Chapter 3

They kept Tsuna out of school for as long as they could. Reborn wasn't happy about it, but Tsuna had to go back. It didn't help that Reborn had legal business to attend to, and Dino would stand out too much to watch Tsuna at school, meaning he was on his own today. And Reborn knew what that meant, lots of abuse, new bruises and probably being locked in a broom closet. Reborn decided to try and pick Tsuna up himself as soon as school got out, as he could always continue what he was doing when he got back.

"Okay Tsuna," Reborn said, "make sure to give that note to the principal before you go to class." Tsuna nodded. "

"And above all, be safe," Dino said. Tsuna looked down and grabbed one of his bruises. "Would it help if we give you some money to give them?" Tsuna shook his head and Reborn had the feeling that Tsuna tried that before.

Reborn cleared his throat. "Well, just don't forget to eat your lunch." Without any sign of agreement or disagreement, Tsuna left.

"Are you sure he'll be okay?" Dino asked.

"No," Reborn said. "But we don't have much choice in the matter. The last thing we need is for the principal to have more to use against him after yesterday. I'll make sure to follow him tomorrow and keep him safe"

Tsuna ditched his lunch on his way to school. It wasn't like he would get to eat it anyway. The bullies would just take it as 'payment', and the last thing he needed was for them to think he was capable of bringing lunches now. He hadn't brought a lunch in almost two years, and it was only a matter of time before Dino stopped giving them to him too. It would only make the beatings worse when that time came if the bullies were able to get lunches out of him now.

Tsuna went directly to the principal's office and handed him the note. "What is this," he said harshly. "You want me to excuse your absences?" Tsuna nodded and the principal laughed. "You seemed perfectly fine yesterday, so no. Now get out of my sight, you waste of space! You're already late for class!" The principal crumpled up the note and threw it at Tsuna's head.

Tsuna picked up the note and left, feeling somewhat hurt. He didn't know why it hurt, he was used to this by now. But then he realized that he actually believed Dino and Reborn when they said that his absences wouldn't be a problem. That, despite his best efforts, he was enjoying his life at home too much. Tears began to form in his eyes when he thought about how it would soon be gone. "Herbivore," a voice said behind him and Tsuna froze. "Why aren't you in class? And where were you the last two days?" Tsuna stood there unable to move. "Answer or I'll bite you to death." Tsuna turned to see a boy with black hair and gray eyes. He wore the jacket of his uniform on his shoulders without putting his arms through the sleeves and there was an armband that had the words 'Discipline Committee' on it. It was Hibari, head of the discipline committee and ruthless enforcer of school rules, known to mercilessly attack those who break them. Hibari looked Tsuna in the eyes. "And what's wrong with you?"

Tsuna scrambled to get his notepad out of his bag. Hibari looked annoyed as he wrote something down but didn't interfere. [I was giving the principal a note to excuse my absences.]

"Show me the note." Tsuna nodded and handed Hibari the crumpled up piece of paper. Hibari looked confused as he took it. He uncrumpled it and looked it over, before giving it back. "I'll take it for now. If it's fake, I'll bite you to death." Tsuna looked shocked. "Now, what was wrong and why was that note crumpled up like trash?"

[The principal didn't accept it.]

Hibari's face didn't change from its usual serious self, but he stayed quiet for a few seconds. "Follow me." Tsuna didn't know what Hibari wanted, and wasn't sure he wanted to, but no one disobeys the demon prefect of Namimori.

Hibari led Tsuna back to the principal's office and Tsuna shivered. Without bothering to knock, Hibari swung the door open. "H..Hibari!" the principal shouted. "W… what are you doing here?"

Hibari led Tsuna into the room. "This little animal has been absent the last few days," Hibari said. "He has a note explaining the situation. I hear you have a problem with it. Explain yourself."

"I… well, he was here yesterday and he seemed perfectly fine, so I thought he was just making an excuse."

Hibari turned to Tsuna. "Is this true?"

Tsuna scrambled to write down the reason on his notepad. [I changed legal guardians recently. My new one wanted to take care of what he called essentials yesterday. That included coming here to register the change in address and stuff.]

Hibari turned back to the principal. "Is this correct?" The principal gulped then nodded. "The little animal is excused for the last two days of school. Take care of that while I escort him back to class. Do not forget how the school rules work again." He led Tsuna out of the room and slammed the door shut behind him.

