Sorry this chapter was a bit late. I hope you enjoy it!


Dino sprawled in his seat, a soft smile on his face as he mulled the day over. "Will you support him?" Reborn asked, already back in the car. Ieyatsu had declined the car, having been dragged along the sidewalk by Gokudera.

He had to admit it had gone rather well. Ieyatsu was a civilian but Reborn was good at his job. The hitman had whipped him into shape so while he pitied Ieyatsu, the boy was being taught by the best. His family members had broken into a Yakuza base just because they had though he was kidnapped.

And honestly, Ieyatsu's little brother was the cutest thing he had ever seen. Tsuna had fallen asleep during the car trip and was now curled up in his lap.

Dino quietly petted the fluffy hair, marveling at its softness. Where was he? "I'll support them. They could go far." He murmured. He motioned and the car pulled away from the curb.

He still had to drop off the youngest at home and then it was back to Italy for him. Dino groaned at the thought of how much paperwork he would have.

Reborn didn't answer, choosing to stare out the window silently. Probably plotting murder, Dino thought ruefully. He pitied Ieyatsu. Just not enough to intervene for his younger brother by sadistic tutoring.


Tsuna had practically teleported downstairs the next morning to hear the news. "Skullitis is fatal. An embarrassing disease that will tell your most humiliating secrets even after death. It's contracted by getting shot by dying will bullets." Reborn said, calmly reloading his Leon gun.

Instantly, Ieyatsu had Tsuna in his arms. "But what about Tsu! Where will he be without his older brother?" Tsuna felt his heart warm slightly. It was nice having an older brother to care about him.

Plus the buffer between him and the Vongola position was extremely important too.

"He once lied to his younger brother that there was no cake so his brother would stop eating it!" A skull said.

Tsuna's heart hardened again as all of his sympathy went out the window. Nobody messed with his precious cake. "I'm thinking an open casket funeral." Tsuna muttered, his thoughts on his poor cake. He wriggled out of Ieyatsu's arms and dropped to the floor.

"Good luck, cake hating monster." Tsuna growled, stomping back up the stairs. Nana caught him at the top, happy to see her youngest.

"Tsu-chan! Would you like to play dress up?" Tsuna felt his heart drop. He hated disappointing Nana but dress up was just so embarrassing. Especially because Reborn was in the house. He had a feeling that Reborn would be using this till the day Death somehow succeeded in taking the hitman.*

Nana smiled and he just melted. "Alright." He mumbled and she looked so excited. Was this what it was like for people around him? He really was adorable. Nana swooped him up and headed for her room, humming cheerfully.

Tsuna was put on the bed and he watched, horror growing as she busied herself looking in the closet. "Found it!" Nana said. She set down a cute little green dress and ducked out of the room. Tsuna sighed before changing into the outfit. Luckily it disguised his yarn necklace and the bow tie didn't look out of place. He carefully folded his miniature orange hoodie and the rest of his clothes.

Natsu poked his head in and gao'd. Tsuna glared and the lion hurriedly retreated. The young boy looked down and pouted.

Gah, curse his girlish cuteness. He had to admit though, he could really pull the outfit off.

"My Tsu-chan looks so cute. Maybe even cuter than his father!" Nana said, coming back in. She clapped her hands happily. Tsuna smiled up at his mother and Nana ruffled his hair. There was a clicking noise and Tsuna froze. Nana cheerfully typed away. "I'm going to send this to everybody!"

"But Mama!" Tsuna whined, his face going red. Nana giggled. She had no mercy.

"I have to go run some groceries. Would you like to come with?" Nana said, putting away her phone.

"Sorry Mama. I'm gonna play with Natsu." Tsuna said smiling cheerfully. Nana admired her handiwork for a few seconds more before leaving. The lion padded in the room.

"Play nice Tsu!"

Tsuna kept smiling even as he slowly turned to fix Natsu with an ominous look. "I think it would be nice to coordinate." He purred. Natsu froze before leaping backwards even as Tsuna lunged at him.

