Summary: I don't suppose I have to mention about this by now.

Beta: momorona

Rating: T might change to M in later chapters

Disclaimer: Only the plot of this is my idea

CHAPTER 3

Tsuna stared down at his tiny hand, flexing his little fingers as he wondered what had just happened. Why did Mr. Spoon fall? Confused, the young brunet peered back up towards Reborn and held his small opened palm out. He even waved it up and down to emphasize his need for Mr. Spoon to be back to him. Perhaps Reborn kept it? But the man himself had his unreadable eyes shadowed beneath his black fedora, head bowed. He wasn't even looking towards Tsuna's way as he carried on stirring the sauce in the pan.

"Da!" This time, Reborn started adding in the softened pasta, ignoring him. Tsuna could only frown at that. He cried louder this time, small arms waving randomly about vigorously. "DAAAA! DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

The poor upset toddler's whining became shrilling screams as he started crying. Tiny hands started to grab for random items near him while he cried himself out. And in his frustration, Tsuna threw them at Reborn with all the strength his tiny body allowed, unable to see with endless tears obstructing his view. He wanted Mr. Spoon back!

That was when Reborn finally had enough. When did he even sign up for this?! He was a well-known hitman for God's sake! An assassin after another's life and not looking after some goddamn babies! Ugh. Once everything was back to the usual, he would definitely triple up his dame student's training at once! Call it as payment for this mess Reborn was stuck with. His dame student needed to take responsibility for his young self's actions. And then, perhaps, he would enjoy seeing the brunet scream in horror and resignation.

Oh, he would definitely like the sound of that. Heh.

The sight of Tsuna's clumsy and poor aim was laughable but it wasn't surprising, seeing as his young charge was just a toddler. Reborn expertly avoided any mess towards his way, not the least amused. The pasta was finally cooked, sitting fresh and steamy hot in its pan with the fire off. So he no longer needed to pay attention to it. With that out of the way, Reborn quickly stopped one of Tsuna's tiny hands from throwing a handsome golden pocket watch —where did that come from? Without wasting time, he thrust a large serving spoon in front of the crying toddler, waving it a bit to get the other's attention. It didn't take long. The metallic shine soon got the young brunet to notice it, those large watery puffy eyes brightening at the sight. Tiny hands immediately tried to gain hold of it as Reborn let him. And in no time at all, the toddler himself was already distracted and completely absorbed in his newfound fascination.

It was huge in comparison compared to the previous!

While that was done, the hitman let go of the young brunet's hand and held the watch in his free grasp. His sharp obsidian eyes observed the detailed carvings of Victorian designs covering its entire outer surface, both front and back. Its weight felt right on his palm with its polished metal cool to the touch. The watch appeared to be well looked after as there was not a single scratch or rust in sight. And with his thumb, Reborn clicked it open.

But the sight inside immediately made him clutched it tightly, its circular edge biting into the pads of his fingers.

Ruby red blood covered over most of the inner cover of the lid and glassy surface of the watch. With it opened, the excess amount managed to escape and drip onto his palm, the thick fluid felt warm and familiar to the touch. Fresh. A recent kill, he mused. Despite being a seasoned hitman himself, the sight was still haunting and unpleasant to him. It made his heart cold and bitter with all the lives he had to eliminate. And the more he killed, the more Reborn's world darkened and thickened. It became suffocating. Empty. Hollow.

Maddening. Desiring. Exhilarating...

Tsuna's child-like giggles and soft squeals brought Reborn's attention back to earth. His hand was already inside his suit in reflex for his gun. But Leon was not here nor was there an actual weapon itself on him. The leathered gun holster was also missing in the first place. And realising where he was, Reborn tutted at himself for getting distracted like that. It had been a long while since something had managed to get to him like this. There was no way he was not going to let this happen again. It would cost him his life if he did.

