A/N:…Wow. I've impressed even myself by cranking out this chapter so quickly - especially since I did half of it in the car, and kept having to take breaks when I got carsick. XD And this chapter is the longest one I've written, too! I think getting to the actual storyline has stimulated my imagination and work ethic. Plus, there's the fact that this is definitely my favorite story to write for. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this chapter! (By the way, since people have been asking about a pairing, I've put up a poll on my profile - go vote if you want to voice your opinion.)


Keeping Your Character - Chapter Nine


There was an awkward silence that blanketed the room - at least, in Tsuna's point of view. He was frighteningly pale as his eyes rapidly switched back and forth between the two figures before him.

Reborn watched the other two with his usual kitty smirk, but who knows what goes on in his warped little head?

Lambo stared blankly at the boy in front of her. 'I knew he was supposed to be the ultimate Butt Monkey of this universe,' she thought to herself. 'But upon actually meeting him…'

'He's even more pathetic.' she thought decisively.

She sighed, breaking the uncomfortable (only to Tsuna) silence in the bedroom as she slouched slightly on the bed.

"I get the feeling this job is going to be troublesome." she stated bluntly, her eyes never leaving her 'mission priority'.

Tsuna twitched under the scrutiny.

'Like a little bunny or something…' Lambo thought idly. 'Maybe if I think of him as a cute little animal, I can muster up more energy to actually do my job.'

"Dame-Tsuna, don't be stupid." Reborn said suddenly. "She isn't another tutor - why would you need another one if I'm here?" he said matter-of-factly.

Suddenly, Tsuna seemed to regain some of his vigor. "How am I supposed to know that?" he shouted. "And don't go reading peoples' minds without permission!"

Lambo watched this all with a bored expression, and a sweat drop on the side of her head. 'He wasn't reading your mind... You just suck at keeping your thoughts from your face.' she commented inwardly.

"And anyway, what was with that greeting if she isn't here for the same thing as you? You said you'd been expecting her, and that you'd enjoy working with her on the job!" Tsuna continued irately. "And she's definitely involved with the mafia!" he gestured toward the words on her shirt. "What else am I supposed to get from that?"

'It kind looks like he's pointing at my chest.' Lambo thought absently. 'Wouldn't it be weird if power in the mafia was determined by breast size? Everyone would be getting plastic surgery - probably even some guys - and the whole thing would be even more gay than it is now, what with the Flaming Rainbow superpowers. Not to mention the back pains. Masseuses would make a fortune.'

Reborn seemed to roll his eyes, before leaping forward to kick Tsuna in the head, only to rebound off his student's skull, and land nimbly on the bed next to Lambo, who snapped out of her peculiar mental wanderings.

"While it's good you actually listened to the words I said," he addressed the boy, "You suck at coming to conclusions." He turned deep black pits of nothingness toward his student. "Besides, don't you trust me to be tutor enough for you?" he asked innocently.

Lambo watched in fascination as Tsuna's face blanked out - his eyes literally became white circles. The intricacies of living in a world of anime never ceased to entertain her. She could practically see the thought bubble above the tunafish's head: 'Who would trust you with anything? You just tried to blow me up for answering a question wrong!'

"I'll have you know I'm a very trustworthy person." Reborn stated plainly, suddenly pointing a green pistol toward his student's head as he read the offensive thoughts that were stark in his student's expression.

Tsuna stiffened automatically in reaction, but Reborn didn't intend to shoot him… yet.

"Anyway, you're being rude, Dame-Tsuna." he scolded. "You haven't even introduced yourself to your guest - in fact, you've completely ignored her."

Tsuna twitched, but turned his attention toward Lambo, who was staring absently at Reborn's sideburns, wondering how they formed the perfect curl every time. The puffy-haired boy offered a somewhat nervous smile toward the new potentially dangerous person that had come into his room.

"Um… My name is Sawada Tsunayoshi. Pleased to meet you." he said uncertainly, though his eyes occasionally wandered toward the green pistol still in his tutor's tiny hand.

