"Hey King-" The leader of the shoji club instantly slammed her hand over her mouth. No wonder it was deathly silent in here.

The other club presidents looked wearily at her, most of them giving the skylark a quick glance. Hibari Kyoya remained seated on the windowsill, looking out the opened window at the students below.

Quietly sitting in her seat, the shoji captain looked around the tables. All of the seats were filled except for two: the boxing captain's, which was not a surprise since he was known for crashing into the office 3 hours early because he extremely forgot when the meeeting was (so Kaichou usually ends up doing a one-on-one meeting with him), and Kaichou's. Huh... Kaichou's? But Kaichou would never be late to a meeting that concerned Inchou. In fact, he would be the earliest to arrive… The club leader looked at the baseball captain, who merely responded by a shake of his head. They all were just as confused as she was.

There was a knock on the door catching all of their attention. Vermei slid the door open and closed it behind her. "Good afternoon… I will be leading this meeting in the king's place today."

A murmur started to arise despite the presence of the demon. Some people were happy, most were simply just confused.

The president of the calligraphy club was the first to speak. "Mei-chan! Good afternoon."

Vermei nodded and smiled at her, taking the head seat.

Gaining courage, the leader of the light music club finally asked the question on everyone's mind. "Kurodo-san, why are you filling in for Kaichou?"

"The king is returning home from Tokyo. He will be back tomorrow." Vermei pulled out her files and set them on the table before combing her shoulder length black hair into place gently with her fingers.

"May I ask why you are leading?" The president of the literature club glanced at Kyoya quickly before continuing with his question, deeming it safe to ask. "Why not the vice president or someone else?"

"They are picking the king up from the train station." Vermei looked at all of the club leaders faces, eyes glowing golden from the sunlight. "Originally, this meeting was to be postponed to next week. However, due to multiple requests from many of you, we are holding it now, without the king. I was personally asked by the principal to take over, please direct all your questions to him."

Anyone who looked like they wanted to speak up were silenced by their neighbours. Seeing no objections, Vermei nodded and continued.

"As you are all aware, this meeting is to discuss the room assignments for the clubs." She handed a stack of paper containing the designated room list to the person beside her to pass down the table. "This is the room arrangement for this year-"

"Why does the disciplinary committee get 3 rooms?!" Came the instant protest from the computer club. "And we've always had 2 rooms, why do we only have 1 this year?"

"Why are you even asking?" The captain of the judo club sighed. "Hime-sama caught you distributing porn, isn't it obvious that you would be punished for it?"

"But that was the graduates from last year." He defended. "And Hime-sama already cut our budget by 50%. It's overkill if we are deprived of a room as well."

"If you want to make an appeal, please do so after the meeting." Vermei finally entered into the argument, effectively ending it. "Please do not use other people's time for personal issues… Yes, Mochida-san?"

The captain of the kendo club lowered his hand. "That does not answer the question. Why does the DC need so many rooms?" He glanced down at the list of rooms. "I understand the reception room, but why do you need 3 rooms, again?"

"The DC feels the need to use 3 rooms and has convinced the king and the principal of so."

"Are you even qualified to speak on their behalf?" Mochida leaned back on his seat. "Everyone here knows that you have connections to the DC, so how would we be so sure that you are telling the truth?"

The other club leaders glanced worriedly at the Skylark, who's only movement was to yawn. That did not comfort them though, as Hibari-san could literally bite you to death within half a blink when properly riled up.

"As I have mentioned earlier, the principal personally requested that I take over for this meeting. He has granted me the right to speak on his behalf."

"That same principal is currently being tortured by the disciplinary committee isn't he? The whole school knows what happened to Nezu and the principal." Mochida let go of the list and watched the paper float down onto the table. "How is this not a conspiracy?"

"…" Vermei remained silent as the rest of the students in this room were internally debating whether they should jump in and stop the conversation or run out of the room. They decided to pray for the angel.

"Well it doesn't matter. It's not like we can do anything about it anyways, since everyone knows that appealing to Hime-sama over this matter is pointless as she benefits from this arrangement as well."

