Thank you so much to my sole reviewer, Rinatsu; this chapter's yours haha. ;)

"I'm here…"

"Good timing; Gokudera has made dame-Tsuna faint three times now. They just left for the vending machines," explained Reborn to the worn-out Mafia doctor, Shamal. Said doctor looked like he woke up from a horrible, horrible nightmare.

"So I just need to wake up the next boss, eh? A good kick in the head'll—"

"No, we need you to fix a certain bomb expert," said Reborn, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. Shamal scratched the back of his head through his messy hair, sighing tiredly.

"But I told you, I don't treat—"

"Well, that's fine," interrupted the Arcobaleno smoothly, "but Gokudera seems to have developed a woman's touch over the last hour and if Bianchi sees him…." Reborn gave his trademark smile with an extra prominent glint in his eye. "She'll geld you."

"Woman's touch?" said the Trident Hitman, sounding almost revolted. "That guy? That guy has as much home ec. skills as a brain-dead squirrel, yet alone a woman's—"

Then a loud, almost cheerful cry came from the door which had just slammed open.

"Ah, Shamal!"

Enter the stunned silence.

There stood Gokudera, ecstatic, at the doorway still wearing his crumpled school uniform and an extra brilliant smile. The smile almost blinded the doctor with its brilliance. Yamamoto soon appeared behind with a sheepish smile.

"Sorry, just got him some candy," he explained.

Everyone (excluding the knocked-out Tsuna and Yamamoto) raised an eyebrow. Candy?

Gokudera smiled warmly at Shamal (who felt like cringing). "Gosh, it feels like I haven't seen you in, like, forever!" He then laughed as though he said a funny joke.

There was a pregnant pause.

Slowly, Shamal's head rotated and his horror-struck gaze met with Reborn's own.

"This is…some seriously scary shit that is so not in my job description."

"So I will take that as you will treat him?"

A resigned sigh. It was an unwritten law that 'request' was a synonym of 'order' when coming from Reborn's mouth. Shamal may be good, but Reborn was the best hitman in the world.

"If I can," he finally allowed.

:.

The next day...

'How did this happen...?' thought Tsuna.

Despite his house already being in disarray from Lambo (officially 8 years old but still as annoying as hell) and I-pin (who now looked like her high school counterpart in miniature), Tsuna had even more troublesome things to deal with ever since yesterday.

"Mornin', Tsuna!" greeted Yamamoto from his place at the said boy's dining table. "I dropped by a little early, sorry—oh, and Gokudera is here too, look!"

Tsuna didn't want to look, but for some reason he discovered his inner masochist and his body defied his wishes, turning anyway to face the place Yamamoto had pointed at.

He almost—just almost—screamed.

"Go-Gokudera-kun?" he shouted.

"Good morning, juudaime!" greeted Gokudera in a sunny voice; Tsuna could have sworn he saw a flowery background behind him like some sort of shoujo manga. "Great day, eh?"

This would have seemed normal if not for the fact that Gokudera was wearing a pair of kiddy overalls.

What the Hell was with one of the straps hanging off one shoulder like a girly fashion statement? And the lopsided cap and grin?

And why was a startling picture of Astroboy on Gokudera's shirt—which, might he add, was pale yellow?

"A-ah...A-astro-b-bo..y...? !"

Yamamoto explained how he had borrowed some of his cousin's clothes and lent them to Gokudera, who couldn't find his house keys to get back home. "I think he lost them in class when his sister came in," Yamamoto said, turning to face him. "Huh, Tsuna? Tsuna? Are you alright—hey, Tsuna—!"

"You gotta kick him like this!" came a voice followed by said demonstration. Tsuna's face met the kitchen floor with an impressive slam.

"O-ow! Why'd you do that, Reborn?"

"Stop whining, Tsuna; you've already fainted three times over the past 24 hours so stop adding to the count." What a heartless kindergartener.

"Geez," said Tsuna, wincing as he rubbed the back of his head. "But that was really well-behaved for someone like Gokudera-kun, don't you think?"