Lambo turned her blank gaze toward her charge, examining his body language, as well as the fluctuations in his voice. The kid was wary, uncertain, scared out of his wits, and somewhat resigned. 'Nope, not seeing the cute little animal thing. Just a kind of wimpy, unmotivated doormat-guy. His human characteristics ruin any sense of cute fluffiness he may have otherwise had.'

"I'm Lambo." she said simply. "And as of now, I'm also your bodyguard."

Tsuna squeaked in surprise, stuttering in disbelief. "B-bodyguard?" his voice rose to a high pitch as he asked his incredulous question.

"Well yeah," she said bluntly. "You're only going to be the Tenth because three other candidates before you died, y'know?" 'Except for the one currently on ice…' she thought to herself. 'But we're not at that Arc yet.' She leaned forward, boring a hole in Tsuna's skull. "You didn't think those deaths were accidental, did you?" she asked ominously.

Tsuna paled in fear, mentally blubbering as his brain conjured up the morbid images of death Reborn had shown him while describing the gruesome ends of the Ninth's sons.

"Besides," Lambo continued on nonchalantly, "You seem kind of wimpy, so the extra protection will probably be needed if you want to survive to become, well… anything, much less the Tenth Boss of the Vongola Family. I'll take out all the assassins that come after your little noggin - especially since I get a bonus in pay for each one I take down."

Tsuna whimpered.

"But don't worry, Doormat-Guy," she said almost buoyantly, clapping her palms against her knees. "I won't intervene with everything - just the lethal stuff - so you'll still get beaten up every once in a while. I'm not going to interfere with Reborn's training regime. After all, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and I only have to protect you until you're strong enough to protect yourself."

A small smirk spread across her face as she leaned forward slightly. "Besides, bruises and broken bones build character."

'I get the feeling she doesn't want this job…' Tsuna thought numbly, wondering just how much worse his life could get with yet another cruel Mafioso invading it. And what was with the nickname?

"Speaking of which - Reborn, you don't have to put his learning on hold any longer just for me." Lambo told the diminutive hitman. "You can get on with the explosions."

"That's good." Reborn said, and suddenly all of Tsuna's study materials were once again place out - along with the plunger-style TNT detonators. "Dame-Tsuna needs to learn not to slack off."

'She definitely doesn't want this job!' Tsuna thought in despair as he tried to focus once again on his math questions.


"Nana-san always makes the best food, ne Reborn?" Lambo flashed a small smile at both Tsuna's mom and his tutor.

"Of course." Reborn said. "Mama is a very good cook. I always want seconds."

Nana blushed modestly, waving her hand. "Oh stop it you two, you're making me blush."

Tsuna watched in horrified disbelief. '… two-faced.' was the only word going through his head as he mechanically ate his noodles.

"And she even remembered that my favorite drink is Earl Grey." Lambo beamed as she took a sip of the delectable tea. Beside her, Reborn took a sip of his own espresso.

'What? Remembered?' Tsuna thought, completely aghast. 'That means that Mom already knew her…?'

"Oh Lambo-chan, I've known you for three years, of course I'd remember!" Nana smiled gleefully. "After all, that's almost all you drink after having your milk and fruit juice with breakfast."

'Three years?' Tsuna screamed mentally, nearly dropping his fork. 'And Mom knows her habits so well!'

"In fact, I'm pretty sure your skin has absorbed the smell by now!" Nana joked with a small chuckle.

"They should make a shampoo." Lambo said absently, slurping up a forkful of noodles.

There was a lull in the conversation, during which Reborn stole some noodles from Tsuna's plate, and then asked for seconds. Again, Tsuna was the only one really uncomfortable with the silence (and irritated with Reborn's thieving ways). 'He really needs to stop being so self-conscious.' Lambo thought idly.

