It has been months. There, I said it so that you don't have to. My excuse this time: School started, I got a job, my life has been super busy. But hey, look on the bright side; my hiatus wasn't nearly as long as last time. Though, to be fair, I did leave you all with a pretty bad cliff hanger. As compensation, you may all kill me. But only if I get to come back to life so that I can continue to write this fic.

I estimate that this story will be another 10 to 15 chapters, for all those who've been wondering how long this fic will actually be. Could be more, could be less.

'Nuff of my rambling, on with the story.

DISCLAIMER: I am writing fanfiction because KHR obviously belongs to me. Makes perfect sense.

(Unbeta'd so all mistakes are mine and mine alone. In fact, this entire story has been unbeta'd. Does anyone volunteer? (I hate rereading my old writing, it makes me want to barf and then delete it all.))

(Does anyone love a good Katekyo Hitman Reborn reunion fic? If so, go read KaeBird13's Acting Casual, Vongola Style . Yes, self promotion because I'm awesome.)

Note - Aniki is a more formal way of saying older brother in Japanese.

The air had a threatening sting of chill threaded through the wind, but other than that it was a fine October day in Timoteo's opinion. The boss of the Vongola was for once not in his office doing paperwork, but instead out in the garden. The late season flowers were still in bloom, their scent mixing in with the crisp smell of herbs. Sighing, Timoteo took another sip of his drink. Not procrastinating his work - no matter how much he wanted to at the time - really did have its benefits.

"Maria," He called out lazily. The short-haired maid appeared from behind a tree at his beckon. "I haven't received any phone calls yet, have I?"

"No, sir." Maria answered, monotone, her eyes carefully hidden behind her thin-framed glasses. "Are you expecting a phone call?"

Timoteo nodded, taking a long draft of his drink before replying. "Today is the Sawada twins' birthday. They are currently in Japan with Iemitsu's crazy ex-wife. If something doesn't happen, then you may call me a fool."

As expected, Maria remained silent.

A cloud drifted across the lofty yellow sun, shading the ground with gray. The wind swept through the lawn, making the trees and the grass wave hello. Timoteo shivered. Cold, but still a decent day. So far.

"Sir." Maria said, interrupting his thoughts. "Your personal phone is ringing. Do you wish to answer it?"

"Told you so." Timoteo sighed. "Hand it over." What would it be? Don't tell him Iemitsu had done something stupid. Again.

"Hello?" Timoteo answered, a wry grin on his face, fully expecting Iemitsu to burst out in complaints.

"Is this Vongola Nono, Sir Timoteo?" A hesitant voice replied. "This is Investigator Fujishi of the Japanese Police. Sawada Nana listed you as one of the emergency contacts for Sawada Iemitsu. I am sorry to inform you..."

Squalo eyed his boss as Xanxus sat moodily in his seat, fingers clenched tightly around a wine glass. He had already broken 15 glasses in the past three days alone, and Squalo wasn't looking forward to replacing their entire supply. Well, forcing someone else to replace their stock. Maybe Bel... The Prince hated being told what to do... It would certainly be entertaining... Unfortunately, the Varia still had several dozen vintage wine glasses, and there wasn't an urgent need for new ones.

Squalo's eyes narrowed as the wine glass trembled in his boss' hand. There wasn't an urgent need. Yet.

Xanxus swore loudly and threw his glass. It shattered against the wall, the wine dripping down the wallpaper like blood.

"VOOOIIII!" Squalo cursed as Xanxus eyed the coffee table like it was the next thing to decorate the wall. "Will you STOP trying to make it look like you murdered another person in here!" As soon as the words left his lips, Squalo inwardly flinched and quickly scanned the room to make sure the short one wasn't lurking. There was no need to let Xanxus' still-innocent surrogate younger brother know that there had been people killed in this very room.

Oh wait. The brat wasn't even in the country. And that was the sole reason his boss' worse than usual bad mood.

Xanxus' chilled red eyes turned on Squalo, hard as steel. The eyes of an uncaring assassin, the shell of a human, what Xanxus used to be before the Sawada brat injected hope into those crimson orbs. A slight shiver trailed up Squalo's spine. It had been months since the last time Squalo had seen that expression. The brat needed to come home, and soon.

