About a year and a half passed by without too much conflict after Rosetta's departure.
She was true to her word and visited more often however, usually just to say hello. There was a point in time in which they didn't see her for a while, but she still kept in touch with them through the Mezzanotte member she had deployed there.
Unfortunately Reborn continued with his questionable tutoring tactics which caused grief for the poor member, but Namimori remained largely peaceful.
Thankfully on this particular day Tsuna had off from school and tutoring, and his mom had taken the kids to go shopping so he even had the house to himself.
At least until Yamamoto and Gokudera showed up.
Even so the Vongola boss in training invited them in to just hang out and for a while he thought it would be a relatively peaceful afternoon. Regrettably that peace was short lived when the Sawada household got another unexpected visitor…
Tsuna had just gotten refreshments and sat down to rejoin his friends when the doorbell suddenly rang. The trio were all a bit confused but the brunette teen still got up to answer the door, albeit a little apprehensively.
When he did he was greeted with a baby right in his face - a baby that looked awfully familiar with wide brown colored eyes and a golden blond tuft of hair atop his head. Tsuna let out a small surprised scream, jumping back and tripping himself up just as he heard a familiar male's voice.
"And this is Tsuna!" He said excitedly.
The Vongola boss in training happened to recognize the voice and looked up to see the boss the baby reminded him of.
"D-Dino-san?! He exclaimed with surprise. "What are you doing here with a baby?!"
"What? Nana didn't tell you that we were coming by for a visit? I guess she might have forgotten…" The Cavallone boss trailed off before noticing that Gokudera and Yamamoto had come out into the hall to check things out. "Ah, you had company over already I see. Sorry for dropping in unexpectedly."
"It's fine! It makes things more exciting." The black haired male said in response with a carefree grin.
Gokudera however scowled and narrowed his eyes at the boss and the baby in his arms before asking incredulously, "What is that?"
"…Don't you know what a baby is, Gokudera?" Yamamoto asked with deep concern.
"Of course I know what a baby is, Baseball Freak!" The silver haired teen rebutted angrily. "I meant what is it doing here!"
"I just thought I would bring my little cousin Vero to meet everyone." Dino stated in response. "Sorry if it's an inconvenience for you all."
"N-Not at all!" Tsuna quickly interjected, wanting to avoid a confrontation between his friend and his senpai. "You said your er…cousin's name is Vero?"
At that moment the child responded to the brunette teen speaking his name by reaching one of his tiny hands out to him eagerly.
"Yes, and it looks like he already likes you!" The Cavallone boss replied as his cousin started grasping the air. "He wants you to hold him now."
"Really?!" The Vongola boss in training asked nervously. "W-Why?!"
"He's sensitive to those with strong Dying Will Flames." Dino explained. "And he seems to like Sky Flames the best."
He was going to say something more but at that moment the boss' phone rang. He flinched and went through his pockets to search for the device while still holding his cousin safely, found it quickly and then answered.
"Hello, this is Dino Cavallone," he spoke with an inviting yet serious tone before pausing to listen to whoever was on the other side of the line.
Suddenly his eyes widened with shock and he continued. "What?!" He exclaimed and paused to listen again with a sense of calm urgency. "Okay, I'll be there as soon as I can."
The Cavallone boss then hung up, dropped the large bag he had slung on his shoulder onto the floor and handed Vero to Tsuna.
"I have some urgent matters to tend to and I can't take Vero there." He explained quickly while doing it all. "Could you watch him for a few minutes? Thanks!"
He turned to make a dash off the property but stopped to give them some last minute advice. "Oh! Don't worry Vero's surprisingly low maintenance and quiet. Everything you need to care for him is in that bag." Dino then smiled at his cousin and waved. "Okay, bye Vero! Be a good boy for Tsuna and his friends!"
The child clapped with glee and waved back in response. And with that the boss was gone, leaving the three clueless teens to babysit his little cousin.
For a moment they all stood in silence until the Vongola boss in training exclaimed, "Eh?! Alone?! With a baby?! What are we going to do?!"
"Yeah, that was pretty rude of that Bucking Horse, dumping his cousin on us." Gokudera commented, sounding a little irritated. He then noticed Vero staring at him wide eyed and glared back before continuing. "What's your deal, munchkin?"
"Don't be rude, Gokudera. He's just a baby." Yamamoto spoke up before grinning at the child. "Why don't we take him outside to play some catch?"
"I…don't think that's such a good idea…" Tsuna mumbled, knowing all too well what would happen if they did. He then remembered the bag Dino had left with them. "There's probably some toys for him in the bag though. Let's go back to the living room and see what he's got."
The other two agreed and together they all went there where they opened the bag and started pulling out some toys. Vero watched as Tsuna withdrew each toy one at a time and as soon as his favorite ball (a soft green one that was a little bigger than a baseball) was taken out, he grabbed it and held it out to Gokudera.