"Oh, Lambo-chan!" Nana suddenly said. "I forgot to ask you earlier - how long are you going to stay in Namimori this time? I want to know if I can schedule a time for our usual café crawl!"

'Café crawl?' Tsuna thought faintly, '…is that like a bar crawl?'

Lambo suddenly smiled, and only Nana was oblivious to the slightly impish edge to it. Reborn paid little attention to it in favor of his meal, but Tsuna recognized the look from having seen it on his tutor's face numerous times before something bad happened. He watched the conversation with dread, unable to look away, like someone watching a train wreck - though this time, he was pretty sure the only thing getting wrecked would be the last little peace of mind he had left.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that, Nana-san!" she said blithely. "I've decided to stop hopping around Europe, and just stay in one place for awhile - and since Japan is my favorite place, I've decided to just stay here while I study."

Nana clapped happily. "Oh, that's wonderful!" she beamed, unaware of her son's contradicting reaction, and his mounting horror. "Now we can visit with each other regularly! But why don't you just enroll in an actual school if you've decided to stay in one place?" she wanted to know. "You could even go to the same school as my Tsu-kun!"

"Namimori Middle, right?." Lambo asked, watching in interest as Tsuna seemed to freeze in his chair at the direction the conversation was going. "I've heard good things about it - and I'd be able to watch over Tsuna-san for you if I did." she told Nana.

Tsuna nearly fainted in horror. 'Noo! Why is Mom encouraging this? I don't want her in my school as well!'

"But since I've been learning in other countries, the curriculum wouldn't be the same, and I'd just end up confused - so I'd rather just keep learning by myself." Lambo told her friend. 'Not to mention, I'd end up on Mukuro's little list of strongest fighters at Nami-Middle - which is something I don't want. And there's just the fact that I'm mentally around thirty years old - give or take a few months because of my new 'birthday' - why would anyone my age want to go back to middle school?'

Tsuna felt as though he had dodged a bullet - and he actually knew from experience what that felt like, ever since Reborn arrived.

Nana pouted slightly. "That's too bad Lambo-chan, it would have been nice for Tsu-kun to have another friend at his school - I've told you before, he has trouble socializing with the other children."

Tsuna bowed his head in embarrassment, slurping his noodles in mortification. 'She talks about that with her friends? Especially this one?'

Soon, the meal was over, and Tsuna was itching to go back up to his room and peacefully read a manga or something to sooth his frayed nerves. Or maybe just drop to sleep - to ensure that he wasn't nodding off in class thanks to Reborn's habitually early (and violent) wakeup calls. But instead, he was forced to sit there politely as his oblivious mother chatted happily with two dangerous Mafioso. Eventually however, even his space cadet of a mother realized how long they had been talking.

"Oh my, Lambo-chan, it's getting awfully late." Nana glanced at the clock worriedly. "You should be getting home, but it's already dark out - maybe you should just stay the night in one of our guest rooms?"

Tsuna's head snapped upward in terror, images of being strangled in his sleep by a dark figure invaded his brain - 'I won't have to bother protecting you from assassins if you're already dead, kukuku.' the figure chuckled menacingly.

"There's no need for that, Nana-san." Lambo's lethargic voice pierced through the gruesome visualization, and Tsuna perked up in hopefulness.

"After all," Lambo slowly turned her head toward Tsuna, a impish gleam in her eyes. "I live just down the street."

Tsuna turned to stone in his chair, mentally frothing at the mouth.

As Lambo walked home in the dim glow of the streetlights - after bidding farewell to her friend, Reborn, and her temporary charge - she couldn't help but think, 'He's even more fun to bully than Iemitsu.'

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The Next Day

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Tsuna trudged into school, a figurative cloud of gloominess hovering over his head, and dark smudges of insomnia under his eyes.

'I kept having the same dream last night, over and over.' the poor, prospective mafia boss thought miserably. 'I kept thinking that Lambo would sneak over in the middle of the night to murder me.'

He halted for a moment.

