So there's a lot going on in this fic. I'm attempting to explain as much in-story as is reasonable at each point in time. Just stick with me and I'll answer questions that I can without spoiling too much. Also story starts when Tsuna is like 12ish? He'll be about 14 in a few chapters. Also it's gonna take a few chapters, but I enjoy the shenanigans of Tsuna and the Guardians the most, so I promise, we'll get there.

XXXX

There had been a lot of strange incidents in Tsuna's life, but he had never really put them together until now.

Once, a tall man in a trench coat had tried to kidnap him off the playground. He had screamed and cried until a monitor noticed. She nearly gouged out the eyes of the man in the fedora and then pried Tsuna away. They never caught the guy, but there was enough DNA under the monitor's fingernails for the police to keep looking.

Another time, when he was a little older, he had been the victim of a hit and run. Lucky for Tsuna, he had just bounced off the side and tumbled into a ditch. He'd been so tired and bruised he just took a nap there and was only woken up when a woman walking her dog had looked down and screamed.

Everyone just assumed Tsuna was really accident prone, right? For all his clumsiness, he really was incredibly lucky he had walked away from almost all of these incidents relatively alright. And there had been one after the other after the other, seemingly unconnected.

Until now.

Tsuna stared at the gun pointed straight at his head, eyes slowly moving up to the tall man leering at him. He clutched the strap of his backpack tightly, but found that surprisingly, he wasn't shaking as much as he thought he would be. Maybe he was just frozen.

"All the others fucked up, but I'm gonna be the one to finally get you!" The gunman crowed, pressing the cold metal against Tsuna's forehead. They were in a small, dark alley between two shops. In fact, Tsuna had even seen a police officer going into the coffee shop next would hear once the shot rang out, but not in time to help him.

Tsuna was terrified.

But for once, felt vindicated.

Because there really were people out to get him. Tsuna wasn't just clumsy or accident prone. He didn't just attract trouble and that was that. He wasn't just some useless kid. It was all real. People had been trying to sabotage him his whole life and he finally knew.

He wasn't crazy!

If anything, Tsuna was incredibly lucky.

"Say goodbye, kid." And the gun clicked.

It was jammed.

The realization hit both Tsuna and the hitman at the same time and Tsuna immediately started screaming his head off.

"Shi-!" The hitman thwacked Tsuna in the head with his gun, knocking him to the ground. Tsuna kept screaming, knowing this was his chance out. "Shut the fuck up!"

The door to the coffee shop slammed open, the little bell ringing as footsteps headed towards the alley. The hitman turned and sprinted away down the other side of the alley, coat billowing out. The police officer arrived just in time to see the figure flee around the corner, but was distracted by Tsuna. He had stopped screaming, but was bleeding from the head. The police officer knelt down beside him.

"Are you alright?" He asked in a soft voice. Tsuna gave him the biggest doe eyed look he could manage and nodded.

"That man had a gun!" He said tearfully, milking it for all it was worth. "He hit me with it!"

"Was the man trying to hurt you?" The police officer said in a concerned voice. He looked down at the petite figure still on the ground. Tsuna had just entered middle school, and while he was 11, he was still very small for his age. "Did the man try to touch you?" Tsuna let out a dramatic wail in response and the police officer tried to comfort him.

"Don't worry, I'll call for backup and get you to the hospital. We'll catch that son of a b-, that son of a gun." Tsuna nodded tearfully back, as the officer turned away to call for backup.

It's not like Tsuna could explain to him that Tsuna seemed to the be the victim of multiple assassination plots throughout the years, with no clear reason why.

Still, Tsuna found himself irrationally happy with the news that all the "unfortunate accidents" and weird coincidences throughout his life were in fact purposeful. Tsuna wasn't just some dumb, dame kid and that gave him hope.

