Recap: After being reborn in an alternate universe that is set years after canon, Tsuna encounters the mafia, including the Vongola and Cavallone. His best friend is in fact, Donato Cavallone. After thwarting an enemy family, Puniamo's, plans in a market, Tsuna is targeted by them. Thankfully, he's taken in by the Vongola and they train him. Later, he moves to Namimori from Italy after the Vongola figure out that someone's gunning for Tsuna's life.

Meanwhile, a few of Tsuna's previous Guardians, Yamamoto, Chrome, and Mukuro, continue to watch over him in the after life, waiting for the signal to join Tsuna in an approaching battle.

Happy Chapter 10!

As he stood waiting for his homeroom teacher to call him in, Tsuna took in a deep breath and looked around the empty hallway. Namimori Middle School was what he expected—a normal school with normal teachers, normal posters in the hallway, and normal everything. Even so, he couldn't help but be nervous.

"Sawada? You may come in now."

Tsuna stepped in and saw that his classmates were giving him curious looks. To his surprise, not all of them were Japanese. Two in fact, looked European. Actually, he knew for a fact that one of them was Italian. His smile widened and received one in return from Donato.

Donato gave Tsuna a discreet thumbs-up from the back of the room and Tsuna felt his nerves settle slightly.

The other was a girl who sat in front of Donato. She gave Tsuna an odd look when he smiled in her direction, thinking that it was aimed at her. Tsuna quickly looked away from the awkward moment and nodded at his homeroom teacher.

"This is Sawada Tsunayoshi, who is originally from Italy. He'll be joining us from today until all of you leave Nami-chuu and stop being my headache," their teacher said, causing the class to laugh.

"Ehh? Come on, sensei!"

"We're not that bad, are we?"

She gave them what passed for a stern look. "Sawada, why won't you tell the class about yourself?"

Tsuna nodded and said, "Nice to meet you all! It's really exciting to be here. Let's see… I don't really know what you'd find interesting about me." Tsuna smiled inwardly. Now wasn't the best time to tell his classmates about his mafia friends, right? "I was born in Italy, but decided to transfer here."

"Why did you move from Italy?" someone asked.

Tsuna's grin faltered. "To be honest, I didn't really like it there. I've met some people that I love, but they either died or left, so I…thought I should leave as well."

The class sat in silence, not expecting such an answer from him. They looked at one another with widened eyes, not sure what to say. Then Donato dropped a boulder into the pond.

"Are you sure you didn't leave because you missed someone too much? Like me, for example?"

Tsuna let out a startled laugh. Everyone stared at the two boys.

"Cavallone, do you know Sawada?"

"Of course I know him, sensei. He's my best friend!"

Their teacher looked surprised for just a moment before releasing a sigh. "Very well. Since you already know Cavallone, he can show you around. Cavallone: make sure you do so during lunch break—and don't get "lost" wandering the school again."

The class burst out laughing while Cavallone tried to defend himself to no avail.

"Sawada," their teacher said when the class settled, "do you have anything else to add?"

"Well… I really like helping my friends…" Tsuna caught Donato's evil grin and quickly finished, "But don't expect me to do everything, since I'd hate to be used that way. From what I understand, helping involves your participation too."

A few students chuckled and nudged their friends who looked slightly disappointed that Tsuna wasn't going to be easily bullied into doing all the work.

His classmates were grinning and talking to him until their teacher cleared her throat. "Sawada, go sit in the empty seat over there." She pointed to the seat next to the window at the back, next to Donato's left. He and Donato shared another grin before the class began.

Tsuna brought out his notebook and listened while subtly observing the girl sitting in front of his best friend. At first, Tsuna had thought he would be the only non-Japanese attending. After all, Namimori isn't that big of a town. No one could blame him for being curious about another.

The girl had long brown hair that was in a single braid. He could see that she wasn't an avid note taker from the way her pencil twirled over her fingers and how her back was slouched.