Once they reached Tsuna's classroom, Hibari swung the door open and the class went silent as the two walked in. "The little animal is excused for being late as he had business with the principal," Hibari said and Tsuna took his seat as he left.

The class broke into whispers and the teacher made no attempts to quiet it down. "He's back."

"And here I thought he might have finally died."

"Heh, he should have."

"Is it just me, or is his uniform cleaner than usual?"

"Now that you mention it, it almost looks new."

"Heh, it took two years to get a uniform that was in acceptable condition."

"Alright class," the teacher finally intervened, "I know it's not every day Hibari pays us a visit, but we do have a lesson to get through." Tsuna just stared at his desk. Two days and they already thought he was dead. He almost chuckled. If only, it wasn't like he would be missed.

The day continued on and lunch came around. He started heading up to the roof as usual, but the bullies were one step ahead of him. "I see you got a new uniform," the leader said. "I bet you have a lunch to go along with it." Tsuna just shook his head and tried to continue on when he was punched in the stomach. "Who said you can leave!"

"Herbivores," a voice said from behind them.

They all turned around with fear. "Hi...Hibari!"

"For fighting on school grounds and attacking the little animal," Hibari lifted one of his tonfas, "I'll bite you to death!" The bullies tried to run but were cornered. Hibari made short work of them before he came over to Tsuna and held out a hand to help him off the ground. Tsuna didn't take it though, and pushed himself off the ground. Hibari grunted and left.

However Tsuna found himself following Hibari, as they were both heading to the roof. Once there Hibari made his way to the corner where he likes to take his naps. Tsuna on the other hand headed over to the edge of the roof and looked over the ledge to the distant ground. One step, that's all it would take to end this nightmare forever. He'd be free of this torment he called a life. He'd be able to see his mom again. He'd be able to rest in peace. But, like always, he faltered, unable to take that last step like something was holding him back. As a result, he ended up opting to sit down just inches away from the edge and silently hope that a bully would come by and kick him off.

He spent lunch trying to figure out where to hide his photo album. Reborn already knew he used to hide it under the mattress, so that was out. Maybe he could bury it in the backyard. No, he needed it the most when he was locked in his room, and he wouldn't be able to access it there. Maybe he could make a secret compartment in the wall. No he wouldn't be able to put it back together properly to not be noticed. Oh, maybe he broke a hole in the wall behind the bookshelf. No, he wouldn't be able to move that thing on his own. Maybe he could jimmy up a floorboard and hide it under that. No he didn't have the tools for that. The bell rang and Tsuna sighed, not finding a solution in time, and headed back to class.

The rest of the day went by relatively the same as usual. A teacher asked him to answer a question and he just wrote down a random answer to get it over with. The class laughed and called him Dame Tsuna. The teachers made no attempt to help him and then the day finally came to an end. Tsuna knew what that meant. He took a deep breath to prepare himself before heading to the door.

"Hibari's not here to protect you this time," one of the bullies said as they blocked Tsuna's path. "You bought a new school uniform. Do you think I don't know what that means!" He punched Tsuna in the face, causing him to fall down. "You've been holding out on me!" He kicked Tsuna in the stomach. "I want my money!" The other bullies joined in. "You were supposed to pay me every month to stay in this school! But then you stopped! You will bring me your payment tomorrow! Or else!"

'Or else what?' Tsuna thought. 'You'll kill me. Please, end my nightmare. Just do it now.'

A boy with black hair and brown eyes headed out of the school to see a downpour of rain. "I guess baseball practice is canceled today," he said.

"Hey, Takeshi," another boy called over to him. "Where's your bag?"

"Oh, crap! I must have left it in the classroom!" He called back as he ran back into the school. "Thanks!"

Takeshi got close to the room when he heard someone talking. "You will bring me your payment tomorrow! Or else!" Takeshi didn't like the sound of it but he needed to stay out of site while he figured out what was going on. He crept towards the room as three boys dragged out a fourth by the shirt color. Takeshi followed them and they threw the boy into the janitor's closet before locking the door. "You can stay in there and think it over."

Takeshi walked over to the door as the others left and tried to jimmy the door open. Once he succeeded the boy looked at him with fear in his eyes. "Don't worry, I'm not here to hurt you," Takeshi told the boy and took a few steps back to let the boy out. The boy slowly walked out of the closet and stared at Takeshi, with fear and mistrust in his eyes. "Anyway, I'm Takeshi Yamamoto. What's your name?" The boy remained silent. "Come on, there's no need to be afraid."

