Disclaimer: KHR belongs to Akira Amano

Chapter 09: Coward

-April 8th-

-Sunday-

Tsuna should have known by now. Reborn has eyes and ears on every corner of Namimori, and nothing that ever happens in his life can escape his knowledge. Hoping that he'll never find out about him getting robbed on the streets (nothing dangerous) was as pointless as hiding a stupid ring in ten layers of boxes under his bed.

Reborn found out about it, and that was easy to figure out. Why else would he be walking his way up the mountain right now? The sun wasn't even up yet, his empty stomach bit at him, and it stung just to keep his eyes open. Following Reborn's 'suggestions' to 'take a morning walk', didn't take long to become a 'keep walking' then a 'yes, idiot, up the mountain'. With a guy like Reborn, suggestions had no difference to orders under gun point.

"Where's your youthful energy? Step on it."

Tsuna groaned, nearing a cry, while Reborn relaxed on top of his head. Yikes, he's getting heavier everyday. Maybe he really was growing, just microscopically?

Tsuna wished this was just a tiresome walk, maybe another cruel joke of Reborn's to spice up his Sunday. However, the fact that they were heading up the mountains could only mean training; day-long, injury prone, back breaking Training, and he was not looking forward to going to school, sleep deprived, with jello for limbs. If he's not arrested for possessing dynamite.

When he asked Reborn about the confiscated dynamite, all he said was "don't worry about it."

He's still worried about it, but if Reborn thinks it's okay, fine. If it wasn't, Reborn would have said "don't worry about it" with a 'worry about it' tilt in his voice.

But who knows, with Reborn.

"Hurry it up, Tsuna." Reborn squeaked like an impatient toddler. Tsuna hid a shudder; it's when Reborn acts his age that's most unsettling. "You shouldn't keep your teacher waiting on your first day."

"Teacher?" Tsuna said, startled. "Aren't you…"

"Who, me? I'm just a little baby, what can I teach you?"

"What are you talking about-"

He stopped in his tracks. Just as Tsuna began to wonder why his legs stopped working, a flash of grey spliced through the canopy, falling hard and fast then breaks the ground before him, landing so violently that it shook the Earth for a second. Tsuna stood still, frozen in place, his feet inches away from a bulky grey boulder so tall that it loomed over him.

Torn leaves fluttered about, the dust floundered through the air, branches swayed and wobbled. Nothing else dared to move.

When Tsuna remembered how to breathe, he slowly backed off, looked up at the broken canopy, and back down at the boulder. It rested in a small crater of dirt. If memory serves, their destination had a lot of big rocks like that laying around, which they were still far from. Rectangular boulders just like this one, rough and gritty, mostly used as seating.

What the hell was it doing falling out of the sky? Was someone throwing them?

"Reborn, was that…" Tsuna trailed off, unable to see Reborns face with him sitting on his head, but knowing from experience that the demon was smiling.

"Who knows?"

"I'm going home." Tsuna concluded, then felt the blunt press of cold metal on his head, followed by a click. "N-Nevermind!"

Since then, distant thuds of falling boulders and the flutter of wailing birds echoed through the mountains as he hiked, each sounding more muffled the more he walked. It's not far now. The veil of rich blue around the woods had since been lifted, while weak rays of light filtered through the leaves, turning the air just a bit warmer.

In a few steps, He began to pick up on the grunt, breath, and yell of someone, along with the short silence before the big Thud that sends rumbles beneath his feet. A few more steps, and he began to see bits of clearing through the trees. In the midst of them stood a hunched over silhouette with choppy hair, breathing hard. They stood to full height, taking a brief rest. He could tell that they were large, and as they wiped away sweat off her forehead, turned to look at him.

It couldn't have been anyone else.

"K-Kuda- san?!"

"Morning." She waved at him.

