Chapter 7.

It had been a week already. A crazy week.

She had been posing as Shigeru for a week. There hasn't been any news from him at all; he should at least have left her a text message or something. She had no idea if he even made it to the try-outs safely, and if he did, whether he had successfully gotten in (which was highly likely, given that it was Shigeru after all).

It was Monday, and she was aching all over. She could barely concentrate in class. All she wanted to do was to curl up under her covers and stay in her bed all day. Her bed, not Shigeru's. Forget that, she wanted to go back to her room. The room with baby pink walls and a nice and soft bed. The room without broken window panes and without a baby sleeping with his eyes open. She couldn't sleep a wink for the first few nights because she was just so aware of the baby's unblinking eyes staring at the ceiling.

Reborn was definitely not a regular baby. The moment she returned home as 'Shigeru', Reborn welcomed her with a kick. She flew out of the house. Then, Tsuna went through the most tiring and meaningless exercises she had ever done in her entire life. She ran around random streets like a maniac. She dashed around with missiles chasing her. She had to climb trees and staircases (the ones with thousands of steps that led to a temple). She had to do her homework under his supervision, and when she answered a question wrongly, he would whack her on the head with a hammer that suddenly poofed into existence! Later, she found out that it was Leon, the chameleon! That was bizarre too, why does he have a shape-shifting chameleon? Why can a chameleon change its shape in the first place!

How come she never knew that Shigeru's life was this weird?

And there's more!

Reborn always managed to sneak to school, so even in school, Tsuna had no peace. Thus far, Reborn had taken to appearing in the corridors (scaring the daylights out of her). Whenever they had a 'secret meeting' which included Yamamoto-kun and Gokudera-kun, Reborn would issue some sort of instructions to her, making them play along with his Mafia game. In the game, Shigeru was the boss, and Gokudera-kun and Yamamoto-kun were part of "the Family".

A crumpled piece of paper landed on her desk. Tsuna picked it up and read it.

Another order from Reborn, it had just one word – "ROOF."

Tsuna sighed. This was her life now.

*school bell rings*

Break time. When she was Tsuna, break time meant free time, or even secret escapades home. Now that she was Shigeru, recess meant secret meetings with Reborn and dangerous missions. Tsuna shivered with trepidation.

"Hey Boss,*wink* so what are we doing today?" Gokudera-kun winked again.

Tsuna cringed, and sighed. Gokudera-kun meant well, but he was so obvious. At least he stopped giving her hot chocolate, that would definitely blow her cover. Frankly, Tsuna felt quite uncomfortable with the entire thing. Did Shigeru go along with this too? How come she never noticed?

Anyway, Gokudera-kun was waiting for her reply, so she just showed him the crumpled piece of paper.

"So Boss, where to?"

Oh right, even Yamamoto-kun was calling her boss too. That was worse than Gokudera-kun calling her boss...

It was understandable though. It would be weirder if he addressed her as Shigeru, and he couldn't call her Tsuna...

"To the roof," she replied and got up.

Reborn waited for Tsuna to come to the rooftop. Obviously, he knew she wasn't Shigeru. He knew the moment he laid his eyes on her. Obviously, he was annoyed. Just how irresponsible can Sawada Shigeru get? Obviously, he didn't take out his frustrations on Sawada Tsunayoshi.

He already went easy on her. The prison-escapees would be coming any day now. The pitiful state of the older twin's physical capabilities fully justified his harsh trainings for her.

It helped that the older twin was so much easier to handle. She was... obedient? No, "obedient" wasn't the correct word, after all, she had no problems playing truant from school. The correct term would probably be "subservient". The only reason she obeyed him was her lack of ability to stand up for herself - not a good quality for a Mafioso to have, even if she was just temporary. A meek little lamb would be slaughtered in the Mafia world. Sawada Tsunayoshi wouldn't stand a chance against a criminal like Rokudo Mukuro.

Yet, she was improving. Quite a lot. It's only been one week too.

"Ciaossu! Today, we're going to establish our territory." Reborn greeted in his usual high pitched voice.

"A secret base! Oh yeah!"

Gokudera-kun was obviously enjoying every moment of the mafia game.

"Sounds cool!"

Yamamoto-kun, as usual, was too easy-going.

Reborn prodded Tsuna forward, she stumbled, and on they went...

"Wait, where are we going?"

"The reception room."

They kept on walking.

"...we had a reception room?"

"It's right in front of you, dummy."

Tsuna received a whack on her head.

Ouch.

She rubbed her head as she turned the knob of the door. Upon seeing a certain set of purple eyes, Tsuna froze mid-step.

