A/N Hullo again,

I'm just about hitting the end of what I've written and stored away (which means these irregular updates may slow down for a bit).

There's a lot of Reborn in this chapter, and not much of anyone else. A chapter with not much acting or progression unless you count his and Tsuna's relationship (it's a slight improvement, not that I show it much...)

I'm trying but feelings are hard and I'm the type of person who doesn't know where to put my arms when standing...

Note that Reborn at the moment is only Ieyoshi's bodyguard (the teaching is left to Iemitsu), so if his loyalty starts to be swayed he can't be blamed :)

Remember Italics is for Italian (Because google translate can only do so much)

~Chapter 10 – A Matter of What One Sees

"Interesting." Reborn hummed lightly as he put down his green binoculars, giving no reaction as they transformed back into the familiar chameleon, "What do you think, Leon?" Of course his partner stayed silent, but the man liked to think the lizard was agreeing with him. Despite his hired position as Ieyoshi Sawada's bodyguard, he had spent the day observing none other than the boy's sister. She was smaller, lacking the obvious confidence of her twin, and yet Reborn saw potential. So much that he could barely tear his eyes away, tracking her movements since the moment they met. Iemitsu had tried his hardest to keep her details away from prying eyes, so no one had expected anything from the girl, but it was hard for him to ignore what was blatantly in front of him. He may have been a hitman first and foremost, but there was some part of him that enjoyed… nurturing talent. And he was good at it too. Just look at how far the Chiavarone had come.

"Reborn?" He heard the voice before sensing the person behind it, something that would likely aggravate him for the rest of the day. He was lucky it wasn't an enemy. "What are you doing in Japan?"

"Good to see you too, Fon," He greeted, turning to face the man with a tilt of his fedora, "It's business as usual."

"Forgive my rudeness, old friend," The martial artist smiled warmly, "I just didn't expect to see you here."

"To be fair I'm not exactly enjoying my stay," The picky man replied, "It's much too quiet and the coffee here is too bland." He hadn't expected the former Chinese assassin to be here either, despite knowing he frequently travelled within Asia. Meeting in the small, nameless town of Namimori was a bit too much of a coincidence for him.

"Of course," Fon chuckled lightly, curiously looking at what seemed to have caught the hitman's attention, "The school?" Whilst it was always nice to see a friend, he had an awfully bad feeling about his presence.

"I'm not here to murder any children," Reborn stated with a shrug, "I can't tell you more than that."

"You know I'm no longer with the triad, Reborn." He huffed, folding his arms over his chest.

"But that doesn't mean you are my ally." They were friends, comrades, those who shared similar circumstances, but even then they were mafiaso, assassins made to follow orders. It wasn't often, but both of them could remember fighting against one another, and it had never been pleasant.

"Just try to be a little more… subtle with your work," Fon sighed, looking back at the school, "I don't want you throwing Namimori into chaos."

"I hardly think it's me you should be worrying about," The hitman commented ominously, "But I'll take your words into consideration."

"Good." Fon was making him suspicious. He knew the man well enough to know his concern for the town was misplaced. It led him to believe that rather than Namimori itself, there was someone in here that had caught the martial artist's attention.

"Not bad," He drawled, leaning over in a rather intimidating way, "Not great though. A passing average."

"Um, Reborn-san, what are you doing here?" 'in my room' was left unsaid, but Tsuna thought that her question would suffice.

"I'm bored," The suited male replied in a way that explained nothing, "So I thought out of the kindness of my own heart, I would help you with your homework." He finished with a smirk, the same smirk she could never not blush at. Tsuna scowled inwardly at her traitorous heart… as if things weren't confusing enough. "It's wrong." He stated boredly, with a single glance at the worksheet.

"Which one?" He held her stare for a fraction of a moment before leaning away.

"Who knows? There no fun in it if I just tell you." Tsuna wanted to tell him that homework was never fun but bit back her words. For some reason she felt that Reborn wasn't here for her math questions. "So Tsuna, have you ever been to Italy?" Reborn had stepped away from her, idly picking out books from her shelf. He found more than a couple in Italian as well as some older learning books.

"Once," She replied truthfully, "When I was seven. I only stayed for a year before coming back."

"You stayed with Iemitsu I assume? Did you enjoy it there?" Her faded memories surfaced. The loud and bright town. The elaborate red-carpeted mansion. The boy with red eyes.