Tsuna hesitated in answering as he was still shocked, still reluctant, and still not quite awake. Reborn then kicked his back that sent him flying, out from the shrubs and into the clearing. Tsuna flailed and stumbled only to embrace mountain gravel.

"Mor...ning…" Tsuna mumbled against the dirt.

Willing away the sting of soil against skin, Tsuna pushed himself up to stand up properly. Now why does it feel like the night had just set?

He looked up the behemious, nonsensically massive, wall of muscle, standing dark against the pale sky. The sun was simply having trouble shining past her. Tsuna craned his head back down to stare blankly at Reborn, who stood next to her, and by the misfortune of relativity he looked much smaller than he usually did. Which was still abnormally small for a two- eight- something year old.

Kuda looked upon Tsuna sitting timidly on the ground, rubbing at one skinny arm with his hand, bleary face dotted with dirt. Nodding, she came to a conclusion. "Yes, a lot of work to do."

Tsuna contemplated crying.

"Even if you can put up a good fight in your dying will, you should still learn to be less of a loser in your everyday life." Reborn said, as he hopped and swayed into a routine of warm up stretches, dressed in a gym tank top and tiny sweatpants. Leon had turned into a little sweatband. "So I've asked Kuda to teach you a thing or two."

"You're joking." Tsuna whimpered. "There's no way."

Besides the obvious, Reborn was giving up a chance of tormenting him and making him suffer for progress, which frankly, doesn't make sense to him. He could even have dragged Collonello over again to compete over who's better at dealing educational torture- not that he'll ever wish for that. Why did he pick an acquaintance, a near stranger of all people to hike up the mountains to teach someone like him a thing or two?

On a Sunday?

"Just sharing some methods." Kuda said, noticing his distress. "Because this kid worries so much about you."

"I, uhm.." Tsuna replied. "Thanks…" He squinted at Reborn. No thanks!

"What are you looking so wimpy about?" Reborn said.

Tsuna glared at him. First of all, pain? Soreness? His spine to be snapped like a twig? That he has to fight against a living fort even if she's nice about it? Tsuna tried to convey all of what should be common sense to a gun slinging infant. It didn't work.

Kuda scratched at her neck, giving Tsuna a smile one usually gives to children afraid to cross a shaky bridge on a field trip. "Don't have to if you don't want to."

Huh?

Tsuna blinked. Did she really just say that?

"She specialised in fighting like a coward. You could learn a lot from her." Reborn said. Tsuna can't help but get the message from his innocent baby face that nothing in his life is ever going to be normal, as long as Reborn was in it.

"What?"

"Harsh." Kuda said. "But he is right."

"What?"

"Before going deeper into that, what's your answer, Tsuna?"

The two looked at him in wait. Tsuna struggled to accept that it was presented as a question at all. He also had to struggle comprehending what fighting-like-a-coward could mean, so this was a lot to think about.

Then again, really? He can stop the training if he doesn't want to? No gun-coercion involved?

"If you don't want to learn, no point to it." Kuda added, seeing his confusion. Tsuna wished with a sudden deep agony in his heart Kuda had been his home tutor instead, though he'd still rather none.

If he could call this all off, he could play his games. Free time seldom tasted so sweet- he could say no, no to sore muscles, just not gonna have black and blue skin today, simple as that. Tsuna scratched his head, ready to apologise and make his day. If it wasn't for the nudge of silver between his fingers.

Reborn had found the ring again and stuck it on his hand, unnoticed till now. Like static shock the ring reminded him of the battles months ago, where everyone got hurt trying to beat each other up over these small accessories. If it wasn't for his friends, he wouldn't still be alive right now.

His friends trained and fought this far on their own strength, while he fought with death induced momentary superpowers, and when not ablaze with dying will all he can do is...

Tsuna let his hand drop and hung his head down. What can he do?

He's incapable on his own, and known that all his life. Even if he knows what it felt like to punch someone, of how satisfying it was against a face (and how it stung). Even if he knows weightlessness. Even if he's felt again and again, how the world shrunk to just him, his life, against those intent to end his. What still matters is that, without that power, can he really fight?