XXXX

It was something his father had done, was the assumption Tsuna had come to after a couple years. Tsuna knew his mother hadn't done anything and Tsuna was just a middle school student. His older brother, Ietsuna, had been out of the country since Tsuna was 9, part of a long-term student exchange program, so it couldn't have been him. Besides, these strange experiences had never seemed to happen Ietsuna; it had always been Tsuna alone with the "bad luck".

But his father.

Sawada Iemitsu was supposedly a construction worker, and if years of crime-related television had taught Tsuna anything, it was that construction sites were often hotbeds of criminal activity.

There was some truth to this; money launderers often used construction that would never be finished to launder money. Workers would take money in cash and it was very easy to keep things off the books.

Tsuna didn't think his dad was a money launderer or anything; but it wouldn't surprise him if his father had gotten involved with something criminal. It would explain why he never came home.

There was a lot Tsuna didn't know for sure, but he knew that his father was the source of the problem. He had done something he shouldn't have and Tsuna was paying the price.

XXXX

The first time Hibari had witnessed an attempt on Tsuna's life was on school grounds.

Tsuna was still Dame-Tsuna. His grades sucked, he got bullied, and yeah, he was a little clumsy. But at least Tsuna had finally realized he wasn't so dame. He was okay with being shy around the girls in his class or that he didn't really have any friends. Sometimes, even though he missed his older brother, he was okay with Ietsuna being away.

He was late after school, since he had to put everything away from P.E. He had lost his team the game, so they made him put away all the equipment. That was kind of fair, Tsuna guessed.

He was collecting all the soccer balls and cones off the field when he saw Hibari approaching.

Yikes.

Hibari Kyoya was the chairman of the Disciplinary Committee and he was terrifying. Not only was his strange ideology so alien to the student body that it put everyone off guard, but he was a force to be reckoned with. Tsuna had seen Hibari take on huge groups of students and beat them senseless. He would attack anyone who he thought was breaking rules, something that was quickly expanding past Nami Middle; on occasion, the DC had taken to the streets of Namimori itself. It had occurred to Tsuna once or twice that the DC could be considered a vigilante group, or perhaps even a gang, but he wasn't about to voice that opinion to Hibari Kyoya himself.

"Herbivore." Hibari said coldly, peering down at Tsuna. "What are you doing here?" His voice was flat and emotionless. Tsuna almost dropped the soccer ball he was holding.

"Um, I-I'm cleaning uptheequipmentfromclass." Tsuna said quickly, holding up the soccer ball in his hands.

"Hn. Do it quickly." Hibari said, spinning on his heel to walk away. Tsuna squinted against the sun and glanced down the field, mentally counting all the cones he would have to grab.

That's when he saw the figure lurking by the bleachers. He was standing in the shadow of the bleachers, a pair of huge wrap around sunglasses blocking his eyes. He was wearing a suit and Tsuna could swear he saw a metallic glint on the man. He quickly looked away, debating on what to do.

He didn't really want to get Hibari involved, but this guy was about to attack.

"Hibari-san." Tsuna said quickly. Hibari paused mid-stride and turned back around, seemingly annoyed.

"What, herbivore?"

"Is that guy supposed to be there?" Tsuna said, jerking his head towards the guy by the bleachers. Hibari narrowed his eyes at the man.

"No. He will be bitten to death accordingly." His tonfas appeared out of nowhere and he made a purposeful step towards the man, who had begun to approach. The man's jacket shifted as he walked and Tsuna was sure he saw a gun now. He began to reach for it and without thinking, Tsuna grabbed Hibari by the back of the jacket and yanked him down to the ground with all of his weight just as the hitman fired at them. It narrowly missed them as they ducked.

Hibari sprang back to his feet immediately, a snarl on his face. He started to rush the man, but Tsuna grabbed a soccer ball and threw it at the feet of the hitman who was now running towards them. The hitman tripped over it, going down headfirst with a nasty crunch as he face-planted into the dirt and his legs flew over his head.

The hitman did not get up.

Hibari approached the hitman and kicked the gun away, even though the hitman seemed to be making no moves towards it. He crouched down and inspected the man while Tsuna hung back, clutching his hands to his chest.

