Disclaimer: Not mine derp.

A/N: So uh. Late. I have no excuses. Same as usual, if I messed up somewhere or you think it would have flowed better somewhere, feel free to tell me~ Not a lot of humor or fluff..slight angst cuz I've been reading too much angst DX Anyways, enjoy urgh. If you have any questions, ask. But wao, 240+ follows *sobs* THANKSSOMUCHHH

Chapter 5

At approximately 10 O'clock, a certain brunet practically leapt up from his bed after a realization hit him. Tsuna faintly wondered how could he have forgotten. It was no wonder it wasn't working! He groaned, rubbing his face with his hands. It was so important too! He massaged his temples before flopping back into bed, burying his head into his pillow- a single thought in his head.

"..They're gonna kill me.."

Rings.

They were the key to summon flames, or some other sort of conductor would help too. Now that he thought about, Tsuna remembered someone saying that the rings were a conductor that allowed others to form their flames easier. No wonder they couldn't do it well. The past few weeks were spent rigorously attempting to summon bigger flames instead of those little puffs of heat and smoke. Hana and Kyoko were getting slightly annoyed by their lack of progress while Hibari was well- pissed for a lack of a better word. The sparring match after those flame training sessions were extremely painful.

Well, at least he was getting better at dodging.

He shifted as he continued his walk to..well- no specific destination. He was too preoccupied with his thoughts to care though. Where could he get special rings? He truly didn't know how he was going to find the suitable conductors. His guardians used the Vongola rings but clearly they were not available. Even his special gloves were made from Leon. He sighed irritably, running his hands through his rumpled brown locks.

This was going to be a pain.

The brunet blinked as he felt something wet on his cheeks, a drip, then another. It was raining. Tsuna sighed, looking up, and then blinked in surprise as he focused his gaze on a shop. When the heck did he get here? The shop looked a little bit familiar though..Kakusareta. Hidden. What kind of store was named 'Hidden'? It was pretty suspicious. He was snapped out of his thoughts as droplets of rain pelted down on him and he yelped at the sudden chill. The brunet pouted, trying to block the rain before resigning and rushing into the (highly suspicious) store. He hoped it wasn't some sort of shady store.

The inside was warm and comfortable, and Tsuna eyed the aligning shelves curiously. The store was filled with random trinkets and gadgets, ranging from old toys, clay pots, to little dressers. There was practically all sorts of stuff. He continued to go deeper into the store, glancing at all the different objects on the dark, wooden shelves. Wind chimes, potted plants, bracelets, little jade statues, ornaments of all kinds. It seemed as if the store had everything. Despite the many items though, the store was oddly empty. Not even the owner seemed to be here.

"Looking for something?"

Tsuna jumped, spinning around quickly. He hadn't even noticed him! "Wha-" the brunet paused, mouth open as he stared at the figure in front of him in shock.

"Kawahira-san!"

The white haired-man gave him a bored look, a bowl of noodles in hand. "Why hello there, Vongola."

The brunet simply gawked at him- "You...how did you-"

The man eyed the boy curiously, shifting his glasses before slurping in more noodles. "Two souls in one body..no- it's a merge now." he noted.

"Wha-"

The man smiled, eyes crinkling. "Such a thing is easy for me to tell, Vongola." Tsuna didn't say any more, too busy being speechless at seeing him here. "Anyways, what brings you to my humble shop?"

"..Your shop? I thought you were a realtor."

"It was getting rather boring." he explained with a wave of his hand. "I thought opening a shop would be better."

"...I see." To be honest, Tsuna did not see at all. Why the heck would he open a shady shop?

"Now..what do you need?"

The brunet blinked, not understanding. "I...don't need anything."

Kawahira gave him a bland look. "Only those who need something notice this store, it's covered by a special illusion after all."

Tsuna flushed, feeling rather dumb at the moment. "Eh? Oh." So that was why he had never seen the store before. "Um..I was looking for some rings." he admitted.

