Tsuna sits across from him on the other side of the low table, cross-legged with a serious look on his face. The door of his room is closed and locked, his mother busy with one thing or another downstairs.

It's all reminiscent of the exact same situation they found themselves in only a couple of weeks ago, except this time, it's Tsuna who initiated this talk-to-be.

Reborn raises an eyebrow. "Are we going to make this a thing?"

"Why?" Tsuna says right away, like he's been waiting for it. "Is there something else I should know?" He manages to keep any bite out of his voice, but it's all over his narrowed eyes and the pouty twist of his lips.

Like it's Reborn's fault his dad chose the carrier path he did. Or that the blood running through his veins makes his son eligible to be the next boss of the most powerful mafia family in the world. Let alone the fact things happened in such a way, he's now the last legitimate and eligible heir left of said family.

Reborn has killed heirs during his career, but he's had no hand in the Vongola's heirs demise.

"I'll be sure to let you know if there is."

Tsuna purses his lips a beat but chooses to not rise to the bait, huffing. "Forget it—"

"Of course," Reborn says, sarcasm obvious in his voice. "You're only set to become the boss of the most powerful mafia family in the world after all."

"Reborn—"

"Who cares that the people watching you nowadays are their people, assessing you to determine how much work they'll have to put into you before you're ready to take on the job?"

"But Dad and Timoteo-san already left without telling me anything, didn't they? You said we had a bit of time before they make it official."

He did.

He also said it was technically only a guess from him. One based on his experience within the mafia, of course, including Vongola, but being a freelance hitman is arguably still the most removed position from being a mafia don.

The fact remains, he has yet to be proven wrong. Vongola being bound by the particular circumstances they're in, and Tsuna having the particular profile he has as an heir-to-be, the smartest and safest choice to make is to lay the ground first before making it official.

They wouldn't want Tsuna to end up dead shortly after making it official, for one. Of course, whoever would attempt it would have to first figure out his identity, but how long would that take? There's always someone willing to pay the price to break information like this out of whichever inner trusted circle it's kept in.

Now, Vongola does have the power and means to rush things along before anyone can have a chance to intervene. But once you've reached a certain amount of power, choosing to make a show out of it like it's still needed looks more like an admission of weakness than anything else.

"Reborn? We have time, right?" Tsuna's voice doesn't waver in uncertainty or fear. It stays level, the expression on his face relaxed and waiting, like it's only a matter of him rethinking the amount of time they're working with, with whatever information he might still have to be in the know too.

Like Reborn has shared any of his reasoning with him, and he doesn't only have his word to go with.

Well. He can't deny it says something Vongola seems to think along the same lines too. If they're smart at all, and there's no doubt they are, the people they've sent to assess Tsuna are also here to assess him.

Wouldn't he make himself an obstacle in their plans once they decide to start things along?

Would he?

Reborn takes a long look at the steadfastness in Tsuna's eyes, very unlike the way he reacted when Reborn told him all about the mafia blood running through his veins and all that comes with it.

If he were a lesser man, he'd let himself preen from it.

"What do you care? Isn't there something so much more important than this we should apparently discuss instead? Do tell."

"Right," he says, not taking the bait once more, turning serious again. "So I'm not really sure, but… I think there's someone who might need help."

Reborn rolls his eyes so hard, it's a wonder they don't stay stuck at the back of his skull.

Typical.

Tsuna's startled laugh tumbles loudly from his lips as he reaches across the table to shove him, a flush coloring his cheeks. "Reborn! What? What? It is important!"

"And who might that be?" he asks, unimpressed but curious all the same.

There's nothing about Tsuna or his life he doesn't know by now, and yet there's not a single name that comes to mind.

"A boy, I think," Tsuna says, settling down. "Um… from my dreams." He marks a pause, letting the silence fall on them, then letting it stretch until it's thin and about to break.

"What makes you think you're safe to waste my time like this?"

That startles another laugh out of him, though he's quick to swallow back this one. "Okay, I get it, I get it! Jeez. Thanks for giving me the benefit of the doubt, I guess," he says first, shy and avoiding his eyes. He clears his throat before speaking again, "So you know how I've been waking up tired lately? I keep having this same dream. I'm in this weird void, so dark I can't see anything, and there's this… wall of ice in front of me. With the boy behind it." He frowns, his fidgeting hands stilling for a moment. "Surrounded by it," he corrects.

"What makes you think that?"

"When I touch the wall, I can feel him doing the same from the other side. But it's more like he's pushing against it, like… like he wants to get out of it."

"So there's a boy in your dream stuck in a prison of ice," Reborn says, taking note of the way the word 'prison' makes Tsuna wince. "And? It's a dream."

"I know."

"But?"

"It burns."

Reborn raises his eyebrow then. "Burn? I thought it was a wall made of ice."

"It is." He averts his eyes, getting lost in thoughts, maybe unconsciously hugging himself. "It's a wall made of ice so deeply cold, I can feel it before I even touch it. It's so cold, sometimes when I wake up from the dream, I'm freezing so badly I can't feel parts of my body. It's burning cold."

"Burning who?"

Tsuna flinches, snapping his eyes back into his. "The boy," he breathes out after a beat. "I do feel this… heat too whenever I have this dream, but that burning cold feeling… it's from him." He digs his fingers in his skin, a distant echo of pain flickering across his face. "It's painful. Enough so I know this isn't just a dream."

He keeps his eyes in his, not even pleading for him to trust him, but straightforward in his certainty. Reborn dismisses it for the flicker of hesitancy in them instead.

He narrows his eyes. "Out with it. Do you want my help or not?"

"I do!" Tsuna hurries to say, raising his hands in surrender. "I'm sorry, I just don't think this has anything to do with this?"

"What?"

"Mom keeps saying I either stay up too late at night or keep waking up in the middle of the night. You know, when she leaves her room for the bathroom or whatever. She says there's a white light coming from my room."

Just maybe, Reborn's heart picks up its pace.

Tsuna's mouth hangs wordlessly open on his next words, suspicion slowly narrowing his eyes as he keeps looking at him.

Ah. Has Reborn been just a second too late at hiding his reaction right now? "What is it? Go on."

Tsuna scoffs, incredulous. "What is it? Yeah, sure. Let's just pretend you didn't just react weirdly right now."

"Don't get smart with me."

"Whatever," he says, rolling his eyes. "Anyway, so yeah, Mom said that, but I don't even have any white light? And I don't stay up late or remember waking up late at night either."

Reborn keeps his face unreadable as the cogs turn in his brain. A white light coming from his room—coming from him whenever he has these dreams, the heat he feels as he has them, a burning cold.

Not only does it seem Tsuna's able to use his ghost abilities through his dreams too, but are the flames involved too?

Is this what Reborn has been reacting to lately? What that sudden pulling and unfurling in his chest in the middle of the night is about?

"Reborn?"

"I see."

Tsuna leans in, his face brightening up in hope. "Really? Can you help?"

"With what?" he asks, like he doesn't already know the answer.

Tsuna frowns. "What do you mean? With helping the boy out of the ice, of course." Of course. "I mean, if these aren't really just dreams and the boy is really stuck in that ice somewhere… I can't just leave him alone, right?"

He can. But how useless would that be to point it out?

"You've already decided then?" Tsuna nods. Reborn smirks. All right then. "How about you learn how to set yourself on fire?"

Namimori truly makes for gorgeous landscapes. It makes it all the more surprising it isn't a hotbed of crime when this mountain area alone would make for the perfect secluded place to kill or dispose of someone, and other such fun activities. Or not so surprising, he supposes.

The sky spreads wide above their heads, a forest at the other side of the cliff, a river flowing at its foot. The breeze blows just right, not too strong to cover the sound of rustling leaves and flowing water.

It'd all make for the perfect picture if not for Tsuna panting behind him like a dying man.

He gracelessly lets himself fall on all fours when Reborn turns to look at him, his face flushed and his hair and clothes clinging to him with sweat.

Reborn clicks his tongue, crossing his arms on his chest. "You're pathetic. Who in their right mind would ever want to try to make a mafia don out of you?"

"Isn't there any bus coming here?" Reborn allows his soundless snort only because Tsuna isn't looking at him. "And thanks for saying that," he says, sitting up and taking off his backpack. "You should let everyone else know too. Maybe we should take a picture or something so you can show them?"

"What are you saying? I would try my hand at that and would do a great job at it too, I'd let you know."

Tsuna's playfulness wavers on his face before he lets it slip away entirely. He busies himself with taking a bottle of water out of his bag. "Do you have to be like this? You said you'd help me make sure that won't happen to me."

"Do you trust me, Tsuna?"

"You know I do."

"Good. But trust doesn't turn people into God. It doesn't make miracles happen." Tsuna stops fidgeting with his bottle, and Reborn waits for him to catch his eye again before continuing. "I did say I would help you make sure it won't happen to you, no more and no less. You're mistaken if you think I have any intention to do all the work for you or that you won't have to fight for the outcome you want with your own hands."

It's clear Tsuna doesn't look forwards to that, to say the least, but his gaze doesn't so much as shake. He nods. "That's fair. I'll keep it in mind, and... I'll do my best to not waste any help you'll give me."

Oh, he has no doubts he will. "Good." He smirks, letting his arms fall at his sides.

Tsuna's shoulders visibly relax before he remembers he's thirsty again. "So, what's the plan here? You're not really going to try to literally set me on fire, right?"

"Of course, I will."

