Disclaimer: I don't own KHR or stuff.

Word Count: 7686

Part 49: Questioning Decisions

"Did you really Tsuna?" Takeshi asked the brunet, who had come into his room a while ago looking very jittery and anxious and now looked exhausted after pretty much dumping out everything that had happened that day.

Tsuna slouched back in his chair, his head resting back against the top part of it, "I don't forgive him at all for what he did," he said, not bothering to sit up properly. He stared at a spot in the ceiling, more than a little dazed that it actually worked. He had expected more of a fight from Xanxus, and had been more than ready for it.

Everything had panned out fine, if anything Xanxus was getting a kick out of it because he knew it was something that Nono would have never done.

"I'm pissed that this happened to all of us, that because of me you all were put in danger," he licked his lips as he paused, "And it absolutely sucks, I can't do anything about it because pretty much to everyone else it's been decided, if anything is going to come from this why not something different?"

He sat up, leaning a little forward and holding Takeshi's gaze, "Why should I have to listen and follow to what the other's before me did? If I'm going to do this, it's going to be my way; it's going to be a revolution and it will change if not Gods help me…" he trailed off not really knowing what to say, because his point had been made.

Takeshi nodded and Tsuna noted that the usual ease and lightness that came from his friend wasn't there; the dark haired teen was stern, eyes narrowed and the utmost seriousness he held himself up with, it made him actually see what changes were taking place in his friends.

It was kind of intimidating; Takeshi rarely got this serious, not even over baseball (at least recently he hadn't, before…well…it had maybe been on that level.) So it was kind of surprising to see him reach for the ring that hung around his neck and slide it on halfway to his pointer finger without much thought, "Good thing you won't be doing it alone."

Tsuna found himself between saying that was the last thing he wanted from him to pointing out the obvious that he highly doubted Takeshi (or anyone else) would let him tackle anything like this on his own.

Instead Tsuna smiled, bowing his head towards his friend, "Thank you Takeshi."

Takeshi smiled back, his expression softening as he did so, thinking of all that his friend had been there for. Tsuna may not know it, but Takeshi was glad he got to know the brunet, who knows what would have happened to him under all the expectations that everyone at school put on him.

(No Tsuna….thank you.)

/ | \

'Ay, Zack you need to be more careful,' his mother was chastising someone over the phone, 'Ya, just cause ya big and can scare 'em away, doesn't mean you should. Remember cousin ya getting old – ' Nana waved at him as Tsuna made his way to the table, pressing a kiss against his mother's temple in greeting before heading into the kitchen to find something to eat. 'Cousin you are in charge, get someone else to do it.'

His mother sighed in fond exasperation; he could picture her running her hand through her hair as she shook her head, 'Fine, right, please hand the phone back to my mother. Yes….I won't be a stranger, but you lot have to answer the phone as well.'

The conversation was familiar, Uncle Zack looking for advice from his mom and instead ended up getting nagged because he did have a habit of pushing himself and trying to do things himself instead of getting help outside of his group.

His thoughts went between his mother's conversation and if he should eat the left over roast pork that she had made yesterday, but he wasn't in the mood for that. Tsuna pursed his lips, before taking out two eggs and the piece of spam that had been put in a plastic zip lock bag before closing the fridge behind him.

"Tell tutu I say hi mama," he called out to his mother as he opened up the oven and took out a frying pan. He heard her pass on his greeting, his mother chuckling to whatever his grandmother responded with before bidding her goodbye.

He had already cut the spam into pieces when his mother walked in, setting the phone back in its holder before crossing her arms beneath her chest and resting her hip against the counter, "What are you making us tonight, Tsu-kun?"

Tsuna couldn't help but pout at his mother who just smiled, shaking her head as her shoulders shook quietly with her mirth, "Ara, my own son doesn't want to share with me?"

"Mama….you know I always do."

He missed the tender smile those words brought to her face, "I'm teasing Tsu-kun." This time her chuckles were louder, "If you stick your lower lip out any more, we can perch a bird there." His response was to stick his tongue out at her, finally cracking the two eggs over the spam and mixing them.

Nana moved from her spot, noting that Tsuna and her were still of similar height and easily putting her arms around his shoulders, "Mama," he whispered quietly, "Do you think I can do this?"

Her arms slid away from his shoulders and were at her side. She refused to fidget with the frills of her apron, instead she breathed in deeply and sighed heavily, "I think, Tsunayoshi, that you are capable of doing whatever you set your mind too."

