I don't think I can be happier. Over 200? Favs and follows? I can't believe it... I'm overjoyed, honest. Thank you, everyone, for everything and for reading this story :)

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Words: 2638.

Enjoy!


07 – Kokuyo


It was a quarter past seven in the morning. Reborn walked past Ienari's room and climbed down the stairs to the kitchen. Tsuna was already preparing breakfast, mails on the table, with his uniform on. He turned to the hitman as the latter sat, crossing his legs.

"Good morning, Reborn."

"Morning."

He turned on the coffee maker. "No training?"

"No." The man carefully studied the other. "Today we will go on a mission, your brother needs his energy."

"A mission, huh…" The coffee was offered to him. "I don't think I'd be of any help, so… Good luck and… stay safe, if possible."

Reborn almost forgot what he wanted to ask him because of the affection just showed. Almost. He sighed.

"There is one thing you can do."

Tsuna sat with a mug of honeyed milk. "Really?"

The hitman nodded. "Leon is in cocoon state, I'd prefer not to move him too much. He's unstable and tends to morph every few seconds."

"And what can I do?"

"Take him with you. I'll tell you via phone where and when to bring him to me."

Tsuna nodded. "Okay, I will. You already have my phone number, right?"

"Of course." He smirked. "Now, I have a question." The brunette arched a brow. "Why did you fake happiness yesterday night?"

The flinch was subtle, but Reborn caught it. "I… I didn't…"

"Don't lie. I've observed you enough to recognize the signs."

Tsuna huffed, frowning. "Everyone has secrets, Reborn. I have mines… Don't…" He lowered his gaze, indecipherable sadness in his eyes. "Don't probe, please… You'll eventually find out and… I hope you'll be able to… understand, then."

The hitman levelled him with a long stare. He regretted asking, but he knew that the question was bound and needed to be posed… and answered. It was just too strange… And those words made the missing piece all the more important, in Reborn's book. But… he couldn't say no. Not when meeting that sadness, that weight behind those burning eyes.

"Fine. I will not. But I don't promise not trying to find it out."

Tsuna smiled sadly. "I can't ask you that." He drank some of his beverage. "We'll see. It will come out, sooner or later. And…" He paused, maybe searching for the right words. "I hope it will not be too hard on you all."

Reborn sipped his coffee, thoughtful. He was starting to hate this situation… As in, him completely tamed and willing to accept the hiding of probably vital information. But… What he was hating the most was that damn sadness.

He suddenly stood, making the brunette blink in confusion, and approached him with a wide step. Reborn caught his chin and collided their lips roughly. With the other hand, he secured Tsuna in a lock, pressing his nape and making him half-stand. At the same time, he slid his tongue in the other's mouth, using the consequent surprise to immediately dominate the kiss. Without letting go of the neck, he used the now free hand to squeeze his rear and earned a muffled moan. He had his eyes narrowed, drinking the sight.

Tsuna was blushing, confused, surprised and completely dominated. Reborn pushed him against the counter of the kitchen and lifted him, losing hold of his neck, to make him sit on it. Surprisingly but appreciatingly, Tsuna did not interrupt the exchange, sneaking instead a hand up on the hitman's chest and cupping his neck. Reborn was then in-between his legs, one hand on his waist, playing with the shirt, and the other still on his rear.

They parted after some more seconds, needing air. Their forehead touched, gazes locked. Reborn recognized pleasure and hidden lust in the chocolate orbs, before attacking again. He wasn't totally satisfied. Tsuna eagerly responded, this time prepared to fight back. It was a sensual, alluring dance between their tongues that made both desire for more.

More touch, more relief, more… of the other. And Reborn understood that, if he didn't put a stop to it soon, he wouldn't have been able to anymore. He parted their lips, looking with clear desire at the abused ones in front of his. Tsuna's hands were now both on his shoulders, one gripping his neck.

It was obvious that the sudden assault had not been because of spies. Both of them knew it. And both knew the exact meaning of the last few minutes. There was something between them. Something born the exact moment each had landed his eyes on the other. Something wild but also tamed. Something they craved.

Shuffling and movements from upstairs made them look up. Reborn huffed and glanced at Tsuna, placing a last kiss with a lick on the other's lips, before helping him hop down from the counter. The hitman sat at his spot, sipping calmly his coffee, that had become a bit cold, while Tsuna fixed his shirt and frowned at the wrinkles, trying to get them off with his hands.

Some minutes passed before Ienari came, warily. Tsuna, in the meantime, had set the table for breakfast, sitting and reading his reports.

"Good morning…"

"Morning, Ienari."

Reborn didn't answer, eating his meal. His student gulped, looking at him, before sitting.

"Time wake up the children." Tsuna said, standing and disappearing upstairs.