Tsuna snickers in his bottle, paying him no mind, so very sure Reborn has no intention to do just that or anything close to that. Like they haven't already established he's a person willing to and able to do terrible things.

Truthfully, Reborn doesn't know nearly enough about this as he usually likes to before taking action. He knows Tsuna's ghost abilities likely come from the Dying Will Flames that burst out of him when he saved him back in that alley. He heard about them for the first time when the Vindice appeared in front of him afterwards in their search of the owner of said flames.

Which means Dying Will Flames are tied to the mafia, or have to operate under mafia laws, or fall under the omertà. Or any combination of those three things, if not all three all at once.

He learned there are different types of flames apart from the orange ones Tsuna has, with each their respective name. He's no Sky, the Vindice had scoffed when he tried to play along to make more sense of the situation.

He gleaned more information while in the company of Iemitsu Sawada and Vongola Nono as they tried to find a way to wake Tsuna up from his coma. Like how, at the very least, Dying Will Flames seem to be known by the people at the top of the mafia or not far below. How the people there are likely able to use them too, the way Tsuna can.

How the flames are tied to your dying will. How they're born from it, in fact, and so of course, how they can also be triggered by it.

How they're flames born from one's resolve.

That barely scratches the surface of his curiosity on the matter, but it should be plenty enough for him to teach Tsuna about them. Those Dying Will bullets Vongola came up with and which already worked once would have come in handy, but they didn't give him more than the one he already used on Tsuna.

Oh, well. They'll just have to go the hard way about it.

"Hello? Earth to Reborn?" Tsuna stands, putting his bottle aside and eyeing him suspiciously. "I don't like it when you're smiling like that. What is the plan here?"

Reborn smiles wider. "Dying."

Before the word even registers in Tsuna's brain, the bullet lands near his foot, nicking his shoe, bits of rock flying in the air.

Tsuna screams, jumping out of his skin and losing his footing. He falls badly on his back, his arms instinctively raised to protect his head instead of cushioning his fall.

"Reborn! What are you doing?" He takes his time opening his eyes again and propping himself on his elbows, scaredy-cat that he is. He looks at the burnt, grazed mark on his shoe then at the smoking hole on the floor, looking uneasy. "Are—are these real bullets?"

"Why would a hitman carry fake bullets with him?" Tsuna tenses, uncertain eyes trying to figure him out. Reborn aims at him again. "Get up. Or do you want to really die?"

"Wait—" Reborn rains bullets down on him, tracing the outline of his tightly curled-up form on the floor. He aims closer with each new bullet, the last ones landing through the hem of his shirt, the hem of his sleeves, and in between strands of his hair splayed on the ground. No doubt Tsuna feels the heat of the bullets against his skin, let alone the pieces of rock knocking against him. "Wait, I said, wait! Stop it! Stop, Reborn, please! I get it!" The second Reborn stops, Tsuna scrambles on all fours to put some distance between them before scrambling on his feet. "I said, I get it already!" He shouts, accusing. "Except, you know what? I don't. What are you doing?"

He breathes a little harder than before, looks a little paler too, looking unsteady on his feet, but all Reborn can see in his eyes is disbelief and confusion.

Does he get it?

"Do you think I'm any kind of not serious right now?"

"What? I mean, no, but—I mean, you didn't even explain—"

"I'm a hitman, Tsuna." The best out there, in fact. "Do you think there's anyone in this world I can't kill?"

"That's—no? But why would you want to kill me all of a sudden?"

Reborn closes the distance between them, Tsuna hurrying to scramble back again at the same time. When Reborn raises his gun again, this time he aims right between his eyes.

Tsuna freezes in his tracks, falling on his knees again, his legs giving out under him as if made of paper. He barely thinks of catching himself with his hands, wide eyes unable to look away from him or to even blink.

"Ah..." His voice is small and weak, a strained tremor to it.

Reborn stops in front of him, looming above him, his gun not having changed course an inch. Tsuna's worryingly pale by then, his breathing hard and shallow.

Reborn smirks, making him tense, but not enough to entirely stop his flinch.

There they go.

Whether it's the memory of that time in the alley or Reborn coming on too strong right now, or both, well.

They're going the hard way about this either way, aren't they?

"Wait, Reborn... Please?" Reborn pulls the trigger, Tsuna whipping his head to the side, but the bullet still skims the shell of his ear as intended. He screams in pain as blood splatters against his hair and temple, his hands flying to his ear. "Ah, my ear! My ear!" His breathing turns shallower but is now loud and quick, drops of tears dripping down his cheeks. His face's twisted in pain, of course, and in fear, but also in shock.

His ear's going to be just fine despite what the blood dripping down his wrists and neck might make him think. Reborn made contact just enough to draw blood, but it's a surface-level wound that will heal quickly and without issue.

Tsuna himself could be able to tell even without having experienced bullet wounds before, but how would he have the sense of mind to do that when he just got shot for the first time in his life?

Once more, Reborn takes aim at him.

And once more, Tsuna's attitude takes a sharp turn, snapping his eyes back to him. He barely stops on the gun pointed at him, instead catching his eye, harshly biting the inside of his cheek to quiet himself down.

"Get up." The longer Reborn keeps steadily pointing his gun at him, the more Tsuna's face smooths out to settle into something wronged, but the kind that might just bite you back for it. "Or die."

Clouds clear out above them, sunlight shining across Tsuna's face, but Reborn knows the shining flickers of orange among brown aren't due to the tears in Tsuna's eyes or a trick of the light.

Tsuna sucks it up, not so surprisingly. Reborn did say this is likely to let him help that burning cold boy in his dreams better.

He whines, complains and argues; shouts, puts his foot down and indulges himself in a little temper tantrum every other day; but whenever Reborn drags him to the mountain all the same, he always comes easily enough.

He immediately runs to the forest whenever they start, wanting the cover of the trees to hide from his bullets. Perhaps he also hopes for the wildlife to make it more difficult to follow his trail, but the first couple of gunshots always make a quick affair of that.

Reborn always follows him into the forest at a leisurely pace, the accuracy of his aim not decreasing no matter how deep in the forest they get.

Tsuna ducks behind the sturdiest trees he comes across, both taking a breather and baiting him into running out of bullets. He keeps count of them too, taking off at full speed every time Reborn has to reload his ammunition to add distance between them.

Reborn rewards him for it by taking his time reloading every time, but Tsuna will sooner run himself dead before Reborn comes even close to running out of bullets.

It forces Tsuna to be bold and take risks, which is clearly the last thing he'd rather do. When he finally takes the opening Reborn gives him for the first time, running at him to disarm him, he stops at the last second. Not even freezing, but simply standing there, arms awkwardly at his sides, looking at him to tell him what his next move should be.

Standing at point-blank range of his gun.

Reborn would be lying if he said he'd seen worse first attempts at this before.

He doesn't stop himself from dropping the threatening act, snorting at him as mockingly as he can. "Are you an idiot?"

"I don't know, okay?" Tsuna shouts, flushing a bright red. "I mean, am I just supposed to…?" He tries to grab his gun without much conviction, and yelps when Reborn trips him before he can, falling on his face.

Reborn's a lot less nice stopping him in his next attempts.

He punches and kicks him where it hurts, stopping him in his momentum and knocking his senses astray. He grabs onto his limbs, twisting and bending and stretching until he screams. He knocks him off his feet entirely sometimes, sending him flying against a tree or the ground.

It's one of those times Tsuna's on the ground, Reborn's knee pressing down onto his sternum and the barrel of his gun against his forehead.

"I give, please," he manages to say through strained breathing, a pained grimace twisting his features. He can't seem to decide whether his gun or knee hurts him the most, pushing at them in turn with his hands. "Please, Reborn, it's hot!"

"Then do something about it."

"I can't!"

"What can you do?" It comes out more disdainfully than he planned it to be, but it's been a long time coming.

This Tsuna, who doesn't remember knowing him from before he woke up from his coma but now remembers all about who he is, knows all about the things he can't do. He's so sure he can't do any of those things, he's clearly long given up even trying to do them anyway.

Reborn's never had any patience for this kind of pity party.

"What was that?"

"Poor Tsuna," he starts in faux sympathy, the mockery clear in his voice. "If only he was born anyone else but himself. Then he could be doing just as great as everyone else is." He smirks when he visibly hits a nerve, dropping the act. "Is that it? Because not only does it get old and tiring, but it's also insulting."

Unexpectedly, Tsuna scoffs. Makes a point to manage it despite Reborn still pressing down on his chest. "You like so much to act like you can never be wrong about anything. You think I don't know how hard other people must have worked to be where they are? I'd never take that away from them." The set of his jaw is hard, the look in his eyes harsh, but there's hurt too in the way his fingers dig into his wrists.

Reborn takes it in, reassessing.

It must show on his face because Tsuna takes the opportunity to throw a handful of dirt and leaves at him. He raises his free arm in front of him, turning his head away, letting up some of the pressure on him in the process.

Tsuna wastes no time shoving both his knee and gun away from him, getting back on his feet. Reborn expects him to run away right away, putting distance between them until he comes up with another plan and tries again.

Instead, he attempts the most pathetic excuse of a kick he's ever seen his way.

It does not land, obviously.

Tsuna laughs at the look he gives him, apparently not caring enough to hold his grudge any longer to hold himself back. "Shut up. You teach me how to do it then." He runs away then, too fast to notice his raised eyebrow.

Famous last words.

