Disclaimer: We should all hope and look towards the day where man realizes that the sounds exiting his mouth are mostly complaints and a change occurs. I don't own Reborn!, or Chevelle.



He bid farewell to Iemitsu at the airport, Enzo tucked away securely in his jacket and Romario the only subordinate standing by his side—which admittedly, felt a bit lonely. Dino hated being away from his family members and would have allowed more, but the Young Lion of the Vongola Famiglia had warned him to keep his head low.

Unfortunately that meant leaving his subordinates behind, as they tended to stand out. But as the blond would be a complete klutz without at least one man, Romario had been permitted to come along.

It had been nearly four months since Iemitsu's request, and the bearded male had trained the Cavallone well during that time. Likely, it would have continued on, if not for the fact that the blond needed to be there by the beginning of the Japanese school year, which started in April. And as it was already late March, they had, to be frank, run out of time.

Of course, Dino still wasn't sure of his grasp on the Japanese language (which was almost pitiful considering how long he'd been training for), and the Outside Advisor was highly amused by the younger blond's strong accent, but it was passable enough.

The Bucking Horse been forced to learn more about Tsuna than a person should be allowed to know (really, didn't Iemitsu believe in his son's privacy? The Bucking Horse doubted the teen wanted other people knowing that he had wet the bed every night until he was ten), and while it felt somewhat invasive, at the same time, Dino felt extraordinarily close to this boy who was apparently as no-good as he'd once been.

He'd never even met Tsuna, and yet in his mind, the middle-schooler was already something like a little brother to him. Of course, once he actually got to Japan, the Cavallone was going to have to slowly get close to the teen and pretend he didn't know him, which would of course take time, and Dino had been given a time limit of a year.

In all honesty, the Bucking Horse still wasn't sure he could pull it off, but he'd try—got damn, he'd give it the best shot he had. And if his best wasn't good enough...well, that wasn't really an option.

The plane was a private one, only big enough to seat four, though only two of the seats were occupied, the other two remaining open, and Dino could not help but stare almost wistfully at them wishing that two more of his subordinates had been allowed to come along so they could fill them.

The flight was sixteen hours long, and when the Cavallone wasn't sleeping, he was thinking. Not about anything in particular—his mind just wandered through random topics over the hours; an ironically mindless way to pass the time.

When the plane finally touched down, the first thing Dino did was take Enzo out of his jacket so the poor thing could get some real, fresh air, hand him to Romario, and stretch impressively before taking the creature back and once more putting it in his jacket, ignoring the fact that it was two in the morning of the next day, or that he'd probably have an impressive case of jet lag by tomorrow.

Though it was late, the Japanese airport was far from inactive, and though the blond knew Japanese, it both prided and shamed him that Romario had picked up on it much easier than his boss, and so the bespectacled male was the one to check with the rental service and ensure that their car had arrived.

It had, and the two left the building, spotting the car sitting by the entrance, waiting for them. After they unlocked it with the keys they had received, Romario slid into the driver's seat, as usual, and Dino got into the back, as always. The car was a Western one, as the bespectacled man did not know how to drive anything else, and the blond had never actually learned to drive (a fact he planned on fixing...one day).

Even while Iemitsu had been training the Cavallone, he'd been preparing for when Dino would finally leave for Japan—that was why the car had been waiting for them, and that was why Romario easily parked the car on the side of the road before they both got out, looking up at the apartment that the two of them would be living in for the next year.

The apartment—well, no, it was a mansion, because Dino had requested a Western-style house, was decent sized, even from the outside, and Romario quickly retrieved their three bags of luggage; Sawada had suggested that they travel fairly light.

The black-haired male had the keys to the mansion, as well, and he began walking toward it, eager to get inside, but the tenth boss instead hovered back, looking around the neighbourhood. It was dark aside from a few streetlights, so really he couldn't make out much of anything, but he was able to note that there were no other cars on the street.

Dino could only assume that it was not the most common sight in the country, especially not in Namimori, but the brown-eyed male was sure it happened. And after all, he and Romario were foreign, so they had an excuse as to why they did what they did; technically speaking, anyways.

