noun: companionship

"I'm back," Tsuna says, walking in.

"Welcome back," a chorus of voice answers him, and he smiles, taking off his shoes to put on his slippers.

He peaks his head inside the kitchen, breathing in the delicious scent of fresh baked cake, but winces at the sight of Bianchi inside. She puts down the tray on the table, the cupcakes beautifully decorated and looking delicious, but he's no fool, though his stomach rumbles.

"Welcome back, pip-squeak. It's a new receipt I came up with specially for Reborn. Want to try one?"

"And rob Reborn of even one of them? I wouldn't dream of it."

"Good answer," she says, looking dreamily at her cupcakes, and Tsuna smiles.

He stops by the living room too, and barely has the time to look at it that his siblings run to him. Tsuna kneels in time for them to throw themselves in his arms all at the same time.

"Welcome back, Tsuna-nii!" they say at the same time, and just as fast as they came, they run back to the low table.

Tsuna laughs, standing up. His siblings bend over the mess of papers and colorful pencils, playfully fighting for the brighter one. His mom sits on the couch behind them, flicking her eyes between them and the TV, a cup in her hands.

They catch each other's eye, and she looks him up and down, her shoulders sagging, her smile easing up on her face. "Welcome back, Tsu-kun," she says, and it sounds like relief.

Tsuna smiles, and his voice's warm, reassuring, confident. "I'm back."

His mom has been sounding relieved ever since they talked about the mafia, has that look on her face when he leaves in the morning, and it isn't hard to guess it doesn't disappear until he comes back home.

It has struck him how legitimate her fear is, that one day he might leave home and never come back. Tsuna is so used to his blood suddenly catching up to their daily lives, turning it into a matter of life and death, he's never stopped to realize one day they might not succeed into getting back to their daily lives again.

He doesn't want that fear to keep hanging above their heads.

"Did anything happen today?" his mom asks.

Tsuna shakes his head, a bit guilty because if something did happen, he doesn't know if he'd stomach telling her about it. He probably wouldn't if they had managed to deal with it, not so soon anyway. The whole point of telling her about everything was so he could keep her in the know of anything that might happen, but his gut instinct is still to believe that ignorance is safety, and it's harder than he expected to get over it. "Just the usual chaos."

His mom grins. "It must have been a lot of fun, I'm glad. Don't just throw your bag anywhere in your room, will you?"

"Yeah, yeah," Tsuna says, rolling his eyes.

"That's what you always say," his mom says, rolling her eyes too, amusement in her voice.

Tsuna huffs, walking away, but not before glancing at her one last time. She's been exactly the same cheerful mom as before since they talked, has kept treating them all the same way, looking at them all the same way.

Tsuna had gone outside with his siblings after their conversation, so she could process everything however she needed to without worrying about them. Reborn had come too, but Bianchi had stayed behind, and Tsuna felt so grateful his mom wouldn't have to go through that alone.

They had come back for dinner, and his mom looked exactly the same as before, if not for her red rimmed eyes no one commented on.

Tsuna walks past the mobile phone, and could keep count how many times his mom has stood in front of it, his dad at the other side of the line. It's not like his dad bothers to call often, but he has never cared to keep the count.

He doesn't know if his mom has tried to join him this last month, to hear it from his mouth too, to talk about it with him, or just to let him know she, too, now knows. If she did and she got him, his dad has still to come back home to have that conversation face to face, which would be the least he could do.

The idea he could just have sent her a postcard brushing it all off angers him, but surely his dad wouldn't. He loves his mom, it's one of the few things Tsuna knows with certainty about him, even if he hasn't always done it the right way. He respects her, he wouldn't do that, but Tsuna wouldn't be surprised if he runs away from the conversation as long as he can.

Reborn is in his room, sitting on the windowsill, a letter in his hands.

"I'm back."

"You look terrible. You'll fall over if you don't start catching up on some sleep."

Tsuna puts his bag down next to his desk, then sits on the chair. "Right, sorry. It's been a month already, I guess it's too long? How fast should a proper Vongola Boss get over his first kill?"

Reborn doesn't smirk, doesn't raise his eyebrow at him. "That was just me worrying about you, no need to bare me those pathetic fangs of yours. The Ninth wrote you a letter."

"I don't want it."

"You don't have a choice."

"Of course not, but I still don't want it. Are you going to hold me at gunpoint while reading it to me?"