Reborn stands back up and takes his time dusting off his suit. This isn't the way he expected this exchange to go, but it was enlightening all the same.

It seems Tsuna doesn't necessarily think his efforts, specifically, can never amount to anything no matter how hard he'd try. But what's the point when no one's willing to acknowledge he's even putting in efforts to begin with?

Then that's just a matter of surrounding him with the right kind of people. All the easier.

Namimori can't be that much of a small, unremarkable town, Tsuna himself is plenty proof of that.

And even if it is, there's an entire world outside it to make up for it.

Tsuna becomes more of a challenge as they keep up with their training sessions. He still struggles as much to disarm him, hasn't come any closer to succeeding in doing it, but that doesn't mean he's not improving.

His stamina, for one, is a far cry from when they first started, Tsuna lasting longer and longer before giving in to exhaustion.

His pain tolerance too, and more so his fear of it. He used to freeze and curl up on himself whenever his bullets landed too close, or close his eyes whenever hits he couldn't avoid or that looked particularly vicious came his way before even trying to dodge them. He could barely last past three hits from him too.

When they go head to head in his attempts to disarm him, he's never entertained hopes of doing it through his strength alone. His best shot is to hold onto the hand holding his gun as best as he can, keeping it from pointing towards him as he tries his best to gain the upper hand.

He picks up a thing or two about fighting in the process. Only the bases, of course, upon which they'll have to build conscious use and intention as well as proper technique. Be it posture, balance, spatial awareness, finding and creating openings… Tsuna watches him, tries to replicate, fails and learns, and does better every time the next time.

There's no progress when it comes to making him use his flames. There hasn't been even a sparkle of orange ever since that first time.

Just as Reborn expected.

How much can he make Tsuna fear for his life as if facing a real threat wanting him dead?

He makes him run until he can't take another step. He keeps chasing him, making him go on anyway, adrenaline pushing his body way past when it should have given up on him.

Reborn nicks him with his bullets until he has to watch out for blood loss too. He doesn't hold back when hitting him either, Tsuna's head spinning and his sight blurring; spitting saliva, blood, or the content of his stomach; sometimes passing out altogether.

Reborn backs him into unrelenting corners time and time again until he resorts to teeth and nails and crawling, every breath one he didn't know he'd manage to take.

Never quite enough remains the answer.

Reborn can hurt Tsuna all he wants, as ruthlessly, viciously, or painfully as he wants, but he won't ever put him in actual danger.

Both Tsuna and he know that no matter how close to the edge he pushes him, Reborn will see to it to never actually push him over it.

Tsuna, no doubt, thinks so anyway.

How cute.

Reborn holds Tsuna up against a tree, his feet off the floor and flailing for solid ground underneath them again. He holds him up by his throat, crushing his windpipe, Tsuna's hands on his arm too weak to do anything about it.

He's too weak to even claw at either his arm or face or to try and kick him, choosing instead to keep breathing what little air he can with whatever energy he still has left.

"...ve… I… give… please—" It's hardly even gasps, but it's impressive enough he's still conscious.

He's all out of strength, his face flushed and glossy with sweat, struggling to keep his eyes open and on him.

He'll clearly pass out soon. It happened before.

It didn't do the trick any of those times.

Reborn points his gun right between his eyes. "Still feel safe?" he asks casually.

"Please…" Tsuna keeps gasping, not sparing his gun a glance. "I give… I can't…"

"No?" He tries to catch his eye, but who knows how blurry Tsuna's sight even is at this point? "All right then." He lowers his gun. Smirks when Tsuna's shoulders relax. "Die."

He shoots.

A flash of pain twists Tsuna's face in a grimace, his hands tensing around his arm, his body flinching against the hand he has around his throat. Either shock or pain, or both, widens his eyes wide, his mouth hanging open until he releases the breath caught in his throat in a bloody cough.

Reborn slowly lowers him down to the ground, but Tsuna falls anyway the second he lets go. Reborn expects him to fall all the way down, but he catches himself with one hand, landing on his knees. His free hand cradles the wound on his stomach, blood dripping between his fingers and staining his shirt wider and wider.

Tsuna looks at it, wide-eyed still. His pupils shake, his hands shake, his breathing unsteady. "You… you shot me…"

Reborn steps back, putting his free hand in his pocket. This is somewhat anticlimactic.

But this ought to do the trick this time, surely?

Dying will. Something you're left no choice but to face once at death's door. Regret so strong, it breathes life back into you again.

But regret can take many forms.

In Reborn's experience, it doesn't take any form at all for most people. Most people, faced with the inevitability of death or what they think is the inevitability of it, simply surrender to it. Bitterly, sadly, resentfully, but whichever the case, not everyone's regrets are significant enough to make them turn their backs to the easy way out.

When they are? Anger is the most common. The kind born out of unfairness, of that feeling of being wronged, so hateful and insulting, it crawls past the skin and beneath the bones.

This can't be the way they'll die. Not now, not like this. Not when they've already come so far and need to go farther still.

"You shot me." Tsuna's hands still shake, his breathing too. His voice doesn't.

"Of course." Tsuna stops shaking. He holds his breath a beat before releasing it slowly, his breathing now steady. When he looks up into his eyes, Reborn tilts his head. "What else did you expect from a hitman?"

Dying will, as Reborn understands it, isn't just about not wanting to die when looking death in the eye. It isn't as simple and easy as wishing you could have done this one last thing before dying. Everyone can do that much.

No, it's about that burning, relentless, single-minded resolve to do this one more thing even if it means dying to make it happen.

In Reborn's case, it takes the form of greed.

Reborn was never going to die before he reached the top he currently stands on. And now he's finally there? He's not going to allow himself to die before making the most out of it first.

He welcomes anyone who'd like to try to drag him down to hell, but he'll always crawl his way back out after first making sure they can't follow after him.

In Tsuna's case?

Tsuna digs his fingers in the ground through dirt and rocks and leaves, setting his jaw until he grits his teeth together. His face twists slowly, like he's waiting for Reborn to take his words back. It twists more coldly, more harshly the longer Reborn doesn't.

The air around them changes tangibly. It presses down on Reborn, closing in, shimmering the heavier it grows. It turns dry, parching his throat on its way down to his lungs and prickling at his now taut skin.

Something within Reborn pushes back, spreading within him and filling him up. It pulls him forwards, like it's reaching out to whatever's rising within Tsuna too.

The leaves crushed beneath Tsuna's hand sizzle, the brown of his eyes drowning in a sea of orange.

He lunges forwards.

"You shot me!" he shouts, anger, resentment and accusation all spilling out of his voice. Loud and unavoidable, yet there's no mistaking the betrayal at the forefront of them.

Reborn throws his gun away, taking his hand off of his pocket. He takes him head-on, intertwining their hands together.

They burst into flames in the next instant, Tsuna's hands lighting up in orange flames. They light up in the middle of his forehead too, pulsing just as strongly, disturbing the air around them with such force every time, Reborn staggers back a step.

Reborn grins. Has been grinning for a while now, if the ache of his cheeks is anything to go by.

This isn't anything he's unfamiliar with.

They're back in that first alley again, Reborn about to be shot to death. Tsuna shouts, getting in the way, but he doesn't sound like the kid he looked so much like at that time.

Back then too, it wasn't fear or despair in his voice. It wasn't him pleading, begging for another outcome than the one playing out in front of him.

"How could you?" he asks, still with the same tone he used then. "Reborn!"

His flames show no sign of stopping even now they're surrounded by fire. Fiery crowns dance atop the ablaze trees, trails of fire slicing the ground with any leaves or branches within reach. Smoke and ashes cloud the air, stinging his eyes and grating his throat.

Tsuna's eyes shine the brightest through it all, a clear, vivid orange Reborn doubts can ever be replicated.

They're nothing short of demanding as they keep piercing into his.

How dared those hitmen try to kill Reborn when Tsuna wanted him to live?

How dares Reborn shoot him when Tsuna trusted him to never purposefully put him in danger?

Tsuna's dying will, ablaze in his eyes and on his hands and forehead, given form in all its righteousness.

His Sky flames, burning in all their glory all around them, fierce and powerful and unyielding.

The thing within Reborn finishes filling him up to the brim. Then it floods.

Tsuna blinks, drawing back. His eyes widen once more, looking into his, then at their linked hands. His flaring flames slow down and recede, settling into a strong but gentle sway between them.

"Reborn," he says, quiet awe in his voice.

Reborn keeps looking into his eyes. Looks at the reflection of yellow among orange.

He laughs.

And here comes the Sun.

So much for finally succeeding with their goal.

You'd think Tsuna would spare some gratefulness his way, but he's too busy sulking against his tree for that.

Reborn leans against a tree of his own, Tsuna sitting against his a couple of feet away. He's shirtless, his wound taken care of and bandaged, Reborn's jacket keeping him warm.

You'd think it'd be enough for Tsuna to at least acknowledge his existence, but it seems to be too much to ask.

Tsuna hasn't said a word since he woke up, has refused to even look at him. It could be he's simply drained by the whole ordeal, but his face's closed off too, barely keeping his anger at bay to remain unreadable.

At least this time he woke up again on his own only a couple of hours later. Reborn himself struggled to stay awake once his own flames died down.

Clearly, they necessitate a lot of energy to wield them. Likely still would even if they were to pace themselves with them.

"What now?" Tsuna finally deigns to speak to him. "You said these… flames would help me help the boy in my dreams."

