(ii)

Tsuna had been under the impression that he had the "are you freaking kidding me" look trademarked by now.

He was wrong.

It was all Mukuro's.

After that rather disturbing meeting with Hibari, Tsuna had decided to head down to Kokuyo Land and inform the last members of his Guardian set as to what exactly was going on.

Sky Flames, as it turns out, are ridiculous things. Far more ridiculous than any magic could ever be. Especially when it came to the true nature of their "harmony" aspect.

Harmony is the ability to use all of the elements in a cohesive manner. It is also the ability to form bonds between users of different elements, increasing their power and reducing any stress brought on by using Flames.

Of course, every Sky user has a limit to how many of these bonds they can form. Tsuna has seven available bonds, Dino has about a billion - no one actually knows what exactly his limit is.

It just works for everyone in his Family, somehow.

Tsuna doesn't really want to get into the Flame logistics necessary to question it, honestly. His brain was not fit for such complicated-ness.

Anyways, as Reborn had explained to him after the Arcobaleno trials, he was now a fully-realized Sky. Unlike before, when the seal upon his Flames had restricted his very being, Tsuna now had full access to his abilities.

This was, apparently, a result of two things - Dying Will bullets and Guardian bonds.

Any Sky of whom is unaware of his or her capabilities is also one that is unable to control the innate desire to form bonds, thereby attracting anyone with the ability to produce Flames. Any Sky whose Flames are sealed is incapable of forming bonds with anyone but the people that naturally suit his Flames best.

When those two things are combined, there is only one possible result.

Bullying.

People could come to him, be attracted by his presence, but they would then be pushed away by some sort of unseen force. Agitated by this rejection, they follow what can only be described as the instinctual course of action - lash out against the source.

It's a good thing that Sky Flames are so rare, Tsuna thinks. Truthfully, they frighten him.

After all, all it took to ruin his childhood and make his adolescence a living hell of training was to seal his away. Tsuna wishes that he could stop resenting his father and Nono for it, but he's not that good of a person.

The Dying Will bullets helped destroy the physical aspects of the seal, but what drew out his Flames was meeting and befriending the people that suited him best.

Forming bonds, thankfully, was a two way thing - both parties had to desire to be with and accept each other. It was impossible to force one between two Flame users.

At first Tsuna had thought that his bonds were something artificial, unnatural, because why would these people want me in any way?!, but Reborn had been quick to shut that one down.

"Dame-Tsuna," Reborn had said in his last days of infantry, "- there is no bond without consent. No matter how those idiots of yours may have acted, they wanted you as much as you wanted them."

Tsuna had tried to argue that he hadn't actually wanted to be connected to Hibari or Mukuro in any way, shape or form but then he realized that he just wanted someone and shut up.

Of course, he still didn't know everything about this stuff - he was still learning.

Regardless, that didn't change the facts - he has Guardians, and as such, he has to make sure they all know about the more drastic changes to his life.

And so, Tsuna found himself at Kokuyo Land this fine Monday morning (which is just asking for trouble - Monday's are cursed), having a conversation that could possibly be worse than the one with Hibari (somehow) if not for the presence of his one and only sane Guardian, Chrome.

"Let me get this straight." Tsuna doesn't quite think he's ever seen this particular expression on Mukuro's face before. Sadistic pleasure? Sure. Sheer, ridiculous arrogance? On a daily basis. Kufufufu, I have a new plot to drive Tsunayoshi absolutely insane - that's a favorite of his.

This? Tsuna wasn't sure as to what to make of this. It was… strange, blank, as though the universe has finally lost its mind and Mukuro is the only sane one.

… now there's a thought he'd never imagined having.

"You are a wizard."

Tsuna nodded.

"You are going to wizarding Europe to attend a school to learn to control your magic."

Nod.

It was as though the room's entire atmosphere changed in the span of a second. "No," Mukuro snapped. "No, you will not."

"Um, what?"

"Mukuro-sama," Chrome said, concerned, touching her fellow Mist's arm. Tsuna wasn't sure if he should be annoyed that Mukuro thought that he could control Tsuna's actions, or concerned because yeah, there's probably a good reason for it - Tsuna had expected more of a fine, just try not to die kind of reaction.