He couldn't believe he'd knocked the guy out.

Tsuna really was lucky.

Hibari stood up and turned to Tsuna who automatically straightened up, eyes wide with terror. Hibari was looking at him strangely.

"He's dead." Hibari informed Tsuna.

"WHAT?!" Tsuna shrieked. "N-n-no, no there's no way-,"

"His neck broke." Hibari said calmly. Tsuna grabbed his hair, distressed.

"I DIDN'T MEAN TO KILL HIM!" Tsuna wailed. "I JUST WANTED HIM TO TRIP!"

"He was going to try to kill us, herbivore." Tsuna just let out a cry, sinking to his knees.

"What are we going to doooo..." Tsuna groaned.

"Get up, herbivore." Hibari snapped. "And leave. I will take care of this."

"Hibari-san, I just killed a man! I can't just-," A glare silenced him.

"Leave. Before I bite you to death." Tsuna scrambled to grab his backpack, hands shaking. "Wait." Tsuna froze in his tracks. "What is your name, herbivore?"

"S-sawada Tsunayoshi." Tsuna said, shakily.

"Leave, now."

Tsuna practically ran home. He went straight to his room, despite Nana's protests that he was going to miss dinner. Tsuna wasn't feeling particularly hungry after what had happened. He was so shaky that once he got to his room, his legs just gave out under him. He scrubbed his hands across his face.

It didn't even seem real, to be honest. It was a total accident. Tsuna had tripped over a soccer ball a million times in his life. He'd done so today, even. And he'd never broken his neck! The man didn't even look dead, just unconscious. Tsuna was a little suspicious that maybe the hitman wasn't dead and it was just some kind of cruel joke that the DC chairman was playing on him.

But Hibari didn't make jokes and Tsuna knew that.

Tsuna didn't sleep at all that night.

XXXX

"Dame-Tsuna! You didn't clean up yesterday!" One student complained as Tsuna glumly shuffled to his seat.

"I'm sorry. Hibari showed up." He muttered.

"You should have just taken the beating like the rest of us!" Another student said.

"Yeah, Tsuna! Don't be so useless!"

"Sorry." Tsuna said, his face dropping onto his desk.

"Tch. Whatever, I guess."

"Sawada-kun?" A quiet voice asked him. "Are you alright?" Tsuna lifted his head to see Kyoko looked at him, eyes full of concern from the seat next to him.

"Uh, yeah. Thanks for asking." Tsuna said, knowing his answer was far from convincing.

I just killed a man wouldn't have been a good answer though.

"Um, okay Sawada-kun. I hope you feel better." Tsuna had a crush on Kyoko for the longest time and he couldn't even appreciate this right now. She was talking to him, asking about his well-being. This should have been a good opportunity for him to talk to her, and he couldn't even manage that. He dropped his head back onto his desk. He honestly shouldn't have even come to school today.

The bell rang just as Nezu, their teacher, entered the room. Tsuna didn't even bother to lift his head. His grades already sucked. He could just spend today with his head on his desk.

A piece of chalk pelted him in the head, hard.

"Ow." Tsuna said, lifting his head and blinking. "What was that for?"

"Pay attention in my class, Dame-Tsuna." Nezu sneered. "I expect you to be awake this period."

"I was awake." Tsuna protested weakly.

"Oh really? You have a funny way of showing it." Tsuna exhaled, exhausted. Another piece of chalk hit him in the forehead.

"What was that for?!"

"Don't roll your eyes at me."

"I wasn- Ow!"

Nezu ignored him and started the class. Tsuna immediately slammed his head back into his desk, not caring how many times Nezu threw chalk at him. He had to run out eventually.

A buzz on the intercom silenced the class as they waited for the message.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi will report to the Disciplinary Committee Chairman's office, immediately."

Tsuna groaned.

He ignored the whispers from the class as he slung his bag over his shoulder and got up. He kept his head down, even as his classmates sneered at him.

