[EDIT: Mar/11/19. Check for notes at the end. ]

x-X-x-X-x

"Friends are the bacon bits in the salad bowl of life." - Anonymous.

That problem with Other Lambo was never brought up by Reborn and Tsuna preferred not to think about it. Some things can never be ignored forever, though they can be put off for a time since Tsuna confiscated Lambo's TYL Bazooka and all the connected ammo, then gave it all to Reborn for safe-keeping just in case of some disaster.

. . .

October had become November and November was now early December with the weather being chilly enough for Tsuna to to leave the house in warm pants, light winter jackets or doubled sweaters, and his naturally warm battle gloves, as well as a panda hat that Fon bought for him only three days before.

Hibari texted Tsuna. Texted him first.

It took him half an hour to get up the courage to look because, hell, what could he possibly want so early? Addmittedly there were a few possibilities, like an early warning for imminent kidnapping for spars, or coming by to nab food for him and his mother, but it might not be something as mundane as that. Hence Tsuna's anxiety. Besides, any and all texts were punctual and between twelve in the afternoon and two. Never at four PM. With a tickle of non-Intuition worry Tsuna opened the text and groaned.

Hibari Text: There are pick-pockets lurking around the shopping area. You and whoever you want to use may join. Catch the fools and then text me.

Hence why Tsuna was walking with Reborn on his shoulder and texting Gokudera and Takeshi about silly things to reassure them that he'd be fine. Piero trotted at his side, heterochromatic eyes sharp and glancing over every person they passed.

It wasn't difficult looking as pathetic and weak as Reborn wanted, apparently when not protecting or dealing with people for his Famiglia he was a natural bunny rabbit for others to prey upon. What a self-esteem booster, but then Reborn said it worked in their favor this time so don't complain, and Tsuna privately decided that was the infants apology for making Tsuna feel ashamed. He was dressed jeans and a large smiley-face sweater with black background and he had his usual duffel slung over his head. He had a wallet in his pocket with a tracking device sewn into it that began as a not-st-all-serious idea that he got from anime and TV:

Why not let someone steal a bugged wallet, and then follow them? Something like it worked in spy movies and anything Reborn had on hand would no doubt do the trick.

So yes, Tsuna was texting the his two friends and some to Kyoko as they were the three prone to worrying more, then he texted his mother to see if she wanted him to buy anything while he was out. He felt more than saw someone dip into his pocket and grab his wallet while Reborn pretended to sleep on his shoulder with his fedora pulled down over his eyes.

Reborn quickly had Leon turn into a baby-sized laptop and began directing Tsuna where to go. They came to a cafe where a trio sat in a booth and Tsuna sat down in the booth opposite them and ordered a mild but bitter coffee for Reborn and himself a hot chocolate. The Arcobaleno strapped a tiny black object to Leon and sent the lizard, in camouflage mode, to go record the conversation. Two minutes later Leon returned and after listening it was obvious they were the thieves and Tsuna silently thanked his lucky stars, especially since none of them even noticed him come in!

Or begin following them when they left five minutes later.

It was probably the Shadow Step Technique he was using, which Nobu had taught. Learning it began with training to dampen his presence by calming his mind and shutting down his emotions to some degree. Then he had to 'pull in his energy' as best he could and not let it leak out. The second part to this technique is working on becoming naturally in tune with one's surroundings until avoiding noise-making parts of a floor is done without conscious effort, as well as treading as silently as possible. The second part wasn't easy with his Sky being sealed off back then, but substituting Lightning and increasing mental capability by supercharging his brain allowed him to master it somewhat. It seemed like since he had his main Flame unsealed some of the techniques he learned were sharpening and becoming what Nobu had wanted for him.

'Speaking' of the eccentric martial arts master, Nobu said Tsuna was a natural due to his subconscious desire for going unnoticed granted by him being an adorable bunny rabbit on the inside, one with extra fluffy fur like his hair.

"Did Nobu teach you this?" Reborn said quietly. Piero meowed from her place at Tsuna's side as though saying yes.

"Yep. I don't even have to shove down my emotions all that much anymore. I suppose he's a hitman? Or an assassin? Um, is he..." He forced down a stab of everyday worry. "He's not on that kind of job, is he? He's doing fine?"

Reborn rolled his eyes. Him and his paranoia over Famiglia. "He semi-retired when he was sixteen and occasionally does favors for his previous Family, but mostly he's free-lance and lazy. Moved to Namimori and opened the dojo, and later chose you as his protege. It's cheating having the world's top martial artist train you in his stead, but he still says he has claim even while training three others."