'And she's going to be around me almost constantly as my 'bodyguard'…' he thought bleakly. 'But she won't even protect me from bullies.'

The gloom-cloud grew.

Suddenly, an arm was slung around his shoulder. "Yo, Tsuna!" a voice said cheerily from somewhere above his head.

The poor tunafish tilted his head upward to see one of his only friends. "Hey, Yamamoto-kun." he said, with a weak, but genuine smile. After all, the baseball player was probably one of the only good points in his life - far from being involved with all the mafia nonsense.

"You sleeping alright?" Yamamoto asked, half-concerned, but with a smile still on his face. "You have bags under your eyes, y'know?

"A-ah… Some stuff happened." Tsuna said weakly as he remembered his extremely reluctant 'bodyguard'. 'I can't exactly tell Yamamoto that I now have a 'bodyguard' who seems like she'd rather kill me than protect me.'

"Well, as long as you're not sleep-deprived due to studying, that's good." Yamamoto said with a teasing smirk. When Tsuna looked at him confusedly, he chuckled slightly. "After all, then I'd lose my failure buddy!"

The two friends laughed a little before moving on toward class, Yamamoto playfully elbowing his shorter friend in the side of the head.

From the roof of one of the buildings along the main entrance path, a certain silver-haired bomber watched the scene with growing ire.

'He just elbowed the Tenth!' Gokudera thought, grinding a cigarette between his teeth. 'That bastard… being all clingy to him! He's not worthy of being in the Family!' he thought with determination. 'I'll have to ask Reborn-san to reconsider.'

And with that, he slunk off to class as well.

Unnoticed, on the same exact roof he just left were two certain Mafioso. "He seems a little impulsive and hotheaded." Lambo pointed out with a bored voice as her eyes tracked the bomber sprinting into the school building. 'I would've said that he had an 'explosive temper', or a 'short fuse', but I think Reborn would have hit me for the horrible pun.'

"Yep." Reborn agreed as he balanced on the roof's railing next to where she was leaning. "But he's extremely loyal to Dame-Tsuna, so he's useful."

"And the other kid?" Lambo asked, wanting to know Reborn's opinion on Yamamoto.

"He's got good instincts - and he's popular too, because he's good at sports." Reborn noted. "He has the makings of a natural hitman."

Lambo hummed contemplatively as she unenthusiastically examined the part of the school she could see for areas that could potentially be used by assassins.

"Smoking Bomb doesn't seem to approve." she noted mildly, continuing their conversation.

"Yes, well that will be fixed by the end of the day, one way or another." Reborn's eyes glinted wickedly. "And my approval will not be proven incorrect."

'By 'either way', you mean the poor kid will be dead, or sucked into the world of violence and criminal activity.' Lambo thought dully. 'What a choice he's got there.'

Lambo shook her head slightly and straightened up from her slouch against the rail. "So why did you ask me to come here, anyway, Reborn? I was planning on leaving his protection during school hours in your capable hands." 'And I wanted the extra time to relax a bit.' she mentally grumbled - though she was sure to keep her discontent off of her face, lest she provoke the tiny hitman standing next to her.

"You should know the layout of the school, just in case there's ever a situation here." Reborn told her plainly. The tardy bell from the school rang in the background.

Lambo looked at him in skepticism. "I could have just found the blueprints for it, you know." she stated. "…well, except for the hideouts I suppose you made."

"But besides that," Reborn continued - though he did acknowledge her words with a small smirk, "I wanted you to observe Tsuna's family members, and be here for the Family Entrance Test I have planned for after school today."

Lambo blinked in realization. 'I guess I really did get here when the canon version of Lambo would have. What an odd coincidence.'

"Is Smoking Bomb's opinion on the other guy really that important?" she asked Reborn, curious to know what his answer would be.

"Not really." Reborn stated. "The Boss's opinion is the only one that really matters in the end, but I'd rather nip any real animosity between the two in the bud. Plus, I want to evaluate his current skill level and mindset."