Thinking back on the normal Gokudera, Tsuna can imagine easily how he would have dealt with his locked door when he was keyless; add some C4 and get a new door.

"For the meanwhile..." Reborn turned to Yamamoto, who blinked in surprise. "Take care of Gokudera."

Yamamoto smiled a strange smile, looking disturbingly happy.

"Yorokonde (my pleasure)."

:.

"Come to think about it," said Tsuna out aloud, walking alongside Reborn, "Yamamoto doesn't seem affected by..." His face suddenly darkened and appeared slightly horrified, "that incident...at...in the..."

"Indeed," said the 4 year old Arcobaleno without as much as a bat of an eyelash ('Wait a minute; does Reborn even blink?' thought Tsuna). "And yes I do blink; I'm still human after all—"

"Stop reading my mind!" Then Tsuna stopped walking, shopping bags hanging limp in his hands. "But isn't it...strange?"

"How so?"

"'How so', you say..." said Tsuna with a slight frown. Having a guy like Gokudera suddenly claim you are cute and kiss you might be a dream for most high school girls, but Tsuna doubted it would have the same effect on a guy. He knows that he would probably faint (which he did when Gokudera merely hugged him with a smile) if something like that happened to his precious lips' virginity. But instead Yamamoto, strangely enough, appeared just like one of those High School fan girls of Gokudera's, minus the squealing, nose bleed, swooning and fainting. So basically he seemed like the normal Yamamoto.

'Can it be Yamamoto...liked Gokudera-kun in that way?' thought Tsuna, hand on his chin as he continued his path to his house from the shops. Then he almost laughed to himself. 'Can't be. Gokudera-kun has always pitted against Yamamoto as a rival...and Yamamoto, who is constantly liked, must feel relieved that Gokudera-kun isn't trying to kill him anymore...' he assured himself.

"Naïve."

"Stop reading my mind, I tell you!"

Reaching the Sawada residence, Tsuna opened the door. "I'm bac― Dino-san?"

Sure enough, the Cavallone 10th Generation Boss was there at his house...knocked out on his couch. Sawada Nana had taken the initiative to fan the poor boy as he laid there, brow twitching.

"W-what happened here?" Instantly Tsuna's eyes scanned the vicinity; nope, no Bianchi in the presence. So what exactly...? "Kaa-san, why is Dino-san...?"

Nana smiled apologetically as she waved her hand in embarrassment, "I'm sorry, I couldn't stop him in time..." Then she blushed like a young school girl, hands over her cheeks. "But it was so adorable...I just had to take a picture."

Reborn and Tsuna's eyebrow's twitched. 'What picture...?'

Nana dished out something from her apron pockets. "Here!"

At one glance, Tsuna immediately keeled over and fell onto the ground, legs twitching.

"Ah, Tsu-kun!"

Reborn took his time and examined the photo with no change in expression as Tsuna was heaved onto some cushions.

"I see. It's getting pretty serious then."

Nana merely smiled her trademark smile. "When he kissed Dino-kun on his cheek and hugged him, Dino-kun just froze up!" She gave a small laugh. "I guess the shock was too much for him."

"Seems so," said Reborn, hopping onto the couch arm and staring down at his ex-students face. He harshly poked Dino's forehead. Dino merely twitched some more before rolling to the side, blush on his cheeks. "In some cases, this could be a useful tool of Gokudera's," he smiled. "This ability to knock out somebody without even fighting."

"Ara, ara, but Gokudera-kun is so very cute now," said Nana with a bright smile much like Gokudera's. "Like the daughter I've always wanted. Iyaaan! I want to take him clothes shopping!" she said as though she got a new child.

"Dame yo (you can't), Gokudera!" came a voice from the kitchen in a slight scolding voice.

Gokudera merely pouted stubbornly on his chair, pulling his hat further down his head as he listened to Yamamoto's lecture. "You can't just go around kissing people like that, ne?"

"But...he looked cute that time," mumbled the bomb expert. Jeesh, the world worked in funny ways.