Vermei furrowed her eyebrows slightly. "…Mochida-san, what point are you trying to express?"

"Nothing much. Just the fact that this school is just like a dictatorship, with the only ray of hope deeply intertwined in the whole power struggle. And you just watch us from above, letting us run around like blind mice. Mice that know that a single wrong step could send us to the hospital or ruin our lives. How heartless."

Before Vermei could even narrowed her eyes, Kyoya had already pressed a tonfa against Mochida's throat. "Herbivore." He began slowly. "Would you care to repeat what you just said?"

Mochida blinked in confusion and ran what he said twice through his head before he realized his mistake. His eyes widened considerably. Shaking his head rapidly he stammered his apologies. "N-no. I didn't mean that. My mistake. Sorry." He tensed as the tonfa didn't move away from his neck.

A black canary flew into the room through the window and onto Kyoya's shoulder, whistling the Namichu anthem. When the tune ended, Kyoya lowered his weapon and returned back to the windowsill, grumbling about annoying herbivore. The black canary whistled the Namichu anthem once more. Kyoya glanced at the bird before he turned towards the sky.

The meeting went on without further incidence.

Lambo had never been a planner. He would just barge into the scene, disregarding everything else, and cause a lot of destruction along the way. This was why none of the people, save Tsuna, were all that surprised when Lambo crashed through his window yelling. "TSUNA-NII!"

Tsuna looked at the lump that jumped onto him and was now clutching him with an infant's grip in surprise. Was this a …cow?

"STUPID COW, GET OFF OF JUUDAIME." Hayato ripped Lambo off of Tsuna. Takeshi laughed. Leon shifted to Reborn's hand, sensing his annoyance.

"BUT TSUNA-NII! TSUNA-NII!" it was then Lambo realized that Tsuna did not recognize him. Lambo had expected Tsuna's appearance to be different in advance, but he hadn't been told that Tsuna had no memories, having been born after the announcement.

Lambo stared at Tsuna like it was the end of the world. Vongola didn't know him. Was Tsuna-nii so tired of Lambo-san that he forgot him?

"Go-gokudera-shi…" Lambo turned to Hayato in pure horror. What if Gokudera-shi didn't know him too?

Hayato noticed Lambo's fear, it was hard not to. Pitying the cow, he took Lambo from Tsuna and began to gently rub the afro to calm him down.

Unfortunately, Hayato had forgotten the hammer space of Lambo's hair.

As Hayato rubbed his fingers through the curls, the 10 year bazooka flew out from nowhere. Hayato jerked back in surprise, saving him from being shot. Lambo was not as lucky.

There was a pink puff of smoke as everyone stared.

The smoke cleared revealing the TYL Lambo, in all his cow print glory. Older Lambo took one long glance at the scene and gave a long blink. "Huh? Wha? Where am I?" He looked at Hayato, then Takeshi, Reborn and then finally Tsuna. "Wha? What are you all doing here- Wait. When am I?" Turning to the wall, Lambo read the month off the calendar. "Eh? This early? I thought I already gave the bazooka to- OH SHOOT, I COMPLETELY FORGOT ABOUT THIS." Lambo screamed. "GAAAH GOKUDERA-SHI WILL KILL ME!"

He turned to Hayato. "GOKUDERA-SHI. THE 10 YEAR BAZOOKA. TAKE IT FAR, FAR AWAY FROM ME. MAKE SURE I NEVER USE IT. OH MY GOD! THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING. WHY NOW OF ALL TIMES? I AM GOING TO DIE WHEN I GET BACK. WHAT IF MY YOUNGER SELF MESSES EVERYTHING UP!?"

Hayato looked at Lambo in surprise, slightly guilty. He dumbly nodded.

Takeshi laughed. "Maa maa Lambo, calm down. Were you in a meeting or something?"

Lambo froze then began to cry, pouring tears out like he was 5 years old. "I was in a very important meeting… I'm sorry. Lambo-san is sorry. LAMBO-SAN IS SORRY! WAAAAAH!" He grabbed Hayato's shirt and continued to wail.