"Just remember you are not alone, you never have to do anything alone, okay?"

"….thank you Mama."

She ruffled his hair, smiling softly at him as she turned to give him some privacy. Tsuna had a tendency of doubting himself over decisions and situations that made him uncomfortable. If anything what he had gone through this entire week had not only pushed him out of his comfort zone, but into a position he had never been in.

So if he sought confirmation that it was okay what he was doing, that he was pursuing this, she would give it to him and help him as much as she could.

"How about some toast, hm?"

Part 50: We move on

Natsume had left early Sunday morning.

Bianchi had been up, but the magenta haired woman merely waved at her as she left, her special drink and breakfast that she made for herself smelling both delicious and not. The poison mistress had gotten better at her creations, able to cook without actually changing her food or at least it was edible when she cooked alongside her mother.

On her own Bianchi was able to delay the effects of her food or give a mild case of food poisoning.

She considered asking Bianchi if she could help her with building up her immunity and knew the woman would help her, but Natsume was sure that just like Hayato if given the chance, she would go overboard.

Closing the gate behind her, she went right, following the familiar roads towards the markets, but taking the one street that led out of Namimori. It was a thirty minute walk, one that included her getting caught up in her thoughts and being not as awake as she would like to be, she had almost crossed the street and became roadkill.

Well not exactly roadkill, but it would have definitely hurt to get hit by the incoming car.

Being a little more alert after that, Natsume continued on heading towards a place she hadn't thought she'd be visiting again. Kokuyo Land used to be a pretty place, the amusement park not exactly on par with others, but it had been a place she had visited when she was younger, before the earthquake and landslide that occurred wrecked it.

The front gates were barely held together with a chain and lock; useless seeing as a few bars to the gate had been broken from the bottom and bent inwards. The last time she had been here she had been focused on finding out who exactly was here and making sure that Fuuta would be safe, now she had more time to take in exactly how different Kokuyo Land was.

Natsume knew where she had to go, deciding to take the long way around before she popped up uninvited on the three she assumed were here. She remembered that the path winding through the park used to be a brilliant red and now it was a washed out, rusty looking color with pieces missing. There had once been kiddie rides in this part of the park, along with a little water area by the places steeped off and had little holes poking through the floor to shoot out water.

They hadn't even given the park a chance to be reconstructed, straight up abandoning it and leaving it until someone else bought out the land and was willing to put in the work to fix.

She veered off to the left when the path split up into three, heading towards the theatre, which compared to the rest of the park withstood a lot. Sure the windows of the building were broken, but not all of them and again it looked like the sturdiest building (and it was seeing as she had been in there herself).

"What are you doing here?"

The beanie wearing teen with the odd cheek tattoo was outside of the theatre, hands in his uniforms pockets. His stance was loose, but he had that yo-yo thing going on so she wouldn't doubt that he was ready to fight at a moment's notice if he had too.

"I'm here to see Chrome."

"The other Vongola hasn't bothered –"

"I am not Vongola," she cut him off, glaring at him. She couldn't gauge his reaction to that, seeing as his glasses were doing that thing Kawahira's did where she couldn't see his eyes, but she could assume that he was judging her. "Someone asked me to come here and I'm curious to find out why."

It's not like she was doing Mukuro a favor. She hadn't heard much about the girl from the others, but kind of remembering what had happened to Chrome and being stuck with two boys who only saw her as a means to communicate with Mukuro – well, she felt kind of bad for her.

"Chikusa-kun, it's alright," Chrome stepped out from the shadow of the doorway, clutching at the trident in her hand. "If anything happens, I can watch myself."

"I sure hope you can, cause if you can't why bother having you as my brother's Mist?" She sort of felt bad for the way the girl flinched at that and maybe Chikusa did care about Chrome in his own way by the actual frown that marred his usually blank features.

The teen looked as if he was about to say anything, but only shrugged his shoulders and slunk back up the path to the building.

The only sound heard was the rustling of Natsume's windbreaker as she crossed her arms beneath her chest, shifting her weight from one foot to the other, "Did…you want to sit down and talk somewhere…or just, y'know…?" she trailed off, one hand coming out from the crook of her elbow and just gesturing to the area they were in.

