Just to be clear, the last chapter was NOT a crossover, but a time travel fic.

Tsuna is a contradiction in human form. It was fascinating.

Reborn only had to observe the boy properly for a week before he threw out everything the Vongola had remotely given him about the teen into the trash before burning it.

It wasn't hard to see why no one noticed...if he hadn't been specifically looking for inconsistencies since the younger male had managed to recognize him on the barest description from his online friends, he never would have bothered looking.

The Tsuna he had been told to train was a "no good" teenager with crappy grades, even less skill at anything physical and was generally pathetic from his personality to his abilities.

The Tsuna he was slowly getting to open up around him was not the person he had been told about by the Vongola, limited information that it was.

There was a quiet disdain for humanity in general, yet with the odd contradiction of having the patience of a saint for the amount of harassment he received every day. He could do something about the idiots, but chose not to.

It wasn't that his grades were bad...no one who could keep up with online college-level courses and was almost finished earning a degree in computer science could possibly be an idiot. And he wasn't a complete klutz like Dino had been at that age and still was to an extent.

It was more like he was simply going through the motions for lack of anything better to do.

Reborn also noted that Tsuna's disdain for his peers was so strong that he would openly have difficulty being able to remember their names. According to the teen they weren't worth remembering, since it was highly unlikely they even had any opinion of him outside of what the rumor mill had.

A general collective of mindless sheep, ones who followed the loudest one to bleat among them.

A sentiment Reborn could fully commiserate with, if only because he could see where Tsuna was coming from.

He did find it amusing that Tsuna had a strange relationship with the Cloud who had clearly taken over the school as his territory. Tsuna was the only person who could go on the roof when Hibari was up there napping, and the two would pass their lunch hour in perfect silence.

It was like they had an agreement that transcended mere words.

So Reborn decided now was the perfect time to introduce a new element. With any luck Tsuna would accept the hot headed idiot as his Storm.

Tsuna took one look at Gokudera Hayato, before he rolled his eyes.

Why did Reborn bring this puppy here? What was he up to now?

At least the infant agreed that he could half-ass his middle school grades considering he accidentally busted Tsuna working on his real homework.

Tsuna's immediate assumption of puppy was automatically "upgraded" to "abused puppy looking for a good home" once the Italian confronted him.

He kept seeing a 'tail' wagging like crazy when he didn't dismiss Gokudera after the mess he made in the yard or push him away for the bullshit he was spouting in class. Though there was one thing he did do after hearing Gokudera insistently call him "Tenth" or "Tsuna-sama".

Tsuna pinched the bridge of his nose, before looking Gokudera dead in the eye with annoyance.

"Look... if you can't just call me Tsuna without the overly respectful formal additive, then just call me 'Boss' around others. It's far less likely to draw attention to me in general while still being respectful," said Tsuna with a patient tone.

He could almost see Gokudera vibrate in agreement.

"Sure thing, Boss!" he said eagerly.

Well that was one headache averted. Now he could slowly work Gokudera away from the sycophant behavior he was displaying to something a bit closer to trusted best friend/possible adviser.

Though he still had a massive headache when he inadvertently let his real opinion of his classmates when someone brought up his new "status" with the "hot new transfer student".

Seeing Gokudera all ready to blow everyone up because they were mindlessly repeating the same bullshit they did the day before, Tsuna didn't even think about what he was doing. He yanked the half-Italian down to his chair.

"Boss?" said Gokudera confused at the action.

"There's no point using those against sheep. They're only bleating the same thing they've been using since grade school. It's not their fault that they mindlessly been parroting what their parents tell them," said Tsuna flatly.

Needless to say quite a few people took offense to that.

"You think you're better than us, Dame-Tsuna?" sneered Mochida.

Tsuna blinked, realizing he had revealed his opinion of everyone in his class, before he decided to hell with it.

"Yes, I do. Because I haven't sunk to the level of a child pretending they're bigger than everyone else by going after the one person who has patience not to snap at every little insult or jab," said Tsuna bluntly. "To be perfectly honest, I care so little about your so-called opinions that I genuinely have no idea what any of your names are save for one or two people in this class and that's because you're always hovering about them trying to siphon off whatever it is that makes them more than mere sheep."

