Guess who is back after like what? Five years?
Anyway, this chapter is for the Guest who sent me a review yesterday. Here's the end of the first arc.

Il Maestro

First Arc

VIII

When he had seen the young Colonnello and Lal, Tsuna had felt his heart freeze over and had almost ruined all his years of preparation and planning just so he could reach toward the two young Comsubin members.

He had told Reborn to stay away so he wouldn't contact the future Arcobaleno ahead of time. After all, Tsuna wasn't sure if those three had known each other before the whole Arcobaleno meeting.

Then, the blond had gotten into their cabin and Lal had followed. The whole mess hadn't gotten any better afterwards since Tsuna couldn't stop himself from saying the truth to her. After a whole decade spent listening and answering to the strong woman, Tsuna hadn't been able to stop himself in time and thus, had put himself in this whole mess. And now, here he was, with two Comsubin agents suspicious of his every action and being separated from Reborn. The latter hadn't looked very disturbed by that separation but Tsuna knew better, he knew that the teenager was actually annoyed and somewhat lost.

After all, he had held Tsuna's sleeve to stop him from leaving! This was the first time that the brunet had seen such sign of emotional weakness from the boy with the adorable sideburns.

The young man from the future shook his head. This wasn't the moment to daydream about his student (and future tutor).
He focused his attention back to the window in front of him and took a slow breath.

The very night he had said his goodbye to his student, Tsuna had flown with his Vongola Gear (which were the only thing left from his time period) and had gotten to the American coast a couple of hours later. Compared to that flight over the Atlantic Ocean, the rest had been a child's play. He'd broken into one of the most famous hiding places of the American mafia and had spoken with henchmen from some man called Scarface.

Those men had, after hearing his name, decided that he wasn't to mess with and had given him all the information he needed.
And this was the reason behind his presence on the roof of a building in front of the known hotel Blackstone. Another sigh escaped from his parted lips as he checked his harness and the tool it held. He would need them all to get this whole mission over. Tsuna closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

On the other side of the street, the light at the window that he had observed this whole time since the night had fallen went out, and the young man stayed put. He didn't move nor open his eyes.

Five.

He ran his tongue over his dry lips and kept his eyes closed.

Four.

His fingers caressed the worn wool of his old gloves as he tried to calm himself.

Three.

A car horn rang loudly on the street below him, but the brunet didn't react.

Two.

The hotel door opened, pushed by a man wearing a vivid red uniform who saluted politely the person going out. Tsuna exhaled softly and crouched down so nobody could see him on the roof.

One.

The Japanese opened suddenly his eyes which had turned orange and jumped from the roof. However, he didn't fell since his harness was tied to a cord which was tied at mere inches from the closed window. He collided against the red-brick wall and let out a small groan of shock that he quickly smothered down. Then, his ring caught fire and his gloves turned into his Vongola gantlets, he carefully made sure to melt the golden hinges of the window. The rest was easier. Tsuna thanked every deity he knew for the absence of alarms in this time period as he slid into the ridiculously spacious hotel room. He ignored all the fancy and probably very expensive things around him and took some steps before he closed his eyes and focused on his intuition. When he opened his eyes again, his orange iris went straight to a small safe hidden in a wardrobe and he observed the slots with a sigh.

Taking out of his harness a safety pin, Tsuna shook his head and narrowed his eyes, everything was so easy. Too easy maybe.

The door of the safe opened with a small click and he observed, his eyes back to their brown and dull colour, the small box laying inside.

"Stupid Mafiosi," he muttered to himself as he lifted the top of the box. His eyes widened when he saw what was inside.

His shaking fingers took the silver ring with two delicate wings embossed on it, and Tsuna gulped nervously as he put the ring down on a coffee table. He looked at his pocket watch and wiped with the back of his hand the drops of cold sweat over his forehead. All was good, he was still in time.

