And the Poll has ended! So this story won. As such a new chapter is here! Also, for the sequel, there will be a sequel for WotAO! It wont be out now, of course. That will have to wait until I've finished this story and Grell's Sister. I don't want to have too many on-going stories at a time.

Thank you all who voted and to those who have patiently waited for me to post. Enjoy this slightly longer than normal chapter.

WARNING: There will be some fluff and OOC-ness from some characters.

Chapter 9: Training with Spartans

1st Gen. Era, Parallel World, Italy

3rd PoV

Death Mountain

A small 7 year old boy that looked 5 was running through the long grass. His cheeks a rosy color due to exertion and fluffy hair in more disarray as the grass began to shorten around him. It would have been a normal sight, if not for the three demo- tutors following behind. Behind them was a blond man who appeared seconds from jumping to save the boy, but somehow managed to hold himself back.

"Reborn, its been a good 4 hours since you began! He's been shot 7 times with the DW bullet, faced several dozen T-Rex, thrown by Lal into a dozen or so ravines filled with poisonous insects, and gone through at least a hundred of your obstacle courses. Don't you think that's enough for today?" The trailing blond stressed at the raven haired man in front of him. Reborn didn't even turn as he huffed in annoyance.

"Giotto, as I said at the start, this is how he learns and has gone through worse before. Now, if you continue to whine like a fool I'll throw you in with Tsuna." Reborn threatened, shooting at Tsuna as Giotto paled. Do know, he was using real non-lethal bullets. Emphases on real. Other wise, the brunet wouldn't dodge them. Reborn paused for a moment, seeming to think something over. The smirk that curled on his lips was enough to let Giotto know he was not going to like what the other was thinking. That was enough of a warning that he didn't even need his intuition to figure it out. "Besides, we have arrived." Just as he said that, the group left the embrace of the trees and entered a peaceful clearing. That is, if you stayed away from the other side of it or else you would plummet a good 200 ft. If you were lucky, you would end up falling into a small lake at the bottom. Painful either way, but you would live. Of course that's if you were lucky. If not, than you would be having a date with the merciless ground. Giotto blinked at the familiar clearing. It was his normal training grounds and they should have arrived within half an hour. Though, maybe the extended time was due to the fact they had taken a far more … 'scenic' route.

"Please tell me you didn't try teaching him that technique." Giotto asked in exasperation, his intuition telling him he was not going to like the answer.

"Not 'try', I already did years ago." Reborn stated matter of factly, making the blond freeze.

"You WHAT?" Giotto yelled once he managed to process the words, only to receive a Leon-hammer to the head. "Ow! Reborn, what was that for?! And are you crazy? You taught him that when he was so young?"

"You were being annoying." Was his simple response. "Besides, he wasn't that young. It even took him only a week to accomplish."

"Not that young? I was already 20 when I made that technique." Giotto argued back, almost literally starting to pull at his hair. Who wouldn't, when trying to reason with Reborn over his 'teaching' methods? One would be lucky to remain alive, let alone sane when speaking to said hitman. After all, most women either went Ga-Ga over his looks. Some men even turn gay after only a brief encounter, for crying out loud! Not that any of them complained… Moving on! "Wait, a week? What the heck did you do?!"

"Fine, if you're so worried over your descendent, why don't you join him." Reborn said, ignoring the last question. Giotto didn't have a second to listen to his intuition before he was suddenly hurled into the middle of Tsuna's re-commenced training. May he Rest in Pieces, I mean Peace.

—

"…" Both Tsuna and Giotto were sprawled out on the ground, too tired to move or talk. This was a normal sight for the two, even after four days. The three tutors from hell were sitting a few feet from them around a small campfire, going over what they should do next.

"So what next? It's been four days and Tsuna isn't going to be ready anytime soon, even with all three of us helping out." Lal grumbled, though there was a small hint of worry in her eyes. "He's still too soft right now."

"Soft, small, and squish-able. It would be easy for the enemy to take him out as he is, kora. It took us two years to get back what we lost upon That Day." Colonnello added, dismantling and cleaning his sniper. A nervous habit he developed after so many years of Lal's training.

"We were on our own, idiot. With us three, who knows what he's capable of, he'll be far stronger than before he came here." Lal rebutted. "Not to mention he could learn some things from his idiot ancestor." Reborn snorted at that.