Once his subordinate realized his boss was not following him, he turned back to look, a question in his voice as he called to Dino quietly in the night. Blinking as he was torn from his revere, the blond jogged towards his new home-away-from-home, ready to start his new life, in a new place, with his new career.

As he removed Enzo's tank from the luggage, placing it on a nightstand next to his bed and setting him inside it, the mafia boss thought over the current situation at hand, placing food and water into the tank at the same time so his pet would not starve.

Really, the Cavallone hadn't the faintest idea as to why Iemitsu had registered him for a teaching position at Namimori Middle. Sure, that was where Tsuna went, but there had to be other ways of getting close to the boy, right? The blond didn't know the first thing about teaching, and he'd never been particularly good at handling children—especially teenagers.

Of course, it did help that the Bucking Horse was skilled in the subject he'd been assigned to; Moral Education. Well, it wasn't so much that he was skilled as he just happened to be well versed in the topic, but either way, it still helped.

Dino had exactly a week to get his bearings in order and look around Namimori before the school year would start, which he planned to take full advantage of. After all, it wouldn't due to get lost, especially when he was supposed to have been living in the area for the past six months or so. Hopefully they wouldn't comment on the fact that he was a foreigner too much. The blond still wasn't clear on exactly what his excuse was for coming to Japan.

He was sure Iemitsu had made something up, but for whatever reason, he'd kept it from the twenty-two-year-old, and so at that point the most the brown-eyed male knew was that he'd be bumbling through any questions concerning his background. After all, it wasn't like he could come out and say he was there to keep an eye on Tsuna. Not only would they think he was some kind of pervert, he would be totally blowing his cover.

Speaking of covers, the Cavallone did not hesitate to get under his own, snuggling his pillow in a way that was anything but manly, but at that moment, Dino could care less. He hadn't even been away from home for twenty-four hours and already he was homesick for Italy—for his family.

Hugging the pillow was the closest comfort he could get, and slowly did the blond slip into a restless sleep, dreaming that he was back in his homeland.

It was going to be a very long year.


As expected, the Italian was hit by an impressive amount of jet lag the next morning, and the Bucking Horse could barely muster up the energy to move, let alone talk. His companion had come to wake him, but Dino's eyelids merely fluttered slightly.

"Lemme sleep Romario..." snore. Already the boy was gone again, his mind once more pulled back to the land of sleep.

For a moment the black-haired male hesitated, knowing that his boss had planned on running around the city all day, but apparently Dino had forgotten about jet lag and Romario knew it wouldn't do any good to have the blond disoriented for the next few days, and decided to let him continue sleeping.

A subtle smile touched the man's lips as he realized that the Cavallone had kicked off his covers sometime in the night, and so quietly he pulled them back up, bidding his boss a faint good night that Dino would never hear before turning and leaving the room.

Well, Romario knew how important sleep was, but even so, he definitely hadn't expected the blond to sleep for a whole day. The next morning found the Bucking Horse bright-eyed and wide awake, no traces of his former lethargic self left as he reached into the tank, pulling Enzo out and placing him inside his jacket, as per usual. Where Dino went, Enzo went.

"Come Romario, we have to explore twice as much today to make up for yesterday!"

Dino's enthusiasm was far from surprising, and the black-haired Italian merely inquired as to whether his boss wanted to take the car, to which the brown-eyed male shook his head almost vehemently.

"Things are best understood when inspected up and close and personal," the Cavallone boss explained, as if such was obvious. And considering that Romario had been by his side since the boy was born, it kind of was.

Namimori fascinated Dino. From the park, to the movie theatre, to the yakitori stand he had passed by on the street, the blond's eyes were wide with wonder, like a child going to an amusement park for the first time, or finding themselves in a candy shop.

As the two wandered, the Bucking Horse now happily eating some yakitori that he'd bought from the stand, Romario continued to look out for Namimori Middle School, as the blond seemed more focused on the Japanese food in his hand, than thinking about why he was in Japan in the first place.

However, to the bespectacled man's surprised, Dino was the one to point out the school, recognizing it from a photo Iemitsu had provided him with; one which was shoved into his back pocket with little disregard to its well being.