"You're asking me?" Tsuna can't help but snap his eyes to him then, finally looking at him again too. "It's your flames. You try whatever feels right the next time you dream of him and see what works."

"How do you even know they have anything to do with him?"

"How do you think?"

Tsuna's jaw ticks as he glares at him, but he still lets it go. "How are you going to explain this to Mom?"

"Why would I have to explain anything to her unless you snitch on me?"

"Wha…?" His voice loses some of its edge in his disbelief. "You think she won't notice it unless I say something? I know Mom can be—" a barely there hesitance, reluctance "—I mean, she's not stupid."

"She doesn't have to know it's from a bullet wound."

"But I do!" he shouts, finally saying what he really wanted to all along. "You shot me, Reborn!"

"A clean shot that went through you without touching anything important."

"So what? It still hurt and made me scared! And—" He pauses so long, Reborn thinks he won't say it after all. "It made me so angry. I really wanted to hurt you for it."

Of course, he means it. Reborn could already tell by himself back when he was trying to burn the forest down to the ground.

Reborn moved them away from that corner of the forest, but the smell of smoke and ashes is still heavy in the air. If he looks above his shoulder, he can admire again the blackened and dead landscape Tsuna left behind.

Yet here Reborn stands, entirely unscathed from his flames apart from his burnt clothes here and there.

Oh, Tsuna, Tsuna, Tsuna.

What will Reborn do with him?

"You lived," is all he says.

"I'm fourteen years old!" Tsuna snaps again, angry all over again.

Reborn blinks, missing a beat. His point? "I've killed children even younger than that before."

Tsuna flinches. He freezes, speechless in his horror, until he remembers there's nothing surprising about this.

He averts his eyes, looking down, some kind of guilty expression on his face of all things. "Right. I sometimes forget the terrible things you do. I wonder what that says about me."

Yes, yes, he's heard it all before. Decent people, let alone those who think themselves good or strive to be, love being the ones to throw themselves the first stone even if no one else sees the need for that.

Yet even in his predictability, Tsuna always manages to still be surprising.

The terrible things he does, he said, not the terrible person he is.

He forgets sometimes, he said.

Does he forget? Or does he let it slide because it pertains to him?

Does he forgive, trusting it won't ever be turned against him or the people he cares about? Does he accept, even knowing he could end up one of his victims one day?

Does he forget?

All fascinating answers to think about.

All different reasons too terrible people would be willing to go to quite the lengths to do terrible things on his behalf.

"Do you think children don't deserve to die?"

Tsuna looks up slowly at him again, as if bracing himself for whatever he might see on his face. "You're not asking because you really don't know the answer to that, right?"

"Do you think all children are innocent?" he tries a different angle.

"They would be if you gave them the chance to be, wouldn't they?"

So he's aware of that much. That's good, even if still naive.

Some children take to the mafia all but too well. Make it clear it's exactly where they'd have ended up no matter the kind of life they'd have lived.

Some children choose to make themselves fit in the mafia all on their own, be it because of survival or something else.

There's nothing anyone can't do either way, be it children or adults. It's simply a matter of giving them the right motivation for it.

"Why would we do that?" he asks like it's a given. "We ought to at least give them the illusion they'd have a chance to survive against the likes of me. Ignorance can only keep them safe for so long. Isn't that right?"

Tsuna's face both barely changes and visibly turns colder. "You're always like this," he says. Not with the flowing anger of only a couple of hours ago, but in the curt tone of someone who didn't expect anything less. "Just because a wound is open and bleeding doesn't mean you have to press your fingers against it."

Reborn's laugh comes out of his mouth unbidden, too fast for him to hold it back.

What a novel concept. He can't fathom it.

How else can he take advantage of it if he doesn't know what makes it hurt? There is that too, he won't deny it, but the opposite is just as valuable.

How else can he avoid making it worse if he doesn't know what caused it to begin with? How else can you heal it if you don't know just how deep it is and how far it has already spread?

Leaving an open and bleeding wound alone only gives it the opportunity to grow bigger and bleed more. It only allows it to fester and rot.

Or worse of all, it lets it become a part of you for anyone else to see and make of it as they wish.

"Do you ever think about how different you and I are, Tsuna?" He must still be smiling if Tsuna's ticked-off expression is anything to go by.

"Thank God for that."

Reborn can only smile wider, if only to annoy him further.

Tsuna's still not made of any sharp edges despite people having already tried to carve them into him. He'll fight tooth and nail too against ever being made to have sharp edges if Reborn knows him at all.

But oh, is he made of steel.

Somehow, it's still the least interesting thing about him.

"I want to go home."

"Shall we?" he says, leaning away from the tree.

Reborn could keep pressing his fingers against his wound, but he's not one to weigh in on things he doesn't know enough about.

That Tsuna lived fourteen whole years as a civilian despite who he's been all along is nothing short of a miracle on Iemitsu's side. One he should be grateful for, at the very least and if nothing else, if you were to ask Reborn.

But what would he know about it?

It's been a long time now since he's been anybody's son or expected anything from anyone resembling a father.

Reborn makes no move to go closer to Tsuna and help him stand up. Both of them know Tsuna won't let him help him anyway.

"Oh, wait," Tsuna says once he's finally on his feet, frowning. "What are even these flames? You didn't say. Yours and mine are different too."

"They're called Dying Will Flames. Yours are called Sky flames, and mine would be the Sun flames, is my guess."

"Your guess?"

"This is new to me too, if it can make you feel any better."

"Of course, it doesn't! You shot me on a guess?"

"It worked."

"Thankfully." His face's so dismayed, Reborn has to laugh again.

"While we're on the subject, I don't have to tell you to not show them to just anyone, do I?

"What if I do?

"Ghosts clad in black will come out of the deepest pit of hell to hunt you down."

Tsuna blinks. Reborn stares back. "You mean it?" he blurts out, horrified. "Oh my God, what does that even—how do you know that?"

"How do you think?"

"I don't know!" he shouts, throwing his hands up in the air. "I mean, I get this has to do with my forgotten memories, right? But are you really not gonna tell me about them even now?"

Reborn crosses his arms on his chest, sneering. "I don't want to."

"What?"

"Why can't you remember them on your own? Do I mean so little to you?"

Tsuna's mouth hangs open wordlessly for a beat. "You can't be serious. You think we're in a movie or something?"

"We could be if you cared to put in some effort."

Tsuna's mouth hangs open wordlessly longer this time. "How? I can't just—push on a button or something—"

Reborn gasps, widening his eyes, his arms falling at his sides. "Oh, Tsuna." His voice's a breath of relief, bated hope giving it a slight quiver. "Do you finally remember? I knew you wouldn't just forget about our time together." He steps towards him, softening his face, a smile pulling at his lips. "Not after all that we went through." Tsuna's properly stunned to speechlessness by now, trying his best to not give him any reaction. Not that it matters. Reborn still suddenly looks down, a soft and nervous laugh tumbling from his lips. He brings a hand to his heart. "Wait, Tsuna. If you keep looking at me like this—"

"Stop!" Tsuna shouts, his voice full of barely restrained laughter. His eyes crinkle at the corners as he loses the fight against the grin rising to his ears.

Reborn smirks, dropping the act. "Make this happen or never get back your memories for the rest of your life for all I care."

"How do I even put up with you, Reborn?"

"Do you even remember how you went on with your life without me?"

"No, we're not doing this," he deflects and starts walking out of the forest. "Don't talk to me, I'm still mad at you."

Reborn rolls his eyes, falling in his steps. Whatever he says.

It's nothing being nicer with him than usual for a little while won't take care of.

Tsuna lies still under his blanket, his eyes stuck to the ceiling like he's seeing it for the first time. His lips twitch and twist until he finally lets out a nervous laugh.

"There's no way I'm falling asleep like this," he says, looking at him.

"Have I ever told you I have no patience for people who waste my time?" His desk chair isn't even nearly comfortable enough for Reborn. "You're the one who said you wanted me to be here for this."

"I know. I don't want to wake up to my room on fire, or even the whole house."

"I'll see to it it doesn't happen."

"Right." He turns back to the ceiling, crossing his arms over his stomach. This time he at least closes his eyes, but he opens them again soon after. "What if he isn't there? Like—I guess he's always there, but he isn't always… awake, you know?"

"What's the point of staying awake in a dark, lonely void? I'm sure he's been trying to be awake more often now there might actually be someone else with him in there."

"Oh." It's quiet, the way dawning realizations are. "I've never…" Tsuna worries his lip a moment before shaking his head. He makes himself comfortable on his bed before breathing a long, steadying breath. "Okay. Let's do this."

It doesn't take too long after that for him to fall asleep. Nothing happens at first, not until he's deep enough in his slumber to whichever level of his subconscious makes his ghost abilities happen.

The white light appears steadily, faint enough at first Reborn needs to strain his eyes to notice it. It surrounds his body before spreading to the rest of the room, glowing brighter and stronger.

At its most blinding, Tsuna looks ominously pale like he's about to pass away any second now. He looks eerie too, the way the body of someone who's about to turn into a ghost might look like.

Of course, it doesn't happen this time around, Tsuna needing to stay within himself instead.

It takes another moment for something new to happen. The heat increases in the room, the air turning warmer. It's gentle, unlike when they were in the forest, more in control, more cautious too.

Tsuna's flames light up on his forehead. There isn't any on his hands, but Reborn'd bet his eyes turned orange too underneath his eyelids.