Maybe…

"If she won't teach you," Reborn smiled. "I will."

Tsuna begged Kuda to teach him on the brink of tears.

Over the afternoon, Kuda taught him ''a-thing-or-two". about fighting-like-a-coward.

Reborn named it that because to him, that's what it was. To anyone else with even a shred of common sense, it's called self defense.

And to think that he used to see it as something he didn't need, since he couldn't do it anyway. There wasn't any point in taking all those classes in all those flyers when he'll just suck so much, go through unnecessary pain, then drop out, wasting everyone's time. But now that assassins might be out for him for the rest of his life, trying is the least he could do. Maybe then Gokudera wouldn't have to worry so much.

Kuda started the lesson asking him what he'd do in certain scenarios. Run and hopefully not fail at that was the only thing he could think of. It was embarrassing to say, so he lied.

Kuda shook her head, waited for Tsuna to dry out of guesses, then nodded when he finally mumbled 'run'. Then she said something Tsuna never imagined he'd hear ever since Reborn came into his life.

"Remember well that your goal is escape and get help, not win the fight."

Tsuna nodded, with a bit of numb shock. Reborn would never say stuff like that. If he ever did, it would be with malicious intent. Said malicious baby then suggested if he wanted to see if this was all a dream, and made pinching gestures with his fingers. Tsuna declined.

After a few hours, Tsuna reconsidered that offer. Kuda had thought him basics. How to breathe, how to fall, warm ups, and strength exercises. As usual, Tsuna sucked at it, struggling to replicate the motions, often confusing the order of things, and had the premonition of forgetting it all the next week. But he understood what Kuda was trying to teach him, and why Reborn allowed this at all. He was learning how to protect himself from the ground up.

It had to be a dream, right?

Tsuna rested his palms on his knees, catching his breath. Training in dying will was tiring in a completely different sense, where every cell in his body is drained and tense and heavy all at once when the flame fizzled out. Training with just his regular self felt like… gym class. Without the shame.

The sun now sat high up, with wisps of clouds loitering around the sky. While a cool breeze nudged at the trees, running fingers through its leaves. Reborn had gone full swing into a siesta, laid back on a lounge chair, shades on, one leg over the other. Nearby laid empty cartons and bottles, left aside from a quick lunch break an hour or so ago.

"You're doing good." Kuda said to him. "It's like you know it already."

"Eh…" Tsuna was shocked. Which part of his mess-up-9-out-of-10-instructions performance was good?

"How about testing that out?" Reborn said, taking sips of cold coconut water. "You'll know where you are with a spar."

"S-spar?!" Tsuna stammered. "Spar?!"

"No special bullets." Reborn added. His face remained unfazed, almost bored, but his smile had something behind it.

When he turned to Kuda, she seemed more surprised than he was. Stranger than that, she looked… no, that can't be right.

"Must we...?" Kuda said.

"It'll be good for both of you."

Tsuna could imagine his funeral. There'd be no open casket, because he'd simply have no body left. Crushed. Bits and pieces, just 'cause he sparred with someone thrice his size, just 'cause Reborn said to. He'd die in a snap- so why is Kuda looking so scared?

Reborn smiled, already dressed in a referee outfit equipped with a Leon whistle.

He's crazy. This is crazy. Reborn is the only one having fun, as always. And Tsuna stood face to face with Kuda in what was to be a spar with his legs trembling and shirt drenched in a cold sweat. It felt just like the boxing match with Ryohei so long ago, except this time he really might just end up dead. And this time, he's staying the same no-good Tsuna.

Wanting it to be over with, Tsuna was the first to attack.

