DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN KHR.

A/n: Tsuna might be a bit wise/mature for his age in this chapter. Being a sky arcobaleno has its quirk. But, he is still childish majority of the time since he is just 6 to 7 years old. (He pronounced himself as Tsu-kun except during certain moment). The rest of his guardians (except Lambo) are also in between 6 to 7 years old in this chapter.

Tsuna took another glance at the raven-hair boy for the umpteenth time. That boy has not even moved a millimetre ever since Tsuna started playing in the park two hours ago. He was just lying still at the edge of the sandbox.

Tsuna was scared and worried. Did he die? No one sleep in the sandbox under the sun.

He couldn't stand the feelings anymore, so he gathered what little courage that he has and approached the 'dead body'.

Hibari felt someone poked him with a stick. He opened one of his eyes and stared at the culprit who dared to disturb his nap.

"For waking me up, I'll bite you to death."

Tsuna stared at the icy grey eye while his brain trying to connect the dots. Not dead, wearing black, pale skin, weak/sleep during the day and bite you to death. That could only mean one thing.

Hibari yawned.

"Hiee! Tsu-kun doesn't want to become a vampire. Tsu-kun wants to become a robot." With that, Tsuna scrambled back to his house as fast as he could. (Tsuna thought Hibari was going to grow fangs and bite him when he started to yawn.)

Hibari never thought he would see the boy who mistook him as a vampire so soon. He was sleeping on top of the tree when he heard the commotion.

Three middle school students were surrounding the little boy that dare to disturb his sleep the previous days.

Apparently, Tsuna saw them kicking a litter of kittens and rushed forward to protect the innocent little creatures.

Tsuna tried to glare at the trio although he himself was trembling from fear.

Hibari first impression on that scene was a lion trying to protect his pride. It didn't help that Tsuna's wild gravity defying hair reminded him of a lion's mane.

He saw one of the trio aimed a punch at the little lion.

He kicked the scoundrel with full force.

No one was going to hurt the first baby carnivore that he ever found.

"Oi oi, how dare you kick one of us, you stupid busybody kid." One of the gang members who has a dead wish shouted at Hibari.

'Kamikorosu' was the last word that the gang members heard before they spent one month in the hospital.

The vampire saved him and the kittens. The vampire was a nice vampire, not like the one he watched in the television when his father visited him last time. That was what Tsuna thought when Hibari jumped out of nowhere to save him.

"Arigatou, vampire-san."

Hibari raised his eyebrows slightly when he heard the nickname. So, he still thought I'm a vampire. How amusing.

"Ko raion (lion cub)."

"Tsu-kun's name is Sawada Tsunayoushi. Not ko raion."

"You're ko-raion. Don't make me repeat myself or I'll bite you to death."

Nana noticed that Tsuna was more cheerful than usual when he came back home albeit his clothes was covered in dirt. "Did something good happen today, Tsu-kun?"

"Tsu-kun found a new friend today. He's a very cool vampire." Tsuna proceeded to tell his mother enthusiastically about Hibari and that he was planning to hang out with him every day.

Tsuna saw a black hair boy sitting by the river bank while hugging both his knees. At first, he thought it was Hibari but as he walked closer, he realized that he was wrong. He was about to leave when he caught the sadness hidden in the hazel eyes of that boy.

Tsuna decided to give the boy a hug. Yamamoto was taken by surprise by the sudden hug since he didn't even realize that there was someone else in that area.

Tsuna released his hug and stared hesitantly at Yamamoto. "Hmm, are you feeling better now?"

"Huh?"

"You look sad. Kaa-san always hugged me when I was sad."

"Ohh." Yamamoto's eyes darkened and he lowered down his head.

Tsuna immediately knew he said the wrong thing. "I'm sorry. I-"

"Ah, it's nothing. You didn't do anything wrong. And I'm not sa-" This time, it was Tsuna's turn to cut off Yamamoto's words halfway.

"You're lying."

"…."

