Tsuna was despairing silently as he tied the laces of his shoes, sitting at the genkan of his house. He worked on tying the knots on his left shoe before moving on to the right, keeping his movements as slow as possible. However, he could not delay the inevitable and he knew this. With a heavy sigh that held with it the woes of the world, the Vongola Decimo rose to his feet and picked up his school bag. Slinging it over one shoulder, he bent down to also pick up a small, silver paper bag with a pattern of stars embossed on the shiny exterior. It was no heavier than a can of peach tea but to Tsuna it weighed as much as a block of lead in his hand.

Tsuna gulped, recalling his conversation with Reborn the night before…

"Tsu-kun, Tsu-kun! Hurry and come, they're ready!"

Tsuna bumbled into the kitchen, still clutching the pair of dice from the Monopoly game he had been playing with the three children of the house. "All right, all right, I'm coming. What is it, Mo-" he was abruptly cut off by his mother. Or more accurately, his mother gigglingly stuffing a piece of chocolate truffle into his open mouth.

"Ne, Tsu-kun! Is it good? Is it good?" asked an excited Nana, eagerly leaning toward her son anticipating his reaction. Desperately trying not to choke, Tsuna stumbled backward and coughed a little. Grumbling under his breath, he rolled it around with his tongue and chewed on the little ball of chocolate. The truffle melted steadily in his mouth, spreading its gooey sweetness all over his taste buds and blessed them with their heavenly taste. The taste was sweet but not overly so, with just the right amount of bitterness to balance it out. Its scent rose up to his nose, tickling his nostrils with the heady aroma of freshly made chocolate. The texture was as smooth as liquid velvet and coated the inside of his mouth, releasing the tantalising flavours that only chocolate could have. As the last of the molten truffle slid down his throat and left his mouth, Tsuna was left with a very pleasant lingering warmth and sweetness on his tongue.

The look of bliss on her son's face seemed to be an answer enough for Nana. "Yatta! Congratulations Tsu-kun! I knew you could do it! Mama is so proud…" Tsuna was brought back to reality with a snap and looked up at his mother quizzically. "Eh?"

"My Tsu-kun managed to make his own chocolate. My Tsu-kun learned how to cook! Oh, Tsu-kun, you're growing up so fast!" Nana sobbed, throwing her arms around her only son in a hug that clearly showed Sawada Nana had more strength in her than she looked. She cried (happily?) into the front of Tsuna's shirt as the boy's face slowly began turning purple. "M-Mom! Can't… Br… eatHHHEee…"

Still smiling and wiping a tear from her eye, she released him. "Ah, of course, how silly of me! I've got to go get the wrappings and decorating ribbons – oh, and those cute little boxes we got the other day! You need it ready by tomorrow don't you, Tsu-kun?" And so Nana, sniffing quietly with a handkerchief to her eyes and ever-present smile on her face, exited the room.

'Mom…' Tsuna looked after her, feeling a warm glow in his chest at being praised by his mother. Though really, Tsuna looked down as he blushed, she didn't really have to react as if he was going off to be married and it would be the last time she would ever get to call him a child-

"ITEEEIII!" Tsuna squealed shrilly as a sharp pain made itself known on his head. "Re-Reborn! What was that for?" The Arcobaleno of the Sawada household settled himself on Tsuna's shoulder, arrogant smirk on his baby-like face. "Dame Tsuna. Just because you're off having fun in the name of a Vongola event doesn't mean you can slack off on your training. Why didn't you dodge? I expected better of you."

Tsuna resisted the urge to stare incredulously at his tutor, knowing that doing so would only invite calamity 'N-No one else is having fun besides you!' Tsuna shouted in his head. 'A-And! He has the kick of a demon! Doesn't he know his own strength?'

"Dame Tsuna. Did you just think that I have a demon's kick?"

"E-Eh? Of course not!" 'He can read minds, too?'

"Tch. As a mafia boss, especially for the Vongola, you need to learn to be less readable."

'So he can't read minds?'

"Of course I can't do something as stupid as reading minds, Dame Tsuna. This isn't one of those second-rate manga you like to collect."

'HIIII!'

"And don't squeal – either out loud or in your head. It's unbecoming for a mafia Don to sound like a girl."

"I-I do not sound like a girl!" Tsuna trilled at Reborn which ironically had the tone of a schoolgirl denying she had a crush on someone. Reborn smirked, bounding off Tsuna's shoulder and onto the dining table.