"You will not be going to Europe," Mukuro repeated, more firmly this time. Tsuna doesn't think he's ever seen him so serious. "Tell me, do you really want to surround yourself with a society of blind, racist fools?"

Wait. What?

"To be looked down upon for your heritage, to separate yourself from those you hold dear, to poison your own mind?" he went on, eyes growing colder and colder with each word. The expression almost reminded Tsuna of when they first met.

"You don't know that," Tsuna countered, pausing. "Wait, how do you know that?"

Mukuro snorted. "I've lived six lives, Tsunayoshi. Do you really think that I wouldn't know?"

Oh. Right. Tsuna nearly forgot about that - at first he hadn't really believed in the concept, but then he started to consider all the other things in his life: Flames, time travel, the mafia. Reincarnation wasn't that far fetched.

Chrome shuffled slightly, clarifying, "his previous life."

"Oh," Tsuna said, understanding. That… probably wasn't too long ago. Maybe Mukuro did know what he was talking about. "You were a wizard."

"Unfortunately," Mukuro confirmed, disgust coloring his smooth voice. "Get another tutor and learn here. It isn't worth it."

Tsuna likened the tone of his voice, the look in his eyes, to the way Mukuro was when he spoke of the mafia, if a bit calmer and absent of the usual vehement vengefulness. It was odd, empty in a way that Tsuna had never thought that he'd hear or see from any of his loved ones.

Tsuna didn't like it one bit. But, was he really within his rights to press?

Mukuro was the type of person to give information on a need-to-know basis - he was very private, so he certainly didn't like sharing anything that he didn't specifically need to share. To him, he was probably already giving Tsuna everything he needed to know - perhaps more than that, even.

Chrome obviously knew more, but that was a given. The two shared an incredibly intimate bond, even after the fiasco of the Arcobaleno Trials.

Fun times, Tsuna thought dryly. His Mists (okay, he has got to stop with these possessives, apparently this is normal but he's caught himself using them with all of his Guardians at least once each and he really, really doesn't like it) are about as intimacy-starved as he was, probably more so. So they really, really didn't handle changes in whatever relationships they had well, at all.

Which is why Mukuro reacted to the idea of Chrome not needing his illusions anymore by cutting her off immediately - better to save himself the pain then and avoid dealing with it later than have to face the pain when Chrome "inevitably" left him due to lack of need once she could form her own organs.

Which lead to Chrome, of course, shutting down before finally pulling herself together - it was hard to suddenly be without someone you relied on so much so suddenly, especially when you needed them most.

Tsuna can understand that. He doesn't think he'd handle being without Gokudera and

Yamamoto very long either. Actually, he doesn't think he can handle being without all of them in general - this whole thing will definitely be a trial on his sanity. He's far too used to having someone to rely on, multiple someones. Being alone will be… bad. Scary.

But then again, he couldn't let himself be too reliant. That wouldn't be fair to the others. He needed the independence, no matter how much he didn't exactly want it.

That's the real reason why he was going along with all of this, after all.

"Boss?" Chrome's voice cut into Tsuna's thoughts, pulling him back from the subspace of his thoughts and into reality. Huh, illusionists pulling someone back into reality… how ironic. Tsuna had to bite back a snicker at that thought. "You looked a bit… lost there."

Tsuna rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Ah, sorry about that. There's a lot on my mind."

Mukuro snorted. "Or perhaps the issue is that there isn't enough in that head of yours, if you're seriously considering going to obtain a magical education from a place like that without any significant research."

Oh, ouch. "Hey," Tsuna protested weakly. "Mama said that it would be a good idea."

Okay, yeah, that sounds like a weak defense. Complacent and dependent, exactly what he didn't want to be.

"While I mean no offense to your mother," the elder boy countered sharply, "- the vast majority of the world's magical population is notorious for their lack of common sense."

Chrome nodded to herself as though she had just had the epiphany of a lifetime, her eye widening in a sort of teasing mockery. "I see… that makes sense, I think."

Mukuro's eye twitched. "And just what is that supposed to mean, Nagi?"

"I think that should be up to your interpretation, Mukuro-sama," the younger girl countered impishly.

Tsuna nodded along, a mirthful smile playing on his lips at Chrome's obviously successful attempt to brighten the mood. "You were a part of that population once too, after all."