Grimacing wearily, he took out of his harness a small butterfly knife, the same model as the one he had gifted to Reborn and nicked his forefinger. Holding his gloves with his teeth so he wouldn't dirty them with his blood, Tsuna covered the silver ring with it and observed silently the brief and weak light the winged ring gave out once it was fully covered in blood. The light increased until it suddenly came out, making the brunet blink quickly to chase away the spots of light.

Smiling to himself with satisfaction, the young man wiped down the ring and put it back in the safe. Then, he silently went over the hotel room to make sure nothing else was disturbed and sat on the windowsill before he smiled again.

His mission was over.

The heavy weight over his shoulders flew away and his smile became savage as he jumped from the window and used his flames to fly away. Tsuna tugged on the cord until it wasn't tied anymore to the rain gutter and went back to the rooftop he'd occupied moments before. The brunet turned around and watched the window, sighing in relief when he noticed that it looked untouched and that the melted hinges weren't that visible.

He smiled again, only this time it was darker and dangerous, and greeted the dark window with an ironic bow. From now on, the future was saved, Byakuran wouldn't been able to travel through parallel worlds anymore. His friends and family were safe.

His smile vanished, and the young man straightened his back. He needed to go back to his student.

The travel through the Atlantic Ocean hadn't been a peaceful cruise, and no, that wasn't a pun. Reborn had had to use each and every trick he'd ever learned to escape from his pursuers and had almost lost his life. One night, when he had tried to sleep a couple of hours, the blond had suddenly jumped from nowhere in from of him and had pointed the riffle of a gigantic gun on his forehead. Luckily for him, Reborn had avoided the bullet within a hair of his face thanks to a lifetime of wakeup calls from his tutor and had narrowly escaped the blond man's following bullets.

Without forgetting that time he'd tried to steal a meal in the cafeteria of the cruise ship, just to end up face to face with a dishevelled Lal who had decided to visit the cafeteria for a midnight snack.

It had been a true nightmare and the young boy never wanted to think about it again. He could already see Tsuna's mocking smirk if the latter ever heard of that unlucky meeting.

So, when the cruise came to the landing port, Reborn shed some tears.

Now, don't believe that those were tears of relief at the thought of never again having to always be on guard or to be famished at all times. Nor were they tears of sadness since he'd to leave the cruise ship where he'd made some friends in the crew who had often hidden him from the two Comsubin agents.

No, no. those were happy tears. Since he could see Tsuna soon enough and make him suffer through everything Reborn had had to go through and make it a hundredth time worse.

A dark cackle came out from his lips and the young man looked eagerly for the Japanese's familiar face in the crowd waiting on the cruise ship deck. His smile vanished when Reborn didn't see him. His tutor had abandoned him. The teenager's heart seemed to stop, and he leaned his forehead on the metallic safety bar of the rail. What would he do without the adult?

Then the ship berthed on the American port and Reborn heard Tsuna's familiar baritone. Coming from the port. His dark eyes widened his surprise and he leaned against the rail, opening his mouth in shock at seeing his tutor waving his hand with a wide smile at him. On the port.
How.

Reborn felt his heart beat again in his chest and a familiar redness began to cover his cheeks as he softly answered back to the Japanese's waves.

Suddenly, his killer's senses rang and Reborn turned around to notice with horror Colonnello's familiar blond hair in the crowd leading to the port. The Comsubin seemed to have noticed him and was already walking towards him, pushing through the crowd to go faster. Reborn looked around and saw Lal on the other side of the deck, he was done for, no way to escape.

Gritting his teeth, Reborn glanced back at the port, which was now at some feet from the cruise ship and briefly closed his eyes while muttered insults towards his stupid tutor who was the sole culprit of this whole situation.

He opened his eyes again and gave the two Comsubin agents a mocking wave before he jumped over the rail. During his (very short) fall, Reborn took the time to think of his life and noticed bitterly that he hadn't lived much. The impressive and colourful memories had only begun when Tsuna had come into his life.

Yes, the teenager remembered as he closed his eyes with a soft smile. Tsuna had changed his life, bringing life to him when he was stuck in the darkness of ignorance and, even if he had brought him into a life full of horrible massacres, the Japanese had been the best thing that had ever happened to him.

