Reborn had been watching his student form various locations around the school all day. But today, it was with more apt attention than usual. The new transfer student unnerved him for some reason. It wasn't that she appeared to be outwardly dangerous; in fact this Yamashita Kazumi came off as completely harmless. But Reborn couldn't help but notice the way she quickly observed every student in the classroom, and the way her gaze often landed on his student for an extended period of time.

It wasn't until he noticed her getting nervous that he decided to reel in and change priorities. This new character was worth watching; even if only for mere precautions. But as Reborn continued to observe the class, Kazumi appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary student; eyes drooping and head nearly falling onto her desk. If she was an assassin, she was a careless one. But Reborn also knew better. He knew fake appearances were everything when it comes to getting to know your target. He wasn't even sure yet, as of this moment, if Yamashita Kazumi was even her real name.

He continued to observe them. Even through their break period where the girl reluctantly joined Tsuna and the others. Reborn took notice of how she would occasionally tuck a strand of the red hair that framed her face into the black that made up the rest of her head. He definitely noticed how her very green eyes shifted between each member sitting around Tsuna, calculating while her mind organized and stored information. Reborn recognized the look Kazumi's eyes held as she memorized each individual's features and information about them, and possibly even things that only she could see or would find relevant in that moment.

And it continued like this throughout the day. By the time the final bell rang, Reborn had returned to focusing on his student, but it didn't go unnoticed by Reborn how Kazumi quickly hid once she noticed everyone standing near the gated entrance. It didn't go unnoticed the slight panic her face expressed. Perhaps he was reading too much into it. Perhaps she had developed one of those silly high school crushes. Her face had certainly flushed enough to have been proof of that. Reborn let a smirk play with his features at that thought. Teenagers were so strange.

As soon as Kazumi had left the school grounds, Reborn came out from his hidden location to join Tsuna and his Guardians; announcing his entrance with a solid kick to his dame student's head, and a self-noted promise to himself to dig up as much information as he could on this Yamashita Kazumi.

"Dame-Tsuna, if you want dinner tonight, you had best get home and study over everything you missed in class today by falling asleep." Reborn smirked at the satisfying shriek from his student.

"I'm going! I'm going!" He shouted in contempt, but still taking off in a hurry.

"J-Juudaime! Wait for me! I'll help you with your studies!" Hayato called, joining his future Boss in the run. Takeshi laughed and as a result followed after them.

"Yosh, wait for me! We can make it a study group!"

"EXTREME RUNNING! SAWADA, LET'S RACE!"

"We're not racing you damn lawn-head!" Hayato called back.

That's right. These days were peaceful. But Reborn was well aware just how abruptly peace can be disturbed.

xXx

Tsuna trudged through the remaining block to his house. Exhausted from the constant running, he had already said his goodbyes to all his friends after assuring and convincing them that he didn't need help with his homework. But his mind was still racing, despite the tiredness. His thoughts circling around and around and around about Yamashita Kazumi who had joined his class this morning, possibly worrying over things that were actually nothing. After all, it seemed that every time a student transferred from Italy, they were connected to Reborn or the mafia. One way or another.

"At least she's not another weirdo." He mumbled out loud, followed by a heavy sigh. Though I do have to wonder if she is actually a part of the Mafia or not. Tsuna thought with a frown. He hoped with all hope that she would end up being just a good friend and not a part of the dangerous world that seemed to surround him. But then again, he was never one to sustain such luck.

"GYAHAHA! TSUNA! LAMBO-SAMA WANTS GRAPE CANDY!" Speaking of weirdos. Tsuna felt a twitch in his eye as he moved to pick up the cow-child and bring him off of the street.

"Lambo, there's candy inside. Why don't you ask kaa-san for some?"

"Because Tsuna has the best candy! Better than Bakadera's or even Mama's!" It's exactly the same! Tsuna thought, exasperated.

"Hai, hai, I'll give you candy Lambo, but you have to eat all of your dinner." Tsuna said with a sigh, just before Lambo excitedly jumped out of his arms, effectively sending a light kick to Tsuna's face, and started running towards the door while making leaps of joy.