It took all of five minutes to chase the lion down and wrestle him into submission. Tsuna wiped his brow and settled back.

"All done!" He chirped. Natsu whined, pawing at his new green sweater. It wasn't even that bad, Natsu was being a drama queen. Tsuna put his hands on his hips. "Hey you don't have to go out in this dress." He said.

He hopped up and grabbed his camera off the counter. Natsu meowed before reluctantly following him out the door.

It took forever to track his brother down. Especially because Natsu kept attempting to hide in a trash can when someone who remotely looked like Hibari passed by. Tsuna sighed as he dragged his cowardly pet away from another person.

Honestly, how his pet had ever befriended Bester was a mystery.

Tsuna got there just in time to hear the dinging sound of his nightmares. The Pinzu Timer countdown. He shrieked as he was suddenly launched back in the air.

Tsuna twisted around in midair and curled into a ball. He grunted as he slammed into something vaguely soft. He blinked the blurriness out, shaking his head and pushing himself up. Oh. He wasn't dead yet.**

So what did he land on?

His Intuition pinged and he was struck by a very strong feeling of dread. Tsuna looked down at the face of one demon prefect. Frozen with dread, he watched as Hibari's eyes slowly started to open.

Oh dear god, the theme music was back.

He was probably going to die now.

Tsuna leaped away with a strangled squeak, racking his mind for the rules of dealing with skylarks. Fortunately they culminated down to the one thing he had done all of his life. Run like hell.

He hit a dead sprint a few seconds later. Kiddie body don't fail him now! He kinda wished he could pull off his jutsu again but Tsuna had no clue where Natsu had gone.

He wheezed as he heard fast footsteps behind. A mafia boss must know when to make sacrifices. Tsuna detoured, heading to where he knew a certain someone would be.

Tsuna sped up and jumped, clinging to Ieyatsu's shoulder. "Fishy? But you look like a girl." Ieyatsu muttered. Tsuna narrowed his eyes and felt his compassion die. He couldn't look like a girl that much!

"Hey Iey! You getting me a sister yet?" Huh. He could see Shamal there and it looked like Ieyatsu was cured. His buffer wasn't dead! That was always nice to know. "Becau- I gotta run!" Tsuna leaped forward, using Ieyatsu's shoulder like a spring board. Ieyatsu stumbled slightly and Tsuna zoomed away back to the safety of his home. He ignored the screams of bloody murder which signaled that the skylark had accepted their sacrifice.

Not his problem now.

Tsuna slipped in quietly, waving to Nana before heading up the stairs to change.

"GYAHAHA! Tsuna looks like a girl!" Lambo yelled. Tsuna mentally face palmed. He would be hearing about this for a long time. Natsu gao'd from a cushion. Looks like his box animal had headed straight back. Tsuna sighed deeply.

He could kind of empathize with Xanxus becoming an alcoholic and Byakuran attempting to destroy the world now. Tsuna had just popped stress medication like Tic Tacs. It was a sad day when he realized how comparatively normal that was to the other bosses' quirks. He jerked his mind back to the now.

Tsuna flounced away and changed into his other clothes. He even folded up the green dress and left it by the closet. He winced as the commotion began to filter upstairs, liberally seasoned with obnoxious laughing and swearing. Tsuna smiled contentedly. He missed this. And still missed the family that would be.

Humming quietly, he headed downstairs.


Tsuna was feeling lazy today. Maybe it was the extremely early wake up call or it might have been that nothing really interesting happened. Or would happen. Tenses were so confusing. Though there was the exploding lunch box but that was meh. The young boy flopped back onto his bed.

Well there was that one thing he wanted to do. Tsuna rolled back off the bed and tiptoed out of his room.

He padded down the hall and slowly pushed open the door to Ieyatsu's room. Tsuna winced at the mess, distant memories of timed cleanings coming to mind. He shuddered before stepping in.

Tsuna pretended not to notice Reborn eyeing him from the bed and instead poked around under the bed. Tsuna smiled as his search produced that mafia guide book. He tucked it under his arm and headed out of the room, nudging the door shut behind him. Tsuna didn't relax until he was back in the safety of his room, cocooned in blankets with a lazily purring Natsu pressed against his back.