Xanxus' lip curled up in disgust. "Ged'me another glass, scum." He slurred his words, already drunk and it wasn't even noon.

Fury shimmered under Squalo's skin. "No." He said in the calmest voice he could muster.

The door cracked open. "Um," Lussuria poked his head in, sweat running off his forehead. The tension between Xanxus and Squalo crackled as they turned to glare at the intruder. Luss shrank till only his eyes were visible. "Vongola Nono is here to see you, b-boss."

The hostile fury disappeared in an instant. The Varia boss leaned forward. "Bring him in." All signs of drunkenness gone from his voice.

Lussuria opened the door wider and Timoteo stepped in. Squalo was almost nervous. He could count how many times the leader of the Vongola had personally visited the Varia headquarters on one hand. It was never for a good reason. Nono knew that this was Xanxus' personal space, and respected that.

The old man's face was worn and haggard. He looked at the wine stain for a second before his attention wandered to his adopted son. Xanxus stood slowly, one hand still on his throne. Timoteo's stance was one of defeat, of a broken man. "Xanxus," Timoteo's tone was as dead as his eyes. "I have thought of a million ways to tell you this, none of them end well. Finally I settled on telling you straight out."

Xanxus grunted, his eyes not leaving his father's.

Timoteo wrung his hands together before running one down his face. "Earlier this morning Sawada Iemitsu and his son Tsunayoshi were killed in a hit and run accident. A semi hit them. There is nothing left of their bodies to bury. I am sorry son, but Tsuna is never coming home."

Up in the air vents, Reborn dropped his gun. In the same moment it hit the metal, Xanxus roared. Timoteo stared impassively as his son cursed at him till he was blue in the face, accusing up and down that Timoteo was lying. That wasn't going to change the facts, no words were ever going to bring them back. Something in his soul felt broken. In less than a year he had lost three out of his four sons. Now he lost one of his closest advisors and friend, and a young child he had come to cherish as a grandson.

Silently, he slipped out of the mansion, leaving the Varia to clean up the mess.

Branches whipped around him as Hayato ran with tears streaming down his cheeks. An hour ago, his father had sat down and told him terrible lies. Hayato had yelled at him to not tell jokes like that, it wasn't funny. His father's eyes had remained twisted with pity. "Tsunayoshi-kun is dead." He repeated again instead of taking it back. The silverette refused to believe it. Yesterday Bianchi had bought him a small calendar he could use to mark down the days until his best friend came home. Tsuna was only going to go to Japan to see Toshi. He was only going to be gone for a month. And then he was coming back.

Tsuna was coming back.

He promised. He promised him. Tsuna promised him that he would be back. He was only going to be gone for a little bit and then he would be home again. He would return to Hayato's side. Tsuna promised him.

His foot caught on a tree root and Hayato went down hard. Small fists dug into the dirt as a sob broke out of his throat. Lies, it was all lies. Didn't his father understand? Tsuna couldn't be... gone...

"Hayato!" Tsuna waved as he ran to catch up with his friend. Hayato turned around with an amused expression just as Tsuna tripped over a crack in the sidewalk.

"Oh shut it." Tsuna grumbled as he got back to his feet and dusted off his pants. Hayato finished laughing and clapped Tsuna on the back.

"What would Xanxus say if he saw that?" Hayato teased.

Tsuna rolled his eyes. "Probably pull out his gun and make me dodge."

No. He's not- He's not-

Hayato's throat jumped into his mouth as he dropped his laptop at the entrance to Tsuna's living room. Tsuna grimaced and waved his cast at Hayato. "Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm a clutz, you can freak out now."

"What did you do?" Hayato forced his heart rate down as he picked back up his laptop. Luckily it was in a protective case and he had more set it down rather than dropped it.

Tsuna shrugged. "I fell off a wall in the Vongola garden. I wasn't paying attention. Xanxus already chewed me out, so please spare me the lecture."

Hayato shook his head. "How can you go from having perfect balance to 'a gust of wind could knock me over if it really tried'?"

Grinning, Tsuna looked impossibly cute.

Hayato flicked his forehead. "It's not funny, you tweeb. Listen up, you're not allowed to get hurt. Ever. Or at least not when I'm not around to protect you."

Tsuna raised his eyebrows. "But if you are around to protect me, I wouldn't get hurt."

