Kay, so this whole chapter is brought to you thanks to the revolver paradox!Guest (you know who you are), mer Guest and Arrysa. You are the best.

Il Maestro

Third Arc

II

"Why did you give me that candy?" the child asked as he used one of his chopsticks to point at the man sitting in front of him.

"And why shouldn't I have done that?" the latter retorted with a slight amused smile. He leaned his head over his joined hands and observed the child.

The young boy grimaced and started eating, his brows furrowing as he munched silently on his food. Then, he loudly put his chopsticks over his bowl and glared daggers at the adult. The man was still smiling at him.

"Because I don't understand!" the child complained while shaking his head softly. "You said I would be loved!"

"And you are loved, Sawada Tsunayoshi," the man nodded sagely as he put his chopsticks down over his empty bowl. "More than you can imagine…"

"But it's just in my dreams!" the young boy muttered with a glare. "Kyoko-chan's still ignoring me and… I have weird dreams every night!"

"Weird dreams," the adult repeated slowly. His smile had vanished.

The simple lack of smile was enough to frighten the young Sawada Tsunayoshi and he tearfully looked down, observing his cold food. He clenched his fists and closed his eyes to fight against his tears while his body started shaking.

"… blood," he whispered shakily. "My dreams are full of blood…"

"I see," the man said with a gentle smile. "Do you want to stop those dreams?"

Tsuna startled and looked up, his big and teary brown eyes gazing at the adult with an imploring and panicked look.

"No!" he protested so loudly that everyone in the restaurant looked at them. The child blushed red and looked down timidly. He waited until all the customers started eating and talking again before he opened his mouth and added, "No, I don't want to stop them…"

"Are they fun?" the man asked as he leaned toward the child, his dark eyes shining with a fascinated gleam. "Even with all that blood?"

Tsuna looked down at his clenched fists and took a deep breath. Then, he looked up and met for the first time the man's eyes.

"Very fun," the child declared with a wide happy grin.

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When the Arcobaleno trials had started, Tsuna had accepted Reborn's proposition without even protesting once. And this annoyed the cursed hitman.

Usually, his student looked scared at everything and always feared to have made the wrong choice. But this time, everything had been different. The teenager had accepted readily and had even assured him that he'd save him. Even worse, Tsuna had a permanent worried face when he was normally a smiling and benevolent boy, and this annoyed the baby. And the cherry on top of this whole mess was the fact that Reborn's memories were becoming insupportable. And it really annoyed him.

Nowadays, they haunted him all the time and they were slowly making him crazy with their mesmerizing whispers, it all reminded him of a life he had tried so hard to forget.

"Let's see… What should I do? Let my adorable and extremely cute student in his bed or yield to this horrible desire to let him fall in this pretty blanket..."
"It isn't a blanket! It's fucking snow! If I fall in there, I would end fucking sick!"

Reborn shook his head and clicked his tongue in annoyance. Those damned memories were always disturbing him at the worst moment possible. And because of that, he had momentarily missed watching over Tsuna just as their first fight had begun. The baby gritted his teeth when he noticed that five minutes had already passed.

Those fucking nightmares could ruin all his plans if he kept daydreaming every time Tsuna and his friends fought for him.

"This isn't working… If only I had more data… Or if I could just dissect him…"

The voice was heavier than the one he usually heard during his flashbacks, and it seemed familiar. Reborn frowned heavily when he realized whose voice it was.

Verde was involved. Which also meant that Reborn had probably threatened the mad scientist to make sure the latter wouldn't tell him anything about his forgotten past…

Reborn sighed and decided to put this matter aside. He needed to be fully focused on his student. Tsuna needed him, needed his advice to keep fighting and Reborn would never let him down.

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Tsuna ran his fingers slowly over his injured face and let out a heavy sigh when he felt a brief but sharp tang of pain when he touched his swollen cheek.

His father really didn't care if he was fighting his own son when he had hit him.

Tsuna let himself fall down on the ground and observed the clear sky while he quickly went over everything that had happened in the last days. From what Reborn had told him, he had been contacted by Checker Face, the man who had created the Arcobaleno Curse, and he had to participate in some kind of trial or fight to finally be free of the curse.

Of course, Tsuna hadn't really understood everything. But what he had understood was how important the fights would be. It was the first time his tutor had asked him to fight for him.

