The brown-haired 13 years old was lying quietly on his bed, enjoying the quiet atmosphere. It had been a mere few days since reborn arrived, but it had felt like weeks for both the brunet and his brother, what with all the sadistic training methods they were subjected to.

Hikaru had immediately seized the opportunity of freedom and had locked himself in his room playing video games and eating unhealthy snacks. And reborn was not there to stop him, ergo Hikaru's actions.

The shrunken hitman had left a little after sunset without any indication of his destination. He merely stated that he had some important business he needed to attend and left it at that.

Tsuna sighed contentedly. It had been a while since he could just act lazy. No brothers attacking him. No ghosts annoying him. No hacking waiting for him. No problems demanding his attention and lastly and most importantly, No threat of reborn entering his room unannounced.

Tsuna glanced at his desk. His laptop took the centre, with papers strewn atop it, on one corner a small dark glass bottle sat. When he had left to Italy all of a sudden it wasn't just to mess around, but rather it was to inform the Varia about the alliance request and to personally collect that bottle from a doctor he was acquainted with.

If Tsuna was being honest, and he has no reason to lie, the content of that little bottle was the only thing that kept him functioning as a normal human being. Without it, he probably would have died by now. He had been starting to get uneasy when he noticed he was down to his last pills, so he acted recklessly and drugged his brother and father and flew to Italy as 27. Not one of his brightest moments, he'll admit. But he had to get the pills.

And he couldn't just ask someone to deliver them to his doorsteps like with the chains. Because the one who needed the pills was the hacker 27, not Sawada Tsunayoshi...not that Sawada Tsunayoshi needed the chains either, but the pills were much more delicate and important than those mammon chains.

Dr Shamal, the one he buys the pills from, doesn't treat males, but the payment 27 had offered him was great, and Tsuna doesn't mind, as long as they can stabilise his flames and heal his body, he was fine with it.

There was also the fact that 27 had made Shamal swear to never tell anyone about their transactions lest his enemies somehow use it to their advantage. If they knew about his dependence on the pills, they wouldn't hesitate to take out the source and cut his supply.

Tsuna brushed his hair away from his face and stared at the ceiling with half-lidded eyes. Then he frowned. His intuition has been pacing for a while but Tsuna had ignored it as it indicated no danger and Tsuna didn't notice anything wrong.

But now it started nudging him, trying to tell him about something, trying to remind him of something he had forgotten. That's when a memory slipped seamlessly into the forefront of his mind, watching the memory play out, Tsuna widened his eyes when it finished.

Jumping off the bed like a spring, he shot a glance at the time, 11:55. Five minutes till midnight. Tsuna stared in absolute horror as he stood uncomprehendingly in the middle of the room.

11:56. The digital clock winked at him in bright red. That's when he got his rear into gear. He rushed to his closet, flinging articles of clothing carelessly left and right in his haste to find what he needs.

In his mind, he cursed himself for forgetting something as important.

'How could I have forgotten about the meeting with Nono?!'


Reborn landed quietly in the abandoned kokuyo land beside an old man. The man's hair and moustache had turned white with age, but his posture did not seem to be affected. He stood straight, shoulders relaxed and eyes that remained alert.

"Nono," reborn greeted the old man.

The man turned towards the hitman and nodded "reborn," he smiled calmly "a beautiful night, no?"

Reborn did not give a verbal answer, Nono didn't expect him to. Both males remained silently waiting. It was 11:59 at the moment. One more minute to go.

They weren't sure what they were expecting once it became 12 o'clock, but they expected something to happen. Both of them had met hackers before, this wasn't the first time, and for some reason they were very dramatic, some wore suits and top hats, others wore capes and masks, it was amusing to see what style they choose for themselves hoping to be easily distinguished from other hackers.

But once the clock struck midnight, the appointed time of the meeting, nothing happened. The silence was unexpected. Considering that 27 was the top hacker, they must be slightly eccentric. But there was no flashy entrance, no silent sneaking, nothing.

A few minutes passed, still nothing.

Nono's intuition told him not to worry, that the hacker would be there. Reborn didn't mind the waiting. In fact, he expected it to some degree, a lot of hackers liked to be 'fashionably late'.

Then, for a split second, reborn felt the brush of mist flames. It felt small, minuscule even, but it was mist flames, no mistake in that.

Looking to the side where one of the main buildings was and from where he detected the flames, specifically at one of the trees at the entrance, he caught sight of a person. They were sitting on one of the branches and leaning on the trunk of the tree.

'27?' Reborn wondered 'Who else could it be, of course it's 27' Because what sane person would be doing at midnight in this abandoned park?...not that reborn could talk about common sense, he would sound like a hypocrite otherwise.

"Aren't you the one to suggest the meeting?" Nono said, once his intuition confirmed that that was indeed their hacker "Shouldn't you come closer so we can have a civilised conversation? It would only be polite, no?"