Namimori Middle stood proud—well, if buildings could stand proud, but the Cavallone had a feeling if they could, the school definitely would be.

The duo did not enter the premises, instead standing just outside the gate, looking at it. For Romario, it didn't mean much, but for his boss, the school was practically everything, and that fact alone made it important to the older male.

As the black-haired Italian watched the school, he swore he saw a figure standing by one of the upper-story windows before abruptly vanishing behind the curtains, but after a minute and no further movement, it was dismissed as a trick of the light—after all, who would willingly be at school when they didn't have to be?

After that, the two proceeded to once more scope out Namimori, as Dino wanted to be fully prepared when the time came.

The days passed surprisingly quickly, helped along by the fact that studying the city was a fairly time consuming job. And as the first day of school approached, the blond was near positive he knew the city like a native would—inside and out, as well as the back of his hand. At least, that was what he liked to tell himself.

In general, despite the fact that he was stuck away from home, Dino found himself growing truly fond of Japan. It was a beautiful place (though it was nothing compared to Italy, in the young man's mind); peaceful, and Namimori didn't seem to have many problems with the yakuza, which honestly, was a relief, as it felt like something of a reprieve from the Cavallone's home life.

But of everything the blond loved about Japan so far, the sakura had to be his favourite. He wasn't sure on the basics of the plant, but they had been blooming since his arrival, and had stunned Dino in the beginning. Italy didn't have anything like it, and the twenty-two-year-old had spent at least ten minutes just staring at the trees before asking Romario about them.

He would have liked to have been able to plant some in Italy, as he felt his homeland deserved such a beautiful creation, but as that wouldn't be for at least a year, he didn't dwell on the idea for very long. In general, the only thing that bothered him about the sakura at all was the fact that the flowers seemed to easily fall off, so when one was walking under them they tended to get in their hair and clothes.

Namely, Dino's hair and clothes; though whenever they did so, Enzo seemed to enjoy chewing on the stray flowers that made their way into the blond's jacket, where the creature resided. But other than that, the mafia boss didn't mind them in the slightest.

When the first day of school finally rolled around, it was the Italian's job as a teacher to be there early in the morning—much earlier than the students, so a meeting could be held and new teachers (such as himself) introduced, and schedules handed out, and all that important information.

After that of course would be the entrance ceremony; where new teachers such as himself were introduced to the students, who would have arrived by then, so not only was it important to arrive early—it was somewhat crucial.

Unfortunately, Dino had no such luck, and ended up sleeping in; for at least an hour, Romario was unable to wake him. Ever since their arrival in Japan, the blond tended to be a heavier sleeper for whatever reason, which was something of a problem, considering he'd already been a heavy sleeper.

Eventually though, his bespectacled subordinate was able to rouse his boss, and the second it registered with the younger Italian that while he was too late for the entrance ceremony, he would late for school itself if he didn't rush, Dino was out of bed in a flash, showering and dressing in under five minutes.

The twenty-two-was wearing extremely casual clothes—cargos, sneakers, a random shirt, with his jacket over it, which he didn't hesitate to shove Enzo inside (much to his poor pet's chagrin, more than likely)—and he was out the door before Romario could comment on such. Hadn't he gotten the memo that he was supposed to dress in a suit, or at least something similar, from Iemitsu?

Apparently not, and as a rule, the black-haired male was not allowed to follow Dino to the school, so he could only watch through the window with a worried look on his face as the blond tripped spectacularly, throwing his hands out so he wouldn't land on his face. Normally Romario would have rushed out to help by that point...but, according to the Outside Advisor, this was something the Bucking Horse needed to accomplish on his own.

The blond tripped a grand total of seven more times on the way to the school, and by the time he got there, the palms of his hands were scraped raw and stung, one of his pant legs had a hole in the knee, and in general he didn't look very presentable.

He was out of time. The male rushed to the principal's office...or at least he would have if he'd known where it was. Students gave him funny looks as he rushed by them in a state of utter disarray, and after having gotten lost several times he finally arrived, somehow, pausing outside the door to regain his breath.

The blond knocked, and then entered without really waiting for a response, only to be greeted by the glares of all the other teachers in the room. It would have been great if Dino had been informed that this was also the standard, but Iemitsu had been more focused on teaching him Japanese itself, not the standards.

