Chapter Four

Tsuna woke up slowly and lifted his head. The first thing he saw was his wooden desktop. This made his eyes widen.

"Reborn!" He screamed. Reborn jumped on his head, jarring his student's chin onto the table. "Where's my letter!"

"I sent it." Reborn said.

"You...sent it?" This was sounding suspicious. "Just like that? You didn't need me to grovel on your foot and beg you until my voice stops working?"

"Maybe I should have done that. Wait right here, Tsuna, I'll get the letter back so you can do that, especially when I used the express bird to do it." Reborn turned to go.

"HIIIE! Never mind! Never mind! You're a very kind and helpful tutor who will save his student in a crisis!" Tsuna said quickly trying to catch Reborn as he crashed onto the floor. Reborn stepped just out of his reach and smirked.

"That sounds better. Now let's go downstairs. I'm hungry."

"Eh? How long did I sleep for?"

"Half an hour."

"Half an hour? That's... long."

"You should have had enough sleep last night." Tsuna opened his door and was met with loud music and screams coming from Lambo.

"Bakadera! You're mean!" Gokudera sputtered something out in Italian that sounded like a growl. Gokudera must have been answering a lot of Yamamoto and Ryohei's questions in Italian, if he's forgotten to revert back to Japanese. Yamamoto laughed.

"What did you say, Octopus-Head? THAT WAS EXTREME TALKING!"

Tsuna looked into the living room to find everyone crowding except for Hibari who was looking for Mukuro.

"HIIE!" Gokudera looked up and smiled.

"Decimo! You hungry?"

"Uh..." said Tsuna, his mind blank. He felt Reborn's gun against his temple. Um! Decimo, that's me...and um...you...you what?

"Three..." Reborn said, the trigger pulling back a bit. Tsuna freaked out.

"Two..." The trigger went back a little more...

"Uhm.. AHH!"

BAM! All his clothing except for his boxers got torn off. If only I knew more Italian... Tsuna thought.

"RE...BORRRN! I WILL LEARN ITALIAN WITH MY DYING WILL! ARRRGG!" Tsuna revived from the dead, regretting that he didn't pay more attention to Reborn's lessons. If he did, he could have answered Gokudera's question. He then ran back to his room and opened one of the lesson books Reborn had them finish by tomorrow. Gokudera followed, curious. When he opened the door, he saw his Juudaime working through the booklet, looking to Reborn for answers now and then. He heard Italian being spoken and words being written.

"You can do it, Decimo!" Gokudera cheered, not yet remembering only him, Reborn, Bianchi, and Iemitsu understood Italian fluently enough to answer him. Then he quietly closed the door.


Downstairs, they were all preparing decorations for the party and testing the music.

"TURN THE MUSIC DOWN YOU IDIOT!" Gokudera yelled. No one paid him any attention. The he smacked his face with his head. "Turn down the music!" He said in Japanese. Yamamoto immediately did so.

"OI, I WAS ENJOYING THAT TO THE EXTREME!" Ryohei argued, half in Italian.

"The party didn't even start yet, Lawn-Head!" Gokudera yelled back.

"Hahaha! Now, now, just help decorate! Mukuro and his friends should be arriving in ten minutes!" Yamamoto said with a big grin. Just then, the doorbell rang.

"Che." Gokudera went to open the door with a scowl on his face. "You're an hour early," he said.

The Kokuyo Gang has arrived.

"Kufufufu. So this is Vongola Decimo's home." His blue-purple head looked around.

"Kind of small," Ken snorted. M.M scowled in return. "Are you going to let us in or not?" She said.

"We brought drinks," Chikusa said gloomily as he raised a bag with two big bottles of soda. Gokudera opened the door wider and let them in grudgingly. He turned back to the door and saw Chrome. She bowed. "Thank you for having us," she said softly. He snorted.

"At least two people of your group have manners." Chrome went in, greeted by Kyoko and Haru.

"Gokudera-dono!"

"Now what?" He snapped. Outside, he saw Basil and Lancia dressed in summer clothing. They were holding...

"Is that fish?" Gokudera said, his brows knitting together. "That's a lot."

"Master has amazing fishing skills! He caught all of these by himself!"

"And... where is he?" Gokudera asked.

"Getting more," Lancia said.

"Whatever. Come on in. You can put the fish by the barbeque set. And don't leave any stains in Juudaime's home!" He warned. Once they were in, he slammed the door shut.

"You're all too early! Juudaime says it starts after four!"

"But Reborn-dono told us to come by three," Basil said.

"I guess it's okay if Reborn-san says so..."


Meanwhile in Tsuna's room, the flame on his forehead evaporated. He stared at the paper.

"So...how is your Italian, Dame-Tsuna?" Reborn asked.

"Better," Tsuna replied in disbelief. He opened and closed his mouth like a goldfish. "Did I just say that?"

"You did," Reborn said with a grin. "I should have shot you in the head earlier." Tsuna laughed.

"Well, that's all for today. From now on I will only speak Italian with you. If you can't keep up then too bad." Tsuna's laugh disappeared as he tried to translate whatever Reborn said. It was something along the lines of "speak Italian, you, keep up."

"O...kay..." He said slowly. Looking down, he realised that he was naked.

