A/N: HAHAHA oh gosh I didn't realise until too late that most people wouldn't understand Spanner's explanation last chapter.

Spanner also finally got around to explaining what he'd done to Tsuna's guitar.

"I adjusted the effects of the sound waves it emits to resonate deep within the cochlear and affect the semicircular canals and the vestibular apparatus in the ears. It was supposed to work on adults only, but I guess I need to adjust it to your play style and singing."
Translation: The guitar affects a person's balance system (located in the ear) to paralyse them. As it is still developing in children (thus why they trip and fall easily) they are less affected. Tsuna's play style was too awesome and he ended up putting everyone to sleep.

I got some questions regarding my labelling this story 'Pre-Reborn'. This just means that this story is set literally before Reborn comes.

I also got a request for some of the Wreath's to appear. It's been about 5 years since I last watched Reborn! and the future arc. So, uh, I'll try if I can stick them somewhere.

Disclaimer: I do not own Reborn!

Please enjoy this chapter! :D

Tsuna was doing his morning rounds one day when he decided to check if his work bore fruit.

"EXTREEEEME LIL' BRO!"

Tsuna smiled, already used to Ryohei running enthusiastically next to his bike after doing this for two years. The boy was a grade above him, with short cropped white hair and a fervent love for boxing. He always jogged in the mornings before school, and since that was when Tsuna did his rounds, they met up often. For some reason the other thought that he was EXTREME for waking up early every morning and decided to adopt him even though Ryohei clearly didn't know who he was since Tsuna had not once been accosted in school despite passing the boy a few times. As for what he would be accosted for, well...

"YOU SHOULD JOIN THE BOXING CLUB I'LL DEFINITELY MAKE!"

Tsuna had no doubts that his senpai would. If by sheer willpower. Tsuna tugged at his cap with a hand, and offered a shy smile. "Sorry, Onii-san, but I don't have any interest in it."

Ryohei just grinned. "THEN I'LL MAKE YOU INTERESTED TO THE EXTREME!"

Tsuna winced and sighed, knowing there was just nothing he could do about getting the message across.

"AH, I'M HERE." Ryohei skidded to a stop at a corner and grinned at the brunet. "I'LL SEE YOU TOMORROW LIL' BRO."

Tsuna tilted his cap and offered a wave. "Bye, Onii-san!"

Continuing down the road, letting the machine in front of him throw newspapers into passing mailboxes with complete accuracy, Tsuna hummed to himself, enjoying the peaceful silence again as he finished his neighbourhood rounds.

When he was done, he headed downtown, where the streets were much busier. But instead of heading for the small road down which Brown-san's store resided, he headed up the main road.

He wanted to check on something.

Arriving, Tsuna stopped and stared at the shiny new shopping complex before breaking out into an ecstatic grin.

Yes!

Takeshi had easily gotten used to Shōichi and Spanner's quirks, they were really enthusiastic when it came to ideas and gadgets and easily entered into conversation that neither he nor Tsuna were able to follow completely. Spanner also had a habit of muttering to himself in English when he was really focused.

As did Tsuna when he was sometimes drawing on large pieces of paper or typing on his laptop. Though Takeshi wasn't sure if the brunet was speaking English.

They often met up after school to go to Brown-san's. Spanner and Shōichi had quickly explained that Tsuna worked, which Takeshi thought was awesome. Sure, he helped out at his dad's store, but that was different. Though as of yet, he wasn't sure exactly what Tsuna's job was.

Really, Tsuna seemed like an ordinary, and adorable ten year old kid who had amazing insight and was kinder than anyone.

So he was kind of surprised to suddenly be kidnapped by the newspaper delivery kid on his way to school.

That being said, Takeshi also thought the newspaper delivery kid was pretty cool after an incident last year where he'd been practicing baseball alone at the park one morning. The incident involved a baseball, a newspaper shooting machine and an unfortunate accident that had Yamamoto suddenly batting rapid-fire newspapers. The kid was upset, but more over Takeshi's health than the fact that he'd lost all his papers. Takeshi had been fine so they shared an awkward laugh, shook hands and gathered up the stray papers so that the kid could return to doing his job. Since then, Takeshi always made sure to greet the kid when he rode by.