He threw himself forward, eyes closed, giving a pathetic cry, apologising in his mind to friends and family, mourning his short life, when Kuda seized up like a spooked cat and shrieked like a monkey and hauled him in a manoeuvre that felt like being tossed in a washing machine he was flung into the sky, with a familiar sensation of his gut ascending to the stars he watched the trees shrink beneath him then above him then grow rapidly again in a blur of green and brown and grey he shut his eyes and struck the ground.

"Ghhh- ooooooow!"

He's... alive.

He's still breathing, the dirt is damp and gritty under him, and the trees sway a lot when he opened his eyes, but he is alive. These days, that's all he could ask for.

Tsuna groaned and sat up. Every part of him hurt, but he's fine. He's been through this before, because who hasn't fallen off a bridge in the mountains once in their life? Not including the cliffs, Tsuna was tragically well versed in falling. The trees have cushioned his fall again, adoring him with many itty bitty scratches that they just love giving. Thanks, trees.

Once he regained footing, Tsuna was about to find a way back before a yell of 'wait, please' gave him pause. Kuda appeared from the trees, with Reborn on her shoulder. Relief showed on her round face, and her shoulder sagged, which Reborn almost slid off of.

"You okay?" Kuda looked him over. "Sorry about that."

"I'm fine," Tsuna answered, sending more stray leaves fluttering when he scratched his head. "Th-that sucked… but it wasn't so bad."

Then, he asked, somewhat belatedly, "What was that?"

It's rather strange to see someone so large and formidding look embarrassed.

"Kid said 'fighting like a coward'. It's true."

She then thought quite hard about something, then turned to Reborn, speaking in chinese. Reborn nodded, and nodded. Tsuna worried if he was about to nod off to sleep, or if he already was.

Kuda finished speaking, then Reborn turned to him. Guess not.

"She said that she used to love fighting, until a bad fight almost cost her one of her eyes. She was kicked to the head and it hung right out of the socket, so she's jumpy about fights ever since."

"Oh..." Tsuna tried not to look too grossed out. That's a lot more horrifying than being thrown in the air. "Kuda-san, I'm really sorry that he made you do this.."

"Who, me?" Reborn pouted. Tsuna glared. Yes, you!

"No problem," Kuda assured him, patting his back once with a broad hand without toppling him over. "You are a good student."

Tsuna stammered his thanks. It's the first time he's been called a good student by a teacher, especially right after he's been vaulted into the air and crashed through the forest, so he wasn't sure what he's feeling. Not that he'd mind hearing that again.

The day of training was pretty much over, so they had no need to return to the clearing and could begin making their way down. Reborn hopped off of Kuda then made himself comfortable on Tsuna's head. He most likely had something to say, and Tsuna wasn't looking forward to it anymore than the extra weight he's burdened with again.

"I tell you how great you are all the time, don't I?"

Tsuna choked. "I'm not accepting that when mafia-boss is attached to all of it!"

For all the anxiety and dread he had built up before, the trek downwards was almost relaxing despite the sore muscles and dirt. The Training wasn't so bad. He's learned a lot today, though it'll be a long, long time before he can confidently call himself self-defendable, instead of high school wimp on verge of getting murdered on daily basis. He looked forward to future lessons, shocking as that is. But after living with Reborn for two years, he's learned better to ask this gift horse in the mouth: what's the catch?

Somewhere down the trail, near the foot of the mountain, they come across a boulder.

"Oh, yes." Kuda said, who seemed to remember something she would have forgotten completely about, was it not for the boulder laying there. Quiet and brooding under a broken canopy, lit by the afternoon sun, surrounded by broken branches. The large rock that stood taller than Tsuna. "Homework."

She pointed at the rock, smiling at Tsuna.

Tsuna looked at the rock, and back at Kuda.

"Homework..?"

How did it come to this?

"Ya almost got it!"

Tsuna hugged at the rock with both arms, face red from exertion, teeth gritted, legs pushing hard against the ground. The boulder remains unmoved, not a budge, looking almost bored with his efforts.

