Disclaimer: The Reborn manga and anime series do not belong to me

Chapter 8

It was pretty late when Tsuna finally arrived at her door; Yamamoto had insisted on practising for ages, and something had made her stay with him for the whole time. The boy had been friendly and asked her a little about herself, but it had been clear to Tsuna that he was struggling to keep the smile on his face form crumbling and she was worried he may do something drastic. She could see Lyon jump through her bedroom window as she searched for her keys and scowled at the waving tail. Darn cat. Eager to have some dinner and get some sleep she unlocked the door and stepped inside.

"AHA! YOU HAVE FALLEN INTO THE GREAT LAMBO-SAN'S TRAP!" Tsuna barely had time to blink before a barrage of various weapons came shooting straight at her. Her training kicked in and she nimbly dodged the projectiles and landed on her two feet in the living-room. The smoke made it impossible to see who had attacked her but the voice was clearly that of a child; her mind raced through a list of assassins and enemies to Vongola trying to figure out just who this "Lambo-san" was. She hadn't realised the attacks would come this early, but what was more worrying was the fact that her intuition hadn't alerted her to the danger.

The click of a gun was heard and years of learning under Reborn kicked in. Spinning towards the noise she lunged forward, fists aflame and punched her attacker into the wall. Waiting for him to get up again Tsuna was shocked to hear someone crying. Deactivating her flames she stepped forward, still a bit wary over being attacked again, and as the smoke began to clear she finally saw "Lambo-san."

The boy couldn't have been more than 5 years old. He was wearing, of all things, a cow-print jumpsuit and his black hair was styled if you could call it that, into a bush afro. Green eyes were blurred by the river of tears that poured out of him and the boy would have been cute if it wasn't for the snot streaming out of his nose. A purple gun lay at his feet, along with several other types of dangerous weapon, but the boy was too busy bawling to take any notice.

"Wah! You hurt Lambo-san! Stupid Reborn-baka!" He pointed a small fist at her and shook it angrily. Tsuna was at a complete loss at what to do. She had never seen this boy before in her life and was sure that Reborn had never mentioned him either. Still, despite his attack she hated the sight of a child crying so she slowly knelt down to his level.

"I think you have me mistaken with someone else little boy. I'm not Reborn." Her voice was gentle and the boy's sobs eased up a bit. He rubbed one of his eyes with a hand and looked up at her, She could practically see the cogs in his head turning.

"Y-Y-You're not R-Reborn." She shook her head and he scowled. "W-Why d-did you hit me c-crazy lady?" She frowned and crossed her arms.

"You attacked me first."

"I thought you were Reborn." Letting out a breath she counted to ten in her head.

"Well I'm not him. My name is Tsuna Sawada of the Vongola. Who are you?" Suddenly the boy was on his feet again and any sign of his tears had magically vanished.

"I am the great Lambo-san of the Bovino Family. I, Lambo-san, will one day be the greatest Mafia boss in the world and make everyone bow down to me. But to do that my boss says that I have to beat Reborn." Tsuna pushed aside the worrying fact that someone had sent a 5 year old after Reborn and tried to place his Family name.

"Bovino, Bovino.." It sounded familiar and then it clicked. The Bovino were a Family allied to the Vongola. Even though they were small and quite weak the weapons they produced were some of the best in the world. However, they were considered to be a lesser family, which was why Reborn had never mentioned them, and she'd only known about them through her own research about the Vongola.

"Nice to meet you Lambo-kun. Um, sorry to tell you this but Reborn is in Italy at the moment and he won't be coming here for a while." At that Lambo seemed to deflate and she could see tears beginning to pool in his eyes. She cursed mentally as she felt her heart soften at the adorable sight and clenched her hands to stop them from hugging the boy. "But, why don't we get you cleaned up and get some food in you." At that Lambo brightened and followed her as she walked to the kitchen.

Over dinner Tsuna learnt a lot about Lambo and the Bovino Family and at the end she was fuming. How dare they send a 5 year old boy to a strange country alone to take on one of the most powerful and ruthless killers in the Mafia. It was disgraceful! She had to stop herself from scowling when she heard about the boss's nonchalant attitude towards Lambo, even though he was his father, and reminded herself that this was the reason she was becoming the 10th boss: to change the Mafia.

In the short hour that he'd known Tsuna, Lambo seemed to have decided that she was nice enough to stay with and this led to her making him a bed in one of the guest rooms. Watching the small boy scramble under the covers she just knew that this was the start of another headache for her. Still, he did look cute when he fell asleep.

Italy-Vongola Mansion

Reborn stared at the information in his hands and looked up to meet the ninths gaze.