Chrome tilted her head, eyeing her cautiously and without saying anything else the girl walked past Natsume and headed back up the path Natsume had come from. The teen blinked, not having expected that from the girl, but she had a minor suspicion that Chrome may not exactly be all there at the moment.

She followed after Chrome, taking a seat opposite her once she picked a picnic bench to sit at. It was quiet for a few moments, nothing too awkward as they looked over one another, Chrome blushing as she suddenly realized what she was doing and Natsume just trying to figure out why exactly Mukuro wanted her to meet Chrome.

"Mukuro probably said something about me," Natsume began idly fiddling with the ends of her braid (which she should cut soon, those ends didn't look good at all.) "I don't really know why he wanted us to meet, but he must have a good reason."

Silence followed that with Chrome adjusting the trident she had so that the pole was smaller and could be laid in front of her on the table. A pretty decent Mist user judging by how solid and unwavering the pole was, especially since it was just created to uphold the trident.

"Mukuro-sama has only said that you are an interesting person," Chrome said after a while, the pads of her fingers lightly touching the pole to keep herself grounded. "That if I am in need of help to look either to you or the Boss."

"…my brother may be of more help, I don't know you so I don't think I'll be much help," Natsume said without much thought, before realizing what she said and the way Chrome seemed to huddle into herself. "But that doesn't mean I won't get to know you…" she added afterwards, pausing at first before finding the rest of her words. "I'd honestly rather deal with you than Mukuro."

"Mukuro-sama had his reasons for that."

Natsume pursed her lips, having a lot to say about that, but deciding against it. "I'm sure he did." Using Tsuna to take over the Mafia and bring it down, or whatever plan he had that definitely included mass murdering, wasn't a good reason, even if it was to get revenge.

He had finished off the Estraneo hadn't he? So why did he continue on with the rest of the Mafia world? It definitely wasn't to make sure that what had happened to him didn't happen to anyone else, because even 'regular' people did some fucked up shit.

Was she assuming his motives? Yeah, probably.

Was she ever going to find out his true motives? No, she didn't care enough to actually get to the matter and she would rather punch him in his face than anything else.

Natsume breathed in through her nose, running a hand through her bangs which were long again, but still too short to stay looped into her braid, "Look, you seem nice, I actually like you a lot better than Mukuro and I don't even know you, I'm willing to give you a chance," here she cast a dirty look over Chrome's shoulder, feeling as if they were being spied on. "Hell even those two with you, I'll give them a chance, but you have to build that trust."

Chrome blinked her lone purple eye at her and Natsume probably should have brought Hana along, but her best friend wasn't involved and would probably try to figure out why Natsume was being so hard on this girl.

A nosy Hana wasn't a great Hana.

And if she was interested and stubborn enough to investigate, she'd get to the heart of the matter. Natsume had a feeling she wouldn't last too long, Kyoko was one thing to get around, the girl could be easily distracted or waylaid, Hana not so much.

If anything she'd tell Hana soon enough, whether Tsuna and the others liked it or not.

Chrome still wasn't answering, but her pale cheeks were flushed pink, Natsume didn't know if it was because the uniform she was wearing barely gave her enough warmth or she was just that shy to be put on the spot like she had been.

"I would like that chance," Chrome finally said, offering her a small smile as she inclined her head, which earned her a half-smile from Natsume.

"It's nice to meet you then, I'm Sawada Natsume," she started, resting her elbow on the table, with her hand upright so it could cup her cheek. "You can call me Natsume if you'd like."

"Dokuro Chrome, Sawada-san, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Natsume would let her have that; she'd give it a couple weeks until she tried to convince Chrome to just call her by her first name. That was another thought, for now she wiggled the fingers of her right hand at the boys that just so happened to be walking their way, "I think official introductions with those two should be a thing too, don't you think?"

The girl blinked cutely at her, before nodding her head to look at the boys who had stopped upon being spotted. She got up to go to them, the blond boy giving her a distrustful glare, while Chikusa merely gave her a bland look.

Natsume sniffed, crossing her arms beneath her chest, her feet hooking underneath the extra wood running through the middle of the table so she could lean back without falling over.

At least her Sunday would be mildly productive.

/ | \

Making her way out of Kokuyo went a lot slower; Ken had followed after one of her clones, while she slipped away to head towards the thick forage. She could feel her skin crawling as she got closer to the spot and she stopped around the area she thought was where she had gotten her hands on Mukuro's other members so she could free Fuuta.

