Katekyo Hitman Reborn

My Fate is Certainly Uncertain

Chapter 28: Butter

Overall warnings: Swearing, disclaimers and other things. Spare Exo. I will never own them.

[Written to: Peter Pan - Exo, Bulletproof Heart - MCR]

~o0o~

Coming back to the future was easier to deal with mentally than it was the first time, since I actually knew what was happening this time. I was the third to go through, right after Lambo and I-pin, who unexpectedly were gobbled up by the ten year bazooka. Along with Al on my shoulder, I landed firmly on my feet and wondered if they were okay, the rascals. However, they were still children, running around and screaming like headless chooks. They didn't know any about the situation, and so they were oblivious to even being in a new environment. And while their naievety worried me a little, I soon forgot about it. If it didn't bother them, it didn't bother me.

The boys, Spam and Red, were waiting for us when we toddled on back into their safekeeping. They looked the same, like it was only minutes ago that we left them there. Probably was. This timey wimey stuff I didn't understand much. All I got was that we went from one place to another, all in one piece.

"Hey Shouichi, Spanner. How's things holding?"

"Alright." Shouichi admitted, scratching the back of his head. He was just as nervous as we left him as well. "We won't have a lot of time to ourselves though. They're bound to find us any minute."

"Then we better get cracking, shan't we?"

Several of the guardians appeared behind me, and they worked quietly to get back their bearings before I looked around the place for the missing link.

Al breathed out a hefty sigh. "You're going to need Tsuna."

"Argh, where's that Starfish gotten to now? I hope they're not dilly-dallying, worrying about Hibari..."

Nethertheless, he did find his way back to the future, sobbing on his hands and knees. Apparently, Reborn had pushed him into the bazooka. And, as usual, Reborn stood next to the crying kid with the same expression as the day I met him. Both Spanner and Shouichi looked very happy when the Vongola kid was back safely. It was a weight that was free from his lungs. The spectacled boy could breathe that much easier than the situation allowed. Spanner was more or less pleased with the outcome as well.

"Yes, it worked!"

"Welcome back Vongola." Shouichi quavered, finding the confidence in his voice. He wasn't too keen on staying here long and I could feel it in the bottom of my own kneecaps that his legs were shaking a little.

"Boss, are you okay?" Gokudera questioned.

Tsuna paused. "Y-Yes, but…."

"But what?" I asked.

"Hibari didn't show up…."

Footsteps came up from behind us and the menacing aura that came along with Hibari grunted. "What did you say about me?"

"Eh! Hibari! Why are you here?!"

"Well that's a stupid question." Murmured Al. "Aren't you the one who asked him to come back here in the first place?"

"Hibari returned a little early. "

"Huh?"

Gokudera huffed outwardly, aloud and proud of the fact that he could deduce somebody by looking at them. "Ha. For a minute there, I'd thought you had run away like a baby."

Or not. He's still a stupid-ass-punk, after all.

After raising his attention to look at the gray haired gangster, Hibari called to Reborn, who turned to look up at him. "Baby."

"Oh, what is it?"

And the one-track mind told him:

"I'll be waiting for that battle. I will not allow you to win and run."

How crude.

"Upsy daisy Tsuna, on your feet." I grabbed his elbow and pulled him up gently while he regained his balance.

"T-Thank you."

"Good manners Starfish. But you still need to work on that stutter."

Al, contrary to belief, was not always an asshat as he would like most of the world to believe. He had very similar morals to me. Like, respect, for example. YOu treat me nicely and I'll do the same for you. You want to be a wanker? Ohoho. Things will not go the right way for you buddy.

Tsuna's eyes widened as he remembered something. "Ah! What about Byakuran? Did he find out?!"

"It's fine." Shouichi replied."Only ten minutes have passed since you returned to the past."

"Eh? Ten minutes?"

"That's how I set it up."

"So?" Spanner leaned forward a little, eager to hear about the trials. "Can you open your boxes yet?"

Tsuna shook his head. He had washed his hair the day before, so it would be a while before he needed to do it again. "No, I haven't tried yet."

"How does it look outside Shouichi?"

"Don't worry Reborn, there aren't any problems. But Tsunayoshi, I'd like to discuss the circumstances of the upcoming battles with you in more detail. There is much to discuss."

"Yes, okay."