"YATTA! CANDY! CANDY! CANDY! LAMBO-SAMA GETS CANDY!" As Tsuna walked through the door while rubbing his pained cheek, he couldn't help but let out another exhausted sigh. After quickly taking off his shoes at the door and setting his bag by the stairs, Tsuna made his way into the kitchen to get Lambo's promised, grape flavoured candy.

xXx

You would have thought over the last two years he would have gotten used to this chaotic lifestyle of his. But no, it's still the same old explosions. It's still the same old poisonous cooking. The same old fighting over toys and food. The same old "bad guys" coming to destroy the future of the Vongola, and by default Namimori. In two years you really would have thought a person would grow used to it all. But that was simply just… impossible.

While everything at its core was the same, the chaos itself just simply grew. And grew. And grew, and grew, and grew. The explosions became bigger and louder. Tsuna still wondered how their neighbours never noticed anything. Bianchi's poisonous cooking was even more deadly than ever. Lambo and I-Pin's bickering seems to have only gotten more constant as well as increasingly louder. And the enemies? Tsuna didn't even really want to think about them.

Tsuna could remember the time when his mom had somehow magically forgotten an ingredient she needed for making dinner. Magically because Sawada Nana, when it came to shopping, was an expert at micro-managing. To this day Tsuna swears that the events which took place after her departure were all orchestrated or even influenced by Reborn, but the Archobaleno insists every time the incident is brought up that he had no part, and has probably sworn to play ignorant for the rest of his life.

A group of thugs had randomly burst through the door with guns blazing. After receiving a good 'shove' from Reborn, Tsuna had managed to drive the intruders out the door with their theoretical tails between their legs with relative ease. But this? This was an all-new kind of crazy that Tsuna probably could have never prepared himself for.

In the kitchen, I-pin and Fuuta were at the stove, and a knocked over bowl was left at the table, no doubt a spot vacated by Lambo not moments ago. The kids were cooking. Or at least trying to. That was Tsuna's first warning sign; pots boiling over, and containing who knows what on the inside. The second was that his mother was nowhere in sight.

"Um, Lambo," Tsuna started slowly, still staring at the mess being created in the kitchen, horror all too clearly written across his face. "Where is kaa-san?" Lambo standing by Tsuna's feet merely looked up to the brunette with a finger up his nose.

"Hah? Umm, Mama went shopping." The cow-child answered unconcerned, as if nothing was wrong with the idea. "And me and Fuuta, and I-pin wanted to help Mama make supper. And then we were hungry so we started making it." Tsuna could feel the twitch in his eye again, and the cold fear drop in his stomach.

"And what exactly is it that you were trying to make?" Tsuna feared the answer more than anything else at that moment.

"Curry!" Was the cow-child's excited response. Tsuna looked back to the kitchen and glanced at each dish being used by the children. Just how did they expect to get curry out of this mess?! He wondered. With a reluctant sigh, Tsuna stepped foot into the chaos and prepared to clean up before his mother returned home.

"Tsuna-nii!" Called Fuuta as he noticed his big brother figure enter the room. "I'm sorry for the mess. We tried to make curry to help Mama, but somewhere it turned into this." He gestured to the still bubbling pot, which Tsuna only now noticed was overflowing something that was unnaturally pink in colour. Was that supposed to be the sauce? "And then when that didn't work we tried to make ramen." The noodles all over the floor were a testament to that. But there was still one question.

"Why is there so much candy everywhere too?"

"Lambo want grape ramen!" I-pin explained in her broken Japanese. Tsuna felt another twitch. "We try make other flavours too!"

Tsuna let out a nervous laugh. Not only did he have to clean up the mysterious contents spilling over the stove, but also sticky candy which was probably already stuck on the floor. Fuuta had offered to help clean up, but Tsuna declined and instructed the oldest of the young children to go and help clean themselves up before Kaa-san had returned home. Now, Tsuna may have been rather Dame when it came to all, if not most, things in life, but a little housework was something he could handle. Especially when it was the kitchen where his mother always seemed to be the happiest. The thought of her returning home to a mess she would have to clean up had him feeling a little guilty that he couldn't do more for her.

"Then again, why did she leave them here by themselves?" Tsuna wondered out loud as he turned off the stove and moved to empty the pot's strange contents into the sink. "Though I suppose Fuuta is old enough now to take on some responsibility if it's only for a little while." He continued to muse out loud as he washed the dishes as best as he could, though the pink stuff just seemed to not want to be removed from the pot. As he worked, he found his thoughts reminiscing about the day, and again back to the transfer student. Yamashita Kazumi.