"HIIIIEE!" Quickly, he dressed himself in a t-shirt with an orange 27 and pants. Only when he was halfway down the steps did he realise that his belt buckle had an X.

"Reborn... you messed up my wardrobe again didn't you?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I don't own a belt that has an X." He looked at the baby who was sliding down the handrail.

"Of course you do." Tsuna sighed and slipped.

"Ahh!" For the second time this week, he ungracefully fell down the stairs.

"JUUDAIME! Are you alright?" Gokudera rushed over.

"Gokudera, from now on only speak in Italian with Tsuna unless it's very important, like life threatening."

"Y-Yes, Reborn..." Gokudera said. Tsuna was getting up. "Decimo! I will help you improve your Italian by speaking to you in the language everyday!"

"Eh?" Tsuna asked, rubbing his head. After two minutes, he said, "ah, okay… Thanks."

Reborn kicked him behind the head.

"You also have to speak Italian, Dame-Tsuna. If I don't hear at least twenty Italian words come out of your mouth every day you're in for extra torture."

"Okay, okay..." Tsuna replied with a thick accent. Reborn hit him again.

"Lose the accent. I can't understand you like that. And the same word doesn't count as two."

"...O-k-a-y," Tsuna said more slowly and cautiously.

"Ah! Tsuna-san, there you are!" Haru said happily. She, Kyoko and Chrome were in the kitchen helping his mother, whereas she was teaching the young girls how to make new dishes.

"Ah, ciao, Haru," Tsuna said automatically.

"Hahi? Tsuna-san is speaking in another language?"

"Yeah... Reborn is teaching some of us Italian," he replied.

"Then that mean you and I can go travel to Italy one day, maybe as our honeymoon!"

"HIIIEE! No way!" Tsuna cringed. If I were going, I'd rather go with Kyoko-chan! He thought.

Reborn sighed. "You're such a love sick bird," he muttered.

"Huh?"

"It was nothing, Decimo," Gokudera said with a wave of his hand and a feeble laugh. But really, why couldn't that girl notice Juudaime's love for her! Even I saw it. Everyone knew about Tsuna's crush was Kyoko—that is, except for her…and her brother. Possibly.

"Yo, Tsuna! Could you help with the banner over here?" Yamamoto asked.

"Uh-Coming!" Reborn looked around the room. Tsuna hasn't noticed the Kokuyo Gang in the corner, who were doing something to the plates. This party is going to have interesting after effects.

"TSUNA!" Lambo screamed. "PICK ME UP! I WANT GRAPE CANDY!"

"I'm coming..." The doorbell rang just then. While holding onto Lambo, he went to open the door. There stood Bianchi and behind her stood the detective.

"B-Bianchi! A-And?" Bianchi moved aside to show the detective. He smiled.

"Hello! My name is Nori Kenshin, you can call me Ken. Please take care of me from now on."

"Ah... okay..." Tsuna said, surprised. Did the detective remember nothing?

"I'm Sawada Tsunayoshi but everyone calls me Tsuna."

"Are you going to let us in?" Bianchi asked. "And is my dear Hayato here yet?" Gokudera chose just that moment to come out.

"Decimo, who's—" His face went pale as he fell to the floor muttering, "Aneki..."

"Oh dear, he's sick again?" Bianchi picked him up and strolled towards the living area.

"B-Bianchi! What happened to your goggles? You knew that Gokudera-kun was here!" Tsuna called after her. She twirled the goggles in her hand before putting them on. He turned back to the detective.

"Sorry about that, Nori-san. Gokudera-kun is a bit sick today. Please, come in." He edged away from the door. "Mom! Nori-san is here!"

"Oh, already? You and the boys can keep him company until the party starts!" Nana replied.

"This way," Tsuna said. The detective followed.

The detective placed a small black device inside the rim of a flower pot near the entrance without Tsuna noticing. Hm. So far so good, he thought.

"That's Yamamoto Takeshi," Tsuna introduced. Yamamoto had finished with the banner and was putting decorations on the wall. He was blowing on a balloon. He waved at them.

Kenshin looked at the banner. It read, 'Welcome to Namimori!' and 'Welcome home!' It looked innocent enough. He ignored it.

Tsuna looked at the couch. Gokudera was lying there.

"This is another one of my friends, Gokudera Hayato, a transfer student."

"Where did he transfer from?"

"Eh," Tsuna didn't know whether the detective could relate the two but, "Italy." Kenshin nodded, checking with the files he had of them mentally. Of course, he already knew about Yamamoto, Gokudera, and Ryohei, but not the kids.

"This kid is Lambo." Tsuna gestured to the baby he held. Kenshin stared at the child dressed in cow printed clothes. He had a lot of hair, good for hiding things.

"Tsuna! Who's this stupid man?" He screamed. Kenshin's eye twitched. He patted Lambo's head and dropped in another black device.

"Lambo! You're being mean! Don't call people stupid!" I-pin scolded.

"And that's I-pin. Sorry about the comment. Lambo is rude to everyone." Tsuna laughed. He nervously looked around to make sure Hibari wasn't near.

"Tsuna-san! Who is that?" Haru asked. Kyoko looked past her and smiled her welcome.