"Anyway, I came to tell you to work hard on the wrapping for your chocolate. This is the last stage so don't screw it up with your clumsiness." Oh right, the chocolate. The space between Tsuna's eyebrows furrowed in a frown. He had to arrange them in a box and wrap it and put girly ribbons on it and come tomorrow, he'd have to run for his life as-

Tsuna paused mid-sulk and his eye opened wide, his mouth slightly agape. Of course! Why didn't he think of it before-

"And before you get any ideas, don't think you can get off easily by just handing your chocolate over to the first person you see and consider the Vongola Valentine's Day Event to be over. Actual attempts at evading the participants for as long as possible must be made. Doing otherwise is cheating and as your tutor, I will not condone it."

Tsuna flinched away from the tiny hitman, who despite his size held many terrors. 'I forgot! His mindreading-!'

"The offense is punishable by death, as is the tradition. So if you try it-"

"I won't!"

Well, there goes that idea.

"Good. And also, assuming that I have mindreading skills is also punishable by death."

"HIII-!"

And that one too.

Tsuna heaved another sigh, hanging his head dejectedly. What had he done to deserve this? He must have done something truly horrible in his past life for Fate to hate him so much as to stick him with Reborn.

Glancing down at the silver paper bag dangling from his left hand he regarded the beautifully wrapped cuboid box inside mournfully. Complete with gleaming silver gift wrap and bound stylishly with an elaborate white lace ribbon, the Valentines chocolate looked like the stuff every boy dreamed of receiving from the girl he liked. Of course, Nana had been the one who had done most of the work with Tsuna just applying the tape where she told him to as she held paper and ribbon in place. "This way, Tsu-kun will be involved in the whole process enough that Reborn-kun won't be too upset," Nana had said.

If possible, Tsuna's spirits sank lower – even his own mother didn't trust him to get something as simple as wrapping a box right. Then again, he supposed that if he had been left on his own to do it…

Tsuna rapidly shook his head side to side like a dog shaking itself dry, jerking himself back to the situation at hand. 'Now's really not the time to think about that!' he thought, with a slight note of anxiety creeping into his tone. 'I've got to figure out how to get past Gokudera-kun and Yamamoto!'

Tsuna's predicament was very much real. Outside his house, as per usual, his Gokudera Hayato and Yamamoto Takeshi waited for him to come out so they could walk to school together. However, recent events have led today's circumstances to be slightly different than usual and more hazardous than usual. Tsuna could practically feel Gokudera's presence outside his door, growling in possessiveness and drooling all over his gateway as the bomber muttered under his breath about 'Juudaime' and 'chocolates' and 'mine'.

Tsuna raised a hand to his chin as he strategized – Gokudera was easy enough to be swayed by words so he could probably distract him long enough to get away. In that case, the actual problem was Yamamoto; provided the dark-haired baseball player did not regard this as merely a casual game organised by Lambo and the kids. If Yamamoto was serious, getting past fifty meters from his front door could pose a problem unless-

Tsuna thought of it for a moment, turning the idea over in his head. Yes, it should be fine. It was a Vongola event after all so it was related in a way and Reborn had not mentioned any rules prohibiting it, so it should be fine. Besides, this would allow him to get past both Yamamoto and Gokudera, he really had nothing to lose. Smirking slightly now with new confidence, Tsuna reached into his pants pocket…

"Maa maa, Tsuna's running late again isn't he?"

"Don't question Juudaime, Baseball Idiot! If he's late, Juudaime definitely has a very good reason. And, as his right hand man-"

"- you will be willing to wait however long it takes, even if it's a century in the rain and snow. Got it, Gokudera~"

"Sh-shut it! Stop memorising things I say – it's annoying!" the silverette hissed like an angry cat. "And what the hell are you doing in front of Juudaime's house? If you think you even have a chance at the Tenth's Valentine chocolates then you can forget about it, Yamamoto Takeshi!"

Yamamoto's grin grew wider. "Mou Gokudera, that's so cold of you. I want to have my shot too, so please don't be selfish. Besides, I'm here with you every morning too, aren't I?"

A glare. "Why, you-"

"Say, say, Gokudera! How about you and I form a team? If one of us catches Tsuna, we'll share the chocolate between the two of us. So that means if I catch him then I'll share half with Gokudera. But if Gokudera catches him-"

"I-Idiot! This isn't called a competition for nothing, you ignorant bas- "

Gokudera was abruptly cut off mid-sentence by a resounding bang that echoed across the neighbourhood as Tsuna's entrance door burst open and a streak of orange shot forth, passing the two guardians like a rogue bullet and leaving them in the clouds of dust kicked up in its wake and dishevelled hair from the wind of its passing.

