Me: I'm BACK! As an apology, I'm giving you guys an extra-long chapter.

Reborn smirked as he watched Tsuna's clothes disappeared in the flames that erupted from his body. It was just as he had thought, Tsuna possessed the Sky Flames. They were strong as well. Tsuna grabbed Lambo as he raced out of the forest at top speed. Oddly, Reborn could see that his parkour moves were still prominent as he vaulted over the fence to his house. The first Dying Will mode was a level that only allowed actions based off of instinct to occur. Usually when someone was hit with a dying will bullet, they would revert back to a more animalistic way of fighting. Unless, of course, they were trained in actions to the point where it became near instinctual. This only further proved Reborn's theories of Tsuna having another teacher.

The hitman watched as Lambo was quickly shuffled inside while the near-crazed Tsuna turned to go in the other direction. Interesting, it looked like Tsuna knew that Reborn couldn't do anything drastic around Maman. The hitman smirked as he realized that the brunet wasn't running away but was coming straight toward him. He sidestepped the slow attack before bringing his gun up to counter the next one, giving Dame-Tsuna a nice bruise on his shin.

Good tactics for a supposed Dame-student. Get target into safe territory before confronting the opposing force, either for distraction or to take said force down. Of course this would only work if the opposing force was only one person, which it was. Reborn easily sidestepped Tsuna's attacks, it was amazing that the Dame was keeping up at all. The hitman was using only around 10% of his own speed, but that was steadily increasing as Tsuna was using odd, yet familiar moves.

In the meantime, Reborn took his time studying his student. While his moves were sloppy, it was easy to determine just was Tsuna was aiming for. Heart, lungs, and any other vital organs. The boy somehow knew, extensively, where the weak points of the human body were. Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, if Reborn didn't already know that Tsuna had failed his anatomy course. So, Dame-Tsuna instinctively knew where a human's vital organs were? A manic grin appeared on Reborn's lips as he considered the possibility of such a student.

With a swift kick, knowing that he had enough information for now, Reborn knocked his student unconscious.

He woke up with a scream in his throat. Pictures of hanging bodies at the forefront of his mind as he tried to process what was going on around him. A double image of a statue was in front of him. The statue, wearing the assassin robes of old, gave him a cold comfort. Slowly, he realized where he was and calmed himself down.

Turning around on his bedroll, he attempted to go to sleep once again, only to have haunting images of long dead family members greet him.

He knew bunking in Monteriggioni was a bad idea.

Tsuna limped down the street under the hot sun. His leg twitched in protestation at moving around so carelessly, but Tsuna ignored it. He'd received worse from the hellish torture sessions Reborn called 'training'.

Despite having a relatively good day at school, Tsuna found himself in a grouchier mood than usual. He supposed it was the heat, and the fact that he actually had to do to school in the summer. Sighing, Tsuna took out a spare piece of paper and started fanning himself with it. On top of everything else he didn't want to faint because of heat exhaustion.

Tsuna looked to his right as he heard a rumbling noise in the distance. The sound slowly became louder and louder until a motorcycle appeared in front of him. "Here, have this. You look like you could use it." A can of soda was thrown at him, which he caught with ease. Now, Tsuna wasn't the brightest crayon in the box, he knew this. He was, however, very fucking suspicious of nearly everything that happened around him for various reasons. So when a strange lady, who appeared to be a foreigner, suddenly came up to give him a soda, he decided it was best to accept it, before throwing it away.

Finding a nearby trashcan, he threw the can in before heading off to go home. On the way, he debated whether or not to tell Reborn. He doubted the hitman would care that some strange woman had obviously appeared out of nowhere and most likely tried to poison him. He officially decided to try and stay out of it just as he came up to his front door.

Just as he had taken off his shoes and rounded the corner, he spotted Reborn. A Reborn with a whole bunch of beatles on his face. A question was at the forefront of his lips as to why there were beatles on Reborn's face and why were they in the house, before Tsuna decided he really didn't want to know what Reborn's bullshit excuse would be. Instead, he opted for an "I'm home." before concentrating his efforts on the kitchen to make himself something to eat.

