Hey I just wanted to start by thanking all of you for following this story and the support I've gotten while writing this story. Can you believe it's been ten years since the first chapter was submitted?
Since it has been ten years I wanted to do something special, so I've decided to do a little rewrite!
Don't worry there won't be any huge changes to the main plot at least. Most of it will be updates here and there as well as some additions.
Not sure if I'm going to submit this elsewhere since this site is pretty old and in most cases people are turning elsewhere to read their fanfics, but if you have any input I'm open for it.
Lastly, Katekyou Hitman Reborn and its characters belong to Akira Amano. Any OCs mentioned belong to me.
And so, without further ado, This Burden I Must Bear…
A young sixteen year old Dino Cavallone stared out the partially open window with an intensely bored expression on his face, his chin resting on the hard wood surface of the desk he was sitting at. The soft warm summer breeze that found its way into his room lightly tousled his short disheveled fluffy golden locks while his chocolate brown colored eyes looked blank and almost lifeless. He sighed deeply, watching as the small white puffy clouds rolled slowly by within the large 'canvas' that was his window.
It was a perfect summer day - one were your typical young person would be spending outside but the young Cavallone, who had unexpectedly been given a day off from tutoring was utterly lost on what to do.
'It is really nice outside, but I just don't feel motivated to do anything…' he thought to himself with another sigh. Halfway through he realized something and stopped short, sitting up as he continued. 'Wait…usually Reborn would appear at this point in time.'
Dino froze, expecting his spontaneous cursed hitman tutor to come out just as he had thought but he only ended up sitting rigidly in silence. He waited for a few minutes and when sensing that nothing was really going to happen, the young Cavallone relaxed back into his chair and continued staring at the sky.
Suddenly he heard one of his desk drawers slide open, so he bent over to investigate. Assuming it was just broken and loose, Dino decided to fix it later but when he went to try and close it he noticed there was no bottom to the drawer.
"Wha? I don't remember my drawer being this dark inside. Where's my stuff…?" He muttered half to himself with confusion as he knelt down on the floor to examine the drawer much closer.
Suddenly as fast as lightning something shot up and hit him in the face, knocking him back and nearly breaking his nose.
"What the?!" He shouted with surprise while cradling his nose and made sure he wasn't bleeding. "What was that for Reborn?! You could've killed me just now!"
"That's what you get for not anticipating my attack, Pipsqueak Dino." The fedora wearing toddler replied.
"I was, but you decided to appear after the fact!"
"Exactly. The lesson was to be prepared for the delayed attack too."
"That doesn't make any sense!" The young Cavallone complained. "When is that ever going to happen when I have no intention of becoming a boss!"
"Don't question my methods. Someone wanting to end the Cavallone line with you will still come to kill you, no questions asked." Reborn stated seriously with a frown, taking his lizard companion he lovingly dubbed Leon in hand, transforming it into a gun. He pointed it at his student who screamed and cowered behind his chair, pleading for him not to shoot. "I'm glad you understand my reasoning. Still, you have much to learn." The tutor continued while releasing Leon and placing it back onto the brim of his hat.
Dino relaxed a little and dared to ask hesitantly, "So…why are you here…?"
His tutor reached into the inside pocket of his suit jacket, making the young Cavallone flinch but all the toddler pulled out was an envelope. "This was in the mail. It's adressed to you." He handed it to Dino, who accepted it with a slightly confused expression on his face.
The young Cavallone took one look at the name on it and exclaimed, "It's from Rosetta?!"
"Is that your girl?" Reborn asked with a smirk.
"N-No way! We're just friends!" His student blushed fervently despite his denial. "She's been stuck to me like glue since we were little even though I've expressed that I don't want her clinging to me. She didn't visit last summer but there's no doubt in my mind that she'll be clinging to me again this season…" He finished with a gaze of contempt at the envelope that bore such unfortunate news for him.
"I wouldn't jump to conclusions too soon. A lot can change since the last time she visited."
Dino was too engrossed in the letter to hear what Reborn had said exactly and when he found out that he may have missed something important he looked up only to see that the tutor had gone.
"Huh?" He uttered with confusion while searching the room. "Reborn, where'd you go…?" He trailed off, realizing that his tutor had indeed left and so plopped down on his bed before staring at the name of the sender written on the envelope.
'Rosetta Mezzanotte,' the young Cavallone read, letting it sink in. After a minute he tossed it aside for he had the contents of it relatively memorized by now.
Basically this Rosetta sent him a letter every year just as summer began, courteously letting him know that she was due for a visit to his place soon. She would stay the whole summer, cling to him the whole time, and then promptly leave before the school year began.
'In spite of her clinginess though, Rosetta really isn't all that bad. She's a little pretty. And smart.' Dino thought to himself. 'I would actually like to hang with her if she didn't cling so much…'
He then suddenly remembered Rosetta's twin brother Nero and how he would visit the occasional summer too. He wasn't exactly the worst either, it's just that he had a habit of teasing the young Cavallone and his relationship with Rosetta. Nero also loved to show off and hated losing so he would do anything to win any challenge he thought up for the two of them.
Thinking on those things Dino hoped that only Rosetta would visit. He could tolerate her clinging to him for a few months but assumed that Reborn's lessons he possibly had in store for the summer would curb that desire of hers and she would give up altogether.
The young Cavallone kept that thought and let it drive him positively into the next week, oblivious to the plans Reborn had actually cooked up for the unsuspecting teens…
One final note; updates may be spotty or delayed due to my job relocation. I'll try to keep a steady schedule though.