A/N:

@michiko-chan27: I do hope you enjoy the omakes. I'm not confident we what I made. Haha.

Thanks for the reviews. I'm gonna drop this second update here. One chapter before the epilogue. Probably not that readable. You can skip it. HAHAHA!

Anyway, go on.


Chapter Sixty-Five

Tsuna let out a small part of his tongue as he concentrated on putting the finishing touches. When his eyes saw Leon staring at him, he only smiled at the little guy and continued on. After two loops done, he moved the hat in an armlength and stared at it.

"How is it, Leon? Good as new, right?" Tsuna questioned the chameleon who only sticked his tongue out to give him a small kiss on the cheek. "Yup. I'm awesome."

"I'm still wondering why you have to patch that up." Skull mused as he propped a grape on his mouth. "Reborn can just buy another one."

"If I throw away your favorite bike and helmet, will you buy another one?"

"Hell no!" The stuntman shook his head then paused. "Oh... Oh. I get you."

"What was that?" Viper asked, rather intrigued with their not detailed conversation. Even Verde gave them a glance.

"Sentimental value." Skull answered. "Like what if Tsuna throw away your cloak, will you buy another one? Knowing you, you will. But the memory and emotional value of the cloak won't be the same as the new one. For example, the bandana Lal gave Colonnello."

"Ah." The Esper (Skull briefed him about the 'Arcobaleno' various occupation) nodded with agreement. "That is valid. No wonder Reborn never changes his hat."

"Now that you mention it, is he that sneaky?" Tsuna grimaced as he put Leon on the brim of the hat which he settled on the side table. "Three days ago, the hat and the suit jacket. Two days ago, Leon. Yesterday, a bullet with my numbers on it."

"He thinks you're interesting." Verde chimed on his side, eyes on his computer. "You are indeed a peculiar one."

"I'm one and only, for your information." Tsuna grinned before standing up and putting on the two things. "I'm going to check on your status, Skull. Hospital, as much as you like our company and oddity, is pretty boring without me in it."

"You're right. And I can't wait to meet your family. The others already met them. Even Bermuda got to talk to them when he's the most tight lipped among us." Skull combed his hair. "I wonder if I pass on as your boyfriend."

Tsuna rolled his eyes as he folded the collar of the jacket. "Sorry, Skull. I love you but you're not my type."

"Awtsu. You wounded me." Skull pouted as Viper and Verde tittered. "But I love you too."

"Good."

Tsuna waved at the three before he went out of the room. He petted Leon with a finger as he walked down the hall to reach the nurse station. He felt the little guy lean on his touch that made him croon. Such a sweet guy he is. Probably his owner is as sweet too, but who knows. Hitmen were killers for hire anyway.

When he woke up with a suit jacket as a blanket and a tattered fedora above his head three days ago, he didn't panic like how his three 'roommates' did. Dude. Ambush is an everyday life. Besides, he needs to assist the reason why the man gave him those things. When Skull and Colonnello explained to him who this Reborn is, he was intrigued. A sadistic, chaos bringer hitman who bullies a lot of people and calls Skull his lackey. When he looked around the room, he noticed some camera attached on hidden places. No wonder Verde said Reborn got interested in him. He was a blabbering idiot when the Arcobaleno came.

His friends have visited Skull on that day with flowers and home made chocolates from Haru and Kyoko. Ryohei came in with a sincere and quiet thank you that made the stuntman blush as if he never gets such words of gratitude and appreciation. Of course, the action didn't go unnoticed by the others so they made him talk about his achievements and praised him all the time. Even Lal, Fon and Bermuda got surprised of how they appreciate Skull's works and achievements. Perks of having a low self-esteemed Enma and shy Haru.

When Nana heard from Fuuta that Skull have a lot of friends, she told him to invite everyone. Tsuna shrugged and told them to go to an address while he stayed with Skull to repair the hat. When they came back, they were all awkward causing him to laugh. He remembered Kensuke when he visited his home too. His senior was in daze for three hours straight and asked him how the heck he didn't get that sunny personality. His mother is so sunny and warm sometimes that she becomes so dazzling. And Tsuna rarely shows such attitude to others, only when he deems the person worthy.

And since that day too, he began to warm up to the Arcobaleno. Verde, the scientist, can be closed yet open minded sometimes. Tsuna had to make a point and argue a bit with him to open the other's mind about such possibilities. And now, the man asks his opinion about science and stuffs (he's excited to introduce him to Ietsuna, they'll surely have a blast). Viper, the esper, always charges people money whenever a question is asked to him. So the teen challenged him into games of cards. Everytime Viper loses, those who wants to ask Viper will ask. And thankfully, he hadn't lost one game. That is his field anyway. He pities Viper for losing so much potential money though.

