AN: Next chapter. Hope you guys enjoy it. Also, there might or might not be romance in this story. If there is, it will be most likely Tsuna/OC. I know having so many OCs is confusing but I still hope you guys like this story. And I would love comments on how to make it better.

AN2: All the talking will be in Japanese unless the words are in bold. Then, they are whatever language (most likely English) I specify.

AN3: The new and hopefully improved version of this chapter. I added some more details like I did to the last chapter.

Disclaimer: Still don't own KHR.

"talking"

'thinking'

-10 years ago-

5 year old Sawada Tsunayoshi sat in the park crying his little eyes out. His legs were scraped and his arms were bruised. He hunched over to make himself a smaller target to the bullies that surrounded him. Around him laughing stood seven boys who looked about 10 years old.

"Tsuna Tuna smelly Tuna!" they jeered over and over again. It might not have been the best insult, but it seemed to get the job done for these future troublemakers.

"Why are you being so mean to me?" Tsuna asked in between sobs. He had been happily playing on the swings a couple of minutes ago when all of a sudden these boys pushed him off and started teasing him.

"It's cuz you were on our swing!" the leader of the group sneered. "This playground is mine and you have to follow my rules!" The bully raised his arm to punch the timid boy. Tsuna closed his eyes and waited for the pain. When nothing happened, he slowly opened his eyes and gaped at what he saw. There, in front of him, was a girl who looked about 13 years old. She had long black hair with emerald tips. Her eyes were mismatched, with her right one a sparkling sky blue and her left one a fiery crimson red. The most surprising part was that she caught the bully's hand, preventing him from attacking Tsuna.

"Wow. You guys must be so proud of yourselves, attacking a kid like this." the girl sarcastically said.

The group looked taken aback at how a girl could have stopped the punch. After all, everyone knew that girls were weaker than boys, right? "It's none of your business! Why don't you just leave before you get hurt?" one of the boys said.

She visibly twitched with annoyance but stopped herself from doing anything she would regret. "Kids these days have no manners, huh." the girl murmured loud enough so that only Tsuna could hear.

'What do you mean kids these days? Aren't you a kid too?' Tsuna thought.

"Anyways, just cuz I'm a girl doesn't mean I can't fight. You guys are gonna be the ones to get hurt so leave now before I get mad!" she yelled. To emphasize her point, she tightened her grip on the leader's wrist causing him to yelp. Then she forcefully pushed him away and glared at the boys.

Not wanting to deal with the girl, the bullies turned around and ran. But, not before yelling "We'll get you back for this! You're gonna be sorry!"

'Wow, classic bad guy statements. Someone watches too much TV.' she thought before turning around to look at the crying boy she saved. "Hey, don't cry. You know, real men don't cry." she said while trying to comfort the boy.

"What? So I'm not a real boy?" Tsuna said taking what she told him the wrong way. He started crying harder.

The girl sweatdropped and cursed to herself 'Man, I'm really bad at this. Not even married and I'm already reconsidering having kids.' She helped the small boy up and patted the dust off of him. "Why don't you tell Nee-chan what happened?"

"I was just playing on the swings when they came and pushed me off. They said that it was their swing and I can't play on it." Tsuna sniffed out, "Then, they started making fun of my name and pushing me around."

The girl smiled back at him. She didn't know why, but something about this little boy pulled out the protective instincts in her. She wished to give him the protection that no one thought to give her. "Ahh. Don't worry about them anymore okay? Nee-chan will take care of them for you."

"Thanks! But why would you help me?" he asked shyly. No one ever helped him except his mama, not even his papa. Well, that was mostly because the man was never home. Tsuna would only see him a few times a year.

"Because I can that's why! Haha. By the way what's your name, little man?"

He grinned a toothy grin at being called a man. "I'm Sawada Tsunayoshi, 5 years old!" he introduced himself proudly, all thoughts of being told never to give his name to strangers gone.

"Well then Tsu-chan, I'm Misaki. Nice to meet you!" The girl known as Misaki said with a genuine smile, something that she knew she hadn't done in a long time. 'Not after since he came...' Misaki cut the thought before it could conntinue. No point in thinking unpleasant thoughts in a happy moment like this.

"Nice to meet you too, Misaki Nee-chan!"

"Hmm, that's too long. Just call me Misa-nee."

"Mmkay." Tsuna said brightly. With a quieter voice he continued, "Thanks Misa-nee."

-Present time-

Sawada House

Sawada Tsunayoshi was lying comfortably on his bed. His eyes were open and he stared at the ceiling thinking about the phone call he just made. He sighed as he heard a loud explosion coming from downstairs. 'Geez, there's never a moment of quiet anymore. At least I'm used to it now...I would probably be freaked out if a day went by when something didn't blow up or somebody doesn't attack me' he thought somewhat bitterly. You have to admit, that is really depressing.

