get increasingly complicated, one factor contributing to that being Tsuna's mother. How long will he be able to put her off?

He handed 'Tsuna' a box of tissues, and said firmly, "No more blubbering, there are things I have to ask you. I don't know what happened, but the situation now is probably different than where you come from."

"…Fine," he responded dully.

…This is kinda depressing, the Arcobaleno thought to himself. This boy didn't look a day older than the Tsuna he knew—if anything, younger—but it seems as though he'd already given up on life. "Who are you?" he asked.

The child made no effort to face him. With a side-glanced, he stated, "You know who I am."

"Actually, I don't," Reborn deadpanned. "Like I said, the situation here is different. We never met before today. Just tell me who you are," he said, subconsciously tapping the gun resting beside him.

"…Tsunayoshi Sawada."

The hitman figured as much. He looked just like him. "Your family?" he pressed. For all the torturing he did to his student, even he wasn't a heartless bastard. This interrogation made him sick to his stomach. In all honesty, all he wanted to end this Tsuna's suffering right now, and would gladly do so had their own Tsuna not been separated from them. Until he got his lovable student back, this guy had to stay alive.

"Nana and Iemtisu Sawada are my parents. My older brother… is Hideyoshi Sawada…" Surprising the hitman, he then sent Reborn a blood-red vengeful look, both accusing and spiteful, fierce enough to send any normal man running for the hills.

"…the one you changed," he said lowly.

Luckily, Reborn was no normal man. Though it wasn't the most positive change, it was the most emotion Tsuna showed all day; it was progress, easily comparable to the empty, talking canvas he had witnessed earlier. Perhaps the boy could regain some of his spirit. "Back to what I said earlier; I don't know you, and you don't know me. Also… you don't have a brother."

Tsuna gave him another blank look, before lying back down on the bed and pulling the cover up to his ears. "So he died too?" He then gave a dry laugh, and though it was a laugh, the sheer hopelessness in it made Reborn wish he never heard it at all. "That's it then; I have absolutely nothing left to lose. You might as well kill me."

Finally feeling a bit irritated with all this depressiveness, Reborn aimed a kick at Tsuna's torso, effectively forcing him off the bed, though he was careful to hold back. "I am not going to kill you. You're not my Tsuna to kill. After I send you back to wherever the hell you came from, you're free to do what you wish with your life." He then added, "And don't get the wrong idea about your brother; I don't know him, I don't know what happened to him, and I most likely will never know what happened to him. He could still be alive."

Still sprawled on the floor, Tsuna didn't respond. After relocating himself onto the bare bed, Reborn asked, "Do you like your brother?"

"I liked him before you came along."

Reborn growled. "I don't know him. Say that one more time and I will kill you."

Though the words didn't come out of his mouth, his mind clearly read, 'I have nothing left to lose.'

Talking to this guy, he decided, was going to be a lot more difficult than he originally thought.

Sighing, he said, "Alright then, let's pretend that the person you know as Reborn is me. Just what did I do to your brother? What's he like?"

"…My brother is… was, the best person in the world." Tsuna suddenly choked, and it wasn't hard to guess on what. Reborn tossed the box of tissues at his head, which remained on the bed even after he kicked him off.

"No waterworks. What else?"

Back turned to him, Tsuna sat up and took it, though Reborn saw no signs of him intending to use it. "He… a lot of people didn't like him. He was kind of arrogant. He had a sharp tongue, and that got him in trouble a lot. But he got in trouble because of me. A lot of people picked on me all the time… Hideyoshi would save me. He'd make me stand behind him and tell them to back off, or kick them from behind and run off to get them to chase him. I would be left alone then, but he always came back home later. He always got hurt, but he was always smiling." His shoulders were shaking, and his voice wobbled, on the brink of turning into tears.

"…And what did I do?"

"You came," he said in frustration. "You came and became his home tutor or whatever, and you made him fight other people that had nothing to do with him! And mom died, and, and…" He flopped back to the floor. "Something else came! It… it wasn't just you. There was something weird after that. Something weird and scary, I couldn't see it but I knew it was there, and sometimes it would talk to me." Tsuna curled up until a ball, hands matted into his hair over his ears as if trying to block out some outside noise, but the effort seemed to be in vain. "It'd say things like, 'Your brother is getting stronger'. And… it made him change! He came home less and less often, and when he did he looked… he looked like he was hurting himself! He still smiled at me, and he still kept saying he would protect me, but he looked like he was dying inside! I couldn't do anything!" He was now racked with sobs, and Reborn allowed himself to let up for a while, both in favor of going over the new information and giving the child a break.