He walked down the hall with dread, afraid of what Hibari wanted from him. Was Hibari going to bite him to death for "disturbing the peace"? If he did, Tsuna would deserve it. He deserved any beating Hibari decided to unleash.

Kusakabe, Hibari's right hand man was waiting for Tsuna when he got to the DC offices.

"Sawada-san, I'll escort you in." Kusakabe said. Of all the people in Namimori, Kusakabe seemed to be Hibari's actual, truest friend. He was taller than Tsuna, his hair gelled into a pompadour that somehow made him seem taller than he already was. He had a sharp-planed face and Tsuna always thought that Kusakabe had an intimidating appearance. But despite that, Kusakabe was known to be the level-headed counterweight to Hibari's ferocity.

"Did Hibari tell you what this was about?" Tsuna asked nervously. Kusakabe slowed and nodded.

"I'm aware of what occurred, Sawada-san. That was a very brave thing you did."

"But-," Tsuna protested, but Kusakabe held a finger to his lips and smiled.

"Not out here, Sawada-san." He knocked on the door to HIbari's office.

"Enter."

Hibari's office was...cozy. Unexpectedly so. The walls were lined with books and little knick knacks. They were all interesting, but some of them looked as if...they'd been taken off of someone. In between, there were two comfortable looking couches, a coffee table, and then Hibari's desk sat in the back. It sat against a wall of windows, daylight flooding in. It was a grand, mahogany desk, covered with neatly organized files and papers. Tsuna also noticed a small bird figurine, which seemed almost out of place on the pristine desk. Hibari was sitting at his desk, filling out paperwork.

Even after Tsuna and Kusakabe entered, he continued to scratch away for a few more seconds. Kusakabe waited patiently by Tsuna's side, giving him a cue to follow. Finally, Hibari lifted his head and set his pen down.

"Kusakabe, shut the door on your way out."

"Of course Kyo-san." Kusakabe nodded at Tsuna before closing the door. Tsuna gulped nervously.

"Herbivore. Come here." Tsuna hurried over to stand in front of Hibari's desk. Hibari narrowed his eyes, inspecting Tsuna carefully. "The assassin has been taken care of." Hibari informed him.

"D-did you take it to the police?" Tsuna asked shakily. The look on Hibari's face answered that question. "G-guess not."

"You did not act like an herbivore yesterday, herbivore." Hibari said.

Is that supposed to be a compliment?

"Your plan was sound and useful." Hibari nodded at Tsuna. "This is a compliment, herbivore."

"Th-thank you." Tsuna didn't really know what else to say.

"Now take a seat, herbivore."

"Uh, I should really get back to class-,"

"Take a seat, herbivore." Tsuna sat down in one of the chairs in front of Hibari's desk. "What do you know about this assassin?"

Tsuna could have lied to Hibari, and said he didn't know. That he didn't know why that man was there. But more would come after Tsuna and Hibari would realize Tsuna had lied to him. And it wasn't like Tsuna had to worry about the DC chairman telling anyone. Tsuna took a deep breath.

"He was trying to kill me." He confessed. Hibari arched an eyebrow.

"Continue."

"It's my dad. I think he's involved in something...criminal. I don't know what or why. I haven't seen him in years. But people have been trying to kill me my whole life. By my count, there's been more than a dozen attempts on my life. I-I didn't know what they all were when they happened because some of them seemed like accidents and I never really got seriously hurt. But a few months ago, a guy tried to shoot me and he said something about finally being the one to kill me, unlike "the others". And I realized that they...um, they weren't accidents."

"What happened?" Tsuna blinked.

"Hm?"

"To the herbivore with the gun, herbivore. What happened?"

"Oh, um, the gun jammed. And I started screaming so someone would hear me and he ran away." Hibari blinked.

"You are very lucky, herbivore."

"I know."

"More assassins will come." Tsuna nodded. Hibari looked pensive for a moment. "I will bite them to death."

