It was nearly lunchtime when the phone rang, surprising Reborn because no one was supposed to know the phone number to this house. He was immediately on guard and debated whether or not he should answer the phone.

Harry ended his internal debate for him. "Can you please pick up the phone, Teddy?" he called out from the kitchen, preparing lunch.

"It's Reborn," was his ingrained response before adding, "And what did you do, Dad?"

"Phone first, Reborn," Harry said nonchalantly and Reborn knew he wouldn't be getting any real answers until he did what his father said.

(If people thought Reborn was stubborn, then they clearly haven't met his father, who was the epitome of stubbornness. Reborn only inherited a sliver of it.)

So he picked up the phone. "Ciaossu."

"Good morning, is this the Ryuujin residence?" a polite female voice came from the phone.

"It is," was Reborn's curt reply.

"This is Tanaka Kaede from Nanimori Middle School. May I please speak with Ryuujin Sansai?"

"Speaking."

"Ah. I'm here to inform you that Sawada Tsunayoshi is in the principal's office for picking fights again. We require your presence as his guardian to discuss his punishment." Her calm, mild tones were the complete contrast to Rebron's darkening mood.

"I see." His tone was now flat and very unamused.

A beat.

"Anything else?"

"Uh, no." She sounded flustered. "Good bye."

He hung up the phone before turning around. Harry was leaning on a wall, looking quite smug with a familiar smirk on his face. (It was only familiar because Harry obviously copied it from Reborn. His father wasn't smug and it amused Reborn to see that he was rubbing off on his own dad.)

"You changed his emergency contact," Reborn said, amused and awed because of his father's gall. Harry's smirk only widened in reply.

"Is that supposed to be a question?" Harry asked cheekily. (And Harry wondered why Reborn was such a brat?)

"Why?" he asked because it was the only question he had left. He most likely changed the emergency contact details yesterday while they were at school while he was stalking Tsunayoshi; so that answered when. As for how: there was always the invisibility cloak (if he was lazy) and magic.

"Well, why not?" Harry answered, shrugging. Reborn just chuckled at his father's antics.

Paragon of spontaneity indeed.

. . .

Tsuna was back in school and nothing has changed: he was still picked on or ignored.

But that was a lie. Something has changed after meeting Hari and Reborn. He was supposed to be black and blue and sick (and pained), yet he wasn't. But his physical state wasn't the only thing that changed - there was something that settled in his chest that won't leave. It wasn't the usual heaviness that resided there, but it wasn't light either. It was different; and he didn't know what it was or if he wanted it.

As he was leaving the classroom for lunch, Tsuna was suddenly pulled back.

"Oi, Dame-Tsuna. Leaving without us?" Hiro, one of his classmates, said as he grinned at Tsuna. He was holding onto Tsuna's bag and most likely pulled Tsuna back.

Before Tsuna could shake his head, Goro spoke up. "What kind of friend are you? Abandoning your friends like that?"

Tsuna only stayed quiet as an arm tightly (painfully) wrapped itself around his shoulders.

"Especially during lunchtime," Ichigo said, the owner of the arm.

"Hey," Akira said as he looked at Tsuna, who ducked away from his leer. "There's something different about you," he said as he used his fingers to tilt Tsuna's face up.

"Hibari was there," he continued, staring at Tsuna and poking at him. "Even though he looked kinda different. And he didn't bite you?" Disbelief colored his tone as his prods left bruises on Tsuna. "Impossible," Hiro scoffed. "Hibari bites everyone to death."

"But he was there, and look at Dame-Tsuna. There's not even a scratch on him," he pointed out, shoving Tsuna to the others to prove his point. As if Tsuna was just some kind of thing to be tossed about.

"What did you do?" Goro said as he lifted Tsuna's arm, which was free of its usual injuries and bruises.

"Oi," Akira said, slapping Tsuna on the back of his head. "Didn't I tell you that when we ask you a question, you're supposed to answer, Dame-Tsuna?"

"I-i-i do-don't kn-know," he stuttered and he was punched to the gut for his answer.

"You don't know that you should always answer to you betters, Dame-Tsuna?" Akira snarled angrily. And Tsuna whimpered.

"I-i don't kno-know why I-i'm l-li-like th-this," he stuttered and was only backhanded for his efforts.

"Dame-Tsuna doesn't know why he's a freak," one of them jeered. Tsuna didn't know since his head was spinning. Only then did he notice that it was not only his head that was spinning, they were spinning him around as they took turns hitting him.

"Does he know anything in the first place? He is called dame for a reason."

"A no-good freak, that's what he is."

"A no-good freak that can heal quickly."