Confidence and the desire to protect… It's no wonder he was chosen as the heir, Reborn thought. Although the boy had said his brother was arrogant, the two elements were the very same thing. Arrogance stemmed from confidence, and confidence was necessary to lead. Furthermore, he was the older brother. No matter how you looked at it, he would have been the first to catch Vongola Nono's attention.

He also saw similarities between Tsuna's description of Hideyoshi and his own student. Both would be quite willing to go to lengths to protect those dear to them, and he suspected, as it was to his Tsuna alongside his strength, that that was the twin's weakness. And from how the story went downhill, that weakness was his undoing.

Try too hard to protect something, and someday you'll lose everything… He knew that quite well. It must have started when Nana died, he decided, still trying to deal with the fact that she passed away in whatever place he came from. It was all he could do to remind himself that the woman was cooking downstairs. That would have shocked both of them greatly. If anyone was targeting Hideyoshi, that time would have put him in his most vulnerable state. Someone must have taken advantage of him.

But who?

He waited a bit for the boy's crying to die down, then said, "Last question, then I'll explain everything. How did everyone die?"

Tsuna's response came more easily, which the hitman noticed. The tears must have eased him a little. "We tried to fight him. Yamamoto, Gokudera and I. Ryohei wanted to help, but Kyoko was in danger so he couldn't… We knew Hideyoshi didn't like what he was doing. Even though he said he was doing it for my sake, his eyes said he hated something… So we tried to stop him. We tried to change him, but failed. We… didn't have proper training. We set a date, trained ourselves, and hoped for the best. We knew it probably wouldn't work, but there was no choice. No one was left there to help us, and time was short because Hideyoshi was going to hurt a lot of people." Tsuna sat up and turned to face him, but still averted his gaze.

"Mukuro… Chrome, she didn't like what my brother was doing. We asked her to help too, but she said Hideyoshi was her one and only boss. None of us could blame her; he saved her a long time ago. But she agreed not to tell him anything. Still… Mukuro was the first person we had to fight. We tried hard, but a few minutes later, Gokudera was acting weird," he said, recalling his dream. "He was attacking us, but it looked like he didn't want to. Like something was making him move. Yamamoto tried to stop him but he lost. He was bleeding a lot, but I couldn't help him. I was still fighting Gokudera. I was able to knock him out but… I was left alone. Me against my brother and Mukuro, and Hideyoshi didn't fight yet." Almost restlessly, Tsuna began tapping the ground with his fingers. Whether it was idle movement or a distraction to hold himself back, Reborn didn't know.

"It wasn't for much longer though, Hibari came later and took on Mukuro. Said something about an old grudge and biting him to death," he drawled. "I'm not sure what happened to him, but… Hideyoshi beat me. Almost effortlessly. He was so much stronger than the last time I saw him, I couldn't even do anything. My flames were nothing compared to his."

The hitman almost reacted to the last part. So even without my help, he learned how to fight with flames? Reborn wondered incredulously. That would mean completely skipping the first step of using dying will flames; Dying Will Mode, in which one's dying will turns into physical strength by removing the body's limiters. Only he could put someone in Dying Will Mode, thanks to Leon's bullets. If Tsuna was able to manifest his flames into a physical weapon, that would mean he somehow managed to learn Hyper Dying Will Mode; such a thing was unheard of. Even after mastering it, Hyper Dying Will Mode required the Shot of Rebuke, as it had the first time for his student, or two Dying Will pills. If Tsuna didn't have Reborn as his mentor, attaining either would be impossible.

Was this guy a genius? He certainly didn't look like one. If he's anything like the Tsuna he knew, he definitely wasn't one. But then again… Dying Will flames were the physical form of resolve. If one had enough resolve, maybe, just maybe, it's possible.

There were still many things Reborn was wondering, but out of gratitude for the fact he told him that much, he said, "Alright, I'm not the Reborn you know anymore. If you're not too tired I'll tell you where you are and why you're here." Despite saying this, he didn't know the exact reason why this Tsuna was here. He'll have to go check with Verde later just what that machine was.