"You know that this will be a problem." His voice was bland and respectful but the ninth could hear the tiniest trace of worry in the hitmans tone. He sat back in his chair and placed his hands on the desk.

"Yes, I have already had to order Iemitsu not to go after her to protect her. This is something she must deal with on her own, or with her own Famiglia not with you, her father or the friends she has here. Which is why I am ordering you to stay here until I say you may leave." Reborn could understand the reasons behind the order but that didn't mean he had to like it.

"He could kill her you know." If any of his student's friends found this out blood would spill. The "cradle incident" would seem like a vacation compared to this. For a second he could see Tsuna lying cold on the floor in that unmoving, unnatural way that all corpses possessed and his chest seemed just a little too tight.

"I know that as well, but I trust in my heir. You've trained her well Reborn, now believe that she will put that training to use. Besides, you act like she will face this on her own." Reborn looked up. "Do you really think that that girl will not have gathered her guardians by then?" Timoteo picked up his pen and resumed writing. 2I have every confidence in her my friend, she will do you proud I am sure."

Reborn turned to look out the window; at the bright blue sky that encompassed all and hoped that his boss was right.

Namimori School

"Tsuna-chan you look awful!"

"Kyoko-chan, don't be rude. But you do look pretty bad." Tsuna only nodded at her two friends. It had been one of the worse mornings of her life. First there had been the human alarm clock that for some reason had been extra early today. Then she'd had to deal with a tired crabby 5 year old assassin, who by the way had decided that she was his new mama, and then Lyon had caused her to fall down the stairs. It almost made her miss Reborns wake up calls, almost.

"Let's just say that I had a really bad morning." The two girls nodded and continued on their way to school. Once again as they passed through the gates Tsuna felt the eyes of Hibari focus on her. Her temper already frayed she didn't have the patience to just ignore it this time and turned to glare right back at him. There he was sat on the roof as usual scowling at her and she childishly stuck her tongue out at him. So what if he'd given her back her bag? Staring was rude and she was too tired and moody to deal with it at the moment.

A dark aura suddenly encompassed the area and most of the students quickly went (ran for their lives) indoors. Tsuna only chuckled and followed them in at her own pace. She would have to fight him or else risk being "bitten to death", which frankly didn't sound sanitary at all. Her eyes spotted a mop of black hair and she stopped to spin around. A grin crossed her face and she called out:

"Good morning Yamamoto-san." Said boy turned around and, once he realised who it was, smiled back at her.

"Nice to see you again Tsuna-chan." She blinked at the added suffix but kept the grin on her face. It slipped when she saw the bandage on his arm.

"What happened to you?" Yamamoto looked at his arm and gave an awkward chuckle.

"Well after you left, I went back to just slip in another half hour practice, but I guess I pushed myself to hard because I end up hurting my arm really badly." A feeling of guilt washed over Tsuna. Why hadn't she made sure he had gone home? The darkness in his eyes was even clearer now and the smile looked more fake then ever.

"Yamamoto-san..." The bell cut her off and before she could finish her sentence the boy had disappeared into the throng of students on their way to class. She heard Hana and Kyoko call out her name and she walked back towards them. Still that fake smile and those dull eyes stayed in her mind and her fingers tightened on her bag. This was not going to end well.

She ran the morning classes on auto-pilot. Her mind was too worried about Yamamoto to properly engage with the lesson. She could feel the tension being pulled tighter and tighter and soon it would snap. She would have to check on him at break. Trying to focus on the teacher she went back to writing down various historical facts and figures, hoping that she wouldn't too late.

"Are you sure you're feeling OK Tsuna-chan? You've been acting strange all lesson."

Tsuna only smiled and tried to soothe her friends fears. "I'm fine really, just getting used to school you know." Hana said nothing only narrowed her eyes at the brunette. "Really Hana-chan."

Suddenly a boy came swerving round the corner and nearly ran into the three girls.

"Hey watch were your going idiot." Hana snapped.

"Have you guys not heard it?" Tsuna frowned at the panic on his face.

"Heard what?"

"Yamamoto-san is about to jump off the roof!" Tsuna's blood froze in her veins and before Kyoko or Hana could reply she was already running for the stairs.


He'd never imagined that it would come to this. He really hadn't. Takeshi Yamamoto stared down at the ground below him with an almost bored gaze. The only emotion he really felt was despair and the odd twinge of pain in his arm. His injured arm. His other hand clenched into a fist and for a moment frustration swallowed up the despair. Baseball was all he lived for and if he couldn't even do that right then...what was the point? His hand began to loosen on the railing.