"Rings?"

"Yeah, to make conducting flames easier. I-" he paused. "My friends will need them."

The silver haired man's lips quirked into a small smile. "Well, I suppose it's not right to keep you waiting." The brunet looked at him, brows furrowing, what did he mea-

Tsuna yelped as a box was suddenly thrown his way, and his hands fumbled with it, barely catching it. "Phew.." the boy glanced at the wooden box, a single metal clasp holding it shut. "What.."

"Your rings." The brunet blinked at the man in surprise, how did he get it so fast? Unless...he was waiting for him. "T-thank you...the price?" he questioned, cheeks warming.

Kawahira smiled once again, and only replied with a simple- "Free. As a repayment for my debt." He paused for a moment before tapping Tsuna's forehead with two fingers. "And...bottling it in will only do more harm." he added cryptically as an after thought.

"What debt? And-" And then he was alone, once again outside as the rain pelted down gently all around.

The shop was no longer there.

Tsuna only opened the box when he arrived at home, safe and sound- and had holed himself in his room with a lax sigh. He rubbed a towel against his dripping fluffy hair, vowing to take a shower right after. First he would check them out, he was quite curious about the rings after all. Would they have some sort of mark? Gently lifting the clasp, he blinked at what he found, frowning. No, it wasn't the rings that were the problem. They were beautifully crafted, with simple semi-thick sliver bands that had some markings carved onto it (each had different markings, some resembled clouds, rain and etc) and flat coloured orbs (with the respective guardian colours) that seemed to be made of some sort of glass or crystal. It seemed to sparkle and shine when it was shifted. But that wasn't the problem, the problem was the amount of rings.

Instead of the three rings he was expecting- there were two..four..six. Six rings. Storm, sun, lightning, rain, cloud and mist. He had been expecting two cloud rings (for Hana and Hibari) and one mist ring (for Kyoko). But now that he thought about it, he hadn't really told the man what rings he wanted. There was only one ring of each type, so that meant that Hibari wouldn't be able to get one. He frowned, biting the bottom of his lip. In a way, it did make sense for the skylark not to get one since his ring was the Vongola Cloud ring, but that wouldn't stop Hibari from biting him to death (he would not be pleased). Tsuna groaned, grabbing a ring and studying it, turning it around, when something glinted and caught his attention.

The boy blinked, before staring at it. It was some sort of engraving...Upon seeing it, Tsuna inwardly sobbed. He didn't ask for this! Now he was just being mean! The brunet placed the ring onto the table gently, before running to the bathroom. Time to go dunk his head into a bucket, it would be better then slamming his head against the wall.

On the table, the light bounced off the ring- reflecting four simple letters that were neatly engraved in the inside of the band.

'Niji'.

"...So this is supposed to help." Hana muttered, eyeing the ring carefully. "Are you sure? It looks like some cheap toy ring." It was a pretty nice ring, Hana had to admit. The orb was a nice shade of purple and the carvings on the silver band were elegant. Like clouds drifting in the wind.

The brunet nodded, he had given the ring to Hana first since he saw her first, but he would hand the mist ring to Kyoko later. She was out doing something. "It does seem a bit childish, but it's definitely not some cheap toy." Well..it was technically cheap since it was free. But it definitely wasn't a toy! Or at least he didn't think it was. She glanced at the ring again and blinked, noticing something.

Her lips quirked into a smile as she lazily waved the ring around. "And I thought you didn't like the group name."

Tsuna gave her a bland look, cheeks warming. "..I don't."

"Hmm..whatever you say." Satisfied with what she saw, she slid the ring onto her finger, only to find it loose. "It's too bi-" The ring throbbed- and then shrunk, sitting on her finger snugly. Her eyebrows rose in disbelief. "What the heck?"

Tsuna rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Magic?" he suggested, which earned him a scowl. "Just concentrate and try to form the flames. You'll understand then."