"Hibari-san, you don't need to put yourself in danger for me-,"

"Herbivore, I am not protecting you. I wish to bite them to death because they are disturbing the peace in Namimori, especially on school grounds. And for that, I will bite them to death."

"Oh, uh, okay."

"If anyone else attempts to kill you, you will tell me, herbivore." Hibari ordered.

"Uh, yes, Hibari-san."

"Now go back to class, herbivore." Tsuna practically sprinted out of the room, booking it back to class. He knew he was safe for now, but he couldn't stop the feeling of dread building in his stomach at the thought of returning to Hibari, of confessing about another attempt on his life. The idea at all that there would be more made him feel almost sick. And there almost certainly would be. Tsuna wanted to stop in the hall and close his eyes for a second, but he didn't. He just kept walking, trying to chase away the thought that he couldn't shake.

I shouldn't have to live like this.

XXXX

Before long, there was another attempt on Tsuna's life.

About a month later, Tsuna was home alone after school. It was going to be Ietsuna's birthday before long, and his mother wanted to go out and find him some quintessentially Japanese things to ship to him. He had been studying in Italy for quite a few years now and Nana didn't want Ietsuna to forget home. Sure, he had been home for a month last year, and then some holidays before that, but he wasn't coming home this year at all. Something about taking extra classes; not that Tsuna blamed him for not traveling back and forth all the time. He missed his brother, but didn't expect Ietsuna to split his time between Italy and Japan.

He did have a secret confession though; he missed Ietsuna, in a general sense. He loved his brother and he knew he missed him.

But he didn't really feel it anymore.

It was a terrible thing to think and Tsuna would never say it out loud, but Ietsuna had been gone since Tsuna was 9. Tsuna was now almost 12. And he hated to admit it, because he really wasn't that old, but Tsuna was starting to forget things. Well, he remembered. In the sense that he had seen pictures, he had an image in his mind, and he knew these things happened. But the feeling of a nascent memory; of being able to hear laughter, of being able to vividly recall other details of the days in question? That was waning.

He remembered his older brother taking him to the park when he was 6 in a general sense. He remembered trying to play baseball and frankly being terrible at it but having a good time anyways. He remembered it being just the two of them and he knew that his brother had gotten him an ice cream and they walked home. He knew they got back late and he had been tired.

But he didn't remember the conversations he had with his brother the day after or before; he didn't remember eating dinner with his brother every day. He didn't remember what it was like to have his older brother around. Not clearly.

And Ietsuna had been distant the months before he left, hadn't he? Tsuna felt like he barely saw him. And felt like he had barely understood what was going on, just that Ietsuna was going to be gone.

Maybe Ietsuna would come back and it would be like nothing had changed.

But Ietsuna was also 2 years older. He was 14 now. He was going to be in Italy for at least another few years. Maybe for all of high school. He'd be 18 by the time he was home again. Tsuna couldn't even imagine who his older brother would be by then.

So Nana was out, buying Japanese goods in bulk for her oldest son. Tsuna was taking that opportunity to relax. He was sprawled out on the couch, watching a mindless TV show that Nana didn't really like, drinking a soda. Just trying to unwind from school. He had been admittedly high-strung the past few months. He deserved this, right?

Knock-knock.

Tsuna sat straight up, his tie getting caught under his arm. He had loosened his uniform a little, but it still yanked on his throat. He adjusted it, set down his soda, and tried to smooth down the side of his hair as he shuffled towards the door. He rubbed his eyes.

He didn't bother checking the peephole before he opened the door.

Probably should have.

When he opened the door, he immediately knew he was in trouble. On his doorstep stood a tall, Italian-looking man. His dark hair was slicked back, his suit was pressed, and he was wearing what looked like designer sunglasses. He smiled at Tsuna, reminding him of a snake. It was still bright out, but it was almost as if this dark figure drew all the light to him, a black figure in the afternoon sun. Tsuna couldn't see any weapons, but he already knew in his gut they were there.