"I can't!" Tsuna dropped to the ground in defeat. If he thought he was tired before this, he wasn't. The fatigue of the day was truly catching up to him now, and all he wants is a nap. He could even pass on bathing. However, it wasn't just that he's tired. "It's impossible!"

"Is that so?" Reborn said, lifting it over his head with one little baby hand. "I can do it just fine."

"I don't want to hear that from you!"

"You can too, in time." Kuda smiled, as if a baby didn't just lift a rock ten times his size. As if she didn't just assign a shrimp of an 15 year old to return each lost boulder back to the clearing with his own two stick-thin arms for homework. "Work hard!"

She waved goodbye and began her way down the mountain. In a few steps she paused, made a turn and hurried back up, taking something out from her pocket on the way.

"For Ipin." She said, and placed it gently in Tsuna's hand. An mp3 player? "I can't give it at school."

Tsuna nodded, putting it safely in his pocket. With a few more brief words for Ipin and another goodbye, she headed off again.

When her silhouette disappeared within the trees, Reborn let the boulder fall lengthwise, or rather, smashed it down so close to Tsuna that his toes would have been goners if he hadn't jumped out of the way.

"R-REBORN!"

"Oopsy." Reborn pouted. "I was hoping you'd be able to lift it if it's on your feet."

"I wouldn't have any!"

"I guess I have no choice." Reborn sighed, and reached into his jacket.

Tsuna flinched and flung his tired arms up, ready for the inevitable, shrieking. Only for something small, smooth, and cold to hit against his palm, which he closed his hand around without thinking.

Sensing the danger pass, Tsuna lowered his arms and raised an eyebrow at Reborn.

"What-"

"Have a look." Reborn said cooly, hands tucked in pockets.

Tsuna took a deep breath, turned his face away from his hand to peek at it from the side (in case), then slowly opened his fist to see in his palm a small, metallic, rectangular thing.

He looked at Reborn, then back at his palm. It felt solid and heavier than it should be for its small size, like a piece of iron chocolate. He turned it around with his fingers with some effort, and there on one of its faces was engraved 50kg.

That's a bit far for a joke…

"Dying will or not, it's still your body that doing those things. All the bullet does is remove the limiters in your brain for a short time. With every battle you learn and grow; your body isn't the same as it was two years ago." Reborn smirked at Tsuna's ' yeah right ' face. "All that's left is your own limiter of disbelief. The power of dying will still comes from your will."

Tsuna was still waiting for his punchline. As if he could believe that!

"So you're telling me to believe in myself." Tsuna snickered. "There's no way this is 50kg. Besides, you know, that can't be possible. It's this tiny."

"Drop it, then."

He does, and it digs a small crater between his feet.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Tsuna slugged back home, exhausted, sticky, covered in dirt and sand, with his mind in a state of shock. Did the world break itself? How else could Reborn change the weight of something by writing on it?

It sounded insane, but it would make a lot more sense than 'hey, you're strong if you'd just believe it'. It's not a stretch to think weight changing ink could be real, right? How else could he, no-good Tsuna, have carried a boulder for more than two minutes?

Reborn would have had him work till night, if it wasn't for the rumble of his empty baby stomach. Tsuna wasn't sure if he could have kept walking and lifting rocks with his mind collapsing in on itself.

"Tsu—na—," Mom welcomed him home the moment he entered the front door. "Settle this, will you?"

Tsuna displayed his confusion clearly on his face, and even clearer was his wish for her to reconsider if he really had to settle things, whatever they might be. Mom decidedly saw none of that, as she held him square by the shoulders then turned him towards the living room. It looked as lived in as ever, the new TV now a familiar sight, Fuuta sunken into a sofa with a book inches away from his face, Lambo and Ipin each sitting in the furthest corners of the room from each other.

Fuming quietly.

"Do something, Tsu-kun." Mom whispered, and patted his shoulder. "You're the big brother here."