The silver haired teen just glared back at him with disinterest and said, "What do you want?"
"Looks like he wants to play catch after all!" His raven haired friend said excitedly while accepting the ball for him.
"Uh, how about we play with the bubbles instead?" The brunette teen suggested quickly, grabbing them to show to the child.
Vero looked at Tsuna, then at Yamamoto and back again. Finally he chose Yamamoto despite Tsuna's efforts to keep his attention.
The brunette teen then tried to stop his black haired friend but he'd already gotten up and entered his zone, looking extremely serious as he adopted his pitching pose. Yamamoto then drew back his arm and threw one of his best pitches right to Vero but it missed a little, hitting the wall behind the baby and ricocheting around the room before suddenly hitting each of the teens, thus knocking them out. It then finally flew towards Vero who caught it and went tumbling backwards into the hall.
About an hour later Tsuna slowly opened his eyes and looked around, feeling a bit disoriented. He then noticed his unconscious friends sprawled out on the floor not too far away from him and wondered just how they ended up that way.
Suddenly it all came back to him.
'Wait, I remember when Yamamoto threw the ball but what happened after that…?' The Vongola boss in training thought as he rubbed his head with confusion.
Instantly he felt a twinge of pain and flinched. He became more confused but was even more curious so he gently felt around the source of the pain and found…
"A bump? How did that get there?" He continued aloud with wonder before he remembered the rest of it. "Oh yeah! The ball bounced off the walls and then hit us, knocking us all out!" - he looked around the room once more, noticing that someone was missing - "Wait, where's Vero though?…"
Tsuna then looked around a bit more thoroughly but couldn't find the baby anywhere in the room with him.
He was gone.
The color drained from his face when the realization hit. Instantly he felt the need to continue the search but concluded that he was going to need some help first. He then went to urgently wake up his friends, hoping they could get up quickly to help.
"Wha?" Gokudera uttered after being stirred.
"What's up, Tsuna?" Yamamoto asked blearily while rising.
"It's Vero!" The brunette teen replied while frantically upturning cushions. "He's gone missing! Help me find him before Dino-san get's back!"
After hearing the worrying news the teens were shocked awake and quickly pitched in to help look by searching in other areas of the house. A few minutes later they all reconvened in the downstairs hall empty handed.
"No luck upstairs, Juudaime." Gokudera reported after Tsuna had asked how their searches went. He then clicked his tongue before continuing in an annoyed mutter. "Honestly. 'Low maintenance' my ass…"
"I couldn't find him anywhere either." Yamamoto added with an apologetic tone.
"Well he didn't leave the house so he's still gotta be here somewhere!" The brunette teen exclaimed with worry. "We've gotta find him-."
Suddenly the doorbell rang and he froze before shooting an utterly shocked and worried gaze at the door. The three teens then exchanged nervous looks before the Vongola boss in training hesitantly crept up to the door and opened it.
As he had feared Dino returned, this time with Rosetta.
"Hey, Tsuna-kun!" The Mezzanotte boss greeted somewhat cheerfully with an excited tone. "I heard you were watching little Vero for a bit!"
"Y-Yeah…" the brunette teen replied, trying to keep himself calm so as to not give anything back.
"So how'd it go?" The Cavallone boss asked curiously. "Easy, right?"
"Erm…" Tsuna muttered nervously while averting his gaze.
Rosetta instantly picked up on his unusual demeanor and instantly became concerned as she asked steadily, "Tsuna-kun…what happened?"
He stood silent for a little while longer before quickly blurting out his answer. "I'm sorry! Vero went missing and we know for sure he didn't leave the house but we couldn't find him anywhere! Sorry!" He then bowed apologetically and his friends followed suit, each uttering their own apologies.
Another silent moment passed before the two bosses suddenly started to chuckle with relief. The teens rose and gazed at them with confusion.
Rosetta smiled and pointed to behind the trio while replying with, "Vero…is right behind you though."
"Eh?!" Tsuna exclaimed and quickly turned, seeing Dino's cousin sitting in front of the bottom step with his ball.
The child smiled and clapped, then tossed the ball back to them. The brunette teen could only let out a ragged sigh of relief while Gokudera clicked his tongue with annoyance and Yamamoto laughed.
"I swear he wasn't there before." The silver haired teen complained with aggravation.
"Maybe he's just as good at hiding as Reborn is." The black haired teen concluded, thinking positively.
'What a weird kid…' Tsuna thought before something dawned on him. 'Wait, I can actually sense someone even when they've seemingly disappeared, but couldn't sense Vero at all earlier…' - he gazed at the child with deep concern - 'What exactly is he?'
If you weren't able to tell (or if you remember the past iteration of this fic), Vero is Rosetta's and Dino's child. She birthed him in secret and since he looked so much like Dino the two discussed and agreed that he stay with the Cavallone boss under the guise of his cousin. Rosetta still visits him to care for him when she can though.