For a brief moment, Tsuna entertained the idea of speaking to the man, of asking him who he was there for. Pretending like he didn't already know what was going on.

The man tilted his head forward, so that Tsuna could see his dark eyes over the top of his glasses. He opened his mouth to say something and all Tsuna saw were teeth. He immediately slammed the door shut and deadbolted it.

"You fucking brat!" Came the curse, but Tsuna was already running up the stairs. He heard the sound of the guy pounding on the door behind him, but tried to ignore it. Tsuna grabbed the home phone out of its cradle, and started dialing a number he had forced himself to memorize, afraid that this day would come again. He ran into the bathroom upstairs, locking the door. He put the phone on speaker and set it on the counter as it rang. He grabbed the heavy porcelain lid off the tank on the toilet. He'd seen someone get hit with it in an American movie once. It was fairly heavy; not so heavy that Tsuna couldn't hold it, of course, but heavy enough that he almost dropped it when he first removed it.

The person on the opposite end of the phone picked up, but said nothing, leaving only staticky silence. Tsuna heard the sound of glass breaking downstairs, probably the window.

"Hibari?" Tsuna said, his voice cracking involuntarily.

"Herbivore?" Came the curt response.

"A...guy is breaking into my house to kill me." He said, his tongue feeling heavy in his mouth. Once he said it out loud, he realized how bad it sounded. He was in trouble. He felt his breathing quicken, instantly getting sweaty. He closed his eyes and set his head against the mirror, clutching the porcelain lid. The cold glass felt good against his forehead, and he tried to ignore the feeling of his heart in his throat.

"I'm on my way. Where are you?"

"In my house. I-i live at-,"

"I know your address already." Hibari interrupted. "Where in your house are you?"

"B-b-bathroom." Tsuna choked out. He could hear footsteps on the stairs despite the newfound buzzing in his ears. "Upstairs."

"Do you have a weapon?"

"N-no. I'm holding the porcelain lid from the toilet tank." He confessed.

"Good. I'll be there soon." Hibari hung up. Tsuna felt like his vision was swimming. He rotated his head against the glass, letting out a hot breath that fogged the mirror.

"Where are you, you little rugrat?" Tsuna straightened up abruptly. He made the mistake of glancing at himself in the mirror and saw how pale he looked. He could barely feel the porcelain lid in his hands.

He stood in the bathroom, trembling, listening to the man in his house rattling door knobs and searching rooms. He squeezed his eyes shut and backed up from the door, waiting for it to be this doorknob, this room.

Eventually, the heavy footsteps got closer. And closer. And then Tsuna heard the rattle of the door handle, the unexpected loudness startling him. He backed up again, stopping when his heels hit the bathtub. When the man realized the door was knocked, he banged on the door with a ferocity that almost sent Tsuna falling backwards into the tub.

"Hey, kid. I just wanna talk to you." Tsuna opened his mouth, as if to say something, but he had nothing to say. His throat was dry. "Just open up."

Should Tsuna try to stall him? Should he not? Was he waiting for Hibari?

"W-who are y-y-you?" Tsuna managed to get out.

"Listen. I just need to talk to you. I'm not gonna hurt you!" The man said, and Tsuna could hear the attempt to soothe him, but Tsuna knew better. "Come on, you're just a little kid. Who would hurt a little kid?"

"I don't know you." Tsuna responded shakily. "Please, just tell me who you are."

"I'm just looking for the son of Iemitsu Sawada. Or Sawada Iemitsu. Is he your dad?" The muffled voice through the door came. It felt like Tsuna had been slapped.

He had guessed, nearly known that this was somehow about his father. But the confirmation left an ache in his chest.

He wished his brother was here.

"Y-yes. Did he do something wrong? Is that why this is happening?"

"He didn't do anything wrong, kid. I just need to talk to you. Just open the door so we can talk face to face. Man to man."

"I-i d-don't know about that." Tsuna stammered. "I can hear you like this."

Bang!