Mukuro levelled them both with a glare that probably would've had their former selves cowering back in fear. Now, though, they only erupted into laughter. Really, it amazed Tsuna about how light and easy a discussion between good friends could be - kami, he was going to miss moments like these.

It was strange, the way that he could genuinely say that they were all close friends now - but not too surprising. The entire Kokuyo gang had this initially concerning habit of dropping by for dinner all the time, bless and curse Mama's cooking, and Mukuro took plenty of pleasure out of screwing with Tsuna whenever he could. Chrome joined in too every now and then, which, admittedly, took him a while to figure out since Chrome doesn't really seem like the type to pull pranks.

Days, then weeks, then months passed and bit by bit, Tsuna began to really get to know everyone. He learned that Chrome has a quietly sadistic sense of humor, scarily enough, that Chikusa likes to read a lot but has a bit of trouble with it for obvious reasons, that Ken is actually a bit of a sports nut and that Mukuro is actually pretty easy to fluster, if you knew which buttons to push.

… and this is how you know that Tsuna has spent far too much time with Reborn.

Mukuro sighed heavily, breaking Tsuna out of yet another reverie. "Just what am I to do with you both…? This is a serious matter, Tsunayoshi."

"I know," Tsuna responded, mustering up what seriousness he could after such a mirthful moment. "But I've thought this out, really."

"Really now," the Mist said skeptically. "Enlighten us, then."

Tsuna nodded. "Right. So firstly, it's a good opportunity to make connections, for the Vongola. If I'm going to be doing this whole 'Neo Primo' thing, then I may as well put a few spins on our alliances. Magical vigilantes sound like a great way to screw with the 'bloody mafia' image, don't you think?"

"Impossible," Mukuro dismissed. "Wizards are far too bigoted to ever make alliances with non-magicals, especially after the spectacle that resulted from their last attempt."

But he hadn't denied that the concept itself was a good one - Mukuro loved anything that involved screwing with the mafia. Score one for Tsuna!

"Their last attempt?" Chrome questioned, tilting her head slightly in her curiosity. Mukuro shook his head at her question. "A story for another time."

"Right," Tsuna said, accepting this for now. He was very patient with learning things - especially since he wasn't a very quick learner by any means. Catching up to his magical peers was sure to be hell, especially if Reborn had anything to do with it. "I also want to try learning with people my age, which is something that I wouldn't be able to do here."

Tsuna had to admit, he liked the idea of being able to have a fresh start in a new school, free of the stigma of Dame Tsuna and his failures. He wanted to be a peer, not an inferior.

"That's understandable, Boss. But, I still don't think that it's a very good idea for you to go off on your own."

"Most people don't," Tsuna agreed, " - but I need the exercise in independence."

"How shocking," Mukuro drawled, " - coming from the one that essentially lives on teamwork these days."

"I know, I know," Tsuna sighed. "But as much as I like being able to rely on others, a lot, I get used to things too easily and I want to be able to fend for myself without having to worry about whether or not I can."

Tsuna paused thoughtfully. "That, and I need a vacation from all the crazy. You people are turning my hair grey already and I'm only fourteen."

Tsuna paused again. "That isn't an invitation to turn my hair grey for a day."

"We would never," Mukuro drawled, as if he's totally above petty pranks for his own amusement. Sure. Tsuna hasn't forgotten about what happened that one week when the illusionist caught a terrible cold and was stuck in bed - long ranged illusions are the worst things, ever. Chrome looked away innocently - that girl is far more devious than she let on.

Tsuna took a small mirror that he carried for these exact purposes out of his bag and inspected his image. Once he was satisfied with the brown-ness of his hair, he put the mirror back.

"So little faith," Mukuro tutted. "I'm offended, really -" "Sure." "- but we're getting off topic. The fact of the matter is that this is a terrible idea, regardless of your reasoning. I cannot -"

"Wait," Chrome interrupted, eyes wide with an epiphany. "What if we come with you?"

"Um, Chrome, I don't think that you can come with me…" Though, that would be nice. Really nice. Even if it would brutally maim his sanity.

"We don't have to come with you to come with you, Bossu," Chrome explained as if this made perfect sense.

Tsuna was a little lost. Maybe more than a little.