Natsume hugged herself.

She had thought she had come to terms with what she had done, but it didn't seem that way. There were some nights were she would nightmares about it or just not being able to sleep at night. No one really asked her why she was much more tired than usual in the morning, but she was slowly getting used to not getting much sleep.

Staying up these last couple days hadn't been an issue at all and she had been mastering the art of cat naps during the day. Knowing that she was sleeping when people were up and making noise made it easier for her mind to feel just a little at ease, because she at least knew who was making those noises.

She kicked at a rock watching it as it skipped over into the bushes, letting her thoughts run. Natsume straightened up as the plants behind her rustled, was about to make herself disappear when a familiar chuckle that made her brow want to twitch something fierce in annoyance stopped her from doing so.

"You know princess, if you let those thoughts haunt you, you'll lose your beauty sleep."

Natsume only sniffed, turning to face Mukuro who gave her what he probably assumed was a charming smile. The older teen didn't take offence to her silence, merely stepping closer to her, stopping a ways away from her as her hands came down to her side, bluish purple lightening dancing along her finger tips.

"I didn't come here for a fight, just wanted to give you some advice."

She raised a brow at that, "Oh really? What makes you think I want your advice?"

He shrugged his shoulders, his hands coming up in a motion of 'what can I do', "Kufu~ I know what you did to the Twins, I won't hold it against you, your reasoning is rather admirable for doing so," he complimented her, earning a narrowed glare from her. "As someone who has experienced life various times in different ways all I can say is to let it go, don't hold on to what was."

That stumped her and threw her for a loop, "What?"

Mukuro laughed, "I'm not repeating myself princess," her brow twitched at the name and he found himself even more amused.

"I didn't know you were the type to give advice," she commented, deciding to figure what he was trying to get at later.

He gave her a fake smile, "I'm not, but you are helping my dear Chrome –"

"I never said I would help her."

Mukuro shook his head, tsking before continuing on, "By being a friend, I'm merely watching out for Chrome's friends."

"….I don't like you."

The teen's eyes crinkled shut, before he turned around and left the way he had come, fluttering his right hand over his shoulder, his form looking more feminine the farther he got away, "I'm sure we'll get along one day, princess."

The words echoed behind long after he had left, a scoff leaving Natsume as she decided to leave Kokuyo Land. She grumbled under her breath that the day Mukuro came back without using Chrome, she was going to deck him in the face and hand him over to Hibari.

Part 51: Of Suggestions

Kawahira stared at his student, who stared back just as intently, if a little on edge. He was able to continue sipping his drink as if she hadn't just asked him to reveal himself to not only her brother, but their tutor. One who had already stopped by and he had redirected around so he wouldn't know about him.

He could say no and she would respect his wishes, even though the others would always be trying to figure out who he was. If he said yes, things may be much smoother, he wouldn't have to redirect pesky nuisances or anything and it would give him the chance to be in the know of the others without it seeming odd that he was interested in them.

"Give me a while to consider it," was all he said, his eyes flickering down to the porcelain cup in her hand, before going back up to her hazel green hues. "I may oblige them, I may not, don't celebrate just yet."

The girl scoffed, whatever she was about to mutter under her breath silenced as she drank her own tea, still wincing slightly at the bitter taste. She had been trying to get used to drinking it without sweetening it up and found that she was getting used to it, along with the slight numbing sensation that always filled her when she drank.

"So you met this girl," Kawahira brought up after Natsume set her cup down, the girl reaching for the two long sticks he had set in front of her. She only picked one up, holding up the ends with her pointer fingers as she inspected the darkly varnished wood, seeming rather fixated on the minute carvings that it sported. "What do you think of her?"

"Potential," she uttered; blinking slowly up at him, though her eyes didn't get that glazed look she tended to get. "Whatever Mukuro's showed her works for her, the only thing really holding her back is just belief."

Kawahira hummed in that way of his that asked for more, that had her giving him a squinted eyed look, before answering, shrugging her shoulders as she set the one stick down and picked up the lighter colored one, "I'm sure she knows she's capable, or she's probably just not comfortable..." He could almost hear her saying 'I don't know' but she trailed off instead.

"Then she will come around once she settles," Kawahira finally said, finding himself amused at how over focused Natsume was over tracing over the carvings in the second stick. "What about the young boy in your home, the Ranker."