Yamamoto could feel the intense gaze of the boy even though he couldn't directly see the boy's eyes that were obscured by the hoodie. There was just something about the boy that made him wanted to spill out his bottled emotions.

And so he did.

He told Tsuna about his mother who passed away a few days ago.

Tsuna gave another hug to Yamamoto. "You can cry, you know. You'll explode if you didn't do that."

"But-"

Tsuna tightened his hug. "Trust me, you'll feel better if you let those out."

Yamamoto couldn't hold it any longer. Not when the boy was so warm and reminded him of his own mother. He cried his heart out. When he was done, he felt like a really heavy stone has been lifted from both his heart and his shoulders.

"Feeling better?"

"Yup. Hmm, sorry for that." Yamamoto pointed out at the tears and snorts on Tsuna's hoodie.

Tsuna shook his head. "It's okay. Tsu-kun cried a lot every time."

"Hey, it's almost lunch time now. Want to have sushi with me? Dad makes the best sushi."

"Lunch?" Tsuna stared at his watches. "Hiieeee! Tsu-kun doesn't want to turn into a vampire! Bye bye. Have to run to the park now."

Yamamoto tilted his head. "Vampire? That's sound fun."

He only realized that he never ask for the boy's name when he reached his home. He wondered will they ever meet again. The boy seemed to be about the same age as him. I wondered if he would be my classmate next year. I sure hope I can recognize him.

"Ano, are you looking for this?" Tsuna poked the panic little girl from behind.

The indigo hair girl immediately turned around and gasped when she saw the necklace that was currently tangling from Tsuna's hand.

Nagi wiped away her tears and took the necklace from Tsuna. "Ari…arigatou." She bowed her head in gratitude. She thought she would never see the necklace again when her mother threw the necklace out from the car a few hours ago. It was his father's only memento left for her and she sneaked out from the house and came here all by herself to look for the necklace.

"That necklace is very pretty. Don't lose it again." Tsuna smiled and left when he heard his mother calling for him.

The boy's smile was warm and genuine unlike her mother's cold fake smile. Without herself realized, her own lips curved upwards for the first time after her father passed away.

"Extreme thanks for the extreme help, you two." Seven years old Ryohei beamed at the duo.

Tsuna blushed. "Tsu-kun didn't really help. It's vampire-san that helps you."

"Vampire-san? Who's that?"

"Hn."

"Ohh. You're a vampire? That's so EXTREME!" Ryohei shouted.

Tsuna winced at the volume.

"Shut up, herbivore or I'll bite you to death."

Ryohei ignored the threat and continued to talk (shout). "Let's extremely fight together next time, vampire! We're buddies now, but please don't turn me into a vampire. I don't think Kyoko would like that." His voice softened at the thought of his little sister.

Judging from Ryohei's enthusiasm, Hibari knew that the noisy herbivore would not stop pestering him. An irk mark appeared on his head. He turned to glare at his lion cub and lightly flicked his forehead. "Your fault."

"Hiiee, sorry." Tsuna rubbed his forehead and stared at Hibari with teary eyes. He knew Hibari hated loud human. He never thought that the boy named Ryohei would find them and consider Hibari as buddies when he asked Hibari to help the white-haired boy and his little sister that were bullied by a gang of high school students yesterday.

He saw the scared and worried look on the girl's face. And he saw the protectiveness from the white haired boy. They would win. Is what his heart (hyper intuition) told him. But, Tsuna still worried. They were up against five high school students. It would sure hurts a lot. So, he decided to call Hibari for help.

Tsuna snapped out from his flashbacks when Ryohei shook him fervently. "We're buddies too. Better yet, you can be my extreme little brother. So, tell me your name. My name is Sasagawa Ryohei."

Hibari doesn't appreciate how Ryohei keep shaking his little lion cub. So, he knocked Ryohei down with his tonfa. "Stop bothering my ko-raion."

Tsuna didn't bothered about the passed out Ryohei. His head was spinning from the extreme shaking.

When Tsuna and his mother visited the shrine during New Year, Tsuna prayed to God for the first time.