Amidst their jeers and laughter, he heard the malicious glee laced in the last comment. Even as Tsuna fell, they didn't relent with their attacks. In fact, they seemed to even hit harder.

"Herbivores," a deep cold voice came from the doorway. Tsuna squinted (when did he close his eyes?), seeing Hibari - the real Hibari - surveying the scene in front of him for one quiet moment. "For loitering and crowding, I will bite you to death."

Then he was a flurry of movement - a blur of black and silver - as he beat up the four boys into a state worse than Tsuna himself, while leaving Tsuna helpless on the floor.

"Report them for crowding. And harassing other herbivores," he practically snarled, as if they committed a great sin. "When they're nothing but weak pathetic herbivores," Hibari commanded to his second-in-command, who nodded, as he left the room.

. . .

"Well, since everybody's here," the principal started, glancing around the room. The parents of his classmates were there so in a way, everyone who supposed to be there was in the room.

"Ah, am I late?" a small childish voice came from the door. It was Reborn, but he wasn't dressed in his usual black suit and fedora. His usual black hair with sideburns was now grey and balding on top. He was also wearing a pair of small round glasses, which was perched on his nose, and a deep blue kimono, which looked like it was made with high quality silk and embroidered with dark red dragons.

"And who are you?" one of the parents haughtily asked and Reborn only glanced at her direction before taking a seat beside Tsuna.

"Ryuujin Sansai."

Even Tsuna has heard of the head of the Black Telecommunications in Japan. And Reborn was impersonating him? Or did Ryuujin-sama just look a lot like Reborn?

"Ryuujin-sama," the principal broke the silence in the room after his introduction. "How kind of you to grace us with your presence," he said, gracious and polite. "May I inquire what are you doing here in my humble school?"

"My nephew, Sawada Tsunayoshi, was called to the principal's office and my presence was required," he bluntly answered, looking at the principal calmly. He didn't need to glance at Tsuna, who knew not to protest. But even he agreed with the disbelieving comments because why would one of the richest and most powerful men in the country claim Dame-Tsuna, the troublemaker of Nanimori, as his family?

"So, Tsunayoshi," he said and everyone's attention immediately snapped to Ryuujin-sama, even Tsuna. "What happened?" he asked Tsuna, staring at the boy.

"I-i-it's all m-my fa-fault," he started off with a stuttered whisper before being interrupted.

"Stop stuttering," was his sharp reprimand and Tsuna flinched. "And don't mumble," he added, still reprimanding Tsuna but sounding softer. "How else am I going to hear you in my old age?" he finished, almost jokingly.

"I-it's my fault," he started again and ducked down because he stuttered, disobeying Ryuujin-sama. But he didn't seem to mind as he motioned him to continue. "I started the fight because-"

"Do not lie to me, Tsunayoshi," he interrupted once more. This time, he sounded displeased and harsh. Tsuna just curled into himself because he didn't want to anger such an important man. "What really happened?"

Tsuna just ducked his head as he stayed silent. Then Ryuujin-sama tilted his head with his pudgy hand (a baby's hand) and forced Tsuna to look into his eyes.

And despite their different color, they reminded him of Harry's eyes - piercing and knowing. They had a certain glow, not as bright as Harry's green eyes but essentially the same. They seemed to look into Tsuna's very soul, expecting - demanding - nothing less than honesty from Tsuna because they could see nothing else.

Tsuna recognized those obsidian eyes staring back at him. They were the same eyes that belonged to a suit-wearing baby with a yellow glowing pacifier that healed him. They were Reborn's eyes. Reborn, who spoke truthfully yesterday and so he deserved nothing less than the truth from Tsuna as well.

"What really happened, Tsunayoshi?" he repeated softly. Gently. (Just like Harry.)

"They got angry that I healed too fast," he started off, barely a whisper but he didn't stutter. And despite the gleam in Reborn's eyes, he motioned Tsuna to continue. "And then Hibari arrived and beat them up," he finished.

There was outrage. His classmates' parents were not happy with his words, calling him a troublemaker and a liar who couldn't even keep his story straight so why should anyone believe in him?

"Shut up." And suddenly Tsuna remembered Reborn's introduction from yesterday - the world's greatest hitman. Despite being a baby dressed as an old man, there was something mysterious and deadly with how he held himself. Almost like Hibari with his lethal grace, but Reborn seemed to take it to whole new level.

"Just because you refuse to see your children as bullies, does not make mine the liar," he said coldly as his black eyes glanced at everyone in the room except Tsuna. They shuddered when his blazing gaze landed on them. "Is Tsunayoshi lying or not?" Reborn asked the rest of his classmates, still cold and harsh. They shrank under his attention.