The brunette frowned, but listened to him any ways. Tsuna didn't lie after all. She concentrated, thinking the same thoughts she always did when she was practising. The ring erupted with purple flames and she sucked in a gasp, her eyes widening. It was a whole lot easier with the ring.

Tsuna simply grinned.

"It's a really pretty ring!" Kyoko smiled, amber eyes shining. The indigo orb glinted prettily in the light and she couldn't help but marvel at the delicate carvings. They were some kind of swirls that resembled wind, but the ginger felt it was more like mist. "And it will help with our flames?"

Tsuna nodded, happy that she was taking the news so well. He tilted his head towards Hana- who sighed and showed the ginger how her flames just bursted from the ring on her finger. Kyoko blinked in amazement, before sliding the ring into her finger- and just like Hana's, it resized to fit her finger nicely. "Woah! This is really cool!" she giggled.

Hana nodded reluctantly. "It is. The engraving was a nice touch too." she admitted.

Tsuna inwardly shrunk back while Kyoko tilted her head in question. "Engraving?"

"It says 'niji' on the inside." Kyoko practically jumped up in excitement at that, and Tsuna found it rather strange now. When did she become so excitable? She was always calm, polite, and happy like the sun. She was like a flower...Tsuna's eyes widened as he saw an older Kyoko, smiling and giggling. He blinked, and the image was gone- only leaving the little Kyoko, jumping with joy. Tsuna felt something cold wash over him, his chest constricting. It seemed that both girls noticed his discomfort as they were looking at him now, all trace of happiness gone- a worried look splashed on both their faces.

"What's wrong, Tsuna?" Kyoko asked, and Tsuna couldn't help but wonder when did she start call him 'Tsuna' instead of 'Tsuna-kun'.

He hid a grimace and gave them both bright smiles. "It's nothing, just feeling a bit tired." As much as he hated lying, Tsuna was a pretty good liar when it really mattered.

When it was for the sake of his friends.

Hana narrowed her dark eyes, not convinced. Tsuna simply continued to smile, staring right into her eyes. She looked away after a few moments, agitated as she flipped her hair back. And Kyoko...Kyoko had a weird expression on her face, one Tsuna couldn't identify oddly. Her brows were drawn together, so she looked worried- but there was something else in her eyes.

"Hana-chan, lets go and leave Tsuna-kun for a while so he could rest, okay?" Tsuna felt slightly comforted by the fact that she returned back to using 'kun', and he felt his heart lighten, as if a burden was taken away. Hana glanced at him, and then back at the ginger before nodding slowly. "Alright." Even if she didn't like it, she could be patient when she needed to do.

"Sorry you guys.." he apologized, looking at the pillow on his bed, disinterestedly. "Maybe some sleep will help." He didn't sound like he believed it at all.

Both Kyoko and Hana didn't believe it for a second either.

Sawada Tsunayoshi, the 7 but almost 8 year old boy who had 2 friends, and 1 semi-friend.

Sawada Tsunayoshi, the 26 year old (29 if you count his recent years) Mafia boss who died protecting those who he loved.

Which was he?

Tsuna tightened his grip around his pillow, burrowing his head into it. It was as if cold water had been dumped on him, the sinking realization made him want to cry. He always did wonder why he didn't try to befriend Takeshi, no- Yamamoto. (He wasn't Takeshi, not anymore.) Why he didn't seek out Hayato or Lambo in Italy. Why he didn't bother to go look for any of his guardians. Why he had befriended Kyoko and Hana instead of his past friends.

He was scared.

That little boy who was in his class and loved baseball? That wasn't Takeshi. He wasn't the super tall boy lugging a sword around. And Tsuna was pretty sure that Hayato wouldn't be Hayato either. And Hibari? He remained unchanged, always neutral, impulsive, rash. Tsuna had no doubt that if he was not forced into such circumstances, the brunet would've avoided him like the plague as well (if only not to get beat up). But the skylark was practically the same. Perhaps that was why he hadn't freaked out when Tsuna met him. He still had his tonfas, his voice was different and he was a lot younger, but he was the same. The skylark was his constant.