It was nice to see that Tsuna was starting to take responsibility. Why wouldn't he? He's worked so far for something he doesn't know he's fighting for yet. Well, he's fighting for the future, yes. But I got the feeling that nothing here was what it looked like. It rarely was these days.

Shouichi was sitting in a chair with his clenched fists on the arms while Spanner stood with a new lollipop. His mind was solely focussed on the damage that these battles in his head that hadn't happened yet. He wasn't too sure about how it will come about or what would happen. He was just the type of person to worry about things, like Tsuna.

Shouichi wriggled his toes and smiled as he broke the news to the group. "The Millefiore have been flushed from Namimori. There shouldn't be any danger."

"That's good." AL whispered and I nodded in response. "At least we can go outside now instead of being cooped up like chickens and gathering cabin fever."

"Yeah." I whispered back.

"A new battle is about to begin."

And hell yes, there was a battle to look forward to. It wasn't long after that we were all chattering to each other - something that I look at now with utter awe because we should have gotten out of there instead of standing there like headless chooks - that we were interrupted by the man of the moon. I could believe that he found us quite quickly, since Byakuran would have been wired to the mainframe with all of his locations. It occurred that nobody would be ever safe in the base with him around.

I honestly didn't like the way he looked at us. Not as people, or as objects either. I've seen that look before and he stared at us as if we were ants beneath his feet. His eyes were half lidded. He looked like he could fall asleep at any moment but I knew that wasn't true. That smile, one that I might have compared to Reborns, just because it brassed me off so much lead all of those deceptions away like the pied piper. Actually, that wasn't a bad way of describing him.

He taunted everybody with his "trials" and how he watched "Shou-chan" run around the base. It was a hologram but nethertheless, I still wanted to crack his jaw with my fists. The guy pissed me off and his smile was ticking me off. I kept this to myself though. There was no need for me to start acting up while we were getting information that he blatantly threw at us.

What I got from the way he held himself that he was terribly bored with everything and everyone. He treated the captains that he gave the rings to like dirt, the owners of the fake rings. It wasn't long that he showed the actual guardians of the Funeral Wreath rings. He smiled cheekily and gestured at the hologram above him that projected the pictures of his guardians,

I couldn't gather any mental information from the projection since it was just a hologram. But you look at these people and you get an idea that maybe this group of individuals were hand picked, That meant that not everybody would be friends with one another. That could be a slight advantage. Hopefully.

There was a girl with long blue hair, probably shorter than me, shorter than Tsuna for that matter. She was definitely outnumbered by men. They all looked gruff and I only looked at the picture for a shorter time than everybody else. I had no urge to stare into the portraits of people who were supposed to be my enemy. I didn't want to look into the eyes of maybe-killers.

(Mind you, there was a guy taking a bath in some magna.)

"That's some hot stuff! I'd like to know is secrets!" Al howled to the air, his demeanor then changing into a hissing action against Byakuran. "Is this some sort of freak show you got here you creep!? Because let me tell you, Tsuna will win! He will!"

Byakuran, his attention was caught by the screaming cat in my arms and his eyes widened a fraction. "Oh, what a cute kitty cat. Too bad I'll have to get rid of him along with you and the rest of your family."

"I'd like to see you pull that off, asshat." I muttered, staring right back at him with a face that Reborn had dubbed the 'bitch-face'. (His words, not mine.) I normally used it to get people to not talk to me. And it worked. He really did stop paying attention to me! Maybe I hurt his feelings then?

Good.

But before anything else could happen, everything around us was plunged into a white light and I heard someone scream 'Teleportation!'. But this type didn't feel like the ones that we used to get back to the past. I literally couldn't keep my eyes open, as I was a little fearful for retina damage.

My feet found firm ground when the light disappeared. The tingling feeling rose up to my knees and as I breathed in through my nose with relief in my mind, the painful tinnitus in my ears minimised.

I was surprised to find that I was the only one standing when I opened my eyes. Everybody else was lying on the ground, dazed and afraid of what just happened. Some were moaning in pain and I found myself falling down onto my butt with a 'thump'!

"Are you okay Juudaime!?" Gokudera looked frantically around for his friend and quietly Tsuna replied, sitting up while trying to massage the knot in his neck. One that came when he fell on his back when they teleported to god knows where.

