A/N: Wassup, reader? Thanks for readin'! :D I feel like no matter how many times I look over this chapter, I won't feel like it's finished. I don't know. It's weird. And sorry ^^; Usually I update faster, but I've had this chapter in my Document Manager for a while, but I am just now putting it up.

"Again!" Dino commanded. "This time I want headshots only!"

Lambo groaned and lifted his gun, aiming at the moving dummies that was roughly 2 kilometers away. A series of blasts followed. 9x19mm Parabellum bullets zipped through the dummies' heads at first, then as Lambo went on, their necks were shot and then, even worse, their shoulders. Sometimes he would even miss.

"Damn," Lambo cursed under his breath.

Dino shook his head. "You were doing well earlier."

"Of course." Lambo said. "We've been doing this all day! I'm tired and this getting lame and boring!"

Dino could feel himself getting irritated. "Training is going to be lame and boring, but you're not good enough yet so you need to keep working."

"I don't wanna. I love guns, grenades, and bazookas as much as the next guy, probably even more than the next guy, but I don't want to spend six hours shooting them off at target that won't stay fucking still." Out pure aggravation, Lambo shot at one of the dummy's mechanical wiring, making it crackle with electricity before exploding.

Giannini cried out loud as though he was stabbed. "No! My baby!"

"Lambo!" Dino said angrily. "That mannequin cost a lot of money and was specially made to simulate—"

"Shut up, I don't care! I'm done. Mochida!" Lambo yelled, grabbing his things and storming out the room.

Mochida rolled his eyes. "Yes, waka?"

"I'm going to hang out with my friends. Drive me there." Lambo demanded, shamelessly showing his anger.

"Yessir." Mochida sighed, following behind Lambo to the car before driving off.

"That kid…" Giannini grumbled, fighting back tears.

"I thought I'd do him a favor by honing his skills while I'm here, but he just doesn't listen. All he does is laze around and expect himself to get stronger." Dino said. "He's probably never been put through real training! Tsuna doesn't even send him out to complete simple tasks."

"Subordinates do more work than he does!"

"He still runs around and goofs off when he should be polishing his proficiency every chance he has!"

"Can he really call himself a Guardian?"

"Somehow, yes. He may be a whiny brat who gets way too much leeway when it comes to how he spends his money and talks to those above him, but he most certainly belongs amongst the Vongola Guardians."

"Eh? Really? I don't see it…"

"Oh, Lambo-kun, you're so beautiful!" One girl exclaimed, holding onto Lambo's arm. "You should be a model!"

Another girl agreed while looking at more clothing. She picked out a black vest. "Oh! This will look really good on you, Lambo-kun!"

"You can make anything look good!"

"You're so lovely! Try this on!"

Lambo faced away from the group of girls showering him with compliments and false love. "I don't want to look at clothes anymore. I want jewelry, and a new watch, and I'm hungry."

"Okay!" The females said simultaneously as they trailed Lambo on his quest for accessories and food.

Gokudera scolded him as soon as he came home. The tip of his toe gently touched the floor and that contact acted as button. Pushing it activated severe lecturing.

"Are friggin' retarded? You didn't answer your phone, you walked out on Dino coaching you, and Mochida tells me you even ran away from him when he tried to bring you here! What the fuck is wrong with you? Did you think you weren't going to get in trouble? It doesn't matter what your position is, you are still a teenager so you're going to have to do as others say! I shouldn't even let you go out anymore because you always act like this!"

"What are you talking about? You all got to do whatever you wanted when you were my age!"

"That's because we eagerly trained so that we could get stronger and protect our friends! But you're lazy!"

"I am not! I spar with I-Pin all the time."

"When you feel like it! I've heard Fuuta and I-Pin having to try and convince you to spar before! Not only that but you still lose sometimes!"

"Do you expect me to be perfect?"

"I don't expect you to be, you need to be!"

The hurt in Lambo's eyes was clear. Weren't they asking too much of him? All the adults around him, pressuring him to be better, to be more enthusiastic, to do as he's told. He was about sick of it. He was the only Guardian without his own faction of underlings. He seldom got assignments, and when he did, they never required him to leave Namimori or even base. He wasn't even invited to important meetings. It was always Tsuna, Ryohei, Gokuedera, and Yamamoto, occasionally even Hibari would be present, but not him! Thinking about it made the blood in his body boil. It wasn't fair. At parties though, when other families were invited, they would make sure Lambo was there. Like he was just some doll to be given a title and put on display, but serve no honest function.

