Chapter 9: Candy Makes the Heart Happy

Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn!

World 20- Far Sparire

(Vanish)

It was about a week before the competition. Tsuna and Gokudera went to the registration building of the 20th world so Hibari and Yamamoto were both officially in the Vongola X. Now that they had 4 players, they could enter the competition without a problem. Of course, with a full party of at least 7, they stood a much better chance against the other parties. And Tsuna realized that. And that's PARTLY why they were currently at a candy shop in the middle of town with a drooling 10-year-old boy wearing a cow-print dress shirt with horns sticking out of his head.

OK, let me back up. They were walking in town all together (any surprise there?) when suddenly they came across a young boy—younger than most players—getting picked on by much older people.

"Waaaah! Get away from Lambo-san, leave me alone!" The young boy cried, his eyes closed with forming tears.

"Heh, not until you say sorry you little brat!" One player scowled, roughly jerking the little boy by his shirt collar.

Many passer-byes looked on with pity but made no move to help.

The boy dubbed as Lambo started to break down. "To…ler…ate…" He sniffed, seemingly to himself. One of the bullies laughed at the boy's pitiful attempts and began to kick him mercilessly with a pointed boot.

Tsuna, who had been frozen in shock for a few seconds due to the cruel treatment the boy Lambo was getting, suddenly snapped out of it and raced over to help. But, Hibari was few steps ahead of him.

"Herbivore. I will bite you to death for ganging up on a small herbivore." Hibari whipped out his trusty tonfas then proceed to beat them up.

"Hiiee! Hibari-san, don't kill them!" Tsuna tried in vain to stop the bloodthirsty prefect from beating them to bloody pulp.

"Gupyaa! Don't come to Lambo-san! Lambo-san didn't do anything wrong!" The little boy scrambled away, his sapphire-blue eyes glinting with fear.

Finally knowing that it was hopeless to stop Hibari from biting them to death, Tsuna cautiously approached the boy named Lambo.

"No! Go away!" Lambo backed away even more, fearing that the new person would hurt him too.

For a second, Tsuna felt his heart melt. The poor kid, he must have gone through a lot. "It's OK Lambo-san, may I call you that?"

Lambo nodded his head furiously.

"I won't hurt you." Tsuna forced out the most soothing tone he could muster. And it must have worked because the young boy stopped trying to escape.

"Y-you won't hurt Lambo-san like those big meanies did?" Lambo asked wearily.

Tsuna laughed lightly, "Of course not, I would never do such a thing. Say, would you like me to buy you some candy?"

Lambo's blue eyes widened, "Really? You'll buy Lambo-san candy?"

"Un!" Tsuna nodded his head.

Lambo, now refreshed and happy, raced over to Tsuna and started jumping around in excitement. "I want grape flavored! Grape candies are Lambo-san's favorite!"

Tsuna smiled and patted Lambo's curly, light-blue hair comfortingly. "Hai, hai, grape candies it is."

And so that concludes how they met the rambunctious little boy, Lambo.

"Oooh! Can Lambo-san get this one? And this one too!" Lambo greedily pointed to several different purple-colored candies all at once then within seconds, he moved on to the next batch.

"Ahoshi! Juudaime doesn't have a bottomless wallet! Don't make Juudaime waste all his money on you!" Gokudera spat at the cow-child, scaring him.

"Waaahh~ Tsuna-nii! (Lambo had taken to that name once he had learned it) Ahodera is being mean!" Lambo ran up to the blond and hid behind him. Then he turned around and stuck out his tongue at the white-haired teen.

Tsuna, noticing this action, lightly scolded the boy. "Lambo! (Lambo had demanded that he drop the –san) don't do that."

"B-but Ahodera was being mean!" Lambo complained.

"That doesn't matter, you should never do that, it's rude."

"Fine." Lambo crossed his arms and "Humphed."

Tsuna sighed at his antics. "Alright Lambo, is there anything else you want?"

Lambo's face brightened as he began to pick out candies once more.

"Haha! Lambo sure is funny huh, Gokudera?" Yamamoto spoke up from his spot by the window.

"Urusai Sword-freak. I don't want to hear from you."

"Maa maa Gokudera, let's play nice now."

"Teme—!"

"OK! We're done, let's go." Tsuna, with a large bag in his arms, rushed past them, effectively cutting off their conversation (as Yamamoto would call it, with Gokudera, it would be a little different). Lambo, his eyes shining in hunger, followed the blond closely.

They stopped in the park in the outskirts of town. No one was there but the trees seemed alive, disappearing and then reappearing in wherever they chose to end up. It was kind of creepy, all of a sudden, a tree or bush would suddenly appear in front of you without warning, effectively tripping you or adding a new bruise to your forehead.

They proceeded cautiously to the closest bench then sat down, hoping a tree wouldn't appear the middle of the bench. Hibari was already long-gone, probably dozing off already. So, the rest of them were left to watch the greedy Lambo gobble all the candy up, stuffing them into his mouth without giving a second thought about how unhealthy it was to eat so much sugar.

"L-Lambo… don't you think that's enough?" Tsuna asked carefully.

But it seemed like Lambo didn't hear him and continued to eat the candy until there were only a few left. He looked at them in longing for several minutes and Tsuna started to think that all that sugar was beginning to clog up the little cow-boy's brain.

Suddenly, he moved. He picked up one of the candies and handed it to Tsuna albeit a little reluctantly. "T-thank you Tsuna-nii."

Tsuna sighed and accepted the token of gratitude. "You're welcome Lambo. But try not to eat so much at once next time."

Lambo nodded his head vigorously, his curly hair bouncing slightly.

Tsuna patted his head then stood up. "OK, let's go somewhere else now, what do you want to do?"

"Lambo-san wants to beat up some monsters!"