Bermuda, the police officer, was mostly quiet. Tsuna did engage him in simple talks about what he likes. Whenever the man says something he knows, he'll dive deeper in there before going back up with a new question. He's pretty nice too, according to Skull. He even sicced Kyouya to him so they could talk about rules and jailor things, they hit it off pretty well. Fon, the martial artist and a Triad assassin (Kyouya told him), was... A mix of obnoxious and polite. Tsuna didn't really mind since his nephew, Kyouya, is a mix of human and a demon- No wait. Kyouya is a force of nature himself and literally a demon so yeah. They're really related, but don't get along that well. Kyouya hates his uncle (Something about not defending his freedom that Tsuna simply commented with "Why don't you free him when the time comes? With that, you can ask him battles since he owes you that much." Let's just say that made the prefect smirk.), especially when they look so much alike.

Lal, the military woman, and Colonnello, a COMSUBIN, are siblings. Since he made a quite impression on Lal over the phone, the woman become civil with him. Colonnello is a goofy one so they get along well. He quizzed them about guns and military stuffs since he's not that knowledgeable in that field. They did answer him with text book facts and experiences. He also noticed how Lal mostly treats Colonnello like a kid, when in fact the latter sometimes has this mature look on him when he's narrating on experience. He did point it out blankly for her one time, when the blond was waiting for him outside to get some snacks. The next thing he knew, Lal was treating her brother equally. He only sent a wink on Colonnello as a reply to the unvoiced question.

Skull told him about Reborn and Luce too. He doesn't know why but the thought of the two gives a twinge of something on his heart. The stuntman told him that Luce is the leader of their small group and a boss of a company called Giglio Nero (they were pretty disappointed that he doesn't know. He was fairly amused and told them that he might've heard it once but didn't dwell on it since it's not important. Who knows who got angry with him). Of what he gathered, she has this unique ability of seeing the future, the reason why she gathered all of them. He almost called bullshit, but he didn't. Who is he to judge someone he didn't know? (But that doesn't mean he respects the lady for blindly following the 'fate'.)

(Why is he having this kind of deja vu that this happened to him somewhere?)

(If he only knew.)

When they talked about Reborn, his heart kinda throbbed in anticipation. That guy is the only one who never has this good impression on the others. They said he's sadistic (Colonnello deadpanned), a bully (Skull whined), trigger happy (Viper grumbled that), destructive (Verde almost cursed this), belligerent (Bermuda murmured), headache (Lal spat), and hardheaded (Fon grimaced). When he asked positive traits, they looked at him like he sprouted another head. He rolled his eyes on them and forced them to do so. In the end, Reborn is somewhat a savior of the day (Colonnello said this thoughtfully), the doctor (Skull pointed out), a professional (Viper hummed), the mathematician (Verde said inaudibly), a man of principles (Bermuda nodded at his choice of word) and words (Lal blinked at the memory), and an impressive sun (Fon smiled). They said he likes espresso, Leon (because he deserves the love), the fedora, expensive black suits, guns and chaos. In conclusion, Reborn is quite a character to the point that Fuuta already gave him a pepper spray for self defense (He laughed at this so hard. He has Kyouya as a regular Tsuna-hunter, why need such a defense?).

"Good afternoon, Tsuna." Nurse Masaka greeted with a smile that Tsuna nodded at. "What can I help you with?"

"I want to ask about Skull's status. When can he be discharged?" He asked as he put his weight on his right leg.

The nurse raised her clipboard and checked the print out papers with a hum. "Doctor Sasaki needs to see his ankle again before he can go. Maybe tomorrow afternoon. Who will take care of his papers?"

"I can do it." He shrugged. "You know how it does with me."

"With that many patients on your list? Nope. I already memorized it." Masaka giggled before nodding at his attire as she put down her board. "Nice suit jacket and fedora. They compliment you."

He perked up at that to the point that he can't help giving out a small smirk. "Thanks. I just fixed the hat though. And it's not mine."

"Ara. Who is it then?"

Tsuna was going to answer when he felt someone passed by him on his back. His nose captured familiar scents. Strong coffee, smoke and gunpowder. He looked behind him to see a man going for the corridor he just came from. To Skull's room. He said a hurried bye to the nurse who looked surprised, and took off to follow the guy.