"How's everyone else?" He asked skittishly.

Nobody really answered his question which proved that they were alright, as they had their own questions on where we were. Kusakabe speculated that we were still underneath Namimori and I looked up to see a vast space. My gut dropped when I looked back down to see the hole where the base should have been. The tingles in my feet played up again.

"That's a long drop….."

"I can't believe they really did that…." I checked on Reborn to see if he was okay. I didn't really need to, I guess. He was a grown man and he didn't need anybody to see if he was okay. He was a little bit of a loner and I couldn't help but smile when he uttered 'Crazy Shit.' to my face as he looked over the edge.

"Why are we still here if they base teleported?" Tsuna questioned.

"We weren't teleported because all guardians of the Vongola are present. We were protected by a barrier that covered over us and the device."

"Did you see this coming? Is that why you brought Ryohei and his ring from the past?"

Shouichi nodded. "Yeah. I've planned for a number of Byakuran's potential moves."

"What are you talking about!" Gokudera yelled.

"Quiet you." I told him. "We're safe and you should be grateful for that. Right now we don't have the luxury of spending time freely. We should start moving back to the base to gather up our wits and think about how to go on."

"I agree." Reborn nodded, jumping on my shoulder to which I sighed. I pouted, thinking that I should have started up my own school bus business because very kid, near and far thinks it's appropriate to jump on me.

And then we returned to the base while the others bickered with each other, their boxes finally in their own hands and I wondered when I would get mine.

And as it turned out, I would get it back soon, along with a lot of other things that I didn't need to deal with.

~o0o~

It took maybe a day for me to sleep off the tiredness that I brought from the past. I don't know if I could have classified it as jet lag. I mean, the trials had - in my mind - only happened a day ago. This time travel stuff made my head spin and I prefered to not think about it. I didn't particularly want to dote on the image of my future, so I spent my time in the kitchen with Al, Fuuta and the girls for most of my days. And it was a swell time. For once, I actually didn't mind cooking for long hours. At home, where there was only Al and I in that tiny apartment I would sometimes put some meat on a the slow cooker and it would be done by the time I would get back from filing papers all day!

My mother wasn't one who cooked a lot. She tried, sometimes and there would be days when I would get back from school that she would have a mustard and ham sandwich with an apple and two chocolate chip biscuits, waiting for me and I would think that this would be the best part of the day. So I enjoyed flicking uncooked bits at Fuuta and then running away in a giggle while he chased me around the table while the others looked on.

But I might have squealed the loudest when the sandy haired child that had called me his sister for a while stepped into the kitchen sheepishly. And I was really happy.

"Basil!" I yelped, hugging him tightly. When I did, I noted that he was still shorter than me and I pushed him away a little, holding him by the shoulders. "Oh, oh my god it's past Basil! Are you okay, are you hurt?! How on earth did you get here?!"

"That's what we would like to know." Gokudera muttered with crossed arms, taking an interest in the floor tiles.

"Here Basil." Kyoko and Haru gave him food and quite happily he started to scoff all of it down with gulps of water. In his fist was a riceball that we had made for snacks later and in the other, a big glass of milk. That was his favourite.

Tsuna stared wide eyes at the Italian. "Wow Basil, you sure do eat a lot…"

"He always has." I told him, staring at the scene also.

To our surprise, Basil himself was rather confused at the situation. He said he woke up with a box and a note by his side somewhere in Europe. But after explaining himself, he just seemed to slump down in his seat and smile happily.

"Did he just...fall asleep?"

"Uh…."

"He hasn't had food in days and has been on the move. Leave him be, he deserves it." He looked to me and nodded, knowing that it was me that had to carry him to bed. I asked Reborn and Tsuna to save me at least some food but when I did get back there wasn't a lot I could eat so I ended up going to bed a little hungrier. But when I got up later in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, I almost stepped in what presented itself as dinner covered in wrapping.

I never did find out who put it out there. But I had a good idea who. I tried to help Chrome eat hers, to try and put her uneasiness to rest and I slept in her room for the next couple of days. She would wake up sometimes, and I would hear her whimpering quietly. I tried my best, but Al kept telling me that she would come out slowly and in her own time.

But one night, I-Pin decided that she would try her hand, so I left them alone to eat pork buns while I wandered the halls. It was nice to feel the night air.