The hitman quickly shut the lid close, not wanting the blood to drip onto the floor just in case. He slipped it into one of his suit's pockets, wanting to investigate later as his feet brought him straight to the sink. He needed to wash the blood off, using the time to try composing himself again. Firstly, there was the tomato plant's odd location and now the pocket watch with the blood. None of it made any sense! It was too random. Too absurd. But on that thought, Reborn suddenly realized that some items in this house were too out of place in this time frame. He started to suspect that someone had messed up with Time and its dimensions. And perhaps throw him and Tsuna both into this mess as well?

But what was their purpose for doing this, Reborn wondered.

The conclusion he came up with was easy. Too simple, without much thought. To be rid of the strongest hitman and also the Decimo, someone was trying to break the Vongola apart. It was done in order to cause ruckus and confusion with the famiglia's leader and 'advisor' missing. A common scenario one would use to create the necessary uncertainty and fear for everyone in Vongola. And while that would be happening, the enemies of the famiglia would use this distraction to ambush and endanger everyone.

It was not good. This would become a bloody massacre if that were to be the case. Reborn needed to act fast. Tsuna was far too young to be of any help now.

Currently, said toddler was happily gnawing on the spoon, saliva on both utensil and tiny hands gripping onto the long metal handle. Reborn could see Tsuna was into his world of his own as he turned the running tap off, palm free of blood. It took only a short moment to place the appropriate amount of pasta onto both plates by the dining table. So with that done, Reborn once again carried his young charge by the back of the too-large t-shirt. And by now, the hitman knew what was to come whenever he did that.

Not a minute later, he could see Tsuna's happy grin turned downwards as the young brunet frowned unhappily.

Reborn was already prepared for what was to come. Just before the toddler could make a fuss like earlier, while trying to hit the man with the spoon this time, Reborn had already placed the toddler onto a seat beside him. Tsuna peered up in response, his large expressive brown eyes blinked as he gnawed onto his spoon again with both tiny hands. His small frame appeared tiny on the large dining chair with the table too high up for reach. Reborn could only stare down at the strange but cute sight for a moment.

Hmm... on second thought...

Taking a seat himself, the hitman carried Tsuna once more but this time, prop the toddler onto his lap. It would do for now, Reborn decided, satisfied. He even made sure that the young brunet would not fall off, seeing as Tsuna, for some reason, started bouncing happily on his lap and waving his spoon about. The hitman instantly had an arm around the toddler's body to still him with his own, the action itself causing Tsuna to stop and peer up at him again with his fluffy head tilted back. Those large eyes of his blinked, its small mouth was slightly opened in child-like wonder.

"Uuu...?" Tsuna tilted his head to the side, holding his spoon up high into the air towards Reborn's face, waving it about.

"Don't want you falling off and hurt yourself. Sometimes your older self would even trip onto his own feet, dame Tsuna." Taking the toddler's wrist, Reborn gently held it down. With the serving spoon out of the way, he then went to pick up a fork on the dining table. "You're hungry, aren't you?"

Tsuna turned his gaze ahead of him, his large curious eyes catching sight of the plate filled with freshly cooked pasta waiting to be eaten. His little chin managed to reach just above the table's surface, the height itself was enough for him to see and reach forth. With the same tiny hand holding the large serving spoon, Tsuna held it out and started a combination of prodding and whacking the food gleefully. The action itself immediately caused both pasta and sauce to fly as the toddler cheered happily, hitting the table with his free hand at the same time.

Reborn did not find this amusing at all. He quickly stopped the young brunet from making a mess again —or worse, ruined the food by playing with it. The hitman then confiscated the serving spoon from Tsuna's tiny grasp.

"Oi, oi, oi, dame Tsuna. That's not for playing." He warned with a stern look down at the toddler on his lap. "If you're not going to listen, I won't get you food the next time."

"...! DA!" Tsuna cried, tiny hands trying to reach up for Mr. Big Spoon. But Reborn held it out of his reach. The unhappy toddler could only frown at that, unable to get it back. He even started sulking with a pout, small shoulders dejected. Creating a commotion didn't really get him what he wanted to convey.