"I did, but I felt bad for leaving Mama." Reborn had an odd glint in his eyes that she wanted nothing to do with. With a sinking realization she realized he was more than likely a mafiaso. Her father was in the mafia, her brother's supposed tutor was in the mafia, and it all led to her believing that maybe Ieyoshi had been dragged into the underworld. Not that she hadn't already assumed such…

"So how good is you Italian?" He asked her, the words flowing off his tongue in a charming tone.

"So-so," Tsuna nodded at the books he had picked out, "I teach myself a little but I've been told its choppy."

"Told by who?"

"Just a friend." She answered, not quite meeting his probing stare. Her instincts told her that as much as it would hurt later hiding things from this man, 'Xanxus' wasn't a topic to be discussed. Tsuna could only wonder to herself why that was so.

"Hmm," Graciously, he let it drop, "I'll teach you then, who knows when it might come in handy."

"We're back!" Iemitsu called loudly as he lugged his exhausted son back into the house.

"Welcome home!" How he had missed the soft voice of his wonderful wife.

"Ciao." Was all the acknowledgement he got from Reborn and-

"Ciao." Was that his little tuna fish?

"Isn't it great?" Nana chattered as she ushered her boys inside, "Reborn's taken to teaching Tsuna a little bit of Italian."

"Has he now?" Sceptically he sent a look at the fedora wearing man. Reborn met his narrowed gaze head on with a single raised brow.

"I've been trying to teach myself for a while now," Tsuna admitted, cutting through the growing tension, "I thought I might need it considering the fact you and Yoshi live in Italy."

"Wow Tsuna," Her brother gave her a proud look, "If you ever get stuck I'd be happy to help you."

"Are you insinuating I'm a bad teacher?" Reborn snarked from the table. He had taken to hanging around the girl and they had all easily noticed. He was up to something, but the fact he was under a bound contract kept them from inquiring. Reborn was loyal, if only to Timoteo, and he wouldn't do anything to harm the famiglia.

"Not at all." Yoshi added quickly.

It was only a few hours after, when dinner had been had and they were both washing the dishes, that the both of them were left alone together. Properly alone, with no hovering fathers or lurking 'tutors' to listen in or interfere. It was a chance Tsuna realised, but one that her brother took advantage of first. "I'm telling you this for your own good Tsuna," Yoshi told her quietly, as he dried off a plate, "But you should stay away from Reborn." It took one moment of shared eye contact, of striking amber on deep blue, for Tsuna to confirm her fears. Her brother knew about the mafia then; it was as unsurprising as it was unpleasant. And he was even trying to protect her…

"…Alright Yoshi," She smiled gently at him, unable to hide all of her unease, "I'll try my best-"

"Oh it's not like his dangerous or anything," He stammered out, eyes turned upwards as they always did when he lied, "Just y'know, he plays around with women a lot, and has a horrible personality…" He continued to slander the man with impressive zeal.

Tsuna laughed as it got a little ridiculous and handed him the last plate. "I get it Yoshi," She told him, removing the pink rubber gloves, "You don't have to worry about me." They parted with a smile, and Tsuna made her way to her room, her mind more of a mess than ever. Stay away from Reborn then, Ietsuna told herself as she opened her door.

It was an impossible task from the start, the suited man waiting for her by her desk. Her eyes went to the fedora first, the one he wore every second of every day, though maybe not whilst sleeping but she had yet to witness that, then to his eyes. His dark gaze glanced upwards to meet hers whereas she looked down to whatever had held his attention prior.

"Hie!" She was mortified at the book he had open on his lap, his own page visible for the world to see. "T-that-" His eyes glinted with amusement, "Please put that back!"

"Hm? I don't understand what's got you so embarrassed," It was an odd sort of diary, "But my name is here, and I'm curious as to what it means." He tapped the centre of the page, where his name, only partially covered by yellows, was still legible in pale, grey lead. Technically all pages had their respective names, but they had long been buried under materials and paints unlike their newer counterparts.

"That's none of your business." She said trying to snatch it back. But he was faster than her, and taller, and undoubtedly stronger. He raised a silent brow, holding it high out of her reach. It was his business though, because somehow those colours, the layers of yellows and umbers, seemed achingly familiar to him. And the fact he couldn't place it aggravated the man to know end. There was silence, but he sure as hell wouldn't be giving in first, something Tsuna realised shortly after with a huff.