Things don't stay peaceful for long. Tsuna's hands twitch, his feet jerking under the blanket. He frowns, his body tensing when his flames start to fluctuate instead of their steady sway. Reborn has to tense to not flinch away from them whenever they wash over him, biting into his skin as if lashing out.

They take on an erratic pulse, same as Tsuna's breathing. He clenches his hands on the blanket so hard, his hands shake, gritting his teeth hard enough to hurt. He squeezes his eyes tightly shut, sweating, his face twisted in… It's hard to tell, too many emotions taking over each other in turn too fast.

Just as Reborn considers forcibly waking him up, lest his flames start actually setting on fire their surroundings, they abruptly disappear all at once.

Tsuna snaps his eyes open, gasping for breath and shooting up from his bed.

He screams. "Let me out!"

Reborn doesn't hesitate to forcefully lie him down again, holding onto his shoulders. It doesn't stop him from thrashing wildly, kicking and flailing his arms, his head jerking this side and that side. "Tsuna."

"Let me out! Let me out!" He tries to kick him, to shove him away, clawing at his arms and chest.

"Tsuna, you're awake, you're back with me. Calm down."

"Please, let me out!" He looks completely terrified despite the all-consuming anger in his voice that doesn't sound like him at all. It's harder to listen to when anger turns to desperation and desperation to begging. "Please! Just kill me already!"

"You're here with me, Tsuna. You're fine."

When they manage to catch each other's eye again, there's some of Tsuna again in his eyes taking over whatever this is. He stops thrashing, holding onto his arms in a vice-like grip. "Please…" he begs with a hoarse voice, half himself and half someone else. "Just kill me…"

"You're here with me," Reborn says once more, just as steady and certain as before. "You're fine."

Tsuna bursts into tears, curling into himself.

It's lucky, because whatever face Reborn's making now, he doesn't want him to see it.

Well then.

Tsuna stays curled-up on himself a long while even after he finally stops crying. At some point he gathers enough of his bearings to sit up against his headboard, but still doesn't say a word or meet his eyes.

Thankfully, he didn't reopen his wound during his meltdown. He doesn't feel the need to point it out if he did in any case, and there's no sight or smell of blood yet to give it away.

Reborn lets the silence linger, sitting back on the desk chair.

"I don't know what to say," are the first words that come out of his mouth. His voice's small and still hoarse. Reborn didn't prepare any water for him, but he doubts he'd have cared for it even if he did.

"Did it work?"

"I don't know. It felt like it was doing something, I guess."

"What happened then?"

Tsuna's hands twitch then tense before he's back to fidgeting with them. "He reached back like he usually tries to. Except this time we actually managed to—like, meet halfway? But then… this rush of feelings just came over me, and—" He bites his lip, his hands clenching into fists.

"His?" Reborn asks, just to make sure.

"Yeah," he says, the smallest his voice has been, a choked-up edge to it.

So it's not that the boy is stuck in there, but that someone's keeping him there.

A prison of ice indeed, as it turns out. Dreadful enough, he'd rather they put him out of his misery than keep him in there any longer.

"Reborn. Why would anyone ever…?"

"What if he deserves it?" Reborn straightens in his chair, his eyes intent on him. "What if they put him in there for a reason?" They need to get this out of the way right now seeing the way things seem to be heading towards.

Tsuna keeps looking at his hands for another moment. He relaxes them slowly, resting them on his lap. When he looks up at him, there's still a sheen of tears in his eyes, but they're steadfast.

"I don't know that. If it turns out to be like this, then I'll just have to take responsibility for it, right? But what I do know right now is that he's stuck—kept in there, and… and that it hurts him and… I'm not going to just leave him in there."

"Come what may?"

"I have to do something about this, Reborn. I'll do it alone if I have to."

The look in Tsuna's eyes doesn't waver even if Reborn makes sure to convey just how serious this can turn out to be.

Reborn sighs, leaning back against his chair. "You couldn't just dream of some other boy with simpler issues to solve, could you?"

Tsuna breathes out a laugh, however weak, his demeanor finally starting to ease up. "I guess not. Maybe I should have too." He averts his eyes, looking down. "I mean, I'm saying all that, but I don't even know who he is or where he could be."

"I might."

Tsuna's quick to snap his eyes back into his. "Really?"

Reborn hums, absentmindedly tapping the armrest with his finger. It's simple deduction, really.

Tsuna's ghost abilities are due to his ability to use his flames. They can only interact with, or at least be noticed by someone else who also uses their flames.

Tsuna appeared as a ghost next to him and anchored himself to him because, as it turns out, Reborn also has flames of his own, but also likely because he was the nearest one to him with suitable enough flames to make it work, whatever that might entail.

It took some time of Tsuna staying near him before Reborn could see him.

Now, assuming Tsuna turning into a ghost was the first time he tapped into his flames, and that time, proximity and some kind of compatibility play a factor into this too, apart from the need to possess flames of your own to begin with…

When did the boy in his dreams and he have the time to form a connection between them?

It can't be while Tsuna was in a coma, asleep in his room in his house. It can't be while they were together, Tsuna sticking to him as a ghost all the while.

It can't be during the brief time he disappeared on him after his stunt with his flames in the alley either. By Tsuna's own words, he went straight back to his coma, too weak to even be a ghost anymore, let alone to connect with some unknown boy past a burning ice prison.

It only leaves their time in Italy, following the trail of what his orange flames could be and if they could help in figuring out how to wake him up.

Mostly, that trail led them to Vongola's headquarters, talking things over with Vongola Nono and the Young Lion themselves.

Reborn chuckles, impressed. Even he has to try a little to brew the kind of chaos this is shaping out to be. "You don't have to try that hard to keep me entertained, but I appreciate it." He ignores Tsuna's confused look, standing before rolling the desk chair back to where it belongs. "You're all better now, aren't you? I need to leave for a bit."

"What? Wait, Reborn!" The genuine tinge of urgency in his voice makes Reborn pause, looking over his shoulder. Tsuna sits at the edge of his bed now, looking at him like a puppy about to be abandoned. "Do you have to go… right now? Can't you stay for a little bit longer?"

Reborn scoffs, turning to face him properly. "Don't give me that. The second I find you too pathetic for my tastes, I'll walk out of your life to never be seen again."

Tsuna scoffs right back, practically rolling his eyes at him. Oh? "Right. If you say so."

"I see I've been entirely too soft on you lightly," Reborn says, smirking. It's slow and purposeful, and not a nice one. He points at the floor with a finger, wiping any trace of amusement off of his face. "Get down on your knees right now or you'll never see me again."

Tsuna giggles at the back of his throat, pursing his lips to muffle it as he hurries to his knees. He lays his hands flat on the floor in front of him and lowers his head as far as he can without straining his wound too much.

"I'm so sorry, Reborn-san. Please, find it in your heart to forgive me. What am I going to do if you leave one day and never come back?" He couldn't mean it less if he tried, but at least he keeps his head down until he can't bear the silence anymore. He catches his eye from underneath his eyelashes, mirth plain as day in his eyes despite his poor impression of a solemn expression. "Please? I really am sorry."

Reborn doesn't deign to give him a reaction, keeping his face a blank mask. "You will be."

Tsuna bursts out laughing. "I just said I already am." Reborn turns on his heels and walks out of his room without looking back. "Wait, Reborn! Come on, I was just joking. You are coming back, right? Reborn? Reborn!"

Reborn clicks his tongue, walking down the stairs. And if there happens to be a smile on his face, well.

All that matters is that Tsuna isn't there to see it.

Viper's already there when he arrives, sitting at a table in the back, as expected.

The tables around them are empty, not too many people in the restaurant this early in the day. Their ambient chatter is quiet, making for a comfortable and indistinguishable background noise, the smell of warm beverages and breakfast food in the air inviting.

Reborn glances at Viper's glass of water as he sits across from them, the menu disregarded on the table, as usual.

"Anything striking your fancy?" he asks, even though he doesn't touch the menu either.

"Let's get straight to business. I'm busy."

Reborn tuts. "There's never a good enough reason to miss on coffee." He raises his hand, catching the attention of a nearby waiter. "A cup of espresso, please."

The waiter nods. "Right away, sir."

Reborn puts away his fedora on the seat next to him, making himself comfortable as the waiter walks away.

"And here I thought you permanently moved residence," Viper says.

"Missed me?"

"Wouldn't dream of it." They take a sip of their water, their eyes searching even from underneath their hood. "I don't take responsibility for whatever happens with the information I give."

Oh? "There's been talks?"

"You'd think there would have been."

Reborn raises his eyebrow, crossing his legs at his knees. "What a strange thing to say. Have I ever been interested in playing kingmaker?"

Viper doesn't look convinced, not that it's surprising. Reborn could see where they were coming from. From where they stand, there are only so many reasons he could have needed the family tree of the Vongola bosses.

Reborn's never played kingmaker before, but he has played a part in succession matters every now and then.

He's killed heirs before, as well as shaped them up into worthy ones.

He hasn't yet helped one escape their position.

But to hear from Viper there still hasn't been any talk on the matter…

One would think Vongola Nono would be eager to put to rest the worries about the lack of Vongola's heirs. At the same time, Reborn counted on it not happening right away for a reason.

Even a mafia don can't bend to their will all of their rules no matter how much they wish they could.

Tsuna, as Iemitsu's son, is a legitimate heir to Vongola who can rightfully succeed to the family per all mafia laws.

It doesn't make him Vongola, nor does it even make him mafia.

