Hibari Kyoya was not impressed.

It was a moniker that Kusakabe kept repeating to himself as he watched the head of the disciplinary committee. The committee had been watching Sawada Tsunayoshi for years, if only to ensure that the poor kid never got bullied worse than what he had already been forced to endure. Kusakabe knew that there was more to it, however, when two years ago a group of Tsunayoshi's bullies had been avoiding their usual target.

One would think that the little brunet had snapped, but his other bullies had remained intact, aside from a few broken fingers, and Sawada himself had been acting normally. No, the only description they had gotten out of the trio was that Sawada had a 'Golden-eyed Demon' on his side. Normally, Kyoya would have been able to get more information, but the three had remained steadfast in being quiet, even while they were sent back to the hospital with two broken legs.

Ever since Kyo-chan had been searching for the golden-eyed 'carnivore', the entire committee had been put on high alert. Searching behind corners, harassing passersby, and interrogating suspects, it had been a busy month.

Although the search had died down, it never truly ended. Kyouya would still send out a random underling to watch the Sawada residence or research where the kid went in his free time. If there was one thing Kusakabe knew about his boss, it was that he never gave up. Waiting, yes (though 'stalked' would be more appropriate), but never letting go of a possible lead.

No, Hibari Kyoya was not impressed, but he was intrigued.

Tsuna wanted to curse every god out there for all the misfortune in his life. He wasn't a bad person. He knew this. Lazy, unmotivated, uncaring, and no-good, yes, but he wasn't a bad person overall. So, this entire scenario didn't make sense to him. He stared at the skull etched into his skin as it chattered and started to form words on his forearms.

"I've never gotten a 100 on a test." What was this? Some sort of weird scheme of Reborn's?

Deciding to just ask the hitman, Tsuna shows him his forearm. "I'm assuming this is your doing?" This wasn't the time to joke around, especially since he had a test later that day that Reborn had forced him to study for.

Reborn glanced at his arm with a smirk before saying, "Neh, Dame-Tsuna, do you remember how many Dying Will bullets you've been hit with?"

Tsunayoshi thought for a moment. Surely it couldn't have been that many. Though, lately Reborn had a habit of putting Lambo in danger just to get him in the right frame of mind to be shot with a bullet. He called them training sessions but Tsuna highly doubted they were actually beneficial. Sighing, Tsuna answered, "Ten. You've shot me ten times."

Reborn nodded, "After every tenth shot with a Dying Will bullet, something terrible happens to you. Too bad for you, it just happened to be a deadly disease." A headache was starting to form, Tsuna rubbed his temples, waiting for the baby to continue. "Not only will it kill you in about forty-five minutes, the skulls will reveal embarrassing information that only you know."

Tsuna wondered about that, considering it wasn't much of a secret that he had never made a 100 on a test. Other 'secrets' popped up on his skin and once again he wondered if they were actually secrets. Though one, in particular, caught his eye.

"I wasn't able to stop him." More like these appeared on his skin, getting his and Reborn's attention.

"I used to get cornered by bullies, even though I knew how to get away."

"I cried during Finding Nemo."

"I caused nii-chan to burn his dinner multiple times."

The astonishing part was that Tsuna didn't remember any of this. As far as he knew, he'd never seen Finding Nemo, nor ever cried to it. He was always cornered by bullies because running was useless, he hadn't known how to get away. And he had never, in his life, called anyone nii-chan.

Reborn seemed to be off in his own little world, ignoring Tsuna's plight. Tsuna himself was irritated at being ignored, especially since he was about to die. In a huff, he went to his bathroom sink, determined to scrub off the strange markings.

Reborn watched his student with mild interest as he seemed largely unaffected by the skulls appearing on his skin. Well, to the untrained eye he was. However, Reborn could see that Tsuna was sweating in anxiety and his brow was furrowed in concentration.

It was a sort of challenge that the hitman issued to himself. Tsunayoshi, he found, had only one major flaw that was going to be a challenge to fix. Simply put, he didn't care. He didn't care about his grades, the people around him, what happened to him, or even his own family. The only attention he gave to anyone was toward Lambo, Yamamoto, and Gokudera, and even then Reborn felt this was more for an obligation to protect the three then actually caring what they thought or did.

Reborn had his suspicions as to why Tsuna acted like this, but he couldn't really confirm anything, especially since Tsuna himself didn't seem to want the hitman's help. In fact, he didn't want anyone's help. Everyone seemed to irritate him to some degree, especially his own mother and father. Actually, Reborn was pretty sure that Tsuna considered himself to be fatherless, even with Iemitsu being very much alive.

Despite this, Reborn found himself impressed that the brunet never took out his irritation on anyone around him. Like everything else, he would deal with it on his own, oftentimes going out running to let out some steam. This is gratifying and worrying at the same time. It meant two things, Tsuna knew how to keep his emotions in check but he also would never confront the issue altogether.