Dead silence. Outside Reborn was face-palming in disbelief.

Someone finally spoke, mostly out of honest confusion.

"Ahaha... you don't actually bother to remember our names?" said one of the rare people Tsuna did recognize.

"Why should I bother to register anyone in this class as something other than a sheep who follows the herd when not a single one of you has bothered to know me as anything other than 'useless, no-good Tsuna'?" he openly countered. "You people only care about me long enough to harass and belittle me because it makes you feel better about yourselves. So I decided it was only fair to give you the same acknowledgment. The few people I do recognize in this class to bother remembering your names are the very rare individuals who have never actively joined in on it."

He said all of this with a bored, almost matter-of-fact tone. Like he had come to terms with the fact that he would never see any of his classmates as human or individuals long enough to bother with their names. To be fair, he was only mirroring the treatment they gave him in a far more quiet setting.

Gokudera was glaring at everyone in the classroom. It didn't take someone of his genius-level IQ to realize that the mere fact that Tsuna actually remembered his name in the first place was high praise coming from him. It meant he didn't see him as someone who acted like a mindless sheep.

"Though to be fair, I think the fact I see most of you as sheep is probably the reason Hibari-san has never tried to bite me to death, even when I've been late to school. He doesn't like you idiots much either," finished Tsuna.

The two had an unspoken mutual understanding...in that they both knew most of the school was filled with mindless idiots who were barely worth registering unless they did something to bring too much attention to themselves. Like crowding together or making too much of a racket when Hibari was around.

The silent teen found the fact Tsuna had started carrying around actual score cards to rate his "biting to death" of the annoying herbivores openly hilarious and generally waited until he could get an honest critique from Tsuna about it.

Either way, Tsuna's reputation took a metaphorical hit. Not like he cared, considering the second he turned eighteen he was so gone from this place it wasn't even funny. He even had a countdown of sorts on his calendar, for his eighteenth birthday.

Reborn either hadn't noticed or decided not to comment on it.

"That was quiet the mess you left behind in your class," said Reborn. He was not amused and it showed.

"Not my problem. And if they try to escalate with their usual nonsense I have no problems with replying in kind."

Reborn looks at Tsuna with an odd expression.

"You're not a nice person."

"Pot, this is calling the kettle black," countered Tsuna. "And it's not that I'm that apathetic... it's just..."

"What?"

"It feels way too much like I've done this whole song and dance before and it didn't end well last time. Except this time I'm more likely to speak my actual mind and accept the fact the odds of me finding actual friends that are willing to stick by my side and not try to shove their own opinions and morals down my throat or follow peer pressure are nonexistent," said Tsuna. There was a strangely defeated look in his eyes.

Reborn looked at his student with an odd expression.

He had never met a Sky so young that felt this tired and defeated. Like he had given up hope of finding Harmony that he just accepted it was his lot in life to be forever alone.

The only time he ever saw this sort of behavior was from others like him, who had searched for that elusive Sky to accept them into their Harmony, only to be rejected so often they gave up entirely.

Reborn didn't know why he did it. He put his hand on Tsuna's shoulder with a rather show of empathy and understanding.

This wasn't right. A Sky should never feel this defeated and hopeless...they were supposed to be the ones that brought balance to other Elements.

Then again perhaps there were residual effects to sealing a Sky that no one had thought to mention to him. That Tsuna had already tried to court Elements only to be blocked at every turn by the seal, and just decided it wasn't worth it.

The only evidence that he hadn't entirely given up trying, that he still held the faintest vestiges of hope was the fact that he was unconsciously courting that Cloud in his school.

Reborn had the feeling that Tsuna only needed to expose his Sky Flames around the violent brat to harmonize with him. The two had one of the weirdest friendships he had ever seen and that was saying something.

Reborn was stalking...er, observing his student the day the strong Rain Latent shows signs of Sky Attraction and actually asks him for advice. The boy is clearly suffering from tendinitis or tennis elbow (possibly both) and the fact he chose Tsuna as the one to ask said volumes.

So he is a little caught off guard when Tsuna surprises him yet again...and displayed even more evidence that Iemitsu is a complete idiot for not really noticing his son properly.