"Exactly."

"And what the heck is a tweeb?"

Hayato just smiled.

Hayato pushed himself to his knees as his stomach forced out everything he ate for breakfast. Today was Tsuna's birthday. He was going to call him and Toshi later. They had it all set up. Only twenty-seven more days until Tsuna flew back to Italy. Another sob shook his frame as he crawled away from his rancid sick. His arms vibrated, not having the strength to keep him up and he collapse at the base of a tree, hugging his knees to his chest.

Tsuna wasn't coming home.

"Hayato-sama!" He heard the distant call, but ignored it. His family and servants had been searching for him ever since he ran out into the forest next to his house. The wind picked up and a cloud drifted over the sun, casting shadows on the ground. Could the shadows swallow him up and drift him along to wherever Tsuna was? He just wanted his friend.

He could almost imagine wild brown hair sitting next to him, awkwardly patting his head. "You're gonna be alright." It whispered to him. A tear trickled into his parted lips, salty and bitter.

No, he wasn't. "Tsu...na..." The name bubbled out of his mouth unbidden. The dam broke, and the name tumbled out over and over again. Suddenly, it became too hard to breathe. He was sinking, sinking, sinking, never to resurface again.

And he didn't care.

Takeshi passed by the darkened windows of the Sawada household. A week ago, there was nothing that could bring him down. He had finally felt free of the mask he had built for himself. He had found two people he truly felt like understood him for who he was, not the talents he had. Six days ago, he had lost both of them. Three days ago, he attended a funeral.

Toshi hadn't been back to school since then. Takeshi sighed and began to walk away. It was a detour, but ever since then he had walked by Toshi's house to see if he could catch a glimpse of his friend. One time he had spotted Toshi's mom outside tending to the porch flowers, but no sign of life otherwise. A chill crept up his spine, but not from the cold. There was something about Sawada Nana that didn't feel right. Maybe it was the way she would look at you with eyes that were dead inside. Or the way she spoke: soft, calculated, always on edge. There was something dark inside of her, no doubt, and it scared him.

It scared him that Toshi had to live with a woman like that.

A frigid wind tore through his jacket and bit straight into his bones. It probably wasn't as cold as he thought it was. The dog down the street looked fine. The sky up above was gray and bleak, half of it missing and half of it dead. The entire world was mourning. Yamamoto was freezing. With another shiver, he trotted back home.

Maybe tomorrow would be a better day.

The glass can of tea fell slowly. Toshi watched, unable to take his eyes off the drink. He couldn't see his body, but he knew it was tensed and ready. Ready for what, he didn't know. Ready to run, maybe. His heart pounded in his throat and he felt shaky. The edge of the bottle caught a ray of light, blinding him momentarily. It hit the ground with a bang and the sound of screeching tires. Someone screamed, someone who sounded like him. Red exploded from the bottle, seeping on the ground to form a bloody, crimson handprint.

Toshi slowly opened his eyes, trying desperately to slow down his breathing and not to scream. Nightmares like this happened every night since. . . Every night he had even attempted to try and sleep. Once his pulse slowed down to that of a normal person, Toshi pushed the blankets off of him and clambered out of bed. It was still three in the morning, but he didn't mind. He knew he wasn't going to go back to sleep even if he did lay back down. Thoughts of squealing tires and liquid so dark against the tar at first glance it didn't look like blood, were still running circles around his mind.

Grabbing a shirt and a pair of jeans, Toshi snuck out of his room and silently closed the bathroom door behind him. He didn't want to wake her up. His shower was long, the water going from steamy hot to freezing cold. Toshi let the water run down his body, his eyes closed and his head bent, forehead pressed against the wall.

On the first day, he was in shock. Police had talked to him, questioning him over and over about what happen. The day had passed in a blur, a frigid cold haze. The second day, Toshi didn't have the strength to leave his bed. The sheets had become soaked with his tears. On the third day, he had stood stone-faced and as still as a statue as they held a memorial for his twin and his father. There were no bodies to bury, only a bloodstain on the road to remember what had been lost that day. And even that would soon fade away. Sawada Nana had spoken to the small gathering of sympathetic neighbors - he vaguely remembered Takeshi being there - with tears in her eyes and a sob in her voice.

She was an amazing actor. If he didn't know better, even he would have thought that she truly cared.