Ienari sighed and looked at Reborn. "What's happening?"

Ah, finally, that damn Intuition. "I received a request from Nono. He tasked you and your Guardians with a mission: find the culprit and apprehend him."

"Oh… But we don't know who he is…"

"We do." Reborn finished calmly his coffee. "Rokudo Mukuro, here's the photo."

Ienari snorted looking at the paper, as if savouring a lemon. "I have a bad feeling about him…"

"You'll fight him nevertheless."

One.

Two.

Three…

"WHAT?!"

Dame-Nari.


Turned out Reborn had done well in letting Ienari go normally to school. The fact that he didn't arrive at all was a minor detail. Yamamoto and Gokudera were not waiting for his student that morning. They found both on the way to school, fighting two teens wearing a green uniform. Kokuyo.

A well-placed Dying Will Bullet, leaving only one in his stack, and the situation was solved. The two, a raven-haired one with a beanie and a barcode on his left cheek and a blonde with a scar stretching from a cheek to the other across his nose, escaped at their arrival, speaking about orders and tasks. The first used yo-yo's and needles while the other turned beastly according to the teeth he wore.

Reborn immediately instructed the teens to follow them and they, fortunately in a stealthy enough way, did. Kokuyo Land was their destination. The hitman mentally cheered as he thought about the bat for Yamamoto, taken the day before at Take-Sushi. Also, a brief call to Shamal had had the doctor fly to Japan along with Bianchi, ensuring the safety of the children and the girls, Kyoko and Haru… The other children freak that had found it fine to cuddle Fuuta and I-Pin randomly. But, back to the matter at hand…

Obviously, it was a trap.

The first fight was the Rain Guardian's. The feral blonde teen, then known as Joshima Ken, attacked him and they fell through a hole. Reborn launched the bat at him and the teen successfully activated the sword. Nice stances and admirable assassin instinct, as previously observed. Yamamoto won after a bit of a pushing. As in, Reborn might have pushed Dame-Nari in the hole to awake the protective instincts.

After that, the packed bento's came in handy as his stomach claimed food. Reborn sat at a bench and started eating, making the others sweat-drop but do the same. Of course, someone had to interrupt that. The hitman didn't give a damn and continued eating, shielding his precious and delicious food with his Sun flames. Gokudera took care of the girl that was playing the clarinet, saying something like 'this food was made by Tsuna-sama!' and 'you should lick it from the floor!'. He resembled a fanboy.

After finishing his meal, an old man named Birds made his appearance, surrounded by yellow chirping birds and claiming that, if they didn't do as told, the bloody Twins, two merciless assassins, would have killed their civilian friends. To back up his threat, he used a tv that showed two inhuman men, completely camouflaged and ready to attack the defenceless girls. He asked them to stab Ienari with a dagger, probably poisoned. And that started a heated argument over the act. Reborn just waited patiently.

As Dame-Nari was about to stab himself, the Bloody Twins were taken care of by Shamal and Bianchi. A well-done work, he had to give them that, at least. And then was when he decided to text Tsuna. The immediate answer was an okay with a smiley. His lips curled up a bit, unnoticed.

Birds was out for good with symmetrical and raged punches from the two Guardians. Protective, all right. Nice. It meant his job as a tutor was paying off, at least.

Next was, according to the info he had, Rokudo Mukuro. A black-haired man with scars on his face, tall and rather calm. But Ienari snorted again and Reborn mused to himself what was the problem that Intuition was pointing at.

He had a big, metal ball attached to a long chain. Reborn found the moment right to use the last Dying Will Bullet. Ienari successfully understood the way the ball worked and took care of the man… Too fast, even though with some wounds. There was surely something strange and amiss.

"You don't have the necessary will to kill me." His student suddenly said, looking down at the enemy. "You close your eyes when striking with your weapon." He was slowly turning normal, flame disappearing from his forehead.

The man was too tired and wounded to stand up again. "You sure are something… But everything will go badly, you can't stop him." Reborn narrowed his eyes. "Rokudo Mukuro will kill you and turn you into his new double, like he did with me."

Nice. Rokudo Mukuro was not him. His name was Lancia, a man used by the true enemy as a scape-goat. Some strange technique to possess people… And Reborn didn't have any more Bullets to use. His only hope was to wait for Leon and stay wary. He skipped listening to the explanation of a betrayal and looked around, feeling watched. True enough, a movement on his left, too fast and disappearing immediately, caught his eye. A needle pierced the man and he gasped, taking the thing away and clutching the wound.

"That's Chikusa's weapon… It's poisoned…" He coughed blood.