However, instead of hitting the hard and unforgivable concrete, it was a pair of arms that caught Reborn. The latter opened in eyes in surprise and met Tsuna's amber eyes. His tutor had caught him at the latest moment and was slightly sweating, maybe because he'd had to run to make sure he'd catch his student.

The teenager ignored the weird sensations he could feel in his stomach and tried his best to avoid blushing when he noticed how close their faces were. What was happening? He'd never been this conscious of Tsuna's presence before! Was it because they'd been separated for weeks?

"I see that you survived this trial," his tutor commented with a soft smile. "Congratulations, Reborn."

"How did you get to the port before the ship?" Reborn fired back with narrowed eyes.

"A small trick," the adult answered while shrugging and letting go of his student.

The latter left his teacher's arms and sighed when he noticed that people were looking at them with wide eyes and that some of them were calling for the police.

"So, what will we do?" he asked as he turned towards Tsuna.

The adult had also noticed the crowd's growing agitation and smiled at him.

"What do you say of living normally and calmly?" he whistled happily and looked at Reborn. "Just until you finish learning everything I have to teach you."

"And after?" the teenager asked as they walked toward the city and left behind them the cruise ship and their pursuers.

"After," Tsuna repeated pensively. "I don't know. What do you want to after that?"

Reborn looked down and observed silently the dirty road he walked on.
What did he want to do after he finished learning?

To stay with Tsuna.

The answer was immediate and went through his mind so fast he almost jumped in surprise. His dark eyes went over his tutor's nervous body and he felt the answer come over his lips before he even had to time to think it over.

"To stay with you, always."

Tsuna slipped over a leaf and sled in an ungraceful way before he ended up on all fours on the dirty ground. He quickly went back on his feet and patted down his trousers, trying his best to act as nothing had happened at all.

"You want to stay with me?" he asked with an incredulous face.

Reborn nodded, his eyebrows furrowed, and his eyes decided. He had made his decision.

A smile came over the Japanese's face and he suddenly laughed, surprising his student. Had he ever heard Tsuna laugh like that before?

"I like that idea," Tsuna added with a softer laughter.

He stretched his hand toward the teenager and the latter stopped walking, his eyes observing attentively the stretched hand.

Tsuna had stretched his hand towards him twice. The first time, to make him leave his smothering village in the mountains. The second time, to introduce him to the Mafia world.

And now, that stretched hand meant something else, something way scarier for the dark-haired teenager.

He shook it.

"So, you will hang out with the old man I am till I die," Tsuna joked, his eyes watching over Reborn with a visible affection toward him.

Reborn nodded. He never went back on his word.

His mentor's smile came back. This time, it was lighter and happier, and it took Reborn's breath away

Tsuna had travelled through time to save his family. He had done it and had never regretted it. His thoughts had always been focused on that goal and he had never strayed from it.

But now, now that he was sure that he'd stopped Byakuran's powers, Tsuna couldn't stop himself from thinking of taking some vacation. He couldn't stop himself from thinking of the promise he'd done with his Reborn, the boy he'd pretty much raised.

That pact they'd done in that American alley after being separated for only some weeks, the young man couldn't help himself but to think and dream about it.

Because without any hopes or dreams, life wasn't worth it.

And since he was a man, Tsuna yielded to his wishes. He didn't worry anymore about the rules nor about altering the past. He didn't care about the age difference between his student and him, preferring to treat Reborn as he'd always treated him, as his equal. He ignored the alarm bell in his head screaming at him how foolish it was to accept Reborn's proposition, reminding him how little he'd left to live.

Tsuna decided to ignore all of that and stayed with Reborn.

Maybe because he was Tsuna.

And because Reborn was Reborn.

End of the First Arc.

So the next chapter is the second Arc, named "Il Discepulo".
Let's see if I take less time updating that one...

Reviews? (Is there anyone reading this anymore?)