Mukuro looked contemplative. "Wizards are inordinately obsessed with owls…"

Owls? Mukuro and Chrome share an owl Box Animal. An apparently possessable owl.

"Oh."

That… that was actually a good idea. It wasn't as if they could interfere too much as an owl (but then again, he really shouldn't underestimate these two), so he'd still get his exercise in independence, but he'd also have some moral support.

Tsuna idly wonders as to how his life managed to get messed up enough for him to actually appreciate the idea of moral support from Rokudo Mukuro.

"Actually… I really like that idea. If you guys wouldn't mind, that is?"

Honestly though, Tsuna wonders why he even had to ask.

Chrome's idea had been very helpful in assuaging the nerves of the other Guardians, even if Gokudera had initially protested a bit. Tsuna knew that it was just because he would rather be the one going with him himself, so he didn't pay too much mind to it.

Tsuna still needed to inform Dino and Enma, as well as the Varia (it's never a good idea to keep secrets from Family and Tsuna has been making an active effort to make sure that everyone wasn't nearly as separated as they had been in the future that he and the others had spent so long trying to protect), but overall, he thinks that he has everyone covered.

Kyoko and Haru were a bit of a gray area - on one hand, they were intimately involved in this whole mafia business, whether he liked it or not. But on the other hand… they were both still innocent. They hadn't seen death first hand, or fought, or anything like that. That's why he tried so hard to keep them out of whatever he could - no one deserved to lose their belief that the world is inherently a good place so early in life.

Not like he has, or like Gokudera, Yamamoto or Ryohei or… well… everyone has. Hell, even the kids - Lambo, I-Pin and Fuuta really aren't as child-like as they seem.

If you listen to I-Pin speaking in her own language, Chinese, one of the many languages that Reborn has been teaching Tsuna (a good boss needs to be able to communicate with all of his allies, after all) over the years, then you'd notice that her speech patterns weren't childlike at all - if he didn't know any better then he would think he was talking to an adult, not a five year old.

Tsuna doesn't really like speaking Chinese, but he does because it makes I-Pin happy. She deserves to be happy. But it makes him intimately aware of the fact that she had initially been, still is, an assassin-in-training.

She's only five, goddammit.

And then there's Lambo, who has an unnatural resistance to electricity. Kami, just what kind of things did the people that were supposed to be his family do to him to make that happen? Worse yet, they knowingly sent him after Reborn, the world's greatest hitman, and told him that he could only come home after he killed Reborn.

Lambo Bovino had been sent to die.

He knew it too. Tsuna's seen it, seen it in the little boy's eyes when someone asks about his parents, that terrible, sad, pitiful look in his eyes.

After all, Lambo may act like a brat, but that didn't change the fact that by the age of four, he was fluent in Italian, Japanese, English and French without any kind of a lisp or inconsistency in any of those languages. He could handle bombs with an alarming accuracy when he wanted to. When Tsuna tried speaking to him about Flames once, just to see how much the child understood, he was floored when Lambo's understanding of Flames had been revealed to be far more advanced than his own.

So no, Lambo is certainly not too young to understand what was going on and he was not innocent.

That made Tsuna hate his dad a little more (a lot more), for forcing Lambo to participate in the Ring Battles, long ago. And himself, for not keeping Lambo safer during the whole ten-years-later fiasco. A proxy could have easily been appointed for Lambo, his bonded Lightning, during the battles. But no one did and worse yet, no one told Tsuna that he could.

He would have, he swears. Hell, he would have even appointed himself - his secondary Flame is Lightning, he technically could have done it. But no, he didn't know. He didn't even think that it was possible!

Dame-Tsuna, indeed.

Then, there was Fuuta. Oh, Fuuta. Fuuta, who had seen far too much in his relatively short life, who had known nothing but being used and used until he had finally come upon Tsuna. Fuuta, who was still surprised every time someone did something for him without asking for anything in return. Fuuta, who, when he thought no one else was looking, looked at everyone else as though he was in a dream, as though he was terrified that if he closed his eyes, they would all disappear when he opened them.

Kami, Tsuna wished that he could say that the children of the household were as innocent as they were supposed to be. But they weren't and that fact haunts his every waking moment.

Why was he leaving them again?