Tsuna opened the refrigerator as he tried to decide what he wanted to eat. Not that he was particularly hungry, the heat made him lose his appetite, but something cool would probably help. Closing the refrigerator, Tsuna decided that he would just make some ice tea for now and would have a proper dinner when his mom got home.

The doorbell rang before he could even reach for the tealeaves. Sighing, Tsuna went to go answer it. Just as his hand touched the handle, Tsuna knew something was wrong. "Reborn!" He called, waiting for the baby to answer. When he didn't, Tsuna knew that it was up to him to answer the door.

He opened the door slowly, revealing the woman who had tried to kill him earlier that day, holding a pizza box. "Thanks for waiting." She said before putting on a gas mask. "A delivery of Vongola Pizza." Swiftly, she opened the box and presented the mangled pizza in front of him. Tsuna reeled back, trying to keep his head away from the smoke, before dropping to his knees.

A shot rang out through the hall before the smoke disappeared. Tsuna bit his tongue as he looked over at Reborn who had shot away the pizza. "Ciaossu, Bianchi." The baby greeted the woman. Tsuna knew that he should have been more surprised at the hitman knowing whoever this Bianchi was, but considering that both seemed to be assassin's of sorts, he really wasn't.

"I'm here to bring you back, Reborn." She said, tears in her eyes as she removed her gas mask. "Let's do another big job together."

"I can't." Reborn said, bluntly, "I have a job to raise Tsuna, I told you."

A quiet fury rose in Tsuna's chest at the implications. Raise him? So the only person who bothered to actually raise him was doing it for a paid job. Sadness hit the boy like a truck. His eyes were moist before he shoved the unpleasant thought away. Now wasn't the time for being over-emotional over nothing.

"Poor Reborn . . ." He heard Bianchi say, tears falling freely. "Unless the tenth dies in an accident or something, he will never be free."

Tsuna felt a headache forming at the implications of her words. She wanted to kill him to free Reborn? Wasn't that . . .a bit backwards? "Reborn, I'm confused." He said bluntly, looking over at his 'tutor'. "If she's trying to kill me to free you, isn't that a little counter-productive? From what you've told me, I'm the last heir to Vongola. I can't imagine them being pleased with me being dead. Especially if you're here to supposedly train me." An oppressive air filled the hallway as Reborn continued to stare at his student. Bianchi looked a little horrified at his words, if not her own actions.

Sighing, Tsuna decided to be the one to break the silence. "Anyway, come on in Bianchi, I'll make us some ice tea. It's too hot to argue, or fight, or whatever it is you wanted to do." He shuffled himself into the kitchen and got working on the tea. About halfway through making it, Tsuna began to wonder if maybe the training sessions from Reborn hardened him towards his own assassinations. He shrugged it off, however, knowing that his uncaring attitude was part of his grouchiness toward the heat.

He finished the tea and presented it to everyone at the table, which consisted of Bianchi, Reborn, and himself. He guessed that since Lambo was missing he was out with his mother, probably picking up some ingredients for dinner. Before sitting, he went to the cabinet and took out some sugar cookies, displaying them modestly on a plate and then putting them in the middle of the table.

Chewing on a cookie, Tsuna took a seat and watched as Bianchi stared at her own drink with a flushed face. Reborn was polishing one of his guns intently holding a cookie in between his teeth. "So, Bianchi, how do you two know each other?" The brunette decided to break the silence that he was so unused.

The woman didn't flinch, but she came close to it. A strained smile graced her lips as she went on to explain their relationship in great detail. Tsuna only really half-listened, grateful that the oppressive silence was released.

After that, it was a seamless transition to insert Bianchi into their family. His mother came back thirty minutes later with food and began cooking for everyone. It was at times like these that Tsuna was eternally grateful at his mother's obliviousness. She didn't question Bianchi's presence, or the claim she made that she was Reborn's lover. She simply let the hitwoman to make herself at home and even made her a place at dinner.