Natsume pursed her lips, blowing air out slowly.

"He's calm, I…actually don't know if he's been ranking, but I don't think I've heard I-pin complaining that he made things float around again."

He kept his quiet laughter to himself, shaking his head as he thought about the days of when the selected few of his own people could speak to another and tell of things that no one would have known. The boy was still young, his power escaping him in a flux as he made his connection to the Other, it would be only after his early teen years that he would have some form of control of that.

"Sensei, I like both of them, they're so pretty."

"Stop looking at them like that then," he chided, glancing at the tea leaves gathered at the bottom of his cup. (He never really understood the tea reading or was it leaf reading? That had been more Sepira's thing than his) "A reminder to you, dear student, those are for an exercise, not for whatever willy nilly nonsense you're thinking."

That earned him a pouty frown, before the girl closed one eye, tongue sticking out as she waved the lightly colored wood, "Silencio!" Gold colored sparks flew from the end and sprinkled over his lap, he merely picked up at one of the glowing sparks and rolled it between his thumb and pointer finger, shaking his head as he did so.

When Kawahira opened his mouth to tell her off, he found that the words he had been trying to say weren't being said. His mouth was forming the shapes of the words, but no sound came out.

The snorting laughter that left his student was obnoxious. He had thought it wouldn't have worked since the last time she tried a spell from Harry Potter, all the expelliarmus did was send her flying back instead of deflecting one of his fox creations.

Now the question was how long would this last? Or would Natsume be able to undo it on her own? Apparently she felt his eyes on her because her laughter teetered off as she looked at him with a wicked grin, "I can't believe that actually worked."

He only blinked, tilting his head to the side lightly as she continued on, "Maybe because it was more of an order? Could that be it? Since I am a Sky…." She muttered at the end, her left hand coming to scratch at her cheek.

That wouldn't be a bad assumption at all, as much as Sky's were capable of harmony and being considered a mediator type amongst other flame users, they were still what others flocked too. Assuming obedience on a mere simple suggestion with slight intent could snap others into listening.

Kawahira pursed his lips together in thought, before trying to hum slightly. There was a slight pull that suggested 'silence' to him now that he noticed it and instead of listening to it, he merely brushed it away with a slight flare of his own power, "Not a bad idea, we will have more time to look into it later," he said to her, noting that she still hadn't put the lightly colored wood away.

Maybe that also had something to do with it (was it Alder wood? Or Cedar?)

In any case, something to definitely look into later, right now he was going to try to get her to sit in the circle and see if she could keep the candles lit for ten minutes while falling to the sensation of the hemlock. It was another way for him to gauge how well she was taking to the drink; usually humans should not be ingesting hemlock at all, the plant more than capable of killing them, but here he was making his student drink it.

To him it didn't do anything, never had, but then again he was different.

And it wasn't like he didn't watch out for her after she left, seeing as the effects of hemlock were much more noticeable in the following days of ingestion, it was why he hadn't minded her missing so many lessons this past week – to allow both the after effects and understanding that it was a stressful time for her.

Kawahira clucked his tongue to get her attention, gesturing with his chin to the coffee table and flicking his hand in its direction. In its place appeared a small white circle, with five lines extending from it to connect to five smaller circles which had candle holders in the middle of them.

A deep sigh left his student as she got up sluggishly and making herself comfortable in the bigger circle.

"Ten minutes, Natsume, and remember do not let your thoughts run wild."

/ | \

It was later on in the day, Natsume had been home for a while, taking claim of the couch and just lying there, her head laying in Bianchi's lap, which amused the seventeen year old enough to not comment on it. Judging by the look of exhaustion on the girl's face, Natsume had been up to something and Bianchi knowing the girl, knew better than to ask.

If Natsume's greeting was anything to go by, she probably wouldn't get a coherent answer.

"What are you watching?"

The question was asked in Italian and Bianchi answered, "Amor Real, a Mexican telenovela I watched with my mother a couple years ago."

"….so you have seen it?"

"Mhmm, I liked it enough to decide to rewatch it."

"Oh…that is cool."

Before they could continue their conversation, Tsuna had come down and hearing his sister's voice he decided to lean over the edge of the couch and giving Natsume a searching look, "Tsume, you want to go out with me?"

"Why?"

Tsuna fiddled with the necklace, clutching the crystal in his hand as he gave her a closer look and deciding that she didn't look that tired, "I want to get ice cream."