"... Should I take that as he's in contact with you? Still?" Tsuna forced down the swell of pain and pulled a mask of deadpan humor on his face. It worked on most but trained professionals like the Arcobaleno there. Oh, and close friends.

"He's testing himself. His boss from the Irukaza group was a a Cloudy Storm, a mean combination in anyone but that humble iron-backed woman." At Tsuna's dubious look the hitman pinched his ear, earning a satisfying yelp. "Nobu has never experienced being with a Sky. He didn't understand that he had Harmonized with you and was confused over why he's felt increasinly uncomfortable the longer he's not close enough to protect you, and he felt anxious. Things he never felt before becoming your teacher."

Tsuna frowned and dragged a hand through his hair. "I get it. He's trying to see how long he can stay away for, because he doesn't want to be dependent on me?"

"In a way. Proper Harmonization boosts the power of the bonded elements and the Sky itself. A good bond increases the ease of use, and he noticed the difference between before and after he left."

"Ah. So, he could manipulate his Flames before meeting me?"

"It's rare but not unheard of, and yes he can. Mists are most common when it comes to utilizing without a medium like a ring, and there are about thirty-eight people world-wide that can use their Flames externally, including those in your group, and most are in the Mafia for various reasons."

No more was said after that. Tsuna followed the trio to a a warehouse where they met up with a bunch of other delinquents and Tsuna sneaked in, hoping for a simple catch-the-baddies-and-go-on-his-merry-way job.

What he found was a surprising sight involving a skinny and battered blond teen in a baggy blue overalls and a oil stained long sleeved gray shirt. He was resting on his side on the dirty cement floor. His left cheek was swollen and he had a badly split lip, and he was tied up and helpless surrounded by delinquents. Despite his injuries he had such a calm and deadpan expression, like he knew he'd be okay, and it both caught Tsuna's interest and his concern. Evidently this one had no self-preservation to speak of.

"You gonna give up your robot to Renji, here? We wanna win the prize money, Geek Face!"

"No, neanderthal."

"The hell is that, you scrawny shit!"

"An extinct species of pre-historic barbaric human."

That big delinquent snagged Death Wish Boy up and held him in the air. "You wanna die here, punk?"

Tsuna crackled with Sky-Flame and Reborn settled himself on a crate to watch the show. It was quick but satisfactory as Tsuna blurred in, jabbed the male in the floatin ribs (audible crack), knocking him out with the pain, and caught the incapacitated blond with one arm to keep him from face planting. While others were frozen in shock Tsuna easily hoisted the surprisingly lanky Death Wish Boy into his arms bridal style and in the same move went sprinting out of the building. In little time was setting the boy on a bench roughly a mile away.

Ignoring the inquisitive green eyes boring into him, Tsuna pulled out his phone to text Hibari the coordinates and sighed heavily. Was this his life now? Pretty much being a vigilante? Wait, that could be a good thing since that's what the Vongola were in the first place. Food for thought.

With his mission done, Tsuna pulled off his duffel bag, placed it beside the boy still tied up, and then immediately face-palmed at his idiocy.

"Crap! I'm sorry, my name is Sawada Tsunayoshi," he said, smiling at him gently. "I'm sorry for not untying you right away, Death Wish Boy."

As he tore the rope D.W.B corrected him. "My name is Spanner Aurelio, rather it's Aurelio Spanner here, right, Sonic?"

Tsuna stared at him for a perturbed moment and nodded as he got the feeling that he had found another weird one, assuming he kept contact with this guy. Tsuna took out a First Aid box and pointed at Spanner, then began treating him when the boy nodded. First his face was cleaned with a bandana and water from the bottle he kept in his bag, then he dried the area around Spanner's lips. Though Tsuna blushed darkly his hands didn't shake while he applied a butterfly bandaid to hold the bad split closed, then he handed Spanner an activated cold pack to hold against his darkening bruise, and placed bandaids on other facial scrapes. He asked if Spanner had any allergies and gave him pain medication when the answer was no.

"Who are you staying with over here, Spanner-san?"

He shrugged. "Crappy hotel."

Tsuna's face fell flat and Reborn's face did the same thing for a different reason. "You're, what, fourteen, from Italy, and staying in Japan alone? In a bad hotel? What about your parents?"

