Chapter 2

Warning(s): Negative!thoughts, OOC's

Notes: "Japanese" Thinking

Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn; Amano Akira does. If I did, it would be more sadder and dark.

Tsuna ran as far as his feet could take him. The memories were catching up to him; the memories that he wished so hard to forget. Tripping over himself, Tsuna cursed his clumsiness before gasping as a memory from his younger year managed to catch up to him.

"Haha, Dame-Tsuna! Why are you alive?" Tsuna saw himself crouching in the corner, trying to minimize the damage to himself.

Another powerful kick to the chest that made him loose unconscious before the scene changed again. This time, it was one of his earlier ages. The time when his father and grandfather came; the time when he felt like he lost something vital to his life.

The scene changed to his mother talking on the phone. It was right after he was bullied and he was already starting to believe his bullies. The phone call only made it worse.

"Tsu-kun? Ah, that useless child of mine. He tripped once more in the morning and was late too. But other than he's fine," his mother continued talking to somebody on the phone - he later realized it was his father - not realizing the broken expression on the child's face.

His mother acknowledged he was useless. That he was no-good... so why was he living? Tsuna nor his mother noticed the dimming of the 7 year old child. Nor did they notice the fake smile the child put on.

"...No stop... I don't want to see this.. stop it!" Tsuna screamed as he tried his best to run away before another memory that he had locked a long time ago came to the surface.

An eight year old Tsunayoshi ran away from the taunts and jeers. He came to a stop in front of the abandoned park. The children were cruel; why was he treated differently. He was only clumsy but everyone hated him for that?

"Tsuna!" a voice called out from behind. Turning around, Tsuna saw his naive younger self turn around at that call. "What's wrong?" he asked so kindly.. so kindly that he believed him.

"N-nothing! W-what are y-you doing h-here?" he had replied trying to hide his tears. The child in front of his younger self laughed and asked, "Ne, can I ask you a question?"

"Stop it..." Tsuna said, closing his eyes and covering his ears. "Stop it.." Tears ran down his face as he saw his younger self nod obliviously. Not wanting to continue seeing this, he screamed "STOP IT!"

Reborn was sitting in the living room looking at all the gathered guardians. Bianchi had taken Nana, Fuuta and I-pin outside for the day while everyone else was here.

"Is something the matter, Reborn-san?" Gokudera asked, a bit worried before he looked around and saw someone missing, "Where's Jyuudaime?"

That caught the attention of the guardians before looking directly at Reborn, who merely tilted his fedora downwards.

"Tsuna-nii is in his room, sleeping," Lambo replied.

Yamamoto narrowed his eyes, "Why isn't Tsuna here? Aren't we having a meeting?"

Before Reborn could reply, a bloodcurdling scream pierced through the house. Without wasting any time, Reborn quickly got up and rushed towards the sound. He cursed under his breath and thought that he should have stayed with his student. He had seen the tell-tale signs of nightmares but he had thought he would have been fine if he left him for a moment.

Slamming the door open, Reborn waltzed to his writhing student on the bed. Without even a second's hesitation, he grabbed Tsuna's trashing hands and pinned them down while calling out, "Tsuna, wake up! It's just a nightmare!"

When Reborn saw that Tsuna was showing no signs of waking up, he released his sun flames to let it mingle with his student while letting his hand go across his student's face. It had immediate effects; his brown doe eyes opened wide but dazed as they made their eyes up to the 18 year old straddling him.

"R-Reborn," the brunet whimpered very softly and as soon as Reborn nodded, Tsuna sprung up and hugged the aging adult. Even though Reborn's primary instinct was to push away the trembling child, he controlled himself and completed the hug. He could feel the erratic beatings of his student's heartbeat and he couldn't help but wonder what made him so scared that he was reduced to a trembling mess.

Reborn mumbled some soothing words to the teen and drew circulating patterns on Tsuna's back. His flames were still mingling with his student's erratic ones but it seemed to calm down the child. When Tsuna seemed to have calmed down, Reborn tried, I repeat tried, to let go of his student but it seems that Tsuna had different ideas.

Sighing, Reborn maneuvered himself and Tsuna in a way that Tsuna was sitting on top of lap. Everyone else were standing in front of the door, looking at the scene in front of them with curious yet worried eyes.

"A nightmare?" Reborn asked Tsuna, who was clutching the hitman as though he was afraid he would disappear soon. Tsuna didn't bother on replying instead his grip on the hitman increased.

"Jyuudaime, are you okay?" Gokudera asked after a moment's hesitation. He was worried for his best friend. He had never seen Tsuna this vulnerable, not even in the future. In fact, every guardian were worried in their own ways, thinking the exact same thing Gokudera was.

Tsuna still refused to answer anything and merely tightened his grip. Not even a second later, he started mumbling but it could only be heard by the hitman. For a second, Reborn froze before calming himself down. He looked at the others and said, "Close the door and wait downstairs."

They all looked skeptical but nonetheless followed the order. Closing the door, the group of people went downstairs to wait.