"I don't even get it!" Lambo roared, unable to hold his anger in any longer. "What am I even training for? You guys keep me here, locked up! Away from any real combat or anything! You tell me to get stronger and stronger, but it wouldn't matter what I do! It's not like you'll allow me to use my strength! I don't want to work hard anymore because I know it's pointless!"

"Lambo!"

"Shut up!" Lambo's dashed to the stairs, on his way up, he paused. "I hate all you selfish adults." Then he ran to his room, slamming and locking the door.

Gokudera could only stand in the genkan, astounded.

"That went well." Yamoto laughed, approaching the scene of the argument that left Gokudera dumbfounded. He put an arm around Gokudera's shoulder and pulled him close. "You probably said too much. He's really mad."

Gokudera grabbed onto Yamamoto's shirt and pressed his cheek into his lover's chest. "I hate this. I don't even know what made him like that."

"Tons of things!" Yamamoto chuckled. "It's not that Lambo doesn't want to fight, but the issue isn't that he does either. He doesn't want to be so protected. You want him to become strong so that he can protect himself, but he wants to protect others. One way to say it, I guess, would be that our brat doesn't want to be such a brat anymore."

Gokudera scoffed and muttered, "No way…" He blinked sadly. "…No way…"

"The plane departs on the day before his birthday and the day before that we'll be busy preparing for him leaving, so the party on the 25th." Gokudera said while showing Yamamoto a schedule and party plan. "And we'll be using a ballroom in order to hold so many people. Some highly esteemed guests from other families will be there."

"I heard Tsuna invited the Bovino." Yamamoto said, snickering a litte as he said it.

"I'm not sure how Lambo will react, but tenth wanted Lambo to meet his former family since he rarely saw them as a kid."

"Hmm…"

"What are you guys talking about?" Lambo asked dressed in his green satin pajamas with a croissant hanging from his mouth and a cup of coffee in his hands.

Gokudera hastily covered the papers with the plans scribbled on them. "Nothing!"

Lambo stared at him. "Ooooookaaaaaay. Weirdo." He hopped onto one of the barstools, setting his drink onto the counter. "Can some of my friends come over today?"

"Even if you didn't ask, you still would've had them come." Gokudera said.

"Damn right." Lambo replied boldly.

"Lambo, I've been meaning to ask you this," Yamamoto said. "I was wondering why most of your friends are girls."

The boy put his hand to his chin. "…They are, aren't they?"

Gokudera's mouth formed a straight line. "Y-You seriously never noticed?"

"Not really. But now that I think of it, the people I called over here today are Minami-chan, Chisuzu-chan, Kaneko-chan, and Rie-chan."

"You're popular." Yamamoto said, mind walking back to the days when girls would crowd around him. Gokudera's thought tread the same way, the memories bringing him to cringe.

"Only with the girls." Lambo said. "I think the guys might hate me. This one time I overhead them talking…

"You guys know that Lambo kid?"

"Yeah, what a prick!"

"He stole my girlfriend!"

"He always gets away with not wearing the uniform!"

"I heard he knows the chairman. He probably gets special treatment."

"Not only that, but did you see the car he got picked up in?"

"It was super expensive! Why doesn't he just leave here and go to a private school?"

"Him? Leave special treatment? Yeah, right."

…or something like that."

Gokudera grabbed Lambo's cheeks and stretched them out. "You let them talk shit about you? You should've kicked their asses!"

"Goodness, Hato-nii, that hurts…! Tol…er…ate…!"

"Mochida-tan, are you stupid? That's not the way to my house." Lambo barked from the backseat, kicking the spiky-haired man's chair.

Mochida's grip on the wheel tightened. "Why did they give me the job of watching you? Did they think I'd have the patience not to strangle you?"

"But I haven't said anything mean yet, Mochida-tan." Lambo snarled.

"Shut up, it doesn't even matter since we're here."