27 jumped down from the tree and landed quietly and made his way towards the two. Reborn and Nono couldn't help being slightly anxious to finally meet the mysterious no.1 hacker.

The closer 27 got to them, the stronger the feeling of mist flames became. Once the hacker came to a stop in front of them, they noticed multiple things. First and foremost, he looks like a child. He wore a black hoodie, with the hood up, black pants and black boots with red laces. He wore a mask that covers the upper part of his face, his blue eyes shining through with eerie light.

The mist flames seem to cover the boy like a blanket. So perhaps this wasn't what he actually looks like, but merely an illusion as was what mist flames were known for.

"Well," Nono decided to start "it's nice to finally meet you, venti-sette," he said, speaking in Italian.

"Likewise," 27 said, smiling. Reborn noted that his voice was unremarkable, but smooth and lacked an accent. Reborn would have easily picked on any accent no matter how faint, he was just that good, but he couldn't detect any in the hacker's speech. Maybe the rumours about 27 being Italian wasn't false.

"I've heard a lot about Vongola's Nono, It really is an honour to finally meet you in person," the boy(?) said, "and, of course, we can't forget about the no.1 hitman. I've always wanted to see you too, the pictures don't do your intimidation justice," he continued casually, still smiling and mist flames still spilling from him like a waterfall, or rather, like a fog. If they were any lesser, they would be having difficulty breathing from the sheer amount of flames that surround them.

It appears that 27 has extremely strong mist flames, which perhaps explains how he can be so slippery and anonymous despite all the missions he does. Unfortunately, reborn can't sense if he has secondary flames or not, considering that everything in their vicinity seems to be blanketed in mist flames.

"So how would you like me to prove my loyalty?" 27 said, going to the main reason for this meeting "Should I battle fearsome warriors? Capture an enemy? Compete in a contest?" the tone was joking, but it was an invitation for Nono to give his conditions.

Nono chuckled at the childish ideas, he knew that what they're seeing isn't the hacker's real person so he couldn't pinpoint how old venti-sette was, but he was certain that he wasn't older than either reborn or him "Oh there's no need for any of those," Nono said "I only want your word."

27 crossed his arms and tilted his head in confusion. 'Not surprising,' reborn thought, 'usually a person's word isn't enough, especially in the mafia, words hold little to no value unless they were oaths or backed with proof'

But this wasn't a usual situation, for one, Nono, the boss of the strongest mafia famiglia in the world was infamous for his intuition like all his ancestors. He could easily detect a lie from a mile away. Second, this meeting is being held in the presence of the best hitman the world had to offer, and reborn was known for his affiliations with the Vongola. Any action against them would be a sure way on his to-kill list. And lastly, the one pledging his loyalty was 27, the best hacker there was, and he was known to always keep his word (which honestly was unexpected from a shadowy information broker). So, it wasn't a surprise that a mere promise would suffice in this situation.

The hacker appears to have reached some conclusion as he said "oh that's right, the Vongola Hyper Intuition. I've heard it's been described as a devilish trait, but infinitely useful," the maybe-not-child nodded in understanding.

"I guess there isn't a need for that but," the hacker who's maybe-not-even-a-he smiled "I swear that as long as no mission assigned to me would harm innocents, I would do all that is in my power to get it done perfectly,"

Nono smiled and reborn gave a nod of acknowledgement. All was set. Venti-sette, the world's mysterious best hacker, was now Vongola's ally.


"...and it all happened so fast we didn't know how to react! I mean, he was stuck in a pit filled with glass eyeballs and fake blood, so really..."

Hikaru sighed in aggravation, he can't understand why his father was still talking. It should have been obvious by now that Hikaru just wasn't interested. Not in his story or in spending time with the man himself.

They were in the kitchen, Hikaru had wanted to get himself some of the pudding his brother kept in the fridge and he had the misfortune of running into the elder blond who, for some reason, Hikaru can't understand, had decided to regale him with his stories at work.

Where was reborn when you needed him? He would rather undergo the toddler's hellish training than remain in this man's presence. Hell, he would even rather spend time with his useless brother than be here!

"...so he went in and there were a few seconds of silence and then he yelled at us to run as he came hurtling out of the room, not a few seconds later, it explodes! Hahaha, after that-"

His words were cut short when Hikaru stood up suddenly. Now that he's done with his pudding, he can finally return to his room, he would have taken it up there to enjoy his pudding in peace but there was one rule his brother had set that he doesn't break.

'no food in your room' which was an irritating rule but there was a reason it was set, and he doesn't want a repeat of what happened last year. That incident was actually the catalyst for the creation of the rule.

Depositing the dirty dish and cutlery in the sink, he trudged out of the room and up the stairs, ignoring his father's calls.

"Wait, hold on! Where're you going? I still haven't reached the part where-"

Hikaru gritted his teeth and slammed the door shut.


Tsuna stealthily climbed up towards his room window and slipped inside, making sure to shut it silently behind him.