Or thought that she was even a little bit human.

On that day, Toshi finally realized the monster the woman who called herself his mother was. Everything had been carefully calculated; From the sign that just barely blocked the security camera's vision so that the police couldn't see what had happened when Tsuna-nii and his dad had 'fallen' to the time of day. It was just a little bit before people usually ate lunch and everybody was trying to hurry from place to place - in other words, nobody had been paying any attention to anything but themselves. Nobody had noticed that something was wrong until Toshi had screamed and the truck desperately tried to stop.

Nobody had seen Nana push his dad and his older brother to their deaths.

Nobody, except for him.

He had tried to tell the police what he had seen, but as soon as he opened his mouth, Nana was there. She had placed her hand on his shoulder, looking like she was just a mother comforting her son as he recalled a horrific time. Her other hand, though, was placed against the small of his back. The blade she held was pressed firmly against his flesh, hard enough that he knew it was there, but soft enough that it didn't break skin.

"You," She had breathed into his ear as she bent down to give him a quick squeeze. "are also expendable."

He had been so terrified that he hadn't been able to speak.

"Poor, Toshi." She had cooed to the confused police officer. "He must be in shock. If you'll excuse us, I'll go take him to the medical examiner."

As they left, Toshi felt a brief flicker of hatred towards the police officer. The killer was right in front of his eyes, and he had not noticed a thing.

There was no evidence against her, nothing but the word of a seven year old boy. But someday, Toshi vowed, he would see her behind bars.

Eight Years Later

"To-kun!" Sawada Nana called from the bottom of the stairs. She waited for a moment in silence before sighing. "Sawada Toshihide! Are you up there?" There was no reply. She tapped her foot against the ground in frustration. Her son was ignoring her again, that little brat. You would think that at 15 years old, he would at least attempt to act civil towards her.

"To-kun!" She yelled again. "If you don't reply I am going to turn off the wi-fi!"

A door opened upstairs. "I'm busy, Nana." A weary voice called back down. "Can you leave me alone for ten minutes?"

Nana growled. That twerp. "No, I can't. And call me mom, I did give birth to you after all."

"You gave birth to Aniki too."

A shiver ran across her skin and she visibly shuddered. "Do we really have to have this conversation every single day?" She had disposed of that monster eight years ago, why couldn't her son just forget him already? Even after his death, the creature was ruining the relationship she had with Toshi.

Toshi didn't answer and Nana sighed once again. "Can you come down here darling? I got something in the mail that I think you should see." She was clutching the flyer in her hand so hard that it had crumpled.

She could feel the hesitation before her teenage son stepped outside his room and closed the door behind him. Toshi trudged down the stairs, his lanky legs somehow managing to be awkwardly graceful. Her son was tall for his age, tall and skinny. Too skinny, she frowned. He had been exercising too much between his football and karate. Tonight they were going to have a lot of protein for dinner.

"What?" He asked bluntly, his hands stuffed in the pockets of his hoodie.

Nana handed him the flyer, suddenly nervous though she didn't know why.

"Home Tutor Reborn." Toshi read drly. "We will raise your kid to be the new leader of the next generation. Grade and subject doesn't matter." He looked up, his large hazel eyes regarding Nana with suspicion. "Sounds like a scam. Tell me you didn't."

Nana raised her chin up high. "I already called him. He's coming over later today."

Toshi closed his eyes briefly, controlling the urge to turn around and lock himself back up in his room. "I don't need a tutor, Nana."

The woman bristled. "Your grades are terrible! At this rate you're going to get kicked off the football team! You're the captain, you don't want to fail your teammates, do you?"

"My grades are terrible because I don't care." Toshi said curtly. "As for the football team, I've already made a deal with the coach. He's not going to boot me off the team."

"He will if I make a call to your principal." Nana swore vehemently.

Angered bubbled at the bottom of his throat but he pushed it back. "You wouldn't."

"Don't test me." Nana shook her head, her eyes wild. "I made the call, this Reborn person is coming and nothing will stop that. You will not fail school if I have anything to say about it!"

"Nor if I have anything to say about it." A chirpy voice interrupted. Both Nana and Toshi froze and looked down at what looked like a baby in a suit. "Ciaossu! I am Reborn, the tutor!"