"Tsu-kun hoped that Kami-sama will protect and help them*."

Nana heard her son's first wish and couldn't help but being curious. "Who do you want kami-sama to protect, Tsu-kun?"

"Tsu…Tsu-kun doesn't know. The words came out from Tsu-kun's mouth on its own. But, Tsu-kun wants this wish to come true, kaa-san."

Nana's eyes softened. "I hope Tsu-kun's wish come true too." I also hope that Kami-sama will protect and help you, Tsu-kun.

Gokudera hated his whole family. He hated his father. He hated everyone that hide the truth about his mother from him. He was tempted to run away from home.

But then, there was that particular dream. The dream that invoked a feeling that he thought was lost and never be felt again ever since the death of his mother. Family warmth. It was just a once in a lifetime dream but the warmth stayed and for that, he's grateful to God.

Just when he thought that maybe there was still hope left for him, someone or something crushed it. There was a sudden chill that passed down his spine one evening and he couldn't feel the warmth anymore.

Screw this s***. I'm going to run away from home. (He somehow ended up with just a week after he ran away.)

Somewhere deep in the underground, a blue-haired boy finally snapped out from the endless life cycles that he was forced into for the first time. His right eye throbbed painfully and the amount of mental strain was too much for him to adjust. He almost gave up and succumbed back into the vicious dark cycles. But then, there was a sudden flick of warmth in his heart for just a mere second and that was enough for him to regain control of his own mind and his new power.

He yearned for the warmth again but it never came back to him. Ha, I knew it. It was just a trick of my own mind to cope with this. Feelings is for the weak after all. However, it didn't stop his left eye from letting out a single drop of tear before he began to massacre the whole Estraneo.

When Iemitsu and his boss came to visit again, Nana took the opportunity to leave Tsuna in Iemitsu's care. "Anata, can you stay here for a few days with Tsu-kun? I want to go back and visit my family but I don't think Tsu-kun is old enough to travel that far yet."

"Of course, dear. I'll take good care of our Tuna-fish. It's father and son bonding time." Iemitsu gave her a thumb up sign and laughed heartily.

Uneasiness. That's what she felt ever since she arrived in Italy. It's perfectly reasonable for her to felt that way. After all, it has been ten years since she last stepped her feet in this country. Tsu-kun is perfectly safe with Iemitsu right now. There's no way Iemitsu will let our son get hurt. At least that was what she thought.

When Nana came back, she finally understood the uneasy feelings that bothered her back then. Iemitsu has done something on Tsu-kun while I was not here. How could he? He promised to take good care of Tsu-kun.

Disappointment and regret flicked through her honey-brown eyes. She didn't even have a chance to ask Iemitsu what happened because that idiot husband of her has kissed her a goodbye and left for his works again on the very night she returned.

And just like in the past, he never left her his contact number to keep in touch. Only one of his colleague's phone number for emergency purpose. She could have used that to contact him but this wasn't a matter that could be talked over the phone.

Hibari wouldn't admit it, but he missed the little cub. Tsuna never visit the park again ever since Iemitsu came for a visit. From what he has gathered, Tsuna's health has been deteriorating and he was forced to stay home most of the time.

Even though he still see Tsuna every once in a while in school, the Tsuna that he saw was not the same lion cub that he knew. Something was just not right aside from Tsuna's weaker body and Hibari was sure that it has something to do with that father of Tsuna. He decided that the next time he saw that blond, he was going to bite him to death and fed him to the lions in the zoo. Life was boring without his lion cub after all.

He idly wondered whether his lion cub will return one day and turn into a lion.

TBC

A/n: them* refer to Mukuro and Gokudera who are in Italy now. Mukuro with his Estraneo problem and Gokudera with his family problem. Supposedly, this chapter would be about the flame sealing part, but, somehow, it ended with me writing this. In the middle of my lectures...for 3 days...

Also, I'm totally addicted to Rebocon songs right now. If you want to listen to Varia singing like they are drunk, go to youtube and listen to Tatta Latta-Varia version. XD