So he was even more surprised to find out that the kid was actually Tsuna. (And kind of upset because he could have gotten to know the brunet earlier in that case.)

"Whoa, haha, I never recognised you Tsuna!"

Tsuna looked really happy, his eyes shone and his cheeks were flushed. His cap would have flown off at the speed he was riding had he not kept one hand on it. "Morning Takeshi!" He called, apparently not hearing him. "It's a great morning isn't it?!"

Takeshi just grinned, Tsuna was emitting a giddy aura that made him want to join in.

They skidded to a stop at a normal house. Tsuna was dashing up the porch before Takeshi even registered that they'd stopped, letting himself in with a greeting and within a minute had a half awake Shōichi who'd obviously spent the night sleeping in the clothes he had on, rubbing his eyes tiredly. Tsuna also had a metal case which he set out into another bike and attached it to the back of his in record speed before jumping onto the front and racing off. Yamamoto took the back half supporting the red head.

Next stop was Tsuna's house where the brunet grabbed a slightly more awake Spanner and dragged him along too.

And then they raced to the downtown area where the stores had opened, and traffic was thicker. Tsuna weaved through expertly and stopped in front of the new shopping centre in the market area that had yet to be opened. It advertised the opening time as that weekend.

Tsuna parked the double bike and they got off. He quickly packed them back into their case forms before dragging everyone to a side entrance. He punched in a code and the door beeped open for them.

Tsuna was almost skipping as he led the way to a wall which slid open to reveal a lift and took out a keycard which he inserted into the slot. The top floor lit up and the lift started moving, so smoothly it felt almost like it wasn't.

By this time the other three were completely awake and dying of curiosity.

Then they got to the top floor.

It was floor to ceiling glass on all sides, showing off the quiet suburb of Namimori. It wasn't exactly skyscraper tall; Namimori wasn't big enough to need such a big shopping centre but the building still stood well over any others.

The centre of the floor had the rooms. Plenty of bedrooms, a fully functioning kitchen and a dining room, a living room slash games room, a music room, and a what Tsuna dubbed as the 'gadgets room' which he made sure was large. There were a bunch of empty rooms too.

"We've also got the basement levels under the car park," Tsuna said, chattering away cheerfully. "It's probably best to do the dangerous experiments down there since I asked the builders to make sure it was reinforced with the best materials and it should be near indestructible." Tsuna stopped and added with a knowing glance at Spanner, "like our car." The blond grinned.

"You can go up to the roof too, there's a pool there, and a garden and greenhouse," Tsuna finished with a flourish. Looking expectantly at his friends, he asked, "any questions?"

"We get all this space?!" Shōichi bust out, incredulous.

"Yep, I adjusted the building plans for the extra floors and the secret lift a few years ago. I can't believe it's finally done!" Tsuna lifted his arms in fervour, grin as wide at the sky. "You have no idea how much stuff went wrong during construction! It was a headache and a half I tell you!"

"And we can finally move your mess away from Brown-san's place and you can even generate more mess and it'll be so great!" Tsuna was practically jumping in glee. "We can even move our car! Ah, but pay for your own materials and stuff. I had to pay the extra costs for these personal additions too." Which had not been cheap, but then Tsuna was the stand-in CEO for Takarada so his pay covered it and he still had plenty left in his savings from the last two years.

Shōichi was tearing up, too moved to bother being insulted at his stuff being called a 'mess' again as he hugged Tsuna. "Thanks, Tsuna-san."

Spanner offered a hug too, and Takeshi was pulled in, unsure of what exactly was going on but he really didn't care as long as Tsuna was happy.

Hibari Kyoya was a terrifying force of nature. No one would dispute that.

And if they did they would end up exactly like the multitude of yakuza members that lay groaning in front of the boy.

Hibari grunted, his blood thirsty gaze returning to an indifferent one now that all the herbivores had been thoroughly bitten to death.

He would have to get Kusakabe here to clean up.

Recalling the thing they'd dared to take from him to try drawing him out, he made sure to step on the men particularly hard as he started walking down the old worn stairs.