Speaking of which…

Tsuna looked over his own half page of notes and focused on the board. He was having some trouble processing everything his teacher said, but did his best to record what he thought was relevant. He had questions and the answers were on the tip of his tongue…but he just couldn't place what they were.

"Sawada, are you interested in sports?" a classmate asked over lunch break.

Tsuna gave the other boy a startled look. "A little?"

The boy grinned. "Then you should join my track team!"

"No, you already have enough people in track and field," another boy argued. "Sawada, you should join basketball."

"Let the guy eat!" Donato said, interrupting what was quickly escalating to the usual verbal fight between sports clubs.

"S-Sorry, I'll decide later," Tsuna offered with a smile.

"Make sure you come to the gym any time after school!"

"No, he should come out to the baseball field!"

Donato whistled. "Those two are the third batch of our classmates who want you for something," he said. "What did you do to them?"

"D-Don't say that as though I put a spell on them or something!"

Donato laughed and smacked Tsuna's shoulder. "They all want to be your friend. That's a good thing! When I first came, they tried bullying me first, until I knocked some sense into them…don't give me that look. I didn't get in trouble, since they didn't tell any teachers about it."

Tsuna would have shrieked at his friend's recklessness if his mouth wasn't already filled with bread.

"Anyway, how did you find the morning classes? Need any help?"

"You've read my mind," Tsuna said with a smile. "I really need your help. I don't understand most of it!"

"Fine. Let's hear it out before the afternoon classes start."

After just an hour of clarifying his questions, Tsuna was already feeling that he had a good grasp on the concepts. Donato watched Tsuna's quick understanding of the material and sighed. "At the pace you're going, I'm going to be the one who asks for help."

~EO!~

"He's charismatic," Yamamoto said. "That's not too different from his usual self, or from Sawada Tsunayoshi of the previous life."

Chrome looked around them cautiously. Seeing nothing in the clouds and the endless landscape up or down, she whispered, "I looked into the files of Boss' last mission."

"Eh! You too, Chrome? You're usually not interested in old missions."

Chrome pinned him with a stare. "This time is an exception."

Yamamoto nodded. "Okay, okay. What did you find?"

Chrome leaned back and said, "Reborn, the hitman."

"The home tutor," Yamamoto said with a nod. "He taught Tsuna."

"Yes…He was the one who brought out Boss' charismatic nature. We rarely see a charismatic Tsuna amongst the humans so soon in his life. Like any child, Tsuna fumbled through life until he had his bearings as an adult. Even with Reborn, Tsuna grew into it. He showed positive signs of such charisma but it wasn't until he was a grown man that it brought that effect." Chrome pointed at the image of Tsuna's classroom, where students were mingling near Tsuna to talk to him.

They watched as Tsuna won over his classmates and visited clubs after school. They watched as his best friend Donato tutored him. As the weeks passed and tests were returned, Tsuna began to tutor Donato, much to his friend's dismay.

"He's certainly not dead last," Yamamoto said with a weak laugh and covered his face with a hand. He groaned and his wings flashed into solid existence before fading as his emotions rose and fell. "He's remembering old material, not learning things for the first time."

"The wall hiding his old memories, memories that should have been wiped in the first place, is crumbling even more."

With trouble in the Elgan Order, Yamamoto couldn't decide if it was a good thing or a bad thing. "How is your power?" he asked.

Chrome's own wings flashed gold and the air around her shimmered with tightly controlled power. Yamamoto didn't need to hear her answer to know. He could feel it in his bones.

~EO!~

"Yes!" Donato pumped his fist in the air as he smacked his test onto Tsuna's desk. "Hah! Finally!"

Tsuna's eyes flicked to the top right corner of Donato's sheet and his eyes widened. "What the—seriously!?" On the paper was a perfect mark for the test. Tsuna's own eighty percent wasn't too bad by his standards, but still.

"I studied like no tomorrow ever since the test was announced," Donato said with a smirk.

Tsuna couldn't help but smile at his friend's success.