"Whaaat?" Tsuna whispered back. Fuuta peeked over his book, relief flooding his eyes at the sight of him. Well, Tsuna thought aloud, "F-Fuuta is also an older brother, right?"

"That's cheap, Tsuna-nii!" Fuuta gasped. "You're the oldest one!"

"Then Bianchi-" Tsuna started, then thought better of it. "Nevermind."

Tears were brimming in Fuuta's eyes, brows tense with frustration. Tsuna sighed.

"Well, can you at least tell me what happened?"

About that, Fuuta wasn't sure. From what he saw, after reading for most of the day, Lambo and Ipin spent the morning playing ''annoy and capture'' with the usual banter. but the banter didn't stop, sounded bad, it kept going on through lunch, and at some point Lambo went too far. Ipin then flushed his grape candy down the toilet. If they so much as see each other again, someone's going to pay.

"Over something like that?"

"They've made territory." Fuuta said, wracked with despair. "I'm scared to move anywhere, Tsuna nii. I'll be taking a side."

Tsuna cleared his throat, in hopes of getting their attention. But things seldom go the way he wanted it to, and this was no different. The two remained shimmering.

He tried again. "Lambo, Ipin…?"

"..."

"Please get along?"

Instead of the kids, its Mom and Fuuta that eye at him at the same time, with mom looking at him from the side, wearing a frown and crossed arms, while Fuuta squinted at him over his book. Tsuna nods, getting the message. Its disappointment.

A sharp, blood chilling aura burst from somewhere that bled out across the room. The two kids shivered and turned blue.

"You do it like this." Reborn stepped in and cocked his gun.

"Wait wait wait wait!" Tsuna said, but the two were already hiding behind him, hugging his legs. Reborn smirked, withdrew his gun, and hopped off to let Tsuna deal with it.

Tsuna sighed at the sight of the two who still stubbornly faced opposite directions, despite both gripping Tsuna's legs tightly.

"Didn't I tell you to take care of each other?"

No answer came. Now that he can sort of see their faces (with a bit of twisting side to side) and their puffy red eyes, he couldn't bring himself to be annoyed. But if they're not talking, there's not much he could do to 'settle' things.

"Oh, Ipin?" He almost forgot. "I have something for you."

Ipin finally turned to him, and Lambo remained staring holes in the wall.

"Here, Kuda wanted you to have it. She couldn't really give it to you at the school, so..." Tsuna handed it over. Having heard her teacher's name, she perked up. She took and held it in her hands, looking curiously at its rectangular shape, it's little grey screen, and running her finger over the small buttons. "It's an mp3 player."

Ipin's mouth made a little 'o', and she held the flat green trinket as she would a small puppy.

"You turn it on like this, I think…" Tsuna reached over and clicked a slider on the side of the mp3. It's screen flickered, then a text menu appeared. "Oh, and these." Tsuna dug through his pockets to pull out a mangled ball of cords.

Ipin played with the controls as he tried to untangle the cords, tying his fingers up in the process. It's Fuuta who frees him, and solves the wires.

After finding the port, Ipin inserted the plug, held an earbud to the side of her face and pressed play.

After a moment of silence, she blushed. "飛輪海!"

Tsuna had no idea what that means, but Ipin has never looked so happy so he's not complaining. The mp3 is full of chinese songs, he was told, and recent enough in years that Ipin should have heard some before.

"She said she thought you might need this, and it helped her a lot." Tsuna relayed. "It's yours now."

Ipin nodded, holding the mp3 close to her heart. To the right of her, Lambo was still hugging his leg. Where his face met his leg felt disgustingly warm and damp, but it looked like he was making an effort to tolerate. Tsuna promised Lambo he'll get another bag of grape candy tomorrow. Two bags. Okay, the mega pack. Now that's pushing it a little-

"Anyway, no making territories! If you're living here together, share." Tsuna tried to sound stern. These two don't even pay rent.