And it would snow in hell the day Tsuna gave up a fight when Reborn's life was involved.

"Tenth!" Gokudera's familiar and reassuring voice shook the brunet away from his thoughts and he blinked slowly.

Tsuna raised his head and hesitated for a second to speak and tell his self-proclaimed right hand where he was. However, as he looked around to see where his friend was, the teenager noticed a dark shape and his eyes ended up on his tutor's sleeping body. Reborn was nonchalantly laying over the school rooftop wall, right above Tsuna's hiding place.

The brunet's tense body slowly relaxed and he stretched his arm until he touched Reborn's hat. His fingers ghosted over the orange ribbon and Tsuna furrowed his brows when he faintly heard an ethereal masculine voice whisper to his ears.

"Seriously, you should take care of your image. Now that you are known as the best hitman, you should have a distinctive element, so people can recognize you right away!"
Clothes rustle, followed by the familiar sound of a hand running through hair. A low laugh comes out then the first voice groans.
"But if I did that," the second voice comments with an amused tone. "I would easier to target and assassins could find me…"

The young Vongola Decimo frowned and quickly moved his hand away from Reborn's hat, as if he had been burnt. He stood up and walked away with wide strides, his eyes getting misty as he tried to fight the tears away. As he came down the stairs, he met Gokudera and faked a smile to make sure the Italian wouldn't worry too much. However, it was all for naught since his best friend immediately noticed his red eyes and the shaky smile on his lips.

"What happened," Gokudera asked him with a worried frown, his hands already going to his belt so he could get his weapons out.

"Gokudera," Tsuna interrupted him. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then he opened his eyes and looked up to appreciate the wind running through his hair. "Tell the others that I'm going to train."

His Tempest Guardian opened his mouth to assure him that he would train with the brunet but Tsuna cut him before he could.

"Alone," Tsuna said while making sure his orange and decided eyes conveyed his message to his friend. "There is something that I must do so… I beg you, tell them and tell Reborn I'm sorry."

With that being said, Tsuna gave Gokudera a firm nod and ran down the stairs. However, before he could, a hand stopped him by his shoulder and the teenager tensed as he waited for his friend to speak.

"T-Tenth," Gokudera stumbled a bit over his words and nibbled nervously on his lips. "You aren't alone! I… we are all with you, you know?"

Brown eyes widened in surprise and softened down while Tsuna held his guardian's hand.

"I know," he said with a warm grin to his friend. "I wouldn't even be here if you all hadn't been there with me."

He narrowed his eyes, who briefly turned orange, and observed the dark staircase. Time was running out and he still didn't have a plan to save Reborn. Tsuna furrowed his brows and quickly went over different ways to leave Gokudera's side, he really had to be alone to meet him.

"Gokudera!" he told his right hand with a stern and decide face. "Tell everyone to meet at Yamamoto's family restaurant! I'll meet you all as soon as I can!"

The other boy opened his mouth to try to argue with him but, as soon as he noticed Tsuna's decided glare, he closed his mouth shut. Gokudera nodded and silently walked away without looking back. He knew that if he did, he would see Tsuna's tired but decided orange eyes.

Once his Tempest Guardian left the school building, Tsuna sighed and silently walked downstairs. He made sure that Reborn wasn't following and started running to the commercial street. Then, he stopped in front of a tiny and faded restaurant door. The teenager took a deep breath, straightened his back and gritted his teeth before he opened the door.

"Welcome, Sawada Tsunayoshi," a deep voice greeted him through the depths of the dark restaurant room.

Tsuna didn't react, he put his school bag down at the entrance and slowly walked to the man's table. His brown eyes went over the adult's relaxed stance but alert eyes, and the teenager wrinkled his brows.

"Kawahira," he said softly. "It has been a long time…"

"Since the baby came here, right?" Kawahira smiled as he opened the chopsticks and took a mouthful of ramen. "Or was it… since this whole mess in the future?"

Tsuna startled a bit and put his hands down on the table, his head hanging low as he observed the used wood table. His thoughts, which hadn't stopped running around since he had left his school suddenly calmed down and he looked up to watch the man.

The man who, with a mere candy, had radically changed his life.

"Kawahira," Tsuna declared with a stern voice.

