A/N: Well…this is really it. Thanks for reading through the whole thing up to this final chapter!

…

18 years later…

32 year-old Ishikawa Yamato strolled around the graveyard he owned, carefully checking each grave stone for marks and blemishes. Most funeral home and cemetery owners wouldn't even bother to meticulously maintain the graves like this, but as the third owner of the Ishikawa Funeral Home and Cemetery, Sakamoto knew how much the final resting place of one's loved ones meant to them.

Yamato finished with the last grave in the row and looked up, a shady alcove in the corner of the graveyard catching his eye. He smiled and straightened up, heading over to the last gravestone he hadn't checked yet. Of course, he knew that the grave would be well-maintained. It always was. Yamato didn't know exactly who took care of it. He or she never showed up, let alone sign in at the front door. Yet, he had a hunch he knew who took care of the pure black marble gravestone that hadn't dulled in the slightest with age.

….

When Yamato was 14 years old, he had witnessed perhaps the most interesting funeral ever to take place at the funeral home. It was the first private grave on the property, and though the many men in suits and dark shades signified that the deceased was an important person, barely anyone showed up. The men made he and his father sign a contract stating that they were never to speak of this day to anyone who wasn't directly involved before leaving. A few minutes later, some other people, a woman with straight dark hair who was holding hands with a man with black spiky hair, left as well. The blonde-haired man that had arranged the funeral came to talk to Yamato's dad about future deposits and maintenance; the usual drudgery that came along with new graves. Bored, Yamato looked out the window towards the lonely corner where the freshly-dug grave laid, and he saw another man kneeling in front of the gravestone.

At first, based off what the man was wearing, Yamato thought that he was just another agent that stayed behind to keep an eye on them, but when he turned slightly, Yamato caught a glimpse of the unbearably broken look on his face and knew the deceased must have been very important to him. Yamato felt a surge of sympathy. He had seen the look on many faces before, and the follow-ups on relatives that his father did usually yielded unpleasant results. Turning away, he went to sit next to his father, unable to continue watching the silently mourning man. The blonde had left to go back to the grave, and Yamato sat there, thinking about the probability that another funeral would be planned due to depression, and that another black marble tombstone would join the other.

'Until death do us part?' his father would say with a snort of disbelief, 'Under most circumstances that I have seen, once a significant other is gone, the other soon follows.' The chances of suicide were…well…not unlikely.

Yamato was jolted out of his thoughts when the door opened, and the man with the blonde hair walked out with the other man in the fedora behind him. Taking a secret glance at them, he was pretty shocked to see that the broken look that had dominated just a moment ago was replaced by a firm look of determination. Before the fedora wearing man left, he looked back at Yamato, his gaze locking onto Yamato's. It was as if he could read his thoughts and emotions with a single glance. The other man turned back, yelling, "Reborn, you coming or what?" Reborn looked at Yamato for a little while longer before chuckling bitterly and muttering, "Kid, even when your world disappears, there's always something else to live for." With that, he left, the door closing quietly behind him.

….

Ever since then, every year on the anniversary of that day, the grave would be meticulously cleaned and a bouquet of black roses would be left behind. When he was younger, Yamato would try to catch the mysterious caretaker, but no matter how long he stared at the shady alcove, he could never catch even a glimpse of anyone nearby. As he grew up, he began to take more and more responsibility for the funeral home, which included annually maintaining the graves. He noticed that the amount of roses at the grave always stayed a constant number of 19, which was how old the deceased, who he knew now, through maintenance, was a woman named Kudo Tsunade, was when she died. Then, a little over a decade ago, Yamato noticed the number had decreased to 13. The years after that, it became 12, 11, 10, so on and so forth. He recognized it as a countdown towards something, and even though he didn't know exactly what it was, deep inside, he knew it was leading up to whatever Reborn had been waiting for since Tsunade's death.

….

Smiling, Yamato gently touched the single black rose laid carefully on the gravestone.

He knew Reborn wouldn't be back for a while.

….

Meanwhile, in a town in a different part of Japan, the people that were walking down the street stared at the curious little infant. He seemed no older than two, yet he was dressed quite smartly in an all-black suit with jet-black boots and a red long sleeved polo with a blue necktie underneath. Perched on his black fedora with a thick orange stripe was a strange chameleon that seemed to be assessing its surroundings. The only childlike item that the infant had in his possession was a yellow pacifier around his neck, and even that looked slightly frightening. When someone asked if he was lost, the infant had replied in a confident voice that 'he was appreciated the kind gesture, but he was perfectly aware of where his destination was located'. People shook their heads.

They could tell some strange things were coming to town.

….

Reborn continued walking, completely aware of the strange looks he was receiving. He sighed in exasperation when he felt yet another aura peak in curiosity.

Based off these people's reactions, you'd think that they've never seen an infant in these streets before, he though irritably, oblivious to the fact that though infants were a fairly common sight, infants dressed as adults weren't.

He let out a deep breath and focused briefly on his surroundings, changing his awareness level to overlook the normal civilians.

