Chapter 8.

Another strange baby had walked into Tsuna's life. He had hair like a bush, wore a cow costume and even seemed to have horns on his head. His name was Lambo from the Bovino family.

Tsuna shivered at the thought that such a young child was from the mafia and that he came to kill Reborn. Only two words appeared in her mind - "idiotic" and "suicidal". Lucky for little Lambo, Reborn had ignored the childish antics and did not blast the kid to smithereens. Not so lucky for her. She nearly had a heart attack.

For a tiny little kid, Lambo sure had a lot of surprises all hidden in his bushy hair. It was insane. While doing her homework, it was raining grenades. How could anyone concentrate? Her lack of concentration (more like almost panic-stricken state) led to Reborn pummelling her with Leon-the-hammer, Leon-the-baseball-bat and Leon-the-wooden-club multiple times.

Tsuna sighed. Even amidst all that chaos, Reborn refused to spare Lambo even a single glance. The bushy-haired kid was holding back tears and mumbling to himself. Finally, Lambo dashed out crying. She couldn't just let a five-year old run around the streets on his own, so she ran after him.

"Lambo?"

The baby sniffed in response. His little hands formed mini fists.

"Lambo isn't crying!"

He wiped his tears away.

"Lambo is a big boy! Lambo will become the head of the Bovino Family! All humanity will bow down to me! HAHA-*sniff*-HA-*sniff*-HAHA!"

Tsuna stared at him. All humanity will bow down to you? Such crazy words by a child. A child who has snot dripping from his nose. Tsuna fished her pockets for a handkerchief.

"But, my boss told me to defeat the super first-class hitman Reborn..."

Super first class hitman?

Was Reborn the baby really a super hitman? Even though they were both babies, Reborn acted nothing like one. He acted more like an alien, the fact that he slept with his eyes open supported that theory. At least Lambo acted his age. Even if he was dressed like a cow, and knew how to use grenades, he was still a 5-year old child.

From a distance, Tsuna heard a familiar ringing and she smiled.

"Say Lambo, do you want some ice-cream? Onee-chan will buy some for you, so don't cry anymore, okay?"

"Lambo wasn't crying!"

"Of course not, silly me. Lambo is a brave boy, of course he wouldn't cry." Tsuna smiled. "Does the brave Lambo want some ice-cream?"

He pouted and seemed to give her question great thought. If she had not seen him hurling bombs at Reborn (and indirectly at her), she would have thought him quite a cute child.

Then he looked at her, and gave her a toothy smile. She could not help but grin back.

"Lambo wants chocolate ice-cream!"

"One chocolate ice-cream and one vanilla ice-cream."

Tsuna smiled at the lady and paid for the ice-creams. With both ice-creams in hand, she walked towards the bench where Lambo was waiting.

What a cool looking lady.

The lady had strawberry coloured hair that hung down her back. Her clothes were pretty hip too and she even wore biker goggles.

Were ice-cream vendors this hip nowadays?

Suddenly, the world seemed to tilt, and Tsuna landed face first on the ground. Her right foot throbbed with pain. She had tripped over a rock.

Dang it, the ice-creams!

Smashed.

"Why am I such a klutz?" She wailed and hurriedly got up to buy another round of ice-cream.

"One chocolate ice-cream and one vanilla ice-cream," said the ice-cream man. Tsuna quickly paid him and this time walked carefully to Lambo, who luckily didn't notice a thing.

The ice-cream was delicious.

"Look, it died ," Lambo pointed.

Tsuna looked.

It was a magpie. The bird had green liquid dripping out of its beak. It lay twitching beside a puddle that glowed a demonic sheen of green.

Tsuna gulped and her stomach felt queasy. The puddle look like the remains of her melted ice-creams.

She eyeballed her vanilla ice-cream and then stared at Lambo's, they looked okay. She felt fine, and Lambo seemed to be enjoying his thoroughly. She whipped her head to look at the ice cream truck again. The ice-cream that man held looked perfectly normal too.

Wait.

Ice-cream man.

Where was the cool biker lady?