"Hi, I'm Nori Kenshin, their new neighbour," he said.

"I'm Miura Haru, Tsuna-san's future wife!"

"You're not! Stop spreading that around!" Tsuna shrieked. He blushed and looked at Kyoko. She didn't seem to mind.

"And I'm Sasawaga Kyoko. You might have met my brother, Ryohei. He's the loudest one here," she giggled.

"ARRGH! WHEN IS THE PARTY STARTING?" Ryohei shouted on cue from outside.

"That's about everyone...EEEP! Mukuro and Chrome are here too?" The brunet looked ready to faint. The group turned around and glared. Chrome bowed. "Thank you for having us, B—Tsuna-sama."

"S-Sama?" Kenshin looked at them. Mukuro? Chrome? Who are they? More Vongola members?

"Ken, Chikusa, and M.M as well?" His voice went slightly higher than normal.

"Oi, Vongola! Where's the food!" Ken demanded. They know Tsunayoshi is Vongola, Kenshin thought. Who are they?

"HIIIE! In the yard! Or the kitchen! It's being prepared, but you can eat something that's ready inside the backyard!" He said in a shaky tone.

"Kufufuf. Hello, Tsunayoshi. It's nice to see you again." He whispered to Ken and Chikusa.

"Yes, Mukuro-sama! We'll go get your snack!" Ken and Chikusa went to the detective. "Come on, mister! Let's get some food! Vongola's mom makes yummy rice balls!" He dragged Kenshin away. Chrome and Mukuro approached their boss. Chrome bowed.

"Sorry, Tsuna-sama. I wanted to call you Boss, but Mukuro-sama told me that might be bad at the moment, so I'll call you Tsuna-sama."

"Kufufufu," Mukuro chuckled. "It looks like my efforts were wasted. Ken has already called Tsunayoshi Vongola. And Tsunayoshi here didn't deny it."

"HIIIE! You're right...!"

"Then I'll just call you Boss," Chrome said to Tsuna.

He nodded slowly. "You can just call me Tsuna, Chrome."

She shook her head. "That will be rude."

He sighed. She's just like Gokudera-kun! Tsuna looked around and saw that his friend was coming around.

"Ughh... Juudaime..."

"Gokudera-kun, are you alright now?" He moved towards the sitting teen. Kenshin was back with a small plate with fried fish. He stuck another listening device into the couch.

"Hey!" He flinched, thinking he was caught. "What are you doing so near Juudaime?" Gokudera stood up angrily.

"Ahhh! Gokudera-kun! I'm just showing him around!"

"I'll go with you!"

"I...finished just a while ago..." Tsuna said apologetically.

"I'm back!" Iemitsu shouted.

"That's my dad." Kenshin nodded thoughtfully. This was normal house, a normal family, and normal friends...except for the fact that Gokudera calls Tsuna Juudaime and the weird blond kid calls him Vongola. That blew everything.

"Tsuna!" Reborn came at them from the air and hit the brunet hard on the head.

"Ow!"

"I told you to speak Italian didn't I?"

"But..." Tsuna said in the language. Then he paused. Crap...I don't know how to say the whole thing in Italian! I guess I'll say it half-half." Not everyone understands it!"

"Then speak it to people who do! I already told Bianchi and Iemitsu about it. Gokudera already knows, and am I missing anyone?"

"How can a baby speak so well, let alone Italian?" Kenshin said in wonder. He understood Italian, since his investigations were usually done in the European countries, but that wasn't the case right now. "What an odd baby."

"You can just ignore him! He's small for his age! He grew up in Italy, that's how he knows Italian."

"Dame-Tsuna, Ryohei is getting restless. He might ask Nori to join the boxing club if you don't do something soon.

"HIIE! There will be no end to it after that!"

"Then get him to help set up!" Reborn kicked Tsuna off the seat. He fell face first on the carpeted floor. He heard footsteps.

"...Omnivore. Where's that guy?" Hibari glared.

"H-Hibari-san!" Tsuna shot up. Oh, no. He's going to start a fight here? And shoot! Where's I-pin? Tsuna panicked. I-pin was thankfully, not in the same room right now. He had to keep her away from Hibari.

Reborn said, "We're having a party." He jumped onto Tsuna's head so that he can whisper into Hibari's ear without Kenshin hearing a word. "Afterwards, we're having a contest. So wait patiently." Hibari grunted and glared at the detective.

"Don't disrupt the peace of Namimori," he took out his tonfas. "Or else I'll bite you to death." He stalked off to a corner in the yard with Hibird trailing after him, singing the Namimori anthem.

Lambo jumped onto Tsuna's leg. "Tsuna! Lambo-san wants more candy!"

"Lambo! I already gave you some didn't I?" Lambo pouted.

"I WANT MORE! BAKA TSUNA'S MEAN!"

"Hey, you stupid cow," Gokudera said as he stood in front of Lambo. "Don't go calling other people stupid! You're stupid enough for all of us!"

"WHAA! Don't insult Lambo the Great!"

"What—who are you talking about? I just see a crying little kid in a cow suit!"

"You guys should really stop arguing..." Tsuna said. His words were drowned out by their bickering. Lambo tackled Gokudera and farted in his face.