Once he made sure that his door is still locked, he finally allowed himself to relax, he sat on his bed and sighed deeply. He still can't believe that he almost missed the meeting! Had it not been for his hyper intuition, he shudders to think of the results, reborn might take it as a sign of disrespect at best and a declaration of war at worst.

Looking up, he sent a thankful smile towards the transparent figure before him "thanks for your help, Daemon"

The figure was that of a male. He wore a French-like dark blue military uniform, yellow epaulette, white pants, brown boots and a red shirt beneath his uniform. But the most remarkable feature was his hair, it was teal in colour and barely brushed his chin, it was styled in a manner where several short strands defied gravity at the back of his head. Almost like a fruit, Tsuna thinks.

He stood in the middle of the room, his stance confident, his back straight and his arms crossed "it's alright," he said, "but next time, make sure you're not late to meetings of such importance."

Tsuna smiled at him. It had been a close call indeed. When he had remembered about the meeting, he had changed his clothes (leaving behind a huge mess, he reminds himself to clean it later) and summoned Vongola's first mist guardian, asking him to change some of his features and to cloak him in his mist flames.

It was a strategy 27 followed whenever he had to meet someone. This way, no matter how great of a sensor a person is and no matter how attuned to flames they are, they would not be able to sense his sky flames. It's also a great way to deceive anyone trying to find 27's identity, they would never suspect 27 being a sky.

So once the flames were wrapped around him, he flew like a maniac towards kokuyo land. He was pretty sure, if someone looked at the sky while he was flying past, they would think it was a shooting star. He had to act cool though, can't have his grandpa and tutor see him as a mess, so he waited for a few seconds on a tree branch to catch his breath then asked Daemon to flare his flames a little. Once Reborn took notice of him, he acted as if he had been there the entire time.

"I'll try," Tsuna said, "but I don't think there will be a next time."

It was Daemon's turn to smile, but it was a small thing that most people wouldn't notice, "don't be so sure, after you become the decimo, alliance meetings are a necessity,"

"I'm not becoming the decimo," Tsuna muttered.

"Why not?"

"It's too much responsibility," the brunet said, looking out the window "and I already have enough."

Daemon sighed but didn't argue, so they were enveloped in silence for a few moments before Daemon spoke up again "You're the only one I'll accept as the decimo, you know that, but I can't force you. So, I hope you come to your senses soon and realise that fact. Goodnight, Tsunayoshi"

With that, primo's mist guardian disappeared.

Throwing a glance at his desk drawer, Tsuna shook his head "even if I do become the decimo, it wouldn't be long enough to make any significant change..."

Tsuna sighed again before he started cleaning the messy room, picking up the different clothes he had thrown in search for his 'work' clothes, neatly folding them and placing them in their rightful place in his cupboard.

Changing into his pyjamas once done, tsuna flopped on his bed and snuggled into his covers thoroughly enjoying the warmth and patiently waiting for sleep to claim him. He didn't have to wait long as sleep seemed to favour him tonight.


Sleep seemed to have a grudge against Hikaru tonight, it just refuses to grace the boy with its presence. So he remains awake, lying in his bed and staring listlessly at the ceiling.

He scowls, as the memory of reborn's lesson replays in his mind. It wasn't even a proper lesson! It was more like a beating as reborn rained bullets on him and Leon, that evil little lizard, turning into different weapons for reborn to use.

His body ached at the reminder.

Hikaru closed his reddish eyes again and tried to sleep. He tried to stop thinking about reborn, but alas. Reborn's words played in his mind on repeat like a broken record.

"Next time, I want you to be mindful of your words. What you've said to Yamamoto, had it been in jest or otherwise, could have resulted in his death. Can you say you're ready to shoulder that burden? From now on, be sure to taste your words before you spit them out."

Hikaru had to admit, at least to himself, he felt terrified when he realized the impact of his words, he had literally told Yamamoto to kill himself. But, as he tries to remember what exactly prompted him to say such a thing, he couldn't recall any reason for such actions, Yamamoto hadn't exactly been his friend but he hadn't bothered him either.

The same thing happened with Gokudera. Oh, he remembered the silver head's challenge and the subsequent battle, but things just...get fuzzy after that, not in the manner in which he can't remember details, but rather like being consumed in his hatred.

In both situations, Hikaru could honestly say, he didn't mean any word he said. But then he would look back on his words and actions and note that...those feeling that consumed him were definitely his...which confused the blond greatly.

Where did this hatred come from? Had he always felt like that? Was he honestly willing to throw people's lives away? what could have prompted him to take such actions?

The blond frowned in frustration. This was confusing him and there are too many questions. All he wants right now is some sleep. Glancing at the clock he notes that it's 3 in the morning. He groans.

Just thinking about waking up tomorrow to go to school and reborn's murderous waking-up methods makes his head ache.

And Hikaru wonders, why can't things go back to normal?