"Baka-Gio is currently out of the question right now. He's still too charmed and overprotective of Tsuna to be of any help." He said, looking over to said blond who had pulled himself up to pick up Tsuna from the ground. He has been doing that every night after training for the last few days. "For now, we will continue as we have been doing. No sense getting so worked up over it." With that said, all three went quiet as Giotto came over.

"My everything hurts." Tsuna grumbled from his ancestor's arms. He would have whined at the abuse the three tutors put him through, but that would only increase his training. It already happened.

Flash Back, to the second day…

"Reborn! This is worse than you normally do!" Tsuna whined. It was just after the 20th death course he and Giotto were put through, and were finally given a small 5 minute break. Of course, his words drew a smirk from his main tor-tutor.

"What's that? You want harder training because this is too easy? Well, as the kind tutor I am I'll grant your wish." Reborn mentally cackled at the horror growing on the victim duo's faces.

"WE'RE GOING TO DIE BEFORE YOU'RE DONE!" They yelled in synch, jumping to their feet as soon as they registered the rather large guns he had.

"That's the point. Survive~" Reborn sang out a little too cheerfully as he re-started their Flash Back …

End Flash Back …

He had doubled it the first time, no doubt he'll triple it next.

"Shut up and eat your food." Lal retorted, passing the duo their plates. One clearly had more veggies than the other. Tsuna scrunched up his nose at them, but accepted it none the less. Lal had forced fed him the vegetables the first time, then doubled the amount just for the hell of it.

"Remind me again why we are doing this again?" Giotto asked, quietly eating his own food. He rather not tempt Lal to give him more vegetables like she did Tsuna. He may love Tsuna like a father would, but vegetables. Even he reluctantly ate them due to them being good for you.

"We have to train Tsuna so he can be back to what he was and more, so he doesn't have a choice. You didn't have to join." Reborn pointed out, drinking a cup of expresso he got from somewhere.

"You make it sound like I had a choice." Giotto grumbled under his breath. Reborn heard it, but chose to ignore it.

"By the way, G came by earlier today to get you. He said something about you needing to finish your paperwork." Colonnello, said cheerfully. The other blond of the group gave him a horrified face before he shoveled the rest of his food, placed Tsuna softly on the ground, and ran off back to the mansion. All the while mumbling curses at a certain red head. The remaining four people watched him go with various degrees of amusements. Tsuna being the least amused as he thought of why there could be so much paperwork.

"Please tell me one of you gave Hibari and Mukuro something to do while you have me up here." Tsuna pleaded, giving the demon trio a wide-eyed look. If they had any less of the control they did, they would have blushed at how adorable Tsuna looked at that moment. Reborn almost felt somewhat bad for what he was going to say. Almost, as not even Tsuna's adorableness could curve his sadistic tendencies.

Most of the time

"Don't worry about your guardians. Their own ancestors have taken them under their wing to train." Reborn said, watching with hidden satisfaction at the horror slowly bleeding into Tsuna's face as he processed what was said.

"HOW IS THAT ANY BETTER?! HIEEEEEEEE!" Tsuna shrieked, which earned him a fist to the head. Still, that didn't stop him from ranting at the hitman. "Do you have any idea how bad that is? They're going to destroy the whole manner with their fighting!" Again, he was hit on the head. Though this time by a Leon-hammer that shut him up.

"Everything is fine. They haven't destroyed anything other than a few training rooms." Reborn soothed softly, grabbing the small brunet. He hadn't gotten to cuddle with Tsuna since that one morning due to Giotto hugging the boy to himself outside of training. In Tsuna's world, while he's still in infant form there, Reborn would sometimes cuddle up with Tsuna for the night. He would never admit it, but he missed the cuddling. Tsuna's flames would subconsciously wrap around him in a soothing and protective embrace. No doubt Reborn had bonded to Tsuna as another Sun guardian, even if the brunet didn't realize it yet. Neither Luce, Aria, or Yuni cared that he did, as he had never bonded with them in the first place. Sure, he still did his duties as an Arcobaleno, and he was somewhat fond of the girls. But when it came down to it, Reborn could ever only call Tsuna as his actual Sky. Especially after everything the young boy has done for him and the others. Of course, that didn't mean Reborn would go easy on him. On the contrary, he would be harsher on the boy to help him grow stronger and so he could stand on his own feet. "Besides, its not just training your guardians are getting. The First generation is teaching them the ropes of being Vongola Guardians, as well as some advice and tips on other things."