"Aunt and uncle gave me the money to come here, and with the added money from my grandpa's will available to me I'll be staying here indefinitely as soon as I find a place. My being sent here was about them not being able to deal with me turning the vacuums and toasters into robots. It's not like they destroyed anything, they kept my room and the house clean."

Reborn and Tsuna exchanged a look, however the former had an interested gleam and the latter felt realization and slight dread creep through him.

"Spanner, would you like to visit Tsuna's home? His mother makes excellent Japanese cuisine and later he can show you around Namimori if you'd like."

"You're talking." Spanner stared, tilted his head, and turned to Tsuna. "Is your shoulder companion a robot? There's no way an infant can talk that eloquently, not unless they are five and even then it's a stretch."

Tsuna felt impressed. Few ever picked up on Reborn being 'odd' and for that alone he went along with whatever Reborn had planned, whether just to observe or recruit a robotics savvy boy.

"Um... it's a disease, you could say, barely anyone has it so there's no information on the Internet, but the Shrinking Disease involves regressing in years... k-kind like Benjamin Button, that American film?"

Spanner's eyes lit up in curiosity. "How fascinating and pitiful." He turned his eyes to Reborn and bowed slightly. "Hello, what's your name?"

The hitman snorted. "Reborn, World's Strongest Hitman."

When Spanner turned questioning eyes on Tsuna the boy shrugged and plastered a smile on his face. "Make of that what you will, at least you're getting free food, right?"

"Good point, Sonic."

"Please stop that."

"No, it's a good nickname. You were nothing but a blur when you came in to hit the neanderthal, and the world after that was like a blurry painting. I know this bright green bench was exactly one mile away from the warehouse, so what would take others ten minutes you did in roughly a minute."

"How do you even know that?"

"They weren't intelligent enough to keep me from any of the windows so I memorized landmarks."

"Smart. So, those guys were after one of your robots to win a competition, right?"

"Yes, but they would never think to look for it where I hid my most recent masterpiece."

"Would you like to get it before coming home with me for dinner?"

Spanner looked at Tsuna for a long minute before nodding. "Yes, I'm fine with that. You're not a neanderthal."

By this time they were well on their way to the bus stop that would drop them off closer to his home, and Piero had met up with them again since losing Tsuna to that burst of speed. Spanner seemed to have a very good memory when it came to navigating around Namimori and quickly found Nagakusa park and went to a particularly big tree with a hollow in the roots. He withdrew a box twice the size of Reborn and hefted it over one shoulder and gestured to Tsuna to lead the way.

. . .

Tsuna's madre and the children, as well as Bianchi, were not home when he arrived. Fon left a note saying he was meditating in the mountains.

"Sorry, Spanner-san, my madre's out with the kids. I could make you some onigiri and green tea, if you'd like?"

The lanky teen nodded and set his box down beside the chair he dropped into. As Tsuna turned and bustled around the kitchen, grabbing ingredients from the fridge and putting on a plain blue apron, Spanner watched alongside Reborn and the teen wondered why he found the sight so amusing. Tsuna was tiny compared to him, but Spanner had an early growth spurt he figured wasn't stopping anytime soon, and the speedy lion-haired teen had a very kind face, somewhere between pretty and handsome in a cute way. Spanner took out his phone and called Tsuna's name. When the boy turned with a nearly finished rice ball in hand, face open and curious, Spanner snapped a photo and thanked him for being so understanding, which utterly baffled the poor teen.

It wasn't worth the potential headache it would be deleting that photo. It wasn't anything new, Gokudera, Takeshi and the rest of his Famiglia had seen him cook simple meals now and again, and showing it to the school public wouldn't be too bothersome. He didn't care, cooking was a skill everyone should have, and wearing an apron was common sense.

Reborn eyed the blond teen with a raised brow and Spanner bluntly whispered, "Yamato Nadeshiko."

The Arcobaleno actually (albeit quietly) laughed out loud, startling Tsuna into a yelp. He turned, half expecting to see some weird apocalypse from out of the somehow silently blown up side of his house. Nothing. Reborn just had this smirk on his face while Spanner even looked amused and waved the panicked Sky off.

With a half-hearted glare Tsuna turned and finished the salmon onigiri, pulled out leftover sushi from Takeshi's along with appropriate condiments, and placed the food on the table, then he poured the tea he prepared earlier and gestured to a jar of honey, a sweet he had given up on hiding from Lambo and I-Pin. Spanner first ate his two rice balls and made a contented sound, drawing a smile to Tsuna's face that the boy hid behind his tea mug. Next he ate Takeshi's sushi and he said it was good, leading Tsuna to admitting the sushi was made by a friend of his. The tea made Spanner smile and say it was the best he'd had yet.