He had never read this book. Probably would have helped with Reborn's sink or swim approach but he had never found the time between all of the chaotic events. But it was supposed to be informative and he really needed that at this moment.

There had to be some way to even the field for the Varia trials. (He shoved the memory of Lambo on the verge of death back into its dark corner. That wasn't a fair fight, that was a horrible beat down against a child).***

Tsuna cracked the book open and started to read.

Tsuna groaned as he finally flopped back hours later. He had a few ideas planned out but nothing concrete. Unfortunately the book was devoted to explaining alliances and filled with warnings. Which wasn't what he needed right now.

He'd have to talk to Reborn for more.

Tsuna was snapped out his funk by a door slamming downstairs. No one was supposed to be home yet. He wriggled out of the blankets and poked his head out of his room.

Oh. Oh.

I-pin was sniffling on the top step. He had forgotten how hard it was on her sometimes. Tsuna slipped out and sat down next to her.

Tsuna listened to her babble incoherent Chinese for a second before sighing. Lambo had gone a bit too far today. He bounced up and headed into his room to grab a thin blanket, dragging it back out to where she was sitting.

He sat down, wrapping the blanket around her and tucking it in. Natsu did his duty by pressing into her side, purring enthusiastically. "You wanna talk?" Tsuna asked.

I-pin mumbled something in Chinese. "I-pin messed up. Broccoli monster mean." She stumbled on the Japanese. Tsuna patted her on the head.

"I don't think Lambo means it. As for the other thing… Making mistakes is just part of life I guess. If you focus too much, you get worse." Tsuna said. I-pin mumbled something in Chinese. "What matters is what you do to fix it."

I-pin suddenly bounced to life. "Tell Master!" She said. Tsuna nodded brightly.

"That could help… Wait, who is Master?" I-pin wasn't listening. She headed straight down the steps and out the door. Tsuna shrugged before gathering up the blanket. At least she was happier now.

Now to go see if he missed something in that mafia book.


This was a meh idea at best. But his Intuition was pinging so Tsuna had forced himself out of the house to the meeting place.

Weren't they trying to figure out the babysitter thing or something? He'd have to disqualify himself. He loved the cow but his shenanigans could be severely crippled if he had to babysit.

Plus a four year old shouldn't babysit a five year old but he was pretty sure Reborn didn't care.

Abruptly his Intuition pinged a warning. Tsuna ducked in time for a baseball to shoot over his head. He dropped to the ground with a shriek.

Instantly Ieyatsu was moving to pick him up. "Tsu, are you alright!" Ieyatsu cried. Tsuna jumped to his feet, hopping back to avoid Ieyatsu's lunge. Tsuna beamed, not noticing how blood began to drip from Ieyatsu's nose.

"Baseball idiot! You nearly hurt Tsuna-sama!" Gokudera snarled. Yamamoto laughed, rubbing the back of his head.

"Sorry. I get really into it." Yamamoto said. Gokudera growled, hand beginning to go for his pockets. Tsuna giggled.

"I just came to see if there was any more of those cool mafia books." Tsuna said. Ieyatsu froze in horror and shock.

"Why?" Reborn asked, eyes narrowed. Tsuna's smile widened.

"Well if Ieyatsu is going to be some sort of mafia guy then that means I get to be that super cool younger brother who knows a ton! Like in anime and video games!" Tsuna said gesturing wildly. Ieyatsu looked like he was about to burst into tears especially when Reborn smirked.

"Well Dame-Ieyatsu, if your brother knows more, he may have to take up the mantle instead." Reborn said. Haha. No. Xanxus would take that mantle before he went through that again.

The paperwork still haunted his nightmares.

Ieyatsu let out a strangled cry. "Not my fishy! He will remain innocent and adorable! I will make sure of that!" Ieyatsu yelled. Tsuna blinked at the scene before looking at Bianchi.