Now that he thought of it, these herbivores had been chasing another herbivore when he'd arrived. That herbivore was gone now. Hibari shrugged.

One of the men who was still conscious, staggered upward, a gun in hand. The Yakuza had strict policies concerning firearms and pointing them at civilians -and Hibari was still that despite being demonically violent. This man was too angry to care as he aimed for the small retreating back, finger on the trigger.

Hibari, his battles senses flaring, turned, his eyes narrowing at the sight of the illegal firearm.

The man fell and knocked his head against the stone stairs as something heavy dropped onto his back.

Only a slight widening of Hibari's eyes showed his surprise at the boy who stood on the man. The boy wore a yukata dyed in autumn colours and a fox mask, the red markings on it standing out from the white. Two lit lanterns on a stick swung behind him, throwing shadows around. And a familiar yellow poof ball sat perched in his wild hair.

Hibari's eyes narrowed at the last item.

The fox jumped off the man and kicked the gun away before turning to Hibari.

The yellow puff flew off the boy's head and to Hibari, chirping cheerfully. "Hibari! Hibari! Fox save Hibird!"

The not-yet-a-prefect lowered his hostile aura as the bird landed on his head, snuggling comfortably into his hair. He continued to watch the fox who kept a wary distance away.

Hibari stepped forward.

The fox tensed, but didn't back away.

Another step.

Hibari did not go to anyone, being the independent child he was. But he did understand when he owed someone and this herbi- foxes were scavengers weren't they?- then, omnivore (only Hibari was allowed to be the carnivore in this city) had not only protected what was his but had also stopped that yakuza from firing a gun at him, though he had no doubt he could have avoided it.

Another few steps had the boy in front of the fox, who was slightly shorter than him. Hibari paused, wondering how one went about this when the fox moved first.

It unhooked one of its lanterns and held it out to him.

Hibari stared at it for a few seconds before taking it, his slim fingers brushing against the fox's warm ones for a moment before the lantern was relinquished to him. The paper side had two intricate birds painted on it, and a flame flickered in its centre.

"Your parents, Hibari-san."

Hibari's head shot up to find the fox gone. The boy's face twisted in a scowl.

He refused to participate in the herbivorous Obon festival.

Sometimes, Tsuna wondered why he let his friends drag him along to these sorts of things.

Probably because he had no say whatsoever when it came to all this nonsense.

Again, it was Spanner's fault. And Takeshi's for encouraging the blond.

Tsuna thought it was bad enough when they'd gone to the Obon festival (due to the blond's love for all things Japanese no less) and he had the pleasure of meeting Hibari -thank god he had that mask- But this trumped it.

Ninja training. Really, Spanner? Where did the blond even find this program?

The sensei didn't even look Japanese!

"Whoa, haha, damn!" Takeshi emerged cheerfully from behind a thick tree trunk, a shuriken barely missing the young boy.

"Gotta do better than that, kora! You'll never find me at this rate!" The loud voice of their sensei blasted from the above canopy.

Incidentally, their sensei was about a foot tall, wore a pacifier and, let him reiterate, was definitely not Japanese.

Tsuna sighed and quickly swung down from his branch just as a row of kunai embedded into the trunk.

He grumbled inside his mind as he leapt into the next tree as a large breeze blew by, making sure to match his pace with that of the rustling leaves.

Two weeks. Two weeks out of their short winter break being used for this crazy training camp that was falsely advertised as 'recreational'.

After the fifty second time Tsuna fell into that freezing cold lake while trying to learn to balance on thin stalks of bamboo, he was sure that this was torture.

Takeshi held up well, but then Takeshi also leaned kendo from his father. Plus, he still played baseball. He was probably the only one who was athletically inclined enough to survive this hellish camp.

Spanner just got a kick out of wearing their uniforms; freaking ninja costumes. Tsuna still wasn't sure if making them in exchange for the custom drawing tablet was worth it.

Tsuna stilled, crouching on the sturdy tree branch as his eyes shifted around. There. He threw one of the many shuriken he'd kept on his person. Especially after the first night where Colonnello-sensei had literally barged in, beat them up, and proceeded to tell them that they must always be prepared.