The adult's smile vanished and the whole air around them turned frigid as they both looked seriously at each other.

"It is time for me to know why I received that candy."

The man nodded and slowly put his chopsticks down over his empty bowl of ramen. Then, after politely wiping his lips with a white napkin, he started talking.

.

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"What do you want to talk about today, young Tsunayoshi?" the man asked as he took the menu of the tiny restaurant they both were seated at.

The child, who had just celebrated his eighth birthday, straightened over the bar stool and put his elbows on the counter so he could gaze with a fake focus over the possible meals. However, the adult wasn't fooled by that act and knew that the kid was just trying to think of anything but what bothered him.

Or maybe, it was a who.

"So," the man whispered as he took a mouthful of his meal. "What did you dream of last night, young Tsunayoshi?"

The child pouted, clearly annoyed by the demeaning adjective, and clenched his tiny fists over his knobbly knees. He stayed silent.

"I see," the man smiled at him. He took another mouthful of his spicy ramen and appreciated their taste silently. "You dreamed of Him again."

Big brown eyes widened in surprise and the child raised his head so fast that a faint creak could be heard.

"Ho-how do you know?" the kid asked with a scared shuffle on his stool.

The chopsticks were pointed at the child and poked softly his forehead while the kid blinked every time it touched his skin.

"I know everything that happens there," the man joked with a kind smile. He stopped poking the boy's forehead and winked at him. "Everything. And this, since always~"

The brown eyes widened even more and pink lips gaped softly in shock while the kid startled in fright.

"Everything," he repeated weakly. "Absolutely everything?"

"Absolutely everything," the man confirmed with a knowing smirk. "So, how was he?"

The child blushed and shyly looked down.

"He was crying," he whispered while he sniffled and wiped down his tears as he remembered those memories and dreams.

"Crying?" the adult repeated with a surprised raised brow. "Why?"

The child furrowed his brows and looked up, his wide and teary eyes meeting the adult's dark gaze.

"Because he was going to die…" he said with a choked sniffle.

"Who?" the man insisted as he leaned his head against his hand. His eyes were shimmering with an inscrutable gleam.

The kid's lips quivered, and he sobbed his answer while he hid his face in his chubby hands. The adult's smile widened, and his eyes glinted with a satisfied light.

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Tsuna furrowed his brows and calmly put his menu down while Kawahira did the same.

"Days pass," the latter commented as he raised his hand to call a waiter. "And your team is still running…"

"No thanks to you," Tsuna retorted sternly with a frown. He took a sip of his glass of water and put it down. "And I'd like to add that I don't approve nor appreciate all your evil plotting."

"Oh, yes," the man sighed with a distracted voice before he told the waiter what he wanted to eat. Tsuna did the same with a glare directed at the adult. "That promise that I'd end the winner's curse…"

Tsuna's glare increased and Kawahira merely sighed again while he watched dreamily the kitchen where his beloved ramen would come out.

"Isn't it fascinating," the white-haired man asked as he looked down at the teenager glaring at him. "Even after all those years, they still haven't lost hope… those poor fools."

Tsuna gritted his teeth and clenched his fists hard on his trousers to make sure he wouldn't scream. His eyes were burning in frustration and he could feel the familiar taste of blood in his mouth. Finally, he had enough and stoop up, his chair making a loud noise as he did so.

"Where are you going, young Tsunayoshi?" Kawahira asked him with an amused smile.

It was clear that the adult knew what he was thinking. And it was clear that Kawahira was greatly amused by that.

"Those poor fools," Tsuna hissed angrily through his gritted teeth while he glared daggers with his orange eyes. "Those poor fools were ready to part with their money, ready to forget their pride, ready to sacrifice their own chance of living a life free of curse just to finally realize their dream. Don't look down on them."

Kawahira chuckled softly and Tsuna frowned. He didn't have reasons to stay in that restaurant anymore. Everything had been said. The teenager walked to the exit and took his school bag, ready to leave and never again look at the white-haired man.

"Aren't you staying to eat with your friend?" the waiter asked him at the door with a worried look.

"No," Tsuna told him with a calm voice. "I'm done."

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Does Tsuna actually remember? What about Reborn? Will this have a Happy End? WHO KNOWS.

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I do.