But recently...Whenever Hibari gave Tsuna a annoyed but not unkind look, a light hit as if he was reprimanding him- or hell, hang around him willingly (rare)-Tsuna would inwardly cringe. It was wrong. All wrong. Hibari was supposed to be the ruthless Cloud who only helped when his family was in need.

And as for Hana and Kyoko, a small part him knew why he had chosen to befriend them first. Hana, the girl who was part of his family through Ryohei, he didn't know much about her. She was always snarky and sarcastic, and she remained unchanged for the most part, just a bit more gentler and smiled a bit more. And Kyoko? She was his sun, she smiled a lot and was always just so kind. She called him 'Tsuna-kun'. But here, the ginger seemed more happy, which made Tsuna glad- but she was also more excitable and perhaps even mischievous at times?

They weren't the same as before and it made him so, so afraid. Their images just seemed to overlap and they changed. He had managed to bury these thoughts in the deepest pits of his mind, but they were yet again dug up painfully, or rather- they exploded.

But the worse thing was his own selfishness. He viewed these..kids (because thats what they were) as his past friends, Tsuna thought that he knew their habits, and expected these younger ones to be the same. He forced his views onto them, he had tried to match up what he thought he knew of their future selves to their current selves. It was selfish of him to do so, but he couldn't help it. He could only see their future selves inside of them.

And the thing he was most terrified over was reliving his life over. The battle with Mukuro, the battle with the Varia, Byakuran, Enma, all these different battles. How could he relive this life if he knew what was going to happen? How could he let his friends get hurt when he could possibly prevent it? Let Mukuro be locked in Vindice? He had avoided thinking about his plans for the future, and how to avoid the events because he didn't know what to do. What he should do. What would be right?

He had died vowing that if he another chance, he would change everything.

Knowing the future was a burden on his shoulders, and not for the first time- Tsuna hated the situation.

Sunday morning came and Tsuna woke up groggily, still taxed from yesterday's thoughts. He allowed himself to slide of the warm bed- and headed for the bathroom. Tsuna was feeling slightly better, but his dark thoughts were still in the back of his head, a easily reachable place.

He greeted his mother somewhat warmly, glad that at least she hadn't changed. He ate breakfast like normal and left the house. He had to think, and he had a feeling that Hana and Kyoko would come to visit him. He wasn't avoiding them per say, he..he just wanted some time to think, to clear away his muddled thoughts. It wasn't fair after all. He shouldn't be viewing them like their past selves, they were different. Weren't they?

Tsuna sighs, and then blinks at a passing figure, eyes wide. "Hibari-san?"

The boy in turn glowers at the brunet, looking rather sullen. He's pouting, Tsuna thinks as he sees the raven stop to glare at him. It was true that Hibari was pretty much the same as...future Hibari, but his glares were certainly more..cuter? He still had a slight baby ace, so he looked semi-harmless. Except for the glare of course. The glare was the thing that scared others away, normal children usually didn't glare like him.

The brunet absently noted that he was not carrying his tonfas. Not that that would mean anything of course, he could have been magically hiding it in his clothes like usual. The brunet always did wonder where he hid them though...

"Hn." Ah- another thing Tsuna had to work on. The skylark's communication skills were well..not going to change any time soon, so Tsuna really should start trying to understand his grunts. And his growls. And his expressions. Might as well add in his glares too. He never had the time before, Hibari was always too busy crushing other families and biting them to death.

Tsuna thought that the raven had many different type of glares, the 'How-dare-you-I-will-end-you' glare, the 'You're-annoying' glare, the 'I-can't-believe-I-know-you' glare, and lastly, the 'Death/Evil' glare. Tsuna thought that he was rather proficient at reading glares.