"Go ahead… but what do you mean, 'where you are?' I'm in my room," he said, looking around. Some of the things were in different places, but it was unmistakably his room.

"Not exactly. First off, you're not from this world. I don't know the specifics, but it seems you're swapped in place for our Tsunayoshi Sawada . As you already saw, Yamamoto and Gokudera are still alive, as well as Nana Sawada. She's downstairs right now," he added, the last part slightly reassurance to himself. He only realized now just how fond he had become of Maman.

His eyes widened in disbelief. "Mom… is still alive?"

"Not your mom," he corrected. "The Tsuna of this world's mom. And these aren't your friends, but his. You'll see them repeatedly, but you have to remember that these aren't the people you knew. You won't be here forever."

"I… see," the boy said deflated. "So I have to stay alive until you get the other me back, right?"

He caught on quickly, Reborn thought.

"That's fine. I'll just stay in here until you do. This way I won't bother them, right?" He attempted to clamor back onto the bed, but Reborn quickly kicked him back off again.

"Wrong." He rejected the idea immediately, though it was temptingly simple. If only things could be that easy. "If you do that, the Nana of this world will die of worry. I don't know what she was like in your world, but here, she's a kind and loving parent, if not a bit clueless."

"…Mom was the same," Tsuna said quietly.

Interesting, he thought. Now that his parents have been mentioned, he was interested in Iemitsu's involvement of the family, but that will have to come another time. "You'll have to pretend to be her Tsuna. I'll try to keep your interactions to a minimum, but they'll be inevitable. The others are fine, since they'll probably insist on helping bring Tsuna back. You won't be able to deceive them anyhow." He paused, and then added, "Also, Hideyoshi doesn't exist here. Nana Sawada birthed only one child. Biologically, Tsuna has no siblings."

Staring up at the ceiling, he asked slowly, "Biologically?"

In reply, Reborn said simply, "Here, Tsunayoshi Sawada is my student. He was the chosen heir to the Vongola. His brothers and sisters are his famiglia."

"…How lucky of him." Regret tinged his voice, and he sat up once more.

"That's what I tell him, but he wants no involvement in the Mafia whatsoever. Regardless of all the things he's done, he's still trying to preserve his ordinary life. Such a child, really." Reborn was well aware that he was complaining about his student to a child with the same face and name, and though he was just slightly guilty (he was missing, after all) he couldn't help but be amused.

A few things have to be worked out in his plan here in there (conveniently named, "Deceive Nana Sawada") but it'll be fine in time. "You're probably hungry; I'll get something to eat." Normally, he would never offer to do a favor for someone else, but this broken piece of glass had to be treated carefully. Besides, food was probably the last thing on Tsuna's mind, and it wouldn't do at all if he starved to death.

Without waiting for a response, he jumped off the bed and strolled out the door, closing it behind him to leave the boy with his thoughts. He did seem like the thinking type, and a quick reading of his mind proved that quite well.

He came upon the woman in the kitchen, just as he suspected. Bianchi sat at the table, sipping at a cup of tea. The rest of the house was quite silent, so he assumed the children were out playing somewhere. "Maman, can I get something for Tsuna to eat? He's doing his homework right now so I don't want to make him come downstairs." There was the fact that Tsuna didn't go to school today, nor did he come down for breakfast, but he was praying that she wouldn't nitpick at it.

"Oh, Tsu-kun went to school?" He cursed himself inwardly right there. "He didn't have breakfast this morning, so he must be hungry." She prepared a tray of several foods before handing it to him, despite the fact that he was half as big at the tray himself.

What a formidable woman, he thought. She notices things. But that didn't change the fact that she was quite oblivious, so he concluded that although she was observant, her mind analyzed the information incorrectly. And in this case, that was for the better.

Getting the tray up the stairs would be a hassle. He couldn't exactly jump from step to step while carrying this thing on his head, especially with the hot soup and drink she had put on it.

…Formidable, he confirmed. He was happy she treated him the way he deserved to be treated (otherwise it would mean having to deal with annoying remarks, and he couldn't exactly hit a woman) but sometimes it just doesn't work.

At the same time, his pride adamantly refused the thought of telling her, he could not carry this goddamned tray up the stairs.

"Would you like some help, Reborn?" Bianchi asked, understanding the situation.

"It would be appreciated," he replied. Without any further discussion, the woman picked up the tray and followed Reborn up the stairs. The Arcobaleno stopped in front of the door and turned to face her, as if to block it.