Lambo hummed in understanding. "Well, since I'm already here, I might as well investigate the place anyway." she sighed. "I might even find a nice napping place to wait until the classes are done."

And with that, she vaulted over the railing, plummeting down toward the hard pavement. She hit the ground with a soft thump, and set off at a lethargic pace in the direction of the school building, sending a negligent wave of farewell over her shoulder.

Reborn smirked slightly as he observed her retreating form. He had to wonder what exactly Iemitsu had offered the willful Black Sheep to actually have her consent to babysitting a kid - even if that kid was going to be the Tenth Vongola Boss sometime in the future. Still, though he was curious, he hopped away toward his usual perch in the tree outside Tsuna's classroom window. Regardless of the reason, it would be an interesting experience to work alongside her, considering her unusual skill set - especially since her teasing of his student was so darn entertaining.


After classes had ended, Tsuna found himself in the school poolroom, unsuccessfully trying to make sense of Reborn's insane mafia-logic once again - and trying to ignore the presence of the girl who seemed to love scaring him out of his pants (Usually Reborn was the one making him jump out of his pants - what with the Dying Will Bullet.) - especially since he had been of the understanding that she wouldn't be invading his school life.

Reborn himself had decided to enter the pool with an inner tube, and was snacking on an ice-cream, while Leon floated next to him in the form of a bright-green rubber ducky. Lambo - who had managed to get in a nap - was sitting on the edge of the water, her sandals placed next to her on the tile as her legs swished leisurely through the cool water.

"So to satisfy Gokudera's misgivings, I've decided to hold the 'Family Entrance Test' for Yamamoto." Reborn concluded to his student, who was currently spazzing out.

"I'm not satisfied!" he yelled. "Quit deciding things on your own! And don't enter the school pool without permission!" he shrieked the last bit warily, looking around in paranoia as if he expected Hibari to pop out of nowhere and beat the snot out of him - after all, knowing Tsuna's luck, he would be the one getting blamed for the unauthorized baby in the pool.

"Besides, Yamamoto-kun is my classmate, my friend! And he's busy with baseball! Don't involve him in your weird world!" Tsuna objected with a scowl. Reborn ignored him.

Lambo also ignored his high-pitched screams, and focused instead on the floating tray of goodies next to Reborn in the pool. It had a yummy-looking sundae on it, as well as a little fruit drink, complete with a mini-umbrella in it. 'It kind of makes me want to go to Mafia Land again.' she thought absently. 'Only just to relax this time, instead of for business. And Tsuna is kinda dumb - him being friends with Yamamoto is already enough for the guy to be dragged into the 'weird world' of mafia business.'

"It's too late for that, Dame-Tsuna. I already told Gokudera to call Yamamoto out." Reborn stated bluntly with a smirk, diving down into the water before his student could start screaming again. As Tsuna dashed off, trying to stop Gokudera from blowing his only other friend to smithereens, Lambo wondered if Reborn's fedora -which he was still wearing when he went underwater - was water-proof. She then reluctantly got up, gathered up her sandals, and followed her shrimpy charge at a relaxed pace.

Fortunately for the baseball-obsessed first year, Tsuna managed to get there before Gokudera started throwing dynamite - though he was bent over at the waist, trying to regain his breath from the long sprint.

'Or rather - he got there before Gokudera 'blew his top'.' thought Lambo, not even winded as she watched the scene from behind Tsuna. 'But I think that's another one that would make Reborn hit me. I can't help it though - Gokudera is like the ultimate cannon-fodder for punnage because of his temper combined with his weapon of choice.'

"Hey, Tsuna." Yamamoto greeted jovially. Then his eyes zoomed in on Reborn, who was currently standing on a skateboard, having hitched a ride by tying a rope around Tsuna's waist and allowing his student to tow him. "Who's this, your little brother?" the only mafia-ignorant person there asked curiously.

