As the greatest hitman in the world (and more importantly, as Harry Potter's eldest son), Reborn knew better than to ignore his gut feelings. They may not be on par with the Vongola's famed Hyper Intuition, but they have served him well and kept him alive for so long. Considering Harry's rather unorthodox method in raising children, it's quite an accomplishment.

(Not to say that Harry's a bad parent. In fact, in Reborn's - very admittedly biased - opinion, Harry is the best father anyone could ever ask for. But Reborn can't deny that Harry's parenting techniques were rather unconventional.

Where else did he get inspiration in tortu- training Dino, in the first place?)

And right now, his gut practically yelled at him to follow his student.

But even if his gut didn't tell him, he would have done so anyway because he was too young to get a heart attack with all the surprises Tsunayoshi brought about: rejecting his flames because they were sealed by someone powerful (which made Reborn wonder who sealed them and why?); unleashing an inferno of Sky Flames (though he's the strongest Arcobaleno, he knew he can't produce the same amount of flames at that purity); almost dying because he jumped alongside the suicidal brat; and bringing back strays like there was no tomorrow.

Good thing, too, since his student had no sense of self-preservation whatsoever. The moment he heard an explosion, instead of running away from it like any sane person, he ran towards it along with his merry band of strays.

(Though he should start calling them Tsuna's guardians - not Guardians with the capital G, but they could be - with how they act around him. Which made him wonder where was Mochida? He was almost as much of a mother hen as Harry when it came to Tsuna.)

He soon found himself in a clearing where there was a small crater (relative to the ones he creates when he's furious) in the ground. As he peered at the scene with Leon's help as binoculars, he noticed that Fon's student was in the middle of the hole. And along its edge was the violent prefect that kept chasing after his dad and student. Who looked like a mildly pissed off Fon.

"Hahi! Why are you hurting this sweet angelic child!" a girl cried out as she fearlessly approached the prefect, who glared at her in return.

"I will not tolerate property damage in Nanimori," he said coldly, jumping into the crater.

"You cannot expect me to believe that a sweet child like her could create a hole like this! That's simply not possible!" she shrieked, jumping right after him and pulling Fon's student to her chest.

Reborn noted that there were nine dots on the forehead of Fon's student.

Then he remembered that Fon took in his student because of her assassination skills and her Pinzu time bomb.

Shit.

But before Reborn could do anything to remedy the situation, Tsuna and his posse arrived at the scene.

"Onii-san," Sasagawa's younger sister said, either beseeching her older brother to help the girls in the crater or scolding him for going after Hibari. But before he could do either, Tsuna jumped into the crater and stood fearlessly in front of Hibari.

No, not fearlessly because there were minute trembling in Tsuna's stance and he kept looking around for something, or maybe someone.

Hibari took that moment of distraction as an opening to charge at Tsuna.

Reborn would have approved of Hibari's action of using any opening his opponents offered him, but then his opponent was his student, who didn't know how to fight at all. Something he should remedy immediately.

Thankfully, though he didn't have the instinct or the reflexes, he had his Hyper Intuition and that helped him dodge the Hibari's first strike, which the violent prefect anticipated.

Reborn's grip on his fedora tightened as Tsuna was unable to dodge the second strike even though he knew it was coming. His body wasn't fast enough to keep up with his Hyper Intuition. So he couldn't do anything but take the hit to his side.

Tsuna's friends were about to jump into action, but Reborn gave them a warning shot before jumping in front of them.

"Don't interfere with his fight," Reborn said, glancing at the teens behind him with an ominous glare before watching the rather one-sided fight between his student and Hibari.

"But Reborn-!" Gokudera tried to appeal to the hitman while Yamamoto and Sasagawa just outright ignored his warning and rushed forward. Leon turned into a gun and shot paralyzing bullets at both boys even before they could take another step past him.

"Do not. Interfere," Reborn repeated, ignoring the death glares the children were throwing at him. He was Tsuna's tutor and so he had to teach Tsuna some lessons. This was one of those lessons.

But that didn't mean that his knuckles weren't turning whiter by the second or his shoulders getting tenser with every strike that hit Tsuna. But thankfully, Tsuna was getting faster and dodging more hits.