"I'll carry it inside, thanks." Bianchi sent him a questioning look, which he willingly responded to. There were very few people he could speak his mind to, and as long as her brother wasn't involved, Bianchi was one of them. He beckoned her to lean down, and, keeping his voice low, he said, "I'll explain later, but Tsuna isn't exactly here right now. Someone else is in his place but he's in a fragile state. I don't want anyone else coming up here except for me."

She stood up, and nodded in understanding. She'll make sure no one but him enters this room. The woman would be better at keeping Maman occupied than he was, which the hitman freely acknowledged.

After conveniently opening the door for him, Bianchi headed back down the stairs and immediately engaged Nana in light conversation . With so many people living under her roof, the topics were endless to choose from.

He picked the tray up with his small hands, and allowed himself in. Tsuna now sat crisscrossed on the bed, still appearing to be thinking a few things over.

"Here." Reborn handed him the tray from below, which the boy stared at for a few moments before saying, 'Thanks.' Being careful not to jostle the tray (from this small act, Reborn could see he wasn't as clumsy as his no-good student) the child alleviated him of the weight and began blowing on the food, taking his time to cool it down.

Reborn jumped up on a stool, and idly began experimenting Leon in different gun forms. He recently learned a new one from Colonello, and though he'd rather die before admitting it, he was interested enough to try it out himself.

That was when he noticed Tsuna crying once more, a few tears managing to mingle with the soup before he had enough tact to lean back a bit. "What's wrong?" he asked him.

"I know you said she's not my mother… but her cooking is exactly the same," he choked, trying to compose himself.

Leon changed back to his chameleon mode, and Reborn decided to stick to his normal gun. Although having its perks, it was a bit too tasteless for him. He stepped out of the room and onto the porch and closed the door behind him. Accepting his offer, the boy allowed himself to give out once more.

Who knew someone as small could have so many tears? Reborn thought, watching the passersby below with mild interest. Not for the first time, he was grateful this town had such peaceful people (for the most part) and amazing weather. Ah, well. If he had sky flames, then the amount of sadness he had could extend as far as the sky itself. Only when one lost everything can they truly say they've despaired, and unfortunately, this child was one of them. Just his eyes spoke novels of his past suffering; add his mind to the mix and you might as well have Tsuna's bitter biography.

There were two people he had in mind that he had to speak with; one was Verde, for quite obvious reasons. Establishing contact with the fleeting Arcobaleno will be a bit tricky, but once the hitman got a hold of him, he wouldn't let him go. If necessary (and he suspected it probably will) he'll switch to death threats to get what he wanted.

And the other was someone he knew that was very familiar with traveling between worlds, and though young, the most knowledgeable and experienced when it came to the matter. After all… he had data from ten years ahead as well as from dozens of worlds.

Shoichi Irie.

If anyone could build something that could counter Verde's machine, it would be him and Spanner. Reborn was counting on him, more than he'd like to admit. Of course, he had many people he could ask for help from in Italy; he was the world's most famous hitman. A few of them had probably traveled between worlds before, such accidents happened in the Mafia business. (Most especially with the Bovino Family.) But he would rather stay away from them. Asking someone for help was one thing, trusting them was another. And as things were, Reborn couldn't trust any of them.

"Reborn?" The boy's voice suddenly called from the bedroom, faint from the glass separating them, and he turned to see the child still eating. He pushed open the door for ease of hearing, and asked, "What?"

"Can I fix the date?" He pointed at the alarm clock beside his bed, which also displayed the day's date in the top right corner. Reborn frowned, and double-checked with his watch. It wasn't incorrect.

His skin prickled, feeling as though something was about to happen. "…What's wrong with it?" he inquired slowly.

"It's about eight months early," he replied, already moving to change it.

Eight… months? "No, don't change it. Leave it." Reborn immediately slammed the door back closed and jumped off the porch, now extremely restless.

As he floated in the air, courtesy of Leon's parachute, the gears in his mind turned furiously. Eight months ahead… that would mean wherever he came from was eight months ago. He came from the past. He landed neatly, then ran to a tree and pulled out his phone. He had to speak with Verde now.

He came from the past, but not their past. Not the past they experienced, but an entirely different one.

A past parallel world.