"See? You're the one speaking cruelly. Why are we here?" Lambo asked, looking up at the tall, dome building that Mochida parked outside of. They stepped of the car and got a better view of the building. It had vivid lights coming from it and was very elegantly designed.

"Come on." Mochida said, heading for the large set of double doors. Lambo jogged to catch up with him.

"Answer my question."

Mochida ignored him once more as he pushed the doors open, light flooding out of the grand ballroom filled with nicely dressed people.

Someone murmured, "Oh, he's here!"

Another whispered, "Time to say it!"

Then a collection of voices hollered, "HAPPY SIXTEENTH BIRTHDAY LAMBO!" The cheers and shouts. The noise nearly knocked two males in the doorway down.

Lambo could feel tears gathering in his eyes as he gazed at the grand pageantry of his party.

"Do you like the decorations, Lambo-kun?" Minami asked, clinging to him. Kaneko, Rie, and Chisuzu soon followed. "We all helped." More girls crowded around him, gossiping and giggling.

Lambo hugged some of them. "All my friends are here!"

"So many women!" I-Pin called out, putting her hands on her hips. "You dog!" she joked. Lambo hugged her too.

"I-Pin. This is great, isn't it?" Lambo asked.

I-Pin nodded. "Yep! I'm told there are tons more surprises for you!"

"But this is weird." Lambo said. "My birthday isn't for another three days. Why now?"

"You'll see!" she snickered.

Suddenly, he was pulled away and was pushing up against the recognizable warmth of another body. Whoever had grabbed him, leaned down, and whispered in his ear, "If you keep letting so many girls touch you, I'll get jealous."

The familiar voice sounded so gentle yet threatening at the same time. He didn't even have to see the face to know who it was.

"Fuuta…" He moaned, cuddling close to the man. They remained like that until Lambo heard Shamal clearing his throat. Lambo let go and greeted the doctor, who merely laughed heartily in response.

"Lambo!" Gokudera called out from a balcony that encircled the inside of the top of the done. "Come up here in a few minutes, got it?"

"Got it!" Lambo shouted back.

"Mochida!" Gokudera bellowed. "Hey, Mochida!"

"What?" The man snapped.

"Give him the thing! Th-the box with the stuff… the clothes!"

"All right, all right! Stop yelling!" Mochida dragged Lambo into a bathroom by the arm, carrying a box with him. When they got into the large, white, sparkling clean restroom, Mochida opened the box to reveal a tuxedo and cow print bow tie. "Here you go, waka. Gokudera-san wants you to change into this." Mochida left the room after that.

Lambo hurriedly and excitedly begun to change, then, halfway through, pulled out his cell phone and called Mochida.

"What?" The man barked, annoyed.

"I need help." Lambo moaned.

"Dammit!" Mochida snarled, snapping the phone closed.

The following converation would go somewhere along the lines of, "Do I put this on next...?" "No, you idiot! It's this one... I think." "Then where does this go?" "Shit. Take it all off, I think that was supposed to be put on first." "Why can't I just wear a nice suit?" "Shut up and put this on!"

Eventually, Lambo came out of the bathroom, practically shining when adorned in the smooth tux.

"He's so handsome!"

"Very suave!"

"A strapping young lad!"

Lambo strut around making small talk and humbling himself because of the extravagance he was presented with.

Ryohei approached him and smacked on the back several times, talking about how much he's grown. Haru asked him how he was and if he's behaving properly. His answer was stuttered. Kyoko nibbled on some refreshments with him and explained how she made some of them, he was amazed. Dino spoke with him about improving his stamina, but Lambo showed little interest in discussing things of the sort, so Dino switched the subject to praising the curly-haired kid, which Lambo was very fond of. Spanner gave him a lollipop and told him it was a present while Shouichi told him he wished he could've been at some of Lambo's earlier parties. Giannini jumped in and bragged about how many of them he'd been to. Shouichi really didn't care to hear it though. Bianchi spotted him and was going to shove some poison cooking in his face, but at the last second, she realized who he was. She tittered at her mistake and squeezed him lovingly.

Lambo looked long and hard for Tsuna, but couldn't find him until he felt sharp eyes fall on his back. He turned around to see Tsuna giving him a stern look. Lambo was confused. Why did Tsuna look so solemn at this magnificent event?