"Yamamoto-san!" The cry nearly scared him out of is skin and his hand latched onto the rail. Turning his head slightly he saw the new girl, Tsuna-chan, standing behind him. She was panting and was very red in the face. "Please, please don't do this!" Oh, so that's why she was here. To stop him.

"Sorry, Tsuna-chan but it's the only way for me. My entire life has been about baseball and now I can't play any more."

"B-But your arm will get better." Her eyes shone with confusion, fear and worry.

"It's not just my arm. Lately, I've been getting worse at baseball and no matter what I do. No matter how hard I try or how much I practice it's only going down. It's been my whole life and if I can't do it then theirs no point is there." He expected her to understand or at least see how serious he was about it so that she'd go.

"That's utter bullshit!" She yelled, and that alone nearly sent him over the edge. "What about the other things in your life? What about the people who care about you? Your family and friends. Don't you care how they feel?" An image of his father crossed his mind but he shook it out of his head.

"I don't have any real friends Tsuna, (his voice was agitated now) they only like me because of baseball. Besides why should it matter to you what I do with my life?"

Suddenly she was right beside him, on the opposite side of the fence. "Because I don't want you to die Takeshi Yamamoto." His eyes widened at the truth and conviction in her voice.

"Tsuna-"

"No! You listen to me. I know what happens when a loved one dies. I've seen and felt the gap it leaves in a persons family and heart. It's the worst feeling in the entire world, and for you to inflict that on your family voluntarily...that's not right. So you can't play baseball any more? Find something new to live for. I know how precious a life is, and I won't let you waste yours." Staring into those big brown eyes Yamamoto felt something in his chest loosen. She meant what she said. Slowly he started to pull himself back up.

A creak pierced the silence, and he just heard Tsuna yell out a no before the rail broke and he was sent tumbling forward. The cold hard concrete reached up to meet him, but he no longer wanted to die. A pair of small arms wrapped around his waste and they were slowing him down? A pulse of orange flame blinded him and he landed with an oof on the floor. Head spinning slightly he opened his eyes only to find himself on the ground, alive.

"Are you OK?" He looked next to him and saw Tsuna arms still wrapped around him. She'd saved his life. Speechless he was only able to nod. Quick as lightning a hand shot out and whacked his head. "Don't ever think of doing something like that again!"

His eyes took in the small girl wiping her eyes with her shirt, she had saved him and had put her own life in danger to do it. That warm feeling in his chest flooded his whole body. For the first time in weeks he gave a true smile and put a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"I promise." She smiled back, and he swore that he would make it up to her. After all he needed a new reason right?

Tsuna had no idea of the bond she'd made that day or that she'd finally begun to search for her Guardians.

Italy Cavallone Mansion

"I don't care if she's impossible to trace. Find Tsuna now." Romario shut his eyes as he saw his boss rush along the hall speaking on the phone.

"Boss, I'm sure the Ninth won't let anything happen to Sawada-chan. She can take care of herself." Dino spun round and almost glared at his subordinate.

"Do you have any idea the amount of trouble that girl can find? She could be wounded. Or in debt. Or ill. Or upset. Or..." His boss cut off and resumed waling down the hall. "She needs someone to look after her, and who better than m-." The words would have had a much greater effect if he hadn't just fallen down the stairs. Romario shook his head. The one thing that could make the boss clumsy around his men: worry for Tsuna Sawada.

AN: Hello! (Dodges various pointy things thrown by readers) I'm sorry for the delay! Really. Life's just been ugh! lately. So this is the next chapter and I hope it was worth it. Big thanks to everyone who reviewed, they really helped me push through this chapter and I hope you like it. I will try and update faster but I'm busy with school and Uni application and homework, but I will try and be faster.

Reviews:

For the last time to anyone wanting to know about pairings! I haven't decided yet! You're free to offer suggestions but it won't play a huge part until further on. I may drop hints of it though OK.

As for Mukuro, still not sure about him but I've got some ideas.

Sachiel Angelo: The reason Xanxus and the others don't know where she is, is because she has to do this on her own without the influence of the Varia, Dino, the Shimon etc and they wouldn't let her go alone if they knew. They're a little overprotective :) Appearance wise Tsuna is the same height and shape basically (though curvier) and hair and eyes are the same colour. Her hair is straight though and usually in a pony tail. Oh, and she wears the guys uniform.

Jestie kiryuu: What happens when Xanxus finds out where Tsuna is and what she's doing?...RUN FOR YOUR LIVES :)

MysteryPurplePerson: No she does not have the bow around her neck. That thing just annoys me so I imagine Tsuna burnt it before she went to school.