Finishing their meal lead to talking and Tsuna admitted he was kind of No Good when it came to most things, but then Reborn bounced rubber ball-Leon off his head, sending him toppling to the floor with a yelp. He climbed to his knees and peeked over the table to stare sullenly at the deadpan faced Arcobaleno.

"I'm... okay, at stuff, is that better? The only things I'm really good at are drawing, throwing knives, hand-to-hand combat and Italian. Oh, and I can cook simple stuff."

"I see. You were bullied a lot as a kid, weren't you?"

"Well, yeah, I was called Health Hazard Tsuna for reasons you can imagine for yourself." Tsuna smiled sheepishly. "The slower students still call me my old nicknames."

"Hm. Would you like to see Sarumane? I named her that because she's a thinking and learning robot."

Sarumane looked like a fantastical monkey. Human hands and normal hand-like feet with textured rubber on the finger and toe pads, big ears that moved and flicked to follow sounds, and it also had an expressive face. Made entirely of metal colored green and purple, with a long and candy striped tail completely ambidexturous as with it the pot carried a mug of tea to Reborn without spilling a single drop. It seemed the eyes of the monkey-bot were made of clear and multi-faceted pieces of quartz, that or glass. Spanner named his bot Sarumane, meaning monkey-see-monkey-do mainly as a way to honor the tricky AI technology he used to create it. When asked where he got AI tech he said he hacked into some expensive corporation, ordered it and sent the package through different hurdles and countries before he recieved it from a 'tech-loving compatriot' in another city in Milan, Italy.

Tsuna didn't have to see the smirk on Reborn's face to know that he had already decided on a member of the Family for him. He couldn't say it was a bad choice at least.

. . .

"PAPAAA!" Tsuna was tackled out of his seat by a blubbering Lambo who clung to him. "Lambo-san was scratched by a dog!"

Ignoring Spanner's quiet chuckle Tsuna got to his feet, placed Lambo on his hip, and greeted his madre and the others as they entered the room while he left. He returned with a cow-child sporting bandaids on his nose and cheeks. The Sky stopped at the doorway and observed Fuuta going gaga over the robot along with I-Pin and his madre, and the young inventor and robotics prodigy (Tsuna was certain he could not be anything less) was smiling as he directed Sarumane to perform tricks and mimic voices. Well then. Seemed Spanner was already fitting in.

"Tsu-kun! Where did you find Spanner-kun?"

"Sawada-san, your son saved me from a bunch of neanderthals."

"Ah! Tsu-kun, I'm so proud of you!" Nana hustled over and pulled both son and little Lightning into a giddy hug. "Mamma's making oden tonight to celebrate meeting a new friend!"

Spanner would later admit to Tsuna from the floor of the latter's bedroom that he was impressed with how Nana got him to so easily agree to staying over. Tsuna chuckled and said his madre had a way about her. That was totally true and with "mysterious" help Spanner found a small one-floor home to rent for a strangely low price the very next day. That it was ten minutes away from the Sawada household told the young Sky all he had to know and he thanked Reborn for helping Spanner. The hitman said he was merely sinking the Tenth Generation Vongola's claws into a 'gold mine' before anyone else.

In all of a day after moving in to the town permanently, Spanner was enrolled in Yumei Private Middle School and came over frequently to mooch off of the Sawada household. Tsuna was more amused than irritated, as he suspected that his mechanical genius friend was not a cook in any sense of the word. Thus Tsuna plainly asked to know Spanner's usual eating habits and was concerned to learn the blunt boy habitually forgot to eat as he was always fiddling with something and therefore occupied. This inevitably lead to Tsuna asking his mother to help him make bento's for his friend to have in advance that way he could call up every day at six or seven and tell him to eat so he doesn't perish from the world before his genius did anything to shake it (figuratively!).

In the mornings, as it was 'luck' that he had to pass by on his way to school, he could check in on the laidback future engineer and occasionally get him to leave the house before lunch to attend his morning classes. Those mornings were difficult when he had Gokudera at his side because the bomber wasn't yet warming up to the eccentric foreigner, not that he was especially warm with anyone but his Sky anyway.