"Eugh!" Gokudera threw Lambo onto the floor and ran off.

Lambo's lips began to quaver. "Gotta...stay...calm...whaaa! I hate you all!" He took out the ten-year bazooka and jumped in.

POOF! Pink smoke filled the air around them. Kenshin thought, Is this pink smoke what I saw before?

"Yo, Young Vongola," Adult Lambo said.

"Adult Lambo!" Tsuna said.

Lambo sighed. "What's going on now?" He took in his surroundings and spotted the banner. He raised an eyebrow and turned to the shocked detective.

"HIIIE!" Tsuna realised that he'll have some explaining to do. How did this teenager get here? Kenshin thought.

"Yo, Tetsu. It's been a while." Lambo waved.

"Who's Tetsu?" Tsuna asked.

"Eh? Oh, right. You just met him." Lambo pointed at the detective. "His name's actually Ken Tetsu."

"EHH!"

"Ken Tetsu?" Kenshin said, "That's not me. My name is Nori Kenshin." How the heck did he find out?

This is bad, Tsuna thought. If this goes on, we're going to "figure out" that he's been lying to us. Then he'll know that we know he's investigating us! This is so awkward...

"So I got the wrong person?" Lambo asked, rubbing his head. "Well, you sure look like him."

"Tsuna," Reborn whispered into his ear. "Get Lambo into the kitchen. I have to ask him some things."

He nodded. "Lambo, let's get something to eat!" Tsuna dragged him into the kitchen.

"Oi, Lambo, who is Ken Tetsu?" Reborn asked once they were out of earshot.

"He's a detective who was investigating the Vongola family about nine or ten years ago. We saved his sorry ass from being killed," Lambo shrugged. "That's all I remember. Then he showed up again a few days ago to talk to Vongola."

"What did we talk about?" Tsuna asked.

Lambo shrugged again. "I don't know. You and Tetsu were in your office for a few hours, then he left and we never saw him again. Obviously, you were planning something but none of the other Guardians saw you talk to him, and I didn't ask."

"Tsk. You're no help," Reborn said.

POOF! Lambo was back.

"I want more pizza!" he screamed.

"P-Pizza?" Tsuna said. "We don't have pizza!"

"Lambo-kun wants pizza?" Tsuna's mother asked.

"Lambo-san wants Italian pizza!" he screamed. Tsuna sighed and walked back to Kenshin.

"Sorry about that."

"Who was that person just now?" Nori asked. He held a pink grenade in his hand. It had dropped out with the bazooka. "Oh, that..." Tsuna waved a hand and with the other, slowly took the grenade and shoved it into his own pocket.

"That was Lambo's older brother," Tsuna lied. "He loves playing silly tricks like switching places with his younger brother." Man, whoever knew I could lie like that when my life depended on it, Tsuna mused. The gun Reborn put against his head turned back into the chameleon.

"Juudaime..." Gokudera said.

"What? HIIIE!" Tsuna turned, and there was I-Pin, clinging onto Gokudera's neck, her Pinzu-Time Bomb activated. Eight... seven...

"Gokudera-kun! Throw her away!" Tsuna shrieked. Gokudera plucked I-pin off him as Yamamoto walked over to them.

"Hey, is there anything else you need done before the party starts?"

I-pin latched herself onto Yamamoto.

"Not good!" Tsuna yelled. Five... four... He and Gokudera pushed Yamamoto to the opened sliding door which led outside. Three... two...

"THROW HER OUT!" they screamed. Yamamoto's eyes narrowed. He shook off his friends and threw I-pin out the door. When she was about fifty metres in the air, she blew up.

Kenshin's head was spinning. Changing brothers... babies blowing up... kids carrying weapons... what else?

"I think I need to use the washroom..." he said.

"It's just down the hall," Tsuna said. Behind him, Yamamoto was catching the falling I-pin. Kenshin nodded and unsteadily made his way to the door.

Once inside, he locked the door and seated himself on the toilet cover.

What the hell just happened? Did I see right? Yamamoto just threw the girl out the door! Never mind. They are not normal. I should have realised that the first day I came to Namimori. They're lunatics! He sighed. Then his stomach made gurgling sounds.

"Ugh... I probably didn't eat right..." he said. Before he came, he accepted a candy from Bianchi. He didn't want to eat it, but he did, to be polite.


At five, they finished decorating. The decorated rooms looked stunning. Streamers hung everywhere in the colours of the rainbow. Balloons were strung with different faces drawn on them, and tables had party designs. Everyone helped prepare the food to put on a rectangular table by the wall. They chose what they wanted to eat, and sat down to fill up two tables, and a couch between two single sofas.

I-pin, Lambo, and Fuuta sat on the floor in front of the television. Behind them on the couch were Ryohei, Kyoko, and Haru, all with their party food on their laps. Yamamoto sat on the single seat to Ryohei's left and Bianchi sat on the one to Haru's right. Furthur back sat the rest of the group. The first table sat Kenshin, Reborn, Yamamoto's dad, who had brought sushi, Gokudera, Tsuna, and his parents. The other table sat the Kokuyo Gang—Mukuro, Chrome, M.M, Ken, and Chikusa—Lancia, and Basil. Hibari sat outside alone with his bird, looking around in the air and in the trees. Tsuna's mother had asked him to join them and a third of the people in the party held their breath.