Yamamoto rested his head on his hand as he looked out the window with only half his usual interest. His fingers tapped the cup beside him, which contained his favorite drink, but for some reason he hadn't much will to consume it at the moment. "…So what should we do?"

As expected, Gokudera only snorted, "I don't know. Do whatever the hell you want." He wasn't going to get involved with this baseball idiot.

"….Hm, I kinda wanna see Tsuna, but… it makes me sad. I know he's not our Tsuna, but he has the same face. It's hard not to worry about him."

I get what you mean, Gokudera thought drily. The baseball idiot was terrible with words, but this time, his intentions were loud and clear. Seeing his boss like that was enough to make him feel like a failure, even though the back of his mind knew that wasn't his boss. For the first time in his life, he was thankful for the fact that their Tsuna was the only Tsuna. Look-alikes would probably piss him off.

There was way too much the white-haired teen didn't know, and that annoyed him. Reborn probably figured out most of the questions he had, but he knew pretty much next to nothing. All he could say for sure, knowing Verde with his strange contraptions and seeing the look-alike Tsuna, was that his Tenth was swapped out for that guy.

Yamamoto idly read the menu, though he knew he wasn't going to order anything else. "But I want to help him too. I mean, he looks like Tsuna. He can't be that much different."

If that last remark had come from anyone else, Gokudera would have dismissed it as complete bullshit. Look-alikes were look-alikes; absolutely nothing obligated them to be similar in any way whatsoever.

However, this was the baseball idiot. And although a complete idiot, Gokudera had to admit (not aloud though, to hell with that) that his intuition was incredible. He probably wasn't aware of it himself, but the taller teen was quite good at reading people, even if his simple mind only categorized them as 'good' or 'bad.' He saw how his guard would heighten whenever someone suspicious passed them by, and many times, his quick reacting saved them. A lot of people have been targeting their boss lately. Even though they expressed it differently, Yamamoto was just as protective of Tsuna as he was.

Though if Yamamoto wasn't the first to move, it would be Reborn. Gokudera saw how they had this unspoken game called 'Who Can Hit First,' and the silver-haired tried to jump in once. Unfortunately, he chose the wrong target… and almost ended up in juvenile detention. Not fun.

Therefore, there must be some truth to what he said. Something about that look-alike Tsuna must have tipped the idiot off that deep down, they were similar.

"Do whatever you want," he repeated, standing up. "I'm going. There are things I wanna find out."

The idiot grinned. "Alrighty!~ I'm going too then."

He walked out of the shop, the taller boy right behind him. "No way, go on your own time." The Italian scowled.

"This is my own time. School's out," he countered cheerfully.

He clucked his tongue. This guy is pretty annoying. "Bastard."

"You look like me!"

As soon as those words were out, the other boy raised an eyebrow and rested his hand against his forehead. "Of course Tsuna, we're twins. Are you feeling alright?"

"Uh… I'm fine?" he mumbled. What the heck was going on?

His 'twin' turned back around and stared critically at his leg. His voice low, he growled, "Who did this to you?"

"N-no one! A car hit me, that's all—"

"Don't give me that, you're lying. You could always trick mom, but not me." He then moved his hand upwards, revealing the bandage on his forehead. "This too, dammit! I'll kill 'em!" The twin began clamoring off Tsuna, careful to avoid his leg.

"W-wait a second! You can't-"

He whipped around and said, "HAHA! So it was someone!"

"Well—I—" he stammered. There was no freaking way he can tell this guy about Verde. Of course, there was Hibari too, but this guy seemed nice, if not kinda weird. He didn't want him to die just yet.

Come on, come on… What can I tell him? he thought in panic.

"He moved back to Australia!" Tsuna blurted, and then did a double take.

Australia. Why, the hell did he say Australia? Although he was a bit proud to know that he retained some information from yesterday's class (he was rather fond of koalas) now was not the time. America would have been more believable, for God's sake!

There's no way he's going to believe me, he cried inwardly.

"Oh, really?" The twin blinked at him, and stopped rolling his shoulder. "Aw, that's a shame. I'll have to head on over there one day to find the bastard. Wonder if Australians speak English…"

He believed me! Tsuna almost screamed out loud. What is this guy?! That was the most obvious lie he ever told in his life! The twin was now looking out the window, as if his tormenter would be standing right outside.

That idiotic, careless way he carried himself, it was almost like…

It's almost like Dad…. He paled at the thought.

