A/N Hello!

Ooooh I'm starting to get super excited with this fic~ There are so many things I could expand and play with but I know I want the story to progress as well... even though its tempting to have pages and pages of dialogue haha. Especially when new people pop up (because really it's hard for me to dislike any off the characters).

And remember, italics = Italian.


~Chapter 16 – Bring Back Those Halcyon Days

Their home was modest, tall like its neighbours with a neatly fenced off yard, perfect for a humble family. When it was just her and Mama it had been too large, too empty. Things were better when Takeshi entered the picture, laughing, smiling and warm as he was. The house felt a little more welcome when his father finally lost to Nana's persuasion and more frequently stayed to chat after a dinner delivery, with and sometimes rarely without his son. And it more than delighted Nana if Kusakabe, in place of the solitary skylark, would drop by with small gifts to chat with the woman like an old friend.

With the return of her father and brother, most of these visits had become rarer and swapped for a newer range of guests. Reborn had claimed their lone guest room, and with his constant presence the house was full for the first time. Gokudera swept in like the storm he was, arriving just as Takeshi would have, bringing a certain liveliness and spirit that only he could. And almost immediately after, came his sister. Poison Scorpion Bianchi had been Iemitsu's answer to his son losing Gokudera, and she had been easy enough to obtain, with both her love towards Reborn a known Vongola ally and the fact they had let her earlier attempt towards an heir's life go unpunished. Ietsuna herself was on the fence when it came to the undoubtedly beautiful woman, because she definitely didn't think that her adoration of the hitman was worth the life of her brother, but she was assured the woman was more than loyal even if she was a bit overenthusiastic at times.

"No one would have fallen for those attempts," Her brother reassured, recounting the hectic week in Italy before they boarded the plane, "She's smart enough to know that a lot of people would have been on her tail if she stepped up her game and I died, so she kept it at a level where it would be my own stupid fault if I died. No ruler is better than an idiotic one." And at his words, Tsuna relented and gave into the urge to draw her paint her crimson aura, further confirming Reborn's suspicion.

"Basil will be blue." The suave man later told her, and before Tsuna could consider how the potted herb on the kitchen windowsill would magically change colours, another unfamiliar guest appeared at their dinner table. Arriving just a couple days after Bianchi, was their father's protégé and apparently her brother's best friend, Basil, who as Reborn predicted glowed just as blue as his eyes. The boy was nice enough, polite to a fault, and spoke with an odd combination of outdated Japanese, Iemitsu's idea of a long-running joke, and modern slang, her brother's attempt to fix it.

This sat her Yoshi on two out of the six required guardians, with their father keeping his reserves waiting in the wings, more than ready to call for allies and candidates from overseas. "Soon…" Reborn reminded her. There would be no more time for respite when the battle began, of both a physical and mental kind, she would hit the ground running with no end in sight. A marathon if there ever was one. 'Soon' though the hitman had cautioned, not 'now', which meant there was still time leftover for her to build her strength and her resolve. That there was supposed to have been time for thinking, had a new sort of pandemonium, not set in.


"The water's too hot." The fedora wearing Italian had taken a single, meagre, sip before putting the cup down to join it's many, still full, brethren, "Again." Tsuna sighed, and repeated the process, hearing a small huff of dissatisfaction. "Too slow, do it again."

"You didn't even taste it." The girl grumbled, diligently rinsing the last cup they had.

"I don't need to, you left it for too long." He watched her with the eyes of a hawk, as she handed him the next cup, but for all his attention it seemed like he hadn't noticed the insistent knocking. Tsuna on the other hand was unable to ignore the unusual sound, watching as her mother made to open the front door. "The pressure is too low." He commented, leaving her fumbling through a needlessly complicated manual as to calibrate the ridiculous machine that had been specifically ordered for her tutor's caffeinated needs.

"Ara? Can I help you?"

"Die Reborn!" A green breeze swept past Nana, speaking Italian in the high pitch of a child.

"Uh, Reborn there's-"

"Italian Tsuna." The fedora-wearing male cut in boredly.

"Right, well there's a kid that's trying to…assassinate you." She watched wide-eyed as the curly-haired kid, in a cow-patterned jumpsuit of all things, ran up to the hitman with an obnoxiously coloured gun aimed haphazardly towards them. Her heart jumped when his tiny fingers pulled the trigger only for an empty click to resound in the room, and as he flailed the useless firearm around in an effort to 'make it work', Reborn simply picked the child up before throwing him out an all too conveniently open window. The whole commotion began, lasted and ended, within ten mere seconds.

"Continue." He ordered his student, so she did. When the knocking resumed though, Tsuna was hard-pressed to keep her focus, especially when her mother let the persistent kid back in.

"Long time no see Reborn, It's me Lambo!" He was disregarded by the older male in favour of Tsuna's latest trial, and she had to wonder why the hitman was so determined to ignore the kid.

