Chapter 14

Rides on his Horse

Wow Guys! Over 100 reviews and over 10,000 views. I'm so touched. I wish my Main Fic, Thief, had this much love. Thank you all for sticking with me and for all of the awesome reviews. I love chatting with you guys. So please continue to read on- there's a whole lot to do after Tsunayoshi meets everyone after all! And as some of you darling reviewers may know, this particular Phantom is more than willing to steal ideas in the middle of the night. So if there are any scenes or ideas you have/ wish for, then leave them by your bedside table and this Phantom will be more than willing to collect them (credit where credit is due of course).

For any DC and KID lovers out there, you should check out my latest fic called Devil's Contract Challenge. You don't have to take part in the challenge, but reviews on my heist would be nice. It's a different style to this and Thief, since I'm rather vague, never really naming anyone. There's this theme of serious mystery running through it. Of course if any of you want to take on the challenge, then I can't wait for your entries.

To A random Human: Thanks for reviewing once again! I expect Verde did, plus there are the others to watch over them. Thanks for the warning, but I did have Luce keep hold of Tsunayoshi and Bluebell so Tsunayoshi was never really holding her. People from the future arc's ages are hard to determine since there's the whole process of guessing their age to start off with, then taking off 10 years (the future bit) and then comparing that to Tsuna's age. In the latest manga chapters, she seemed younger than Tsuna and that lot, but older than Lambo, so in this fic, she's about 1-ish, 2 maybe. To be honest, I'm not really sure. I'm going to blame my confusion on Lambo, and you'll see why when we visit the Bovino Family later on.

Tsunayoshi wasn't really too sure what to expect today. He was told they were going somewhere safe. Yet Reborn was the one to say it was safe. And Reborn's views on safe were drastically different from his own. However, none of the others seemed too worried, in fact they weren't worried at all. So it must be the good kind of safe and not Hitman Reborn's level of safe.

He hopes.

Luce had dressed him that morning, meaning that he was leaving the house in something she thought was cute. He was in a little hoodie that was made to look like a lion. So there was a whole lot of fluffy fur on the edge of the hood, and two little ears peaked out when the hood was up. If Luce's squealing was anything to go by- Tsunayoshi used it as a measure of how cute something was- then he must look nice. When Reborn saw it, he just pulled his fedora lower, growled at Luce and grabbed his hand, pulling Tsunayoshi out of the house.

"When you're older, I'll take you to get something more suitable. Women." He scoffs, pulling the hood down over Tsunayoshi's eyes.

They walk out of the gates with only a slight hesitation on Tsunayoshi's part, yet Reborn pulls him forwards rather than use Leon on him. "You can't be scared of the world outside Tsunayoshi." Reborn admonishes. "You can't learn how to deal with it if you don't leave the house. When meeting new people, you should never show fear. Fear is a weakness that the people here will pounce on. If you show them that nothing scares you, then they won't try to scare you. If you go around whimpering like a brat then they'll keep on making you scared. The world is all about appearances."

Tsunayoshi doesn't quite get all of what Reborn is saying, but he did get the bit about pretending not to be scared. Since Reborn was by his side, he knew that nothing would harm him, so he could pretend not to be scared. He knew deep inside that Reborn would always protect him.

"Plus, there is no reason to be scared of this guy. You can do more damage than he can at times. He's even more of a klutz than you are." Tsunayoshi found that hard to believe, since he was nearly always tripping on something.

They come to a stop at a gate next to the Gesso Family. On this gate there is a picture of 2 rearing horses, which to our little boy, look slightly scary. Reborn crouches down next to him and pulls Tsunayoshi's hood more firmly over his face before fluffing up the fur more. Reborn gives Tsunayoshi one of his smirks that means he's about to find something funny. Reborn doesn't even bother to knock before kicking the gate in and walking inside.

"GYAAAA!"

Running inside to see what Reborn's done now, since screams were nearly always his fault, Tsunayoshi finds a very scared looking 12 year old boy. Said boy falls flat on his face, harshly meeting the ground with an audible thump. Tsunayoshi quickly walks over to the boy, checking to see if he's harmed. The boy looks up and screams once again

"Lion!" he scrambles backwards, blood running from his nose due to the earlier impact. "Romario! There's a lion on the front lawn."

"I'm sure that Mr Reborn is using it to train you," says a voice from inside the house. The owner of the voice peaks his head out to see what all the fuss is about. By now he is more than used to such exchanges since Reborn implemented a variety of methods to train the young Don. He wouldn't be surprised if this Lion was green. Looking at the scene he doesn't know whether to laugh or roll his eyes. "Dino, it's a little kid, look he has arms and hands not paws."