"Well, it's almost time for dinner. Mom's worried so you should come down." The twin opened the door and glanced behind him, waiting for his response.

"Oh, uh…" How can he face his mom now? He basically ran away from her. "I'm sorta tired; I'm think I'll sleep. Maybe later." With that, he turned and pulled the covers up over his head.

"Alright, little bro. If you're awake later, I'll bring you something to eat." He then left, and the door shut soundly behind him.

Little bro… he thought. So this guy was the older twin?

What was his name again? He never said. As his eyes started to close, Tsuna then remembered what Haru had called him.

Hideyoshi. If Tsuna looked like him enough to be mistaken for him, that had to be his name.

The name blinked in his mind until he drifted off to sleep, exhausted from the day's events. Hideyoshi…

…

After he shut the door behind him, he sighed. Today was a pretty freaky day. First Hibari, then Tsuna…

He had encountered the prefect on the way to the restroom. He heard tons of rumors about Hibari beating up students, but he wasn't afraid of him; more like creeped out. Who wears their jacket like that anyway?

Apparently, the older student was doing his usual patrol of the grounds, searching for any student who dared to step an inch out of the school's rules. Unfortunately for one, who only transferred to the school a few days ago, hadn't heard about Hibari and his wrath just yet. Right in his presence, the guy slammed Hideyoshi against the wall, snarling something about payback. Of course, he couldn't care less. He had thrown a punch at this guy yesterday and for good reason. No one messes with my brother.

And he was about to hit him again when Hibari had graciously done the favor for him. Sweeping in, he smashed his tonfa into his attacker's face (he swore he saw a tooth or two fly out) saying coldly, "No violence on school grounds."

Bastard, like you were one to talk, he thought amusedly. His respect for the older student had shot up right then. He obviously didn't give a shit what other people thought. Even the teachers didn't want to get involved, responding to the violent situation by averting their gaze or returning to their classrooms.

That is, until Hibari stared at him oddly, as if he met him before, and then said, "You're weak." He even looked disappointed then!

Well sorry for not meeting your bullshit expectations, asshole, he fumed. Weak. As if he knew anything, he never had an interaction with the icy prefect until today! How could he have expectations for him?

He sighed again, then thought, As long as you stay away from Tsuna, I'm good. He didn't like picking fights for no reason.

Little did he know that the boy already had a near death experience with the older student.

He headed down the stairs and into the kitchen, and saw his mom tapping her foot, a strange smile on her face. He flinched as she waved the white paper in his hand.

Oh shit, the report card… He forgot to grab it on the way in…

"Hii-kun," she said cheerfully. "You're grounded."

…Damn.

Back in Italy, a quiet, run-down bar caught the attention of a certain hitman. As the small figure strolled in, various men glanced at him, nothing but money on their minds and greed plaster on their faces. Almost immediately, a man stopped the much shorter person, quickly joined by someone else. Both had cocky expressions and a gun in their hands. However, before they could so much as pull the trigger, they were immediately struck down. He then continued to the counter, jumping up on the stool.

Two men, acquaintances with this hitman, inquired, "Ah, Reborn? Must be tough being popular."

"Where are you going to next? Rome? Venice?" chimed the other as he handed him a cup of water.

A small smirk formed on the person's lips. "Japan."

Various exclamations came, but Reborn paid them little attention.

"Looks like it's going to be a long journey," he mused.

Dino sat quietly at the hospital, watching as birds fluttered by his window. The steady beeping on the monitor beside him was a calming reminder that his teacher hadn't killed him just yet.

His cold had long passed, thanks to the special medicine his family had so kindly made up. Unfortunately, his ribs were no less broken than before and his arm in no less pain, which prevented him from leaving the dreary room as he so desperately wished to do. Frankly, he was bored out of his mind. There were few things he couldn't do (provided his men were there, otherwise the count would triple or so) and staying still was one of the things he could not do.

Fortunately, luck was smiling upon him as his phone rang the second time that week. Of course, back at home he received countless phone calls (though nowhere near as famous as the Vongola, the Chiavarone family was still quite well known) but getting a call on his personal cell phone was rare. Only three people had his number—Reborn, his father, and Romario.

As he picked up the device, he had wholly expected the person on the other end to be Romario or Reborn. Calls from his father were few and far between, and the retired man had only called him last week. However, as he had only spoken with his teacher yesterday, his guess was leaning slightly towards Romario.