Tsuna was obviously confused, until a 'Ciaossu' came from the vicinity of his shins.

"Reborn!" he shrieked in surprise. 'No wonder it felt so heavy.'

He was ignored, and Reborn continued talking. "I'm not his little brother. I'm Reborn, the number one hitman for the Vongola Family." he stated straightforwardly.

Tsuna turned into a parody of 'The Scream' painting in his utter dismay. 'He blurted it out so plainly - just like that!'

Lambo watched in amusement as Yamamoto easily accepted Reborn's words - assuming he was playing a game. 'It's so different seeing someone this dense in real life.' she thought in interest. 'Like seeing a rare, nearing-extinction animal in the wild.'

"It must be troublesome being a hitman at such a young age." Yamamoto told Reborn with a smile as he crouched down in front of the hitman.

"Not really." Reborn stated. "You're going to join the Vongola Family too."

"H-Hey! Reborn!" Tsuna shrieked in dismay.

"Hey, calm down Tsuna." Yamamoto chided mildly. "He's just a kid, you know? Didn't you ever play cops and robbers when you were younger?"

Tsuna gaped at his friend. 'He thinks the mafia is a game?' he thought incredulously.

Yamamoto picked up Reborn, and carefully placed the baby on his shoulder. "There."

"Tsuna is the Tenth head of the Family." Reborn told him, strangely unbothered by his treatment, and ignoring Tsuna's screams of protest.

"Oh? That's a good choice of person!" Yamamoto said cheerily.

Tsuna watched in stunned disbelief. 'Damn Reborn, he nearly kills me when I touch him, but around Yamamoto, he's like a borrowed cat! He's acting all goody-goody!'

Lambo watched it all with lazy eyes, 'I wonder when Tsuna is going to stop working himself up over everything?' she thought to herself. 'At the rate he's going, he's going to give himself an ulcer before anyone actually kills him.'

"And who are you?" Yamamoto asked curiously, turning toward Lambo. "I haven't seen you around before, do you go to school here too?"

"Nope. I self-study." Lambo said, before bowing politely. "My name is Lambo, it's nice to meet you."

"Ah!" Yamamoto reciprocated the bow as well as he could with Reborn on his shoulder. "I'm Yamamoto Takeshi, it's nice to meet you as well."

'They're both acting like goody-goodies!' Tsuna thought in shock.

"Ok, kid. Tsuna's the boss, right? Then let me in this Vongola Family, too." Yamamoto said to Reborn. Lambo noticed a unexpectedly serious glint in his eyes as he asked - though she supposed he couldn't be as oblivious as many people thought he was.

She somehow managed to hear a scoff over the sound of Tsuna's high-pitched protests, and turned to see Gokudera sitting off to the sidelines. 'He looks like he's going to explode with frustration.' she thought to herself as she took in the tense lines of the bomber's posture. Then she jolted slightly. 'Geh. Another pun. Gotta stop doing that.'

"So what do I need to do in order to enter?" Yamamoto asked in a carefree tone.

"You have to pass the Family Entrance Test." Reborn told him.

"Oh, there's a test, huh? This sounds pretty legitimate." Yamamoto noted with a slight smile.

Reborn hopped off the baseball player's shoulder. "If you don't pass the test, you can't join the Family." he told him.

Tsuna sagged in premature relief at the thought of his friend not being involved in mafia matters.

"Because if you don't pass the test, you'll be dead." Reborn stated offhandedly.

Tsuna once again started to freak out.

Yamamoto once again crouched down as he addressed the tiny hitman. "Haha, I like you," he said with a grin. "You're seriously funny."

Tsuna watched in dread at his friend's unawareness. 'It's not like that Yamamoto! When he says he'll do it, he'll really do it!'

"By the way, what about you? Are you here for the test, too?" Yamamoto asked in curiosity, turning toward Lambo, who had been watching to proceedings in amusement.

"No," she told him bluntly. "I'm not going to take the test. I'm his bodyguard." she gestured toward Tsuna.