"What do you think happened?" Yamamoto asked to no-one in particular. "I think it was a very very bad nightmare."

They all nodded at that before Mukuro said, "But Tsunayoshi-kun doesn't really gets this upset after a nightmare."

Yamamoto added, "He usually hides it and worries about us."

Lambo jumped in, "Most of Tsuna-nii's nightmares are about us getting injured or something like that, anyways."

"Most but not all," Chrome replied quietly. Mukuro chuckled eerily before saying, "It seems the little bunny is hiding something."

Gokudera rolled his eyes before saying, "We figured that out, pineapple-head." A tick mark appeared on Mukuro's head and was about to say something before Ryohei said, "What if it's related to what he was hiding yesterday?"

The fact that Ryohei didn't say it loudly or used the word "EXTREME" had everyone surprised but got them to think and they couldn't help but agree to it. It was possible; Tsuna had acted strangely yesterday and even Reborn didn't know what was troubling Tsuna.

"So, what should we do?" Yamamoto asked, looking at everyone for help. None of them liked it when Tsuna was like this; it made them feel like they had failed. Failed in protecting the brunet that all of them had vowed silently to protect him. Even Mukuro and Hibari were captured in the brunet's net and didn't like this development.

"Ask him?" Lambo asked, tilting his head to the side as though it was the most obvious thing ever.

Gokudera hit Lambo on the top of his head, "Aho-shi! We can't just go up to Jyuudaime and ask him what's wrong!"

Lambo caressed his bruise, "You didn't need to hit me, Baka-dera!"

"What did you say?!" Gokudera replied, taking out his dynamites. Yamamoto laughed, "Maa Maa, Hayato. You don't need to take our your fireworks."

"Don't call me Hayato!" Gokudera said, turning his attention to the baseball player who merely laughed. "But it's your name Hayato," Yamamoto pointed out.

"You aren't allowed to call me that!" He said, throwing his bombs at Yamamoto who quickly sliced it in half.

"EXTREME FIGHT!" Ryohei said, joining in the fight.

"Haha, I don't think we should continu-" Yamamoto was cut off by a tonfa whizzing past his face.

"Herbivores," Hibari called out, apparently tired from the noise in front of him. "I'll bite you to death!"

"Kufufu, the skylark seems to be awfully irritated," Mukuro said from the sidelines. "Is he that worried about the little bunny?"

"M-Mukuro-sama," Chrome said nervously. 2 tick marks appeared on the skylark's head before redirecting his attack at the pineapple head. "Pineapple head"

Mukuro's vein popped, "Kufufu, I'll make sure you'll pay for that." Hibari merely smirked condescendingly.

Meanwhile, the two guardians - Mist and Lightning - stood by the side, wondering how did a simple conversation turn into this.

"Was it my fault?" Lambo said after a beat's moment. Chrome could only stare.

Reborn was infuriated. His student was still in his denial stage and those pets, he meant guardians of his were going wild. He had been gone for only a few minutes and a full-on fight was happening in the living room below.

He could see two guardians doing absolutely nothing; merely staring at what was happening in front of him. Seriously, how did Dame-Tsuna deal with this?

Clicking his tongue, Reborn -

Bang!

-shot a bullet in the ceiling, ceasing all the fights that were happening. Tilting his fedora downwards, he shot a glare towards the frozen guardians, "Will you all shut up?"

"H-Hai!" Everyone except Mukuro and Hibari who nodded, said.

"R-Reborn-san," Gokudera started asking after sitting down on the couch dutifully. "H-How's Jy-Jyuudaime?"

"He's fine," Reborn said after sitting down on the couch. Everyone wanted to refute that sentence but a single glare from the growing hitman refrained them from doing so. Tsuna was not fine; not with the way he acted.

"I found out what he was hiding," Reborn said after a while, fiddling with a gun. Suddenly, everyone straightened their backs and looked at Reborn with expecting yet restless eyes. Reborn smirked at the guardians' dedication. At least, it proved that they cared, unlike what his student thought.

Tilting his fedora up, he replied, "Pack your stuff. We'll be going to Italy."

Looking surprised, Chrome asked, "I-Italy?"

"Why Italy? It's not yet time for his Inheritance Ceremony yet," Gokudera said.

Sighing, Reborn said, "Tsuna's emotions are currently unstable. He needs to be with people who would encourage him to do things not who wouldn't. Besides, everyone is there and will be easier."

As though understanding what Reborn was trying to say, the guardians nodded. Hibari looked at them before sighing and leaving but not without saying, "Hn, I'll excuse us from school for an indefinite leave."

Smirk widening, Reborn turned to the surprised guardians who were still looking at where Hibari disappeared from. "We'll be leaving in two days. So, get ready."

._.._..._XX..XX_..._.._.

Author's Note: Hey guys, sorry for the late update but I have life. Note I will not drop any of fics! I am just busy these days and it will take some time to upload the new chapters!

Remember More Reviews = More Motivation.