But it wasn't enough because Hibari was learning and adjusting to Tsuna's rather abysmal speed and reflexes. And throughout the whole fight, Tsuna kept tossing him pitiful glances, asking for help.

And he wanted to. Dear gods, if there was something he wanted to do more than anything else in the world, he wanted to help his student. His flames burned beneath his skin, his resolve clashing against his self-control. But he didn't want his student to grow dependent on him.

Because he has seen it happen. He has seen those desolate and desperate, who had nothing, latch on to the people who gave them a taste of wealth, a taste of kindness, at taste of heaven which could be anything at all. And the desperate, they become puppets enslaved by their perceived debts to the giver, doing what their master command them, whether intentionally or otherwise, just for a taste of the kindness that was first given to them.

And he didn't want that to happen between Tsuna and him. Tsuna deserved much better than that.

"Are you going to be one of those adults?" Yamamoto snarled at him, his easy-going façade fading into something deadlier and harsher (like a trained killer).

Reborn just raised his brow at his question. "Like who?" he asked calmly, belying the burning need to just shoot at the tonfa-wielding teen and be done with it.

"Like those who didn't help Tsuna because he doesn't help himself," Yamamoto calmly answered back, though the look in his eyes was anything but calm.

"What!" both girls exclaimed behind him, followed by a litany of things Kurokawa would do to those foolish adults for their incompetence. All of which Reborn wholeheartedly agreed to and would gladly do it for her, for Tsuna's sake.

But before he would extract their rightful punishment, his body cannot hold his resolve any longer. His flames were bursting to escape from his body to heal his broken and dejected student. He had enough of Hibari hurting his precious student.

It ends now.

He fired his Sun Flames at Hibari, who jumped back to avoid the shot (but then Reborn wasn't really aiming for Hibari, else he wouldn't have been able to dodge it in the first place). But more importantly, jumped away from Tsuna, who slumped to the ground.

Reborn stood protectively in front of his student as he spoke to Hibari, "Tsuna will resume this fight two weeks from now." He ignored the shocked gasps behind him or the whimper from his student.

Hibari frowned in reply. "I could finish this fight now."

"Do you want to keep fighting a weak, unworthy opponent? Or do you want to fight against someone stronger? Because he will be stronger in two weeks time," Reborn answered back.

"Will he?" he asked, raising a skeptical brow at the idea of Tsuna becoming stronger.

"If he won't, then you can resume your fight another two weeks later," he answered.

(But he will. He wanted to say instead, because he has seen Tsuna's growth in the fight. Though he didn't have formal training, he had learned how to dodge and duck. He gained faster reflexes and his body was slowly learning to keep up with his Hyper Intuition. All these he learned within those fifty-four seconds with Hibari.)

"But before then," Reborn added, to sweeten the deal, "you can fight with anyone in the Ryuujin household."

And he knew he said the right words when his eyes glowed with anticipation. "Anyone?" Hibari asked.

"Anyone," Reborn repeated, knowing that his father won't mind being used as a bargaining chip if it was Reborn doing the bargaining. (That man was such a pushover.)

"Very well," he said, leaving the scene, most likely to look for Harry and pick a fight with him.

"And you," Reborn said, looking at his exhausted student who was slumped on the ground. "Lesson number one: you do not pick fights with those stronger than you."

"But—" Tsuna tried to say before Reborn interrupted him by making him drink a vial of pain-reliever.

"That's why I will make sure you will become strong enough that you can pick a fight with anyone you want to," Reborn finished, pushing his Sun Flames into his pacifier until it glowed yellow. As he healed Tsuna's newest batch of injuries, he continued, "Lesson number one point one: You will end any start you fight. And when you end them, you will end them as the victor. Are we clear?"

"Yes, Reborn," Tsuna answered, then he gave him a smile. "Thanks."

Reborn gave him a small smile in return as he finished healing Tsuna, before transforming Leon into a gun and shooting at I-pin a sleeper bullet before her timer ran out. (And ignoring the screams of the girls while he was at it.)

"Don't thank me yet. I haven't taught you lesson number two."

Lesson Number One – end.

apologies for taking so long to finish this. it could be better, i know, but i feel so guilty for not posting in forever. so i hope you enjoy.

replies will be in the next chapter (or before i post the next chapter), which is hibari's interlude. and it will be soon. i hope.