Tsunayoshi realises that he's the lion, so walks over to the boy, tilts his head to the side and goes "Grr" before laughing at the older boy's expression. He decides that he likes this boy, agreeing with the feeling of trust in his gut.

A bullet whizzes between the two, Tsunayoshi jumping backwards and out of the way. Both boys know that means Reborn wants attention, so they immediately go back to his side. Leon changes into a hammer and Reborn proceeds to pound sense into his student. "Stop being such a scaredy cat you idiot. Mafia Don's don't scream at every loud noise and sudden entrance. Or do you want to be known as the only Don in Mafia history that is scared of cute 4 year olds?"

Tsunayoshi smiles since Reborn had just called him cute, but has the feeling it was actually an insult. To save this boy's pride, or what was left of it, Tsunayoshi takes his hood down.

"I don't want to be a mafia Don though Reborn." Whines the boy.

"My mission is to train you and I never fail a mission" Even though Reborn said that rather matter-of-factly, it sounded like more of a threat, and a promise of more pain to come.

"Oh~" goes Tsunayoshi, raising his head. "So you're the one Reborn tells me funny stories about!"

He boy drags a hand down his face. "Heehe, yeah, I'm Reborn's student. My name is Dino Chiavarone." And the boy holds out his hand.

Tsunayoshi looks up at Reborn for permission before giving the boy a hi-5. "My name is Tsunayoshi!"

Reborn starts to walk off towards the main house. "Romario, look after them, I'm going to speak to Don Chiavarone." The middle aged man nods. "Tsunayoshi, you had better be good or else I'll punish you when we get home."

Tsunayoshi immediately straightens "Heeii! I will Reborn. Promise." When the Hitman is finally out of sight, both boys relax.

"Boy, you must have it tough, living with Reborn." Says Dino, scared to death by just the mere thought. Slowly the pair start walking towards the side of the house.

Tsunayoshi tilts his head, a look of confusion on his face. "What do you mean? I love living with Reborn and the rest. And that was him caring."

"haha, sure it was. And I'm going to be one of the best Mafia Don's out there. People who care about you do not shoot guns at you." Dino seriously can't believe the boy infront of him. Maybe Reborn's whacked the little tot on the head with Leon too many times.

"The more bullets he shoots the more worried he is." Admits Tsunayoshi. Dino takes a look at the little boy and realises the he is totally serious. And how can a four year old tell that anyway? "He's just trying to keep me safe."

"By shooting at you" reiterates Dino. Safe and bullets didn't really go together. He felt as if he was talking to someone more mature than their age.

"He's teaching me to look after myself. I think… Or it could be that he likes shooting at people." Suggests the small boy, shrugging his shoulders. Dino was more inclined to go with the last option, but couldn't shake the feeling that the little child was right. "Plus, Leon's bullets never actually hurt. He's nice to me that way."

"Leon can be nice sometimes. Did Reborn tell you he gave me a pet? When I finished a really hard trial with Reborn, I asked to have Leon, but Reborn wouldn't let me. Instead Leon rewarded me with my whip and my pet Sponge Turtle Enzio."

At this point they had walked around the side of the house to come out at the back yard. Since the sun was really bright, Tsunayoshi lifts his hood back up to shield his eyes from the sun.

"Leon did? Wow that's cool. I hope Leon gives me a present one day!" says Tsunayoshi in awe. Reborn hadn't told him about that, although he did vaguely remember when Leon was 'ill'. Tsunayoshi had made sure to sleep with Leon each night to help the little chameleon get better.

"Yeah, do you want to see him?" Dino asks. Tsunayoshi vigorously nods his head, eager to see it. Dino reaches into his parka and pulls the turtle out.

However Dino somehow manages to trip at that point (he blames his shoe lace) and Enzio goes flying. Tsunayoshi manages to catch Enzio, but when the Turtle saw the Lion, he immediately bites Tsunayoshi. The little boy shouts at the pain and accidentally throws the 'threat' up in the air. Before the two boys can react, Enzio falls right into the pond.

"Gya, Oh no, oh no, oh no! Reborn's going to kill me if Enzio doesn't first. Quick Tsunayoshi run away from here." Shouts Dino, scrabbling up and moving to protect Tsunayoshi.

Tsunayoshi watches on in horror as the turtle fulfils its namesake and absorbs water like a sponge. Slowly it grows and grows until it's taller than the two boys. Looking up at the turtle, Tsunayoshi has this feeling that he knows exactly what it is like to be squashed by this turtle, and it's not a pleasant feeling. Firm hands grip him from behind and lift him up. Looking over his shoulder Tsunayoshi finds it's Dino's friend Romario.