Tsuna sweat dropped, such a drastic change in attitude! From eating candy to slaying monsters, what was up with this kid?

"A-alright Lambo, we can do that. Do you want to go to Foresta Scomparendo? I hear that it has some really cool beasts."

"Haha, yeah! I've been there once. The monsters are all like 'Rragh and Rooaar and Blleerahguh, and Whooo!'" Yamamoto chose to make an appearance in the conversation.

Tsuna sweat dropped yet again. "Umm Yamamoto, that's very… descriptive!"

"Haha, I know right? They were really cool, we should go now!"

"Hey, Sword-freak, don't go deciding things on your own, let Juudaime decide!" Gokudera butted in, reprimanding Yamamoto.

"Oops, sorry Tsuna. I don't mean to push you."

"Ah, it's OK Yamamoto, let's go."

Lambo stared at them blankly, wondering what had been going on. Then, he brightened, and tried to climb on to Tsuna's back. "Carry the Great Lambo-san! Everyone else may bow down or die!"

Tsuna hated to admit it but what a brat.

Saying that Foresta Scomparendo was creepy was an understatement. Gooey looking vines hung limply from dead, gnarled branches, a murky river slowly ran between the lifeless trees. Ominous cries echoed through the dreary atmosphere. And to top it all off, shapes flitted through the shadows, peeking past overhanging branches and glowing eerily before flickering off.

'Hiiee! Why did I choose to come here?! This place creeps me out.' Tsuna asked himself, he was scared witless!

"Haha, how fun! Look at those Fantasmi. Whooosh! Whooo!" Yamamoto tried to mimic the sounds that the ghosts were making while weaving between the trees.

"Umm, Yamamoto, I don't think that's how they sound." Tsuna started, shifting on his feet nervously.

"What are you talking about? Of course they sound like this, can't you hear them? Whooo! Whoooosh!"

"Sword-freak, you're annoying Juudaime!" Gokudera yelled furiously at the blue-haired teen, blowing his cap.

"Maa maa Gokudera." Yamamoto held up his hands in surrender.

Tsuna tried to ignore their one-sided argument and instead turning his attention to Lambo who he noticed was ready to pee in his pants.

Lambo was shaking badly, his legs were bent crookedly and he was chewing on a cow tail that suddenly appeared out of nowhere. His sapphire-blue eyes shone with fright. "D-d-d-does L-l-Lambo-san s-still have t-t-to b-beat up m-mon-monsters?" At this point he was quaking with all his might, not even able to say a complete sentence without messing up.

Tsuna whole-heartedly agreed with the little boy and was just about to respond when he was suddenly jerked from where he stood. He looked back, wondering who it was.

"Hiiee! Hibari-san!"

Hibari, who must have followed them was glaring down at the blond.

"Herbivore." He acknowledged, ignoring the uncomfortable position the blond was in.

"C-can I help you?" Tsuna's lip curved up on one side and he started sweating bullets, hoping to get out of this predicament.

"Hn."

"E-eto, may I ask what that's supposed to mean?" Tsuna trailed off slightly when he saw the look on the prefect's face. "Hiiiee!"

"How dare you disturb my sleep. For that, I must bite you to death!"

"But I didn't do anything! I swear, I really didn't! NOOOOO!" Tsuna was dragged off to the dark forest accompanied by the demon prefect, Hibari. He could practically see his life floating away.

Lambo stood there along with Gokudera and Yamamoto. "What just happened?" Lambo asked curiously.

"Urusai Ahoshi. We need to rescue Juudaime!" Gokudera rushed off, disappearing within the forest's squirming mass of life without a second thought.

"Haha yeah, I agree with Gokudera. Let's go!" Yamamoto grabbed Lambo's wrist and headed off to where Tsuna had been last seen.

"Wait! Lambo-san doesn't want to go in that creepy forest!" Lambo started to struggle and work his way out of Yamamoto's grip. But Yamamoto's hand was like a handcuff, not letting Lambo escape.

"What are you talking about Lambo? Don't you want to save Tsuna?"

"O-of course but I refuse to go in to that forest!" Lambo's eyes were impossibly big now, the whites showing more than the actual pupil.

"Aww, c'mon, let's go!"

Finally realizing that escape was futile when it came to Yamamoto, Lambo let himself get pulled along. But that was only after he had fainted.

Far Sparire- Vanish: the 20th world

Foresta Scomparendo- Disappearing Forest

Fantasmi- Ghost

Character Profiles:

Lambo Bovino: A snotty-nosed brat who loves candy and sweets. He dresses like a cow in both worlds and has taken a liking to wearing horns. In the game, he has light-blue hair and matching eyes. In the real world, he has curly-black hair and green eyes. Under one eye, he has a small # mark. His weapons of choice are his horns for attacking but he uses a specially made shield sometimes. He is a Fulmine class player and goes by the username "Kaminari."

Yo everyone. I hope this chapter was acceptable. It was kind of boring wasn't it? Oh well, anyways expect later updates from me because I have like 5 projects going on at once so yeah… But, this story will not stop so no worries.

Before I forget, just imagine Lambo as the brat he is in canon but looks like his TYL-self. Sometimes, he can act like his TYL-self and sometimes like a kid. So sometimes he will say "Gyahahaha!" and other times it will be "Yare yare" and such. Sometimes he might catch himself saying gyahaha and then switch to yare yare. But alas, he's still the cute little cow-boy that everyone loves, right? I hope I'm not confusing you. Gomen!

Anyone know why this world is named Italian for Vanish? Anyone who can guess it right gets a tuna-flavored cookie (don't worry, I didn't use you-know-who to make them). I think I left behind enough evidence behind.

Thanks for those who took the time to review!

More thanks goes to those who faved and followed/alerted!

Ciao Ciao!