"He's in your class," said a voice on Takeshi's side. Takeshi looked over and saw an infant dressed in a suit. "Do you really expect me to believe you don't know his name?"

Takeshi gave an embarrassed smile and scratched the back of his head. "To be honest, I sleep through most of the day."

The infant sighed. "Well, he won't answer you anyway."

"Why not?"

"He doesn't speak."

"He's mute?"

"No, he just doesn't speak."

Takeshi looked confused. "You mean he won't speak."

"Yes. I've been doing my best to change that, with little success." The infant sighed again. "Come on Tsuna, Dino's waiting for us."

The boy nodded and followed the infant down the hall. Takeshi wasn't done though. He followed the two and noticed that the boy was falling behind.

"Hey!" Takeshi heard a voice call out. "How'd you get out of there!?"

The boy looked over and started to shiver. He backed up against the wall and the three bullies from earlier showed up. The leader grabbed the boy by the neck and held him against the wall, choking him. "Who let you out!?" The boy struggled to breath. He tried to pry the bully's hand away, and swung his legs, but to no avail. "Well, Dame Tsuna. You will talk this time or I'll kill you!" The boy's eyes widened a bit and he stopped struggling. "Tell me!"

Takeshi ran forwards and kicked the leader between the legs. The bully dropped the boy, who fell to the floor coughing, and grabbed his nether regions. "I let him out!" Takeshi yelled. "You idiots have a problem with that!?" The two remaining bullies looked at Takeshi angrily and Takeshi took out his baseball bat. "I said, do you have a problem with that!?" The bullies began to falter, after all, even the toughest kids in the school would hesitate to fight a guy with a weapon.

The leader came up from behind Takeshi and stole the bat. "Thanks for the weapon, chump," he said. He swung the bat at Takeshi, who ducked out of the way. The other two came over to attack but Takeshi jumped to the side as the leader swung the bat down again, hitting one of his henchmen over the head. The henchman fell to the ground unconscious.

"You really need to coordinate more," Takeshi said, mocking them. The two remaining bullies growled. They charged at Takeshi and attacked. Takeshi ducked under the bat swing and as he sprung back up he punched the unarmed bully in the face. The bully took exception to that and aimed a punch towards Takeshi's face. Takeshi jumped out of the way and the punch ended up hitting his leader. Takeshi then kicked the leaders arms, which caused him to drop the bat. Takeshi picked it back up and took a fighting stance. "You want to keep going? Because I can keep this up all day."

"You know what?" the leader said. "You're not worth it. You want to hang around Dame Tsuna, be my guess. You won't last long." The two bullies left as the third got back up and ran after them.

Tsuna fell to the ground and gasped for air. He was so close to getting his wish, but then again, he would have had to go through a few more minutes of torture first. Besides, those bullies were probably bluffing. They'd never actually kill him, at least not in a way they could get caught. He looked up and the boy that let him out of the closet was fighting the bullies. He eventually scared them off and came over to Tsuna. "You okay?" the boy asked and offered a hand to help him up. Tsuna once again ignored the hand offered to him and pushed himself off the ground.

"Tsuna," Reborn said as he came over. "What happened?"

"He was attacked," the boy told Reborn.

"I see, well thanks for your help. Tsuna, thank the boy." Tsuna gave a slight bow. "Anyway, we really must be going, so see you another time." Tsuna and Reborn left the boy alone. "Why didn't you let Takeshi help you up?"

Tsuna got out his notepad. [I don't want to get attached to anyone. It only makes it harder when they betray you.]

A heavy shadow was cast over Reborn's eyes by his fedora. "Does that include Dino and me?"

[Especially Dino and you.]

Reborn looked very angry, but made no action on it. They returned home and a male government agent with dark brown hair and brown eyes was waiting for them. "Tsunayoshi?" he said. Tsuna nodded. "I am Officer Willem Kmetsch. I'll be watching over you until we feel you'll be safe." Tsuna stayed silent.

"He doesn't talk," Reborn said.

"So I've heard." Willem looked over Tsuna and stopped at his neck. "What happened?" Tsuna looked confused. "There's a bruise on your neck, as if someone was choking you."

Tsuna gave him a look as if it was obvious and took out his notepad. [School.]