After playing with Lambo for awhile, Tsuna decided to go and finish his homework before a certain hitman deemed him better looking with more holes in his body. After his homework, he set about getting himself in bed, taking a shower and getting dressed in plain blue pajamas before laying on his bed.

"I have a job to raise Tsuna, I told you." The words echoed in his head constantly, hurting him more than he would admit to himself. While on one hand he was glad that someone had finally taken an interest in him, he was very disappointed that Reborn wasn't actually interested in him as a person, just his heritage.

Turning over onto his side to face the wall, Tsuna ignored Reborn as he entered the room and made himself comfortable on his hammock. A vision popped up in his mind as he drifted off. He imagined honeyed eyes reflecting nothing but pride as they looked at him. A voice resonated in his head. It was deep and comforting, not patronizingly high like his father's whenever he spoke to his son or wife.

"If you ever need me, I'll come back for you."

"Even if it's for something stupid? Like my homework?"

"Even then. Even then I'd come. I promise."

It was these comforting fantasies that allowed Tsuna to drift off into an easy rest.

Tsuna was not amused with Miura Haru. Despite the girl's pure intentions, he didn't enjoy the fact that she was vilifying him about his relationship with Reborn. It had all started when he was walking home after school on his usual route. A girl about his age came out and started interacting with Reborn. While normally disinterested in Reborn's affairs, he was slightly concerned with this girl's unhealthy interest in the baby hitman.

But, instead of doing anything, he watched her ask Reborn to be her friend, accuse him of corrupting the said hitman, and punching him in disgust, despite him not having said a word. It was at this point that Tsuna decided that Reborn was either terrible at explaining misunderstandings, or just didn't give a fuck. He was betting on the latter option.

Sighing, Tsuna picked up his bag and swung it over his shoulder, ignoring the sting on his cheek. "You guys get along really well." Looking over at the hitman, the brunette wondered if he had hit his head to make such a ludicrous statement. "Almost like a married couple."

Snorting, Tsuna continued on his way home as Reborn hopped on his shoulder. "A couple about to get a divorce, perhaps." He thought for a bit, biting his lip as he thought about the couples in his life. There wasn't many healthy relationships to go off of. He rubbed his chin in thought and winced at the raw pain on his cheek.

The next day, he was faced with the horror of Miura Haru once again. This time it was on the bridge of the alternative route home he had decided to take in order to avoid her. Sighing at the inevitability of his bad luck and her persistence, Tsuna eyed her strange outfit.

"I . . .I couldn't sleep last night." She said, bangs under her eyes and a hockey stick in hand. Tsuna briefly wondered if she was part Canadian, seeing as how almost everyone else in his life was from another country.

Not know what else to do, the brunette reverted to his usual sarcasm, "So, you dress in strange outfits when you can't sleep?"

Miura Haru seemed miffed by this and yelled out, "Of course not! I'm not an idiot!" Tsuna wisely decided to keep quiet about his opinions on her mental state. "If Reborn-chan is a hitman . . .and you are a Mafia Boss, then you must be really strong right?" Tsuna didn't like where this was headed and watched as Haru put on a helmet and started swinging the hockey stick toward him. "Please have a match with me!"

Not knowing what else to do, he dodged, not really interested in being hit in the face. Just as he was wondering what to do about the situation, Hayato came out of nowhere. "Don't worry Tsuna-sama! I will protect you!"

Nearly facepalming, Tsuna watched as Gokudera tripped Haru off the bridge. Alarmed, the brunette looked over the edge to watch as the girl started drowning under the weight of her own ridiculous armor. Not thinking twice, he dived in after her.

"Tsuna-sama!" yelled out Hayato. He ignored his silver-haired friend as he grabbed Miura around her waist and pulled her above the water.