"Well?" He asked once more, and this time she reluctantly gave in, mostly because it was him. She didn't have to know him well enough to recognize his stubbornness that surpassed hers. There was something about this man, who was becoming less of a stranger as the days past, that had the words spilling from her lips. It was easy, ridiculously so, for Tsuna to suddenly share the secret she had kept hidden for years.

"…Sometimes I see things that aren't there," She winced at how bad that sounded, "I mean I can sometimes see… auras?"

"And this is mine?" Reborn questioned.

"No!" Tsuna found herself blurting out. Yes, it was his page, but It dimmed in comparison to the real thing, "You're more… more everything," She told him with the frustration of not having enough words, "It's like gold, but darker and it's strong and heavy but at the same time it's intangible and distant. Like watching a sunset."

"I'm flattered." This was a certain quirk he hadn't heard of before, even in the vast and wide underworld. It also reminded him of a long deceased comrade, who also claimed to see what others couldn't. She had never told him or any of them the details, but maybe it was something like this? "Does everyone have these so called auras?"

"Maybe," She shrugged, "But as far as I can see, no." But the fact her brother had shown up swathed in orange either he had gained it, or her 'sight' had improved.

"Interesting." He flipped through the pages. A couple orange, red, blue and purple, maybe she was seeing flames? And if that was so, what potential that ability held for scouting. "Who are the rest of these?" He asked but she only shook her head. This, she would be keeping to herself.

But Reborn wasn't called the world's strongest hitman for nothing. He excelled above others in hundreds, maybe thousands of ways said his ego, that attuned him to his dark career. His observation skills for one, were so scarily honed he could almost perfectly profile a stranger within a day, most of it happening in the first few minutes. And when he knew what to look for, that there was something else he should by all means be seeing, secrets suddenly became as exposed as the nose on one's face.

So he turned his eyes on Ietsuna Sawada, not that they weren't already trailing after her form. He watched as she interacted with those around her, smiling and laughing with a certain kind of restraint she shouldn't have. And sometimes he would catch her eyes flicker downwards towards an uninteresting torso that really shouldn't have garnered such attention, or perhaps stare fixatedly at the space beside someone, lingering with some sort of look burning in her eyes.

Once or twice the hitman caught the girl watching him, amber eyes smouldering in their intensity. It wasn't too long before he realised it was his supposed 'aura' that had truly caught her fascination. Then it became easy to recognize the look, and from those that knowingly or unknowingly received it, who exactly bore a shade of their own.

When she glanced fleetingly at her twin after a particularly hard training session and looked awed even though she should have been seeing a simply, dirty pile of teenage exhaustion. When her eyes flickered to her 'bestfriend-not-boyfriend' and lingered a bit too long and deeply for the first part of that title and not long enough for the second. When her eyes bore into the back of the school prefect with more heat than expected, and more yearning than heat. There were only a handful of pages, and he reckoned he had placed half of them already with only a little bit longer till he eventually found them all.

"What do you see right now?" He asked her frequently from that moment onwards, as if he could make up for having never asked the long deceased sky that he once belonged to, what secrets were held in those blue eyes. He was wallowing in memories it seemed these days, comparing past to present as if he could find the answers without ever having to ask the questions.

'You're glowing today'

'It's a bit darker right now'

'Did something good happen?'

'Are you ok?'

"Do you know it feels warm?" He shook his head with a raised brow, of course he didn't. He wasn't the one seeing these mysterious colours. "It's awfully gentle," 'Unlike you', wasn't said but it was what he thought, "Like the sun." And there was something in her gaze, something so simple that filled him with its own warmth that could rival a crackling hearth in winter.

Unspoken words that Luce had also given to him and to them all. But she wasn't her, and the two women were about the same as night and day. Incomparable to one another, but both undoubtedly of the Sky.

A/N Thank you for reading

Hehe, Reborn and Tsuna are both 'more' to one another, and he will be the only one for a long while that will know about her gift (not really sure what to call it. Vongola style synesthesia?)... There might be some tie in with the Arcobaleno in this story but I haven't decided on that yet :D

The next chapter will have another guardian (and Tsuna will meet all of her canon guardians... can't have anyone miss out on precious Tsunahime haha...). Rest assured every one of those relationships will have their time to shine, and then some (so be patient if your waiting for a particular character *any Gokudera, Lambo or Ryohei fans?)

And as a rough estimation...maybe Xanxus will be back around chapter (what are we on now...) before chapter 20 at least haha (:

Anyway I hope you look forward to the next chapter! (And thank you again for your reviews)