Chapter 5

Tsuna was heading to his school on his own as Reborn had more business to attend to when a woman with pink hair and green eyes rode up to him on a motorcycle. "You look thirsty," she said and threw him what appeared to be a can of soda or juice. Tsuna ignored it and it promptly hit the ground and broke open, leaking out some sort of strange purple liquid that looked toxic. Suddenly, a bird flying over the fumes feel out of the sky, dead.

The boy looked back at the woman, dumbfounded. She was about to leave when he took out a notepad and wrote something down. [Sorry I dropped it. Do you have another that I can have?]

The woman looked back at the boy, mirroring his dumbfounded look from earlier. Surely he noticed that the drink was poisoned. The woman wasn't known as the Poison Scorpion Bianchi for nothing. Why on earth would this boy want another? She could only come to one conclusion. "Okay kid, who are you trying to kill?" she asked.

The boy started to write something down again, and Bianchi was confused. She could swear that the one chosen to be the next boss of the Vongola would be able to talk at least. He finished writing what he wanted to and turned the notebook around to show her. [Myself.]

Bianchi was taken aback and wasn't sure if she should give him what he wanted or a talking two about the importance of life. She chuckled for a second. She was an assassin, what did she know about the importance of life? Yet this boy was definitely making her think about it. "Well I do need you out of the way," she said, considering the idea. "But are you sure you can kill yourself like that. I mean if you really wanted to kill yourself, there are many other ways to do it other than waiting for an assassin to come along and give you poisoned juice."

The boy looked a little disappointed before writing something down. [Your right. Can you force me to drink it? I promise I won't struggle.]

"You really want to die that badly?" the woman asked and Tsuna nodded. Suddenly there was a gunshot and a bullet flew by just inches from Tsuna's leg.

"I thought I told you not to ask that!" Reborn's voice shouted from behind Tsuna. Of course he'd show up right before he got his wish.

The woman looked over to Reborn and Tsuna could swear he saw hearts in her eyes. "Oh, Reborn, how I've longed to see you," she called out as she ran over and tried to pull him into a hug. Reborn swiftly sidestepped the attempt causing the woman to pout. "That's mean, Reborn. By the way, if you're threatening the boy, wouldn't it make more sense to aim near his head?"

"If I did that he'd probably move into the path of the bullet. But the question I have is what are you doing here Bianchi?" Reborn asked in a strict tone of voice.

"I came to see you my love! Let's go on dangerous missions like in the old days!"

"I'm sorry Bianchi, but I must decline. I have to train Tsuna."

"Oh poor Reborn! You're trapped here unless something happens to this boy."

Tsuna began writing something down before Reborn interrupted him. "If you say something like 'make something happen to me' I will shot you in the leg. And I also won't let you use that as an excuse to get out of school."

Tsuna sighed and started to write something else. [Why are you even here?]

"I was notified that Bianchi was coming here, and I decided to walk you to school before something happened. And it was a good thing I did because if I didn't you'd be dead. And don't even think about saying something like 'that's what I wanted'." Tsuna let out a sigh of disappointment. "You're lucky that Dino hasn't seen you ask for this yet."

[Why? Would he finally realize how useless I am and start torturing me?]

"No. Despite his occupation, Dino is quite emotional. He'd probably flood the house with his tears." Tsuna almost laughed. Someone cry over him, yeah right. "Now get to school, I'll handle Bianchi."

Tsuna sighed and did as he was told. 'So close,' he thought.

School went about the same as always. Takeshi trying to talk to him, the other students and teachers picking on him, and going without lunch since Reborn wasn't there. The only difference was the presence of Hayato. The boy stared at Tsuna the whole day, seemingly observing his life. Tsuna was disappointed, Hayato went from having murderous intent towards him to mild curiosity about him. At least Hayato stayed out of his life, becoming just another bystander that let things happen to him. Tsuna couldn't handle another Takeshi.