"There's some in the freezer, no?"

"Shh, you two it's starting."

Natsume softly whined as she sat up, pouting up at Tsuna as she left her comfortable position and followed him towards the kitchen, where he opened the freezer, and gestured for her to look in, "We don't have ice cream."

She gasped sarcastically, "Oh no, the world is going to end."

"Go with me, please?"

Another whine from Natsume, before she breathed out heavily, "Can't Hayato go with you?" She was really in-between going out, she had walked way too much today and she didn't want to do more. Maybe she should look into getting her mother's moped out of storage for when she went out to see Chrome. That thing had been out of use for a couple of years, her mother preferring to take cabs instead of using it since it wasn't exactly safe to put more than two people on it.

"Come on Tsume, I want to hang out with my big sister."

She squinted her eyes at him, trying to ignore the way he hung off her, but failing as he was kind of pulling her down, "Okay, okay, I want two scoops."

"Two scoops of what?" Fuuta spoke up having walked into the kitchen and was now watching the two curiously.

"Ice cream, you want to come?" Tsuna said, straightening up, but still keeping his arms around Natsume's shoulders, going a bit on his tip toes so he could put his chin on her shoulder. "A belated birthday celebration for us."

"Are you sure?" Fuuta asked a bit hesitantly, not wanting to intrude on the two for something like that. He kind of understood of what had gone down that week, so it would make sense of Tsuna and Natsume-nee wanted to spend time together.

"He wouldn't ask if he minded, Fuuta," Natsume responded for her brother, shrugging him off by trying to dig her elbow into his stomach. The brunet huffed, but managed to get out of the way in time. "Go get Lambo and I-pin too; it'll be a big sibling outing."

Natsume missed the starry eyed look Fuuta gave her before the nine year old scrambled on out and headed to get the other two. Tsuna looked at Natsume curiously, a fond smile curling his mouth as he came to a conclusion.

"Sibling outing huh?"

His sister sniffed, crossing her arms against her chest as she avoided his gaze actually a little flustered that Tsuna had picked up on that, "Yeah, what of it?"

Tsuna shook his head, "Nothing….nothing at all." It was nice to see his sister grow and be more open with people, he honestly never really thought she'd be willing to act as she did with Bianchi and the kids, but from what Lambo and I-pin would say she would play games with them and he had just witnessed how she was around Bianchi.

He resisted the urge to pinch her cheek, knowing she would just turn it around on him so he just wrapped his arms around her waist, clinging to her even as she began walking out of the kitchen.

"You are being so annoying."

"But Tsume, how else will you know I love you?"

It had been awhile since he had been able to act like this with her and he had surprisingly missed it. The other night just hanging out (even with breaking into Squalo's hospital room) with her had made him ache for the times when it had just been them. He realized he shouldn't just have those times as memories that used to be, but should try to continue them.

He didn't want to lose his sister, but if it ever came down to it, he wanted to have as much memories of her that he could. This Mafia life was something he was going to be hung up over and he wanted his family to know that no matter what he still loved them.

Part 52: Stranger Friends

Tsuna had gone to see Nono off and found out that the Varia themselves were being escorted back to Italy. He wouldn't like to label the assassins as being grumpy (Hayato was grumpy, Natsume was grumpy, these guys….did not fall under the category of grumpy).

The only one who actually acknowledged him was the arcobaleno that Reborn had called Viper, who had insisted to be called Mammon instead. Or Tsuna assumed, it was kind of hard to tell with the hood masking most of their face, but they had turned in his general direction and nodded.

Either at him or it was towards Reborn, either way his person (could Reborn be considered a posse?) was acknowledged. Xanxus had noticed him and even though they had worked out a deal, had ignored him.

He was still an asshole.

As the group was finally out of view, Tsuna felt as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders, before another one settled, namely Reborn, "Now that that's out of the way, what do you plan to do now Decimo?"

"No, not you too," Tsuna muttered, having thought that Hayato doing that recently was enough, he didn't need his tutor, who still had way more to teach him to address him as such. "Reborn please don't, ever call me that."

"It's what you are, you passed the test, and you now bare the right to wear the Vongola Sky ring."