The door suddenly flew open and a loud "Juudaime, good morning!" was heard. It didn't surprise Tsuna though, since his training had allowed him to sense the bomber before he even finished going up the stairs.

Tsuna turned his head, smiled his usual smile, and greeted the silver haired teen. "Good morning, Gokudera-kun."

"Come on, Juudaime! Everyone is downstairs already. It's almost time to go. Can you believe it? School's almost over." Gokudera mindlessly chatted, barely giving the smaller boy a chance to talk.

Tsuna tuned his self proclaimed "Right hand man" out while he gathered his stuff quickly with apparent ease. 3 minutes later, he left the room with his companion following faithfully behind. All of a sudden he felt a presence coming towards his head and he resisted the urge to follow his reflex. To the trained eye, all that could be seen was a sudden twitch from his arm. It was actually the suppressed beginning to a complex martial art move that would have sent his attacker out the window. He felt a weight slam into his head, pushing him to the ground. A concerned "Juudaime" was yelled and expertly ignored by both of the other people currently there.

"Dame-Tsuna, your reflexes were too slow. It looks like we have to have more training." a babyish voice said.

Tsuna did his trademark "Hiieeeee" and rubbed his head. "What are you doing, Reborn! You could have really hurt me just now!"

"That was the point Dame-Tsuna. No pain no gain. And hurry up, I personally came upstairs to get you." It was a typical answer from the Spartan-like tutor.

'Wow, it's not like I asked you to come upstairs.' Tsuna thought but otherwise complied. He slowly descended down the stairs while Gokudera repeatedly asked if he was hurt. 'He's nice and all, but he's starting to get annoying. But, he is a good friend. Someone who's been by my side through so much.'

The small group walked into the kitchen. Okay, it was more like Tsuna and Gokudera walked with Reborn riding on top of Tsuna's head. 'Maybe I should start charging him a taxiing fare...Naw, don't have a death wish yet.' the teen tought as he moved.

Tsuna sat down and eyed the dinning room, sighing at the destruction that had become common place. Lambo was whining and throwing food and weapons at Reborn. Reborn was expertly ignoring Lambo and deflecting the attacks back at him. I-Pin was trying unsuccessfully to calm Lambo down. Gokudera and Yamamoto were in another argument. And, Bianchi was just randomly throwing her good (poisonous) cooking around the room. Why she's doing that? Tsuna had no idea. How did his mother get everything cleaned without help everyday? He also had no idea. Tsuna privately thought that his mother had a superpower of her own. Maybe not the 'Flames' one he had, but a time or speed one. How else could she clean the house, fix all the broken furniture, shop for food everyday (because whether he liked it or not, everyone went to his house for food), disarm random bombs in the house, take care of Lambo and I-Pin, do the laundry, and cook dinner all before he comes back form school?

It was like magic.

As his mother handed him a lunch bento, she started crying. "I can't believe that my little Tsu-chan is growing up. He's going to high school and making so many friends! I wish your Dad was here to see you now!"

Tsuna frowned for a second at the nickname but recovered fast so that only Reborn saw. "Mom, I'm still in middle school. Graduation isn't until next week. Save this for when I actually graduate. By the way, why isn't Dad coming?" Tsuna asked.

"Sorry Honey, he can't. His job doesn't let him visit that often, you know that. I'm sure he would like nothing better than to come here." she replied looking sad.

Tsua's face turned uncharacteristically grim 'His job right…' "I got it mom. I guess I'll see you later then." Tsuna said with a wave as he left.

"Hey, Dame-Tsuna. Why did you frown just now?" Reborn asked while walking on the wall alongside Tsuna. Gokudera and Yamamoto were ahead of them and in another argument.

'Because Tsu-chan is what Misa-nee used to call me. Mom usually says Tsu-kun or something like that. But I can't tell him that.' he thought. "Because I really wanted Dad to come to graduation." Tsuna said instead. With that thought, the teen couldn't help but resent his father a little. The man had missed out on most of the achievements in Tsuna's life! Sure, it was obvious that there were reasons but Tsuna often wondered if his father would choose the Vongola over the Sawada family if push came to shove. Tsuna knew what his own answer would be, that's for sure.

Reborn frowned and didn't notice that his student was mirroring his face. "Your Dad has an important job. Family is important, but the Familigia is more important. Since you're going to be the Decimo, you should understand that right Dame-Tsuna?"

"Yeah, yeah I got it"

"Only one yeah is enough. Now, why don't we use this time for extra training. Run to school!" Reborn's eyes glowed in sadistic glee as he changed Leon into a green handgun.

Tsuna did another trademark "Hiieeee" and ran off. 'Sadistic little bastard!' he thought as he passed his two friends in front.

Unknown Location

"So, what do we do with this guy?" a voiced previously identified as Leopard asked. The still masked individual was lounging on a chair, inspecting her nails in boredom. She was in a room that reeked of antisceptics with a few other people.

