Tsuna fiddled with the ring on her finger, glancing at her companion, "S-so, um, where would you like to go, Giotto?"

Giotto assessed Tsuna's behavior and raised an eyebrow, "Tsuna, you aren't nervous because Reborn referred to this as a date are you?"

Tsuna's face lit up brighter than her own flames, "N-no! I mean – I'm fine!" She quickly moved her gaze down to the ground, silently cursing Reborn.

...

"Oi, Dame-Tsuna! I'm sending you on a date with Giotto today!" Reborn announced normally, as if he hadn't said something absolutely ridiculous.

Tsuna's head snapped up from her book, staring at her tutor incredulously, "Eh?Y-you can't be serious!"

"Dame-Tsuna, your face is red."

"S-shut up!"

Giotto walked in the room, looking concerned, "Tsuna, is everything alright? I thought I heard you shouting."

Tsuna quickly stood up, "N-no, nothing's wrong! I was just talking to Re-"

"Giotto, you're going on a date with Tsuna today." Reborn cut in, ignoring his student.

Tsuna rounded back on him, "Reborn! You can't just say that! He 's my great-great-great-grandfather!"

Reborn just shrugged, "Think of it as family bonding."

Giotto's face had a light tint to it, but it quickly disappeared and he smiled at Tsuna, "Well Tsuna, I have nothing wring with family bonding." Truth is, Giotto wanted to find a way to get closer to he decedent, and this was his chance.

…

Tsuna buried her face in her hands and groaned, "Reborn makes everything so stupid and complicated!"

Giotto patted Tsuna gently on the shoulder, "I'm sure he means well, he is your tutor after all."

Tsuna looked up at Giotto seriously, "He's the devil."

Giotto stared at Tsuna, a little confused. He hadn't known Reborn very long, but he didn't seem that bad. At least not bad enough to be called the devil. Giotto took his hand from Tsuna's shoulder and cleared his throat awkwardly, "Well anyway, I don't know this town very well, so why don't you choose a destination?"

Tsuna thought for a moment, then smiled, "We should go to the park! They'll be selling crepes right now. Plus they have plenty of benches to stop and talk." Honestly, Tsuna wanted to learn as much about Giotto as he did about her. All she knew was what people told about the Vongola, but she wanted to know more about him, not his famiglia.

Giotto nodded and smiled, "We'll go with you judgment then. But, uh, what's a crepe?"

…

Tsuna bought some crepes with her own money (though, technically, all their money came from Iemitsu, so wasn't it Vongola's money?) and found a quiet place to sit down.

"Here you go, Giotto. I got you one with chocolate. I hope that's okay." Tsuna smiled at him, and he smiled back, taking the crepe and assuring her chocolate was fine. They sat eating together for a while, Giotto apparently liking Tsuna's choice of food, until Tsuna couldn't stand the silence anymore, "So, uh, Giotto, are you comfortable living with us?"

Giotto took break from eating and turned to Tsuna, smiling, "Yes, very much. The kids are fun and Nana is very hospitable. I don't think I've ever thanked her properly for letting us stay."

Tsuna shook her head, "Oh, don't worry about it! Okaa-san loves helping people. She's used to taking in people, she's been taking care of those kids for so long now, it's almost like their our own."

"I've been meaning to ask you something since yesterday," Giotto said, "Why are they living here? Don't they have somewhere else to go?"

Tsuna thought for a second, "Well, Lambo is still part of the Bovino famiglia, though he's my Lightning Guardian, I'm sure he could go back there if he wanted. I-pin is in Japan because of her master's training, so we let her stay with us, she probably has a home with her master, but she can stay here as long as she wants. I think Futta is the only one who doesn't have any other safe place to go. He has a special power, so he's being hunted by the mafia, and I'm protecting him."

Giotto frowned, "So he's being targeted?"

"Oh don't worry! No one's come after him in a while." Tsuna assured him, "They've mostly left him alone after Yamamoto, Gokudera-kun, and I beat up those Todd guys."

Giotto looked at her in surprise, "You fought them?"

Tsuna blushed, "W-well, it was mostly with Reborn's help! I'm not that great on my own." She told him, looking down a bit.

They stayed like that for a few more seconds, then Giotto asked another question, "Tsuna, why are you in the mafia?"

Tsuna looked up at him in surprise, "W-wha-"

"Tsuna, you don;t really seem like the kind of person who should have anything to do with this."

Giotto's face was serious, and Tsuna took a second to focus before answering, "I didn't really have a choice, " She formed her words carefully, not wanting to put any blame on the Vongola, "I had to protect my friends."

Giotto shook his head, "Isn't there easier ways than putting yourself into this world?"

Tsuna shook her head sadly, "D-don't get me wrong! I didn't bring us into this." She hesitated, "I-I guess I was kind of brought into this by the Vongola." So much for not blaming it on anyone. "I'm the only living heir left, and some people didn't want to just leave me be. I only fought because they started to target my friends, I couldn't just leave it to that." Tsuna grimaced, "Plus, there's no way Reborn would let me go."

Giotto raised an eyebrow questionably "Um-?"

Tsuna threw her head back and groaned, "Reborn just won't lay off! All this stuff about being a mafia boss, I'm just fifteen!"

Giotto stared at her for a few seconds, not sure what to say. He was about to try to comfort her, but she suddenly jumped up from her seat on the bench and walked over the trashcan to throw away her half eaten crepe. She turned back to Giotto and smiled, as if they were just having a normal conversation, "We should go back now, I promised to play with Lambo today."