It simply makes him the son of a mafioso.

If anything, as things turned out, Tsuna is Reborn's.

And Reborn does not take kindly to people trying to take away from him what is his.

"Forget it," Viper says, pushing their glass to the side. "I don't want to get involved with whatever that look on your face is about."

Reborn thanks the waiter for his coffee, picking it up from the table before focusing back on them. "Don't lie. I can't even remember the last time my face betrayed me."

"What is it you want, Reborn?"

"Won't you look into Vongola's dirty laundry for me?"

Viper scoffs, mostly incredulous rather than mocking. "How many lifetimes are you under the impression I have?"

"I'm talking about something recent," Reborn clarifies, an amused smile pulling at his lips. It should be recent, shouldn't it? Tsuna said they're more likely talking about a boy. "A decade or so. Maybe two, if nothing comes up, just to be sure."

"You're serious?" they ask after a beat.

"We're talking business, aren't we?"

"Ha!" This time, there's nothing but mockery in their voice. "I stand corrected. This is actually about you wanting to bite the hand that feeds you, isn't it?"

Reborn lets himself miss a beat, making sure he heard them right. "Ha." He drinks another sip of his coffee, tasteless down his throat as he puts the cup on the table, straightening in his chair. "Say that again."

"Convince me otherwise," Viper shoots back, looking smug. All to provoke him into revealing more than he'd prefer.

"I'd rather cut off my own head than let anyone put a leash around my neck." Reborn will gladly give them this much. It's always a good idea to remind people of who you are every now and then. "Watch your words, Viper. We're only pretending to be friendly with each other, remember?"

Viper's smug smile slips off their lips before they twist in annoyance, maybe even distaste.

They reach for their glass of water again. "What's in it for me?"

"Money, obviously," Reborn says slowly, pointedly. Viper says nothing. Reborn smirks, tapping a finger against his cup, not looking away from them an inch. "Now you have me curious. Since when does anything else matter to you?"

"Have you really been so busy babysitting I have to tell you? It should be time for the strongest of the generation to be chosen again."

Of course, Reborn's also been keeping an ear out for these specific whispers among the older generations in high positions. "So what? You want to be on your best behavior for it, is that it?"

There's no hint of uncertainty from them about the fact they'll be among the ones chosen. Just the same way Reborn must reflect that same certainty back at them.

It's only right they'll be given at least that much acknowledgment for all they did to end up where they are now.

"I don't want it to happen during a war."

Reborn rolls his eyes. "Don't exaggerate."

"Am I? You're not not Vongola. You might not be part of the family yet, but you might as well already be under an exclusive contract with them."

"Like you still wouldn't bet on me were it to really happen."

"Of how much would I be exaggerating, Reborn? Last everyone knew, you tutored the Cavallone heir on their behalf."

Reborn's finger stills against his cup. "A job well-paid they entrusted me with, and I agreed to take."

"Like it'll absolve you any less or still won't give them plenty of ground to take action."

"I know what I'm doing, Viper."

Viper actually turns speechless for a moment, to his amusement. "Like you need to tell me? That's usually the most concerning thing about anything you do, isn't it?"

"Is this a no?"

Viper purses their lips, clenching their hand around their glass. They empty it in the next instant, slamming it back down on the table. "A decade or so? Even I can't do miracles."

"I'm more interested in the aftermath of any issue they went through," he supplies helpfully. "It also should be ones that involved the Iron Fort."

"And?"

Reborn raises his eyebrow. "And?"

"Don't play games with me. You have that annoying look on your face that says you know something I would die to know too."

Does he? How likely is it Viper doesn't already know about Dying Will Flames too?

It could help them find what he wants more easily if Reborn were to let them know about them, but it isn't likely enough for him to share such valuable information for free.

"Don't be silly. You're the best in this field, aren't you?" Viper doesn't look any more convinced this time around either, but he still finishes his coffee before standing. "Let's keep in touch."

"It'll cost you."

"When doesn't it?"

"Big time."

Reborn pauses at their level, catching their eye. He tilts his head. "When was the last time it did again?"

Tsuna opens the door with unnecessary force, narrowing his eyes at his sight. "It's you."

"Who else?" Reborn says, walking inside. "Let's not act as if you have friends."

"What, already being mean before I even say anything? That's not suspicious at all."

Reborn pauses at the living room's doorway, bowing his head to Nana. "Hello."

"Reborn-san! Why, hello. It's good to see you again. Have you been well?"

"Of course."

She chuckles. "That's good to hear. Should I prepare you anything?"

"It's all right. I'll ask Tsuna if I change my mind."

"We'll be in my room," Tsuna says.

"All right, have fun."

Tsuna follows after him silently but closes the door behind them as soon as they step into his room, standing guard in front of it like it'll actually stop him from leaving if he wanted to. "Try avoiding me now," he says, crossing his arms on his chest.

Reborn takes his spot on the desk chair, spinning around to look at him. "Is that a challenge?"

"I'm sure you've already been back for a while now, haven't you? You've been shifty with me ever since that day in the forest. I haven't seen your flames again since then either."

"What about them?"

Tsuna points his finger at him victoriously. "See? It's that look on your face right there if I so much as mention them. Just tell me—" He cuts himself off, some kind of realization dawning on him. "Wait, did they hurt you back then? But you looked fine." He looks down at his hands, flickers of orange sparkling along his fingers. "Yours didn't hurt me either." Flames surround his hands wholly soon enough, a soft sway to them.

Like clockwork, Reborn's flames stir within him, unfurling and pulling him forwards.

Reborn ruthlessly smothers them down again.

This is to be dealt with later, once he has the full picture of what these Dying Will Flames are all about.

"It's not that, right?" Tsuna looks up at him again, worried. His flames flicker off as his arms fall at his sides.

Tsuna's will, already coming and going as he sees fit as if it's second nature.

Looking harmless and unassuming too, as if it doesn't burn forests down to the ground and people alive when challenged.

If only Tsuna had even one single ambitious bone in his body.

"I could make you into the greatest and most magnificent version of yourself."

The air in the room changes instantly. Tsuna straightens, maybe unconsciously, taking a stand.

There's no opening on his face Reborn could take advantage of.

"Who are you to decide which version it is? Or anyone else but me?"

"What if I could?"

If Tsuna is really going to become Vongola Decimo, the worst thing that could happen is for it to happen at the cost of butchering his potential.

Maybe even to happen at the hands of someone who wouldn't even be able to recognize his potential, carelessly breaking him down to make him anew as Vongola sees fit.

If Tsuna's life heads towards him needing to grow sharp edges of his own after all, no one would nurture them better than Reborn himself.

"It doesn't matter," Tsuna says. "I don't want to be made into anything."

Reborn hums, leaning his head against his hand, his elbow on the armrest. "But wouldn't you be grateful for it anyway once it happened?"

Tsuna frowns, confused.

His argument's a fair one. Being made into something isn't easy, and it doesn't come without costs. In the most extreme of cases, it doesn't come without sacrifices either.

Tsuna doesn't want to be made into a mafia don, but won't he enjoy it once he's made it out to the other side on top? Won't he thrive once he has become one?

Just because you don't like the means to the end doesn't mean you won't find the end worthy of all you went through.

That's two very different and separate things.

"What if I am? Would that make it okay my hands were forced the whole way there?"

Ah. Right.

Of course, this is what he was confused about.

That's all right, Reborn supposes. It's less of a disappointment and more of a missed opportunity, but even then, it's one he's willing to bet Tsuna will more than make up for.

Tsuna's best version of himself as decided by Tsuna himself will be a sight to see he doesn't plan to miss out on for anything in the world.

It's one he doesn't plan to let anyone stop it from happening either.

If Tsuna will really put his foot down to remain soft at the edges to the very end, the worst thing that could happen is for some fool to break him down in such a way he could only be made again into whoever they see fit.

It's an easily solved problem, thankfully.

Reborn will just have to get rid of any such fools they'll come across.

"Are you that happy with your current life?"

Tsuna snorts. "You don't have to say it like that." He walks to his low table, sitting down. "And what if I wasn't? It's still my life. I'm the one who's lived it up to this point. So I get to decide too in what ways I'm okay with it sucking."

"You make being satisfied with life look so easy." He sighs, leaning back against his chair. "What am I going to do with you, Tsuna?"

"Help me keep my life mine."

"What, out of the goodness of my heart?"

"Yeah. Because you like me."

"Said who? I'd kill you myself if given the right incentive to make it worth it."

"Oh yeah? Well, I'd at least get one good, really mean punch in before you could." He says it without missing a beat, and Reborn finds himself bursting out laughing. "Don't laugh!" Tsuna says, losing his composure then. "You think this is funny?" Reborn laughs hard, rising from his belly and out of his mouth, his shoulders shaking. "Ugh, of course you're laughing! You know I hate it when you say stuff like this."

Reborn laughs some more, letting it run its natural course. "I know," is the first thing he says once he calms down.

Tsuna huffs, glaring at him. "Did you come here just to bother me?"

"I have no news yet."

"Oh." Disappointment flickers across his face, but he doesn't let it get to him. "Is it a good sign or a bad sign?"

"Aren't you excited to find out too?"

Viper makes it a point to update their clients on their expected fee at the very least as they work to get the job done. Apart from the advance payment they demand when they agree to the job, they adjust the rest of the payment as they go, depending on how difficult getting the job done turns out to be.