"But you're usually better than me," Donato said with a frown. "Did something happen?"

"No, not really. I just didn't have time to study as much."

"Why?"

"Mm…I'm looking for a part-time job," Tsuna muttered.

Donato sat back and stared at Tsuna with a look of understanding. That's right. He doesn't have any family to rely on…wait, what about his uncle? Tsuna was focused on staring at his notebook and rewriting some words, doing his best to not look at him. Donato narrowed his eyes. I'm going to pull it out of you later.

"Big news!" a girl in their class slammed open the door. "Akito-sensei was beaten up and put into the hospital!"

Conversation in the class screeched to a halt. "WHAT!?"

"On his way home from school last night, someone out of the blue pulled him into an alley and beat him up until he was unconscious!"

Students shouted to each other and asked the girl questions but the door slid open again and their science teacher stepped in. She looked around and sighed.

"Take your seats."

"But sensei—"

"I said to take your seats!"

Uneasily, the students did as they were told. Donato sat back down grimly and exchanged shocked looks with Tsuna.

"I'm sure you all did well on your math tests, but please put the results away and take out your text books."

Tsuna was straightening from taking the book from his bag when he saw that Donato was watching the girl sitting in front of him. Tsuna puzzled over it for a second before shrugging it off. But it came back to him at lunch when Donato followed the girl out of the classroom.

"E-Ehh!?"

"Tsuna? Something wrong?" a classmate asked.

"N-No, everything's fine!" Hiiiee…Donato and that girl…are they together or something? That's so sudden. Why didn't he say anything? They don't even act like a couple!

"Sawada?" A teacher poked his head through the door and looked around. "Ah. Sawada, there you are. You're wanted in the office."

"H-Hai," Tsuna said and quickly ran down the hall.

"I told you that I don't know what's going on, Donato!"

What the!? Tsuna stopped immediately and nearly slid past the hallway where that voice came from. Someone is speaking in Italian? Who's—?

"That's hard to believe," Donato said in a violent tone that Tsuna had never heard him use before. "Listen here, you…" Donato lowered his voice further and no matter how Tsuna strained his ear, he couldn't pick up what was said.

The girl let out an infuriated shout. Tsuna winced when he heard someone hit the wall. "How dare you accuse us—we have a partnership with them and we don't plan to be disloyal, so shut up. You're so paranoid!"

One of them started walking and Tsuna snapped out of his thoughts quick enough to run out of sight before they saw him.

That girl…what's her name again? Eto… Tsuna sweatdropped. He'd been at school for how long? And he didn't remember the girl's name? I'm so glad I don't have to talk to her yet. It would be so embarrassing…

Tsuna knocked on the office door and opened it. "E-Excuse me…I was told to come down here?"

"Where'd you go?" Donato asked Tsuna when he returned.

"The office wanted to confirm my uncle's contact information…I'm not sure why. I thought it was all filled out already."

"I guess things like that happen."

The rest of the day passed by smoothly, although Tsuna couldn't help but sneak a few glances at Donato and the girl. Donato seemed to be rather stiff and the girl kept looking as though she wanted to turn around, but stopped herself before she could move more than an inch.

When the final bell rang and they were dismissed, she turned around to face Donato.

Donato was just placing his books away when he saw her looking at him. "Atsuka…?"

Tsuna almost felt a light bulb go off over his head as he recalled that Atsuka was indeed her name.

"You and I are going to find out who's attacking everyone," Atsuka told Donato.

"Hiiiiiiie!"

They turned to Tsuna in confusion and Tsuna clamped a hand over his mouth. Damn it…Please tell me I didn't just hear her say that. "Y-You're not serious, are you?" Tsuna asked Atsuka. "About finding the guy? Because that sounds…very dangerous…"

Atsuka quirked an eyebrow and said in a teasing voice, "You can come with us if you're worried, Sawada."

Donato gaped at her. "No way!" he said in Italian.

"What?" Atsuka replied automatically in the same tongue. "I was joking."