Two weeks after Spanner began living in Namimori he was sitting in the Sawada kitchen watching Tsuna make dango. Gokudera was off training in the mountains, Takeshi was training with his dad, Hana was, according to her text, training too, and the children were occupied in the backyard with Fon watching them. Madre was reading in the living room, Reborn was presumably off planning chaos for Tsuna's life, and while Ryohei yelled a hello on his run by, Kyoko was cheerfully secretive about her own training.

"If you were a girl you'd make the perfect wife."

Tsuna jolted and turned to see Spanner's deadpan face. Mutual staring went on before the genius cracked a little grin and said he was joking. Gender doesn't matter one lick to him. Not like he wants baby kids, he'll just adopt if he ever gets that crazy urge to raise a family. Tsuna spent that evening being hyper aware of how Spanner acted and looked at him, and realized the boy was sort of pulling his leg for kicks. He really did mean the not caring about gender bit, so was he bisexual too or just... Ace until he found interest in someone? Or was that demi-romantic?

It boggled Tsuna's head.

o o o

Gokudera roped Takeshi into helping him take Tsuna's place on clean up duty because their Sky had a headache. It was ongoing and was alleviated only by taking the Soleggiato[Sunny] Pills Kyoko made him. When he arrived on his street and found Spanner standing ten feet away from the nearest group of black uniformed men, Tsuna's thoughts immediately went to danger and he sidled up to the boy with his Sarumane on his shoulder. He had upgraded the monkey with mystery stuff to make it strong and coupled with the learn-by-observation AI, Spanner was pretty well protected with a martial-arts imbued bot. None the less Tsuna looked up at his friend worriedly and plainly asked if any of these men tried hurting him.

"Relax. They just barred my way into your home for food, said you're the only one allowed in." Spanner looked down and eyed him thoughtfully. "What would you do if they had hurt me?"

"I'd beat them up."

Spanner chuckled softly and waved for him to go. "Well, now that the king has returned we should be able to get in."

Tsuna rolled his eyes and grabbed his friend's wrist and moved toward his home. When he was blocked by a mafioso claiming only he could go through he frowned and crossed his arms.

"I assume you're all subordinates of someone inside my home, so I would hope you'd know what I look like unless you're really that dumb." Yeah, he went there. It felt good to say something like that, but he'd blame his headache if asked. At the round of angry looks and suspicious squints he rolled his eyes. "I am Sawada Tsunayoshi. Please let me through, otherwise I'll have to call Reborn."

The both of them were soon let in when Tsuna said, with an apologetic look at his indifferent friend, that Spanner was his subordinate and as future Vongola boss he wouldn't be tolerant much longer if they kept being difficult. Together he and Spanner climbed the stairs and when he entered his room he found himself caught by three facts: there was a plush looking chair he kind of wanted for himself, a pair of total strangers stood flanking the door, and thirdly there was a gentle Sky Presence within his room. Reborn wasn't hiding his own natural aura at all, wherever he may be, and that was the only thing that kept Tsuna from going on the defensive after so many times of finding mafioso in his home, whether conscious or knocked out by his madre. He forced himself to relax and let go of that Protective-Lion-Monkey-Mode as Hana so eloquently put it.

"Who are you?"

"I traveled very far to pay you a visit." The voice was smoothe and deep and Tsuna took an immediate liking to the kind quality it held. Then the person spun the chair in a slow and dramatic way and revealed a very handsome, if not beautiful, blond man with a tattoo on his hand revealed by the sleeves of his jacket. "Chiavarone Famiglia's tenth boss, Dino."

Tsuna shuffled on the spot and smiled nervously. "H-hello, nice to meet you, Dino-san."

The man's eyes sharpened and Tsuna tried not to step back as he recalled Fon's warnings on the meetings between Skies, as this one might try to kill him and he really, really didn't want to fight to the death. Especially not with Spanner right there in the crossfire.

"He's no good." Tsuna froze in surprise and Spanner shifted from behind him, watching the scene with deadpan eyes as he began drumming fingers on his Sarumane's arm. "You don't have a strong aura. The way you present yourself is nearly pathetic, there's no sense of anticipation, you don't seem ambitious, and you look unlucky. Oh, and your legs are short."

Dino grinned, the expression somewhere between mocking and honestly friendly. "Your disposition to be boss and lead others is a zero."