At the end of the day, the teacher announced that family day was going to be in coming in a month and handed out fliers for the class to give to the parents so they knew when to visit the school. As soon as they were dismissed, Tsuna tore the flier to shreds and tossed it out the window. Family day was the day he hated the most, along with his birthday. Ever since his mom died, no one came. He didn't dare tell his foster parents, they'd probably get angry at the mere idea of Tsuna possibly asking them to go, or worse, they'd actually go and make the day even worse than it already was. The other students joked that his mom had better things to do than spend time with 'Dame Tsuna'. He didn't dare tell them that she was dead, as it would probably just make things worse. He just wanted the day to go by as usual. If Dino showed up, the school would probably find out that he didn't have parents any more. Not to mention, that Dino was sure to see how useless Tsuna was if he saw him in school. The last thing he wanted was to hasten the process of Dino and Reborn turning on him.

He headed out of the room and, as usual, when he turned the corner, he was sent flying into the wall by one of his bullies. "You got the money, or should I break your legs?" he asked condescendingly. Tsuna just did what he always did and turned his pockets inside out. "Okay, that's it! Let's see just how fragile those legs of yours are!" Suddenly there was a gunshot. "Carp! Again! Let's get out of here before Hibari shows up! You lucked out this time! But if you don't bring the money I will break your legs!" he called out as he ran away.

Tsuna started to pick up his things that were scattered all over the floor when Reborn walked over. "Are you sure that giving you money won't help?" he asked. Tsuna nodded and Reborn sighed before helping Tsuna pick up his things. Right as they finished, Hibari came over and he was about to pick up Tsuna and eject him from the school, when his attention was grabbed by Reborn's presence.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"You can call me Reborn."

"Take the little animal and leave, carnivore."

"As you wish." With that Reborn led Tsuna out of the school. "What was that carnivore thing about?" he asked Tsuna.

Tsuna took out his notepad. ]It means he recognizes your strength. Herbivores are the common crowd, consisting of what he considers weaklings. Omnivores are those who he respects the strength of but are still considered weak compared to him, and carnivores are those he recognizes as equals or stronger.]

"He's an interesting one." Once they reached the house and had their meeting with Willem Kmetsch , Reborn left Tsuna alone and went back to do the work he was doing for the day.

There was a knock on the door and Tsuna answered it. When he saw Bianchi his face almost lit up. He took out his notepad. [Why are you here?]

"I'm here to live with Reborn," she said in a longing tone before gaining composure and holding up some bags of food. "Dino sent me out to get groceries. I just got back." Tsuna's gave a small smile. "Reborn told me not to hurt you. He also said he wouldn't forgive me if I did."

Tsuna became disappointed. [Please.]

"Sorry kid, but the whole reason I was going to kill you to begin with was so I could be with Reborn. I couldn't live if he hated me."

"Oh," Dino's voice came from behind them. "Bianchi, you're back. And so is Tsuna! Welcome back." Tsuna turned around to face Dino, who saw the disappointed look on his face. "What's wrong?"

"Reborn told me not to attack him," Bianchi said.

"Why would he be upset about that?"

Bianchi was about to answer when Tsuna started to write something down. [Because her poison can grant my wish.]

Dino's eyes widened in horror. "W… what do you mean by that?"

[Isn't it obvious? I'm tired of this life.]

Dino's eyes began to water. "I… I thought Reborn was exaggerating when he said you were suicidal." Tears started to stream down Dino's face. "W… why? D… did I do something wrong?" Tsuna dropped his notepad in shock and found himself unable to move as Dino's tears began to fall. Dino was actually crying over him. Over Dame Tsuna. Over the useless punching bag.

"You told him," Reborn's voice called out, "didn't you?" Tsuna just stood there, unable to answer or even move a muscle.

Reborn leapt into the air and kicked Dino to the floor. "What was that for?" Dino said, wiping the tears from his eyes.

"Go make lunch. I'll talk to Tsuna."

Dino got up, wiping the tears from his eyes once more. "Okay," he said softly and left, eyes still watery.

Reborn turned his attention to Tsuna, who still was processing what happened before he lost all his strength and fell to the floor. "I warned you, didn't I?" Tsuna just sat there, unable to respond. "Look, Dino is taking his job as your father rather seriously. He feels a kinship with you. You see, before you, he was my student. He was clumsy, and not too bright, but with my help, he made it through and became what he is today. I am trying to do the same for you, and Dino is trying to care for you. We can only do so much if you refuse to open up. I can't force you, but know that we will be here for you. However, do not doubt Dino again. He's waiting for you and he won't stop until he can make you smile again."