There, he thought contently, now less aware the multiple enquiring glances he received (Of course, a hitman is always at least slightly observant of his surroundings), now I don't have to deal with an overload of thoughts. It seems funny that what I can now do in a few seconds used to require several hours to perfect. Thanks to Luce's training, I've improved a lot.

Reborn smiled fondly at the thought of Luce. She had been very kind and patient with him, always speaking calmly when he grew frustrated with the training. Not only had Luce helped him with mafia training, but she also pulled a few strings to allow Reborn to get his master's degree in mathematics under the name of 'Borin'.

'An uneducated hitman is nothing more than a hired thug,' she always said when Reborn would question his college education. Of course, she was right. Luce always was. People, for some strange reason, preferred hiring someone with an educated background, and being a well-known mathematical genius helped him get into quite a few elite circles.

….

Luce had been a steady stone for him when it seemed like he would be swept away. She provided him with the equipment (including Leon because Luce thought Leon's resemblance to Reborn's childhood pet would help calm him) and training he needed while Iemitsu worked in the background to help Reborn's reputation rise in popularity. Just two years after Tsunade's death, he was the well-known Vongola Nono's trusted assassin, able to shoot a bullet with accuracy within 0.05 seconds.

The only time when he and Luce got into an argument was soon after they had been turned into Arcobaleno. Though he could feel surprise, including his own, from the other Arcobaleno who he had come to accept as comrades, he felt only calm acceptance from Luce. It angered him that she knew this was going to happen all along and that she didn't tell him beforehand. Reborn had left Luce's house soon after the transformation, disappearing from the mafia scene. He was furious with his childish form, thinking that it prevented him from achieving the skill he once had. His sulking didn't last long though. A month later, Luce broke into the apartment he was hiding in and calmly asked him if he was ready to begin his Arcobaleno training yet. In retrospect, Reborn should've known she would find him. After all, she was gifted with foresight of the future. When he had yelled at her for technically betraying him, she simply said that he had agreed to pay a price to train under her without asking what the price actually was. Essentially, he had the most warning out of the rest of the Arcobaleno candidates that something was going to happen. It had infuriated Reborn that she was right once again, but then he realized that this transformation also gave him the opportunity to completely erase his past self. Grudgingly, he agreed to Luce's offer and contacted a certain friend of his (that Luce had introduced to him, of course) to completely wipe out his old identity.

With that, Renato Chaos was really gone.

…

He and Luce became very close friends again, so close that people began to question their relationship as friends. Someone even spread a rumor that they were, in fact, lovers. Once they heard the rumor, Luce and Reborn had a good laugh over it before Reborn went to hunt down the bastard that had started it (Colonello's bone structure was never the same again). Despite the many speculations, he was never romantically involved with anyone. Luce was much more like an older sibling who understood him, and his 'girlfriends' were just people he needed to use to get what he desired.

After all, they weren't Tsunade.

No one was.

Even so, he still cared very deeply about Luce and was extremely worried when she disappeared. Reborn would've gone to look for her—if a very important event didn't happen right after her disappearance.

Iemitsu's son was born.

Reborn had been pretty surprised when Iemitsu had announced his engagement, thinking that Tsunade would be irreplaceable to him. However, when Reborn met his fiancé, a very bright and cheerful woman named Nana, he could tell that she was just who Iemitsu needed, a bright light in his life that had gone dark. As Reborn watched the wedding, he could feel that deep inside, Iemitsu knew his love for Tsunade was more of a very protective sibling adoration, and that his true match was with the woman he was standing next to. Reborn felt happy for them, and maybe more than a bit jealous of their love.

After the wedding, Reborn didn't see much of Iemitsu until receiving a call from him three years later, saying that their son had been born. Though he didn't voice it out loud, Reborn could tell Iemitsu was thinking the same thing as he was. Tsunayoshi had to be born in a position where he could easily rise to the top of the mafia, and as Iemitsu's son, he would be a prime candidate to be the next Vongola boss.

Reborn had rushed over from his current assignment to the hospital. Iemitsu had informed him that he already sent in a DNA sample to be compared with Tsunade's to see if they were similar, but the moment Reborn laid eyes on the newborn, he knew it was him. Surrounding the little baby was the first aura Reborn had seen in the past. It was the same golden brown, though it was a bit lighter, brighter, uncorrupted by the world yet. Swirling in it was a hint of emerald green that Reborn assumed was part of Kudo Tsunayoshi's own personality, the same as the streaks he had seen in Tsunade's before she died. Sure enough, the DNA results confirmed his suspicions, and Nana was more than delighted to receive an excellent name suggestion.

A few hours later, the baby was officially named Sawada Tsunayoshi, the heir of the greatest mafia family in the world.

Since Iemitsu had to leave on a long-term mafia mission, Reborn kept constant tabs on the family, even posing as the principal of the school Tsuna would go to in the future for a while. He had to leave for a few years to train another no-good into a great mafia boss as sort of a trial run. Since Dino became one of the greatest Chiavarone bosses ever, Reborn concluded that his Spartan training methods were effective, if not slightly traumatic. Finally, after several years of relentless training and careful planning, he finally felt he was ready to complete what he dedicated his life to.

