Ryohei shows up at the door to Tsuna and Takeshi's class at the beginning of lunch, so it isn't until after school, while Tsuna sits in the stands around the track and Takeshi and Ryohei run, that Bovino has the opportunity to confront him.
"You," he hisses as he settles down next to Tsuna.
Tsuna looks small, and he shifts away from Bovino slightly. Bovino holds it as another mark against him - along with his very civilian friends, and his civilian habits, and his stupid civilian amount of of knowledge about organized crime.
"Hello," Tsuna replies, not glancing up from his math homework - though he doesn't seem to actually be doing the homework considering the doodles that cover the page. Another mark against him - though Bovino had already noticed that earlier.
"I can't believe you're Vongola's last heir," Bovino sighs eventually, slumping like his anger had been at that kept him going
"Did you help Vongola find me?" Tsuna asks, glancing up from his paper to find Takeshi and Ryohei on the track. "Why?"
"Why do you think I'm not a part of Vongola?"
Tsuna silently pulls a couple of computer printouts from his backpack. One is Wikipedia's entry for Vongola, the other is the entry for Bovino. Both are in Italian.
"What about them?" Bovino asks, and Tsuna finally glances at him.
"I can read Italian, Bovino-san. Unless something drastic happened, you aren't part of Vongola."
"I'm . . . in limbo. You're right, I'm not really part of Vongola." Bovino runs a hand over his face. "I was going to be. I was guardian to Massimo - the heir before you - for a month. I'd been hanging out around the mansion since Enrico - the original heir - choose Uncle Romeo. Massimo looked at me and saw something-"
The two of them are silent, and the sound of feet on the ground and the coach's yelling below seem suddenly loud.
"You were friends?" Tsuna asks.
"More than friends." Bovino pulls his sleeves over his hands and scrubs at his eyes. "God. Look at me. You don't even know what a guardian is."
Tsuna glances down at the track, then nudges Bovino. "Come on Bovino-san. It's time to go."
"What- oh."
"Tsuna! Is he bothering you?" Takeshi asks as he stops in front of them. "Because I could-"
"Takeshi. Would your father extremely approve of what you're about to say next?" Ryohei asks, shifting the strap of his bag.
"Oh, absolutely," Takeshi exclaims. "He threatens our supplies with it every time they even try to sell us old fish."
"In either case, no Takeshi, he wasn't bothering me," Tsuna cuts in before they can go too far on that tangent. He glances up from pushing his supplies into his backpack. "You remember Reborn, the kid from yesterday?"
Ryohei stills at the mention, but Takeshi nods.
"Well, Bovino-san here works with him. He was the bodyguard of one of the former heirs."
"Doesn't sound like that good of a bodyguard," Takeshi mutters, "if the former heir is dead."
"Takeshi," Ryohei says disapprovingly as Bovino's lips thin. "You know that no one's extremely awake around the clock."
"Come on," Tsuna says, putting his pencils away and zipping up his backpack. "Let's not keep my mafia tutor waiting."
Bovino follows them from a distance when they leave. He catches Tsuna glancing back at him every once in a while, but never for long.
"Hello, Tsuna," a high voice calls as they near his house, and almost as a unit, Tsuna, Ryohei and Takeshi swing around to see Reborn balancing on the fence across the street. "I see that Lambo has introduced himself."
"Who?" Ryohei hisses to Tsuna and Takeshi.
"Bovino-san," Tsuna hisses back.
"And you," Reborn interrupts whatever reply Ryohei would have made, his dark eyes on Ryohei. "I see that you actually came."
"What, nothing for me?" Takeshi asks after a pause.
"Go ask your dad, and I'll have something for you," Reborn promises, jumping down from the fence and crossing the street to stand in front of the group. "As it is, I have no intention of upsetting a former assassin by luring his only child back into the underworld, so I'm afraid that I'll have to ask you to leave."
The bright green chameleon that had been sitting on his hat climbed down into his hand and turned into a gun, which he used to push up the brim of his hat. "Now, if you please."