Dino came back in with lunch, eyes still red from crying. "Here," he said softly. "Please eat."

Tsuna got up, still feeling weak, but made his way over to the table and began to eat. He couldn't bring himself to argue about it after what happened as he felt guilty for hurting Dino.

Still, his mind couldn't comprehend the idea of someone actually caring about him. It was pity, that had to be it. And it would eventually fade away. Then things would make sense again. Then Tsuna's life would return to the hell he knew.

A month went by and things stayed relatively the same except for two things. One, Bianchi was living with them and was handling the house work when she wasn't gushing over Reborn. Two, Dino was constantly fussing over Tsuna, with this worried look on his face. He kept asking if Tsuna wanted anything, or offering to spend time with him, or asking if he wanted a new form of entertainment, like video games, more books to read, movies, and so on. All Tsuna could do was shake his head and try to turn him down, not that that always worked.

Tsuna got up and got ready for one of the two worst days of the year. He managed to convince Reborn to do whatever work he does every once and awhile that day so he wouldn't figure out he didn't tell them about family day. Tsuna arrived at school early as always but so did most of the class because their parents made them get up early as well. The parents and other family members were signing in at the school entrance while the students went ahead to class. As soon as Tsuna sat down, his day of hell began. Students from all over the classroom surrounded his desk and began to mock him. Takeshi was trying to stop them, but couldn't get a word in or even get close to Tsuna. The group was crowding so tightly that it would probably have sent Hibari into a blood rage.

"So Dame Tsuna," one student asked, "your mom coming this year?"

Tsuna shook his head and another student said, "Of course she's not! She has better things to do other than remind herself of how useless her son is! Like sleeping or watching paint dry!"

The students laughed and continued to mock Tsuna for some time before Hayato grabbed one of their shoulders and pulled them back, grabbing all the others' attention. He wore a lethal glare on his face and said, "You're annoying me. Get lost." The students scattered back to their desks and Tsuna looked at Hayato baffled. "I left you alone because that's what you wanted, but there's only so much of their obnoxious bullshit I can take." Hayato then turned around and sat back in his desk behind Tsuna, placing his feet on the desk like he always did.

So time passed and the teacher and students' families walked into the room, signaling the start of class. Tsuna sighed as he prepared himself for the humiliation that was to befall him over the course of the day, when he heard a familiar voice say, "The room's this way."

"Thanks," said another familiar voice. Tsuna looked in horror as Dino walked in with Reborn on his shoulder and Romario behind him.

The moment he entered the girls squealed. "He's so hot." one said.

"I wonder who he's related to."

Suddenly Hayato stood up and pointed a finger at Dino. "What are you doing here!?"

The girls squealed again as they figured out that the popularly considered hottest boy in the class knew Dino. Dino looked over to Hayato. "Yo, Hurricane Bomb, long time no see," he said and the girls squealed even louder, probably misunderstanding the nickname. Tsuna figured it had something to do with the dynamite Hayato had when he confronted him.

"I asked why you're here, Bucking Horse." The girls started squealing in a pitch that should have been beyond human hearing, definitely misunderstanding the nickname. Tsuna had no idea what it did mean, but he had a good idea what the girls thought it meant and was sure it wasn't that.

"I'm here for Tsuna." Suddenly all eyes turned to Tsuna, who began to bury his face into his desk and try to shrink out of sight.

"Are they brothers?" a student asked.

"Doubtful," another said. "They look nothing alike."

"Cousins maybe."

'They had to show up, didn't they? How did they even find out?,' Tsuna thought. He was just lucky that the class was trying to figure out some sort of blood relation to Dino. If he was lucky they wouldn't press Dino or him for an answer and he could continue his school days relatively unchanged.