His shoes padded the floor as he ran fast to catch up. He had to grip the brim of the hat too so it won't fly off. When he got near, he opened his mouth to say something, only to close it again when the man stopped walking and turned to him.

Tsuna mummed as onyx black eyes zeroed on him. They were so black that he could feel himself getting sucked in. It was both back-tingling and heart fluttering. Why the latter, he doesn't know. The man's features spoke foreign. From his nose to lips and angular jaws. He was tall too and probably lean (the alien in his head tells him otherwise, pointed ripped). He has spiky black hair with spiral curly sideburns. And it's as if the man is waiting for his coat since he's only dressed with white dress shirt and a pair of black trousers, all iron pressed that spoke volumes of neatness and professionalism, complete with a pair of black dress shoes.

Tsuna is so thankful he knew how to wash and iron a coat. It won't look good if it's so wrinkly. Still the mixture of those three smells clung to the clothe like a natural perfume. He didn't mind since he's getting addicted on it out of whim (it is the only thing that has a different feel on it since he doesn't smell those kind of fragrance everyday for the whole duration of his life).

"Yes?" A baritone voice queried.

Tsuna perked up. He almost cursed when that voice almost gave him a shiver down to his spine."A-Ah. Hi."

"Hello." The other greeted back.

"I think this is your fedora." He said as he pulled the brim of the hat. "And your partner Leon."

"Hm?" The man hummed with a small quirk of the side of his lip.

"Also your suit jacket." Tsuna looked up and gave him an eye to eye direct contact. "I want to return it."

"Okay."

Tsuna removed the suit jacket carefully then handed it over. He made sure they didn't make an accidental brush cause his intuition is telling him to do so. The damn traitor can go fuck himself, just not Tsuna. When he was going to pluck the fedora off his head, Leon nuzzled his hand then went down his shoulder to hide on his neck. He still gave the hat to the man after making sure he didn't put any strand of hair. It's a good thing he can still tame his hair. It's getting longer every month.

"Leon? Aren't you going to your partner? You can't stay with me forever, you know." He hummed to the chameleon who only licked his neck, making him crane his head higher. "Alright. You can as long as you're here, but permission first, yeah?"

He didn't mind the stare he got from the other as Leon went down to his hand. He outreached it until the little one arrived to his open palm. Reborn reached out and took Leon. And with all the running out mercy from above, their hands brushed. Tsuna almost squeaked when he felt electricity run through his body and his heart skipped beats that he thought he's dying. That will be exaggerating but that's how he felt it.

He watched as Leon stared at him from his partner's reaching hands. Tsuna almost grimaced. Damn. Did the guy felt it too? What was that anyway?

"Thank you." Husky, almost a whisper.

Tsuna gave a small smile. Shit. His heart is drumming. "No. Thank you. I could've had a stomach ache and a pained neck that day if you didn't put me on Skull's bed and covered me with your coat. You're a life saver."

"Hm." The man said as he caressed Leon with a hand, the suit jacket and fedora already worn. Tsuna mused how dangerous the man looked with his complete uniform. "I'm Reborn. Pleasure to meet you."

"Tsuna. Likewise." And he peered at the door on his right. "Wanna come in? We can give them a shock. Just don't bully Skull at all." Then he eyed the man with a small almost unseen glare.

"Okay."

To say their reaction were amusing when Reborn came in after him is an underestimation.


Reborn watched as Tsuna nod his head off after an hour of reading. The teen almost looked out of it. Good thing there's an extra chair though. Pulling the plastic chair with him, he put it beside the brunet, sat back on the rest and gently put the nodding head on his shoulder. He hummed in appreciation when Tsuna dozed off, mumbling a thank you on him.

He smirked when the other occupants of the room stared at him. They looked away instantly. He took the opportunity to gently get the book from the brunet's hands and inspect the content of it. The teen was so engrossed to it awhile ago that Skull didn't bother him to enjoy it. It was almost comical since the stuntman always wants to talk about things. But to see his lackey being considerate is something new.

He eyed the sleeping one at the corner of his eyes. With all honestly, Tsunayoshi Sawada is a character he had never seen before in his entire life after he followed the teen for the last three days. The latter has his own pace of doing things while helping his friends do things they want. He's feared as much as the town feared Kyouya Hibari. Something about a bad reputation to the patrons that had a taste of how dangerous he is years ago. Probably bullying. He hunts the bullies and gives them some beating without any complain of how mundane the routine is. When he gives a threat, he doesn't just execute it but he also make sure the point is delivered. Oh how he loves the chaos Tsuna brings.