Takeshi's eyes go dark in a way that reminds Ryohei of the look he got whenever they went past the baseball fields or when he saw one of his former teammates, but his smile didn't slip as he raised his hands. "Alright, alright. I'll ask my dad for permission and be back tomorrow. Does that satisfy you?"
Reborn doesn't reply, just slowly lowers the gun to point at Takeshi's knees.
"See you tomorrow Tsuna, Ryohei," Takeshi says, and he turns to walk away from the pair. Bovino catches a glimpse of the deadly calm he'd seen occasionally on the Varia as they stalked out of the mansion for a mission.
"Now, the rest of you, get a move on. You can't become heir to the largest Mafia family in one day-"
"Reborn, why is Ryohei still here?" Tsuna interrupts.
There's a pregnant pause as Bovino gapes at Tsuna's audacity, and Reborn eyes him.
"He swore loyalty to you in return for training. Barely even needed prompting," Reborn replies in a bored tone. "Not exactly the follower I would have chosen, given that he's crippled-"
"Don't," Tsuna says, putting a hand on Ryohei's arm as Ryohei sags, "call him crippled."
There's another pause.
"Nevertheless, we need to move. You're behind where you should be as an heir, and as your tutor, it is my duty to get you up to speed. Now move. We can drop your school things off at your house and get some training in before dark." Reborn glances at Bovino, who had stopped a couple paces behind the pair and is now hovering awkwardly. "Lambo, prepare to fight. I would like your help testing Tsuna."
"Of course, Reborn," Bovino says. He turns on his heel and quickly hurries away.
Tsuna pulls Ryohei with him as they approach his house. "Ryohei, you know you don't have to do this. You've done so much to help me already. This is going to be dangerous - you could lose more than just your ability to support more than four and a half kilograms. You could die."
"And you will extremely need all the help you can get, Tsuna. You may be the last eligible candidate, but I've watched more than enough political dramas to know that there's going to be at least one extremely ineligible candidate with a decent amount of support - and maybe more," Ryohei replies.
"Wait, wait, wait," Tsuna says as they walk up to his door. "You watch political dramas?"
"Well, Kyoko watches them, and sometimes Hana comes over so they can marathon a whole season - and you know me, I extremely can't say no to Kyoko."
"If the two of you are going to gossip all day, I'm sure I can find a way to . . . motivate you," Reborn say from behind them, and Tsuna and Ryohei quickly set their bags down.
"So, where are we going for this test of yours?" Tsuna asks Reborn as they step back outside.
"Well," Reborn starts with a smirk, "you know that one cliff out in the forest?"
"You mean the one that's a good thirty minutes from here?" Tsuna asks with a unimpressed look.
"Thirty minutes?" Reborn repeats, a gleam in his eyes as he cocks his pistol. "Well then, that's number one on the list. You will get there in five minutes or less, or I'll have you running laps for an hour."
"Right," Tsuna replies sceptically.
"You have four minutes and forty five seconds remaining."
Tsuna and Ryohei take off sprinting. Behind them, Reborn allows Leon to resume his chameleon form, and feeds him a regular bullet. "Good boy."
Tsuna and Ryohei arrive at the cliff a minute and seventeen seconds over their allotted time, and slide to a stop in front of Bovino.
"What happened to you two?" Bovino asks, watching warily as the pair panted and glancing at the bullet grazes on their clothes.
"What . . . do you think?" Ryohei asks between gulps of air. He's recovering faster than Tsuna, his experience on the track team showing.
"Slacking off already?" Reborn asks from the other side of the clearing. "Mafia heirs are able-"
"-able to run a mile in four minutes without getting out of breath, I know," Tsuna says, then returns to panting.
"Lambo, are you ready?" Reborn asks, seemingly determined to ignore Tsuna's interruptions.
Bovino holds up a bottle of pills and rattles them before popping the cap off and tipping it to get one out. He swallows the pill and green electricity crackles to life on his forehead. "Ready, Reborn."
"Then let the test begin," Reborn says, and he shoots Tsuna before Ryohei can do anything.