Taming the Skylark (A Katekyo Hitman Reborn fanfiction)

Standard disclaimers apply. I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn, Amano Akira-sensei does; though, of course, the OC is mine.


Everyone decided to return to the teahouse to continue their discussion. On their way back, Nanami and Tsuna remained silent as both of them were still confused with the sudden turn of events. A few wrong assumptions, however, had remained in Tsuna's mind. His troubled gaze continued to shift between Nanami and the ground. He was too ashamed to look at her directly and wasn't sure of where to start. He inhaled deeply as he readied to throw his little remaining pride away.

Tsuna abruptly stepped in front of Nanami and bowed. "Senpai, I'm so sorry! I didn't know that you're my marriage partner! I even asked you to help me escape, I… I'm such a failure!"

A familiar baby in a tuxedo suit gave him a drop kick on the face and Tsuna crashed on a nearby tree. Reborn landed on Nanami's shoulder. "Baka-Tsuna, we are here for a meeting, not an omiai. Don't get ahead of yourself."

Nanami glanced at the new entrant. His strength and mature way of speech no longer surprised her since Haruna had explained the truth behind his identity. Reborn, whose body had been turned to that of an infant, was actually the world's strongest hitman. It seemed that her mother was expecting her to be amazed, but she felt more terrified than anything else.

Reborn noticed that she immediately became alert after he had placed himself on her shoulder. The edge of his lips curved into a knowing smirk. The young woman was able to assess his true strength beyond his childish appearance. Haruna might have informed Nanami of his identity, but it was the latter's instincts that warned her to be wary of him, and he found that very commendable.

Reborn was encouraged to recruit Nanami more than ever before!

"Senritsu," he said and poked her left cheek. "Relax. I won't hurt you."

Nanami blinked repeatedly, dumbfounded. The dark-suited infant only gave her a small smile in return, and her worries suddenly seemed silly all of a sudden.

"Reborn!" Their attention was averted to Tsuna who had risen from the dead. "I-If senpai is not my fiancé, what did they mean by *master then?!"

"...It means that I'm your slave, Sawada."

Nanami dropped the answer like a bomb, and Tsuna stared at her as if his mind was just nuked. He then laughed dryly at what he assumed to be a poor sense of humor. It was only after reaching the teahouse did he realize that she wasn't exactly joking.


The long-standing relationship between the two families was explained. Members of the Senritsu Clan had been serving the Sawada Family since the end of the Sengoku Period when the Vongola Primo retired to Japan. Haruna also explained everything there was to know regarding the Vongola to Nanami, including the guardians.

The two brunettes shared the same expression of shock after their parents had finished their respective explanations. While Tsuna whined to Iemitsu for not telling him anything, Nanami remained silent as if her mind had stopped functioning due to the humongous amount of information that she was forced to process.

Guardians? Flames? Vongola equipment?

"You all have superpowers?" She turned to Tsuna, who was seated beside her, with a look of mixed horror and surprise. Her earlier confusion suddenly seemed so small and insignificant in the face of this unexpected truth.

The brown-haired boy only gave a small nod. Nanami released a breath that she had unconsciously held. "Even Hibari and Gokudera?"

"That's right," Reborn nodded. "They are guardians of Tsuna."

That was too great of a reveal to simply take in! Why did they have powers? Where did it come from? What in the world was Vongola? Nanami's mind was bombarded with unanswered questions, it felt like it would burst! Still, she decided to leave it at that and tackle urgent matters first.

She turned to Haruna. "...If Sawada has superpowers, why would he need my protection? I'm just a normal person. He's way stronger than me."

Nanami found it almost absurd how the weakest-looking student in their school turned out to be the mafia boss whom she was destined to serve. Heck, he even had supernatural abilities and managed to wipe out their enemies with a single strike during the brawl earlier. She wanted to protect him, but he ended up protecting her instead.

What help could she possibly offer to someone that strong?

Iemitsu scratched his head and smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry, Nanami-chan. To be honest, my son has yet to accept the fact that he is a mafia boss. He dislikes it and refuses to fight."

Reborn shot a disappointed look at his student and sighed. "Even though he's strong. What an idiot."

"Reborn-san!" Haruna hastily stood in defense of Tsuna, who had noticeably stiffened at his words. "I believe that the young master is simply pure at heart and hates conflict!"

"Anyway," Iemitsu cleared his throat and met Nanami's bewildered gaze. "It is because of my son's naivety that he needs supporters. He is too kind to be able to survive on his own. I kindly request that you help him, Nanami-chan."

She broke eye contact, afraid to be moved by his pleas. "He has his guardians and they're stronger than me. I'm not needed at all," was her best attempt at a resolute rejection. Nanami did not mean to sound self-demeaning, but with her head hanging down, Reborn and the others assumed that she was belittling her own abilities.

"What are you saying? You've beaten Hibari Kyoya a lot of times already," argued Reborn. "And he's our strongest guardian. That feat is undoubtedly impressive."

His compliment did not move Nanami by one bit. Winning those petty challenges did not mean anything if Hibari never went all-out on her. Not that she would have preferred that he did, since she had no plans of staying at the hospital!

Haruna glanced at her daughter curiously. "Oh, you know each other, bambina? I guess that's why he attacked me last week. He might have mistaken me as you." She blabbered on and on, delighted at the notion of looking young enough to be mistaken for a student. Unbeknownst to her, Hibari had simply misidentified her as the Nanami from the future.

"Last week?" the younger brunette repeated in thought. Her eyes almost immediately widened when the image of Hibari's beaten form flashed in her mind. She gasped in disbelief. "Ah, mother, it was you?! How could you do that to a kid!"

"Hibari will hit you if he hears you say that," warned Reborn.