He had discovered too that the brunet has some connection outside Namimori. One from the Gokudera family, namely Hayato and Bianchi. Apparently, he had snapped the latter sibling out of her jealousy on the former's talents. A reason why she had stopped baking goods for Hayato until her cooking improved (she knew they were poisonous from the start). The two become a part of the Sawada family branch. The Yamamotos too, which was also a part of the family, along with the Bovino and Hibari.

Then Shamal who is a doctor and close family friend of the Gokudera. Tsuna kicked the man in the shin everytime he refuses to treat men, leaving him no choice but to do so because the brunet has a mean kick. Because of that, he's reputation as a good doctor and deadly assassin bloomed and made him famous. There's also Gianini who started to finish off his projects and weapons nicely after he got rid of his frolic attitude of jumping from one idea to another. It was the reason why Verde took the guy under his wing. Of what he heard, he was the one who gave special features to the Namimori prefect's tonfas. It was impressive.

And Basil, Iemitsu Sawada's finest disciple. The kid was saved by the same man when the former's parents died. He was treated like the second son of the family and Tsuna's other sparing partner other than Kyouya Hibari, Ryohei Sasagawa, Takeshi Yamamoto and Kensuke Mochida. Of the last he heard, the teen is serving the CEDEF of Vongola as a one of their agents. He wonders if the Sawada patriarch is part of the group.

Reborn felt himself stiffen when a hot breathe touched his neck after Tsuna moved to have good position. An arm got draped across his stomach too. Still, the touch of those lips on his pulse, right on the spot, sent shivers down to his spine. Surely, he's a man of self control. But to have one dangerously gorgeous kid on his side, seducing him innocently while sleeping takes a lot. It doesn't help that they only have five years age gap.

Just what did he got himself into?


"Fuuta?" Tsuna called slowly as he caressed the kid's bandage covered wrist with a hand and the other on the neck where the scar should have been. "It's okay. I'm not being taken away. Reborn isn't dangerous. He's okay."

"B-But you were sleeping and-"

"I was sleeping, Love." He pointed out gently as he put the wrist on his lips and kissed it. "No need to panic. I'm here. No one is going to take me away. If there is, he won't stand a minute of me thrashing around just to get to you."

"May I?" A soft question from his back. Tsuna looked up to see Reborn looking at him with permission.

He tapped on his intuition that permitted the man, so he stepped aside but kept his hand on Fuuta. Reborn took the tall teen's other wrist while inspecting his head. Fuuta did bash his head while hyperventilating, it was also the reason why he woke up. He looked at his brother when the latter took his hand and gripped it tightly. To be fair, he ran his thumb on the back of the other's hand to calm him down.

It wasn't entirely Fuuta's fault. Tsuna was tired and saw Reborn lounging on the couch while Skull was sleeping on his bed. It was don't sleep at all, sleep on the chair and get his neck hurt, creep on Reborn and sleep in his side, or get scolded again by Masaka for joining Skull on the bed. He chose Reborn. After an hour, that's how Fuuta found them and started to panic.

"How is it, Doc?" He playfully queried to Reborn who smirked in amusement.

"Nothing's hurt. A little swelling, but it will heal." The man answered.

"Do you wanna go to the bathroom to wash your face? Cold water always helps you to calm down right?"

Fuuta stared at him before nodding.

"Alright. Up we go, you little giant." He said as he stood up and helped the other brunet to do so too. "I cannot believe how tall you are. I even have a growth sprout but it didn't help at all!"

"You're just vertically challenged." Reborn playfully consoled as they walked for the nearest restroom in the corridor.

Tsuna glared at him before shrugging. "At least you didn't say short."

"Huh. What will you do if that's what I said?" The man challenged as Fuuta went in the restroom.

The brunet considered the question. What will he do? "Probably punch you hard on the shoulder? That's usually the easily hardened part of the body so it won't feel my punch. But if you aren't ready, you can have a big bruise there that I don't really mind."

"Have you forgotten what the other's said? I'm a hitman, and the world's greatest." The man reminded.

He beamed. "I'm Tsunayoshi Sawada, your match."

Reborn smirked. "What match? My mate? My husband? My lover?"

"I was saying your rival!" Tsuna pouted in indignation, red creeping on his cheeks. Why is his intuition preening at those Reborn's meaning of match?

"So what's the score between you two?" The hitman questioned with a motion of his head to the restroom.

