Chapter 3

I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn! It belongs to Akira Amano.

I smiled smugly as I looked at Tsuna from my position. He tried to imitate me but was unable to get his legs up into the air.

He pouted as he gave up and fell onto his butt. "How are you able to do that?" He almost whined.

My smirk just became wider. "That's cuz I'm the master of handstands." I felt my ego swell a bit as he looked at me in awe and I couldn't resist to show off.

"Look, I can even do it on only one ha-" I fell flat on my face.

I sat up and cursed as my eyes began to tear up. Ugh, curse these toddler needs!

I hiccuped and Tsuna began panicking. He waved his arms around. "Don't cry!" He pleaded. I hiccuped a bit more as I furiously rubbed my eyes. "I'm not crying!" I protested as sobs began to escape my throat.

"Please don't!"

"I'm not!"

Tsuna ran downstairs, stumbling and tripping on his tiny toddler feet. He came back a few minutes later with a box of tissues and shoved a bunch in my face. I blew my nose as a few quiet sobs escaped my and wiped my face before I threw the used tissues in a bin in the corner.

I checked the clock and beamed when I saw that we still had an hour before our mothers came back. He gave me a strange look when he saw me smiling.

"Let's go out Tsu-kun!"

"B-but-"

"I'll go by myself then! Buh-bye!"

I don't know why Tsuna followed me, but I'm grateful that he did. I didn't know this part of the neighborhood and I probably would have gotten lost if he wasn't there.

I dragged Tsuna in a random direction until we reached some lake-y area. I squinted when I realized that there was a tiny figure sitting in the grass.

Oooh, is that Yamamoto Takeshi?

I bounded forward in his direction. Time for Tsuna to gain his first guardian!

Yamamoto was staring intensely at a ladybug as I approached him. "Hi! I'm Mei-chan," I chirped. He looked startled for a moment before he beamed at me. "I'm Takeshi!"

I nudged Tsuna and he smiled meekly. "Tsu-kun," he offered.

"Haha, nice to meet you Tsu-kun, Mei-chan!"

"Do you want to be friends?"

"Sure!"

"Ah, I caught one!" I shouted triumphantly.

Before I knew it, Takeshi and Tsuna were in front of me, staring eagerly at my hands.

I slowly opened my cupped palms to show them a tiny, black tadpole. I immediately ran to the jar I placed at the edge of the lake and deposited the tadpole in it.

I closed the lid, it had holes-I was three, not stupid-and pointed at an area in the jar so that they both could see the tiny tadpole wiggling around. I kneeled and hugged it to myself.

"What should we name it?" Tsuna asked.

"How about Taddy for tadpole?" Takeshi replied excitedly.

"Okay," Me and Tsuna agreed. I knew it was a stupid name but at least it sounded cute!

"Now we need a place to put it," I said to them.

"My dad has a sushi restaurant," Takeshi said cheerfully. "We could put it on display there and feed it lettuce!"

"Lead the way!" I chirped as I struggled to lift the giant water-filled jar. Tsuna tried to help me but we both just ended up tumbling to the ground. I got up with determination and stared at Takeshi until he too started to struggle like both of us. With three people, we were able to lift it off the ground a bit.

"Lead the way, Take-kun!" I repeated, out of breath and panting.

We stumbled and tripped on the way to TakeSushi, but we got it there safely.

I breathed a sigh of relief when we entered the store with the jar safe. And that was when it all went to hell.

Tsuna was so surprised by my loud sigh that he let out a tiny 'hiee' and slipped. That ended up startling Takeshi who let of the jar and grabbed Tsuna to stop him from falling down. I was left carrying it on my own. I tipped forward due to the weight and it went flying. I closed my eyes and winced, waiting to hear the sound of glass breaking into a million pieces.

I opened my eyes when I heard a loud 'oomph'. The tadpole jar was in the hands of a caramel haired girl who didn't look much older than us. She also didn't look Japanese.

The girl lifted the jar by herself and I pouted immediately. That is so unfair!

When she caught sight of us, she smiled brightly and came over. "Is this yours?" she asked with a slight accent, holding it out.

I nodded and tried to take it from her, blushing when I was unable to lift it. She laughed and ruffled my hair. "Just tell me where you want to put it," she said.

I turned to Takeshi and he pointed at a high table. "On top of that," he said, unsure if she would be able to put it there.

She stood on the top of her toes and pushed it onto the table with her fingertips.

"Thank you!" I exclaimed brightly.

She waved it off. "No problem. I'm Ama-Graciano Amalita. What's your name?" she asked curiously.

"I'm Mei-chan!"

She fidgeted a bit. "Is it alright if I call you Mei? I'm still not all that comfortable with honorifics."

"Okay!" I agreed, "I'll call you Amalita then!"

Amalita looked surprised that I was able to pronounce her name correctly. A man exiting the shop called her name and she waved to me before running behind him.

I turned back when I realized that we had just ignored Tsuna and Takeshi while talking. They were coming out of the kitchen with pieces of lettuce and Takeshi waved me over.

I ran towards him.

Time to feed Taddy!