He never actually got Mr. Spoon back, Tsuna soon notice that.

Placing the utensil at one side of the table, Reborn picked up his fork again. He had placed it back down earlier when Tsuna started making a mess. And now that the hitman had a firm hold on the toddler, he could finally start eating in peace. He ignored the wasted bits of food on the table's surface caused by his young charge's destruction. But it was only after his second forkful of pasta that Reborn noticed something. Sharp, obsidian eyes had caught sight of a pair of large, brown orbs peering up curiously at his actions, sulking gone. Reborn then lifted his utensil up from his own plate, observing the way Tsuna's eyes followed his every move with rapt attention. As he brought it to his lips, putting a forkful of pasta into his mouth, he noticed the toddler continued to watch with his little lips forming an 'o' expression as though understanding how it was done.

Reborn could already imagine the little clockworks moving in the toddler's head as he repeated the same process again.

"Uuu!" Interested, Tsuna tried to grab onto a fistful of suit's sleeve, tugging that large arm down persistently.

Reborn decided to let him as he lowered his hand with his fork. But he didn't exactly allowed Tsuna to have it as the hitman placed the utensil aside. Instead, he took a small clean spoon that he had prepared in advance. Reborn also pulled the small plate closer to them, indicating that it was for the toddler. Now, seeing this, Tsuna took the offered utensil with his tiny hand, clutching it with a fist by the handle. He then peered at the small quantity of his food and tried to follow the same way the man had done.

It didn't seem to be much of a feat for the toddler though.

Reborn had watched with the corner of his lips turned upwards slightly, noticing how clumsily his young charge was trying to mimic him. Even Tsuna made a small sound of distress whenever the pasta he tried to scoop up fell out of his plate. And at the fourth attempt, the toddler gave a cry of frustration and used his tiny hands instead.

Reborn immediately stopped Tsuna before he could grab one piece of the pasta.

"Dame Tsuna, you're not doing it properly." The hitman decided to show him how it should be done. With one of his large hands, he guided the tiny grasp slowly with the small spoon. "Don't just push it over the edge. The spoon is not going to scoop it up by itself if you don't do it correctly."

Tsuna blinked, watching.

"Try moving your wrist." Reborn started to demonstrate his own a little to show.

The toddler instead moved his entire hand and arm to the side —perhaps a bit too forcefully behind the movement. A small amount of the sauce and some pasta were pushed off the edge and onto the table. Seeing this, the hitman smacked his hand to his face. Teaching or training teenagers were completely different. Reborn usually used threats and physical harm to knock some sense into their heads —a fine example would be those dense Mafia bosses whose names were Dino or older Tsuna. So currently, the man was having a bit of a problem with the toddler.

"Uuu!" The young brunet started making random circles with his spoon using the sauce.

Reborn could only tut at the sight before him. "Food is not for playing, dame Tsuna." Unless there's sex involved of course. But clearly, this wasn't that kind of situation, time or person.

A large hand suddenly stopped the toddler for the second time, guiding the tiny grasp with the spoon. He scooped up some pasta and slowly brought it to Tsuna's lips. And soon enough, the toddler allowed the man to put it into his opened mouth. Reborn's sharp eyes watched him chew, making sure the other had done so properly and swallowed before repeating the same process again. It would be at another time before he could allow Tsuna to try feeding himself.

The first try was a failure.

Sigh...

A/N: I tried my best to upload each chapter as fast as I could but I have other stuff to handle as well. I'm trying to balance between this story and the things I have to attend to in real life. D: So I apologize if I end up taking too long for this amount of words per chapter. If I tried to make it longer, well... it'll just take longer for me to upload due to inspirations. I'm so slow. *sobs* I didn't even get to draw for my Reborn ask blog... orz

Thanks for much for the reviews. It makes me smile every time I see a notification of it in my inbox. :D

Like before, reviews would be nice on any constructive criticism and comments. They would help me greatly in improving my story as I get used to this.