Spanner clucked his tongue in a short pattern and handed Sarumane an over-ripe tomato he'd been planning to try an experiment on. It splattered on Dino's shirt and he squawked, falling off his chair in surprise. Immediately the Chiavarone mafioso in the room turned guns on Spanner and Tsuna moved instinctively, slamming an open palm on one mans chest and knocking him unconscious in one hit. The other taller man was about to shoot before Tsuna knocked the gun away and under his bed, then he kicked the man's legs out from under him and swiftly had him pinned to his hardwood floor with arms twisted behind his back. Tsuna's face was fierce as he glared at the man underneath him.

"If you like not being broken to little pieces you will never point another gun at any of my friends."

Spanner had a triumphant little smile on his face as he looked from a gobsmacked Dino, the squirming and cursing subordinate on the ground, and to his "Nadeshiko" friend. The tension was shattered by Dino throwing back his head and laughing like he won the lottery.

"So he's like me, eh, Reborn?"

The Arcobaleno landed on the Chiavarone Boss's head. "I wouldn't go so far as to insult him."

The blond boss chuckled as he stood up and caught the mess of tomato before all of it hit the floor. "Now that's being mean to your former student."

Tsuna let the man up with a warning look before turning to Dino with a smile. "Did he inflict the Leon-Jig on you often?"

"Eh? What's the Leon-Jig?"

Reborn jumped up and settled on Tsuna's fluffy hair. "It's when I make him dance around the bullets I shoot at his feet, and no, Dino was too pitiful to survive something like that back then, even with his subordinates. But time has passed, are you interested in dancing for me?"

Dino paled and rapidly shook his head. "Hell no! N-no thank you, Reborn!"

Ten minutes later everyone, which only included Dino and his Right Hand Romario in particular, were seated around the dining table with tea, honey, and Nana's chocolate chip cookies. Of course this was after Tsuna cleaned up the tomato mess with the culprit's help.

"Little Usagi-chan the lion here is the future boss of the bloodiest, most dangerous underground mafia out there?" Spanner said in between bites of cookie. "This guy, the one that saved me from a bunch of delinquent neanderthals, is going to be the head of a murderous mafia that relies on seedy dealings and murder for money and power?"

So far Tsuna had nervously eaten through a whole box of chocolate mochi ice cream and had two mugs of tea as he let Reborn tell Spanner the same thing he told his original group of friends, minus the bits about Flames. He would reveal his own intentions when Reborn was finished talking and until then he was trying not to feel his stress headache. Fortunately only the Skies felt the ongoing separation so acutely, even then feeling the connections like he did was said to be rare. Nobu was only uncomfortable and a bit out of sorts, nothing else, and that was good to hear.

"Why is that so surprising?" said Reborn, playing ignorant.

Spanner wasn't the most expressive of people and even he acknowledged that, but the pinch beween his brow and the deadpan eyes clearly said he questioned Reborn's intelligence. Time to intervene!

"Hey!" Tsuna lightly slapped the table and drew all eyes to him. He was all Business-for-Family Tsuna, seeking to reassure the mechanic. "All of that was what Reborn believed he would be gearing me for, and in a way it is. Changing the Vongola to bring it back to the way it was under the Primo's control as a vigilante group protecting the public won't be easy, and I don't want to kill anyone, but*..." Tsuna's serious look fell and he forced a calm face. "Some things might not be avoidable, not if it involves protecting people. Brutal mercy that won't always cut it, you know?"

"Brutal mercy?" Spanner tilted his head, seemingly unperturbed by everything now that he was focusing on Tsuna.

"I figure that breaking bones in the right places keeps people down and me from having to take drastic measures."

"Sounds like a good idea." Spanner nodded and sipped his tea. "So what's my role in this?"

Tsuna smiled and looked a bit scared. "First off, you're my friend. I would never force you to do anything, and if you want out of my weird life, just say the word and you're free. You'll just have to keep it secret, and you won't have to see me again."

Spanner ruffled Tsuna's hair and left his thinly gloved hand where it rested. Now he knew why Reborn liked to perch there. "No, I meant what can I bring to the table? Aside from cool robots like Sarumane."

Tsuna slumped and grabbed Spanner's hand, holding it tight for a moment and placing it on the table. "Well... I keep getting these headaches. Kyoko-chan makes pills that help but the process is long... um, do you think you could make something to help with that?"

A slight frown crossed Spanner's face and he took off his glove to press his hand to the shorter teens forehead. "Of course. Sounds like a challenge."