Nana gasped softly. "Um, are you sure?"

"How did you get in the house?" Toshi asked, his eyes roaming around before locking on the open window in the living room. Oh.

Reborn's lips curled up into a smile. He may not have been the twin he had been hoping for, but the blond teenager had some potential. The teacher in him ached to shape it. "Shall we get started?"

"I- I'll go get you two something to eat." Nana stuttered, clearly embarrassed. "To-kun, how about you show Reborn-chan to your room? He will be staying with us while he tutors you."

Toshi smiled, a thin and humorless smile. "Fabulous."

Excitement fluttered through Reborn's system. Yes, this was his favorite kind of student. A sarcastic little shit. This was going to be fun.

Reborn jumped up onto Toshi's shoulder and climbed up to sit on his head. The wild blond hair was soft and fluffy, Reborn enjoyed his new perch perhaps a little more than he should have.

"If you say 'hiya' or something lame like that, I will tear you off." Was all Toshi said in response to his tutor's new position.

"You can try." Reborn said smugly as his student traveled back up the stairs and into his room. The room was neat and tidy, every small thing tucked into place. Except for, well, all the art supplies spilling off the desk. Large canvases of painting covered every inch of wall space and sheets of doodles were stacked haphazardly in the corner.

"Sorry," Toshi apologized. "You caught me working on a project."

The largest painting in the room - the one placed center over Toshi's bed frame caught Reborn's eye. A boy with blond hair stood at the edge of a cliff, peering over the side. An autumn tree stood behind him, it's branches twisting towards the other side of the painting. There was nothing on the other side, though. Something felt. . . off about the painting. It looked unbalanced, like it was missing something. Shaking his head, Reborn jumped off Toshi's head and onto the bed.

"You don't seem the least bit confused that your home tutor is so young." Reborn placed his hands behind his back.

Toshi laughed. "You're not that young, are you?"

"Perceptive." Reborn nodded. "And Vongola Nono and I were worried that you wouldn't be cut out for the job."

The mask that clouded Toshi's emotions finally broke. "Vongola? What the hell is that?"

"Only the largest mafia family in Italy. Congratulations, you've been selected to be the next boss. I'm here to train you." Reborn waited for the blowout and the scorn that would come with his declaration. It never came.

Toshi instead looked thoughtful. "Me? Why me? I have no connection with the mafia."

Reborn smiled thinly. "That's where you're wrong." So very, very wrong.

Toshi sat down on the floor. "I've been told some pretty crazy things in my life, but this, this takes the cake. Do you have any proof that what you say is true?"

"I think you know that what I'm saying is true." Reborn countered. Toshi's hazel eyes were hard and older than his age. Not as old as Reborn, but nearly as worn and tired. They had almost the same kind of intelligence that Reborn remembered seeing in the six year old Tsunayoshi. Just as smart, but not the same. "I think you're just like me and can tell when people are lying to you."

"Got me figured out, have you?" Toshi barked a laugh. Suddenly Reborn got the feeling that Toshi hadn't really laughed or been happy in a very long time. It was.. . . Kind of sad.

"If you're anything like your brother was, then I can say that I know a little about you." Reborn shrugged.

Toshi stiffened and his eyes became like glass; Something fragile trying so hard to be strong. "What does my Aniki have to do with this?"

"I knew him." Reborn replied simply. "Well, sort of. I never had the pleasure of meeting him in person, but I saw him a couple of times."

The gears in Toshi's head were spinning rapidly. "In Italy. The Vongola is an Italian mafia. Did my brother know about any of this?"

Reborn smirked. "You catch on quick, don't you?"

Just then, Sawada Nana opened the door. The smell of freshly-baked cookies hit Reborn's nose like a bullet. He had traveled the world and had eaten food prepared by dozens of world-class-cooks, but damn, those things smelled delicious. "I brought you some snacks. Is everything going good?"

Reborn looked at her blankly. As soon as his mother had stepped into his room, he had seen Toshi's shoulders stiffen slightly. The movement was minimal and Reborn might not have even seen it if he hadn't been looking for it. The same sensation from before - when Reborn had watched Toshi and Nana talk as he waited to make his grand entrance - surfaced again. It was icy cold and filled with slow-boiling rage. Reborn kept his frown to himself. Toshi, he sensed, did not like his mother very much. It felt like more than a rebellious teenage boy having disagreements with his mother, this felt like hate. Why? There was something that he was missing, and that irked Reborn to no end.

