Chapter 4

That's the hardest.

"Hn, you can keep him." Says Reborn, re-crossing his legs.

Verde agrees with Reborn. He doesn't need a child running around his lab and ruining his experiments. And it's not like any of them would let him experiment on the child either. There was no scientific gain from keeping this child, or retaining an interest in him. In fact, as far as Verde could see, there was only one reason to keep the child around. And that was to document the changes this child had incurred in those around him. Yes, he certainly would have to find the reason for this tightness in his chest. His mind supplied that this was surely a hormonal change brought around by parental instinct, nothing more… nothing more.

Whilst not verbally agreeing with the statement of this overly happy woman, Viper did tighten her grip on the baby. When he's an adult, he can pay me back for all the money I spent on him… with interest.

Fon merely smiled, having no qualms whatsoever at the new addition to the household. This child would surely lighten up the atmosphere and calm these people down. Yes, he would be a positive influence in their lives.

Skull was ecstatic that the baby was going to stay. Finally someone who wouldn't bully him and say how useless he was or order him around every few moments. And he doubted that the baby could beat him up like his Semapi did either. He was rather looking forwards to looking after the baby. He liked children a lot, but had never had one of his own. Whilst he was a stunt man with multiple piercings and leather jackets, the women who typically frequented his events were not his type. They scared the living hell out of him to be totally honest. Yet there was nothing better than the feeling of the wind under him, of flying totally free in the sky. He revelled in the looks of awe and respect that was in the eyes of his audiences.

Luce smiles to herself before giving Reborn a knowing look. Reborn stares her down, eyes daring her to say what she's thinking. But for her, that look is enough and she decides not to say anything at all. It certainly would be interesting having a child in the house. Yes, a very interesting experience for them indeed. Luce was sure that it would help her housemates grow as people. All the evidence she needed was in the way they had already treated the baby. It wasn't dead yet, nor harmed in any way. Reborn had even brought the poor child home when he was under no obligation to. She had fully expected him to leave it out in the rain. It was reassuring that there was a human heart hidden inside the killing monster that was Reborn.

She knew personally that watching a child grow was a fun and happy experience with very few downsides and negative moments…

"Wahh!"

…Apart from that.

Little Tsunayoshi had started to cry.

All the men back away at the sudden noise, staring at the child as if it's an alien. Had they never seen a crying child before? Luce sighs. Ha, stupid question Luce. Luce steps over and joins Viper in looking down at the crying boy.

"L-Luce, why is he crying now? There were no loud noises to scare him like there was before." Enquires Skull. He peers over Viper's shoulder at Tsunayoshi and jangles his bracelets again. However there is no response from the child.

Luce looks over the child with experienced eyes.

Viper presses one fingertip to Tsunayoshi's forehead and closes her eyes.

"He needs changing." They both say at the same time.

"Viper… Where did that come from?" wonders Skull. He was positive that Viper had had no experience in dealing with children, let alone babies. And she certainly didn't seem like the motherly type. So how had she known? Luce at least was a mother herself.

Viper looks over her shoulder at Skull, before smirking, "That information is going to cost you."

Reborn smiles a confident smile. Let the lackey waste his money over stupid questions. It was obvious that she used her psychic powers. Or wasn't he watching? Just because she didn't sneeze like with her Thoughtography doesn't mean she wasn't using her abilities. Has the Stunt man crashed one too many times and finally lost what little brains he has?

"So what are we going to do?" asks Fon, ever the voice of reason and perpetual calm. "We can't let him keep on crying like this. The little one must be uncomfortable."

Luce nods in agreement. "Well, we don't have anything here with us. Oh, I know," and she raises one hand, "I'll go see Aria."

"Aria?" questions Reborn. "Why go see her?" Aria didn't have any children. Or at least she shouldn't have.

"Well, last time we spoke she said that little Nosaru had just been born. So they should have plenty of supplies at her house." That seemed reasonable. And with her decision made, Luce's out the house quicker than the others thought possible.

She's back even quicker. Knowing Luce they thought that she would have been gone the rest of the day, even though Aria's house was next door. Luce was a sociable woman and known for chatting for hours on end, especially with her daughter Aria. That she was back so quick was a show of her determination. She takes the baby out of Viper's stunned hands and places him into Reborn's equally stunned hands. Finally, she dumps a bag of supplies in Verde's arms before dragging Viper out of the room. Seeing the look on Reborn and Verde's faces, Skull and Fon quickly follow. But before he disappears Fon can't resist one quick "Good luck."

Tsunayoshi starts to cry louder, bringing attention back to him. The males sigh and resign themselves to their fate. It would be pathetic if people like them couldn't even change one baby.

A couple minutes later and Luce peers around the corner to check on their progress. The baby was on the table with the blanket unwrapped around him… and that was all.

Luce giggles. "Verde, do you need a manual?" Laughter comes from the kitchen. Verde gives one of his infamous glares, before pushing his glasses up his nose and staring down them at her. Reborn growls at the baby before lifting a hand to his fedora. Leon climbs on and starts to change form. At first Luce was worried that Reborn had had enough and was going to shoot the poor child. However, Leon changes into a knife and Reborn cuts the diaper off the baby. With one hand covering half her face, Luce shakes her head and exits the room.

"Your turn." claims Reborn holding out a baby wipe. Verde looks at the baby and analyses the remaining moves, before smirking and grabbing the wipe. Picking the child up by his ankles he cleans the baby, and shakes over some talcum powder. He takes the dirty nappy from Reborn and offers him a clean one.