"We patch him up as best as we can and ship him off to a Vongola base." a man wearing a medic suit said as he ran some scans on the unconscious Frederico. He scribbled some words down and continued, "This guy's been through a lot, but I've seen worse. We'll do what we can for him here, though we'll have to keep some of the injuries on so that people won't be suspicious."

The room was silent except for the occasional beeping sound from the equipment. "I still don't know why Boss had us save him. The Vongola might change their mind and make him the Decimo instead of Boss." a man wearing a Dragon mask said.

"We just have to follow his orders. I'm sure Boss has a good reason for this." said the one with a snake mask as he twirled his chains in his right hand.

"Boss is just too nice." one of the other masked individuals in the room said and everyone agreed with that statement.

Nanimori Middle School

Tsuna sat on the roof of the school, thinking with his eyes closed. Thinking about his life thus far and the choices that he made. It was lunch time and he could hear yells of "Tsuna!" "Sawada!" and "Juudaime!" all over campus. He knew the source: his Guardians were looking for him to either eat lunch together in the case of Gokudera and Yamamoto or spar in the case of Ryohei.

A couple of minutes before class had ended, Tsuna had asked to be excused to go to the restroom. He had been on the roof for 6 minutes already before the lunch bell rang. It wasn't that he didn't like spending time with his friends, it's just that he needed some time to think.

He had been plagued with doubt for a while now. What he chose to do would change many things in the future. Whether for good or bad still had to be seen. Did he make the right choice? He couldn't help but think back at what he had asked Reborn 5 months ago.

-Flashback-

"Hey Reborn?" Tsuna asked a week after he and his Guardians successfully defeated the Varia. The group had emerged battered and tired, but victorious.

"What is it Dame-Tsuna?" came the usual reply. Tsuna was used to the added moniker to his name by now.

"There were other candidates for the Boss seat right? What happened to them?"

Reborn was silent for a few seconds. "They are indisposed at the moment. Why? Are you still saying you don't want to be Boss? It's your destiny and you can't change that. Besides, a good Boss would already know about their rivals."

"I never wanted to be Boss in the first place! But that's not why I was asking. I'm just curious." Tsuna said.

The hitman stared at his student for a secon before giving in. Knowing this information couldn't hurt after all. "Fine, I'll educate you. Listen well, Dame-Tsuna. The other candidates were Nono's 3 sons: Massimo, Enrico, and Frederico. Massimo was killed in a drive by. Enrico's body was found in a garbage dump with more than a dozen 'holes' in him if you get what I mean.. And, Frederico's house burned down. "

"Eh? Burned down? Was there a body?" Tsuna asked with interest.

"There was a body that was burnt beyond recognition. The teeth were pulled out so we couldn't tell if it was Frederico or not." Reborn replied.

That bothered Tsuna. If there was no concrete evidence, how could they say it was really Frederico? "Then how did you guys know it was really him? It could've been some random person for all you know."

"Nono identified it himself. He gave all 3 of his sons special Vongola heir rings. They have Nono's Flames stored in them so forgeries are not possible." Reborn said as the door opened and Tsuna's friends came in.

Ignoring the spectators for now Tsuna asked his last question. "So, if Frederico were to suddenlly be found alive. If he wasn't dead at all. Would I still be Vongola Decimo?"

Though he didn't show it, Reborn was surprised at this question. "It's not possible for him to be alive. But yes, even if Frederico were to be found alive, you should still be the future Boss. Even though I had my doubts, you passed fair and square. All that's left is the official inheritance ceremony."

"Of course you would still be Juudaime, Juudaime! And, I'll follow you to the death!" Gokudera shouted as the group got closser to Tsuna and Reborn.

"Thanks Gokudera-kun." Tsuna said as he smiled. 'I don't think that Frederico is really dead. Finding him would make grandpa happy so maybe I should ask the guys to look for him. But, I'm glad that I would still become the Decimo even if he is found. That way, my plans can come true; the Ombranera can ally with the Vongola and eventually join the family. Then, I can protect all my friends.'

-Flashback End-

Tsuna looked out into the sky. 'Misa-nee, I made the right choice right? Everyone will be happy that Frederico is back. When I become the Vongola Boss, I can unite the 2 families. All these people who stayed by my side. These people who fought by me and laughed by me. I will protect them all.'

The roof door opened and his friends poured in. Tsuna smiled as he watched them take their usual places and do their usual lunchtime antics. He imagined his Ombranera Guardians here with him, mingling with his Vongola Guradians. He sighed in satisfaction, 'What I wouldn't give to have that come true.'

-Character Profile-

Honda Misaki

Age – 20 (deceased)

Gender – female

Family – Honda Kei (step father), Honda Michiru (mother)

School – None

Affiliations – Ombranera Family (Honorary Member)

Names – Ombranera's Guardian Angel

Weapon of Choice – Fists, Bokken