"I hate crowds," was the blunt reply. "And I don't stay in the same room as that...Pineapple-Man unless I'm fighting with him."

"What! Don't you dare call Mukuro-sama Pinapple-Man!" Ken shouted, standing on his chair with a set of teeth in his hand. He had to be dragged down by Chrome and Chikusa. Mukuro's mouth twitched but he did nothing more. Nana smiled and gave the school prefect an assortment of foods on two trays and a smaller tray for Hibird.

"Thank you!" Hibird chirped. "Thank you! Thank you!"

"What a cute bird you are!" Nana cooed.

"Thanks for the meal," Hibari grumbled.

The ones watching the television were the loudest. Ryohei wanted to watch boxing, but Lambo wanted to watch the comedy show. Haru yelled across Kyoko at Ryohei to say he should let Lambo watch what he wants. Yamamoto laughed and tried to calm them down. Fuuta was about to settle the argument with a ranking, but Bianchi quickly convinced him otherwise.

"If you do a star ranking now, Nori will wonder why there's no gravity in the room. We don't want to confuse the detective any more than we need to."

"Hahi! That man is a detective?" Haru whispered.

"Pretend you didn't hear that, alright?" Bianchi told them. "Don't tell him anything about Vongola or the mafia. If he asks, don't try to answer his questions, just say you don't know." They nodded their heads.

"Onii-san, you already do a lot of boxing every day whenever you want to," Kyoko said. "Let Lambo watch the television."

"Okay, fine!" It turned out fine, as the comedian was very funny. They all ended up laughing and enjoying the show.

At Tsuna's table, Iemitsu held a long casual conversation with Kenshin. Reborn stopped his student from eating. "What is it now, Reborn? I'm hungry."

"You spoke less than ten Italian words today," Reborn said. He switched to Italian. "You don't get to eat. Talk in Italian if you want to eat."

"Oh? Reborn-kun, are you teaching Tsu-kun Italian?" Nana asked.

"Yup. He will need it if he wants to travel to Italy. To help him learn, I asked those who knew how to speak Italian to only talk in Italian, to force Tsuna to understand."

"That's amazing! Good luck, Tsu-kun! Maybe I should learn, too!"

"Y-yeah..." Tsuna said.

"So, Dame-Tsuna, what are you eating right now?" Reborn asked. Tsuna stared at him.

"Um..."

Kenshin looked at the boy with amusement. He listened to the conversation as he felt around the bottom of the table for a good spot. He decided on the corner. He stuck a bug there and replied to Iemitsu's question. Then they both watched as Tsuna struggled to make a proper sentence.

"I...am eating..." Tsuna said and trailed off. He glanced at Gokudera for help. He mouthed something to him and tried to pronounce the words.

"I am...eating my foot." Tsuna said, unconvinced. Gokudera's head fell to the table muttering apologies under his breath. Iemitsu stifled a laugh. Kenshin choked on his food. Reborn hit Tsuna with a fork.

"You just said that you're eating your foot." Tsuna blinked. Then he laughed at his own folly. Reborn used the same fork to take three of Tsuna's meatballs.

"Last try," Reborn said with a mouthful. "And I told you, lose the accent."

"I'm hungry!" Tsuna said loudly after giving up on saying, "I'm eating Italian spaghetti".

Reborn grinned. "I'll accept that." He took another meatball and left his student alone. Tsuna gratefully took a large bite and gasped.

"S-Spicy!" He reached for his glass of juice but Iemitsu snatched it away with an evil grin.

"What's the magic word, Tsuna?" He asked. Tsuna gasped and stuck his tongue out.

"Decimo! You can have my water!" Gokudera picked up his glass of water. Reborn stopped him at gun point.

"This is training, Gokudera. You aren't allowed to help him."

"But Reborn!"

"Well, which is it, Tsuna? Do you want water?" Reborn asked. Tsuna looked at him with sad, pleading eyes.

"SAWADA!" Ryohei said from the couch. "Do your best TO THE EXTREME!" He shouted his signature line in Italian.

Tsuna thought of his Italian lessons with Reborn. He was sure that one of them was on greetings and etiquette.

"P-Please..." He began slowly, his hot tongue making his speech slurred, "may I have my drink?"

Iemitsu beamed. "You did it, Tsuna! Yeah! Here you go, son! You earned it!" Iemitsu gave Tsuna his juice. He gulped it down like there was no tomorrow.

"Pathetic," Reborn said. "You didn't notice me putting extra hot sauce on your spaghetti?" You can be easily poisoned by your enemies if you don't sharpen your senses, Reborn thought. There was more triaining to be done. The glass came down on the table with a thump and Tsuna hung his head.

"Are you alright, Tsunayoshi-kun?" Kenshin asked with strangled face, trying not to laugh.

"Yeah... thanks." He avoided the spaghetti and moved on to the other things.

Two hours later, everyone had finished eating and was beginning to play their own games or just yelling at each other.

Reborn got their attention. "I have a game I made up just for this occasion! After clearing the tables, we will put them together! Everyone, squish in!" He ordered them to move here and there. Tsuna was squash between his mother and Haru.