"..Why do you talk with grunts and glares?" he asked curiously. Tsuna didn't know what made him ask the question, perhaps he just wanted to know. Perhaps he just wanted the skylark to wail on him, the brunet felt like a good beating might be needed to clear his head.

Huh.

Wanting to get beat up. Well that was new.

The skylark glowered at him.

"You're just proving my point." he pointed out.

He switched to his death glare.

Wow. (Chibi or not) Apparently years of seeing the death glare did not provide immunity. Tsuna hid a grimace. "...well then. How are you?"

A scowl.

"Say something?"

"Hn."

Tsuna facepalmed. " I give up."

A blank look.

"Herbivore."

"Hm?" Tsuna glanced up, wondering if the raven was finally going to say something.

"..I will bite you to death."

Ah. The wonders of speech.

Tsuna arrived home, nursing several bruises and regretting everything. That beating did not clear his head. In fact, IT MADE IT WORSE. Hibari had beaten him with a STICK because he did not have his tonfas. A freakin stick! Seeing the raven beat him with a stick of all things was hilarious, and he had erupted in laughter-which made the skylark even madder.

The boy sometimes wondered if his lack of preservation was because of Reborn. He shook the thought away, he didn't want to open that can of worms. He could wait until his tutor actually came first.

"I'm home."

"Welcome home, Tsu-kun!" his mother greeted cheerfully before coming out of the kitchen. Nana blinked, eyeing the bruises before smiling. "Training with Hibari-kun again?" Training, that was what he told his mother- and it really wasn't a lie. It was a training of sorts. "Come on, I'll put some ointment on them."

He nodded, trailing after her. Tsuna entered the kitchen, plopping down on a chair. Nana began to clean his wounds and silence fell upon them. The brunette glanced up at her son, and was greeted with a rather spacy look. His chocolate brown eyes seemed to be drifting somewhere else, dark and dazed. His hair only seemed to make the scene more somber, covering parts of his eyes.

"..What's wrong Tsu-kun? You have been acting weird lately." she said softly, brown orbs concentrating on the brunet's wounds. "Hana and Kyoko-chan came by you know..they left when you weren't here."

Tsuna gulped silently, looking away. "I.." he choked. What could he say? He felt so frustrated with himself, and so guilty! He wanted to tell the truth, if only to let go of the burden that weighed down his heart. He wanted to tell her that he wasn't his 'Tsu-kun' that he was actually a 26 year old man. That he couldn't handle talking to his best friends because he was a coward. He had so much to tell, but he didn't tell her any of it. "It's..nothing."

Nana paused in her work, glancing up at him with soft eyes. "Sometimes..it feels like you're a lot older, helping me with dishes, buying groceries for me. Other kids are outside playing..free. You don't have to."

"But I want-"

"Shhh.." She looked down again as she continued. "You already help out a lot Tsu-kun. I want you to be happy. You can tell me anything, you know. Tsu-kun, you're only 7, don't keep everything inside. Depend on me...even if it seems like I'm useless, I'm still your mother."

The brunet was speechless, never had his mother ever said anything like that. She was always smiling, he didn't remember a time where she was so serious. And she thought she was useless? Guilt gnawed at him, And..her words hit him right in the heart, and suddenly, all he wanted to do was to curl up by her side and tell her everything. But he couldn't...could he?

"Okaa-san, you're not useless! It's just..I..well.." he struggled to find the right words. "I have a friend, But I haven't seen him for a while. He's..very different from before...He isn't the friend I had before. I thought to myself that 'I didn't know this person.'"

Nana blinked and then looked at him again, smiling as she swept his bangs to the side. "Tsu-kun, you're so silly."

Tsuna frowned as his brows twisted in confusion. What? Was his problem really silly?

The brunette sighed, wrapping slender arms around her only son as she pulled him into her lap. She noted that though the brunet was smaller than most boys, he was almost too big for her lap now. Her son was growing up...she felt her eyes water at this. "Tsu-kun, you know- no one ever knows a person totally inside and out, people change- of course they're different." Nana felt her son stiffen at this and she allowed her hands to rub circles around his back. Under her ministrations, she felt him relax again as he rested his head on her shoulder.

