Six years ago…
Lambo is in the hospital, recovering from the kidnap. He won't ever be able to use his one eye again and the doctor has implied to Tsuna that Lambo needs therapy for what he has seen and gone through.
At first, he assumes that they're talking about him seeing men undressing (planning to rape him) and then nearly being choked to death while said men prepare to gang bang him.
It takes him an entire week before he learns that they're talking about him seeing Reborn kill 16 men; the thought is so preposterous that Lambo throws his IV at the therapist who was trying to talk to him about it.
"Why would I be upset about that!" He screams, tears streaming from his one eye. "I was nearly raped! I lost an eye and was nearly choked to death! I'm happy that he killed them!" He collapses back onto the gurney, sobbing his heart out. "What he does has not and has never frightened me." He admits in a croaky voice. "He saved me right when I started to think I wasn't going to make it…" He glares at the man. What a stingy man!
The therapist nods his head and stands from his chair. He walks out of the room without a word; Lambo hopes he doesn't come back. Three minutes later, there's the click-clack of heels against linoleum.
He growls when he sees the therapist yet again. "Go. Away!" The therapist sets aside and reveals a man standing behind him. "Reborn!" Lambo brightens up instantly… and then he gets pissed. "Stupid Reborn!" He grabs the teddy Kyoko had given him and throws it at the hitman. "You haven't visited me since I got here!"
Reborn catches the teddy and then throws it back at Lambo. "GAH!" The force it hits the guardian with is surprisingly strong for a stuffed animal, crashing the boy back into the gurney. He begins wailing, clutching his forehead. "Stingy Reborn!"
The therapist writes something down on his clipboard. When Reborn slides his eyes towards him, the therapist very subtly turns his body so the hitman can not see what he's writing. "I'll give this to Decimo." He states monotone. His eyes flicker to Reborn with something close to disgust and then glance sadly at the still crying Lambo. He nods his head in farewell and leaves.
Reborn's fedora is lowered over his eyes; it's difficult to tell if he tracks the man's movements, is staring at Lambo, or is studying the ground. When the therapist is gone, Lambo half expects Reborn to leave as well.
He sniffles as he sits up, going to rub his eye, when he pauses. His hand flutters uncertainly to his lap. That's right… he doesn't have that eye anymore… The doctor had said to not irritate it, or else they will actually have to take the eyeball out; Lambo doesn't want that…
Click-clack, click-clack, click-clack, click-clack… An arm wraps around Lambo's shoulders and pulls him against a solid, warm surface. Lambo looks up at Reborn who is staring without emotion down at him. He has the boy cradled to his abdomen.
He begins crying all over again and yet these tears fall silently. "R-Reborn…" He reaches his arms up. As if he were a small child, Reborn lifts him up and cradles him to his chest (highly un-Reborn-like). Lambo wraps his arms around his shoulders and holds on. "Why are there people like that?" He asks in a hushed whisper.
Reborn sits down in Lambo's spot, Lambo in his lap. "Don't ask such a childish question." Lambo flinches and lifts his head from Reborn's chest, looking up at him with a stricken face. Before he could declare that it wasn't childish, Reborn brushes a finger over the bandage over Lambo's one eye. The boy is startled into being quiet and Reborn says nothing.
It goes on this way until Lambo falls asleep, his cheek nuzzles over Reborn's heart and his arms lax over Reborn's shoulders.
When he wakes up, he's lying down on the gurney, no Reborn in sight.
Five hours later, Tsuna is trailing after the therapist, looking abnormally irritated. "I know Lambo and Reborn have a strange relationship, but they just do! There is nothing wrong with it!" Tsuna pauses for a moment. "…It's not normal, but it's not wrong!"
Lambo frowns. "Stingy therapist, what are you doing here?"
The therapist leans down and strokes Lambo's hair back. "I'm taking your concerns to heart, Lambo. I believe that being near Reborn is bad for you."
Lambo slaps his hand away. "Reborn is my archrival! I have to be near him or else he'll get away and be killed by someone else!" The therapist gives Tsuna a drawl look as if this is supposed to explain something.
"Lambo… Because Tsuna gave me permission – "
"You never told me what it would entail, you just told me it was for Lambo's own good!" Tsuna clenches his hands at his sides.
He's completely ignored. " – to do as I am legally permitted, I am going to deny entrance into your hospital room by Reborn for the remainder of your stay; by the time they check you out, I expect to see a difference in your behavior."
Either his mad hair plan was carried through… Or Reborn simply didn't bother to visit him again. Lambo, who isn't as naïve as he once was, knows that Reborn can not be stopped by any force when he wants to do something; which means that… Lambo isn't important enough to Reborn to come see.
After only three days, Lambo becomes withdrawn and depressed. He won't talk to anyone, nor will he eat or drink or sleep. He just lies in his bed, not meeting anyone's eyes.
What's the point in life if he can't follow Reborn, mock Reborn, and attempt to kill Reborn, or even see Reborn? He can't even hear his voice! He doesn't even know where he is. Reborn could be halfway across the world at this moment, but he wouldn't know. He needs to know.
He passes out after the third day; he doesn't care to wake up, but he does. When he slides his eyes open, the therapist is there, looking confused and bothered by something.
Fury races instantly through Lambo. "STINGY THERAPIST!" He throws a punch and it hits the man in the jaw; it hurts Lambo's fist nearly as much as it does the man, which isn't much with how weak he feels.
The therapist all but runs from the room.
Five minutes later – Lambo lying on his side, facing the wall opposite the door – there's the click-clack, click-clack against the linoleum. Lambo tenses, almost daring to hope, but too afraid to. He bites his bottom lip and waits.
The click-clacking stops and there is no sound to follow it. Slowly… so slowly… he shifts in the bed, his eyes shut, until he's facing the door. He counts to three and then opens his eye.
He begins crying again, but he's smiling as he does so. "Reborn! You're not in the desert somewhere getting eating by a crocodile or at the bottom of the sea fighting off a giant squid!" He's so happy, he wants to hug the hitman, but he can't bring himself to move. What if he's dreaming? No… He can't be dreaming.
In his dreams, Reborn doesn't ignore him; that's only real life Reborn.
Reborn does not acknowledge him, though Lambo talks nonstop to him for seven hours, recapping what has happened since the last time Reborn had been there (it's amazing what you can talk about when you've been stuck in a bed for over two weeks) while he eats his lunch and then dinner.
He falls asleep with a smile on his face, his tiny frame curled warmly underneath the covers.
It's just not worth living life unless Reborn is there to live it for.