"You!" Gokudera-kun snarled.

Hibari Kyouya dismissed him with a glance, and trained his eyes instead on Tsuna.

"I thought we had an understanding, Sawada Shigeru."

Tsuna blinked in surprise.

"Get out."

Hibari advanced, and Gokudera-kun immediately jumped in front.

In a flash, Gokudera-kun was down.

The prefect turned to face Yamamoto-kun.

"Favouring your right arm eh?" Hibari smirked, and jammed his tonfa into Yamamoto's right arm. Yamamoto let out a grunt of pain, and in an instant, Hibari sent him flying.

Now it was just Tsuna left. Her knees shook. Her heart was racing. Beads of sweat rolled down the sides of her face. What should she do? To her right, Gokudera-kun was crumpled on the floor, motionless. To her left, Yamamoto-kun was curled up, grasping his arm in pain. Hibari was advancing. What could she do?

Pain.

She felt a flash of pain. Had...had she been shot?

The world seemed to shift. Her vision became blurred. She felt a strong emotion rising up from within her and experienced a bitter taste in her mouth - regret.

Why was she such a coward? Why couldn't she stand up for her friends? For Gokudera-kun who always defended her. For Yamamoto-kun who was there to help her even though he was injured. She didn't even know that he was injured. What kind of a friend was she?

...was she dying? Was she dying as a coward? That sucked.

Suddenly, the world gained clarity - a clarity so sharp that it almost hurt. Things happened in flashes. Hibari's tonfa was raised. It was swinging towards her. It was in front of her nose. There was a loud clang. Her ears were ringing. Tsuna saw the prefect's eyes widen a fraction. Their gazes locked. She felt a painful twist in her gut. Everything went black.

The prefect turned to face the last person standing. His face showed no mercy even though his opponent appeared to be a toddler. After that humiliating moment, there was not a shred of him that wanted to dole out any mercy.

"Right, that's enough for today. You are strong after all."

The prefect ignored the baby's chatter. Swiftly, Hibari Kyouya dealt a blow towards the baby. Yet, faster than the prefect could see, the baby swung a miniature tonfa and stopped his attack.

"It's time to regroup."

Before he could react, the prefect was surrounded in a puff of black smoke, and when it cleared, he was left staring at an empty room.

Hibari's annoyance turned into curiosity. That baby was strong. Who was he?

His gaze then rested on his weapon lying on the floor. Sawada Shigeru had surprised him.

Almost...like how Sawada Tsunayoshi had one week ago.

"You did that on purpose?" Tsuna exclaimed. "That's crazy! He's crazy! We could have died!"

I think I sort of died back there.

"Hibari is strong." Reborn calmly replied. "We may need someone like him in future."

In future?

"Damn it!" Gokudera slammed his palm onto the cemented ground. His face was scrunched up in anguish.

He looked up at Tsuna, "If only I wasn't so weak! It was my fault the Boss got injured."

Tsuna stared back.

Then, looking away, he said, "I'm not fit to be your right hand man."

Tsuna looked from Gokudera-kun, a hunched figure on his knees, to Yamamoto-kun, cradling his arm. She bit her lip and looked away. Her eyes felt hot and prickly with tears. She blinked them away.

She knew why they were in this state. It was her fault.

I can't do this anymore.

She was a weak little girl.

I'm not Shigeru.

She was a coward who always tried to run away.

I'm not fit to be your boss.

"Enough moping."

Reborn crossed his arms.

"That was just a training for you to have a taste of what a real battle would be like. Hibari is not an enemy. A real enemy wouldn't have let you escape so easily."

Easily?

"Still, you did fairly well. You managed to get a shot at Hibari."

Tsuna froze. She did...well? She looked at the baby, who continued to talk to Gokudera-kun and Yamamoto-kun. Nobody said that to her. Not even her own mother. Yet today, a little baby said it to her. Even if he was a strange baby, even if he scolded her all the time and even though he thinks she's Shigeru, those words brought warmth to her heart. She felt her lips curve upwards into a faint smile.

"What are you smiling about, dummy? Didn't you hear me? You need more training. Start running before I shoot you for real this time."

She started to jog, but then jogged back. "Is your arm okay, Yamamoto-kun?"

"He'll be fine. Now go." Reborn took out his gun and Tsuna heard a click.

She ran and didn't look back.

7th chapter, whew! Did you like it? Please leave a review, I would love to know your thoughts.

DISCLAIMER: Katekyo Hitman Reborn! and its characters don't belong to me. The only thing I can claim ownership over is the storyline.