Tsuna snorted, reaching up and moving Reborn from his shoulder to his arms, which the hitman didn't mind at all. He began to make his way out of the airport where the car that had driven him here was still waiting and got in the back before continuing, setting Reborn down on the other seat as he did so. "Until I wear this ring," he flicked at the chain around his neck, the silver ring swaying lightly, "On my finger, I will be called that, since I don't, I'm just Tsuna."

Reborn gave him that weird smile of his, which was just the corner of his mouth twitching upwards and not blinking at him as he did so (which was weird, why was he so weird), "Whatever you say Tsuna."

Tsuna sighed, slouching down in his seat arms crossed against his chest as he shook his head, "Y'know I think I kind of liked it better when you were on hounding me than just going along with what I say." The moment the words left him, he instantly regretted as he felt a chill crawl up his spine and the hairs on his arms rise.

"That can be arranged," Leon shapeshifted into Reborn's preferred gun and Tsuna was already making the not so smart decision, but better than being shot at of making his way out of the car.

The moving car that is.

Tsuna rolled with his momentum, almost regretting his decision, but deciding this was the better course. He'd convince himself of it later once his adrenaline wore off. The car was a ways away now, a gunshot still ringing out before something burst over his head when he automatically flinched down. A piece of paper fluttered down in front of him, a crude drawing of a smiley faced Reborn holding up a peace sign,

'Enjoy the fifteen mile walk home~'

Tsuna instead of crumpling the note, he folded and tucked it into his pocket. He straightened up, dusting himself off and was kind of glad that the small airport was on the very edges of Namimori and that not many people came this way, preferring to make the drive to Tokyo to Narita International Airport.

It may also be because that the planes that happened to take off around here were the small ones that fit maybe under twenty people.

The old man and the others probably didn't really care how much money it was costing them to fly out of here just to go to Narita or whatever plan they had. If anything they probably were flying straight to Italy from here.

He'd probably fly out from Narita when it came to leaving for Italy, if only because it would be cheaper than pulling out from Namimori. Vongola may have money and it probably wouldn't care how he spent it as long as he showed 'results', but why on earth would he spend more money than he should?

Unless it was an emergency.

Ugh, he was getting up in his thoughts about airplanes and spending, maybe he should have stayed in the car with Reborn. He sighed, trudging on slightly thankful that October was beginning to cool down and it wasn't scorching hot in the middle of the day. He still took off his sweater and wrapped the sleeves around his waist.

He began to hum under his breath, murmuring words to songs he had heard when he was younger or reciting mathematic formulas that Reborn had drilled into his head (there was an exam coming up soon….right? he had to check his calendar). While math wasn't his favorite subject and he still struggled in it, Tsuna was always fascinated by how much Reborn knew even if it wasn't material the toddler seemed to have studied in like he had math.

It always made Tsuna want to ask how exactly a pint-sized toddler like Reborn could know half of that stuff, but he refrained. His tutor had never been forthcoming about what he was exactly, always having said that he was his tutor from hell and the World's Greatest Hitman.

He still didn't know much about what an arcobaleno was, but it tied in with those pacifiers that hung around not only Reborn's neck, but Colonello's and Mammon's as well.

Hey, thinking of Colonello, what had he been up too? Tsuna hadn't seen him hanging around as much as he thought he would. Was he still staying at the Sasagawa's or had he left back to Mafia Land long before this ended?

Tsuna was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't notice that he was in a more populated part of town, but his intuition kept him from bumping into people, even catching a ball that was bouncing its way into the main road and handing it back to the two kids that had been chasing after it.

It wasn't until he literally ran into someone that he realized that he had been a lot more caught up in his thoughts than he should have been.

(Why did he get the feeling Reborn was going to know about this?)

"Hie! I'm sorry," he quickly said, crouching down to pick up the CD cases that had scattered around, along with the few books that person was carrying. He straightened it all up as best as he could, giving a sheepish smile to the red head who still looked dazed.

Well at least he wasn't the only one that had been caught up in his own little world.

"You…seem familiar," the red head spoke quietly as he looked at Tsuna, trying to figure out why the brunet in front of him was ringing a bell in his head. "Have we met before?"

Tsuna shook his head, still holding onto the red head's things, "I live on the other side of town, I rarely come this way."

The red head hummed, his eyes going down to look at the things the brunet was holding out to him. He blinked slowly, before apologizing, wincing as his stomach began to cramp up as his anxiety began to kick in. He could feel himself burning at the ears as he realized the brunet has been holding out his things to him the last couple minutes as he acted rather weirdly to him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you hold onto this for so long," he apologized, reaching for his things. The brunet only smiled, shrugging one shoulder.