Now he wished the older male had actually bothered. The Cavallone began apologizing to them all clumsily, but no one listened. It seemed he couldn't be on time for anything, as this meeting was also over, and with the worst first impression ever given, all the twenty-two-year-old could do was shuffle to the side quietly to allow the others to leave the room

In the end, the only man left in the room was the principal, seated behind his desk. Even if that hadn't been obvious, the young male would have recognized him from the information Iemitsu had given him. The brown-eyed male quickly apologized again, but received no kind words, and was merely instructed to come forward.

Dino expected a severe tongue lashing, at the very least, but the principal simply handed the boy his schedule, before telling him to get out and go to his class. The mafia boss did not need to be told such twice. He fled the room quickly, walking in a vague direction before he realized he did not know where to go. Oh, right, the schedule.

Blinking down at the scrap of paper, the blond stopped walking as he struggled to read the kanji. If he thought learning the Japanese language was difficult, it had nothing on the writing system. Dino's skill was closer to an elementary school student's than anything else, and he was unsure how he was fit to teach middle-schoolers with his own lack of real Japanese education.

After all, with the boy's shameful skill when it came to the Japanese language, even a four month long crash course wasn't enough to teach him how to read properly.

It took about ten minutes for Dino to even come close to understand what the paper said, by which time he was pretty much late in every way, and for the few students milling about the halls, he got many second glances. But the Italian hardly noticed such, instead focused on the fact that he was late. Panicking, the blond took off running, looking around for the first room he'd been assigned to.

It seemed to take forever, and the hallways were all but empty. His running beat a noisy pattern against the ground, and it was with a startled realization that the twenty-two-year-old suddenly recalled that he'd forgotten to take his shoes off. But that wasn't his biggest problem at the moment, so the twenty-two-year-old pushed the matter aside, searching wildly until he spotted the right classroom.

To the male's alarm (though not to his surprise), he saw that the classroom was already full; but it was too late to do anything about that. Calming himself down with a deep breath, the blond entered the room, walking over to his desk and sitting down behind it, taking Enzo out of his jacket (luckily undamaged despite all Dino had been through) and setting him on the surface of the desk.

For a brief moment, the blond hesitated. Hadn't he been supposed to ask them to stand up or something? But after a moment the Cavallone dismissed the thought, as despite his intense training, memorizing the Japanese customs had not been his forte. Though at the very least, he was better at them than his memorization of kanji.

The students said nothing for an almost agonizing minute, just staring at their obviously foreign teacher and the thing he had just taken out of his jacket. And Dino just stared right back at his students, appraising them as a whole.

Ah! There, near the middle of the room, that was Tsuna! He'd expected Iemitsu to pull such a trick. Not only was he the Moral Education teacher, but this was his Homeroom class, and he'd have to talk to them all one on one at times, for random things—or so he'd heard.

He noticed then that Tsuna was raising his hand almost timidly, and the blond quickly called on him. Fidgeting slightly, the brunet stayed silent for a minute, but as Dino waited patiently, the teen eventually spit it out. "Sensei...why...is there a turtle on your desk?"

Surprised by the question, but amused by the spiky-haired boy's apparently demure nature, the Italian answered easily, exhrplaining "because he's the class pet, of course." He hadn't missed a beat, seeming to think his response was obvious. "His name is Enzo." His students balked slightly at this, clearly confused by their teacher's words, but the Bucking Horse paid them no mind, instead standing up and placing his hands on the desk.

"Now, for introductions; it's nice to meet you all. I'm your Homeroom teacher, and I also teach Moral Education." He smiled almost disarmingly at the teens, causing them to stare once more. "I'm Dino Cavallone, and I'm pleased to say that we'll be seeing a lot of each other."


Notes: Translations for Italian again not provided, as well as Japanese, because I really do like to think of you all as intelligent people. Out of curiosity, did anyone realize who made a cameo-non-existent-but-still-there appearance? If it makes you feel any better, he comes in officially next chapter. Reviews highly appreciated, whether it be flames or constructive critisism, or even better yet, compliments!