"What?"

"Some of the bullies got a little overzealous today," Reborn said. "Dino's trying to arrange a change in school for him."

"That does seem like it's for the best."

Tsuna wrote something down. [It won't help.]

"You don't know that."

[Do you really think this is the first school I've been to?]

There was silence. "No but you can't stay there, that's for sure." Willem looked at his watch. "Well I need to report this. I'll see you tomorrow, okay Tsuna?" Tsuna nodded and Willem left.

The three headed inside. "We're home," Reborn called out.

"Oh, just in time," Dino said from the kitchen. "I made soup." He came in and gave a bowl to Tsuna, who looked at it and just stirred it with the spoon. "Come on, you need to eat Tsuna."

Tsuna began to write on his notepad. [I just got back from school. Lunch wasn't that long ago.]

"Funny you should mention that," Reborn said. "Look at what I found on the way to pick you up." He held up a small bento box that they gave Tsuna for lunch. Tsuna mentally cursed. Of course he'd find it. "Why did you abandon your lunch? You need to eat."

The bullies would have just taken it anyway.

Reborn thought about that. "That is a problem. But that doesn't change the fact that you need to eat." Tsuna sighed and started eating the soup.

After Tsuna finished eating, he headed straight up to his room, where Reborn was waiting. "I've arranged some tests to see your current level. I want you to complete it. Let's start with math." Tsuna walked over to his desk and sat down. Reborn put the paper on the desk and Tsuna answered every question in a second. After Tsuna handed it back, Reborn looked it over. Every single answer was wrong. Incredible wrong. In fact they were so far off that it was almost like Tsuna was trying to get them wrong. "Tsuna, you didn't even try." Tsuna just sat there quietly. "Come on Tsuna, at least try to answer them."

Tsuna took out his notepad. [What does it matter?]

"What will it take to get you to try?"

[You know what I want.]

Reborn lost it. "I told you never to ask that again!"

[It doesn't matter. Torture me now for disobeying you, or latter for existing. One way or another, my life will become hell. I've always been useless.]

"I'm here to tutor you and I've already been paid for haven't I? Obviously, someone out there disagrees with you." Tsuna shook his head, like only a fool would believe that. "Look, I'll get you some new notebooks and a journal to write in. Will that get you to try?"

Tsuna sighed. [Whatever gets this over with.]

Reborn handed him another sheet with the same problems. Tsuna went through it quickly once again and Reborn sighed as Tsuna handed him the sheet. It seems that no matter what he did, Tsuna wasn't going to try. Reborn looked over the sheet and froze. "W..what?" Every answer was correct. Sure they were below his grade level, but they weren't easy questions either. And Tsuna's grades were terrible since he was a child. To get every answer correct, and so quickly, it was unheard of. "Tsuna, why are your grades so bad?"

[Good grades, bad grades, both lead to attention, and attention leads to pain. It doesn't matter what my grades are like, but one takes alot less effort.]

Reborn got annoyed, but something told him that Tsuna was speaking from experience. "We'll stop here for toady. Try and enjoy yourself. I'll let you know when dinner's ready."

Reborn left Tsuna's room and went to see Dino. "He's not as stupid as he leads others to believe. He could probably ace his tests if he actually tried."

"I feel so bad for him," Dino said. "Even without your spartan training, he's still afraid we'll turn and attack him any minute."

"I know. There's a fat chance anything will happen until we get him to trust us. I can't train him like I did you. You two may be similar, but you weren't suicidal."

"Those marks on his neck, were they…"

"Some bullies got angry when they saw him out of the broom closet. They strangled him and demanded to know who let him out."

"Did they find out it was you?"

"It wasn't me. One of his classmates beat me to it. He even fought the bullies to protect Tsuna. I think he may be a good rain guardian. Tsuna may not be affected because of his mistrust towards everyone, but he has a calming aura. He even bears a striking resemblance to the Primo's rain guardian."

"Well that's one out of six. Not that it matters. At the rate things are going, we'll never be able to tell him about the mafia."

"I think gathering the guardians might help. The guardians of the Vongola are usually close to their boss. One thing Tsuna needs now is friends. Still it won't be easy. He's afraid to let anyone too close, as he thinks they'll eventually betray him."

Dino sighed. "Well, all we can do is care for him and wait. He'll come around eventually."

To Be Continued...