Reborn smirks then, then jumps from the windowsill to his desk. "Very well, bare me your fangs. But don't think for a second you can play mind games with me." He puts away the letter in his jacket, then looks him in the eye, his smirk nowhere to be seen. A baby that isn't really a baby, whatever it means, and at that moment Tsuna couldn't have possibly mistaken him for one. "You have something to say to me. Say it."

"Do you remember the second time you shot me with the Dying Will bullet?" Tsuna sinks in his chair, swaying it back and forth, as if he's whining about not wanting to do his homework right away, as if the air isn't thick with tension. "When you wanted me to go fight Mochida. You said something then, before shooting me. Something about how I shouldn't misunderstand our relationship. You said—"

"That our relationship is as a hitman and a target. What of it?"

"Is it? Is it still?" Tsuna stills, much like Reborn, not moving a muscle, his eyes intent on him. Tsuna saw glimpses of the hitman again while they were in the future, but it has been a long time since the hitman has faced him fully out in the open. He finds he isn't afraid. "What happens then when the target fails to do their part of the contract? What does the hitman have to do then?"

Reborn turns away, walking to his bookshelf. "You're really set on it, aren't you?"

"I don't know. I think so. But I'm not sure yet."

"You're not saying your decision hangs on mine, are you? Because it'd be laughable, and an insult on the work I have done with you so far."

"I'm not," Tsuna says, certain, if sad. Reborn's movements falter, only ever so slightly, but they do. He then finishes stacking the books on top of each other, then sits on them, facing him again. "But it doesn't have to be like that, does it? I don't want it to be like that."

"Spare me the useless feelings," Reborn says, crossing his legs at his knees, but there's pride on his face of the kind Tsuna hates to see. "We're talking business."

"We're not—I'm not," Tsuna hurries to say, his voice heavy with emotions. "Maybe you are, but I'm talking to you, Reborn. You're a hitman—Vongola's hitman, and my tutor, but Reborn, you're also—"

"You've said enough I could shoot you in the head right now without any repercussions." He scoffs. "Not that anyone could actually make me go through them, obviously. Still, you should be very careful with what you want to say next. Vongola has disposed of people before for much less."

Tsuna bites his lip, curling his hands into fists. He straightens in his chair, feeling heavier because of the weight in his chest, and he has to swallow the lump in his throat. They don't have to do this like this, but of course Reborn won't have it any other way. "Why?" he asks softly. "What will you do if I'm not?"

"What about this, then," Reborn says, lighthearted, a smirk playing at his lips, even rocking his leg back and forth. His eyes are cold, calculating, picking Tsuna apart and watching for—for what? "Everything you owe them, and this is how you're going to repay them?"

"Everything I owe them?" Tsuna spits out, incredulous, angry, hateful. "I owe them nothing."

"Everything you owe me, then."

"I owe you nothing," Tsuna says just as easily, as unyielding, but it hurts to say. "Not that, not them, not like that. And the things I do owe you—owe you both, is more than reason enough for me to repay you. Tell me I'm wrong."

"Why are we even having this conversation then?"

"No," Tsuna says, shaking his head, because he needs Reborn to say it, to acknowledge it. "Everything I have now and I care about, you gave it to me, it's true. But I'm the one who earned their loyalty, I'm the one who cherished them so they'd stay. Me, good old Dame-Tsuna you've been send to get rid of. Tell me I'm wrong."

Reborn stands, dropping all masks at last, wiping the smirks and casualness from his face, and his voice is quiet. "Why are you having this conversation with me, Tsuna?"

Tsuna takes a steadying breath, and breathes it out as he comes down from his high emotions. "You know," he says, pleading. "Reborn, you're—"

"Clearly you have no idea who I am," Reborn cuts him off, steady and unreadable as always, but Tsuna picks up on his underlying anger. "Or you made the mistake of forgetting." He takes out his gun, switches the safety off, and points it right between his eyes. "I am Vongola's hitman, and most importantly, the World's Greatest Hitman. If this is all coming from your belief there's still anyone in the world I can't kill despite that, think. Again."

Tsuna doesn't bother looking at the gun, keeping his eyes in Reborn's. The World's Greatest Hitman faces him in all his glory, but he isn't afraid. He smiles. "I do know who you are."

Reborn shoots.

A/N: I have a lot to say about this chapter, but also at the same time nothing to say lol. Or more like I don't know how to say the things I want to say. Probably because this is only half of the chapter, so I might be more talkative when part two comes out.

Which won't actually comes out right away, because for some reason this chapter not only decided it'd be in two part, but also that it wouldn't follow a linear narrative lol.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Any and all review are appreciated.

Thank you for reading!

- Hope