Lambo scrubbed furiously at the community toilet, keeping his face in its normal bored expression. Trying to look as normal as possible, while taking his anger and hurt out on the germs and dirt that coated the toilets in the multiple bathrooms that were scattered all over the Vongola Mansion.

Usually, Lambo just feels numb all over, despite how demeaning it is, Lambo has found that his daily chore, or "mission" as Tsuna keeps insisting on calling it as if he's five years old still, a good way to get rid of all the stress and negative emotions that build up during the days.

Lambo is a fifteen-year-old with tanned skin, unruly raven hair, green eyes, wearing a cow print button-up, most of the buttons undone, wearing suit jacket, khakis pants, a belt with a silver belt buckle with an image of a cow with big horns, sandals, twin-like bracelets wrapped around and hanging off of both arms, hidden underneath the sleeves of his shirt and jacket, hanging from his neck is a short necklace with a pendant shaped as large cow horns, and on his pointer finger on his right hand rested a special looking ring. His body is thin with small lean muscles.

'No thanks to any of them.', he thinks bitterly, 'I at least decided to stay in shape.'

Pausing for a minute, Lambo shook his head and continued too vigorously clean. He receives all the unwanted jobs, just like him.

After several more minutes of cleaning, Lambo put all the supplies away and entered the gym, a giant room used for all their guardians crazy training or the lessons/training they passed on to others in Vongola.

It's gotten easier for Lambo to remain unnoticed to the others, especially when sitting still all by himself several meters away from the others. Lambo uses this to his advantage and would usually watch the others spar and train, sometimes he would imagine himself doing a particular move that would catch his eye or wonder if a certain attack demonstrated would work well with his Lightning Flames.

Today, Yamamoto and Ryohei were sparring with each other in hand-to hand combat. Immediately placing Ryohei at an advantage, because hand-to-hand combat was his specialty, especially as a boxer, while Yamamoto specializes with a sword.

The two were already going at it with each other by the time Lambo got there and began to discreetly watch the spar.

At one point, surprisingly, Yamamoto had Ryohei pinned in some sort of bear hug, one arm wrapped around his chest and arms, pinning them to his side, and the other wrapped around his neck, used as either a choke-hold or a headlock. Yamamoto was using a choke-hold in order to try and force Ryohei to tap out.

Instead, Ryohei hooked his foot behind Yamamoto's ankle, pulling it forward, along with Yamamoto, who loosened his grip in surprise. Taking advantage over Yamamoto's surprise and unbalanced footing, Ryohei spun in place with his elbow out, slamming his elbow into Yamamoto's face, sending him flying back a few feet. Managing to roll on the ground and stumble back to his feet, rubbing the spot on his jaw where Ryohei elbowed him.

"Sorry about that Takeshi!", Ryohei shouted in apology, "I may have made that move too EXTREME for our friendly spar!"

"Maa~. Maa~. It's alright, no harm done.", Yamamoto waved his apology away, "I was also having so much fun that I got deeply into it. There was no need for the choke-hold, I could've just settled with the headlock instead."

With the spar now, seemingly, done. Lambo began to leave with a sigh.

"Oi! As any of you seen the stupid cow!", Gokudera enters the gym, shouting angrily at Ryohei and Yamamoto, "The Boss is looking for him."

The two Guardians shrugged, unsure where their youngest member could be.

Lambo sighs again before calling attention to himself.

"Yare yare.", Lambo calls out wearily, "I'm right here Gokudera. I've been here for a while."

Gokudera growls before dragging Lambo to Tsuna's office, while Lambo looked like he didn't have a care in the world.

"Stupid cow! Why are you here!", Gokudera shouts, "There is no use for you to be in the training room. You're useless in a fight!"

Lambo hid his wince at Gokudera's words, pretending they don't bother him.

It wasn't long before Gokudera practically threw Lambo in the giant office of the Tenth Boss of Vongola, Sawada Tsunayoshi. Someone who Lambo used to see as an older brother. Standing next to Tsuna, who was sitting in his desk in the middle of a bunch of paperwork, was Tsuna's advisor and tutor from hell himself, Reborn. Now free from the Arcobaleno curse.

"Tenth! Reborn-san! You wouldn't believe where I've found the stupid cow!", Gokudera shouts some more.

Sometimes Lambo wonders if Ryohei and Gokudera like to shout all the time.

"I found him in the gym again.", Gokudera lowered his voice in a growl.

Tsuna sighs rubbing his head tiredly, "Again Lambo?"

'I've always been there.', Lambo thinks bitterly, 'None of you notice me there. And the last time any of you found me in there was several months ago.'