Anyways, back to Kyoko and Haru. They were unique in that unlike everyone else, they weren't haunted by things that they never should have seen. Tsuna isn't stupid enough to think that they're entirely blissfully ignorant, but he doesn't want to tell them any more than he has to. They don't need to share his pain.

They just need to be happy.

If he told them about the magic stuff, then it is inevitable that they would ask about whether or not it was connected to the other things that have been going on in Namimori. Then, he would either have to lie and say yes, say no and tell the truth, or openly admit that he wants to withhold the information, which is just asking for a confrontation.

Tsuna really, really doesn't want to let it get that far. He wanted to protect them, but he also didn't want to irreparably damage his relationship with either girl - he cared for them too much for that.

Kami, he's so selfish.

He supposes he can deal with this particular moral dilemma later, though. After all, the situation at hand really did require his full attention.

Reborn.

Ever since the Arcobaleno curse had been broken several months back, the former Arcobaleno had been growing back to their former ages at an alarming rate, albeit quite painfully.

Verde theorized that it was because their younger bodies couldn't handle the strain of above-average adult Flame stores without the curse sustaining them, so to accommodate for this drastic change, they began to grow at an exponential rate back to their original states.

Of course, the process wasn't nearly as simple as that, but Tsuna's fairly certain that it would be better for everyone else's sanity if he just left it at that. Except for Gokudera and Onii-chan, that is, but they were actually into this kind of thing so they didn't count.

Regardless, the now twenty-something-looking hitman had just returned from an easy hit he had taken in a foreign country in order to help himself get used to his new size again. He, Tsuna and Mama were sitting around the table as Mama broke the news to him.

There were two cups of espresso on the table. One was dark, with a rich, bitter aroma that somehow managed to seem enticing to Tsuna, in spite of the fact that he knew that he coulnd't handle such a strong taste yet. Tsuna's own cup sat next to it, a lighter roast with an almost-fruity tang, blissfully warming Tsuna's throat with every sip.

"I take it you remember what we had initially discussed when you first began tutoring Tsuna, Reborn-kun?" Mama questioned, sitting up straight with serious eyes that contrasted with her warm tone.

"Of course," Reborn responded smoothly. It was jarring, the difference between the man's true baritone and the high-pitched voice he had previously possessed. "You spoke of a magical society that there was nearly insignificant chance of Tsuna joining through your bloodline. I take it that something's happened in regards to that?"

"Wait, you told him?!" Tsuna questioned incredulously. A near stranger at the time?!

"Mhm," Mama confirmed. "As the person responsible for your primary education, it was important that Reborn-kun was aware of the possibility in case anything happened."

"Don't be so surprised, Dame-Tsuna," Reborn said with a flick to Tsuna's forehead. "I find out everything."

Well, he wasn't wrong.

"Still, I -"

Reborn easily cut off any more of Tsuna's protests. "Update me on the situation, please." The 'please' was obviously only tacked on for the sake of politeness, Tsuna noted. Domineering as usual…

Mama giggled at the demand. "That's what I was going to do, anyways. No need to get so impatient, Reborn-kun. It seems that when the seal on Tsuna's… other gifts… was broken, whatever was interfering with his magical abilities also disappeared. Meaning, Tsuna now has access to the powers that he should have had years ago, but he is also a good eight years behind his peers here in Japan."

Her hesitance when referring to those 'other gifts' of Tsuna's wasn't lost on him, but it really wasn't the time for that particular conversation.

Would it ever be?

"But not in other countries?" Reborn clarified, raising an eyebrow. Tsuna was kind of disturbed by how easily everyone was taking the news at this point.

Mama shook her head. "He'd only be three years behind in any European school, which is why I've taken some time to look into those. I've narrowed it down to a few really reputable ones for the three of us to decide between."

Tsuna looked between the two adults, an epiphany striking through his thoughts. Mama said 'the three of us', as if they were a regular three-person family discussing their child's future. As if Reborn wasn't just his tutor. As if he were… Tsuna's father.

Oh.

Somehow, that felt right. Tsuna tried to imagine Sawada Iemitsu sitting in Reborn's chair at the head of the table, Sawada Iemitsu looking over various papers filled with information about the schools he could choose from, Sawada Iemitsu separating the papers into piles based on what was best for Tsuna.