Gokudera, who had been satisfied that Yamamoto was being forced to take a test, abruptly exploded. (A/N: Pun not intended… I think)

"WHAT THE HELL? Who are you to be worthy of protecting the Tenth?" he yelled angrily, pointing rudely in Lambo's face. Tsuna nearly had a mini panic attack.

"Who are you to say I'm unworthy?" Lambo asked, eyes half-lidded in boredom, and her face showing how unimpressed she was at his outburst.

Gokudera glowered at her. "I know the names of all the noteworthy people involved in the mafia. I've never heard of anyone called 'Lambo', so you can't be good enough to even think of protecting the Tenth!"

Lambo raised an eyebrow at him, before leaning in closer to his face. "Who says that means I'm not good?" she asked him calmly. "Maybe it's the other way around, and I'm so good that no one has ever linked my deeds to my name."

Gokudera froze in the middle of opening his mouth for a rebuttal. He gave her a suspicious glance, still filled with fury and indignation. "Even if that is the case - why would such an unknown element be trusted with the Tenth's safety?"

Lambo smirked slightly at him. "Just because most people have no idea who I am, doesn't mean anyone doesn't. The leader of the CEDEF personally asked me to take this job, and work directly with Reborn to keep Tsuna alive." her smirk widened. "If you have a problem with me, you can take it to either of them."

Gokudera fell silent, but Lambo could tell his anger and mistrust was bubbling just beneath the surface.

There was a silence between the five of them, before it was broken by Yamamoto - ever the one oblivious to tension. "You know, Gokudera, I've heard that frustration can be caused by a lack of calcium." he pulled out a carton of milk. "You should drink this."

Lambo held back a snicker as Gokudera looked ready to strangle Yamamoto. Reborn thankfully brought the conversation back to the Entrance Test - after all, there would be no point in it if Yamamoto died before the test even began.

"The Family Entrance Test is simple." he stated, pulling out two guns that were nearly as large as his body. "Dodge the attacks."

"First is knives." Reborn stated as he threw several of said weapon. Yamamoto dodged them easily, though with a small squawk of surprise.

'Why did he pull out some guns if he was going to use knives first?' Lambo thought with bemusement as Tsuna threw himself in front of Yamamoto. 'Whatever. It's Reborn.'

"Wait Reborn! Are you trying to kill Yamamoto-kun?" Tsuna cried with a scowl, though Lambo could tell he was also nervous of getting sliced himself.

Gokudera had a menacing smile on his face. 'Kill him. Kill him.'

Yamamoto got over the knife-throwing with abnormal quickness, and slung an arm around Tsuna's shoulders. "Maa, maa, Tsuna. Didn't you play with wooden swords when you were little? I'm okay, so let's continue."

Tsuna deadpanned, disbelieving that anyone could actually say that after having sharp, potentially lethal weaponry thrown in their direction by a baby hitman.

"As the boss, you should show an example to your potential subordinate." Reborn interrupted his student's inner turmoil with a smirk.

"Wha?" Tsuna spluttered as he gaped downward at his tutor.

"Sounds good!" Yamamoto said cheerily. "Let's make it a race to see who's going to pass the test!" he proposed with a grin. And without waiting for any answer other than a 'huh?' of stunned dread from Tsuna, the baseball fanatic began to sprint forward.

As Tsuna scrambled to catch up, Reborn began throwing knives again, pulling hordes of them out of some unknown Hammer Space.

"Good form, kid!" Yamamoto declared delightedly as he dodged a few more projectiles.

'He's kind of a weirdo.' Lambo thought bluntly as she watched the middle-school students flee for their lives. Then she sweat-dropped. 'I suppose that just means he'll fit right in, though. And it's not like I have room to talk - or think, rather - about being a weirdo.'

"He's got skill from training in baseball." Reborn noted to himself after examining Yamamoto's own form. "His reflexes are great."