"Yay! I get the spot next to Tsuna-san! It must be fate!" Haru hugged his arm furiously. He tried to move her. He sighed when she finally let go. Kyoko sat across from him along with Kenshin, Gokudera, Yamamoto, and Ryohei.

"Everyone pick a number out of the hat." Tsuna looked to the middle of the table. Tsuna's eyes widen. Reborn was sitting on a game show chair on top of a square electronic box. He was out of his black suit and into a clown's costume. With the multicoloured hair and red rubber nose included.

Once everyone had a number, Reborn explained the rules, holding a small device. "Once I press this button, two random numbers will appear on the box beneath in the colours orange and red. It's the same number on all four sides so that everyone can see."

Yamamoto laughed. "This is going to be fun!"

"The one who has the red number has to share a memory they had with the person who has the orange number."

"What's the catch?" Tsuna inquired.

"If you can't think of something you experienced with the person, then the orange number can draw something on your face with face paint. You won't be allowed to take it off until tomorrow."

That's not so bad...Tsuna thought.

"So, here we go!" Reborn clicked the button. Four eights appeared on the screens. Then they began to move and shuffle around. Reborn pressed the button again: orange twenty seven and red eighteen.


A/N: The numbers do not necessarily match with the characters' numbers you are familiar with. Sorry about that! I tried...


"Ho, ho. This is Dame-Tsuna and Hibari. Hibari, what is a memory of Tsuna you have that you believe will never happen again?" Reborn called out loud since Hibari was still sitting outside. They waited in silence. One minute... Two minutes...

Tsuna was sweating.

"The time when he finally showed the signs of a herbivore growing up." Tsuna's brows furrowed. When was that?

"Please explain further," Reborn said. Hibari made no effort to. Then Gokudera punched his right fist into his left palm.

"I remember!"

"Eh?" Tsuna said.

"It was after..." Gokudera stopped. "It was after the Cloud tournament!" They all knew what that meant, except for Kenshin, Nana, and possibly I-pin. Tsuna had told Kyoko and Haru about their battle with the Varia, and they knew what the Cloud Battle was. Tsuna remembered what happened after that. He was so angry with Xanxus that he said he won't let him become the next Vongola Boss.

"Juudaime said that he wouldn't let the leader of the opposite team winthe prize! Then Hibari said something about forgiving us for..." His face paled a bit. "...ruining the yard... if it gives the Herbivore... (Sorry, Juudaime! I'm just quoting him!) A chance to grow some fangs," Gokudera finished.

"Kufufufu. Did it really happen that way, Nagi?" Mukuro asked. He didn't remember every detail when he was looking through Chrome's eyes.

"I think so," she replied with a blush.

"Hahi! Tsuna-san is so cool!" Haru said. She began to cling to to Tsuna again.

"That was a good memory. Dame-Tsuna began to grow up after that," Reborn approved. Iemitsu was close to tears with pride. Kenshin was confused. He was the total outsider.

"Ano... What do you mean by cloud battle?" He asked innocently.

"It was a game we played a while ago in the form of a tournament. Nothing important, it was so long ago. Let's move on!"

"Not important?" Tsuna yelled. "I almost d—ack!" Reborn hit him with a Leon stone. He pressed the button. The numbers mixed, and the following showed up: orange twenty seven and red thirty-eight.

"Tsuna and Mama!"

"Oh my! It's my turn already?" Tsuna looked at Reborn suspiciously. "My favourite memory with Tsu-kun was the first time he brought home all his friends! And also when he was born! He was such a cute baby I could have eaten him up!"

"K-Kaa-san!"

"Hahaha! I'm joking, Tsu-kun! I would never do that!" Nana hugged her son. "Oh, Tsu-kun! Your hair has gotten so soft! Awe!" She ruffled his hair and gave him a motherly kiss on the cheek.

"Gaah..." Tsuna said. He was red with embarrassment. His mother had just kissed him in front of a good twenty something people!

"That is such a sweet memory, Mama," Reborn said. "Because it was so good, you get a prize!" He presented a slice of cake in front of Nana. "This is the cake the girls made today. Hibari is already eating his outside."

"The prize is the cake!" Ken stood up, alert. "Why didn't you say so earlier, PYON?"

"You didn't ask."

"Hurry up and pick me!"

"I don't pick, it's random!" Reborn retorted. He pressed the button again: orange twenty seven, red forty-eight. Tsuna and Gokudera. How random can it be if I get chosen three times in a row? He thought.

"Reborn! You rigged it!" Tsuna accused. Reborn threw a piece of cake at his student's face. The brunet was now covered with cream. Gokudera began to talk the same time.

"My favourite memory with Juudaime was when he accepted me as his—!"

"GOKUDERA-KUN!" Tsuna interrupted. He knew that Gokudera was going to say "right-hand man". Gokudera paused and changed his wording. "My best memory with him was when we became best friends!" Tsuna stared, and then smiled brightly. This was the first time Gokudera used that term to describe their relationship.