Tsuna nearly shuddered. That image felt wrong, so wrong. That man may be his father by blood, but he was not his father by choice. Sawada Iemitsu chose the Vongola, then came home to freeload and get drunk whenever he wanted.

Reborn, on the other hand, was a completely different story.

Sure, in the beginning, the man had only been doing a job. And yes, Tsuna had hated him for it. But then, Tsuna learned that there was a method to the madness.

"Knowing and understanding are two completely different things, Tsuna. You can know as many facts as you like, memorize all the equations in the world, but it's all worthless in the real world if you don't understand it. If you truly understand something, then it is ingrained into your mind. Regardless of the stress you're under, whether it's a simple test or a life or death situation, understanding is what will ensure that you perform."

So he taught Tsuna under gunpoint, used danger to find out all of Tsuna's weaknesses and systematically eliminate them. He explained something, thoroughly, then made Tsuna practice the concept under the threat of death. If Tsuna didn't perform, then he would explain again, then make Tsuna practice again. This repeated until Tsuna's understanding was nothing less than perfect, no matter how many relipitions it took.

At first, Tsuna thought that it was utter madness, completely unnecessary. But then, he noticed his grades improving. Tests were no longer stresssful - the panicking tightness in his chest as the clock went tick-tock diminished, slowly, but surely. It was easier to face the many threats that he had come under as Vongola's heir.

In other words, he was prepared.

For the first time in his life, a teacher had found a way to actually teach Tsuna things, instead of just calling him dumb and giving up.

Someone actually put effort into helping him learn. Someone had enough faith in him to try, even after finding out how abysmal and pathetic Tsuna was.

Kami, Tsuna loved the way that Reborn taught him.

Sure, he complained. A lot. But that was really just on the principal of the matter, the insanity of it. His words had no bite and both he and Reborn knew it.

When Tsuna did something to earn Reborn's approval - a good grade, a mastered move, achieving fluency in a language - Reborn never actually said it out loud. But Tsuna could see it in his eyes, in the way that the man's lips tilted up just a bit.

It was a wonderful feeling, someone's approval. Even better when it was one of the only two parental figures that Tsuna has ever had in his life.

After all, Reborn was the one to guide Tsuna when he needed guidance, to give him a push in the right direction or to make him try new things. Sure, Tsuna will never like Reborn's initial motives, but that didn't change the fact of the matter.

Sawada Iemitsu may have been his father by blood, but Reborn was Tsuna's father by choice. And that? That mattered.

"Tsuna," Reborn cut into his thoughts like a jagged knife, "- if you don't start paying attention, then we'll pick a school without any of your input at all and you'll just have to live with our choice, whether you like it or not. Is that what you want?"

Tsuna shook his head fondly. That wasn't much of a threat, as Tsuna knew that they'd never actually pick a school that he wouldn't benefit from, but he'd still obviously like to have the choice. "Ah, no, sorry about that. What are the options again?"

Reborn snorted, elegantly, somehow and whilst Mama merely gave him an amused smile. "Is something the matter, Tsu-kun?"

Well, it's not like dishonesty was an actual option here, in this room, with Mama and Reborn. They always knew if he was lying. It was terrible. "I, um… I was just thinking about what it would be like if dad was here." Instead of Reborn went unsaid.

The atmosphere in the room darkened. Mama's smile became strained. "Ah, yes, him. Right, I almost forgot. I've decided to divorce Iemitsu, so you have no need to call him that anymore."

Tsuna's jaw dropped. Divorce? He looked to Reborn, who appeared completely unsurprised.

"That took you longer than I expected," Reborn commented conversationally. "There were plenty of ways for him to ensure that you remained an equal partner in your relationship, yet he chose not to employ any of them and keep you in the dark. A coward that cannot face his home responsibilities is hardly fit to be a husband, much less the Vongola's external advisor."

"Reborn!" Tsuna hissed. Mama wasn't directly involved with the Vongola and he really wasn't sure if they were allowed to tell her about the mafia without any consequences like this, what with omertà and all.

Mama merely nodded in a stiff, cheerful manner. "I agree completely. And don't worry Tsuna, I've known about this for a long time now. But it is very nice to see you trying to protect me."

"Oh." Tsuna didn't really know what to say to that.

"Close your mouth, Dame-Tsuna. We have work to be doing."