They don't like to be cheated of even a single cent after all, nor are they nice enough to do charity for people who can't afford their skills.

That Reborn has yet to hear a word from them on even this matter must mean they're down the rabbit hole, too deep for even that to distract them from digging deeper.

How intriguing.

Reborn could look into this himself in the meantime with his own information network, but as much as he wasn't going to admit it to Viper, he is in quite the tricky position when it comes to Vongola.

He'd rather not stir the pot any sooner than they'll have to.

"How about you? How is it going?"

"Good. About that first attempt… I think he was as surprised as I was. I don't think he liked it any more than I did either."

Reborn snorts. "I bet."

Tsuna huffs a laugh in turn. "Right. But it's been going well since then."

"You don't sound like it's been going well."

"No, it is," he says, shaking his head. "It's just… I've been thinking, and this is probably not doing anything to the actual, physical prison he's in, is it?"

"It's unlikely."

He nods, visibly disappointed all the same. "Yeah, I figured that much. And I feel bad about it, but otherwise I do think this is helping him hang in there… better?"

"Stronger?" Reborn offers.

"Right, that too!" Tsuna perks up. "He's awake more often now whenever I dream of him, and he reaches back to me easier and faster too. But I hope this is making it less painful for him too."

"He reaches back to you," Reborn repeats, catching his attention before he can get lost in his thoughts. "You keep saying that. How does he do that?"

"Oh, didn't I tell you? From the feel of it, I think he has the flames too." He says it so casually, like the rabbit hole didn't just get even deeper.

"Really?"

"Yeah. They're orange too like mine, I'd guess. But there's also something else?"

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I think he also has…" he frowns, thinking it over "… red ones, maybe? It feels like that's the color they'd be." He stops talking, staring at him, the silence stretching between them.

Reborn raises his eyebrow. "I'm listening."

"Yeah, I can tell," Tsuna all but blurts out, a nervous edge to the small laugh that follows. It's absent from his voice when he speaks again, Tsuna channeling it to his fidgeting hands instead. "I mean, this is just me guessing, so whatever you think this is about, don't get your hopes up. But you know… it does work better whenever he manages to use both of his flames. So it made me think." His hands still, the look in his eyes very unsubtle.

Reborn doesn't care to admit to the way he straightens, to not say he puts some distance between them. "They're mine."

Tsuna rolls his eyes. "I know. And you can keep them all yours."

"You're the only one dreaming of him."

"I know. But you're right here within my reach," he says, leaning forwards, serious again. "It's worth a shot, isn't it?"

Reborn narrows his eyes. "Let's say I'll consider it. What are you saying?"

Tsuna opens his mouth and closes it again, worries at his lip a little, averts his eyes from him. "You know," he finally decides to spill it out. "About the actual, physical prison he's in somewhere out here. It'll probably be easier to get him out of it by using all the different flames. I think."

He thinks, he says, like it isn't obvious he's already thinking about how to make it happen. Like Reborn can't hear the underlying certainty in his voice.

Is this the famed Vongola hyper-intuition at work?

How interesting.

"There are seven of them."

"I was hoping you'd already know the answer!" Tsuna perks up, his face bright. "Seven… I can't tell if it's a lot or not. But we should still be able to manage it, right?"

There's not a thought spared whatsoever to ask him about how he knows that.

Reborn feels his lips twitch. This boy, he swears.

Well, he'd be surprised to be wrong about this. One head of the family with their six trusted hands and seven rings to distinguish them.

Apart from the fact the number seven is a recurrent one throughout the mafia as a whole, Vongola, specifically, give it quite the importance, don't they? To the point they've had civil wars about it before.

Reborn's breathing stutters the slightest bit, his next blink slower than the one before. Huh.

It's also the seven strongest of the generation, now that he thinks about it.

"By the way, Tsuna," he says, standing to face him from across the low table. "It's this set-up again."

"What?" He frowns, confused, but then takes a look at his room, at the low table between them. "Oh. What about it?"

Reborn puts his hands in his pockets, twisting his lips distastefully. "You don't even clean your room."

"It's clean!"

"Who do you take me for to think I'd be okay using a small, dirty, teenage boy's room as my hideout?"

"I cleaned it today!" Tsuna feels the need to say again. "What do you want me to do about it, then? Are you saying we should find somewhere else to talk about these things?" He tries his best to hide his excitement, failing miserably at it, his voice a lot more friendly all of a sudden. "Or are we going to make it? Somewhere hidden or something."

Would you look at that? He still can be bothered to be your average teenage boy in this aspect, can't he?

"Why don't you make friends of your own age already?"

Tsuna's face sours all over again, sulking. "You'll miss me if I ever do. Where are your friends your own age?"

"Please. You think I don't have friends? Would you like to meet them?"

Tsuna narrows his eyes, doing a careful, wary search of his face. "Maybe. Do you think it's something I'd like?"

"All that matters is that I'll have fun watching it happen."

"Oh, shut up."

Tsuna turns on himself slowly, taking in the mountain top. "Here? Isn't it too… open?"

"Should we go in the forest then? So you can burn down more of it?"

"That was your fault! And you know what I mean. Didn't you say we were watched?"

"Now you remember that?"

"What?" Tsuna says defensively, but the flush on his cheeks is telling. "I figured you'd have let me know if they were going to be a problem."

Reborn closes in on him, making him stiffen, but he still holds his gaze. "There's a difference between being trusting and being careless, Tsuna. What if I didn't cover that base?" Tsuna purses his lips, looking away. Reborn clicks his tongue. "This is a nasty habit we'll have to get you rid of."

"Fine, I get it," he bites back, still on the defensive, but of the self-conscious kind. "I'm sorry, okay?" he adds, in earnest then. He takes a couple of steps forward before facing him again and sitting down. "We're still doing this, right?" Reborn lets him search his face, not moving. He only said he'd consider it. "Come on, Reborn." He slowly raises his hands towards him, wiggling his fingers, mirth all over his face. "Ohhh, watch out," he says, lighting his flames on his hands. "Big, bad, scary flames—"

Reborn makes to lunge at him in a swift, abrupt, full-body movement.

Tsuna scrambles to his feet in a high-pitched, laughing noise, and takes off running.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I was just joking!" He looks above his shoulder, stopping in his tracks when he realizes Reborn didn't, in fact, run after him. He laughs. "Come on. It's so fun to make me look stupid, is it?"

Reborn grins. "Wouldn't even dream of ever stopping."

Tsuna rolls his eyes but makes his way back to him, smiling anyway.

When they're face to face once more, this time Reborn is the first one to sit down.

"Hurry up before I change my mind."

"All right, all right."

Tsuna asks for his hands, and Reborn takes one last moment to reconsider before giving them to him.

Tsuna closes his eyes, his face losing all trace of levity for a serious, focused expression instead. His flames appear on his forehead first, then on his hands, his eyes orange when he opens them again.

"Remind me what we're expecting out of this again?"

"A breakthrough," he says, sounding like he usually does, but with that underlying certainty he usually rarely has.

All right then.

Reborn doesn't close his eyes but does focus inwards. He doesn't have to go far, his flames never too far from the surface whenever he's around Tsuna, let alone when Tsuna is using his.

This time, Reborn allows them to make that last little push forwards.

Sun flames light up his hands, eagerly weaving with Tsuna's, maybe a little too much, taking over them entirely. Tsuna takes it in stride, holding onto his hands a little more firmly, letting it happen.

For a moment, that is.

Tsuna's flames, which readily grew smaller to fit within his, grow in size again until Reborn looks at the opposite, looks at yellow within orange.

The next time their intertwined flames wash over him, Tsuna's flames sink within too, a warm stream flowing down channels like they've always been there waiting for this.

Reborn holds onto Tsuna's hands more firmly too, his breath catching in his throat. It's not uncomfortable, nor is it painful. It feels so right, in fact, his every instinct urges him to lash out and push back.

Reborn bites on them, letting Tsuna's flames swirl around the core of his flames. He allows them to follow Tsuna's flames back upstream too at their gentle nudge, back to Tsuna so he can make use of them as needed.

Tsuna's flames start to fluctuate in a steady beat, stronger and wider with every pulse. The now familiar white light follows, only a small, flickering speck at first.

It shines from behind Tsuna.

It grows taller until it reaches the floor, wider too the stronger it shines. Once it seems to stabilize, the flickering edges refine themselves, taking the shape of arms and legs, and a head at the top.

The glowing light reaches its blinding peak before slowly losing its intensity, a see-through body with distinguishable features fading in instead.

A ghost stands behind Tsuna, one Tsuna helped anchor to himself.

All the way from across the sea?

Reborn laughs, half in incredulity, half in wonder. "Don't you ever call me ridiculous ever again."

Tsuna slowly opens his eyes, apparently having closed them again at some point, as if resurfacing from a trance. "Reborn?" His flames die down too, Tsuna blinking himself back to the real world. He follows Reborn's gaze, looking above his shoulder. His jaw drops, his eyes widening at the sight in front of him. "Oh!" Tsuna scrambles to his feet with barely restrained excitement.

Reborn follows suit with barely regained composure.

The ghost doesn't do anything, standing stone-still with his eyes closed.

It's a boy like Tsuna guessed, taller than him and looking older too, maybe in his late teens. He's well-built, filling his clothes in a healthy manner, and in one that could be dangerous too would be Reborn's guess.

His hair is short and black, pulled back except for some strands of hair on his forehead, revealing his buzz cut on the sides. There are feathers coming from the back of his hair too, resting down along his shoulders.