Reborn jumped off Dino's shoulder unnoticed as the students continued trying to figure out Tsuna and Dino's relationship. He made his way over to Tsuna's desk, jumped on it in front of Tsuna's face, and said, "Did you really think I wouldn't find out?" Tsuna lifted his head to look at Reborn. "As your tutor of course I keep an eye on your school schedule. I only said I'd stay home so I could get Dino ready and I figured that you'd do something drastic if I let on that I knew." Tsuna frowned. He was right. His backup plan was to purposely break his leg so he couldn't go to school. It wouldn't be too hard, even with the extra nutrition he's been getting the last couple of months, his bones were still frail. It would be unpleasant, but only for awhile. It was a far better option than making school more of a living hell than it already was. "Now that it's too late for something like that, I want to know why you didn't tell Dino and me." Tsuna stayed silent. He wasn't about to talk and wasn't going to use his notepad in the middle of class. Who knows what would happen if he did. The bullies might force him to communicate that way, or the teacher might take it away claiming he's doodling or passing notes. Luckily for him, Reborn seemed to catch on. "I expect an answer later." He jumped off the desk and made his way back to Dino.

"Alright," the teacher spoke up, "I know it's exciting to meet your classmates' families, but we have to start class. Please be respectful of our guests and show them you're best."

The day went by as Tsuna expected. Parents complementing their children when they do well, the students and teachers finding subtle ways to pick on him, and the families either doing nothing to help or joining in. Dino seemed to avoid drawing attention to Tsuna after his introduction, probably noticing Tsuna's nervousness.

Eventually, they reached math class, and Tsuna knew the worst part of the day had arrived. Math was the easiest to fail. When Tsuna wrote down a random number, it wasn't just wrong, it was terribly wrong, making the students laugh at him even more. Not to mention that the teacher loved to pick on him.

Once class started the teacher looked towards the back of the room in Tsuna's direction with a furious look on her face, but Tsuna had a feeling that it wasn't aimed at him. "Hayato, I'd appreciate if you'd at least keep your feet off your desk to respect our guests." Hayato grunted. "Fine then! You'll go first!" The teacher gave Hayato a particularly hard question, but Hayato gave the answer in seconds. As a result, the teacher kept sending questions his way, each one more difficult than the last. It got to the point where she was giving questions above their grade level, but Hayato kept giving the correct answers. With every answer the teacher's annoyance grew.

She finally gave up on getting Hayato to get a question wrong and massaged her temple. Tsuna could swear he saw the light bulb appear over her head as she figured out the perfect way to cheer herself up. "Okay, your turn Tsuna." She gave Tsuna a question. Tsuna sighed as he got up from his desk and walked towards the chalkboard, confusing many of his classmates' families, as Hayato just said the answers out loud.

Tsuna didn't care. He resolved never to talk again. Heck it had been so long that he almost forgot how to speak. It didn't matter though. No one listened. It all started when he was little. He was constantly bullied. He tried to tell his teachers, but none of them listened, and he didn't dare tell his mom. She may have been nice, but there would be nothing she could do and it would just worry her. So eventually he gave up and stopped trying to get people to hear the fact that he was bullied. Then his mom died. He didn't talk to the government agents much. They just seem so cold and distant. And then he was taken in by those… things he was forced to call parents. Whenever he spoke to them, they'd get angry. He'd tried to tell people about the things they did to him, but again, no one believed him. Most just assumed that he didn't like them because they weren't his mother. It was at that point Tsuna realized that no one listened. If people wouldn't listen when it really mattered, then why talk at all. He wasn't going to talk just to obey what others said, so he just stopped.

At first people were angry at this decision. Teachers tried to force him to speak, and when that didn't work, they tried getting those… things to send him to therapy to get him to speak. Of course they were angry that he dragged them into it, so they agreed. He had therapy sessions every night where they beat the hell out of him demanding he speak. After that didn't work, they told the school that they tried, but the therapist said that he couldn't help him. Then, finally, everyone gave up. It didn't change much. His teachers still didn't care that he was being bullied. The bullies were actually pleased because they didn't have to worry that he'd rat them out. And it wasn't like he had any friends to talk to, so his voice was useless as he was.

By the time Tsuna reached the chalkboard he forgot the question he was asked, not that it mattered, he was just going to write down a random number anyway. "Let me guess," the teacher said, "you forgot the question." Tsuna nodded. If he said no and got the question as wrong as usual, he'd look like a liar instead of an idiot, and that was something he didn't need. The teacher smiled. "Sorry, I forgot you're slow." Chuckles came from the students and even some of their family members that knew Tsuna. "Okay I'll write it down for you," she said as she did so. "Now I gave you an easy one, so try not to embarrass yourself."