Spanner took two bento from the fridge and bid Tsuna a good evening, nodded at Dino and Reborn, and left the home whistling an odd tune. Tsuna and Dino then talked about sadistic teachers and brutal training techniques, and exchanged numbers to keep contact before moving to the living room with canned tea to watch TV and wait for the rest of his Famiglia to return.

Tsuna had a sketchbook in his lap and was quietly drawing Dino as he and the Arcobaleno discussed him in Italian. It was amusing and the glint in Reborn's eyes told him he felt the same and he didn't inform Dino of Tsuna's being multi-lingual until the boy answered a question posed to the Sun Arcobleno.

"Yeah, I did get formal training before Reborn's arrival, Dino-san." Ignoring the sputtering and Romario's chuckling, he continued. "Learned martial arts, trained up my body... I trained a hard as I could and broke a few more bones in the process."

Dino looked worried. "More bones? What do you mean?"

"You're aware of the Flames of the Sky,"said Reborn. "You experienced your own being sealed for a short time when you were thirteen, remember?"

The blond boss paled. "What age were you? How deeply were you affected?"

"I was four, nearly five... and it ruined me." Tsuna winced at how bitter he sounded and smiled genuinely then. "Reborn broke the seal for me back in August."

Dino was shaking. "I was only sealed for a year and I broke 70 bones, I-I can't imagine how many you broke..."

The shaking stilled and Tsuna felt a chill roll over the room, weaker than when he became nearly hysterical over Kyoko and Haru's near death experience, but still there. For certain there was an aura surrounding the handsome boss and it was bristling with rage as he turned to Reborn.

"Who did it and who allowed it?"

The Arcobaleno hid his eyes behind the fedora. "The Nono and Sawada Iemitsu."

Tsuna was quite impressed by the number of expletives in Japanese, Italian and several other languages that Dino growled out as he stood and began pacing. Instinctively, not even realizing he was doing it, Tsuna retreated into what he'd eventually call Shadow-Step-Mode where his presence is reduced to nearly zero. He watched the blond boss mutter to himself and glower darkly for five minutes before a smile lit his face. It wasn't a particularly friendly expression, and it brought to mind a shark going after blood in the water. He turned to Reborn with a calm and neutral face.

"There's no doubt that he'll be the future boss of the Vongola, right? No one else is suitable?"

"No other possible candidate has the Flame alignment or blood necessary, yes." Reborn had a smile too, and a face like that never meant good things for others. "Do it. You have the right and seeing as you'll still be allied to the Vongola either way it can't be called betrayal."

Dino nodded and turned to face the room and frowned. "Where'd the kid go?"

Tsuna relaxed and released his hold on his Flame. Dino jumped when he noticed him. "What the hell are you teaching him, Reborn? That's an assassination technique."

"His first sensei was a hitman and mostly retired from the mafia. Now go on with it or I will make you dance."

"Gah! Okay, jeez!" Dino hurried around the table to Tsuna's side and held out his hand. The younger Sky stood and held it firmly and to his surprise Dino dipped down to place a kiss on the ring finger of his right hand. "From this day forward the Chiavarone Famiglia are allied with the Vongola's Tenth Generation alone. Financing agreements will transfer to you and yours, our connections are your connections, and supporting each other will allow us both to become all the greater."

Tsuna's face was bright red as he withdrew his hand, nodded, and gave a respectful bow. "I-I accept, Dino-san, and I thank you for this honor."

Dino pulled Tsuna into a hug crowing "No problem, kid! I get an adorable little bro out of this deal!" and Tsuna resigned himself to dealing with yet more unique people.

Excited and determined to finalize the change of alliance, Dino bit Tsuna a good evening and left Namimori before Nana and the rest even returned.

x-X-x-X-x

** Tsuna hints that he could kill to protect, but he isn't honestly sure that he could. That he even said those words means Hibari's teaching him the "ways of the carnivores" sunk in very slightly, as he is aware that death is a huge part of life and a part of him accepts "death" mainly for those not in the group of people that he cares deeply for. In that way he's naive and childish.

** The relationship between Reborn and Tsuna is different in this. CdC!Tsuna has enough self-esteem issues to power a school for a month, and Reborn is trying to 'gently' beat out the his deep self-esteem issues. It's slow progress.

[[ EDIT: Mar/11/19. Changed up the dialogue between Dino and Tsuna when the conversation about Sealing started. Aside from that I touched up things and tried to improve stuff. ]]