The hitman connected the dots and gave Chikusa the features of the dark-haired teen with yo-yo's, but doubted he'd been the one fast enough to deter him from shooting. After some reassuring words from Ienari, they left Lancia to wait with Yamamoto for Shamal, that was instructed via phone to treat him and explain to… unwanted guests the situation. Reborn didn't want to deal with Vindice, but that was bound to happen, considering the many rules this Mukuro had broken.

They reached a building and entered after the hitman pushed Ienari in with a kick. Chikusa's turn to attack. Gokudera stalled him to let the two go on. Reborn mentally wondered if Tsuna would have been alright entering this den of enemies, as they climbed up damaged stairs. He and his student reached a big room with a stage on the opposite wall and a ruined sofa in the middle of the empty space. On it, a tall and slender teen with blue hair styled as a pineapple was sitting, legs crossed and arms spread on the backrest. His left eye was blue, his right was red with a Japanese number on the orb, six.

An illusion made the floor crack and tremble. Reborn kicked the shrieking Ienari and told him to focus and dispel the fake sight. It took some time, but his student reacted in the end, when pillars of lava erupted from the cracks.

"Kufufufu…" What a strange and ominous laugh. "The future Vongola Decimo finally shows himself."

Then, a teen emerged from behind the couch. Reborn recognized him as Kusakabe Tetsuya, second-in-command under Hibari. What was he doing there?

Surprisingly, the wall on their right blew with a loud boom. Chikusa came through it, rushing to the couch. He was bleeding profusely from wounds on his left leg, right arm and stomach. Gokudera and Hibari jumped in the room, holding their respective weapons. They had some superficial wound here and there, but the problem was that they were panting. One heavily, the other suppressing the laboured breaths.

Reborn saw Chikusa's eyes change, dulling, as Ienari got to check on Gokudera and, subtly, Hibari. Good job… If the enemy had already been kicked out. He briefly noted how even the Disciplinary Committee member had strange eyes and exchanged a significative glance with the prefect.

Hibari pierced Kusakabe with a death glare, earning nothing. "Carnivore…" Nothing. "Herbivore…." The skylark growled, eliciting a flinch from his subordinate.

Was that the possession thing? He knew of something… A bullet… But it had been prohibited. Plus, those abilities the teen was showing… There was a story to unveil and, all the more, Reborn didn't want Vindice to interfere. Thinking about it… What did Mukuro want from 'the future Vongola Decimo'? Because it seemed to the hitman that Ienari had been the final target all the while, given those words and the satisfied smirk.

A cough from behind made him turn fast. He relaxed when he saw Tsuna with a Leon-scarf around his neck. He breathed a silent sigh as the brunette walked to him and untangled the green scarf gently.

"Tsu-nii…?" Dame-Nari, letting the enemy know who Tsuna was.

"Omnivore." Hibari was surprisingly nodding in respect.

"Tsuna-sama." Gokudera bowed.

The brunette smiled, brushing a hand on Leon and passing him to Reborn. "Hi guys! How are you doing?"

"Fine, thanks!" Ah, puppy ears, too?

"Hn."

"I'm oka–NO! What are you doing here?!" Ienari boomed.

Tsuna blinked, finally stopping petting Leon, that seemed then irritated at that. "Reborn asked me for a favour… Oh, right." He turned to the hitman, completely uncaring of his younger gaping brother. "Shamal asked me to tell you that the annoying man is fine and Takeshi-kun has a broken rib, so he's out and I'll take him home or to the shop."

Reborn nodded as Leon morphed into a butterfly. "Thanks."

Tsuna smiled brightly. "No problem." Reborn's heart skipped suspiciously. "Am I needed or…"

A phone rang. The brunette took his device from the pocket of his coat and answered the call.

"Hello?" A pause. "Takaji-san? … Ok, calm down first! … Uhm… Ok… Oh God… I've been away for barely fifteen minutes! … Ok… Fine… Yes, I'm coming! Give me the material time! … Yes… Tell Yara-san to not kill anyone… Ok, see you." He clicked the phone shut and sighed. "Sorry, I got to go… A customer tried to do an eat-and-run… Do they know when I'm gone…?"

Reborn actually pitied him. "Go, we're fine."

"Ok. You all coming for dinner? I'll take something from the shop."

Gokudera bowed profusely. "But of course, Tsuna-sama!"

"Great! Kyouya?"

"Hn."

"I'll keep the window open, then. Good, the house will be quite full, with all these guests!" He clapped his hands, looking at Mukuro, that blinked. "Thankfully, tomorrow is Saturday…" He turned to his brother. "Ienari, be careful and remember: don't judge a book from its cover." Then looked at everyone, everyone, with a bright smile. "See you at home and good luck!"

Tsuna left, answering another phone call. Silence filled the room. Reborn smirked. He now wanted to go back… in a hurry.


Thanks for reading! See ya next week!