The two boys blinked in surprise. Once. Twice. Yamamoto coughed. "Just now, wasn't that…?" Gokudera slowly turned his head as if it were on rusty cogs and gears, trying to peer through the swirling dust motes. "Juudaime?"

Tsuna sped through the streets of Namimori. Normally warm brown eyes morphed into a fiery orange, the colour of the flames that blazed like phoenix wings from each of his hands. A third flame burned regally upon his forehead, like a gleaming halo. His usually soft features were set into an expression of fierce determination. Tsuna's heart was racing in his chest just as breathtakingly fast as the speed he was going at now. He had hardly – if ever – entered Hyper Dying Will mode for reasons other than to fight or to train and to do so now felt exhilarating, freeing, like a falcon cutting through the wind. The adrenaline rushed through his veins, urging him to go faster. He did so.

Hcould sense his Guardians were already after him, thanks to his Hyper Intuition. Though with this speed, Tsuna thought confidently, he could outrun them easily.

"JUUDAIMEEEEE!" yelled Gokudera's distant voice from far behind him. But that distant voice was getting louder and it was accompanied by… a muted roaring? Tsuna chanced a glance over his shoulder and immediately wished he hadn't.

"JUUDAIME!" Gokudera shouted again a wild expression on his face, this time a scant twenty meters away from Tsuna. What made the scene so absurd, maybe even comical (if Tsuna had not been trying to run away) was the fact that Gokudera was riding what looked like a bright red, car-sized booster rocket, Yamamoto clinging onto the back for dear life and risking getting his legs barbecued by the rocket's flametrails and laughing. They were steadily gaining on him – fifteen meters – ten meters – five –

"HIIIIIIEEEEE!" Tsuna half-shrieked, half-squealed at the oncoming missile and put on a greater burst of speed, fleeing in terror.

"TSUNAAA!"

"JUUDAIME!"

Paying no heed to their calls, Tsuna raced through the maze that was the streets of Namimori. Gokudera and Yamamoto were never far behind, but the rocket was steadily losing out to the power and speed of Tsuna's Hyper Mode and the calls of his two Guardians were getting further and further away. Despite this, Tsuna continued to blaze forward frantically with all the determination and resolve of an Olympic sprinter on the hundred meter track. He maneuvered himself through the narrow streets, twisted and turned around bends and flew over garbage cans and frightened strays until he at last reached the entrance of Namimori Middle School.

Landing lightly on his feet, he allowed the orange flames at his hands and forehead to extinguish and his eyes to fade to their normal brown. Hurriedly, he checked the little silver bag and made sure that the product of his sweat and (quite literally) blood was safe. Then, dismayed that the school grounds were empty which meant that he was late yet again, Tsuna dashed past the gates–

Only to collide with someone who had just stepped out from behind it. Someone who happened to be the bane of any Namimori student who broke any school rules.

"There is no excuse for being late to school five times in a row, Sawada Tsunayoshi. Prepare to be bitten to death."

"HIIIIEEE!"

Out of the frying pan and into the fire you go, Tsuna!

A/N: My back is aching, my stomach is bloated and my textbooks are lying neglected in front of me, just begging to be read and studied. But I was in a 'hey-screw-it-I-feel-like-finishing-those-unfinished-fanfics-today' so here we are! :3

Before I say anything else, I just want to thank everyone who left me a review! Thank you so much! They make me feel loved and fired up to write more. I just feel like I can't disappoint you guys by delaying the chapter too much so would hurry it up and write faster. xD So once again, thank you!

Now about this chapter; the ending was again a bit rushed. Actually, my intended ending point was much later in the plot but as the story unravelled itself, I realised that to really stop where I wanted to stop we'd end up with a twenty-Microsoft Word-paged chapter and that is something I would prefer to avoid. So I ended it as soon as I could. Argh, another rather undramatic ending point for a chapter - I feel like I'm letting you down. D: But not to worry, there will be real action next chapter! :D

Now before I go, I'd just like to announce that I will be posting updates on the status of my on-going fanfictions on my profile from now on. So if you haven't seen a new chapter from me and would like to know what the heck is keeping me sitting on my pretty behind, you can stalk my profile. :D

Over and out!

Kasumi.