And to my surprise, I watched the boys tried out all the toys the mechanics made. They had been at it for days in some contest to see who the better one was and that made me a little concerned as well as happy to watch.

Lal was still out of the battle. Her body wasn't in a good state and I visited her when I could with Reborn and Basil, who was shocked to see our leader like this. Visibly he was upset and I guess he still saw me as somewhat of a sibling figure as he held my hand while we waited for her to come out of her sleep.

The best thing that was made out of the spat between Spanner and Giannini was definitely Giannini's invention of that motorbike that I felt should have been a legit remake of a Tron bike. Even Reborn was pretty excited about seeing them work, as they hovered off the ground with a loud noise. Gokudera was the best drive, not doubts there and Tsuna continued to be his clumsy old self.

I decided to better myself while I was here and that when I got back I would do even better for myself. I began to sleep earlier so that I wouldn't be so tired. I cut back on my intake of sugar and soon I was feeling better. I even started to wake earlier than Al, and he noticed the change in me too. I was a little nicer and I didn't bark a lot. However, I was still a Sassy Sally. I would inject it where I felt necessary.

But one night as I was sleeping, I was awakened by a huge blast that rippled through the base. It shook the banisters of the bed and I sat up in a daze, waking Al in the process. It was a bloody violent explosion so I assumed it was near to where my room was. I heard outside how the alarms went off, screaming in the night, and the years of how Lal taught me to act in this type of situation. I was not to change out of the clothes I had on. No dilly dallying would be permitted. I headed out the door with my gun. At a steady pace, I looked up and saw a stream of smoke that definitely woke me up if I hadn't thought I had already.

"What the fuck is this?!" Yelled the black furred knight who ran behind me as we travelled down the steel framed halls. Al overtook me, running towards Tsuna's room. And when we got there, I saw a monster that I never believed to exist.

"What the fuck is this!?"

Such colourful language was only so appropriate for this situation. Tsuna was in hand to hand, hyper mode against a monster that appeared out of nowhere. But as I caught a glimpse of the open box on the ground, my mouth dropped open.

"I-Is that your box animal?!"

"That's no animal! That's a drug induced version of one of those dragons they use in a Chinese new years parade!"

"T-That's a box weapon?! It looks like a monster!"

"It's dangerous!" Tsuna cried, acting quickly. The orange box animal moved just as fast as he did and Tsuna didn't want anyone to be hurt. "Get back!"

It growled viciously and snapped its jaws wide open, trying to take Tsuna in one, big gulp. Tsuna, acting on the adrenaline he had pumping in his veins, caught the top of it's mouth and it's jaw, standing on the wall to support himself as it pushed constantly. Tsuna guided the monster downwards and while it tried to gain the lost momentum, it was met with Tsuna kneeing it in the face. I couldn't help but flinch, as both Al and I heard the painful screech it let off. But when it captured Tsuna's limbs, Basil tried to intervene with his own box weapon.

Frustratingly, that didn't work either. I was about to go in myself, but Yamamoto, late as ever, bet me to it with his box weapon. With it being three on one, the weapon that arose from Tsuna's box retreated to the safety of said box and calm entered the area. Tsuna was caught before his body hit the ground and we all rushed over to check on him.

He was thankfully fine. A bit drenched from Basil's rain box, but thankfully a-okay. No major injuries that I could see.

"What went on Starfish? It's the middle of the fucking night!"

He blinked with as much confusion that mirrored ours. He shrugged and slumped a little. "I thought I just injected flames, but then that thing suddenly came out."

Ryohei looked on in surprise. "I've never heard of something like that thing before….."

"Al says it looks like a New Years Dragon."

"Wasn't it supposed to be on our side?!"

Yamamoto frowned. "Well, it should be!"

Basil nodded. "Yes, but something's off. Boxes are supposed to be modeled after animals on earth. That monster doesn't exist here."

"Maybe in fairytales it might."

"T-Then what is it?! Could have Irie given you a defective one?"

Tsuna jerked. "Huh? No way!"

Gokudera shook his head in disagreement. "No, I'm sure that's what it is. That monster couldn't have possibly been the Sky Vongola Box!" He stood and with a firm resolve, squeezed his hands. "I'll go string 'im up!"

"Woah! Woah! Hold up there Gokudera!"