"Your costume is cute!" Tsuna happily skipped away in a cloud of flowers, ignoring with ease the brawl breaking out between Yamamoto and Gokudera and Ieyatsu desperately trying to calm down Lambo. His work here was done.

He pretended not to notice later how a few more mafia guides showed up on his bedroom floor along with a Italian primer. Reborn had always liked to cover his bases.

In return, Tsuna helped brew some espresso. Hopefully these would be more of a help in his quest.

(Tsuna later groaned as his forehead smacked into the cover. Of course the accursed hitman gave him books filled with so much legalese, it was practically impossible to read. Reborn still had his torture approach after all).


A few days later found Tsuna at a lovely little cake shop. He hummed with joy as he took a bite of the heavenly cake. It was just him now because Natsu was still petrified at the thought of meeting Hibari. The lion had stayed home but Tsuna had wanted his cake bad enough to venture out.

He blinked as he heard the all too familiar sounds. Tsuna looked up to see Haru dragging Ieyatsu into the shop. "Oh it's the cute little kid!" Haru said. Tsuna accepted her enthusiastic hug before looking over at Ieyatsu.

"What are you doing here big brother?" Tsuna chirped, giving the beseeching smile, form 18. Ieyatsu spluttered as Tsuna took another bite of cake.

"Haru brought me here! What are you doing here!" Tsuna blinked at the question.

"It's Tsuna Appreciation day!" If he had his way, it would be every day but sadly he was vetoed. "Isn't that Kyoko?" Tsuna asked, sneaking another bite of cake.

Ieyatsu flipped around. "Kyoko! What are you doing here?" Kyoko smiled. Honestly he had to admire her form. The cuteness was strong, but subtle enough that it didn't get annoying. Very well chosen form as well.

"Ah? It's my appreciation day. I like to treat myself to cake." Haru squealed happily.

"You have an appreciation day too? Haru has one as well!" She cheered. Ieyatsu went bright red.

"So they are having it on the same day?!" Ieyatsu said frantically. Tsuna rolled his eyes. He jerked as Reborn just seemed to show up. It was the hitman could turn invisible or something!

If he didn't know better, he would have assumed Mist flames. But he couldn't feel any of those.****

"Why don't you come to Dame-Ieyatsu's house then?" Ieyatsu spluttered, waving his hands but Haru beat him to it.

"That could be fun!" She said. Kyoko nodded and Ieyatsu's arms fell. Tsuna finished off the last bite of cake before looking up and cocking his head to the side, unintentionally creating a flowery background complete with bunnies.

"How could I be invited there? I live there too!" Ieyatsu didn't look like he would be forming coherent sentences any time soon. "That reminds me! I picked something up for Reborn!" Tsuna carefully pulled a paper box out and happily presented it. "It's a coffee brownie and the lady said it was super good!"

Reborn took the box and tucked it away. "Thank you." The hitman said. Tsuna cooed happily at Leon, ignoring how Ieyatsu looked furious. Tsuna hopped off his chair and headed out the store.

"Our house is just a bit of a walk!"


Getting shot with a Dying Will bullet again felt kind of weird.

He hadn't even touched the Gyoza. Reborn was just being rude at this point. But he did regret something. Something he held near and dear to his heart. Something incredibly important.

Tsuna regretted… Not finishing his slice of cake.


Reborn watched as Dame Ieyatsu's younger brother just sat there, reddish orange flame prominent, and continued polishing off the cake. Ieyatsu shrieked nearby and his fingers itched for a mallet to shut his dame student up.

He catalogued the rusty reddish orange flame for later consideration and turned back to his work.


*He personally had his doubts. The Arcobaleno thing alone was supposed to be a done deal and yet Reborn got it fixed (with help) and didn't die.

**This was a surprisingly common thought for him.

***To this day, Tsuna still loathed Levi. It was one thing to be loyal, another to viciously beat up a five year old who could barely put up a fight once the bazooka ran out.

****Currently reason 291 for Reborn secretly being a ninja.


This one finally covered a bit more ground! I'm probably going to start skipping some filler episodes after now.

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