And did the same the successive nights after that.

At the rate this was going, Tsuna was going to be paranoid for life.

There was a clang of metal meeting metal and a flash of blond hair and pearly white teeth. "Not bad, kora! But you still haven't caught me!"

Tsuna smiled angelically, flicking his wrist. The invisible wires, courtesy of Shōichi, activated a series of needles, tipped with neurotoxin. They flew to where the baby was.

Colonnello jumped out of the way, and into a net of the invisible wires. The baby was quick to slice through them, leaping to the ground below with a pleased smirk. "Not yet, kora!"

Another batch of needles pierced the ground as Colonnello leapt up, and into a shocking tidal wave of water. Electricity ran through another wire and into the water.

Tsuna leapt out of his tree, a knife in hand (firearms weren't permitted, so he couldn't use his taser gun, ironic considering Colonnello-sensei's love for his guns) and Takeshi emerged from where he'd made the wave. Spanner's head popped out, upside down from where he sat with his legs swung over a branch with a device in his hand. Shōichi emerged from behind a tree, another device in hand in case their sensei made it.

Six days in had taught them a lot about underestimating their baby teacher.

There was a bright blue flash as the water splashed loudly against the ground. And their Colonnello-sensei emerged, wet but without a scratch. He grinned at them. "That was great, kora! I'll let you take it before Shōichi there decides to set off the explosives."

The red head sighed in relief, with a little hint of disappointment as he wouldn't get to try out his new invention.

"Now let's move onto hand to hand! Kora!"

Tsuna and Shōichi shared a quiet groan. They weren't even sure how they would survive this 'recreational' camp.

"I feel like someone's watching me at school," Tsuna announced one day.

He, Shōichi, Spanner and Takeshi were at the Takezushi after school, sharing a large serving of sushi. Takeshi's father, Yamamoto Tsuyoshi, was more than happy to welcome the kids after seeing his son's genuine smile upon his return from the overnight trip.

Incidentally, Tsuna had called the shop from Kyoto when everyone was asleep to tell the older man what happened to his son that time. Tsuyoshi grinned, the brunet had a good sense of responsibility.

"Hm, who, Tsuna?" Takeshi asked.

Tsuna tilted his head, his lips pursed in thought.

"Well, it could be just me being paranoid. I mean, after that 'ninja training' camp," the brunet shot a glare at the blond who grinned in retaliation, "I've actually got a habit of hiding weapons on me! How absurd is that!"

Takeshi grinned. "It was fun, wasn't it? Colonnello-sensei even said we're ready to be real ninja!"

"Aren't real ninja just assassins?" Shōichi muttered.

"I hope you boys aren't going for a career in crime," Yamamoto-san commented with a chuckle. He was completely serious, of course.

Spanner shrugged while Shōichi rubbed the back of his head guiltily. The two tried to make sure that their hacking jobs weren't for evil means but hacking itself was considered illegal.

"Haha, I'll follow whatever Tsuna chooses to do!" Takeshi said with a firm nod.

"What?! I thought you were going into professional baseball!" Tsuna cried in protest and could only stare in horror as Shōichi and Spanner nodded to the baseball star's words.

"Seriously?! Guys!"

Yamamoto Tsuyoshi joined the boys laughter at the brunet's expense as he ruffled that crazy unruly mop of brown hair. "It seems I'll be leaving my Takeshi in your care, he's a bit of an airhead so please treat him kindly," he said fondly. After all, Tsuna had gotten his son's smile back and gave him a determination that he'd been unable to refuse when his son came back, bowed in seiza and begged to learn the sword off him.

"Dad!" But Takeshi was grinning, taking no offence.

Tsuna blushed fervently as he ducked his head. Then he gave a loud sigh before looking up with a smile, his expression resigned but tenderly fond.

"I will."

Later, he would punch Spanner for saying it was like the scene of a father handing his daughter off to be married.

E/N: So here was attempt no.1 on Hibari. More Takeshi bonding and Spanner's genius obsession with the Japanese coming into play. Heh.