"Vongol—!"

"You've turned out to be a dashing young man!" An insanely deep voice behind him bellowed.

Lambo turned to the voice to see a plump man with black hair, a twisted mustache, and a cigar hanging out his mouth. The man wore a cheesy cow-print tux and, despite being in such formal attire, he sported a belt with an overly sized bull-horn belt buckle. He looked dimly familiar to Lambo.

"B…Boss?" He said uncertainly.

"So you remember!" The Bovino hugged Lambo, raising him into the air. He constricted the boy so badly that Lambo thought he'd puke up his lungs. "This is fantastic, but actually I'm not the boss anymore!" He set Lambo down and stepped aside to reveal a young man with similar flair as the ex-boss. He tall and lanky, with an uncaring look and his cigar bigger than the previous boss's.

"I am." The young man said. He was about Fuuta's age and his tone was just as indifferent as his body language insinuated.

"Ah, I remember you. Your name's Emilio. You used to bully me around a lot." Lambo said equally as lethargic as the young man.

"'sup, Crybaby Lambo?" Emilio asked, puffing on smoke.

"So, you became boss now, huh?"

"And you've become a part of the Vongola?"

"The Lightning Guardian." Lambo felt the need to add.

"The Lightning Guardian…"

"How's the family?"

"Good. Everyone's good."

"Good."

"I mean, not as successful as you, of course." Emilio scoffed. "The frickin' Vongola. My pops can be happy about it all he wants, but I'm disgusted by you leaving."

"Emilio!" His father retorted scornfully.

"Sorry." Lambo said. "But you're just jealous."

Emilio's eyes narrowed with anger. "You…!"

Lambo ran a hand through his hair. "You know that being the Guardian of the Vongola is way better than being boss of that lower family."

"Lambo!" Tsuna said strictly, joining the boy's side. "That is bad-mannered even for your standards."

Lambo noticeably shrunk a bit from being yelled at by his boss in front of his former colleagues.

"I apologize for his behavior." Tsuna said, shaking the hands of ex-boss and current boss of the Bovino.

"It's fine! The boy's always been mouthy." The ex-boss said, waving incident away.

"Yes. He still acts like a child." Tsuna said frankly. "But at the same time, he expects not to be treated as one." Lambo could feel Tsuna's meaningful glimpse at him.

"Lambo!" Gokudera shouted from the second level. "It's time for you to come up here!"

Lambo smiled and shouted, "'Kay! I'll be there!" He sprinted through the crowd and rushed up the stairs, people moving apart to let him pass.

He arrived to his brother with an eager look that made Gokudera laugh.

"Hyper, aren't you?" Gokudera asked.

"Yeah! This is wonderful, Hato-nii!" Lambo said.

Yamamoto smiled. "Glad you like it. A lot of your family and friends worked hard on this."

"I-Pin and Fuuta worked especially hard. Even Mochida did his best." Gokudera told Lambo who was surprised to hear that Mochida did something nice for him. "Did you see the Bovino?"

"Yeah, I was talking to them before you called me up here." Lambo said.

"Tenth told them to come. He thought it'd be good for you."

"It was. I'm glad to see their okay." Lambo said kindly, but then he added. "More importantly I'm a bit glad to see that I'm better off than them."

Yamamoto laughed. "It's unhealthy to think that way, kiddo. Hey, we have a big announcement for you."

"Yep." Gokudera said. "But we want everyone to hear it and see your reaction!"

This scream got the attention of the whole room. "Ahem," Gokudera began. "As his guardians, Takeshi and I wanted to get Lambo something really special! We spent a lot of time coming up with what to get him and planning it out! And now, finally, we are going to reveal what we got him for his sixteenth birthday!" Gokudera then reached into his inner jacket pocket and pulled one plane ticket, then handed it to Lambo.

"A plane ticket to France?" He looked to Gokudera. "What the-? Why only one? I'm going by myself? That doesn't seem like much fun."

Gokudera nodded. "True, true. The plane ride there all by yourself will probably be a little boring, but I'm sure reaching Maman and Papa in France will be well worth—" He was tackled to the ground by Lambo. The room burst into laughter.