"Is that so…?" Gokudera gritted his teeth with a small scoff of derision, his own eyes carefully tracking the form of his beloved boss instead of the 'rude' baseball player.

"Wow, the quality of toys these days is incredible!" Yamamoto remarked to Tsuna. "Those knives looked real!"

Before Tsuna could even voice his utter incredulity, Reborn disappeared in a burst of unreal speed, stopping when he was just ahead of the sprinting students.

"Next is the blowgun." he declared, and then proceeded to pull two of them out of nowhere - once again - and start firing at the two test-takers.

"How did he get ahead of us?" Tsuna screeched in terror as he clumsily dodged the darts.

Lambo, who had caught up to Reborn, noted that this was the point in time where canon!Lambo would appear. And once his appearance was ignored, pull out a missile launcher and start firing at the two running boys.

"So either they'll have an easier time…' she thought to herself as she watched the show. 'Or something will happen to restore the equilibrium of the story.'

"Lambo, start aiming at them as well." Reborn told her, without bothering to stop firing his dual blowguns. "This isn't hard enough for them yet."

'… like that.' she thought. With a sigh, she reached into the false pocket of her jeans, detaching her modified shock gun from its thigh-holster. It fired small electrodes as ammo, which upon hitting anything discharged in a blast of electricity. One of the cool things about it, was that the gun also allowed for her to supply extra charge for the ammunition with her own electricity. She usually used it when subduing targets that were needed alive, but it would work just as well for this situation. She took aim with one arm, and started firing.

The deceptively tiny orbs of ammo whizzed through the air, deliberately missing direct contact with the boys. Upon contact with the ground, the orbs burst into electricity, the arcs of energy arching over five feet in all directions.

Tsuna gave a shriek of surprise as one of the tendrils of electricity jolted his arm. The limb went numb, and Tsuna sped up out of self-preservation, despite the fact that his arm was ruining his form with its awkward flopping around. Gokudera gave a shriek of dismay when he saw that the Tenth had been hit.

Lambo couldn't help but grin eagerly as she continued firing. It had been a while since she had been able to practice on moving targets - and with the weapon she was currently using, it took her more skill to avoid hitting her targets instead of incapacitating them.

"Looks like I'll have to get serious if I want to pass this test." Yamamoto said to himself with slight tension, a determined look crossing his face as his performance notably improved.

Reborn smirked as well, before pulling out yet another weapon. "Next is a submachine gun." he declared. "Fired at the level of a trainee hitman."

Tsuna heard him, and gave another small scream as rapid-fire bullets impacted on the ground around his feet.

"Gokudera, you can let loose too." Reborn half-ordered. When the bomber looked reluctant to aim anywhere near his beloved boss, Reborn told him, "Imagine killing Yamamoto, and you can do it."

So, with little hesitation, and the excuse of Reborn's suggestion, Gokudera joined in on the utter chaos.

By this point, Yamamoto and Tsuna were dodging multiple bullets, explosions of electricity, and now added to that were sticks of dynamite that caused explosions of the usual sort. Well, until Reborn switched to a rocket missile. Then it was that instead of the bullets.

Simultaneously, Gokudera let loose with two near-overflowing fistfuls of dynamite, Reborn launched his colossal rocket, and Lambo charged her next round to the maximum before firing.

Yamamoto and Tsuna's 'OH $#!' faces as they saw the deluge of potentially lethal weaponry speeding toward them - one million yen.

The gigantic explosion that nearly reached above the rooftops of the school - two million yen. (Lambo liked explosions, okay?)

The expression on Gokudera's face when he realized that he helped to nearly kill his boss, and Yamamoto was the one to save him - priceless.

Needless to say, Yamamoto passed his Family Entrance Test - and not only did he save his boss in the process, but he still thought the mafia business was all a game.

There was some debate between the two subordinates about who was Tsuna's right-hand man, but Lambo stopped listening after nose hair and snot was brought into the conversation.