Looking back and forth, Tsuna confirmed that yes, they were really only middle school students, not adults in disguise. And that they were thinking of going against people who beat up others. "I'll go with you," Tsuna said. "But…why were you speaking in Italian?"

Atsuka blinked a few times at Tsuna. "Y-You want to…?"

"Habit, I guess," Donato said, not surprised that Tsuna was determined to follow along. "Don't you fall into it sometimes?"

"N-No?"

"You actually want to come with us?" Atsuka asked.

"Three people are better than two," Tsuna insisted. "I'm going."

Atsuka looked very hesitant but in the end, Tsuna got his way. "Fine," Atsuka said.

Donato grinned. "This can be fun."

"Fun?" Atsuka muttered under her breath. "Yeah, right."

Donato ignored her and pushed Tsuna toward the door. "Let's start right away."

Tsuna tried to tell Donato to wait for Atsuka but she caught up easily and didn't look like she was going to complain about Donato leaving her behind, so he left it at that. To be perfectly honest, Tsuna figured that as long as they could work together, it didn't matter if they didn't talk to each other—it was better than them fighting, right?

"We should visit Akito-sensei first," Atsuka said when she came even with them on Tsuna's left while Donato was to his right.

"They said he's in Namimori Hospital," Tsuna asked. "Will they let us see him?"

"Why would they stop us?" Atsuka asked. "We're just students visiting their teacher."

Tsuna laughed nervously. "You're right, why would they stop us? Haha…" I just had a weird thought that they didn't like me, that's all…

"My dad…" Donato said with scrunched up eyebrows. "He...said something about his friend, about the time when they still lived here. Something about causing a huge ruckus and getting kicked out because they were distracting the nurses too much."

Tsuna and Atsuka sweat-dropped. "You're not serious about that, are you?" Tsuna asked.

Donato gave them a startled look. "Of course I'm serious."

Atsuka made a big show of examining both of them and nodded. "Even if it's true, I don't think we'll have that problem." She continued walking as Tsuna and Donato stopped to look at her back in dismay.

"I don't know if I should be offended or thankful that she doesn't find me attractive," Donato said.

"How do you want to take it?"

"I would rather have nothing to do with her," Donato said without hesitation. Then he sighed. "It's not reasonable for me to say that but...I can't help it."

"I've never seen you act this way before," Tsuna said. "Are you really okay, Donato?"

"Everything is fine. I just don't get along with her."

While Tsuna approached a store to buy a fruit basket for Akito-sensei, Donato and Atsuka waited outside. Atsuka asked, "Why didn't you put up more resistance to him coming? I thought he was your friend."

"He is," Donato said fiercely. "But I also know how dangerous it might be to find out who's behind these attacks, if it isn't your family." Donato grimaced at the last part. He didn't mean to actually say that out loud.

Atsuka bit back a snarl at the accusation. She was tired. Tired of people seeing her as the enemy. Tired of assuming that everyone in her family was as evil as the Puniamo. Did they not understand what those hateful looks directed toward a child does to her? Every time she attended allied gatherings—every time she came into contact with Vongola's allies—that look in their eyes. She was tired of it.

"Don't give them a reason to hate you, Azzurra. You already have your grandfather's faults pressed onto you. You never asked for that, but it is. Don't be like your grandfather."

The words her father spoke to her when she was ten came back to her. Atsuka swallowed and glared at Donato.

Instead of yelling at him, she asked, "Then...why are you letting him come? A third person won't be able to help us if he can't defend himself."

"Tsuna grew up in a rough neighbourhood, where he had to fight to keep his wallet on him. Or, fight to get it back. With these thugs that are attacking civilians? This is no different."

"But he's not in any gang? No family?"

"No, he isn't. He got pretty scared of them after he ran into the middle of a fight between two families when he was little."

"So he might not be prepared to face what might happen, if the thugs belong to a family. The Mafia can be pretty brutal…" Atsuka suddenly shut her mouth.

