Chapter 2

Warning(s): Negative!thoughts, trigger!moments, suicide, OOC's

Notes: "Japanese" Thinking [Tsuna's written msg]

Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn; Amano Akira does. If I did, it would be more sadder and dark.

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"Eat."

That one word was enough for the brunet to question his tutor, who he was getting used to his presence. Looking down, he saw that there was some rice with chicken legs on the side. Picking up the spoon, he barely ate the rice before he pushed the plate away. Reborn frowned as he saw this.

"How much do you eat everyday?" Reborn asked. If he had an abusive caretaker along with the daily bullies, stealing his lunch, then he has a very disturbed cycle of eating.

Tsuna furrowed his eyebrows before he wrote down [The caretaker would give me only lunch]

"Which would get stolen mostly everyday," Reborn continued the unspoken words to which Tsuna nodded before adding [On her salary day, she would give me dinner.]

Reborn tilted his fedora downwards as he thought of the irregular cycle of the teen in front of him.

Reborn wanted to kill Iemitsu and Nana. How could they even think of abandoning a 7 year old to an abusive caretaker! They never even made sure if the reports were right or wrong.

Reborn clicked his teeth in frustration as he saw the teen come out of the bathroom with his school uniform on. The multiple scars on his body explains why the teen wore long sleeves. It was to hide them.

Reborn inwardly winced as he thought about the scars on the teen's arm. He had just shown a little bit but it was enough for Reborn to know that this child was in dire need for help. The scars were overlapping on each other. It.. was like someone used a knife to carve doodles on the teen's body and Reborn didn't like this one bit.

Some wounds went deep depending on much the words seemed to affect the boy. It made Reborn cringe every time he happened to get a glimpse of the wounds. The teen suffered a lot and Reborn was now wondering how the child even managed to survive so far.

Looking at the teen in front of him, who was getting ready to leave the house, Reborn suddenly said, "You are not going to school today."

Tsuna was visibly surprised and looked at the baby hitman in question. To Reborn it was clear he was asking why. "You are not going to school. Not until you create some friends that are willing to stand up for you."

Tsuna looked around to find his sketchbook in which he wrote but couldn't find it when it was suddenly brought in front of him by the baby hitman. "Here," he said shortly before leading the teen into the living room.

Settling down on the couch, he showed the hitman what he had written [Demo... I don't have.. friends]

Reborn could feel the awkwardness radiating off the teen when he said. He sighed and said, "I'll be calling my former student to help you get used to... an older brother. A caring one at that."

Tsuna glanced at the baby in front of him warily. He wanted to trust the baby-yet-not but years of bullying had made him skeptical.

[But Hibari-san doesn't likes it if somebody skips school. He bites people to death then]

Reborn narrowed his eyes, "I'll make him understand.. does he bites you to death often?"

Tsuna shook his head in denial [No, he bites me to death when I come late but for the past few days, he's been contemplating on not biting me to death because of how... dead I looked. He also helps keeps the bullies away when he's on the roof.]

Reborn raised his eyebrows, "You are friends with the prefect?"

Once again, Tsuna shook his head in denial, the only difference this time, he was a bit more desperate. [No, we aren't friends at all... once I just ran up the roof to avoid the bullies and I found Hibari-san often napped there. It continued like that since.]

"You've never had a conversation with him?"

[No. Though, I think he knows I come there often but because I don't "crowd" or do anything that breaks the rules, he doesn't bites me to death.]

"I see," Reborn replied before noting the stiff shoulders of the child. It seems the teen is scared and cautious about his former student.

Reborn sighed, causing Tsuna to jump in worry and look at him in question. Reborn smiled, I repeat smiled to the teen, which immediately calmed the frightened teen. "Do you trust me?"

Tsuna nodded without any hesitation. Reborn was glad that Tsuna was trusting him but he needed to understand that he couldn't trust him with everything. He was an assassin and though he wouldn't do it, he might end up killing him. But that was a lesson for later. For now, it was enough.

"Good, because I need you to trust me. My former student won't try to touch a single hair on you or even try to get too close to you, okay?"

When he saw Tsuna nod, he continued, "You just need to get used to his presence and then we will start with finding your guardians. When you do have some kind of protection in the form of friends that will be willing to protect you, then you will go to school."