But Lambo smartly decides to keep his mouth shut, knowing there was no winning for him.

He receives a sharp blow to the back of his head, causing him to wince and rub the new sore spot on his head.

"Answer when the Tenth is speaking to you!", Gokudera shouts angrily.

"I wasn't doing anything.", he mumbles, avoiding eye contact with everyone in the room, "I finished my chores and heard Ryohei and Yamamoto sparring. Thought I'd stick around and watch."

"Like I'd believe that!", Gokudera shouts, fingering his dynamite, "What trouble are you up to now stupid cow!?"

Lambo sighs, eyes averted, "Yare yare. I was just watching, okay? Thats all I was doing."

"Lambo.", Tsuna interjects softly, "Were you trying to train?"

Why can't they just believe him? He hasn't lied, exaggerated, or make any stories up for seven years now.

SEVEN!

And yet they think he's lying? What kind of famiglia is this?

Shouldn't family give you a second chance? Or the benefit of doubt? So why isn't his?

Lambo stuffed his hands in his pants pockets to hide the tight fists his hands balled into.

"I'm telling you, all I did was watch Ryohei and Yamamoto spar.", Lambo says quietly, almost sounding meek, but no one noticed.

A small flicker of courage filled Lambo's chest. His eyes hardened as he glared bitterly down at the floor.

"But even if I was, why would you be against that?", Lambo asked, his tone dripping with bitterness, "I'm a guardian too, you know. I should be able to have the tools to protect you and Vongola too. Yet you all don't think I can handle it."

"Lambo-"

"Shouldn't you know this best Boss?", Lambo continues, eyes glaring holes into the rug beneath his feet, "You were once called Dame-Tsuna. Yet you were given a chance."

Tsuna slammed his hand hard on the desk, shaking the, supposedly, sturdy piece of furniture.

"LAMBO THAT'S ENOUGH!", Tsuna shouts angrily, eyes sharp and cold, burning with fury, "YOU CAN'T DO IT! YOU'RE NOT STRONG ENOUGH! IF YOU WANT TO TRAIN SO BADLY THEN TURN YOUR LIFE AROUND! ONLY GOD KNOWS HOW MUCH I HAVE TO DEAL WITH YOU!"

"...so why can't I?", Lambo finished in a quiet whisper, somehow managing to hide the quiver of his voice and the welling of his tears.

No one was able to make out his words.

Lambo felt a harsh painful grip on his shoulder, but he refused to show the Hitman how much pain his grip is causing him.

"Stupid cow.", Reborn spoke coldly, his voice sounding demonic and unamused, "Shut up. Your Sky summoned you here for a reason. Quit trying to pick fights."

Lambo deflated, his bangs shadowing his eyes.

There really is no wining for him. The one time he tried to speak his mind, and they just took it as him complaining or throwing a mini-tantrum. Not even mentioning how his chest feels like it's being crushed and it's feels hard to breath.

With a silent deep breath, Lambo packed and shoved all those emotions away to the deepest darkest corners of his mind, to never be seen again. Filling his body with numbness once more.

He doesn't care that they don't see the change anymore, but he won't be showing them any of his tears or negative emotions. He won't actively do something that will make him look outright like a crybaby or a brat. So, he has to lock the negative emotions that keep coming up, deep deep deep down, so they'll never see the light of day again.

Lambo lifted his head, the shadows cleared away to show bored looking eyes once again.

Tsuna sighs, sitting back down in his office chair, Lambo didn't even notice him standing up.

"Look Lambo, I didn't ask you here to fight.", Tsuna says tiredly, "I've noticed something off with you lately, and thought it'd be a good idea to send you off on a vacation for a week or two."

Now?

He's noticed Lambo's been off now? Lambo almost scoffed, his nails biting into the palms of his fists as they clenched tighter inside his pockets.

"It's a nice island were a single small-town rest.", Tsuna says in reassuring tone, "My reports state there are no Marine bases for several miles and there is no reason for pirates to make port besides a quick supply run. No need for trouble. Just a nice and quiet vacation."

Seriously, Lambo wanted to laugh in his face. Laugh as he states the fact that he's more worried about Lambo causing trouble for this poor defenseless town. But hey! At least he won't garner any attention from Marines and pirates. No need for them to go after Tsuna's weakest Guardian.

No, scratch that.

Tsuna's weakest mafioso. Leaving no need for Tsuna and the others to rescue him instead of preparing for the gala.

"Lambo?"

"Hm?", Lambo hums noncommittedly, afraid if he tries to use his voice, he'll start screaming.

"I'm sending you on a vacation for two weeks. How's that sound?", Tsuna asks with a gentle smile.