"Reborn-kun's absolutely right!" Mama agreed. "Let's get back to the important stuff, okay?"

Tsuna nodded numbly. This was… okay, then.

"What languages do you speak, again, Tsu-kun? I know you know more than just Japanese~"

Tsuna isn't really surprised by this at this point. He's pretty sure that nothing can surprise him anymore. "Italian, English, French and Chinese."

Tsuna is the first to admit that that sounds like a lot for someone as dame as him. But really, Tsuna just loves learning new languages.

It started with Italian, of course. Reborn had insisted that he learn it for mafia purposes and at first, Tsuna had been predictably terrible at it.

But then he watched the way that Gokudera had lit up when Tsuna had tried to practice with him, how happy he was that Tsuna was learning his home language and creating another connection between them.

Kami, Tsuna doesn't ever think that he'll forget Gokudera's face on that day, two years ago. He doesn't want to.

And so, Tsuna threw himself into his studies of Italian. As it turns out, Tsuna's actually a pretty fast learner if he enjoys the material, if he has motivation, especially under Reborn's efficient tutelage.

Then, he found out that Takeshi knew a good amount of English from working with tourists at his father's restaurant, and because of baseball. Suddenly, Tsuna had someone who wanted to learn English with him, a practice partner.

Tsuna started to love English too.

Chinese was an obvious choice, because someone needed to be able to communicate properly with I-Pin. It's a recent mastery of his, not one that he particularly enjoys, but I-Pin needed him to learn it and so he did.

French was Reborn's choice, for communicating with a good amount of Vongola's allies. Tsuna hadn't been too enthused with that one at first, but then he found out that Kyoko and Haru quite liked listening to him practice and having him translate the names of their favorite pastries.

It was a losing battle, really, him and French.

"We can eliminate the Slavic schools immediately," Reborn decided, setting aside a few pamphlets. "I've only just started him on Russian and he won't be fluent by the time classes begin."

Tsuna frowned. "Classes start in September, right? That's what… three months from now? That should be enough time, I think?"

"Not if we have to teach you three years worth of magic in that same time frame," Reborn drawled. "I'm putting the rest of your studies on hold until you're proficient in all of your required subjects for school."

"We?" Tsuna questioned, unsure of how Reborn could help him learn magic if the man couldn't do magic.

"Of course," Mama confirmed. "I admit that I'm not the best with non-magical education, which is why I haven't participated very much in yours. I didn't know what to do," she admitted guiltily. "Reborn-kun, on the other hand, is the only teacher you've ever really responded to and knows exactly how you learn. Of course this is going to be a joint effort for us."

"Provide me with the necessary texts, practical demonstrations and explanations and I can handle the rest, Nana," Reborn interjected. "Tsuna only needs your support and nothing more."

That, and Tsuna generally tended to learn best under highly stressful conditions and he wasn't sure about how Mama would react to that.

"Nonsense, it's about time that I put more into helping my Tsu-kun," Mama dismissed, picking up a few papers. "Anyways, by that specification, we can narrow ourselves down to Scotland's Hogwarts, Beuxbatons in France, as well as Italy's Sardinia Academy."

Tsuna nodded, picking up the paper for "Hogwarts". What a ridiculous name… "According to this, Hogwarts is considered to be the top wizarding school in the European wizarding countries." Oh, wow, the headmaster had a lot of titles…

"It is," Mama affirmed. "But it's also known for being quite dangerous these days, what with England's current political climate and a few incidents that have occurred over the past few years in the school… I heard there had even been a basilisk in the school!"

… basilisk, basilisk, where had he heard that before…?

Oh, right, Gokudera mentioned them once before. Giant snakes that could turn people to stone.

Tsuna barely managed to resist the urge to hieee and rip up the paper.

"Good," Reborn said, approval coloring his tone in a way that made Tsuna want to go hide in his bed forever. "A bit of danger is exactly what he needs. I can't have him going complacent without me around."

"Very true," she agreed. "My Tsu-kun needs to always be ready for anything, if he's going to be the greatest vigilante boss in the world."

Yeah, hiding in bed forever was looking better and better by the second…

"Now, about these other schools…"

The next month flew by pretty quickly, horribly enough. Tsuna wanted it to last, not slip through his fingers like grains of sweet, brown sugar.