"Why, so you can sit here and keep that thing? No!"

And while they fought, a voice broke them apart.

"No, it's actually Tsuna's fault. That's not how your box weapon should look like."

All of our attention was drawn to the hole in the wall that the monster had created. The sound of horses hooves echoed through the cavity and a white stallion appeared from it, just like it could if it was a storybook. The orange flames whipped and flowed off of it's tail and mane. disappearing in the air a few seconds after it flowed away. It took me a moment to put the face with a name but as soon as I heard his voice, my jaw dropped and it would have gone through hell and back if it wasn't attached to my cheekbones. It took some convincing that yes, it was Dino, my Dino. I think I may have even inadvertently pinched myself in disbelief. I mean, he was handsome in my eyes and has always been, but holy crap! Did he have a second puberty or a midlife crisis!

"Shiiiiiiiiit" If Al had been in human form, he would have jerked and covered his mouth. "Daaaaam son! Stuff got sorted!"

"Oh my god." I blankly said. That was all that I could say for some reason. "Oh my god."

"Dino…." Tsuna quietly whispered.

He grinned and while up on his high horse, I contemplated life for a moment and thought about what the fuck happened while I was gone. I mean…..

"Doing well, Little Bro?"

Tsuna stood up with more energy than what I thought he had left over and waved at Dino, almost bouncing on the spot. "Dino!"

"Woah, he's riding a horse!"

"Orange flames….That's a Sky box weapon."

Oh my god.

I was still at a loss to what I should say or do. I would have hugged him, being happy that he was still alive and well and whatnot. I loved the guy, but this was the future. I didn't know how he would react to me since I was dead in this time. By such circumstances, he would probably be overjoyed if it was anyone other than me. From what Bianchi had told me, it turned out that in my heart I didn't want to hurt him as much as I already had.

So, me being me, I uttered what was on my mind as I stared at him.

"Your hair!" I yelled, moving my hand across my face in the position where his fringe was. "Dino, your hair!"

He chuckled and then grinned widen, playing with the hair at the back of his head. "Eh, you like it! I'm glad!" He laughed. "Still, you were a bunch of kids ten years ago.."

"Hey!"

"Except for you Phillipa," He held up a hand in his defense. I knew despite his happy demeanor, he felt a little awkward. Not that he didn't in the past. As clumsy as he was, this was a different type. "You're still as lovely as ever."

Reborn blew out hot air. "Please, you're a kid yourself. Turning up this late. Did you get lost again?"

Dino's face changed when he saw Reborn, just like when he saw me. "Reborn, I never expected to see you again….."

"What's with the face?" Reborn asked earnestly. "You still green behind the ears after ten years? For shame."

"Hehe, still treating me like a kid after all of these years?" Dino cackled and went to get off of his horse, but in Dino style, ended up on his face.

"OW!"

"Oh, okay. Now I know it's Dino." I smiled.

"Classy as ever."

"Strange...that's been happening a lot lately….I thought I grew out of it….."

Gokudera's eye twitched. "N-No way.."

"I-It…i-is he still…"

Dino sighed, still on his butt on the ground. "Aaaand it took me three hours to get here when it was only a kilometre away…"

"Three hours?" I repeated. "Why didn't you get Romario or one of the boys to drop you off? YOu know they wouldn't say no to your face."

"But I let him have a day off today and I wanted to come by myself."

Al shook his head. "And still childish as ever. Why did I think he changed?"

I looked down at Al and whispered quietly. "That'll be because of the fringe."

"Eh?" He stood up. "Is something wrong?"

Tsuna smiled sweetly. "Ehe, no."

Although, despite him being an alliance with the Vongola, Gokudera was still a little high strung. "Why are you here Dino? Isn't your family having a hard time fighting against the Millefiore?"

"How many are dead?" I asked, almost scared to ask. "Is Jenny still alive?"

He shook his head sadly and then the light in his eyes changed. That was kind of sad to hear about the people that Dino cared about. She was the nicest maid I ever met. "But this victory with the Varia will mean nothing if we don't defeat Byakuran. Which means everything will be left onto you guys."

But in Dino-fashion, he didn't like to stay too serious for long and I was happy that in the years that had past, he hadn't lost that. He was trying to bury his anger and guilt towards me. He was trying to keep the things the same for me as to not cause an uproar that would change the past.