Tsuna looked at the door as he leaned on the wall opposite to it. "It's not my story to tell. But Fuuta is proud to tell it to anybody who ask so maybe it's okay to tell you." He blinked as he recalled the past. "Fuuta is from an abusive family. After he got accused of killing his brother and got detention for two years, his parents started treating him roughly. There were all kinds of abuse and the only thing missing was sexual harassment." His hands curled into fists as he plunged further. "Perhaps he felt so full of them that he resorted to self-harm. It's usually at the back of his thighs, legs, on his arms and wrists. In a way, it was how I met him."

The man had pulled the brim of his fedora down to his face at his narration. He didn't mind. It was that heart breaking anyway.

"So what happened?"

"The cliche kind of meeting. It was raining and I was on my way home. I bumped into him. I was about to apologize when I noticed the red on his neck and wrists." Tsuna slid down to crouch as he combed a hand on his hair to kept himself on cursing. "I panicked and asked him if he's okay. Stupid of me but relevant because I noticed that he couldn't talk. Regardless of how fucking tall he was, I took him on my back and rushed for the hospital. Funny thing was the doctors and nurses, even the staffs, didn't want to tend him. If I didn't give a good warning that I will trash every fucking equipment on the building heedless of how many securities they have, they won't have patched him up."

"It was because of your reputation then."

A feral grin crossed his lips. "That, my volatile personality, my power as a Sawada and my connection to many people."

Reborn marvelled the delicious shiver that went down to his spine. What Tsuna had said awhile ago was true. They are a match.

"When Jii-jii and Tousan got to me, I gave my demand for child custody. I don't care if Fuuta was old enough to keep himself alive. In my mind and intuition, that child needs someone who can hold his hand when he's experiencing something he couldn't take. Not all of us are fortunate to have awesome parents. Jii-jii promised he'll do what he can do, and it brought him to Fuuta's case. Because he was trusted by the police since he's part of the interrogation team for philosophy purposes, he got them to open it up and investigate from the very start.

"At the same time, the doctors had told us that Fuuta showed signs of being abused for years with the same time for self-harm. The abuse was filed as another case for his parents after the police found out that his brother was killed by them for insurance money. When I told that to Fuuta, and broke him the news that the police already arrested them and Jii-jii made them confess all the things they had done, he cried."

"You got the child custody?"

"Will you believe me if I tell you that Jii-jii and Tousan put me there as his sole parent?" He felt the man's disbelief that caused him to grin wider. "It helped though. Because everytime the school calls for me that Fuuta is trying to do some self-harm again, I could swing by immediately. It took me months to make him understand that he's not there anymore, that self-harm is not nice, that he didn't do anything wrong because he didn't kill his brother, and I'm there for him. It was fruitful since he's only hyperventilating these days whenever he thinks I'm in danger or in daze when he felt overwhelmed with emotions. A new project to do too."

"But what made him so proud of telling that story? Aren't teens usually ashamed of their past?"

The door opened and Fuuta went out. "It's because Tsuna-nii kept on bragging to his friends that he's my parent by papers and my brother by anything but blood. He was so proud of it that he didn't mind the people's stares at him in various emotions. In return, I become proud of my history too. In a sense, I felt like I survived something that cause me to meet a wonderful person."

"Aw." Tsuna gushed as he wiped away some imaginary tears. "Thank you."

Fuuta closed the door behind him and faced Reborn who only rose his brows. "You're dangerous and I don't know you. But if you can tolerate my brother's weirdness and oddity, I don't care. As long as you don't hurt him, I'm okay with your relationship. But if you do so, please remember that I know how to use a lot of things as a tool to kill an individual. I once used an elastic eraser to cut myself if you want a sample, thank you."

Tsuna's mouth went slack as Reborn chuckled. That's just saying Tsuna can date Reborn for all he wants! And Fuuta doesn't even know if he preferred boys over girls or both!

"W-Wait Fuuta. Don't be mean. I'm not even in that age yet." He tried to reason out.

"Well, you can still be friends." The younger teen shrugged. He did mean it!

Tsuna sighed in relief before smiling to his brother. "Don't sell me out like that."

"Yes yes." Fuuta nodded before helping him stand up. "Let's go. Mama gave us a lot of things to eat. The other Arcobaleno were on the house before I left. So it's up for the four of us to eat- Oh man! I dropped it!"

"Don't take on what Fuuta said." Tsuna warned Reborn as the younger sibling ran for Skull's room. "He's just setting me up to anybody like my friends do. Being loveless isn't a trend anymore this days, apparently."

"It's okay."

The brunet hesitated as the silence stretched. "We're friends right?"

A smirk was given to him. "Yup. Friends."

He couldn't help beaming. "Cool."