He looks familiar.

Eventually, before Tsuna can start whining at him in his worries of nothing happening, the ghost's eyes twitch. His eyes move faster and faster under his eyelids, his face twitching alive too, until he finally snaps his eyes open.

Red eyes pierce right into them, excitement sparkling at Reborn's fingertips.

Oh, he is familiar.

The ghost's gaze loses itself past them, his mouth parting open. He looks upwards, at the endless sky above their heads surrounding them from all sides.

"Um—"

Tsuna's voice snaps his attention back to them, the intensity of before taking over his face again full force.

It's an unmistakable one. The way he first looked at them, looking them up and down, assessing them. The way Reborn'd bet he first wanted to take note of their surroundings too before getting overwhelmed by them. The very way he stands right now and faces them.

Without a doubt, that boy is mafia through and through.

"It's you," he says to Tsuna in Italian.

The sound of his voice sounds normal to Reborn's ears, but it makes the boy flinch.

Reborn assumes it would have been a flinch anyway from the half-formed grimace that flashed across his face. As it is, he only managed a sharp, full-body shudder, stopping abruptly almost as soon as it started, making it look like he glitched.

Tsuna beams, taking a step forward. "You recognized me!" he says, also in Italian.

The boy looks like he only half listens to him, half still visibly surprised he could speak. His hand twitches at his side, rising ever so slightly but no further.

The boy can't move his body as he wishes.

He should be able to.

Granted, Reborn wasn't able to see Tsuna from the moment he appeared as a ghost next to him, but his ghost form didn't suffer nor sport any of the injuries of his physical body. Tsuna was perfectly healthy and in control of his body while he was a ghost.

There's no injury Reborn can see on this ghost's body either. Yet he's visibly struggling to move past the walls keeping him mostly still, although it might only be temporary.

Walls of the psychological kind, most likely. And isn't that something?

Even Reborn can only incline his head at moments like this. People can say what they want, but one thing you can't take away from Vongola is that they undoubtedly earned their spot as the most powerful mafia family in the world.

How long have they been keeping that boy in their ice prison? Conscious too, enough so and often enough to alter his psyche even at such a subconscious level?

Reborn would rather they'd have killed him instead too if he was reduced to such a state.

He takes two steps forward, half shielding Tsuna behind him. "You speak Italian?"

"You speak Italian," is all Tsuna says in a shy and embarrassed voice.

Reborn glances at him, a smile playing at his lips. "I speak many languages. Nothing will ever happen between you and me, Tsuna."

"Ew, gross!" He shoves past him, pushing him back. "And stop that."

Ha. He can see right through him now, can he? "We don't know what might happen now."

"No," he says, firm. "This is exactly what we were expecting. Somewhat," he adds as an afterthought. He did notice the whole ghost situation then. He could have fooled him, that scaredy cat. "So you don't get to treat him as if he's a threat because of it."

"You'll die happy as long as you get to disagree with me one last time, won't you?"

Tsuna splutters, taken aback. "What—that's not—what do you—stop trying to change the subject!" He turns away, blatantly avoiding answering, as if the laugh in his voice isn't telling in and of itself.

Reborn rolls his eyes but takes a step back anyway.

Tsuna clears his throat, taking another step forward, now face to face with the boy. "Hi."

"What's going on?" the boy asks, in Japanese this time.

"Oh, you speak Japanese too!" Tsuna says, switching back to Japanese too. "That's kind of a relief, actually." A small laugh that doesn't last. "Um…" Tsuna looks him up and down, taking him in. "Can I just…" He slowly hovers his hands at either side of one of his before lighting his flames again.

Nothing happens for a moment. In the next one, orange flames light up the boy, starting from the middle of his chest and spreading to the rest of his body.

Yet in the next moment, when both the boy's and Tsuna's flames die down, the boy isn't see-through anymore.

Tsuna gently holds his hand in both of his.

The boy breathes in sharply, closing the distance between them entirely, almost knocking into Tsuna. He holds Tsuna's hands back, his free hand flying to crush Tsuna's in between his, his nails no doubt biting into his skin.

Reborn suppresses the twitch of his hand towards his gun. "Easy, there."

"I'm okay," Tsuna says.

"The fuck?" the boy breathes out, eyes fixated on their linked hands. He sounds half utterly confused and half like he doesn't plan to ever let go.

Tsuna giggles. "I wasn't sure if it was going to actually do something, but I'm glad it worked."

"You—" he starts, but doesn't seem to know what to say as he catches his eye.

"I probably can't keep this up for long. I'm sorry too this is the most I can do for you right now. But I will get you out of there." He squeezes his hands tight, holding his gaze. "I promise."

Reborn feels magnanimous enough to not scoff at the sight. Should he look away or something? They don't even react in any way when his phone rings.

Reborn puts some distance between them while keeping his eyes on them before answering his phone.

Viper stays silent a long while on the other side.

"Perfect timing," Reborn ends up saying first.

"Did you already know about this?" Viper asks, sounding dead serious.

"Your prices aren't cheap, Viper."

"Answer me this first, then. What are the odds should a war happen?"

Just maybe, Reborn feels anticipation curl up his stomach.

He can't remember the last time he's been this curious about something.

"Twenty percent."

Viper scoffs. "Feeling awfully confident, are you? He can't be that impressive."

"You'd be surprised," is all he says.

"What if you were to throw your hat in the ring?"

"Twenty percent."

Viper goes silent again, to his steadily growing amusement. "What if it was all left up to him?"

"As of now? Fifty percent, easily."

"Oh, right," Tsuna says, snapping both the boy and him out of their loving staring contest. "I almost forgot. I'm Sawada Tsunayoshi, but everyone calls me Tsuna."

The boy's demeanor is a lot more settled now, and as he keeps looking at Tsuna, he manages to look almost soft. "Xanxus."

The world stills, puzzles pieces falling into place like dominoes.

It rushes back alive through all his senses, making his head spin.

Oh.

"Xanxus-san? Nice to meet you! The man behind me is Reborn, he's a friend."

Oh.

Xanxus looks up at him, his face visibly taking on sharp edges again as they hold each other's gaze. Whatever he sees on his face, Reborn makes no move to hide it.

Xanxus manages to pull Tsuna even closer somehow, still staring at him.

"Never mind," Reborn hears himself say from some distant place. He can't see Tsuna's face from where he stands apart from his bunched-up cheek and the crinkles at the corner of his eye due to his smile. "Make it eighty."

Vongola will eat Tsuna alive, and that's only if they decide to be merciful about it.

Reborn will tear them apart should they manage to touch even a hair out of him.

Viper stays silent one last time. They sigh. "Let's meet up. Let me know by then too the conditions for me to meet your brat. I don't bet on anything I haven't seen the potential of with my own eyes."

"I'll ask him about it."

"Xanxus-san?" Only then does Xanxus look away from him, looking back at Tsuna. Tsuna looks over his shoulder, catching his eye. "Reborn? Is everything okay?"

Reborn puts his phone back in his pocket, feeling himself grin too widely. He doesn't care enough to make himself stop. "Of course. This is a breakthrough just like you said it'd be, isn't it?"

He walks back to them, his blood singing in his veins.

If Reborn strains his ear, he can just hear in the distance Vongola's foundations shake.

A/N: You thought you'd seen the last of this story, didn't you? Well, me too. But then Amarathine commented "This was such fun! Of course you know who else is in a coma of sorts? Xanxus." which, like I said to them, was mind blowing because I just know I'd never have thought of that on my own. And then, of course, I just had to make it a reality for obvious reasons.

I'm not sure what you guys think of the result, though? I'd get it if you were disappointed by the little amount of actual Xanxus in this chapter. Though in my defense, he is stuck in that damn ice lmao. I had to first get him out of there one way or another, right? In any case, if it was disappointing to you, I hope all the Tsuna and Reborn interactions made up for it.

On another note, this chapter is sooo much longer than I thought it would be. 😭 Which is like, 90% because it's from Reborn's pov. He just thinks too damn much and knows too damn much and likes to always be 10 steps ahead too damn much. Meanwhile the 10% percent left is because I somehow didn't realize bringing Xanxus into this, would, of course, also bring politics into play I'd need to worldbuild into this verse and couldn't just gloss over.

I DID try to gloss over them as much as could though ZJENZKDKS. So please, don't look too closely at any of them or any of the logistics ending up with Xanxus as a ghost at the end of the chapter. As long as I gave the illusion of everything making sense together as we went from point A to B, it's enough. 😌

Also I'm on the fence about whether to make Reborn (and the rest of the Arco eventually) as Tsuna's guardians. I'd totally be on board for that, but on the other hand the 10th gen are sooo good together too, and I love so much too, and I think it'll be fun to add them to this verse too. I do think you might feel rightfully a little cheated should I go with the 10th gen, because like, I wasn't exactly very subtle here with Reborn at the very least being drawn to Tsuna's flames lmao. Still, I do want to say nothing is set in stone as of yet.

Oh right, I guess this now takes place around the time Kawahira will choose the next Arcobaleno too. Don't ask me why lmao, we're speed running canon seems to be the answer. More seriously though, it kind of just ended up happening at some point after Viper let me know they were going to be in this chapter too.

And one last thing I want to say is that I still LIVE, guys! Gosh, I had so much fun writing this, I missed writing so badly. 😭💖 Now to hope it will last.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Any and all reviews are appreciated.

Thank you for reading!

- Hope