Once Tsuna and his friends had left the dining room, it was quiet for a moment before someone, Kitanami, gave in to his curiosity and asked Timoteo, "Why is that kid going to the meeting or whatever that you have tomorrow?"

"Because when Tsunayoshi takes over our organization, that child will have the position of one of Tsunayoshi's closest advisors."

Everyone's eyes bulged at this.

"But…he's just a kid," said Nezu-sensei, sounding disapproving. "He shouldn't have that much pressure on his shoulders at such a young age."

Timoteo smiled sadly at this, saying, "Yes, but there really is no other choice; believe me, if there had been, Tsunayoshi would have jumped at that chance. He would never wish upon anybody what he'd gone through as a kid."

"What he'd gone through?" asked Hana.

At this point, Nono's storm guardian, Coyote, spoke up from beside his boss, saying, "From the moment he was born, Tsunayoshi has been groomed as the next leader of the family. When he was three, instead of playing with other children, he was learning to read and write; when he was four, instead of listening to fairy tales before going to sleep, he listened to our family history; when he was five, instead of finger-painting and going to puppet-shows, he was learning to defend himself against kidnappers and going to meetings."

Upon hearing this, all the students started to feel guilty; they'd had no idea that Dame-Tsuna's childhood had been so…difficult.

"Once he'd moved to Japan, his life was a little easier," said Ganauche, the lightning guardian's normally smiling face showing the hints of a scowl. "He actually had some time to himself. But even then, he still didn't have a real childhood. His private tutor moved in with him, and his studies continued. By the age of ten, he was as smart as a high school graduate."

Ohmae snorted when he heard this. "Yeah right. Then why're his grades so low?"

"Because it's just a facade," replied the scary-looking mist, Bouche Croquant. "If he were to go around winning prizes for being so smart, not only he, but his classmates as well would be in danger of being kidnapped…or worse."

Everyone shuddered at the 'or worse.'

Trying to change the subject while at the same time sating her curiosity, Minami asked, "So he's not really clumsy, either?"

Many of the guardians let out snorts of amusement, and the sun guardian, Brow Nie Jr. said, "Clumsy? That kid is more graceful than a ballerina."

There was a moment of silence as an odd image of the young heir in a tutu popped into everyone's minds, and the students of class 2-A started roaring with laughter.

Timoteo shot a disapproving look at his guardian, but even he had a hint of a smile tugging at his lips.

Not long after that, everyone was done eating, and the students were led to what would be their bedrooms for the next two months, with two students to a room.

Before leaving, the maid that had led them there, a young redhead named Gabrielle, reminded them that the right wing of the mansion was completely off-limits to them unless they had one of the maids or young masters with them, seeing as that was where the private quarters of the ninth and tenth generation guardians were.

As the students of Nami-chuu snuggled into their beds, their minds racing with everything they had learned today about the person they had once called 'Dame-Tsuna,' they wondered if the rest of their trip was going to be as shocking as the first day had been.

The answer to that question, they learned the next morning, was no, it would not be as shocking as the first day.

It would be even more so.

Tsuna loved summer for so many reasons; he didn't have to put up with any of Reborn's Spartan training, he got to come home for two whole months and see his Family, he got to drop the dame attitude (which he was starting to hate more and more), he got to sleep in…

"TSUNA-NII!"

Scratch that. With a family like his, sleeping in was nothing but a myth.

Letting out a small groan, Tsuna threw his covers off and cracked an eye open just in time to see Fuuta throw himself onto his stomach, effectively knocking all the air out of his body.

"H-hey Fuuta. When did you get here?" coughed out Tsuna, trying to get air back into his lungs.

Giggling once, the boy gave him a quick greeting kiss on the cheek and replied to his question by saying, "Five hours ago!"

Tsuna frowned at this. Five hours ago? Turning to look the clock on his bedside table, he saw that it read 8:07 am.

"You got here at three in the morning?" asked Tsuna incredulously.

Fuuta nodded with a bright smile on his face.

"…How did you get in?"

The little boy shrugged nonchalantly, saying, "I got lucky, since Takeshi-nii was downstairs for a midnight snack at that time, so he convinced the night guard to let me in."

"…What have you been doing all this time?"

This question seemed to remind the little ranking prince of whatever he had come in here to do, as his eyes widened and he started tugging at Tsuna's hand to get him out of bed.

"Come on, Tsuna-nii! I need to show you something!" he said, his voice taking on an excited albeit slightly worried tone.

And so, the brunet was dragged out of his room before he even had time to exchange the tank-top he had been sleeping in for a t-shirt.

That morning, as the students of Nami-chuu were having a delicious breakfast courtesy of Celino and his staff, Hayato, Takeshi, and Lambo came in, still dressed in their pyjamas or whatever they'd worn to bed, and looking a little worried.

Turning to Reborn, who was sitting in the seat Timoteo had been in last night, Hayato said worriedly, "Boreen-sensei, have you seen Juudaime? He wasn't in his room when I went to see if he was awake yet, and I can't find him anywhere else in the mansion."

Reborn let an amused smirk grace his lips as he sat back in his chair, saying, "Fuuta dragged him out back this morning to show him an injured bird he'd found, or something."

Hayato's eyebrows furrowed a little in confusion as he asked, "Fuuta? When did he get here?"

"Ah!" said Takeshi suddenly, "I forgot! Fuuta-kun arrived here at three in the morning!"

"What were you doing up at three in the morning?" asked Aozora curiously.

"He has weird sleeping habits," said Hayato, waving his hand dismissively.

Now that he knew his Juudaime was safe, all the tension drained out of his body and he plopped down onto a chair, and immediately a maid rushed to get him his breakfast.

Lambo sat sulkily in his chair, grumbling something about a "stupid nii-san-stealing prince."

Normally, Fuuta and Lambo actually got along quite well, but for about the first week or so of every summer, after not having been able to hang out with Tsuna for a whole year, both boys would be continually competing for his attention.

It wasn't long after that, that Fuuta dragged Tsuna into the dining room, the brunet holding a small box with an injured bird inside it.

"Hey guys," he said, flashing his guardians a smile.

Jumping up from his seat, Lambo ran over to see into the box.

"What species is it?" he asked.

"White-throated silver bill," replied Tsuna immediately.

"Ah, that's the first one we've found, isn't it?" asked Takeshi, strolling over to take a look at the small bird.

Tsuna nodded. "Fuuta here found it this morning and immediately came to get me. Good thing, too, or it might have gotten even more hurt than it already was."

The boy beamed with pride at the praise before his eyes travelled past the guardians to see most of the girls at the dining table staring at…Tsuna?

Looking back at his surrogate brother, the child didn't see anything wrong with the way he looked; his hair was as messy as usual, he was still wearing the pair of cargo shorts and the tank top he'd worn to sleep, and the already slightly tanned skin of his leanly muscled legs and arms had one or two more scars than the last time he'd seen the boy, but there was no reason for the girls to be staring at him like that.

And there was definitely no reason for that girl's nose to suddenly start bleeding like that.

Finally, the boy came to the conclusion that they were just weird like that, and put them out of his mind before going to take the seat beside Tsuna's, where Takeshi had sat last night.

Chewing thoughtfully on the breakfast that had been brought to him, courtesy of the maids, he wondered if all girls were this weird…other than his Chrome-nee, of course.

SkyGem: Haha, well, there it is! I hope you guys liked it, ne? Please do leave a review and let me know what you thought! Ciao!