"He's a freak," Goro mumbled, but it was audible over the silence after Reborn's command. "No one could heal that easily."

"Not even if he was treated by my son, Ryuujin Hari, an accomplished doctor and the apprentice of Dr. Edward Lupin, the director of the Lupin Medical Group," was his biting reply. Everyone paled at the names he dropped. If Ryuujin Sansai of the Black Telecommunications was a powerful man in Japan, Dr. Edward Lupin, as the head of the most medically advanced institution in the world, was one of the most powerful men in the world. How could Reborn just drop names like that?

"And you." Reborn blazing gaze became a frigid glare as he turned to the principal, who practically froze in his seat.

"Y-yes, si-sir?" he did a pale imitation of Tsuna's stuttering.

"You were about to punish Tsuna." It was not a question.

(This was not news to Tsuna, who was expecting punishment the moment he was called into the office. It was just how it went: he would get in trouble, they would get called into the principal's office, the parents would be called, and they would punish Tsuna.)

"You endorse victim-blaming in your school?" Reborn sounded so disgusted and appalled and the principal whimpered.

"I cannot punish those boys without evidence-" the principal tried to defend himself.

"And Tsunayoshi's injuries aren't enough as evidence?" Reborn interrupted in disbelief.

"Sawada refuses to speak up, so I have no grounds to punish these boys, whose parents are model citizens."

"Because they are willing to donate to this school," and judging by his tone, he meant to say something else. "Tsunayoshi is punished," Reborn finished blankly. He then closed his eyes as he took a deep breath. And then another.

As Reborn released his first deep breath, Tsuna just realized that he was shivering. And so was everyone in the room, except for the principal who was sitting so stiffly as if he was frozen. There was something in the air that was heavy and dark. Deadly.

When he released his second breath, Tsuna just realized that he wasn't able to breathe until then. The air was not only heavy and dark, but also alive. It was like a snake, coiling around Tsuna until he couldn't take a single breath until Reborn exhaled. Reborn looked at him when he gasped before glancing back at the principal.

"Please excuse Tsunayoshi for the rest of the day due to the severity of his injuries. My son will be treating him," Reborn said, not waiting for the principal's answer. "Let's go home, Tsunayoshi," he said as he got up and left the room. Suddenly, everyone was gasping for breath and Tsuna glanced at the door then at the rest of the room, before following the baby.

"Take this," Reborn, back to his suit and fedora, offered Tsuna a vial filled with what seemed to be like swamp water. "It's a pain-reliever. Think of it as a much better aspirin. Drink it," Reborn demanded and Tsuna drank the swamp water. He did his best not to choke on the horrible taste and instead focused on how much better he felt despite the broken bones and cracked ribs he received from his classmates.

"Where are your things?" Reborn asked, walking out of the school with Tsuna a few steps behind.

"Wi-with th-the-them," he whispered and Reborn looked back at him with a frown.

"Didn't I tell you to stop stuttering and mumbling?" he said sharply and Tsuna shrunk into himself. Reborn sighed. "Never mind. We'll get it back later."

While they walked in silence, Tsuna was finally taking in what happened. He wasn't punished. Reborn came for him. Reborn knew all these important people.

"So do you," Reborn said suddenly, looking at Tsuna, who stepped back in fear. "You know those people: Ryuujin Hari and Lupin Edward. You've met them. You've eaten with them."

And it was impossible for Tsuna of all people to have met with those people, much less eat with them because he usually eats alone. The only time he didn't eat alone was yesterday with...

"You and Hari-san," he breathed out. And he flinched because he spoke out of turn and there was a gleam in Reborn's eye.

"Yes," he said, nodding, as they continued walking again.

Noting that Reborn had no problem with Tsuna talking back, and he did defend Tsuna against his bullies, he dared to speak again. "You..."

"What did I tell you about stuttering and mumbling?" Reborn interrupted him and Tsuna immediately quieted. Reborn grumbled under his breath as he gripped onto his fedora tightly.

"Victim-blaming is what its name implies: the victim is blamed and punished for the crime against him while the offender is excused. In your case, you were already being bullied, yet the school was going to punish you because you were being bullied. You did nothing wrong and yet you were going to be punished. It's stupid and senseless and I absolutely loathe stupidity," Reborn explained before turning to face Tsuna, who looked at Reborn with wide eyes. "But that wasn't what you were going to ask, was it?"

Tsuna shook his head.

"So ask."

Tsuna took a deep breath before asking, "Hari-san is not your son, is he?" Though he managed not to stutter or mumble, it was barely above a whisper. Reborn blinked and Tsuna thought that he didn't hear the question.