As promised, Reborn took over as much of his magical education as he could, having Mama give him practical demonstrations of the spells and transfigurations while he asked her a long string of questions for each one. Then, he would make diagrams, outline lesson plans and create study sheets to drill the theory into Tsuna's head. Once Tsuna got the theory down, he would try the spells himself under Reborn's watchful eye, finding that it was fairly easy to get things right within a few tries so long as he had a good grasp on what was supposed to happen.

They had gone shopping for Tsuna's supplies a day after the initial discussion. Tsuna had been amazed by the sight of Magical Tokyo, with brilliant glimmering lights and magic everywhere you could see. Reborn had told him to stop gawking and get to shopping, to which Tsuna couldn't help but laugh. It was nice, having Reborn's familiar presence in this world of magic.

To make the transition into European school smoother, Tsuna had been taught with Latin-based incantations instead of Japanese ones. That had made things a bit harder at first, as the pronunciations were a bit different than the standard Latin that Reborn was familiar with, but Mukuro had stepped up within a day of this and corrected his issues, whilst also giving Reborn a rundown of the basic rules of incantation pronunciations to avoid this happening again.

(Practicing in front of Gokudera and Yamamoto also helped quite a bit, along with the occasional presence of the ever-busy Nami-High's new boxing captain.)

Mama spearheaded Tsuna's herbology and potions lessons. Tsuna had been shocked to see that beneath Mama's warm and cozy exterior lied a teacher as Spartan as the likes of Reborn. It was… terrifying to say the least. Tsuna isn't sure if he's impressed or if he wants to pretend that his lessons with Mama never happened.

Probably both.

Perhaps more surprising yet would be Hibari's involvement in the affair. As it turns out, Hibari was actually a wizard himself. He attended the same academy that Mama taught at, though he was part of a specialized combat division whose classes were always at night, hence why Hibari was always taking naps.

Hibari had taken to making Tsuna meet him on Nami-Chuu's rooftop, casting a disillusionment spell on the entire area of ensure that no one interrupted. Then, he gave Tsuna a basic rundown on how magical combat worked - "Your ability to avoid fights is abysmal, little animal, and I refuse to allow you to die under herbivorous circumstances."

It was painful, very painful, but effective.

Within a month Tsuna was already done with two years worth of magical training, which was unsurprising considering all the personal attention he was getting and how easy beginning level magic was so long as it was taught correctly and understood well.

Sure, he hadn't had a chance to learn some things, like how to make all the beginning-level potions or anything, but he did know how to handle ingredients correctly and had a good understanding of brewing techniques. All in all, he was set to be able to finish his third year's work in the next month then spend the remaining time reviewing.

He had also had a chance to inform Enma, Dino and the Varia of his new plans and had been pleasantly surprised - he still couldn't quite get used to all the love people have taken to giving him these days - by all the support he received (and passive aggressive death threats that he got from the Varia that he had taken as meaning be careful or else). Tsuna still wasn't sure about how much he should tell Kyoko and Haru, but he had informed them that he would be studying abroad. They hadn't been very happy about it, Tsuna wasn't the best liar, but they had accepted his excuses without too much fuss.

Kami, Tsuna's a terrible human being.

Mama had also written to all three of Tsuna's top choices for schooling, but only Hogwarts had agreed to his request of being able to return home every weekend for "urgent family matters".

Thus, they had arranged a meeting to further discuss the details of Tsuna's schooling with the headmaster, as well as to get a tour of the school before they made any final decisions. Professor Dumbledore had taken to the idea that Reborn, a mundane, would be there for the meeting well enough, and it had only taken two more letters to make suitable arrangements.

And so, Tsuna found himself standing before the gates of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, his intuition buzzing and nerves alight with tension as he considered what could very well be his new home for the next four years.

A/N

Oh my gods, I think that might just be the longest thing I've ever written. Eighteen pages. Woah.

To clarify, this is going to be set during the fourth book in the Harry Potter series. Tsuna is fourteen, but will be turning fifteen in the beginning of the school year. Since Tsuna was born pretty late in the year, Nana figured that it would be easier for him to just join up with the fourth years, instead of making him cram even more material.

Remember everyone, reviews are love!

Ciao~!