"Open the door." The man seethed. Tsuna knew it was impossible, but it was like he could feel the man's hot breath through the door.

Bang! Bang! Bangbangbang

The man was slamming his fist on the door now, screaming unintelligibly.

"Stay away from me!" Tsuna yelled back.

BANG!

The lock splintered apart and the door swung open, slamming against the wall. Tsuna froze.

The man looked furious. His face was red, and he had lost the sunglasses, revealing narrow eyes that seethed with anger. His lips were curled into what Tsuna could only characterize as a snarl. He took a step further and Tsuna stumbled backwards, falling into the tub. He knew that his back would be sore later if he survived this, but he could barely feel it in the moment. The man stormed in, grabbing Tsuna by his tie and yanking him up and out of the tub.

Tsuna dropped the porcelain lid.

Right onto the man's feet.

"You-!" The man screamed, as both his feet were crushed beneath the porcelain lid. He let go of Tsuna and Tsuna immediately pushed back against him, sending the already off-balance man backwards. The hitman's arms windmilled out, one of his nails scratching Tsuna's face. Tsuna watched as the hitman's head smacked against the ajar door before he hit the ground. It felt like it happened slowly, even though it was only an instant.

The next thing he knew, he was looking down at the hitman, who was sprawled out on the ground but already beginning to reach upwards.

Tsuna snapped into action. He sprang forward, stepping on the hitman's chest and practically leaping away as he started running. He didn't even know where he was going, really. Just as far away as he could get. He didn't spare a second to look back as he ran down the stairs and out of the house. He took off down the street, afraid that if he stopped running, the hitman would catch up with him.

CRACK

The sound was impossibly loud; not close, and yet left a ringing in his ears that hurt. He nearly missed a step when he heard it, the sudden shock of it startling him. Tsuna had never heard a gunshot in real life before, but he had watched enough TV to take a guess as to what he heard. It sounded nothing like it did in the movies.

He glanced back to see the hitman pointing a gun at him, hobbling down the steps of the Sawada house. Vaguely, Tsuna knew that the shot had been fired at him.

And he had been right.

Looking back was a mistake.

Next thing he knew, he was sprawled out on the ground, already knowing his knees and elbows were skinned, even though his clothes. He groaned, and rolled onto his side, blinking hard. He barely had time to move before a shadow fell over him. He looked up, to see Hibari stopped, standing over him. Gray eyes looked down at him curiously.

"Herbivore." He said.

"Hib-" Before Tsuna could finish what he was saying, Hibari took off running, sprinting towards the man with the gun. There was another shot before Tsuna could even look, but he yanked himself into a sitting position immediately after. Hibari had not even paused for a second, rushing at the hitman, tonfas out. The hitman's expression could only be described as bewildered.

Crack!

Blood gushed from the hitman's nose. He immediately brought up the gun to defend himself but Tsuna watched the strike across his knuckles that caused the hitman to yelp and drop it. There was the smallest moment of hesitation from the hitman and Hibari wasted no time exploiting it, attacking with such a stunning fury. Hibari used the edge of his tonfa to repeatedly hit the man in the throat, before sweeping his legs out from under him and knocking him to the ground. The chairman's foot shot out, knocking away the gun, before continuing his onslaught. Even though the hitman was on the ground, Hibari delivered blow after blow, without pause, blood smearing across his tonfas and splattering up onto his face.

"Sawada-san, don't worry. You're safe now." A familiar voice said, a hand descending onto Tsuna's shoulder. He came back into his body, realizing his hands were clasped at his mouth in shock. Kusakabe was hovering over him, a few members of the DC flanking him on either side. The older boy held out a hand to help Tsuna up, which he hesitantly took. "Kyo-san has this handled." The grunts of pain from the hitman were audible.

"I-i know." Tsuna stammered, unable to tear his eyes away from the brutal scene before him. It was horrible, but impressive. "Is he going to kill him?" Kusakabe rubbed his chin.

"Probably not."

Probably?