Just as Luce and Iemitsu had predicted, he was sent by Vongola Nono to train Tsuna to become the Vongola Decimo.

…

Reborn arrived at Tsuna's house and jumped up into his bedroom's open window.

This entrance makes him prone to assassinations, thought Reborn, I'll have to 'talk' to him about that.

He looked around the room, taking in the messy surroundings and the multiple papers marked with large red zeroes.

Looks like I have my work cut out for me, thought Reborn grimly, I guess all the smarts went to…

He abruptly stopped his train of thought, just as he usually did, but then, since he was going to be left alone with his thoughts for a while, Reborn decided to let his mind wander back to Luce's lesson on Masemune's scrolls.

….

"Masemune wrote that he was completely unaware of his past life, save a few migraines whenever something that grazed his memories was mentioned, until a certain phrase was mentioned to him," said Luce, reading off one of the two existing copies of the scroll, "The phrase was, 'Wasn't there a legendary swords smith that lived in these parts?' Once he heard this, Masemune kept blacking out whenever he heard or saw something even remotely related to his past self, every blackout accompanied with images and places he couldn't quite piece together. Finally, he went up to the person who had asked about the swords smith to try to find out what was happening to him. Coincidentally, Masemune had to introduce himself, answering the very question that was asked. He described the return of his memories as 'an excruciating pain mixed in with clear memories.' Masemune woke up hours later in his house with his memories completely intact. Looking back on this moment, he speculates that 'in order to unlock one's old memories, one must hear a phrase that meant something important in one's life and answer with the correct phrase.'"

Luce looked up and saw Reborn staring off into space. She sighed and put down the scroll, walking over to him. Reborn was so distracted that he didn't notice her walking towards him until she laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. He jumped a bit, startled, before he looked at Luce sheepishly.

"I guess I'm still a bit distracted," said Reborn apologetically.

Luce looked at Reborn with a critical eye. Though she couldn't exactly see auras, she was still a pretty good judge of emotions, and right now, she could tell Reborn was struggling to keep his inner turmoil under control.

"You know," she said slowly, "Though Masemune said in his scrolls that only one person in an incomplete generation would be reincarnated, he also said that the not all the person's DNA would be copied into a new body. However, he never took the fact that twins would have nearly identical genetic codes, essentially saying they'll differ slightly."

Reborn suddenly seemed very attentive, and Luce felt slightly guilty for giving him hope in a simple theory. However, it seemed like her powers of foresight were leading her words, and the possibility seemed more than likely to happen.

"If only part of someone's DNA was used, wouldn't it make sense that it would bond with DNA strands that resemble it the most? Then, wouldn't it be logical that the other DNA be completed with the remnants of the other? You would be left with two complete genetic codes for two different bodies. So if one twin returned,

It's possible the other would too."

Reborn took in the information slowly before nodding in shock. Luce could tell his determination had nearly increased ten-fold, and that he would pay even more attention to her lessons now. She sighed in relief and returned to her chair.

"Now," she said with a small smile, "back to our lesson…"

…

Reborn was snapped out of his thoughts when he felt a familiar aura enter the house. After a few loud crashes and bangs, a 13 year-old teen with spiky, gravity-defying, brown hair and a look of disappointment entered the room. He threw his stuff in a corner and began to read something. A few seconds later, Nana entered the room and began scolding him for ditching school. It was then that the boy, Tsuna, turned around to face his mother, allowing Reborn a glimpse of his eyes.

Honey-golden eyes, thought Reborn, just like hers.

He knew that Luce's theory was very sketchy and was likely to be nothing more than a speculation, but deep inside, he could feel that it was more than a thought. Reborn could tell she was back, and that filled a gap in his chest that had been open for so long.

Maybe people found his methods of manipulation cold-hearted, but weren't hitman supposed to be like that? Reborn didn't care about people trying to win his heart because had given it away already. He would use those kind of people to his advantage if needed because nothing could stand in his way.

One day, he would go to find her, no matter what he had to do.

But right now…he thought, looking at Tsuna arguing with his mom, I have a job to do.

Clearing his throat, the hitman tutor Reborn said the words that would start it all:

"Ciaossu."

…

A/N: Now that we're at the end, I decided to have a little multiple-choice pop quiz for you! Don't worry, it only has one question and isn't hard.

The author decided to leave the story open ended because…

The author is evil and cruel and mean :(((((

What open ending?

The author is actually thinking about a sequel!

If you chose C, you are absolutely correct! I am THINKING of possibly writing a sequel that'll be nonAU and as canon! as possible. How will I pull it off? Well, I guess I have to decide to make one first. Then, you'll just have to read it to find out!

Thank you for every single reviewer, follower, and favoriter that has inspired and encouraged me to write this story! Special thanks to Lite Crystal27, Okami Endless, Dedicated, and smileysparklea for reviewing!

All of you guys reading these last lines, you are THE best and for now, I guess this is,

Good bye.