"Reborn, that doesn't make me feel any better." Tsuna deadpanned, giving his tutor a glare/pout. His only response was for the hitman to cuddle him more. Tsuna wasn't at all bothered, but he was a bit confused. The hitman wasn't usually this affectionate. Not that it was a bad thing, Tsuna was quite content to do this, but he wanted to know why. He doubts he'll get any answers from said man. At least, straight answers. Reborn had a habit of being as vague as riddles made in hell when he wanted to. Tsuna rather not get such headaches right now. He had other problems giving him headaches right now. A flick to the head caused him to leave his thoughts and look up at the hitman holding him.

"Enough thinking, go to sleep." Reborn ordered, moving Tsuna around as he got comfortable on his sleeping bag. Tsuna pouted again at being ordered around like a kid, but reluctantly did as told. He knew arguing with the man would only lead to pain during training. Besides, he was exhausted after another day of training.

With that, Tsuna drifted off to sleep as the warm sun flames of his first father figure soothed his sore body.

—

"Oh my, so this is why you haven't called? Luce was starting to worry, you know." It was to those words that Tsuna woke up to. He felt surprisingly well, considering the constant training he's been doing these past few days. Not to mention, the sense of safety that wrapped around him. "Though, I can see why you didn't call back right away." Finally opening his eyes, Tsuna was met with the curious and amused gaze of a calm Hibari. Or, to be more precise, Fon. The Chinese martial artist was currently seated on the other side of the campfire, drinking a cup of Oolong tea.

"Eh? Fon-san, what are you doing here?" Tsuna asked sleepily, rubbing the slight grime out of his eyes. Fon's smile simply grew at the sight. Out of all the Arcobaleno, other than Luce, Fon had the biggest fondness for kids. To see Tsuna in such a state was just plain adorable, especially when he was being held protectively by such a fearsome man like Reborn. Yes, the hitman still had Tsuna in his arms, and it seems the boy had yet to notice.

"Hnn, Luce sent me to check in on why these three had yet to report back." Fon answered pleasantly. "From what I've seen, it seems her worries are for naught."

"Why didn't she just call us? We all have our phones with us." Reborn question, narrowing his eyes in though. The sudden rumbling of his chest startled Tsuna, but the brunet didn't bother moving yet. Fon's smile left as he gained a more serious look. This made the two rains stop what they were doing, cooking for Colonnello and cleaning her gun for Lal.

"That's the thing, Verde managed to catch that They have started to eavesdrop on the phone lines. It's only started the last two or three days, but we all though it best not to use phones." The news weren't good, but it brought a sense of relief to the four.

"Two or three days? Good. They still don't know about Tsuna and the other two." Lal grumbled, as she continued to clean her favorite gun.

"Luckily for us, we haven't been using our phones much this past week." Colonnello added, passing out the breakfast he made. The others quietly accepted it, but none started to eat yet. Not when they were all deep in thought. They continued in silence for a moment before someone spoke up.

"We proceed as we currently are. Finish training Tsuna and his two guardians as the others look for information on Them. We have to make sure these three are well equipped for the fight to come." Reborn stated seriously before letting out an uncharacteristic sigh of frustration. "If I had the choice, we wouldn't have a need for the Tenth Generation getting involved in this, but things are dire and only getting worse. Its best we take out the problem completely before They get powerful enough to tilt the Balance in a dangerous way." The others had solemn looks at those words, but a question popped up in Tsuna's mind.

"Ano, who are They? No one has actually explained who the enemy is yet." Tsuna asked, looking up at his currently adult friends. As painful as hanging around most of them is, Tsuna considers all those of the Trinisette as part of his little family. And, despite his reluctance and pacifism, Tsuna wanted to help them. He couldn't do that if he didn't know who or what was the problem. The four Arcobaleno's look at each other and came to a silent agreement.

"I believe its best that we took this conversation to a more private place with all the others." Fon stated slowly. "As for who They are? They, are a group of Lesser Earthlings."