"Much better. It would be perfect if we could get some higher-grade beans." There was a slight tremble to Lambo's mouth and a suspiciously watery sheen to his eyes, but there was less than a moment before she saw his expression firm-up. In his next move he pulled out a large knife, something that worried her much more than the gun with the careless way he waved it around. He ran forward again, with yet another battle cry only to be mercilessly kicked away, the kid's knife embedding itself into the wall beside his curly head a fraction after his back hit it.

"Oh, that hurt…I must've tripped over something." Shaky legs stood the small body up and Tsuna felt her heart twinge a little as the kid furiously wiped at his eyes. What was the world coming to if such a young child was seriously trying to assassinate someone? Where he was allowed to wield a whole array of dangerous weapons without anyone around to keep him from hurting himself.

"Hey, are you paying attention, Tsuna?" Reborn drawled, tapping his fingers against his leg impatiently.

"I'm not," She replied with a frown on her lips and defiance in her eyes, "Are you alright, kid?" Tsuna turned to the wary boy, crouching and inspecting for any other injuries apart from the angry mark on his forehead, whilst simultaneously ignoring the green sparks that danced along his skin.

"Lambo is fine!" He shouted loudly despite the tremble in his voice, smacking the hand she had outstretched to examine his bruising temple, "Leave me alone!" Like a cornered animal he backed away, pulling out a large, purple coloured object from his person. It was a cannon of all things, like something you could find at a toy store, that she had no idea how he had concealed until now. Danger, her mind told her. Even as the boy pointed the weapon at himself, and even though Reborn looked more amused than anything else. Danger, her intuition told her, and seeing as it had never lied before she deemed it fitting to act. In that one moment there had been Lambo's screaming, the quiet click of a trigger pulled, and a muffled sort of explosion as Tsuna threw herself into the line of fire.


Ietsuna had lost herself. Her mind, awake and aware, had been thrown into a messy whirlwind, and when it released her she could only stumble towards the nearest stable surface. She had been thankful for the fact it was a desk and not the floor she had chosen.

"Are you ok?" Came a slightly panicked voice, tinged with worry, "Miss?" She tilted her head up to meet a pair of mesmerising eyes, the pale purple of it even more unusual than the white of his hair.

"Ah, y-yes." She ignored the slight surprise in his eyes, taking in her surroundings. It was as vibrant as it was hushed, every surface covered in a new colour that came from the array of blooming flowers. Striking, red roses. Soft, delicate bluebells. Bright, warm sunflowers. Though as colourful as it all was, nothing compared to the angelic man behind the desk, cradling a bundle of white lilies wrapped in a single translucent, matching ribbon.

"I'm sorry, but were you here with your sister?" A pleasant tenor asked, continuing when only confusion showed on her face. "Your eyes," he explained tapping on his temple, "They're very similar." Unsure, Tsuna gave a slight nod, startled by the smiled that popped onto the man's handsome face. "Perfect," He peered around her as if to find someone, "Did you know if she wanted these wrapped in paper?" He held the lilies out towards her, each one of them flawless with a reserved scent that tickled her nose.

"I'm not sure," Tsuna found herself replying in her accented Italian, "What were they for again?"

"A funeral." He answered, simply and sombrely. "How about I show you how they look wrapped?" He suggested at her empty look. He took her silence as a yes, turning his back for the short few seconds it took the girl to disappear from his store. "What do you think?" Surprise painted his features as he was reunited with his original conversation partner.

"Perfect." The woman stated, giving him a sad sort of smile. The florist returned the gesture, all the while marvelling at how two pairs of eyes could look so similar yet so vastly different at the same time.


"Welcome back." Tsuna returned feeling just as out of sorts as when she left it. She found herself sitting on her bed in her room, instead of by the kitchen sink where they had all been last. Lambo was siting contentedly on her lap, kicking his legs and loudly munching on some candy if the wrappers littered around her were anything to go by.

"What just happened?" She asked, wondering if she had passed out or begun to hallucinate.

"Well you see, the Bovino family that the brat belongs to, whilst being one of the smaller and less renowned groups, happens to have a range of very interesting tools at their disposal," The hitman explained in a longwinded fashion, "The one you got hit with was the Ten-year Bazooka, which like the name suggests, switches the current you with your ten-year older counterpart. I imagine the current head gave it to Lambo for protection, what with the brat being his only son and all."

"Seriously?" Try as she might she could tell that he hadn't spoken any lies, "That sort of thing is closer to magic than technology…"

"With the correct materials and a suitable power source you'll find that the current laws of nature can be swayed to a certain extent." He shrugged loosely, pinning her with a hard stare, "That aside though, I found the you from the future to be quite interesting." There was a certain pride in his eyes, hidden underneath a smug expression, all because he had caught a glimpse of a very infamous ring around her right, index finger.

"Was I happy?" Iestuna asked quietly, finding it more than easy to piece together the situation. She held his gaze, trusting the man with the truth.

"…You looked a bit tired," He gave. Though despite looking both physically and mentally exhausted, she had still smiled at him, letting the hitman believe that there was no resentment for forcing her down this path. "What did you see?"

"I was in Italy I think," She ran her hands through Lambo's hair, marvelling both at how soft it was and the fact the rambunctious kid allowed it, "Buying flowers for a funeral."