"A trip to France with Maman? You're kidding, right? This is awesome! You're the best!" Lambo shouted, rubbing his head against Gokudera's chest with his arms enfolding the man's neck.

Gokudera pushed the boy off. "You idiot! That was embarrassing! Besides it wasn't just me who planned this! Yamamoto and the tenth did too!"

Lambo glanced at Yamamoto who was grinning like a fool. "Thanks, Take-nii." He said bluntly.

"That's it?" Yamamoto chortled.

"Where's Vongola?" Lambo asked the horde of people, leaning over the railing of the balcony. They all turned to one another and rumored about the boss's disappearance.

Hibari leaned against the dome wall that was now pulsating with the throng of Italian music, the noise of an accordion vibrating through the floor.

"Don't worry," he said. "You made the right decision."

Tsuna stepped out from the shadows to let himself be seen by Hibari. "Shouldn't I tell him now?"

"I didn't think you were one to ruin a child's good mood, Vongola." Hibari said with a smirk.

"You're right. It'd be a mistake to tell him now."

"Worried about your mother?"

"Knowing Lambo, he won't let her even a kilometer near danger. He's not a baby anymore."

"I don't think there's a single person within the Vongola who've realized that yet." Hibari said. He started striding off.

"Hibari," Tsuna called out. The man stopped on the spot. "Did you get Lambo a present?"

Hibari only smirked and continued on his way.

The next day appeared painstakingly ordinary. In the morning he had training with Dino who was heading back to Italy soon and in the afternoon he played with some tekko that came to him as a mysterious birthday gift from an unknown contributor. Some of his female friends and Yamamoto were packing his things for him. But then Gokudera ran to Lambo with his hair wild and beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

"Boss wants to see you now. It sounded like an emergency." Gokudera breathed out. The curly-haired boy blinked while pondering the possibilities.

Lambo stood in the corner with his hands in his pocket and open eye looking to the ceiling.

"Why are you here, Hayato?" Tsuna asked with half-lidded eyes.

"If my being here is a problem, I'll leave, but I just wanted to—"

"No, it's fine. I understand." The mafia boss then directed his gaze to the curly-haired kid standing in front of his desk. "Lambo, I wanted to ask you to −don't yawn when someone's talking to you− do this because you are –don't roll your eyes either, it's rude− opportunely going into the area where you'll complete this task."

"Huh? A mission in France?"

"Yes. And it's very important." Tsuna declared firmly. "Do it right. Do it in a timely manner. And be careful."

"Tenth," Gokudera chimed in. "I'm sorry, but Lambo has never worked out of the country and to give him something so significant to do and requesting that he does it perfectly seems a bit unreasonable."

"Hayato, I will ask you to leave if you voice your disagreement again." Tsuna said making Gokudera wince. "Are you okay with what I'm saying so far, Lambo?"

This is it. Lambo thought. I'm being treated as an adult! I'm actually being asked to do something. Shit. This pressure. This responsibility. I never knew it felt so heavy. Fuck. I don't know if I want to go through with this. I'm should Hato-nii's side, but I can't say no to Boss...

"Vongola, I agree with Hato-nii." Lambo said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm not sure I'm ready for this. But despite my fears, I'll do it."

"Lambo," Tsuna began coolly. "You are a Guardian. We all have our duties to carry out. You are a very strong member of this family and have not been given the chance to show us your abilities. I admit, it is mostly my fault." Tsuna couldn't look at Lambo as he said this. He felt guilty from holding Lambo back. "Every time an instance came up where I could send you out into a potential battle, I wouldn't, because I was scared. That was wrong of me. At your age, we were doing much worse than what I could be asking of you. We keep coddling you and you're not going to get stronger that way. No high-tech moving target or five-minute fake fight is going to completely prepare you for our type of jobs. Only real experiences will. No matter what, you are going on this mission."

Gokudera's face crumpled into a scowl while Lambo tried to stop himself from trembling.

"What is it?" Gokudera asked. "What does he have to do?"

Tsuna spun his seat around so that he wasn't facing the other two anymore. He couldn't stand seeing their distressed expressions. "Bring Reborn home."

I love you for reading, love me too and review ;) Next chapter, Lambo heads for The French Republic! Au revoir!