"You..." Reborn said as he stopped to stare at Tsuna, who ducked his head in response. But then it proved to be a mistake because Reborn was a baby and now he looked directly into gleaming black eyes. They were not cold, nor were they blazing like earlier. They were wide in surprise and if Tsuna wasn't mistaken, awe. "You're sharper than you look." Reborn breathed out.

"Why do you think so?" Reborn asked, the same curious expression from yesterday was back on his face, but this time it was more intense. (Or maybe it only seemed more intense because Hari was not there.)

"You...don't act like his father," Tsuna started and the glint in Reborn's gaze seemed to glow brighter. "You backed down. And you obeyed him," he finished and the glint suddenly disappeared.

"So because I backed down and obeyed him means that I'm not his father? That I don't act like a father?" Reborn asked and there seemed to be a hint of disappointment in his tone.

Tsuna hesitated for a moment before nodding. The frown on Reborn's face intensified.

"That is a foolish way to look at the bond between father and son," Reborn said, harsh and angry. Tsuna flinched and took a step back. Reborn took a deep breath. "I swear you're too sensitive, Tsunayoshi," he mumbled senselessly before speaking up again, this time less angry and more understanding.

"I backed down because I respect his opinion and conceded to his point. I obeyed his order because he made sense at that time and he knew what he was talking about. Being a father is not about being obediently followed by his son. A father is not a superior. Especially not to his son.

"The bond between father and son is not about obedience or dominance. It's about guidance. It's about respect. It is about love."

Reborn looked straight into Tsuna's eyes and Tsuna couldn't look away from them. There was so much wisdom in those eyes and in his words. Silence followed Reborn's speech as the baby looked away and started walking once more.

Tsuna's shoulders slumped, realizing that he was wrong again.

"I was telling you why your reasoning was wrong, not because you were wrong. You are correct that Harry is not my son. I'm definitely not his father. There is no way I could have raised Harry to be..." Reborn trailed off before shaking his head. "I could have never raised Harry."

As Tsuna looked at the back of Reborn's head, he wondered if he could read minds.

"Get in," Reborn said, looking at Tsuna, when they stopped in front of the Ryuujin residence. "If you don't want to be Dame-Tsuna, then we have to work on your grades. Starting right now." And Tsuna could recognize the sadistic gleam in his eyes as he spoke. Tsuna wanted to leave, but he knew better than running away from a hitman.

"And don't be silly," Reborn suddenly said as they entered the house. "I can't read minds."

The First Step - end.

i am late but i am not that sorry because this chapter is twice as long as the other chapters. i could not find a place to end it. it kept going on and on. i'm still not happy with it but i couldn't find where i went wrong. ugh.

to ww1990ww, who pointed out that harry might have travelled through the multiverse, i would like to say that he did not. it has been several years after the events of book 7 (epilogue? what epilogue?), and harry has only been living this one life of his. sorry to debunk your theory.

to KK (who should get an account so i can personally reply to your reviews instead of leaving them in the fic. hahaha.), i understand that it's difficult to see reborn as his sadistic and ruthless canon self but then he has only been interacting with harry (who is not part of khr) and tsuna (who is not acting like canon at all). so now that reborn is actually interacting with other people, i hope i portrayed him okay. and you're welcome. but it's really me who should be thanking you for writing such well thought out reviews. and of course i would listen to all advice offered, i want to make a good story so accepting feedback is important.

to the guest who didn't leave a name (you really should) and brought up a very interesting point. true that nana has been neglectful, and she may or may not care if tsuna didn't come home. but then there are also neighbors who may or may not be nosy and iemitsu who may or may not care. basically, it would be much less trouble if they took in tsuna officially before someone noticed and causes them all sorts of trouble. and besides, they don't have tsuna's things and as much as i would love to abuse magic, it also may make tsuna uncomfortable (of course there is also the statute of secrecy but no one cares about that) so they might have to take tsuna's things and nana may or may not notice some of the stuff in her own house disappearing.

and i would just like to ask, has hibari ever beaten up anyone in the manga or anime who is just a civilian. like actually beating up someone because of crowding or did they run away before hibari beat them up? if he has, can you cite examples, like which episode or chapter? i'm checking myself but i'd like to verify.

and what i'm actually sorry for is for this ridiculously long an. i'm really sorry for that. and for not replying to all those who have left me a review for the previous chapter. i'll get to you as soon as i can. and for the freaking spelling and grammar errors. and i also added/changed a few details, not really that important to the plot, but it makes more sense.

thank you for dropping by and i hope you enjoyed your read~