Tsuna was about to write his random number when Dino said, "Tsuna, try for me." Tsuna felt compelled to listen and looked at the problem. It really was an easy one. After only two seconds he wrote down the answer and started walking back to his desk.

As he did so, he mentally kicked himself. It was easy enough to get the question right. Despite popular belief, he did pay attention in class, in case he ever needed to know this stuff. He didn't dare take notes in school, but he had nothing better to do at home. When Reborn offered him more notebooks for trying during his tutoring, it was a stroke of luck, as his old notebooks were already full, and it would have been a big mistake to even try to ask those things for another one. The notes came in handy during summer school, where no one questioned his grades, so he was able to avoid being held back. None of that was the issue though. The reason he was upset was that he knew despite his best efforts, he was getting attached to Dino. He had to stop. He had to push him away, or it would hurt more than he could bear when things changed.

The teacher shook her head before even looking at Tsuna's answer. "What am I going to do with you?" she said as she turned to look at the answer. "Once again you're…" She froze and her face became utterly baffled. "T… That's cor… correct." Tsuna had to admit that he was mildly amused by the teacher's face and could swear there was a flash of light at that moment.

"Dame Tsuna," one of the students said, "got a question right?"

"That's impossible," another said.

"He must have gotten lucky."

"Yeah, there's no other explanation."

This is why Tsuna never tried. When he was little, he did everything he could to get good grades, but he got picked on for being a nerd. So he stopped and his grades plummeted like a rock. That seemed to stop the other kids from bullying him. However, a few years afterwards, they started picking on him for being an idiot. So he started trying again, and with considerable effort, he brought his grades back up. But the other kids just assumed he was getting lucky. Once it was going on to long to be luck, they said he was cheating. Even the teachers kept a close eye on him. Other students kept telling him to stop cheating and eventually started attacking him. So Tsuna gave up and soon the bullies went back to bullying him because he was an idiot, but at least he didn't need to put in any effort. The only problem was how disappointed his mother became over his grades, but she seemed to know the reason, so she left it alone. Still it seemed he wasn't allowed to have good grades. He wouldn't be able to get into any kind of collage with grades like his, and he was too clumsy to go into any kind of labor job. He was useless, and eventually would die on the streets, jobless and homeless.

"Good job Tsuna." Dino said, but Tsuna just sighed. Didn't he hear the class? There was no point. Besides, he would give up on Tsuna soon enough.

The teacher cleared her throat as she regained composure. "Well, I suppose even a broken clock is right twice a day," she said and the class erupted into laughter. Tsuna heard a snort come from the desk behind him and saw Takeshi tense up, seemingly angry. He turned to look and the families. The ones he knew had amused looks on their faces, while the ones he didn't seemed confused beyond belief. Dino and Reborn, however, wore scowls that Tsuna hoped the teacher did see.

The day continued and soon lunch came. Tsuna tried to quickly escape to the roof, but Takeshi grabbed his wrist. "Come on," he said, "I want to introduce you to my father." He dragged Tsuna over to a man with black hair and brown eyes, much like Takeshi, but older. It was obviously his father.

"Oh, you must be Tsuna," the man said. "I'm Tsuyoshi. It's nice to meet you. Takeshi told me about you. What do you think of my boy? A lot of fun, isn't he?" Tsuna stayed silent. "There's no need to be shy."

"Dad," Takeshi said, "I told you already, he…"

"He doesn't talk," Dino interrupted.

"Oh," Tsuyoshi said, "Come to think of it, Takeshi did mention something about that. So are you his brother?"

"No, actually," Dino scratched the back of his head, "I'm technically his dad. My name's Dino." Suddenly the class went silent, wanting to hear about Dino's relation to Tsuna.

Tsuyoshi looked confused and then looked Dino over. "I find that hard to believe. You can't possibly be old enough."

"Yeah, well, I'm his legal guardian now, so that technically makes me his dad."

"What happened to his parents?"

"Well, his father worked abroad and died about four months ago, although he wasn't able to be contacted, and his mother died about two years ago."

Tsuna eyes widened. "Oh, so do you know why he doesn't speak."

"I assume it has something to do with his previous guardians."

Tsuna's breathing stopped. "He had guardians before you?"

"Yeah, two, a couple."