Donato crossed his arms and shifted slightly, his eyes darkening as he remembered something unpleasant. After a minute he said, "Do you mean that Tsuna might not believe it if there's a real gun pointed at his face?"

"Yeah."

Donato bit his lip. What did I get Giotto into? Damn...I can't protect him on my own. But Romario will kill me himself if he finds out I'm doing something like this.

"Donato," Atsuka said softly. "Are you willing to call a truce while we work on this? I am, if it means that we'll all come out of this alive."

Donato stared at her for a second before nodding. "Okay. Truce."

They shook hands and dropped them as Tsuna emerged from the store.

Tsuna showed them the collection of fruit. Most of them were in season, but there were some that were imported from other areas that gave the basket more variety. They continued on their way, with Tsuna following the other two, who were more familiar with the town.

A few streets from the hospital, Tsuna spotted a man walking toward them. The closer the man came, the wider Tsuna's eyes got. The man had short black hair and a sharp face that sported an expression of indifference. His black suit covered a lean body that could take out a hundred men.

Tsuna didn't know if that was an exaggeration or understatement when it came to Vongola's Cloud Guardian.

The Cloud Guardian continued to survey the area, not giving Tsuna any more attention than he gave everyone else. Tsuna jolted out of his shock and followed the Cloud Guardian's lead of ignoring him. Since Donato and Atsuka were giving each other the silent treatment, there was nothing he could comment on or reply to.

Why is he here? I didn't know that the Vongola Guardians visited Namimori! Tsuna knew that they all grew up in Namimori and that the Cloud Guardian seemed to be rather fond of the place despite what he showed Tsuna, but Tsuna didn't think that the man actually visited enough for Tsuna to bump into him.

Maybe he doesn't actually visit that often, Tsuna thought in horror. Maybe he's here to test me or something. Hiiiieee!

Trying his best to not think about the Cloud Guardian who walked past his group, Tsuna asked Donato about Romario, who was something like an uncle to his friend.

Akito-sensei was in his hospital room reading a thick book. He looked up at their knock and smiled when he saw that three of his students had come, bearing a basket of fruit.

"Akito-sensei, we hope you're feeling better," Atsuka said.

"Thanks, you three," Akito-sensei said. "There's nothing to worry about, since they'll release me later today. The doctors just wanted to make sure my ribs weren't stabbing into my lungs." He laughed at their horrified expression.

"How did they attack you anyway?" Donato asked and settled himself onto a chair. "All we've heard was that it was in an alley. I hope they didn't have a gun or a knife."

"Nothing of the sort," Akito-sensei said. "They had a black bag over my head so it was impossible for me to see. But I didn't feel anything like a gun or a knife pressed to me. I would have been even more terrified."

"I guess we should watch out for big groups, since no one knows who they are," Tsuna said.

Akito-sensei shook his head. "There were only three of them. And they sounded foreign. That's all I know." Akito-sensei stopped and eyed them. "Why does this sound like an interrogation, my dear pupils?"

"N-No! We're just curious, that's all!" Tsuna said with a wary laugh.

"Yeah! Everyone at school's been talking about you," Donato said.

"How times have changed," Akito-sensei mused. "When I was a student, we didn't really talk about the beatings we got, except for that time when Kokuyo…"

"Akito-sensei?" Atsuka prodded when his sentence trailed off.

"It's nothing," Akito-sensei said. "Just thinking back to my own years in school!"

"You were here when the Disciplinary Committee was practically in charge of Namimori, weren't you?" Donato stated.

Akito-sensei's eyes widened. Then he started to laugh. "To think that you know about that!"

Donato grinned. "My father was a teacher at Nami-chuu for a while, so of course I know."

"Hai, hai," Akito-sensei said. "Enough about the past. It's getting late. You three should be heading home to play or to study. Or something. Whatever teenagers do now."

"Air skates go on sale next week," Atsuka said. "Teenagers are all excited about that."