"Excellent, Gokudera," Reborn said. "Your sister made a special slice for you to enjoy!" Everyone who knew about Bianchi's cooking turned green faced. Yamamoto let out a nervous laugh. Ryohei said, "Eat TO THE EXTREME, OCTOPUS-HEAD!" He said. Only the first word was Japanese. He and Yamamoto had to trick Gokudera into teaching them how to say first octopus, then head, with many other translations in between so Gokudera wouldn't see the connection until it was too late.

"N-No thanks... Reborn-san... Aneki... I'd rather not eat it!"

"Why not, Gokudera-kun? It looks magnificent!" Nana said. They looked at the cake in front of Gokudera and gulped.

"Oh." Tsuna said. It was Bianchi's new technique. The food looks normal, but it was just as poisonous. Kenshin, who sat beside Gokudera, raised an eyebrow. What was wrong with the cake? He leaned over to take a closer look at it. Then he dropped his card number. He excused himself, got off his chair and went under the table to look for it. While doing that, he placed a com inside a ripped seam of Gokudera's blazer which was hanged on the back of the chair. Then he paused and sniffed. Explosives?! He came back up with his number in hand. He looked at Gokudera who was force-fed the cake. His face turned into an unnatural shade. His stomach made strange gurgling noises and he fainted.

"G-Gokudera-kun...?" Kenshin said. He shook the teen lightly.

"One contestant is out," Reborn said gloomily. "He will be missed."

"He's not dead!" Tsuna objected. He managed to wipe off all the cream, but his hair still had blotches here and there.

"Well, that's what happens when what you say doesn't reach my requirement." Reborn said. "Anyways: on to the next pair!" Orange twenty seven and red ninety-six.

"Kuffufu," Mukuro said. He raised his number. "For some reason the Arcobaleno ran out of cards. Nagi and I are sharing a number."

"That's no fair!" M.M whined. "I wanted to share with Mukuro-sama!"

"Well, Mukuro and Chrome, who will be answering?" Reborn asked.

"Nagi can answer," Chrome blushed and nodded.

"It was my second time feeling welcomed in this world," she started. "When Boss allowed me to join without question or hesitation... I was, and still am, very thankful that he has done that, because now I have a real family who cares for me." She bowed her head. "Thank you very much, Boss."

"Oi!" Ken pushed his chair back. "Are you saying that we didn't care for you? I'm the one who bought you sweets! We protected you when they weren't around!" Chrome looked at him, confused.

"Ken, Chikusa, M.M, and Mukuro-sama, I consider you all part of my family. I've never had so many people pay attention to me at one time, and care about what I do," she said softly. Ken blushed to his neck and looked away.

This is getting both embarrassing and depressing, Tsuna thought.

"Erm, Chrome," Tsuna said. "We all have to thank you as well! Without you, we couldn't have gone this far! You and Mukuro are really dependable when we need your help! Remember all those times you saved us, and Enma as well! You remember that, don't you?"

Chrome blushed. When she jumped into Enma's hold with Daemon Spade to protect him from Tsuna's XX Burner, she was only thinking of protecting those who had protected her. She chose to do that by herself and with Mukuro's help, they saved Enma.

Reborn broke the emotional silence by clearing his throat and saying, "Chrome's memory is also very touching. She deserves a prize!"

Mukuro help up a hand. "One moment, Arcobaleno, we are sharing a number. And, as Tsunayoshi says, I also had a part in protecting Shimon from his attack. Shouldn't I also have a slice?" Tsuna was trying to hand signal Mukuro from blurting out words like, "attack" and "protect". In his haste, Mukuro had forgotten about the detective who sat just six seats away from him.

"Are you sure you want a slice?" Reborn said with a gleam in his eyes that looked wicked. "If you do, you will have to share with Chrome. I gave her an extra big slice because I thought you might say that."

Mukuro grinned. "That will also do." He took a fork and was about to split the cake when he realised something. So did Tsuna, Chrome, and the rest of the Kokuyo Gang. They began to back away as much as possible.

The cake Chrome had on her plate... that she was supposed to share with Mukuro, that cake,was...

...

...

...

Decorated with pineapples.

Lambo screamed in delight. He had napped with I-pin after eating to his heart's content and was crawling over an unconscious Gokudera to see what was going on. "AAAAAH! IT'S PINEAPPLE! MAMA! I WANT A PINEAPPLE! It's not fair that Pineapple-Head gets to eat it!" Tsuna, afraid for Lambo's future, quickly grabbed the baby and covered his mouth. Lambo had finally noticed the atmosphere changing and stopped struggling.

Tsuna bent his back until he was cowering under the table, but still sitting on his chair. He saw many others do the same, naming the rest of the Kokuyo Gang, Yamamoto, who was laughing to himself, Basil, Fuuta, and Lancia. The rest of them just froze to see Mukuro's reaction. Even Hibari seemed slightly interested. His head had half turned to look at Mukuro from the corner of his left eye. Hibird snuggled in his black, soft hair and gave a last chirp before settling for an early night.

"M...Muk...kuro...sa...ma...?" Chrome said in her softest voice, which was distractingly adorable. Mukuro stood up, his head down. Tsuna shivered. He didn't need his Hyper Intuition to know that Mukuros' red eye was changing its number from six to something else.