"Well, don't worry. That's why I've come out here."

As it turned out, yet another welcoming party was planned for our beloved blond, but seeing it was still the middle of the night, I didn't feel like attending this one. It was a waste of food more than anything. So when everybody went their separate ways, I shook my head at the thought of Basil eating till he's stuffed again and wandered back to my room.

Or at least, I tried. Unfortunately, I was stopped by said blond.

He grabbed me by the arm and I flicked my hair around to look at Dino. Not look at him, but really look at him. The colour of his eyes were still the same and he was still taller than me. I really did wish that everything was still the same as I would like it to be.

"Where are you going?" He asked, nodding his head in the direction of where the mess hall was. "Kitchen's that way."

"I know." I said quietly, taking back my hand. "But it's still night and I'm tired and to be honest, I'm not dressed for dinner." I looked down at my sleeping attire. "A tank top and boxer aren't going to work with that many kids in there."

He glanced down at what I wore and blushed slightly, nodding with a smile. "You're right. I think you would need a bra."

"Yeah! Now get outta here!" I whistle to the cat. "Oi Al, you can go ahead, I'm taking leave."

"Whateves."

"Why don't you go get changed and come back? That way everybody will be there to listen to random things!' He nodded to himself. "I want to hear where everybody is at."

"You do that." I replied. "I promise, I'll come later."

"Really?"

I sighed. "This again?"

"A promise is a promise. I want you to be there at the party." He smiled sideways, trying to convince me that spending a night with his dead wife's past self is a smart idea. "Okay?"

Go on. Indulge him. He hasn't seen you since when?"

"Okay." I nodded and smiled quietly. "Just let me get changed."

Damn him. I can't ever say no nowdays, can I?

~o0o~

~* Omake *~

Mama was definitely the boss of the house according to everyone you met, except for the infamous asshole of the house, little Lambo. You wouldn't classify him as a goody good, would you, no way. And he wasn't exactly the luckiest person either. Whether it came to fighting or chasing around, he would always trip and cry. He would spit out the food he didn't like and throw the bath mat onto the shower rack, first thing he ever did when getting the bathroom all to himself.

But today it was more so than ever and it was the strangest thing to him. He couldn't stand on his own two feet properly when he locked himself in the bathroom, chucking away the bathmat so that he could skid all over the place. But no no, he had too much today. He couldn't stand, couldn't walk. It was awful. He couldn't reach the door properly and he ended up screaming his lungs out, crying for help.

"What's that sound?" Reborn asked, just as he was about to take a sip of his coffee.

"Dunno." Phillipa replied, as she finished washing up her plate.

"Ara?" Mama had her head poking into the fridge. "We're out of butter….."

"Really? I'll go get some then!"

When the door swung shut behind the American, the screaming sound was heard again upstairs and Mama chuckled.

"Ah, it's nice to have young children in the house again. So lively."

~o0o~

Howdy-doo guys, I'm back again. :D My BETA reader has gone MIA 'cause of school. (Probably.) So I'm just going to upload as I go along. And I promised you Dino, so here you go.

Replies:

Natachoco: No way, that's okay though. As long as you read it, I'm fine with whatever. Really? Mine had a problem a couple of weeks ago, couldn't upload anything, annoyingly. It'll go soon, probably. Mine has so I hope yours does.

Akayuki Sawada: I know, bonkers right?! He'll never get a girl that way. Verde, I mean, Gamma not so much but I guess climbing into people's windows could potentially creep them out sooooooo…

My Name Is Alice: Yes, I plan to take it past the anime, but how far yet I'm not too sure. I have organise the timeline again.

Animefreak1123: Well I'm glad it makes you want to do that! KHR is a nice anime that's a little different from everything else. I hope you like it and continue reading. ;)

LeoInuyuka: I RESPECT YOU. Ha. I said it. You can't take it back now. Ha. Movie adaption *Is not ready for the feels* I wasn't ready for POBAWF and I'm not for this. :( And both. Love you too duckie! *Makes incoherent duck noises*

We're so close I can smell it! You know what flavour it smells of? Pie flavour. Yes, if you are the 200th reviewer I will give you your character of choice to do whatever the heck you want with them. ;)

Ciaossu

-Verdigurl