Akito-sensei sighed. "That's one more thing to look out for in school then. I wonder if the principle is going to ban them."

"I hope not," Donato said as he got up.

"Thanks for the basket!"

"What do we do now?" Tsuna asked when they left the hospital.

"We figure out where they attacked other people," Atsuka told Tsuna.

"Do you have a computer at home, Tsuna? We could use it to map out the other locations and maybe set some sort of trap," Donato said.

Tsuna gave both of them a quick look. Are the two of them just talking to me and ignoring each other? "I don't have a computer."

"I'll bring mine then," Donato said.

"Okay, sure...wait, what are you talking about?"

"We'll plan it out at your place."

"Eh!? Why mine?" Tsuna shrieked. The printout for my training schedule's still on the kitchen table!

Last night, Lal Mirch had sent him a schedule that she created with the cooperation of the other guardians who were training him, so that it included everything that each guardian thought was important. Lal didn't have to include a note with the e-mail; Tsuna knew what would happen to him if he didn't keep up with his training. He could even imagine one of them dropping by unannounced!

"My house has too many people," Donato said.

"A-And yours?" Tsuna asked Atsuka.

"I think Donato would rather not come into my home."

Again, Tsuna found himself staring at the two of them, thinking that there was something really wrong with their relationship. Tsuna pulled his hair and sighed. "My house is just down that street."

They gave him relieved smiles. "I'll walk with you," Atsuka said.

"I'll only be a moment," Donato said and started running in the other direction. "Don't start without me!"

"You're the one who's bringing the computer!"

Their walk was quiet without the tension that suffocated him on the way to the hospital. Those two must really hate each other, Tsuna thought. They passed the time with polite conversation, sometimes questions about Tsuna's time in Italy, which he answered extremely carefully, and sometimes about Donato. What bothered Tsuna was that she took Donato's dislike toward her as if it was inevitable. And he didn't like that one bit.

Tsuna let out a sigh of relief when he finally saw the Vongola's safe house. "Here it is. Sorry, but I don't have a lot of stuff yet," Tsuna said after he noticed Atsuka was looking around the yard and through the front door when he opened it.

Her expression was one of curiosity and she laughed off his concern. "It's not a problem! I haven't been in one of the houses in the residential areas before, so I don't have anything to compare it to."

Tsuna didn't know what to say to that. Did she live in an apartment? Or a mansion? He tried to imagine her living in a mansion, dressed up fashionably and waited on by servants ready to serve her drinks beside a backyard swimming pool, where a table with an umbrella was prepared.

Tsuna sweat-dropped. She probably lives in an apartment. If she lived in a mansion, why would she go to Nami-chuu when there are better schools around?

"Do you want something to drink? I think I have something in the fridge for all of us. Just wait for me in the living room!" Tsuna took off his shoes and dashed into the kitchen. He found the paper and quickly shoved it into his backpack. Hearing that Atsuka was getting settled, he ran up to his room to hide his bag in the closet. He closed his door and let out a deep breath. Phew.

Soon after, Donato arrived and they got to work. They looked for news articles and made markings on the map that Donato manipulated on his computer. There were a few moments when Donato and Atsuka sniped at one another when the attacks were in certain locations. Other than that, Tsuna found that they were working much better together than before.

"There are a lot more incidents than I thought there were!" Tsuna said.

"Me, too. I didn't know there were so many," Donato said. "I only heard about the really bad ones, but these smaller cases are also part of it."

"The major and minor attacks happen randomly. It's not like the attackers started small and went big," Atsuka said.

"Maybe they have two groups," Tsuna said.

Donato cocked his head. "Two? That makes sense, if they take turns in beating people up. That's just sick."

"That means there are more people involved than we first thought," Tsuna said shakily.

"Okay, I have an idea…" Atsuka said and explained her plan.

A/N: That's it for today, folks. Thanks for reading :) Look forward to the next chapter! Our favourite dynamite wielding Storm Guardian finally makes his appearance!

-LLM

Updated 2016-07-13th