In the days after, the two were squabbling again. However, Ipin was never seen without the mp3 in her hands. She hummed new tunes when she did homework, when she did her practices, when she helped out mom with the housework. Whenever a spot of free time comes, she plugged in to her mp3, nodding happily. Plus, it blocked out Lambo's jeers.

As for Lambo, he's taken to dividing and hiding his grape candy hoard to be kept safe from a watery grave. Which seemed like a great idea until he forgot all of their places, if the ants don't get to them first.

Life wasn't very fair to Lambo, and Tsuna's wallet.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

-April 16th-

-Next Sunday-

Though the week dragged by, Sunday's arrival felt long due yet too soon. Kuda's 'homework' was still a long way from being complete, since Tsuna was still struggling with the first boulder, even less conceivable it'd be to find the rest of them. A snap of a task with the dying will bullet, but Reborn hadn't been as trigger happy with it recently.

Though it'd be something to witness if Kuda ever saw him in that state, head ablaze and naked and screaming, with how jumpy she gets at fighting.

Like before, Tsuna was kicked out of bed before the sun had risen and chased out of the house with an empty stomach. He was dragging his feet on a street near the river canal, Reborn lounging on his head, when he decided to run again.

"Tsuna?"

Reborn had to sit up when Tsuna decided to run- very much out of nowhere.

"Sorry about this," Tsuna explained as he ran. The pressure had gotten sharper. "I don't know why I just-"

"There's no one chasing you."

"What?"

Tsuna flipped his head back to look down an empty street. It's probably a bumpy ride for Reborn, but right now Tsuna would rather be running like an idiot than not. Walking felt like a terrible idea, even if it frustrated him to figure out why.

"It's like when you got mugged." Reborn said. "Even though that mugger was hardly a real threat, you ran. Because of something else."

"Huh?" Tsuna said. "Something else?"

"Stand still."

"No!"

"What are you afraid of? I'm right here."

Says the one who regularly shoots him dead! Tsuna groaned through his teeth and pressed down on every instinct to keep running, forcing himself to stop his steps. He stayed still with trembling fists and eyes squeezed shut.

Reborn stood up. "Can you tell where they are?"

"Where who-" Tsuna shuddered, feeling unnaturally cold and hot through his whole body at the same time, reflectively raised up his arms over his head in a gasp. A loud, metallic thud rang through the air, hanging in it for several beats. Tsuna slowly opened his eyes to see Reborn holding something down the side his temple an inch of space away.

It was a weight, one that Reborn carried to torment Tsuna, with the dent of a bullet. If it wasn't for Reborn, he'd have been shot before he thought to raise his arms.

"A sniper." Reborn hopped down and examined what looked like squashed bullet. "They're letting you know."

"Letting me know?" Tsuna stammered, slid down the wall with shaky knees, then crouched into a ball with his bag held over his head. What did he ever do to deserve a sniper? "I don't want to know!"

"Don't look so pathetic. It was just one shot."

Tsuna threw down his bag to gape at that nonsense.

"Oh- just one?!"

"If it was two, they would've meant to kill you." Reborn pocketed the bullet and hopped back up on Tsuna's head. "Something you should learn, by the way. Always follow up your kill shots."

It goes without saying he'd never shoot a gun, so that's something he's never going to learn, but Tsuna said it anyway. It went unacknowledged.

"What are you waiting around for? Get going."

"A-Aren't you going to make me deal with that sniper?"

"You'd be late." Reborn answered. "Don't worry, they'll come to deal with you sooner or later."

That's not very reassuring!

Gripping his bag, Tsuna stood up shakily. Despite Reborn's vague and threatening comments, he wasn't lying. The pressure was gone. Tsuna still walked onwards dripping with paranoia, because, what's self-defense gonna do against a sudden bullet from nowhere? He should just call this all off.

"Reborn, I think-"

"I have a surprise for you this session." Reborn cut in, forebodingly cheery, not bothering to hide his glee. "I hope you're ready."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-