Talking to Lambo as if he's a five-year-old. He doesn't do that unless he wants something from Lambo or wants him out of the way without throwing a fit.

"Sure.", Lambo shrugs uncaringly, "Whatever you want."

He turns and walks away from the door just as the rest of the other guardians entered the office, dressed in their usual suits.

"Who cares what I want anyway."

Hibari Kyoya pauses, eyes narrowing upon the leaving herbivore. The stupid cow has gone quiet. He doesn't speak unless spoken to.

He doesn't like it.

Hibari thought that the young herbivore was getting better. (An image of Lambo sitting worryingly still on the bathroom floor, blood, Lambo's blood, pooling around him on the floor.) But now it seems he has taken one step back.

Hibari shakes his head and enters, standing farther away from the others, but still in front of Tsuna's desk.

He'll try to find a minute to talk to him later, Tsuna keeps both of their schedules busy.

Tsuna was rubbing at his eyes tiredly, things have been tensed with Lambo lately. His Hyper Intuition has been going off like alarm bells whenever Lambo is around. And for some reason, he can't seem to figure out what its warning him about. All he knows is that Lambo is in the middle of it.

"Ne~ Tsuna? Did I hear that correctly?", Yamamoto asked curiously, scratching his cheek as he did so, "You giving Lambo a vacation?"

Tsuna nods, resting his elbows on top of the desk, "Yeah, I figured he needed time to clear his head."

"What's the real reason you're sending him away.", Reborn questions, "Spit it out."

Tsuna sighs, glancing away for a moment, thinking over his words, before speaking.

"He just keeps getting in the way, and preparations are at an all-time high for the unity gala in two weeks.", Tsuna explains with a tiny shrug, "I figured if I sent him off, he'd be least likely to destroy things or ruin anything until the gala itself."

"As expected from the great Tenth!", Gokudera exclaims with a laugh, "Always has a plan for everything!"

"Hn..."

"It would be nice not having to worry about anything going wrong while he's around.", Yamamoto's calm voice echoed from the out of the wide-open office doors.

None of the room's occupants knew about the eavesdropper, leaning against the wall next to the doorway, listening to every single one of their words. His bangs shadowing over his eyes, his lips were unresponsive. His expression unknown after hearing those words from his famiglia.

"Would've been nice if you just said that to my face.", he mumbled, voice almost inaudible as he walked away from the door.

Heading to his room to pack for his 'vacation' Tsuna is sending him on.

Oblivious of the continuation of the conversation behind him.

Tsuna sighs again, leaning back against his chair, "But that's only half the reason."

He paused to let his words sink in with the others before continuing.

"The ten-year bazooka has finally made its appearance.", he informed his friends.

"The younger cow creates chaos to the EXTREME!", Ryohei comments in his 'inside' voice.

"But isn't that connected to your initial reason?", Yamamoto thinks out loud.

"Not exactly.", Tsuna's eyebrows furrows as he leans forward, elbows on his desk, fingers intertwined in front of his mouth, "I've noticed something since the bazooka has been in effect, something different."

Mukuro's eye's narrowed as his smirk thinned, "Are you saying that there is some sort of malfunction with the time-traveling weapon?"

"No, no, the bazooka is fine.", Tsuna waved his worries away, "I'm talking about Lambo. Has anyone noticed anything different between our Lambo and the one from the past?"

Silence filled the room as a tense atmosphere rose, threading itself around the room's occupants. Because, no, they haven't notices anything, in fact they didn't even bother to look close enough to see.

Except for one, and he's known even before the ten-year bazooka came into play.

"...Quiet.", Vongola's local carnivore spoke up for the first time.

"Hah!?", Gokudera exclaimed, "What are you talking about?"

"The herbivore has gone quiet.", Hibari states, "Never speaks to anyone unless spoken too. Never protests when we tell him to do something. He's weaker compared to how he was ten years ago. You can't fight if you and/or others don't have confidence in your skills and abilities."

All because of us. He left unsaid; it seems like the others don't understand the hand they had in this new Lambo. This Lambo's weakness.

The group went back to silence as everyone goes through Hibari's harsh words, only to toss them aside with a grain of salt. All remembering Hibari's social skills aren't on the same level as his fighting. The cloud guardian doesn't know what he's talking about, they assume. So, they ignore, his comment.

Gokudera, Yamamoto, and Ryohei reason with themselves that they know Lambo more than Hibari, so they don't listen to his words.

Tsuna hesitates, his Hyper Intuition going off, but after thinking about it for a moment, and did the same as well.

While Reborn and Mukuro didn't care so much for Lambo, only seeing him as the annoying stupid cow from his younger years. So, they ignored Hibari entirely.