She continued. "It only means that they're showing a new side to you that you haven't seen before. So..it's okay. You'll learn even more things about him and get even closer." she whispered, patting his head as he nuzzled her neck, seeking comfort.

Tsuna was silent, completely still as his mother soothed him with her words and ministrations. Her words were bouncing in his head, erasing his doubts and he finally felt light again. And as he closed his eyes-allowing sleep to come to them- he accepted them.

That night, he dreamt of rainbows, his mother and her amazing pastries, Kyoko, Hana, his beloved famiglia and Reborn, who was looking at him like he was an idiot.

Unsurprisingly, Tsuna didn't mind.

Kyoko didn't know what to do.

Her friend was hurting and she didn't know what to do!

It pained her so much that she couldn't help, the ginger was always the one to put bandages on him. Physical wounds she could help with, but mental ones? She was at a complete loss.

She wasn't sure if Hana had saw it, but she did. It was a split second, but she had saw it.

He had look disoriented and dazed at first, before his eye showed pure, unadulterated, fear. He had looked so terrified and she could feel him draw back, backpedaling so quickly. She could feel him distancing from her. But what could she do? She only smiled, and she doubted that that would help. She stifled a moan by burying her head into her pillow, wishing she could make him feel better.

"Kyoko?"

The ginger blinked, lifting her head up from the pillow. A figure stood by her door, white silverish hair gleaming.

"..Onii-san?"

The boy grunted, trudging into her room and flopping onto the floor. "What's wrong?" Her lips quivered weakly as she debated about unloading her problems on her older brother. He could be silly sometimes, but he was strong and always there for her. He was the best brother she could ever ask for.

"My friend is sad." Kyoko inwardly berated herself on how dumb the sentence sounded.

She could see his brows twist in confusion, "Which one?"

Though Ryohei had never actually met his little sister's best friends, she had talked about them quite a lot. Tsuna-kun with his bright eyes and cheerful smiles, a bit shy and clumsy. Hana-chan with her sharp glares but protective nature, intelligent and blunt. Kyoko was a lot happier with them, and Ryohei was relieved to see his sister making new friends.

"...Tsuna..kun." she added the last bit as an afterthought. It felt...kinda wrong, truthfully. Shouldn't she call him Tsuna-kun? But a part of her wanted to call the brunet Tsuna. Just Tsuna. They were friends weren't they?

Ryohei smiled, jumping up in excitement. "Your care for him is to the extreme!" he exclaimed, nodding sagely, "All you have to do is be there for him Kyoko!"

Kyoko blinked, not surprised at her brother's usual antics and wording, but baffled all the same. "Be there for him?"

The boy nodded eagerly, "He'll know that you will always be with him that way. If he needs to talk, you'll be there to listen to the extreme!"

Kyoko bit her lip in thought. Would that help? She gave her brother a small smile before nodding.

She was patient, she could wait for him.

Hana and Kyoko are greeted warmly by Tsuna the next day, to their utmost surprise. Tsuna doesn't look troubled or sad, and Kyoko feels so, so relieved. He apologizes about before and smiles his usual warm smile and only then do the girls relax. Hana and Kyoko simply shared a look, exchanging silent words.

Never again.

Hana nods, seemingly understanding Kyoko's silent message. Never again, will they allow him to wallow in sadness or be troubled. They would not be so useless and confused on what to do next time.

Next time, they would be ready.

From gun wielding babies to rainbow colored flames, it's a wonder how Tsuna could have possibly thought that he could have died normally.

Thank you for the reviews! I really do appreciate them, sorry if I don't respond at times. I just forget otl. If you have any questions, I suggest you pm me? Sorry that no new characters pop up. Need to make Tsuna think about the future a bit.