"Why don't you come with me, Sawada-san?" Kusakabe suggested, escorting Tsuna away from the scene by the elbow. "We'll give Kyo-san some time to take care of his business."

You mean my business.

20 minutes later, Kusakabe led Tsuna back towards his house. The hitman was gone, hustled off somewhere by the other Disciplinary Committee members. All that was left were bloodstains on the grass and the gun Hibari handed to Kusakabe without a word. Kusakabe steered Tsuna closer to Hibari, seemingly sensing Tsuna's resistance to be near the blood-spattered boy leaning against Tsuna's front door. Kusakabe released Tsuna's arm, with a quick,

"I'll take care of this," leaving them alone. Tsuna fidgeted nervously, hesitant to meet the eyes of the smirking? older boy.

"Th-thank you, Hibari-san." Tsuna forced out. There were a lot of reasons Tsuna didn't want to meet Hibari's eyes. One of them being the fact that Tsuna was pretty sure he beat a man to death in front of Tsuna.

But there were others; Tsuna was embarrassed that he had to be protected. That he was so vulnerable. That this was but the latest in a series of incidents. That this was far from the last attempt on Tsuna's life, with the way things were going. That his father was going to get him killed.

"I expected him to be stronger." Hibari said, yawning. "But nevertheless, he disturbed the peace in Namimori."

"Did you k-,"

"Kill him? No." Hibari responded, almost dismissively, straightening up. "He survives, unfortunately. If the Disciplinary Committee learns anything of importance, you will be notified." Tsuna rubbed his eyes, and when he pulled his hands away, they had blood on them. He blinked at them, alarmed. "Your face is bleeding, herbivore." Hibari informed him. Tsuna finally met Hibari's eyes.

"Hibari-san, you have already done a lot for me and I'm very grateful for it. But I...have something to ask of you." Hibari's eyes narrowed and Tsuna almost stopped talking, but he pushed onwards. "I...need your help. I appreciate that you dealt with this...hitman," It was almost difficult to say out loud. "But I need to be able to protect myself. There are going to be more. I was right. It is because of my father. You're not always going to get here in time. I'm not always going to be as lucky as I was today." Tsuna didn't feel particularly lucky, his face stinging, shins and elbows smarting. But the shot missed. Everytime Tsuna escaped by the skin of his teeth he was gambling with his life, whether he knew it or not. At some point or another, his luck would run out.

Hibari blinked at Tsuna.

"I'll see you after school tomorrow, herbivore. Come to my office. I expect punctuality." Tsuna jerked back.

"Just like that? You're going to...train me? Why?" Hibari stared at him, as if the answer was obvious.

"You asked me to, herbivore. Did you hit your head?"

"No, I mean...why did you just accept me?" Tsuna asked incredulously. "I thought I was going to have to beg for your help."

"You are not without potential."

"I just tripped over my feet and nearly died." Hibari didn't roll his eyes, but certainly came close.

"Do you want me to revoke my acceptance?"

"No!" Tsuna said quickly. "I just...don't understand why you would want to help me. Why you think I have potential." Hibari snorted derisively.

"Two months ago you killed a man. Today, you escaped nearly certain death. And even though you stand before me, trembling," Hibari said disdainfully. Tsuna was a little offended. "You nevertheless asked me to train you. You aren't like other herbivores, believe me. Anyone else would have crumbled."

"I didn't mean to kill that guy. It was an accident." Hibari rolled his eyes for real. Tsuna had never seen him act so...human?

"I am not saying that you do not feel any ounce of guilt or remorse for killing that man. I am saying that you can handle it."

Tsuna stilled.

"Tomorrow?" He asked quietly.

"Tomorrow, herbivore."

XXXX

Okay, so Tsuna has a brother but just to be clear, this is not an evil twin fic! Ietsuna is being groomed to be Decimo over Tsuna, but things are going to change, of course. This is a KHR fic.

Also Ietsuna won't show up for a while. I just wanted to establish that he does have a brother earlier, so it's not jarring later on.