Author: The Plot Bunny Whisperer
Title: Colorire
Rating: T (Cuz, like… Reborn.)
Genre: Gen, Family
Summary: (Soulmate!AU; Gen) Everyone in the world is born colorblind, destined to only see color once they've met the eyes of their soulmate. Tsuna meets his soulmates one by one, and gains the ability to see a new color with each first meeting.
Pairing(s): None. Zip. Nada. You see Romance as a genre?
Warnings: Random swearing. Violence, maybe? Dunno. Can't write fight scenes to save my life.
Disclaimer: Don't own, don't care, don't sue.

AN: (This used to be a notice but the edits scared it away.)

Updates for FFN will be on the 1st and 11th and 21st of the month, unless I'm less than four chapters ahead or sick or something. My tumblr (plunniewhisperer) updates first, usually weekly, followed by AO3 within 24-48 hrs if you don't want to wait.

So, enjoy!

Colorire
Intermezzo II

At a small airport just outside of Namimori, Japan, workers stop and stare at an unusual sight. There is a small child wandering around, hiding behind crates and luggage - or at least, trying to hide. The child isn't exactly very subtle. Although he did his best, scampering to and fro and leaping behind anything available when someone draws near, the little tail of the cow onesie he is wearing or the top of his curly afro or the tips of one of the little horns sticking out of it never seem to make it entirely behind his hiding place with him.

Not to mention he is talking rather loudly to himself in third person.

Taking it as a quirk of childhood, the workers play along and pretend they don't see him. He isn't underfoot or getting into things he shouldn't be, and he is rather adorable, so they let him believe he is being inconspicuous on his quest to leave the airport unseen and continue to go about their duties. After all, they assume, he likely belongs to another passenger and is just playing because he's bored.

For his part, Lambo Bovino thinks he is being rather clever and successful in his quest to sneak into Japan unnoticed. He is on a very important mission. The Boss of his famiglia had ordered him to prove his worth by killing the (in his mind) second greatest hitman in the world, the Arcobaleno Reborn whom he had once met in a bar in Italy. He was able to learn through various rumors that Reborn had gone to Japan to train a new student so he had snuck onto a plane by hiding himself in someone's luggage.

(When the unfortunate owner of that particular piece of luggage later opens it, they will be very confused to find not their belongings but a plethora of empty juice boxes, candy wrappers, and other assorted junk food detritus. The headache this will cause for the airport will make them wish they had paid more attention to the wayward child.)

Following a map he had stored in his hair, Lambo easily makes his way to Namimori and begins the hardest part of his search: finding out where Reborn's student lives without even a name to go on. He shows a picture of Reborn to everyone he meets, but his progress is very slow due to the fact that he is distracted many times by various toy stores, candy shops, ice cream parlors, and arcades. By the end of the first day he isn't any closer to finding his target, so he finds a warm place to sleep by sneaking into a closing toy store and settles for the night.

He tries again the next day, but meets no further success as the day before, nor the day after that. It is fortunate that he finds what he is looking for on his forth day, as unbeknownst to him, the toy store he had been breaking into to sleep in at night had been quite frustrated to find their wares scattered, packages open and toys played with, as well as their candy displays ransacked upon opening for the past few days and had installed a new alarm system.

However, early on day four of his search he meets a nice woman at the market who recognizes the pictured hitman right away. By a rather exceptional stroke of luck, Lambo runs into Sawada Nana.

"Ara? Are you Reborn-kun's friend?"

Lambo is struck by the gentle smile she gives him. He doesn't remember his mother, who had died when he was still a baby, and his father never really had time for him. Growing up with his famiglia, not many people have ever really treated him with much kindness. Those who had time for him found his exuberance overwhelming and gave up (Lambo had gone through quite a lot of nannies, to his father's frustration), and the rest were too busy with their experimenting and inventions to pay him much mind.

"Lambo-san is on a mission~!" he tells her, wisely leaving out exactly what his mission is. "Lambo-san needs to find Reborn to do a very important job~! But Lambo-san can't find him."

"My, what a big boy you are! You're in luck. Reborn-kun is my son's tutor, and he's staying with us for a while. Why don't you keep me company while I shop, and afterwards I'll take you to him? How does that sound?"

"Lambo-san agrees! Lambo-san would like to shop with you~." Lambo grins happily at her, excited at the prospect of not only being able to find Reborn so quickly but of being able to spend time with such a nice person who had a pretty smile all for him.

Shopping doesn't take too long. Nana indulgently listens as Lambo talks about whatever comes to his mind, chattering nonstop about all of his favorite things. He nearly bursts into happy tears when she buys him a small bag of grape candy, which rapidly disappear. When they arrive at the Sawada residence, Reborn isn't there so he also keeps her company in the kitchen as she cooks. Around the time Nana says Reborn is expected to be home, Lambo sneaks out to hide in the tree outside of her son's bedroom window in order to ambush Reborn in a sneak attack, mourning his glass of unfinished grape juice as he goes.

Naturally, his attack fails. So does the second. And the third. By the fourth, Tsuna has become rather exasperated by Reborn's slighting of the would-be assassin and the damage being done to his room from Lambo's rebuffed attempts. He confiscates Lambo's weapons (which Verde is quick to steal for study), scolds Reborn (who ignores him) and sends Lambo down to his mother, who invites Lambo to stay with them. Stuffing a handful of the crackers she gives him into his mouth, he is sufficiently distracted and agrees.

In the end, Lambo decides that although he failed his mission to kill Reborn, he's rather pleased with the outcome. Mama is the nicest person he has ever met, and she makes really good food to boot. Tsuna-nii is also rather nice, and he stops Reborn from picking on him and gives him grape candy when he cleans up his messes, which is awesome. He could do without Reborn, who is a meany-head, and Verde, who is kind of creepy, but all in all, the Sawada house has quickly and easily become home. He doesn't miss Italy even a tiny bit nor any of the people he left behind. Tsuna-nii even eventually returns some of his weapons!

Happily, he settles down in Namimori for good.

(He never does get his Ten Year Bazooka back, though.)