"What happened to them?"

"Well, they didn't treat him right."

Tsuna's hearing became muffled. "Wait, do you mean…"

"Yeah, they were abusing him. I don't know the full extent, but they did beat him and he wasn't eating right. It was a chore just to get him to start eating again." Tsuna felt the world start to spin and he couldn't tell up from down. He felt like he was going to throw up when he heard a loud thud, and then everything went black.

Dino waited in the nurse's office for Tsuna to wake up, pacing around the room anxiously. Takeshi and Tsuyoshi sat in the corner with Reborn and Romario. After some time there was a groan that came from the bed Tsuna was on. They all got up and watched as Tsuna slowly opened his eyes and looked over to them, his eyes still hazy. "Why are they so worried," a weak voice choked out and then Tsuna started coughing.

Dino's eyes widened as he realized what just happened. "You talked!" he shouted and pulled Tsuna into a hug. Tsuna froze. Even his breathing stopped. After a few seconds Dino let go and Tsuna looked shocked and confused.

He looked around until he found his school bag and grabbed it, pulling out his notepad. Dino was about to take it to make Tsuna talk when Reborn stopped him. [Why did you do that?]

Dino smiled. "You finally talked."

Tsuna's eyes widened, seemingly scared. [I'm sorry. I…]

Dino stopped reading and smiled gently to reassure Tsuna. "Don't apologize. I've been waiting for this moment. Here let me take that notepad."

As Dino reached over, Tsuna pulled the notepad into his chest tightly, and Dino's arm retracted in surprise. After it was clear that Dino wasn't going to force the notepad away, Tsuna started writing something down. [I'm not ready yet.]

"Okay, I'll wait for you."

Tsuna cursed himself. Why'd he write that? Not ready yet. He'd never be ready. He resolved never to speak again. He had to stop letting Dino get into his head like this. He had to find a way to remove his attachment to him before it was ripped away instead.

"Okay, I'll wait for you," Dino said and pulled Tsuna into another hug. Tsuna froze again. It had been so long since he felt this warmth. Even before his mother died, he had reached the age where he wasn't sharing many hugs with her, something he now regretted. He wanted to stay in Dino's arms forever before he realized that he was allowing himself to get more attached. Still, he couldn't bring himself to push Dino away.

Once Dino finally let go, a thought occurred to Tsuna. [Why am I here anyway?]

Dino looked away. "You fainted. I'm pretty sure it was my fault. I shouldn't have talked about you without your permission. Sorry," Dino said in a soft voice full of guilt. Despite Tsuna's best efforts, he couldn't help but feel bad for making him feel that way.

[It's okay.] Tsuna wrote down trying to make Dino feel better. However, it wasn't okay. His whole class knew what he was trying to keep secret all these years, and soon the whole school would know. Most kids would be sympathized with, and people would try to make them feel better. But he was Dame Tsuna. No one would do anything but try to make him feel worse.

Dino gave a slight smile, clearly not believing that Tsuna meant that it was okay, but appreciating the sentiment. "Well, you were out for a while. School's over, so let's head home."

Tsuna nodded and Takeshi spoke up. "Well see you tomorrow," he said. "It's good to see that you have a way to communicate. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." Takeshi and Tsuyoshi waved goodbye and left.

Tsuna got out of the bed and Dino led him out with Reborn on his shoulder, followed by Romario. On their way out of the school, Dino placed a hand on top of Tsuna's head and ruffled his hair a little before letting it rest there with a gentle touch. At first, it startled Tsuna, but after a few seconds he felt the warmth of the touch and let it be. As they walked down the halls, Tsuna heard a few chuckles at his current position under Dino's hand, but he didn't care. He enjoyed the warmth he felt, and there was a weird feeling in his chest. A feeling he thought he'd never feel again. He felt hope, hope that maybe, just maybe, he could have a real family again, and no matter what he did, he couldn't push it away.

To Be Continued...

Author's Note: One, this particular story is not a yaoi. There actually won't be any shipping at all in this particular story. Dino is just a parental figure to Tsuna.

Two, I am approaching the end of the part of the story that I know where I'm going with. I do have a rough idea about the next chapter, but that's about all. I'd like to say again that if you have any ideas, feel free to PM me.