So, as one can expect, he was quite surprised when the person calling him was the very same person Dino was supposed to greet a few days ago.

In other words, Verde.

"Bronco, are you there?" Like the other Arcobaleno, one could easily mistake this person to be a full grown man. He always wondered why only Reborn's voice had turned into that of a child's when he was cursed.

But as things were, that was the last thing on his mind. "V-V-V-V-V-Verde!" he stammered. "This number—I never—"

"I have to say, Chiavarone Decimo, I'm quite disappointed with your family's weak security. Getting your contact number was rather simple."

Baffled to the point of speechlessness, he heavily fell back against the wall. When the young boss finally got his lips to function correctly again, he hoarsely asked, "What do you want?"

"I'm done with the flash drive, so you're welcome to have it back," he replied.

His jaw dropped. Well, then. He didn't know what he was expecting to come out of the elusive infant's mouth, but that certainly wasn't it.

He could only ask again in disbelief, "What do you want?" Surely, there had to be a price for this. That flash drive contained information of the Vongola family's barrier. Verde could easily sell it for a huge amount of money if he didn't want it anymore.

"Just tell Reborn that I gave it back. I also added a few extra files that would enhance the barrier's security as well as the entrance of the Vongola's headquarters. Really, the ease of which I managed to get this is almost insulting." In the time Dino spent mind-boggled, Verde added reproachfully, "I don't want to contact him any time soon."

Wait a minute… did that mean Tsuna and the others failed? What on Earth happened?!

Suddenly, a new voice dropped in, and it was then that the blonde began questioning his existence.

"Well, Verde, you actually thought a cheesy little plan like that would work? Now you're insulting me."

Dino silently paled, while Verde practically screamed. "Reborn! How did you get my number?!"

"I can hack too, you know," the higher pitched voice responded in amusement. "'I'm quite disappointed with your weak security. Getting your contact number was rather simple.'" His voice was so mocking, the blonde almost wanted to laugh. But at the same time, he knew some serious shit was going between the two right now. If you valued your life, you never got between Arcobaleno… ever.

Before Verde could hang up, Reborn quickly said, "Verde, if you put down your phone right now, I will hunt you down and slaughter you. I know you can't fight, your brain is the only muscle you're capable of using. And your robots must be in some pretty bad shape from the other day." The hitman paused, and then added, "Besides, some interesting things happened. I'd like to meet up with you to talk about it. It might even be helpful to your research."

The other line went silent for a few moments, before Verde replied, "I'm not that careless. I have plenty of robots that I could use against you, but I already know you can destroy them in a second. For their sake and the information, I'll talk to you."

"Good," Reborn said simply. "Come over to Tsuna's house later. Today."

Without another word, the scientist hung up, his teacher soon following. Time seemed to freeze as Dino's bewildered expression only intensified further, left alone with his cell phone beeping.

…What the hell just happened?

Nana Sawada happily left the grocery store, quite content with her findings. Although she had to wake up a bit early to catch the sales, she didn't mind in the least. It seems as though she could make the boys something special tonight.

She reached for her key and almost entered her home, but then suddenly remembering, she stopped by the mailbox. "Oh, that's right! I hadn't checked the mail yet this morning!" she chirped to herself. She reached for the various letters and sifted through them, content with the bill notices they had sent her. Luckily, there won't be any problems with them this month.

A small paper then fluttered to the ground, dropped from the stack of envelopes from her hand. After she picked it up, she opened it, curious as to what the strange-sized paper entailed.

Will raise your kid to be the new leader of the next generation.

Grade and subject doesn't matter.

-Reborn

Heehee, this is where the fun starts! Oh, Journal guy or Red guy aren't here today either :) I SWEAR TO GOD THEY ARE NOT JUST RANDOM PEOPLE, they are actual people and they have a purpose, but I won't tell you who they are until the last chapter or so. (But they'll appear every now and then, so maybe you can figure out yourselves XD /probably can actually /since I can be totally obvious sometimes) Um... for that part where Reborn was in Italy, I just took what I remembered from the anime and the manga, so it's probably different but this is a fanfic so who cares, LOL. Oh gosh, I'm rambling.

Thanks so much for reading! Please leave a review! (I don't mind negative things at all as long as it's CONSTRUCTIVE criticism.) Or just telling me what you like or would like to see and whatnot. That's really fun too XD Hope to hear from you!