A real mafioso would have seen the instincts Tsuna was displaying and the fact he was much more observant than the average person. The fact he instinctively dumbed down his abilities and intelligence proved he wasn't a fool.

Tsuna patiently listened to Takeshi, before going to his bag and pulling out two items.

One was an unopened packet of Tylenol...the other was an unopened bottle of water. He handed both to a very confused Yamamoto.

"Uh... thanks?"

"These should dull the worst of the pain in your right arm until you can get to the doctor to have it properly checked out. Why that idiot coach hasn't noticed the fact you have the early stages of tendinitis is rather odd. That the team is stupid enough to put all that pressure on you without bothering to take their own skills or your health into consideration is ridiculous. If you keep practicing the way you have you're almost certain to suffer a broken bone at best or torn muscles at worst," said Tsuna flatly. "And considering you've clearly built your social circle and peer group around baseball, it's an almost guarantee that you will react badly if something happened that prevented you from playing for a few months."

Takeshi stared at him in confusion. He gave a tired, strained smile on his face.

"You're a strange, blunt guy, you know that Sawada?"

"It's none of my business whether you follow my advice and visit the doctor. However I would like to ask you one thing...exactly what do you want to do with your life, Yamamoto-san? Are you really going to let baseball take over your life to the point that you can't function without it? You literally spend every day focused entirely around Takeshi Yamamoto, junior baseball star. Do you really want that to be the most you'll ever be?" asked Tsuna seriously.

Unseen by the teen was the fact his eyes were glowing a warm amber. A sign of active Sky flames...though that was as much as he could do with the seal still in place.

Takeshi blinked.

"I thought you said you didn't know most of our names."

"I said I don't bother to remember the names of people who won't bother to remember mine outside of what the rumors say. You're one of the extremely rare people in our class that I actually acknowledge as someone with the potential to be something other than a mindless sheep repeating everything the herd says. You've never joined in on the bullying or harassment and mostly stay out of it, which is pretty much the only reason I bothered to notice you at all. It's also why I noticed that the team is putting everything on your shoulder rather than bothering to practice themselves or notice the fact you are clearly in pain," corrected Tsuna. "If I were you, I'd take a break from the baseball team and make them actually work for a win for once."

Takeshi had a sad, tired smile on his face.

"I doubt I could give up baseball like that."

"I said to drop the team, since they clearly don't notice or care about you past the fact you can win games. I didn't say to drop baseball entirely," corrected Tsuna. "It's as much a part of you as using blades is for your dad... he's a master when it comes to using those knives of his to make sushi."

Takeshi blinked. He wasn't aware that Tsuna actually knew that his dad ran a sushi shop considering his little speech a few days ago.

"Ahahaha... you're really different, aren't you, Tsuna?"

Tsuna's flat, apathetic expression morphed into genuine surprise... and confusion. Was this really the first time he had heard his name without the usual "dame" title attached to it, or his surname?

From the look on his face, that would be a yes. No wonder the boy has so much disdain of the people around him.

Less than a week later, Takeshi broke his arm while practicing in his favorite baseball cages. There was a lost look on his face before his eyes naturally gravitated to Tsuna for some reason.

There was no pity, no "I told you so", nothing that indicated he should have listened to his advice and gone to the doctor sooner.

Instead there was clear, unconditional acceptance that he would silently support Takeshi in whatever he did now.

Tsuna had known before the accident that there was something terribly wrong with his arm. He was also openly angry at the fact that the coach hadn't even picked up that Takeshi was in actual pain or that he was hurting himself with all the practicing he did. That the man hadn't pushed the rest of the team to get better so that Takeshi could actually rest and not have all the pressure on him to win.

So the decision to drop the baseball team was actually pretty easy considering. Looking back on it, he could clearly see they were just using him for an easy win in games, since so few could handle his hits. His dad almost seemed relieved when he mentioned it at dinner, even if he made sure to point out that he wasn't giving up baseball entirely.

But still... Tsuna was a very interesting guy, and the fact that he definitely bothered to remember Takeshi's name and only seemed fondly exasperated when he started joining him and the grumpy Italian for lunch helped to ease the ache in his heart because he wasn't able to play for a few months.