A.N. – Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Thanks to SleepyMangaHead for the main idea in this chapter!

~~~OOO~~~

It had been several months since the Arcobaleno Trials, and Skull had been steadily forming a tight friend/family bond with Tsunayoshi (now Tsuna-kun) and Lambo, who was still a hyperactive, candy-addicted nut, but he was Skull's hyperactive, candy-addicted nut. He looked to Tsuna as an older brother (not that he would admit it), and loved when they would go to the arcade together, and play the shooting games. Tsuna was becoming a better marksman too, because Skull, using his experience from teaching the D.A back when he was a wizard, to correct Tsuna's grip on the gun, his stance, and his timing. He didn't know if Reborn new about these meetings, but he hoped he didn't, because that would mean that there were bugs (either in the literal of figurative sense), and he didn't want Reborn to see his face. Only Luce had seen him without his helmet before, but he was lifting the visor around Lambo and Tsuna when no-one was around.

Hanging around with Lambo had turned into a lot of fun as well. No one in the Sawada household had realised it yet, but Lambo was actually incredibly intelligent. He'd been putting up a façade of the 'stupid cow' as Gokudera had termed it, as a shield. During his childhood, back when he was with the Bovino Family, his family had realised his intelligence, and promptly locked him inside his room, developing ways to improve the Family's weapons, or replicate the 10 year bazooka, which was developed by Lampo of the Vongola, without any records. To prevent that from happening with the Vongola, who was more of a family than the Bovino had ever been, he pretender to be a below average 5 year old cry-baby. However, Lambo, who had quickly come to trust, and possibly, even admire Skull, was becoming much more comfortable showing his intelligence, usually in the form of keeping up with Tsuna and Skull's discussions of school work.

These outings had become a special thing for all three involved, and it showed with changes in their behaviour. Tsuna was much more relaxed, and had a stronger brother bond with Lambo, while Lambo was beginning to show his intelligence, just for small things, like helping Tsuna discreetly with an easier part of his homework, or creating better comebacks for Gokudera's taunts.

Of course, someone had to find out about the trio sooner or later, and, unfortunately, it was sooner, and discovered by Reborn.

~~~OOO~~~

Reborn had been trying to follow the mismatched group that consisted of the Stupid Lackey, the Stupid Cow, and his Dame Student for a while now, but something would always happen to distract him long enough for his victims to disappear, and then he would have to spend the next 5 minutes looking for them all over again. This would go all day, and result in Reborn going home, more determined to catch them the next time.

When he finally caught them, they were at the arcade, playing a shooting game. Lambo was shooting, with perfect timing, and Skull was in the process of correcting Tsuna's grip on the gun. Reborn would have rubbed his eyes, while gaping in shock, if he hadn't been the World's No. 1 Hitman, and more refined than the average people that surrounded him, also watching the children hit perfect shots.

When he finally collected his thoughts, and checked for any illusions in the area (none), he walked over to the trio.

"Gyahahaha, I'm shooting all of the targets! You watching Tsuna-nii? Skull?"

"Hai, hai, Lambo. We're watching."

"Tsuna-n-kun, relax your shoulders, spread your feet a little more. Unlock your elbows. Yes, like that. Hey, Lambo, for your birthday, wanna go to a shooting range?"

Reborn had enough of just watching, and decided to interrupt. Of course, he also released some killing intent into the air, to give his words more impact.

"What is going on here?"

Lambo jumped in surprise, his gun jerking to the side, resulting in his missing the shot, Tsuna dropped his gun, paling slightly (he'd grown somewhat immune to Reborn's killer intent, in small doses), and Skull jumped a foot into the air, slamming his visor down.

"Ack! It's Reborn! Skull! Help me!"

"HIIIEEE! Reborn! What are you doing here?"

"R-r-r-reborn senpai! N-n-never you m-mind what w-we're d-d-doing here!"

Displeased that his question wasn't answered, Reborn rushed towards Skull, whom he saw as the person behind all of this, killer intent flowing around him like when Bianchi loses control of her poison cooking. However, before he could get close enough to do anything, a pair of hand wrapped around his waist, and lifted him up. Turning around, while struggling to get down –These hands are strong! - he looked into a pair of yellow/brown eyes that could only belong to Kyoko Sasagawa.

"Reborn-chan! Stop that! You'll hurt Skull-kun if you keep this up!"

Reborn just glared at her, still trying to get down, but the power of female obliviousness had made itself known. Kyoko just hugged Reborn closer, not letting him go. In the end, he gave up, calmed down and looked around. Skull had disappeared, and Tsuna was carrying a sleeping Lambo.

"*sigh* We might as well go home now. Would you like to come, Kyoko-chan?"

"Sure. We better go now, there's supposed to be a storm rolling through soon."

"Oi, Tsuna. When we get home, we will be talking about this!"

"Hai hai, Reborn. We'll talk at home."

~~~OOO~~~ Time skip- Sawada Household

"Tadaima!"

"Okaeri! Ara, Tsu-kun, you've brought Kyoko with you! Come in, we're about to have dinner! Kyoko-chan, do you like Salisbury steak?"

"Un, I love Salisbury steak!"

Dinner was a lively affair. Reborn stole half of Tsuna's steak, ate all of Lambo's rice, and talked with Bianchi, who was feeding him her rice. Lambo was being loud, and messy, and just making a general nuisance of himself. Nana was smiling at everyone, happy that her table was full of the people that she had adopted as family, even if she was a bit wary around some of them at the beginning. Tsuna was just sitting there, talking with Fuuta about some new rankings he had discovered that day, and Kyoko was just sitting next to Nana, listening to everyone, and keeping Lambo calm enough to not do anything destructive at the dinner table, like try, once again, to assassinate Reborn with his pink grenades, now that I-Pin had gone back to China with Fon, and was unable to distract him.

Kyoko had to leave almost as soon as she finished her dinner, wanting to get home before her brother decided to turn the town upside down. With dinner finished, Nana took Lambo and Fuuta upstairs to have a bath, Bianchi began clearing the table, and Reborn took Tsuna to his room to have the promised talk.

~~~OOO~~~

Sequestered in Tsuna's small room (which was kept much cleaner lately) Reborn rounded on Tsuna.

"What was that at the arcade today?"

"*sigh* Reborn, Skull and I have been meeting up together regularly since the Arcobaleno Trials. Sometimes we would go to the arcade, sometimes we would just walk around the shopping centre. We're friends. Today, we were playing shooting games at the arcade. Skull's showing me how to stand properly so that the recoil from a gun won't affect me as much."

"Why are you hanging around Lambo and Skull?"

"Because they are actually very nice people when they aren't scared of being beaten down! Lambo is scarily intelligent, probably able to be on par with Goku-oops"

"Lambo isn't anywhere near that intelligent. If he was, then why does he hide?"

"… It isn't my place to answer that question."

With no more questions to be asked, the two fell into a slightly awkward silence, that lasted until a naked Lambo came running into the room, Fuuta (thankfully dressed) behind him.