Now, as Reborn watched his student curse and take off his shirt to start scrubbing on his chest, he hoped that the skulls would reveal something that he missed. On his neck appeared a sentence that made Reborn's blood go cold.

"Everything hurts."

Not understanding it, Reborn decided to lightly poke his student's side. Although the brunet winced at being prodded in his ribs, he didn't appear to be in any physical pain from the contact. Tsuna himself just huffed at Reborn before going back to scrubbing furiously. The hitman watched the middle-schoolers facial expression, gleaming off of the frustration that he seemed to be exuberating.

For the first time, Reborn saw an undertone of an emotion that startled him. It suddenly occurred to him that those time Tsuna had gone running or left in a huff, he hadn't been necessarily angry or annoyed. A revelation came to the hitman. A cold, frightening revelation that he almost never considered in his student before. It gripped his stomach in a venomous, cold grasp and Reborn knew from experience that he would never be rid of this feeling until he addressed it.

A slamming noise reverberated in the bathroom as Tsuna finally gave up his fruitless endeavour, causing Reborn to focus on the matter at hand. "Well, luckily for you, I called in a doctor to help cure this disease." He said cooly, ignoring the way Tsuna glared at him. The brunet further ignored him by instead opting to tie bandages around his arms arms, neck and face, everything except his eyes and mouth. Reborn noted the expert way that he was able to bandage himself up, but let it be in favor of getting his student's attention, "He should be here any moment."

"GUAH!" A loud noise was heard downstairs, causing both Reborn and Tsuna to jump into action. As they neared the steps, both mentor and student could see a middle-aged man sprawled on the ground with a purple pizza over his face.

Tsuna gave a heavy sigh before leaning against the wall in exhaustion. "Bianchi-san, please don't kill people in my house." He muttered to the girl standing not a few feet away. Miraculously, the man just took off the pizza and popped back up to his feet like nothing happened. Tsuna couldn't decide whether or not he was relieved, so he settled for being distressed over the situation unfolding in front of him. "Who is this guy?" He asked himself, not really expecting an answer.

"This is the doctor I called." Reborn said from out of nowhere. Tsuna ignored the hitman in favor of grabbing an extra shirt and redressing. Reborn scanned his eyes across the boy's back in an attempt to read more confessions, but his line of sight was blocked by the shirt all too quickly.

The brunette turned around to address the doctor who had also paused to read some of the boy's confessions. Tsuna either didn't understand, notice, or care about the doctor's change in attitude, as he simply straightened himself out and pointed a finger at the Italian man. "Cure me."

It was a testament to Shamal's understanding of the situation when he didn't say a word. Instead, he pulled out his flashcards of illnesses with his right hand, digging through his pockets at the same time with his left. "I'm going to neutralize the disease with it's counterpart. In other words, because you have the Skull Disease, I am going to give you the Angel Disease, which will cancel out the effects."

Tsuna looked pensive for a second, as if trying to size-up the doctor's words. "So, it's like poison and antidotes?" Despite his crude understanding, Reborn was slightly impressed that his student had grasped the concept so quickly, especially for being a supposed 'Dame'. A hint of a smile twitched to the side of Shamal's face as he nodded in confirmation. Reborn was a little surprised at how obedient the Italian doctor was being towards his student. It made him suspicious, considering Shamal was usually so reluctant to do anything, even for Reborn.

As Shamal dug out his strange mosquitoes and administered the cure, Reborn readied his weapon. Tsuna, however, watched as the rest of the skulls disappeared from his skin before nodding in satisfaction. The brunet then turned toward Bianchi, who was still seething in anger at the Italian doctor, "Look, I know he's kind of a creep, but he saved my life. So, could you let him go for today?" Bianchi looked startled, glaring at the boy for awhile before sighing in resignation. Tsuna blinked as if realizing something before tacking on with a smile, "Oh yeah, but kill him if he even comes near my mom, okay?" With that, the smile transformed into a smirk before he headed out the door.

Reborn felt a slight twinge of pride at how sadistic his student was becoming.

"Shamal." The sharp, childlike voice echoed through the empty hallway. "Why did you help him?" Dark eyes caught the doctor's form, glinting with promises of pain if he didn't answer to his satisfaction.

Shamal scratched his head before ruffling his hair in frustration. "You know I don't like debts, Reborn." The Italian man sighed, taking out a fresh cigarette and lighting it. "Someone asked me to look out for the kid's health."

The hitman's eyes narrowed, "Someone outside of Vongola?" This was unusual, even allied families would probably wish for the death of the only Vongola heir, if only for the false hope of getting one of their own on the throne.

The doctor took a drag before answering, "I wasn't asked to look out for the heir of Vongola's health." Reborn tightened his grip on his gun at the statement. "I was specifically asked to look out for Sawada Tsunayoshi's health."