Reborn looked at the boy laying feverish on his bed. The room was filled with posters of baseball teams, signs of Yamamoto's passion. At this rate, the boy may never pick up a bat again.

What a pity.

He could have become a key member of the Vongola.

He still had a chance though. There was one doctor who was that capable.

Whether he would was Tsuna's headache. Reborn's eyes glinted in the shadows. There was no way he was going to help that dummy. That will teach the girl not to dash out during their lesson time.

Tsuna coughed and waved her hands to clear the smoke.

Confused and absolutely lost in the chaos happening in her own living room, she was currently trying to wrap her head over the fact that the scary-looking weapon little Lambo dug out from the bush that was his hair was not just a toy. It actually worked. Right before her eyes stood a lanky teen wearing a black suit with black curls which have been tamed somewhat with gel. His horns peeped out from his hair. This was what Lambo would look like 10 years later.

"As I thought, you were still alive." It was Bianchi who had spoken.

Tsuna shivered and looked back to the cool biker lady who had barged into her house - the same person who sold her the ice-creams that afternoon. She introduced herself as Bianchi the Poison Scorpion and had delivered toxic pizza (to Tsuna's horror, it was oozing a strange purple vapour) to her doorstep five minutes ago.

Tsuna had no idea why she was being fed poisonous food. So far all she had gathered was that it had something to do with the pink-haired lady being in love with Reborn which made no sense. Surely there were better men out there? Reborn was nowhere near the stages of adulthood. Her head hurt from trying to understand the current situation.

Fortunately though, it looked like she was temporarily forgotten.

Instead, Bianchi's gaze was trained fiercely onto 15-year old Lambo. The pizza she was holding was rapidly turning black and losing form. Tsuna prayed that it would not drip onto the carpet and burn a hole in the floor or something worse.

She looked over to teenage Lambo, and their eyes met.

Then she gagged, he had her throat in his hands, grasping it firmly. Blood rushed to her ears and her heart pounded against her chest. Her breaths came in short and quick gasps. She was losing focus, but she managed to hear a voice. It was Lambo's. It was deeper than she remembered, and unlike the reedy voice of the toddler, this Lambo's voice was steadier and even had a hint of menace.

"Bastard, where is the boss?"

What was he talking about?

She struggled to get out of his hold, but she was too weak. Already, her vision was fading and all she could hear and feel was her heart thudding with fear, and Lambo's strong grip with his cold fingers-

Released.

In an instant, she felt a hand grab her waist and she was tugged to safety. She gulped in fresh air, and her hands instinctively went to her throat. They trembled as she felt the bruised areas around her neck. She shivered. She could still feel the ghost of Lambo's fingers squeezing her throat.

"Bastard. Who the hell are you!" growled a familiar voice near her. Too near. Even in her current state, being on close proximity with a boy was just not Tsuna's thing. She even felt her cheeks flush when she noticed that Gokudera-kun's hand was still on her waist.

"Gokudera-shi!" Lambo started to grin when he saw the silver-haired boy. Then he winced. His face was already bruising from the punch that the silver-haired boy dealt. "You - "

There was a puff of smoke, and 5-year old Lambo returned with a lollipop in his mouth, looking absolutely harmless. It was hard to believe that he would ever try to strangle her.

"What's with that stupid-looking cow?"

Only her scowling friend could look so frustrated and yet extremely puzzled at the same time. Tsuna wanted to laugh, but her throat hurt. There were so many things to explain she did not know where to start. Perhaps she should start by introducing Lambo.

"Hayato? What are you doing here?"

Tsuna felt her friend go stiff. Rigidly, he turned around. The moment he saw Bianchi, he immediately turned back and clutched his stomach.

"Gokudera-kun? What's wrong?" Tsuna asked, concerned. Her friend was turning pale and sweat drops were appearing on his forehead. She had never seen him like this before.

"Sorry, Boss, I-I need to go!" And with that, he got up, still clutching his tummy, and dashed past Bianchi, out the door.

Suddenly, Tsuna realised she was alone with baby Lambo still enjoying his lollipop, and Bianchi standing right in front of her.

Something was coming. There was a tension in the air. From the rooftops, Reborn gazed over the town of Namimori, his eyes sharpened to slits.