Tsuna shrugs, lowering his arms to be crossed in front of him, "I guess, it just seems like the Lambo from the past seems more cheerful, happy, compared to our Lambo from the present."

Gokudera clapped Tsuna on the back, "You're probably just imagining things!"

"Your stressed, it's only natural.", Yamamoto smiles reassuringly.

Tsuna's shoulders relaxed as he smiled, "Yeah, you guys are probably right."

"We did our own training when we were younger, not to mention Hana and Kyoko are almost done with their training and Fuuta and I-Pin finished long ago. Let's have a talk with him after the gala once he's back. Maybe we can set something up or find a suitable teacher for him, maybe even help him change and grow into the Lambo we saw twenty years in the future, although presently it'd be ten, from the Vongola Rings conflict.", Tsuna suggested, having been put to ease.

"You bet!", Ryohei exclaims excitedly, pumping his fist in determination, "We'll have a talk to the EXTREME!"

"We'll do it together.", Yamamoto agrees.

"Just as we always have.", Gokudera smiles brightly at his leader.

…...

Lambo walked down the gangplank of the semi-small ship, two dingy like ships catching his eye, for there were the only other ships docked at the port.

"Here."

Lambo just barely managed to catch the heavy sack, most likely filled with money.

"Forty thousand berri for the trip.", Fuuta says from up on the deck of the ship, he tossed down a smaller bag, "And ten thousand berri for emergencies."

Lambo weighs the bags in his hands, the money calculations running through his head. When Lambo started to take school seriously, he found out that he was really good at math. It was a nice thing to find out actually.

"This is way too much.", Lambo states dryly, "Didn't Boss say that I was only staying here for two weeks?"

Fuuta tenses at Lambo calling Tsuna 'Boss' instead of his name, ever since Tsuna told Lambo about his vacation, he's been only calling Tsuna as 'Boss', nothing else, for all of yesterday day and all of that morning, until he left with Fuuta to be dropped off.

Everyone thinks it's just Lambo having a grudge and throwing a small tantrum about not being around, decorating for the Gala. He used to love decorating for the Gala and the other parties Vongola would throw.

'Wait, why did I think 'used to'' Fuuta thinks to himself. Doesn't he still love decorating?

If not, then why is he angry that he's going on vacation? It means no work!

Maybe he's angry because the people that are supposed to be his family are sending him away.

Maybe so, but it's not permanent.

Doesn't make it hurt any less.

Everything is fine, once Lambo takes some time off and relax during this vacation, he'll come back to his senses and everything will go back to normal.

We shall see.

"Fuuta?"

Fuuta shakes his head, coming out of his reverie as he stares down the young Guardian.

"I'm sorry, I got lost in my thoughts.", Fuuta smiled gently, missing the hurt frown that graced Lambo's features.

'Does no one care enough to listen to what I have to say?' Lambo wonders, his already cracked heart trembles as another crack appeared upon the abused organ, revealing a spider web of cracks decorating it, threatening to shatter any minute.

"I asked why I would need all this money, I'm only staying for a week.", Lambo repeats himself, not allowing Fuuta to see the hurt on his expression.

"Oh! Tsuna thought it'd be better to have extra just in case.", Fuuta explains cheerfully.

What did Tsuna think Lambo would need this kind of money for? Especially in such a small and remote village.

Instead of questioning it, Lambo just sighs with a shrug and ties the bigger bag of money on to his belt securely, letting the bag hang at his side, while carefully placing the smaller one in a secret pocket that snapped closed that he sewed himself. Lambo shivers as he remembers the hours it took to prefect every stitch and make sure it stayed securely attached to the suit jacket.

Fuuta raises an eyebrow but says nothing about the action.

Lambo stood there, waiting. But when a minute went by without either of the two saying anything, Lambo turned, ready to walk away and explore the town he was dumped in.

"See you later than Fuuta.", Lambo says, disappointment hidden by a bored neutral look and tone.

"Wait."

Lambo pauses, looking over his shoulder to Fuuta.

"Lambo I... j-just...", Fuuta hesitates, before changing what he was originally going to say, "Just stay out of trouble. Okay?"

Lambo sighs, "Yare yare, how am I going to find trouble in a town like this. No Marines. No Pirates, No Mafia. Boss sure knows how to pick 'em."

Fuuta sighs endearingly with an amused shake of his head, "Bye Lambo."

"Good bye Fuuta."

Lambo leisurely walks in to town having no idea what he was walking into, while Fuuta sailed away.

'Why do I feel like that was an actual good bye?' Fuuta thinks, as he watches the silhouette of the island getting farther and farther away.