When the teacher had announced a transfer student returning from Italy, all the warning bells had went off at first. It had seemed that over the last two years, any person who transferred to Namimori Middle, or in this case Namimori High, was somehow from Italy and/or related to the Mafia in one way or another. Tsuna had basically experienced a panic attack at the thought of yet another Italian coming after him simply because he was the reluctant heir to Vongola. And then she had walked through the door and acted like a completely normal Japanese girl, and his intuition decided it didn't need to worry after all.

Tsuna couldn't even tell if there was anything different about her, except maybe her eyes looked sharper than others, but then again, so were Hana's. And that was enough to make him think he was looking too much into it. And to make things even better, she was actually very kind, and courteous, and modest as well; she even allowed everyone to address her by her first name.

"Someone like that couldn't be a part of the Mafia, right?" Tsuna questioned out loud, only to receive a painful hit to the head. He reacted with a shout and spun around to face Reborn who was holding various cooking utensils while wearing a chef's costume.

"Don't be so sure of yourself, Dame-Tsuna. That kind of thinking will leave you unguarded, and if this Yamashita Kazumi does turn out to have relations to the Mafia, you'll be unprepared for it." Reborn offered his words of wisdom to the brown haired teen. "I would suggest you keep her at arm's length Tsuna. I don't trust her." Tsuna gave his tutor a shocked expression.

"Eh? You think she's an enemy Reborn?"

"I didn't say that. I implied that it is possible, and that you should take caution. I've seen plenty of assassins take different attempts at getting to know their targets; assuming the identity of a friend or associate though common is undoubtedly effective." Tsuna gulped at Reborn's words. An assassin? He tried to picture Kazumi wearing sleek black clothing while holding guns or a sword. He found the images scarily, strangely fitting and shuttered.

"I really hope Kazumi-san is just an ordinary person." He sighed, but once again, Tsuna knew his luck just wasn't that good.

"By the way Tsuna," Reborn said suddenly, but with such a mirthful tone that Tsuna looked at the infant with distrust. "Good job at cleaning up after your charges. But this doesn't get you out of your extra studying." Tsuna didn't even bother responding with anything other than an undignified groan and set back to cleaning up. It was just after he finished that Sawada Nana returned home with her arms full of fresh groceries.

xXx

Reborn was up late conducting his research; reaching out to reliable contacts who could dig up information on Yamashita Kazumi that he couldn't find without special resources that were currently out of his personal reach. He found himself frowning when there was no immediately reliable information. Yes, there was a public profile of the girl depicting exactly who she claimed to be; daughter of a well-off banker who worked overseas, but anything deeper than that either didn't exist or was incredibly well hidden.

It was rare that Reborn came across an individual who could hide themselves from him. While it did annoy him to unending degrees, he also welcomed the challenge. If there was anything to find on Yamashita Kazumi, it wouldn't remain hidden for long. He would find it, without a doubt. It was then that a message was sent to him through his Leon-Communicator.

Possible connection. Information at present unreliable. Name Yamashita has possible ties to various occurrences throughout Italia. Sixteen deaths ruled as suspicious. Assassinations? Will investigate further. – End.

The message, in Italian, was short and brief, but it was all that Reborn needed to confirm his suspicions of the black and red haired girl. He would continue to watch her carefully until more information could be sent over from Italy, and what exactly her ties to these likely assassinations could be; whether she was the one behind them, or connected to the one who was. Perhaps now was the time to teach Tsuna how to actually read people by looking at them rather than relying on that Intuition of his.


Originally I hadn't planned on using this type of fast pace, but personally I find the slow crawl thing overused and a bit boring lately. Mind you, after this chapter, I'll slow down a bit to actually show interaction and development between Kazumi and the rest of the characters.

That said, I promise no updates. I mean, it DID take me two years to write this…

On another note, if anyone wants to check out my DA account, you can find me under DarkShadowedDragon, or on Insta under scribblesandsnaps! :)

Don't forget to leave your review! Encouragement definitely goes a long way in getting these written faster! (Unless I'm playing WoW. In which case y'all are screwed. xD)

Happy reading!

~Rahxe