Tsuna started to walk back home, and Giotto silently followed her example, throwing away the rest of his crepe and heading back home. They walked quietly for a while until Tsuna spoke again, "Don't get me wrong, Giotto; I don't hate the Vongola."

Giotto's head jerked toward her, "What-?"

"It gave me a lot," Tsuna smiled sadly, "Without the Vongola, I would have never met most of my friends, and the others would have never had any reason to even acknowledge my existence. I owe the Vongola too much. I'd useless without it, and wouldn't even have anything to protect."

Giotto stopped walking and stared at Tsuna in shock, noticing the tears forming in Tsuna's eyes. They were right in front of their house, but neither of them had noticed. Giotto put both of hands on her shoulders and made her look him strait in the eyes, "Tsuna, I can't believe that you're worthless. You have a strong family who clearly cares about you, and you've been protecting people like Futta without letting any of them down."

Tsuna shook her head, "I wouldn't have been able to do any of that without Reborn and the Vongola-"

"And they wouldn't have been able to do it without you." Giotto interjected, "The Vongola would have ended without you." Giotto paused, "Honestly, I'm glad it's you."

Tsuna finally looked up in surprise, "You are?"

Giotto smiled warmly, "For the longest time, I've been worried about the future of my famiglia. The mafia is a hard place to keep your ground without becoming like all the other cold-blooded killers. But with you as it's leader, I have no doubt that we'll be fine."

Tsuna stared at him in shock before beaming, her smile brighter than any Sun Flames Giotto had ever seen, "Th-thank you so much, Giotto!"

Giotto smiled and let go of the girl's shoulders, satisfied that he managed to cheer her up.

"Tsuuunaaa!" Tsuna didn't have enough time to turn around before Lambo came bounding out of the yard and jumped on her back, "What are you standing outside for? You promised to come play with Lambo-sama today!"

Tsuna sighed exaggeratedly, "I played with you yesterday, Lambo!"

"Yes but it's today!" The child complained loudly.

Tsuna rolled her eyes, "Right," She looked back at Giotto, back to her shy smile, though it seemed much brighter now, "Do you want to play with us?"

Lambo perked, "Yeah! Giotto has to be Lambo-sama's servant too! No slacking!"

"He's right you know, you've been slacking," The three of them looked up to find Lampo leaning heavily on the door frame, "You left all three of them with me while you two had a good time out!"

Giotto chuckled, "Spending time with a few kids isn't going to kill you, Lampo." He and Tsuna walked in the door, passing Lampo, who muttered something like, With these kids, there's a chance it will.

"You still owe me for leaving me on that bench!"

"It's your own fault for falling asleep there, Lampo!"

"Hmph!"

Tsuna laughed a little at Giotto's banter with his Lightning Guardian.

The three of them spent the rest of the night playing with the kids (Futta and I-pin refusing to be left out), and Tsuna and Giotto traded stories. Nothing about fights or famiglias, just about funny things their friends did, or normal, non-lethal, fights they'd gotten into.

…

"Apparently, G-san loves eating eclairs, and Alaude-san will kill you if eat all the berries and leave none for him," Tsuna chatted happily to Futta as she helped get ready for bed.

Futta laughed slightly at her, "You spent all night talking to Giotto-nii, didn't you?"

Tsuna's smile grew, "Yes! He 's so great to talk to! I'm so glad I'm not the only one with such strange stories to share."

Lambo and I-pin bounced on Tsuna's bed while she put a few things away for the morning. I-pin looked over at Tsuna, climbed off the bed, and tugged on her shirt, "Can we stay in here tonight?"

Tsuna looked at her in surprise, "You want to sleep he-?"

"Yeah, yeah! Sleepover in Tsuna's room!" Lambo started cheering, rallying up the other two children.

Tsuna sighed, "Okay okay! You all get to sleep in here tonight!"

The kids gave one last triumphant cheer, before pulling Tsuna to bed with them. She rolled her eyes, but pulled them close to her, and soon fell asleep.

…

"Thanks for your help with Tsuna."

Giotto looked at Reborn in surprise, "Help?"

Reborn nodded, "Yeah, she'd been all worried about that stuff until you calmed her down. It means a lot to here those words from you."

Giotto frowned a bit, looking at Reborn seriously, "Why are you here? For the Vongola?"

Reborn smirked, "For your information, Vongola Primo, I'm here to train Tsuna as the Tenth Generation Vongola boss." Suddenly Reborn's aura turned dark and evil, "No matter what it takes."

Reborn abruptly turned around and walked down the hallway towards Tsuna's room, ending the conversation. Giotto paled and stared at Reborn's back, feeling bad for not taking Tsuna's comment seriously. In that small moment that Reborn actually let out his aura, Giotto fully understood the reasoning behind Tsuna's choice of words earlier; the devil.

UUUGHHH! I'm finally posting a new chapter! I'm soooo sorry it took so long! I've been kind of busy with school and some other things. Thanks to Animefreak1145 for reminding me to work on this tonight. I had honestly planned out this chapter as something almost completely different, but it sort of changed as I was writing it. Oh well, it still works! I put what I think would be some insecurities Tsuna might have about her whole situation, so sorry if it seems OOC! Oh, um, I've been thinking about whether or not it should be before or after the cursed rainbow arc. I was kind of hoping you guys could give your input ^-^ Hopefully (hopefully) I'll be able to get other chapters and stories done, but please be patient! I'll try my best, so hope to see you soon!

-Celia