Yamamoto let out an exasperated sigh, ruffling his hair as he stared down at the boy still wearing an Astroboy shirt and childish denim overalls. "I don't know what to say to make you stop acting impulsively..." Staring around, Yamamoto suddenly said, "I know!" with his right fist lightly thumping into his left palm. "If you ever feel the need to kiss someone, you can kiss me!"

A newly-revived Tsuna keeled over again at the kitchen entranceway, something dripping at the corner of his mouth: he had officially just heard the most disturbing sentence ever.

And he had thought Yamamoto was the most normal one.

"Oh, Tsuna." Yamamoto blinked, sensing the commotion. "Everyone seems to be collapsing nowadays. Anyway, you understand now, Gokudera?"

At 17 years of age, Gokudera looked very odd with the childish display of clothing and behaviour replacing the usual. His endless accessories, including a belt full of Boxes and rings to match on his fingers, were absent and the gothic necklaces were nowhere to be seen. If there was a competition for the most Out of Character character, Gokudera would beat everybody by leaps and miles, no question. Though a formidable rival would be Yamamoto.

But that doesn't matter right now.

"Here, Gokudera," said Reborn suddenly, tossing Gokudera the multiple chains he often wore on his pants. The difference was that they held the Boxes on the three chains; 5 one the longest one, 4 on the middle one, and 3 on the last. "Just attach that on the side. And here are your rings; don't lose them."

As Gokudera curiously looked his accessories his un-insane self wore, Yamamoto smiled, "So you're going to keep including him in this Mafia thing?"

Tsuna appeared out of nowhere, clinging onto the door frame for support as he spluttered, "No! We must change Gokudera-kun back to normal! It'll be too dangerous to have him run into others like...that," he finished in a disgusted voice, seeing Gokudera hug onto Yamamoto's arm after he attached all his accessories back on. Yamamoto turned from Gokudera to look at Tsuna with a raised eyebrow.

"Change him back? Why?"

"What do you mean 'why'?" exclaimed Tsuna incredulously. Yamamoto did his trademark dumbfounded expression.

"Well," he smiled, a twinkle in his eye, "don't you think he's just...so perfect now?"

Tsuna had never heard something so wrong in his entire life.

:.

"There's nothing wrong with him."

"What the Hell do you mean there's nothing wrong? Look at him!"

Gokudera saw the ground from a slit behind the curtains and gave a big, childish wave with an equally stupid grin.

"Nothing is wrong with him...physically," said Shamal. Comprehension dawned on Reborn's face as he mumbled, "I see."

Tsuna sweat-dropped. "So we got a mentally unhealthy Gokudera-kun on our hands. He's a bomb expert I tell you!"

"Isn't this fun?" said Yamamoto jovially. Tsuna stared at him in a way which read are-you-retarded, only for it to be futile.

"Anyway, as the Boss of the Family, you must take care of your subordinates, Tsuna."

"EHHH?"

"I don't really get what's happening," spoke up Yamamoto from his place at the table, "but you gotta admit, Gokudera's acting is really, really good! He's like a new person! Eh, Tsuna? Haha, you're staring at me like you think I'm utterly retarded!" His ringing laughter disturbed Tsuna.

They had known Gokudera for about 4 years now. By this time, even Yamamoto had to notice the Italian-Japanese boy had pride bigger than Russia, stronger than diamond, and fiercer than a ravenous lion after it gets poked in its eye by its prey. Anyone who didn't notice this over that amount of time was utterly, totally, stupidly retarded. Amen.

But ignorance and denial were always tricky illusions to dispel.

"Yamamoto, I'm just going to tell you once, so listen carefully; he is not acting. And that is why this is dangerous."

"Really? Are you sure he's not just trying to be extra friendly after all these years?"

Tsuna slapped his forehead.

Staring out the window at the setting sun, determination on his face, Tsuna new he was the only sane one left to take care if the problem. He didn't like being a Mafia boss, nor the fact he must call his friends subordinates, but Tsuna could count on one thing:

He will revert Gokudera back no matter what.

And now we salute the brave and noble Sawada Tsunayoshi.

Good luck, Tsuna.

A/N: Rushed randomness as usual. Comment?