"Baby," Mukuro said. He looked at Tsuna's direction. Lambo's head was visible. Tsuna pushed it back down and he slid lower under the table. "What. Did. That baby just call me...?" The brunet gulped. The kanji character for number one appeared: illusions.

"He-He didn't say anything, Mukuro!" Tsuna said in what he hoped was a convincing tone.

"No," Mukuro said. "He called me something alright. What was it?"

"Eh?" Yamamoto said. "You mean Pineapple-Head?"

Tsuna looked at Yamamoto, his eyes popping out of his head. "B-b-b-b-baka!" Tsuna said softly. He gritted his chattering teeth. Mukuro turned back to him. Tsuna quickly looked at Kenshin, who didn't know that anything was wrong yet.

Actually, Kenshin sensed that something was happening. He just kept a straight face and turned on the mini video recorder he had pinned to his shirt as a button.

Reborn said, "If you want to blame someone, blame the person who created the name."

All heads turned to Ryohei who just looked confused with his hands crossed over his chest.

"Who?" Mukuro asked coldly.

"Hibari Kyoya," Reborn said.

"WHAT?"

Reborn smirked.

"Infant. What are you talking about?" Hibari had come into the room when he heard that he was blamed for something he didn't do. Reborn looked at him. They seemed to be communicating silently through glares and blinks.

Reborn blinked/stared: "He will be really mad with whoever started calling him that."

Hibari blinked/stared: "So?"

Reborn blinked/stared: "He will be so angry he might want to kill you."

Hibari blinked as he registered this. Then he let himself smile.

"That's right. I, Hibari Kyoya, started the nickname you now own," he said, taking out his tonfas.

"Hahi!" Haru whispered. Tsuna nearly jumped out of his own skin. With so much tension in the air, he didn't notice that Haru had also taken refuge under the table—so had everyone else except for a few individuals.

"Are they going to start fighting, Juudaime?" Gokudera asked. He was crawling his way past table legs towards Tsuna.

"No," Tsuna said confidently, surprising everyone including himself.

"What do mean, pyon?" Ken whispered. "Mukuro-sama is totally angry!"

Tsuna still shook his head. "Look at Hibird." He pointed to Hibird, who was still asleep on Hibari's head. "Hibari-san loves Hibird, and Hibird is sleeping right now. Whenever Hibari-san is about to battle, Hibird always flies away. But Hibari-san doesn't want to disturb Hibrid, so his murderous aura won't be acting up for some time," Tsuna explained. I hope.

"Juudaime, you're evaluation skills are amazing!" Gokudera said. "I'm glad to call you my Boss!"

"Sawada-dono, you are very observant!"

Tsuna began to blush as the rest of them agreed with the two.

"If only the rest of his Guardians were so smart," Reborn sighed. He had switched back to his suit and fedora hat. "By the way, it's seven o'clock now."

"Oh! The party ended!" Tsuna said. He hit his head in his rush to get out from under the table. He poked his head up and scanned the remaining people not under.

"Kenshin-san!" He caught the detective's attention. "The party is pretty much wrapping up! We have to clean up a big mess. We don't want to bother you anymore! These two are going to create an even bigger mess, and I don't want you to be part of the food fight, so perhaps you should go now?"

Kenshin looked at them, startled. He certainly didn't want to be here if these two teenagers began some kind of mini mafia-war, because that seemed possible. Kenshin nodded his agreement. He stood up and backed away until he was at the wall, where a family photo hung. When no one was looking, he snuck a wireless spy video recorder in the shadow of the frame. Just as he was about to turn to the doorway, the beautiful Italian woman with pink hair stopped him. She gave him a piece of cake.

"Welcome to Namimori," she said. After he took the cake, she quickly went back to the others. Kenshin looked at the cake, then at the family. No one was looking.

He mumbled something about the bathroom and made a beeline towards the stairs that led up. He went into the first room he saw. Thanking the gods that it was his target's room, he quickly bugged it. He put a listening device inside Tsuna's desk drawer, another in the closet, one halfway down the wall covered by the bed, and a few more in his clothing, both uniform and regular. A few more went into the other rooms on that floor and the hallway.

He raced back downstairs, took the cake, and went to put his shoes on. He noticed that the voices from the other room began to rise uncontrollably. Once his shoes were on, he looked at Tsuna's shoe and the shoes of his friends. He dug up the padding underneath the heel of the shoe and stuck in a tracking device. He had one left. Which friend to put it in? He decided on Gokudera Hayato. He boy keeps on calling the target Juudaime. And he was pretty sure that during the game, Gokudera was about to say "accepted me as his right-hand man" if the target had not stopped him. So Gokudera it is. If the boss does anything regarding the mafia, his right-hand man will definitely be involved as well. Maybe he will be in charge of organising the exchanges, moving to secret hideouts here and there, while the boss went to prepare meetings with the big guys.

Once that was done, he left the house feeling better. Throughout the party, from the moment he went in, he had bugged the entire house. There was no way they could get rid of all of them unless they bombed the place. He shut his own door in relief. Today was a good day. He went into his room and activated the devices, which automatically records every little sound and video it catches onto two separate discs. He can listen to what the Vongola Family talks about later. Now, he had to write his report while details were still fresh in his mind.