"Your turn." he smiles far too sweetly. Reborn snatches the clean diaper and puts the baby's legs through it. But something was wrong. It wasn't fitting. And what were these tabs and pully bits for? Maybe they should get the instructions.

Later on, the two men proudly walk into the kitchen showing off their hard day's work: Tsunayoshi in a clean, fitting diaper. There are sarcastic claps all around. Reborn gets irritated and shoots Skull.

"Finally, I was about to check on you guys." says Luce. "Now for the next bit." And amazingly the others have all disappeared once again, leaving Reborn and Verde to deal with this mysterious next step.

"Verde come here," and he does. On the counter is a bottle, a tub filled with a white powder and the kettle. "Following the instructions on the box, make a bottle of milk."

Finally, something scientific he could do. He goes and gets the scales and measuring glasses, and almost instantly there is a bottle of milk in his hands.

"Reborn check the temperature. We don't want to burn his mouth." Following her guidance, Reborn checks to see if the milk is cool enough yet.

"Good Job." says Fon, snatching the bottle out of Reborn's hands. He then takes the baby out of Verde's and walks out of the kitchen to the living room.

After all that work, they weren't about to have it stolen by Fon! When they enter the living room, Tsunayoshi is quite happily drinking from the bottle, being held in Fon's arm.

Once Tsunayoshi is done, Fon picks him up and settles him over his shoulder. Patting him gently, he lets the baby burp. Finally, Tsunayoshi gives a cheer, happy once more.

The day follows in a similar cycle, with Lal and Colonnello soon introduced to the party. Lal had almost as much trouble as Verde and Reborn had. Colonnello seemed a natural though, and was happy to do any job. If it gave him a legitimate reason not to go train, well, no one was going to comment.

A tired group of people trudged to bed that night. Luce had decided to keep Tsunayoshi in with her.

But Tsunayoshi wasn't having that.

Once everyone was settled, Tsunayoshi started to cry once more. And no matter how much the mother tried, she couldn't seem to make him stop. Viper stomps in to see what's going on. Tsuna stops for a moment to look at her, before resuming his loud noise.

"I can't make him stop." Admits Luce looking worried.

Viper walks over and picks the baby up. At this point Fon and Skull peer around the doorframe to see what the noise is all about.

Placing a fingertip against his forehead, Viper closes her eyes and takes in a deep breath. "Tsunayoshi, what's the matter?" she asks the baby.

"He… He doesn't want to… sleep in here… with you." She mumbles. Reading a baby's mind is not as easy as it may seem. It's not developed enough to be easily readable. It's more feelings than actual words Viper gets from him.

Luce looks disheartened. "Aww, he doesn't want to sleep with me?" Fon pats her on the shoulder.

"So who does he want to sleep with, kora?" They turn to see Colonnello, topless, standing in the doorway, blond hair ruffled.

Viper holds the baby closer, her face scrunched up in concentration. All eyes are on her, waiting for the divination. An eyebrow raises- not that they can see, but they can see her half smile sarcastically. And then she laughs. Full out laughs. Opening her eyes, she walks out of Luce's room, the crowd following her. Lal and Verde open their doors at the strange sound, and join the others in being surprised at Viper's laugh.

She walks to the end of the hallway and gestures for the others to go to their rooms. They do, but stand in the doorways. She nods in acceptance before placing Tsunayoshi on the floor, who still happens to be crying. Knocking on the door, she runs to her room and shuts the door, the others following her lead.

Hearing the knock, Reborn opens his door to find a crying baby infront of it.

He shuts the door.

But Tsunayoshi just starts to cry even louder than before and there is no way he can ignore that. The child even starts knocking against the door, demanding entrance. Leon looks at his master with wide eyes, almost pleading. Reborn sighs before opening the door once again. Upon seeing Reborn, Tsunayoshi stops crying and claps, letting out a happy gurgle. He reaches his hands up towards the Hitman. Reborn stares into those deep brown eyes for a moment, and can't help but let the child in. He didn't know what made him do it. He didn't even know why he brought the child home. If it was anyone else crying, he would have shot them in an instant, no mercy given. But he just couldn't, not to this child.

Reborn picks the child up and carries him over to his own king sized bed. Getting in, he settles the baby on the other side. Now extremely happy and perfectly content, Tsuna snuggles down and falls asleep almost instantly.

This parenting thing is harder than I thought, Reborn admits to himself. He watches with a smile on his face as Leon sits on the other side of the boy, making sure that he can't roll off the bed during the night. Rolling over, he places one arm over the boy and Leon before falling asleep too. Tomorrow was going to be another busy day.

Reborn decides that he was going to do this right. He wasn't called the greatest for nothing. He was going to put his all into this too. For just like he always said:

If you're going to do something, do it with your dying will.

As you may have guessed, the concept of time does not exist in this fic- and an even bigger example of that is just down the street- 3 doors down to be exact. Luce obviously is not pregnant either. And people's exact ages are going out the window. Since Nosaru was in his late teens in the future arc, he shouldn't technically be born yet, but this was a good reason for me to mention another house, and I wanted to start with this house in particular. Not that ages really matter in a fic like this. Main character's ages will be more controlled (for example, Yuni isn't born yet), but side characters like Nosaru will have their ages changed to suit what I need them to be.

Thank you for all the wonderful reviews, you make me so happy. Yes, our little Tsuna is just so Kawaii; nearly every review says just how cute he is. A friend of mine was peering over my shoulder at the time since I was checking them at college, and I had to explain to him what Kawaii meant, since two different reviewers used it. Gya, I love you guys so much!

I hope you enjoyed todays visit.

Phantom Hitman 1412

First Published 15 March 2012

Edited: 27 February 2013