"It's alright; if anything I should be sorry since I knocked your things out of your hands."

"…but I wasn't paying attention."

With the items out of his hands, the brunet shrugged again, waving one hand at him, "Neither was I." The brunet flicked his gave at the watch around his right wrist, grimacing at whatever thought crossed his mind, "I really am sorry…I uh…have to get going, hope you have a good rest of your day!"

The red head blinked, before bravely calling out to the brunet who had started to jog away, "Wait! What's your name?" It would bother him for a while if he couldn't place where exactly he had seen him, maybe knowing his name would help.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi!"

Tsuna missed the way the red head blanched, his pale skin becoming more ashen as the name did click. The one and only times he has heard and seen Sawada Tsunayoshi was in his dreams, where they were always fighting, always dying, and the world falling apart.

The cramping in his stomach got worse and he tried to soothe himself, "At…at least they're only dreams," he murmured quietly to himself.

/ | \

"It took you long enough."

"I was admiring the peaceful scenery," Tsuna responded instantly, toeing off his shoes before going further in. "My mama's not home?"

Reborn watched as the brunet took a seat beside him, "She left about five minutes ago."

"Ah, it's Tuesday," he murmured to himself as he pulled over the plate that had been covered by a simple napkin. Lifting it up, he began to pick out and eat the pieces of sausage, idly wondering who hadn't finished their lunch and why his mom had cooked breakfast for lunch.

He should probably stop by old man Yosuke's house one of these days, if only to say hi and see how he was doing. It's what his mom usually got up to on Tuesday's and Thursday's, either visiting the old man or taking him some food she had made.

"You should take notes from your mother; she certainly knows how to endear people towards her."

Tsuna looked at Reborn meeting the hitman's eyes and shaking his head, "I think that's something you should tell Natsume, I," he held his head high, one hand on his chest as he gestured to himself. "Am my mother's son through and through, I know how to get people to like me."

A scoff came from behind him that honestly made him yelp in surprise. Hands threaded through his hair and shook his head lightly, "I know how to 'endear' people, I just choose not to 'cause mostly everyone's proven themselves to be shitheads."

Point.

"Why are you speaking Italian?" he asked instead, hands reaching up and grabbing his sister's wrists and tugging them forward. She went with the motion, settling her weight against the back of the chair, her chin resting on his head.

"Because it sucks and I want to understand Fuuta when he gets too excited over something."

"That's because he starts speaking a mixture of French and Italian," Reborn decided to point out, feeling great joy at the deadpanned look Natsume was giving him. The girl's right brow twitched, before she hid her face in her brother's hair.

"Are you kidding me!"

"Nope~"

"Devil child no one asked you."

"My feelings are hurt," Reborn responded dryly at the old nickname, more focused on swirling the last bit of his coffee before drinking it.

"I'm surprised you still have those," Natsume grumbled, looking at him again and giving him the stink eye.

Ah, these moments. It reminded him of when he got here and Natsume didn't like him. The way the girl's nose wrinkled when Leon skittered to his shoulder, flicking out his tongue at her, and how she bolted when the chameleon began to transform was worthy of a chuckle.

So he just finished off the last of his drink, Leon settling back in his usual form, blinking confusedly as Tsuna stuck his pinky in his ear and said, "What?" Apparently Natsume's new idea of running away consisted of a rather loud 'pop' and disappearing from view. Rather annoying as it was kind of deafening, but Reborn could work around that.

Tsuna couldn't, which was why the brunet gave him a confused look to which the hitman merely shrugged. Reborn couldn't exactly sign, Tsuna didn't know that and he was terrible at reading lips, so he would just have to wait.

He could have helped reduce that little issue, but he wasn't.

Not because he didn't want too, but because he wanted them to learn to get through situations like this. And what better what to know what it's like to go partially deaf for a few minutes like now?

(Honestly though, he really didn't want too.)

Author's Note:

This is just wrapping everything up and starting to move things along.

Slightly as you can see Shoichi is starting to edge into the picture.

I honestly don't have much to say about this chapter (I'm really tired so I'll just let you guys go before I start rambling). Thanks to everyone who has reviewed, favorited and followed this story, I sometimes wonder why but I'm so happy you guys enjoy this!

Til next time!

Sorugao