They were coming.

That dame-Tsuna had better be ready for it.

Tsuna was very very nervous. So far, Bianchi had not done anything. All the pink-haired lady did was to stare at Tsuna as though the twin was a plate of food on display, Bianchi even walked around her, gazing at her from various angles.

Reborn had finally returned home, and Tsuna initially thought he could help her out of this mess. Well, she thought wrong. Instead, her tutor asked Bianchi to be her home economics tutor. Tsuna was fervently praying that the poison scorpion would turn down the offer.

Finally, Bianchi broke into a smile and told Reborn, "Anything for you, my darling."

"Good." Reborn responded stoicly, not even turning to face her.

"Now listen up dummy, it's been a few days already and Yamamoto hasn't been recovering. Looks like his injuries are pretty serious."

Tsuna felt her lips go dry.

"W-we have to call a doctor!" she scrambled to grab her phone.

"An average doctor cannot help him." the baby's words were sharp. Tsuna could only stare at him, her hands reaching out helplessly for her phone.

"T-hen what..." What can I do?

"I've already called the best doctor I know." Reborn continued. "But he may not want to treat Yamamoto. It's your job to convince him to treat your subordinate."

Subordinate. Tsuna bit her lip. Right, I'm supposed to be Shigeru. I'm supposed to be a Boss. A Boss has to take care of his Family. At least for now, while I'm Shigeru, this is my Family.

"In the first place, it's your job to check on your men." Reborn's voice was harsh. Tsuna felt her strength crumbling and tears coming.

Many excuses popped into her mind. This was not her job. She was still new to this Boss thing. She got completely distracted by Lambo. Plus, Bianchi tried to kill her.

However, none of those excuses made her feel any better. In addition to being a lousy Boss, she was also a lousy friend. She closed her eyes in shame.

I should have checked on him.

When he told her the news, Reborn observed how the older twin's face paled considerably. When she reached out for her phone, he saw how her fingers trembled just a little. Her stutter came back when she spoke. Her voice sounded tight and just a bit higher than usual.

Her concern was genuine, that he knew for certain. He also knew that Shigeru would have shown true concern for his friend too. It was the way that she responded that was different from her brother.

Shigeru would have panicked and shouted at him, because he had a temper. Shigeru would have tried to push the blame to Reborn. Shigeru would have argued with the hitman till his face was blue and still shrug off his responsibility as the Leader of his Family.

Tsuna did none of that. While her younger brother would have arrogantly deflected the reprimands of the hitman, Tsuna seemed to receive the blows head on. She sat quietly, shoulders drooping and eyes shut tightly.

Reborn crossed his arms and stared at the girl. He realised that he could not say for sure what would happen next. Would the girl just break down and cry?

The dame-Tsuna that Sawada Iemitsu described to him a few months ago would have run to her room and buried herself in her pillows and blankets. Clearly Sawada Iemitsu did not know his daughter very well. That Tsuna would never have stood up for Kyoko against terrifying gangsters. That Tsuna would never have dared to strike a blow against Hibari, even under the influence of a Dying Will bullet. That Tsuna would never have gotten the fierce loyalty from Gokudera Hayato, especially when her younger brother was unable to.

Sawada Iemitsu probably never realised how his oldest daughter had been silently supporting her brother in whatever way she could despite her cowardice. Reborn grimaced. Even he did not notice the girl's potential until Tsuna had swapped places with Shigeru. The girl was full of surprises.

Said girl however, looked like she was on the verge of tears. Reborn tried to suppress it, but he could not help hoping that Tsuna would surprise him again this time. Then, he looked closely.

That clenched jaw.

Reborn hid a smile.

The look in her eyes.

"I'm sorry Reborn, I should have done better."

Those words.

"I won't do it again."

(Even though her voice was shaky...)

"Thank God you found a doctor."

(...and a few tears had spilled onto her cheeks already)

"Don't thank me so quickly." Reborn retorted. "You still have to meet him and convince him to help Yamamoto. It won't be easy."

But I'm sure you can do it.

Finally, an update! 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.