"I'm just going over what my tutoring will be like with Toshihide-kun here, and then we will get started with his math." Reborn told the woman.

Nana put down the plate of cookies and two glasses of water next to Reborn. "Sounds like fun. I will be downstairs if you need me."

Reborn watched her leave and then turned back to his student. "Just to let you know, I am going to help you with your school. You will get good grades or else I will kill you."

Toshi raised his eyebrows. "So not only are you going to be my tutor, but you're going to live in my home, and train me to take over a gang of organized crime."

"Mafia." Reborn corrected. "Not organized crime."

"Is there a difference?"

"See, this is why you need a tutor." Reborn took a cookie.

"Tell me more about my Aniki." Toshi glanced at the plate of cookies but didn't take one. His tone which had been emotionless now had a note of pleading. The guy sounded even more broken than Xanxus and Hayato.

Reborn stayed silent for a moment. "He was every bit sarcastic as you are. He did know about the Vongola, though Iemitsu told me he figured that out himself."

"So my dad was a member of the Vongola." Toshi sounded almost disappointed.

"Not quite." Reborn shook his head. "He was the leader of CEDEF, an organization outside of the Vongola that acts as an advisor."

Toshi shut his eyes, drinking the information in. "Once again, why me? I'm sure there are plenty other candidates that are more knowledgeable and willing than I."

Reborn jumped off the bed and stood in front of Toshi. "Vongola Nono is getting old and wants to pass on the boss status to the 10th generation. Problem with that is only blood relatives to Vongola Primo can take over the Vongola. Nono's eldest son, Enrico, was shot in a feud. The second son, Massimo, drowned. The favorite child, Federico was found reduced to bone. That left Primo's line that crossed over to Japan. He's your great great great grandfather, by the way. After Federico died, Nono, Iemitsu, and I knew that Tsunayoshi was next in line to become the 10th, so we began to prepare him." Toshi had not moved at all during Reborn's rant, but at the sound of his older brother's name, he flinched. "Then eight years ago we were informed that he died while he was here. That left only you."

Toshi threw his head back. "Fan-freaking-tastic." He groaned. He had enough to do without worrying about some mafia-gig that he was supposed to inherit. More important things, such as delivering the justice his older brother deserved.

Hayato shut the phone with a snap. "I'm going to Japan." He told his father.

His old man looked up from his paper. "Reborn?"

Nodding, Hayato sat back down to finish his breakfast. "He wants me to test Sawada Toshihide's fighting skills and then become a member of his famiglia."

"Are you going to be okay?" His father asked with concern.

Hayato drummed his fingers against the table for a moment. "I need to do this." He finally replied. "I have to support Tsuna's brother."

His father put the paper down. "Be safe, promise me."

Hayato nodded. I may have broken my promise to keep you safe, Tsuna. But I will not break that promise to your brother. "I will."

The solitary figure crouched on the roof narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. Across from the street, a single light was on in the building he was observing. Through it, he could see the outline of a blond teenage boy, and black-haired baby wearing a fedora. They seemed to be arguing, and the baby pulled out a grenade. A real, bonafide grenade. The teenager backed off, and the baby hopped onto the bed. The whole spectacle was somewhat amusing, and he allowed himself a small smile.

Reborn was finally here. He knew it would happen, it was only a matter of time before the hitman showed up to train Sawada Toshihide to become the next Don of the Vongola. He watched as Toshihide disappeared from the room, returning shortly with a futon and blankets. He stood up as the light went off, darkness cloaking his features.

Time to report to the boss.

To all Reviewers - Most of you threatened to kill me because I killed Tsuna. And then you wanted to know if Tsuna is actually dead. I'm not going to answer that because I am evil. Half of you want me to kill Nana. I may or may not do that. Sorry once again it took me a while to update and I left you hanging. I can't promise that it won't happen again in the future.

This chapter was such a pain to write, you don't even know.

Zivyx - The can of tea shattering was more of a symbol than anything. It didn't necessary shatter, it just represented things that shattered. For example, Toshi's heart. (And it sounded cool when I wrote it, so what the heck.)