Already knowing what the teen would say, Reborn interfered, "And I will convince Hibari Kyoya to let you off, so relax. Besides, we need to change your guardianship as well. Anyways, until you find your guardians, we will be working on your eating habits otherwise training can't start."

The small smile that took over the teen's feature made Reborn glad. There was still hope for the teen to recover and he needed encouragement, not hatred or pity. He made a mental note to inform Dino about the lack of interaction he has and to not startle him.

He also wondered how did the teen in front of him survive without touching anyone freely. It was necessary in a world for skies to find their guardians with touch. And seeing how Tsuna refused to interact... it would mean that he has been without guardians for too long. Reborn frowned at the thought. Not having even a single guardian by his side will soon make him go unstable. He needed to get the boy to find his guardians soon.

"Good, go and change. My former student will be arriving soon and we will pick him up from the airport, " Reborn added. He saw Tsuna looking a bit tense at the fact that he has to go pick up Dino from the airport, where lots of people would be there crowding around him but he needed the teen to get used to this. It may be a lot now but he was sure the teen could do it.

Reborn smirked, "Don't worry, we'll be going through some areas that will be busy but when we reach the Vongola terminal, everything will be fine. Just think of it like when assemblies are held at your school and you definitely have to stay away."

Tsuna could only feel dread when he saw that smirk.

Reborn was a devil. That was decided the moment they stepped in the airport. It was crowded with people and he didn't like it one bit. He never liked assemblies either. It was just suffocating being with people who could harm him at any moment and he didn't like it at all.

Tsuna looked at the baby in front of him, who was trotting as though he owned the place. He was a bit happy when he came into his life. It may only be a day but so far he has only treated him kindly. Even his intuition and the orange fire agreed with the fact that the baby will help him.

But what if this is all just a facade? To completely break you? Something whispered in his ears. He was startled but then he realized it was himself. It was the negative side of his personality; the one he locked a long time ago as to not commit suicide.

He hated this side... it always made him doubtful. It made him accept the fact that he was useless and nothing would help him. It's true though, nobody would help you. Haven't you understood that you are useless? No reason to be in this world?

He tried to fight it... he didn't want to succumb into those non-existent words. But his heart was starting to feel heavy.. he was slowly listening to it.

It's just a facade... they would betray you in the most cruelest ways by bringing your trust back and then seeing you break...

Tsuna didn't notice the light in his eyes that was slowly returning to dim once again. He didn't notice that he was closing his walls once again; the walls that Reborn had managed to break through with just his resolve. Tsuna didn't notice Reborn glancing at him with calculative eyes.

Something was wrong with his student. He could feel the aura shift and he wasn't pleased to see that he was closing himself again.

Reborn's eyebrows furrowed. This wasn't good; it was relatively easy to get the boy to trust him but he could see the boy shutting himself down. Maybe now that he has calmed down that he was actually thinking straight.

This wouldn't do... as much as he hated to admit it, he had somehow felt a strong bond with the child. One that he didn't want to break so easily. Even though, it has just been a day, he had grown attached to the abandoned teen. And he didn't like it when he saw the light in the boys eyes dimming... it made him feel like he failed.

Reborn tilted his fedora downwards as he thought about this. They were getting close to the Vongola Terminal and he could tell that the boy was merely on autopilot now.

Not wanting to startle the boy, he called out, "Tsuna, we've reached."

Blinking out of his thoughts for now, Tsuna focused on the baby tutor. He tilted his head to the side to show his confusion to which the baby responded with a huff.

"We've reached the place where we'll pick my former student," he told the teen to which the teen merely nodded mechanically. Reborn huffed once more seeing the lifeless answer of the teen. "Tsuna, we won't break you."

Tsuna merely looked at the hitman with emotionless eyes now. He wanted to believe but he couldn't. He wanted to trust him but he wasn't able to.

After all, what's the point if they would eventually understand that he was not needed and revert back to the ways of his previous - now dead - caretaker.

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I would like to thank CalmySweet for pointing out that I missed the description of the scars and how Tsuna hid them! Also, Tsuna does not have DID (Dissociative identity disorder), it's just his thought process that has been formed due to the emotional, mental and physical abuse he went through as a kid. He is just broken and is trying to find somebody that can break that thought process and accept him as who he is. ^^

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