"Um, senpai," started Tsuna hesitantly. "Hibari-san is at least two years older than us. He really just liked repeating a grade."

Nanami instantly froze in her seat. What? Hibari was actually older than her? Oh no... and she kept addressing him without any honorifics!

Haruna shrugged her shoulders as if she didn't have a care in the world. "Don't worry, I just gave the boy a light beating. I didn't even use my flames on him."

"What, flames?" Nanami turned to her mother in surprise. "...You have powers too?!"

Haruna clicked her tongue in exasperation. How could her daughter lack so much versatility? "Geez, bambina, so many questions. I should have prepared a handbook if I knew this would happen."

"Then, maybe you should have bothered telling me all of this before!" she bellowed.

Haruna simply ignored her snarky retort. To cut to the chase, she took a Hyper Dying Will pill and a purple flame appeared on her forehead. Tsuna and Nanami simultaneously gasped. "All members of the Senritsu Clan have the cloud attribute flame, and you're no exception," she explained. "You simply haven't been trained on them. Now that you have met the young master, it is time to unleash your full potential."

Nanami remained at a loss. Haruna ruffled her hair. "So, don't call yourself weak. You are just not strong yet. Do you understand?"

"Yes,"

Haruna heaved a sigh of relief.

"—but I don't remember agreeing to this."

And, the older brunette lost her shit and screeched like a dying bird. Haruna rubbed her knuckles against Nanami's temples in hopes of putting some sense into her head. Nanami whined in protest, and the mother-daughter duo brawled like idiots.

Reborn tipped his fedora with a tired smile. "Well, she has the cloud attribute after all. This type prefers freedom."

Iemitsu cackled. It was like watching Haruna in her younger days. Unbeknownst to many, the woman who had pledged to protect him at all costs once wanted to strangle him to death just to escape the tradition of the Senritsu clan. Her sudden change of heart was nothing short of a miracle!

"Just accept it, you idiot!" scolded Haruna, her annoyance was dangerously reaching its peak.

Nanami tried to escape the deathly grip of her mother only to fail miserably. "I don't want to! Why do I have to do this? It doesn't make sense!"

"It does! You are a cloud and the young master is the sky. You have to be together!"

"No!"

"Nanami," Haruna finally dropped the endearment and stared into her daughter's eyes. The younger brunette was taken aback at her newfound seriousness. With a deeper and resolute tone, she added, "Think about it. Have you ever seen a drawing of a sky that doesn't have a cloud in it?"

GASP! The sense of eureka that Nanami had was comparable to a lightning enveloping her entire body. Her eyebrows furrowed and she gazed back at Haruna. "Ah, now that you've mentioned it... That is true!"

Sweat dropped from Reborn's forehead. "What kind of argument is that?"

"Umm," Tsuna spoke timidly. "If Senritsu-senpai doesn't want to, let us not force her... To be honest, I don't want to further involve anyone in anything mafia-related."

"Young master..." Haruna gave him a dejected look before she relented. "If that's what you wish."

She then threw a glare at Nanami. Iemitsu laughed and scratched the back of his head. "I guess it's fine? They're already friends. That's more than enough for me."

Reborn nodded in agreement. "Senritsu is the student council president of Namimori High. She'll make sure to protect Tsuna if something were to happen at school."

Haruna was the only one not satisfied with how the meeting ended. With a distant and somewhat solemn look in her eyes, she turned away and muttered—

"Well, it's not like you can escape the calling anyway."


At the Sawada house, Tsuna had already gone to bed while Iemitsu was resting at the balcony. He was gazing at the gardens in silence when a certain presence caught his attention. He looked over his shoulder and was surprised to see Reborn in his adult form, casually sipping coffee on the dining table.

A small smile formed on his lips. Well, it appeared that the effects of the Arcobaleno curse was finally disappearing, albeit slowly.

"The calling..." Reborn drawled out, eyes still on the hot beverage in his hands. "No matter how many years have passed, I still fail to understand how that works."

Iemitsu nodded. "Hm. Haruna explained it to me before but she doesn't have a full understanding of it either."

"I don't want to see you die."

Iemitsu's eyes narrowed upon reminiscing the miracle that brought the change of heart in the younger Haruna. "—that line would repeat endlessly in her mind every time I'd be put in danger, and would not stop until my safety was confirmed. She said it almost drove her crazy."

Reborn hummed in thought. "It is as if an invisible connection exists between the Sawada and Senritsu families."

Iemitsu shrugged his shoulders and looked away. "A pact was probably made between the Vongola Primo and their ancestors, and it's strong enough to persist through time."

"A pact, huh?" the dark-suited man muttered dazedly. For some unknown reason, the Arcobaleno curse flashed in his mind. He unconsciously reached for the pacifier that no longer hung from his neck.

Reborn let out a dry chuckle.

"Sounds more like a curse to me."


FOOTNOTES: *'Master' in Japanese is 'danna', which can also be translated to 'husband' in English. That's why Tsuna got confused!

Author's Note: Sorry for not updating in a while. I made sure to finish writing the entire plot first before I post new chapters to avoid the infamous and dreadful writer's block! Ugh. Anyway, Reborn has a lot of scenes in this chapter. Gotta show more love to our world's greatest (and hottest) hitman, right? Haha! Hibari will be in the next chapters. Gonna shower you with fights and love!

Also, thank you for the wonderful reviews, favorites, and follows! I was really impressed with the latest reviews because someone pointed out the Tokugawa Shogunate that I was really trying to hint out all along! Finally! (*u*) QUESTION: Now that it was revealed that the ancestor of the Senritsu Clan had been serving Giotto, I wonder if the aforementioned ancestor also came from Italy? What is your guess?