"I've got the little one Dino." He informs his soon-to-be Boss.

Upon hearing the voice, Dino nods and Tsunayoshi swears that it's a different person stood infront of him. Dino is suddenly all serious and hasn't tripped over the rocky footing at the edge of the pond yet.

"Dino, maybe you should get him away from the water" suggests Tsunayoshi. If water made him get bigger, then surely without water he'll stop growing. Tsunayoshi wondered if squeezing the turtle would remove all of the water, just like the sponge in the bath. He didn't think they had a towel big enough to dry the turtle off with, so what else could they do?

"Romario, I'm going to try to get Enzio away from the house, so keep Tsunayoshi safe alright." Dino slowly starts backing off in the direction of the rest of the garden, away from the house. "Sorry Enzio, but… Look a lion" and he points to Tsunayoshi. Acting his part, Tsunayoshi holds his arms up, hands curled into claws, and gives off his fiercest growl. Enzio looks in that direction, gets scared by the 'lion' and backs away from it and consequently the house too. Once Enzio is far enough away, Dino flicks his whip, entrapping the turtle's feet, causing it to fall on the ground.

After a lot of hard thinking, Tsunayoshi finally has the perfect idea on how to get Enzio back to his original size. Knowing that Reborn must be somewhere close by, possibly inside the house, and as a result Leon would be too, he shouts out in his loudest voice "Leon!" A window is opened on the second floor and the chameleon crawls down the side of the house, across the garden, up Romario's leg and into Tsunayoshi's arms. "Could you help me out please?" he politely asks the Chameleon. If it was anything like its owner, being polite helped. When the chameleon nods, Tsunayoshi continues "Could you be a really big hair dryer and dry Enzio off?" Whenever his hair was wet, one of the others would dry it off with the hair dryer, so it should work on the turtle too.

The chameleon looks up at the window that Reborn is currently leaning out of and receives permission from its partner. So, with permission granted, Leon does as Tsunayoshi asks. The little boy claps in glee and bounces in Romario's arms as his plan works and the turtle quickly returns to being pocket sized.

"Little Bro, that was awesome. I've never gotten Enzio quietened down that quickly before!" cheers Dino, running towards them.

"Little Bro?" questions Tsunayoshi, finger to his lip.

"Yeah, I'd be happy to call you little bro. Do you not want to?" Dino asks, coming to a stop infront of Romario.

"Nope! I love it. Big Bro Dino!" laughs Tsunayoshi. Romario passes Tsunayoshi over to Dino and the pair start laughing over their achievement.

"Hmm, nice team work there you two" comments Reborn, jumping down to their level. "However…" Reborn aims Gun-Leon and fires at Dino's feet. "You shouldn't have tripped in the first place." Since Romario is still around, Dino can manage to jump out of the way of the bullets in time. Tsunayoshi just starts laughing, more than used to this by now. Although he was usually in Skull's arms when Reborn fires.

"See Big Bro Dino, Reborn cares about you too!"

At dinner, Tsunayoshi was sat on Colonnello's lap whilst reciting with great detail and enthusiasm about his day. The others all found his voices and hand movements cute, especially when it came to clumsy Dino. The little boy insisted though, that Reborn said his own lines.

"Great tactic's there, kora" compliments Colonnello, with a tiny nod in his direction from Lal.

"Indeed, a good use of your brain there Tsunayoshi. Well done" comment's Verde before taking a sip of his wine as if he hadn't said anything.

One person however, was still stuck in the past, and their anger had reached boiling point. "You left my Darling Tsunayoshi to face that Maniac of a turtle with only Dino for help? What if he had been stepped on? What if he had been harmed? Reborn how could you!"

"Luce calm down, Reborn would have stepped in" says Fon, holding the woman in her seat.

Tsunayoshi keeps half an eye on the fight, since it is about him, as Viper starts to talk to him. "Tsunayoshi, we're going to go out tomorrow to meet someone important, so be on your best behaviour alright." Tsunayoshi nods, since he really doesn't want to disappoint her.

Later on that night, Tsunayoshi allowed the woman to fuss and check him over in the bath, to show her that he had sustained no injuries during his adventure. He even had to sleep with her just to make her stop worrying.

I just totally realised that RebornXDino is a pairing I've never ever heard of/ seen before.

And in case you are wondering why I use Viper over Mammon, it's purely because I like that name better. Since she's not cursed at the moment, I expect that she would use this name anyway.

A bit of a harder hint this time, but guesses are welcome!

Phantom Hitman 1412.

First Published 14 April 2012