Seeing as she was now flailing in fear, he hissed as her, "Grab onto me!" Before dragging her over to the shore where Reborn waited, his gun cocked on Tsuna. The brunette, in return, glared at the unconcerned hitman, conveying just how much he blamed the baby for the situation he was in now. Sighing at how useless it was to get through to the stubborn hitman, Tsuna turned his attention to the poor girl who was played by Reborn. "You okay?" he asked, looking her over for any injuries. It looked like her armor protected her from the rocks and fall.

Haru nodded her head, seemingly stunned at the turn of events as she slowly started taking off her armor. It wasn't long before Hayato appeared with towels, making Tsuna even more grateful that he befriended the bomber. "Thanks, Hayato." The silver-haired boy blushed under the praise, but oddly didn't say anything as he watched Haru with wary eyes.

"Thank you very much." Miura said, mumbling it into her knees as she blushed. Lifting her head, blush evident on her cheeks, she looked at Tsuna before saying, "It was . . .very wonderful, that you jumped in place of Reborn-chan, Tsuna-sama~" Before he could question her sanity, Haru seemed to go off in her own world, proclaiming her crush on him as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "I want to be hugged by you, Tsuna-sama~" Deciding it was time to get the fuck out of there, Tsuna utilized his parkour moves to weave his way home, ignoring the shouts of indignation and worry behind him. He was too tired to deal with this shit.

Surprisingly, it wasn't when Tsuna woke up that the commotion started. In fact, it was only when he was halfway through his leftovers and Lambo sauntered in the room that the trouble started. Tsuna could only watch as Reborn flicked his surrogate little brother aside like an annoying fly. Dropping his chopsticks, Tsuna ran after the flying boy, hoping he would be okay when he landed.

Looking around in a panic, Tsuna found the only place that Lambo could have landed. It was an apartment building with a giant hole that looked recently made in the side. Rubbing his temples, the brunette watched as an obviously Italian man seemed to be sliding down a telephone pole and disappearing around a corner.

Shaking his head to get rid of the oncoming headache, Tsuna raced up the stairs and knocked on the door to the damaged apartment. A boy, probably only a few years only than himself, opened the door. The Dame really didn't know how to phrase his question without him sounding insane, so he instead asked, "Um . . .did a child break through your wall . . .recently?"

Nodding, the boy side-stepped to let him in, revealing the broken wall, an unconscious Lambo, and a crate full of assortments from the Bovino Family. Tsuna's headache appeared with a vengeance at the sight. Sighing, he looked over at the boy before introducing himself. "I'm Sawada Tsunayoshi, nice to meet you. And, uh, sorry about the inconvenience."

The boy shook his head before introducing himself, "Don't worry about it, I'm assuming you know the kid?" Tsuna wondered how he could be so calm about this whole situation, but by the looks of it the guy was still in shock. The brunette nodded as an answer to the boy's question, not even bothering explaining anything. "I'm Irie Shoichi, that's my mom, and my sister." He pointed out the two women who were seated by the crate. Tsuna rubbed his temples again in a futile effort to get rid of the headache.

"Sorry about this, is Lambo okay?" Irie nodded before Tsuna walked to where Lambo was to check the boy's injuries. Sighing in relief, the brunette picked him up gently and made sure his head was resting comfortably on his shoulder. "I'll, uh, pay for the damages. I'm really sorry-"

The boy waved him off, "Someone gave us a wad of cash . . .it'll be enough, I think." He looked pointedly at the crate. "The note also said to give this to the kid." He handed Tsuna a cow-print bag that the Dame just knew was full of weapons.

Tsuna rested Lambo on the crook of his left elbow and held the bag in his left hand before using his right hand to search through his pockets, producing the extra piece of paper he had been using a few days ago to fan himself and a pencil. Using the counter, he wrote out his information with a flourish before handing the paper to Irie. "Just in case it's not enough. Sorry about the . . .scare." He was going to say 'inconvenience', but he couldn't bring himself to say that Lambo was an 'inconvenience' in any way, shape, or form.

With that, Tsuna turned his heel and left the apartment and headed for home. He was royally pissed at Reborn, and was going to give him a piece of his mind, even if he died trying.