Reborn had tactfully eased off after the bazooka incident, giving the girl more than enough space and time to collect herself. She soothed herself mainly by spending her time with Lambo, her future self apparently performing some sort of miraculous feat that endeared the boy to her regardless of the version. Her mother as well was instantly charmed by the boy, happily bringing him into the folds of their family, and away from the famiglia. Reborn had dropped any ideas of recruitment after she had simply told him, in an unwavering calm tone, that Lambo lacked any notable aura. And whilst that small lie had covered half other her problems, the other, her father, could not be so easily convinced.

"It's a bit late to try and pull him out Tsu-chan," Her father told her wryly, "The Bovino heir is a born mafiaso. He might be a bit wet behind the ears now, but in a few years, he could potentially be quite impressive."

"Wet behind the ears?" His daughter repeated incredulously, "He's only seven... still just a kid. Lambo should be running around in school playgrounds, not being taught how to kill people!" And even though her brother looked a largely uncomfortable with their father's persistent attempts at recruiting the boy, he hadn't done anything to stop the man either. "What on earth is so urgent that you both need him this desperately?" She tugged on her hair, feeling the stress of everything starting to get to her.

"Do you know what guardians are, Tsuna?" Her brother asked whilst Iemitsu remained wisely silent, "They're considered to be the Vongola's main famiglia members and hold certain authority above others. They are the shield and sword of Vongola, and if the boss is considered the mind, they are the heart." Tsuna nodded in acknowledgment, giving him to 'ok' the continue, "Every generation's boss has had a total of six guardians, one to represent each dying will flames, it's a necessity."

"And you want to make Lambo, who's is just a kid, take over all those responsibilities?" She turned her gaze to her father, knowing the man had the last say in all of this.

"We're hoping it's a role he can grow into, but beforehand we'll look after him," The man assured, "It's just that Lambo has some specific qualities that make him an ideal candidate."

"And those are?" She pressed without falter.

"He's a lightning attribute." It was a confirmation of her fears. Not that she let it outwardly show.

"And that's it?" Tsuna shot back, "If that's the case wouldn't any lightning do? Can't you just go find someone more suitable? In the first place is there a method to determine what flame type someone is?"

"Lambo is the most suitable lightning we've come across," He left out that part that it was his young age that would allow him to be better moulded, "And flames come from the heart, they reflect who you are. With enough experience you can become fairly adept in categorising people." His words were more or less in line with what Reborn had told her before.

"And when you're wrong?"

"There's a ring test," Iemitsu continued, "If you have enough resolve you should be able to manifest your flame. It is easier to do so through a conduit, which rings are popular for, and the colour should reflect your attribute."

"Let me try then." Tsuna was thankful for the fact Reborn was absent, knowing that he would definitely not approve of her actions.

"You're a sky though Tsuna," Her brother cut in, "Even I can tell that."

"Please." She asked of her father, palm outstretched, because suddenly the path seemed to open up before her. Now there seemed to be more obvious actions for her to take that would achieve the same goal. Guardians were the sword and shield, were they? Then in that case she would be able to protect Yoshi well enough like that. Instead of taking his place as Decimo, maybe she could take Lambo's as the lightning guardian. Two birds with one stone, and all that.

"I'll show you an example," Iemitsu said thoughtfully, retrieving a plain band of silver from his pocket, "It's easier if the particular ring is attuned to the attribute you want to test but in cases like these I carry around some neutral ones…" He didn't even wear it, merely held it in his palm, as it flared to life, producing a hard, orange flame. "It shouldn't feel hot, maybe a little warm, but the fire you channel wouldn't be capable of burning you." The flames that grew in an instant, disappeared even quicker, and he tossed the oddly cold ring to her in his final act.

"How does this work?" Tsuna asked, turning over the band of metal.

"Put it on and channel your resolve, it's as simple as that." It was a bit too large for most of her fingers, only fitting loosely on her thumb, but it would do. And with that set, Tsuna made to follow the vague instructions. Green, she chanted in her mind. No matter how confident Reborn was, the flame that she would make would be green, and she would be lightning. She thought back to Lambo, and the bright sparks that played across him when he was laughing, smiling, playing. And then she thought about the future she had visited, wondering for the umpteenth time since if those funeral flowers had been for someone she currently knew, or had yet to meet. Selfishly she hoped it was the latter. But either way she knew now, that there was no time for her indecision, that she had to get stronger before those around her were hurt and not after. And all she needed to take that first step was for the ring to light up.

"…Eh?"


A/N Thanks for reading.

So I've been considering the uh... mechanics of the KHR world. And boy has it given me food for thought.

For example when I think of flames, if they're personality based like I've assumed, multiple flames would become less rare than single flames. Given that the people in question were able to manifest them that is. But this I'll consider more as the story progresses.

And hello time travel, a confusing topic that makes my head hurt if i think too deeply. I plan to have fun with this one and ignore all the plot-holes I end up making.

Anyway, look forward to the next chapter :)