They could not get any more information from the crying Lambo, who cried non-stop for the rest of the 5 minutes.

There was a second puff of smoke, and a solemn looking younger Lambo appeared. He looked lifeless, like he had just gone through hell and come back. Looking around the room briefly, he silently clenched Hayato's shirt. Everyone, even Reborn, gave Lambo his distance the rest of the day.

Poor confused Tsuna was forced to tell his mom that Lambo was going to live with them. He didn't even get an explanation on the 10 year bazooka.

For whatever reason, Lambo decided to be a hyperactive idiotic child around Tsuna, just like he was in the past. He even got into the habit of calling him "Dame-Tsuna" again.

Needless to say, Reborn was very quickly annoyed.

An annoyed Reborn meant an abusive Reborn. Moments later, Lambo found himself strapped into a Leon-cannon. Ignoring Lambo and Tsuna's protests, Reborn fired, releasing all of his stress momentarily.

...

And those were the circumstances in which Irie Shoichi found Lambo lying on his living room floor, surrounded by the broken glass of the sliding balcony door. Shoichi instantly ran over to Lambo as a blue canary, snickering to himself, flew out of the newly made hole. "Lambo! Are you alright?"

Lambo was very dizzy but unharmed otherwise. He wasn't a lightning rod for nothing. "...Sho-nii…?"

Giving a quick glance over Lambo's (lack of) injuries, Shoichi frantically nodded. "Yeah. Are you alright?"

"I think so..." Well all of his limbs can move properly at the very least. Lambo hit his head to get rid of the dizziness. Eh, he'll live. Then suddenly, Lambo shot up. "Sho-nii!"

Shoichi stumbled back in surprise, almost landing in the glass. "Yes?" It was either a very fast recovery or he didn't get injured at the slightest in the first place.

"The older Gokudera-shi told me to give this to you." Lambo pulled the 10 year bazooka out of his hair.

Shoichi took the bazooka apprehensively. "Ah… Thank you, Lambo." He lifted Lambo off the ground, carrying both the bazooka and kid into his room. He set the bazooka down on his bed gingerly, as if it was going to explode any moment.

"Hey Sho-nii," Lambo called. "Where are everyone else?" He looked around the room, remembering that Shoichi did not live alone. The room was also much cleaner than what he remembered. There wasn't a single wire or piece of scrap metal in sight. In fact, it looked like a completely normal room save the wall shelf of gizmos.

"My mom and sister are at my sister's high school. You came earlier than last time." Shoichi was writing a bill for the damages to the living room. He had been prepared for this it in advance. "Aren't the Bovinos late? Last time, they sent a crate of stuff not long after you crashed in."

Lambo gave a sheepish expression. "Last time my boss told me to come assassinate Reborn. This time I kind of ran away from home…"

"Oh…" Shoichi sweat dropped. Somehow, he wasn't all that surprised. "Well that's fine. I don't need to carry the heavy crate around this time then." Though it was a shame that he couldn't study the current Bovino's technology and weaponry.

"Sorry, Sho-nii… you'll need to pay for the damage…"

"Don't worry about it, Lambo. It's already paid for. All I need to do is the paperwork for it." He showed Lambo the file he was filling out. "We were expecting this after all." He pocketed the paper. He should send it off today before he forgets.

"Oh right," Shoichi rummaged through his desk and pulled out a green ring. "I made this lightning ring for you. It's around C-grade, I couldn't find better materials. Better than nothing, though."

Lambo took the ring and stuffed it in his hair. "Thanks Sho-nii, but I don't really need a ring. I use my horns more often than rings."

"I gave one to most of the other guardians as well. They don't need it either… think of it like backup. Who knows, you might use it one day." Shoichi shrugged. "Come here, Lambo, I'll bring you back home."

...

They stopped in front of the Sawada Residence. Shoichi rang the doorbell as the blue canary landed on the top of the brick fence beside them.

Tsuna came out seconds later. "Sol-nii! You're back? When did you come back?"

"I returned a few days ago." Shoichi handed child to Tsuna.

Blinking twice, Tsuna looked from Lambo to Shoichi and back again.

"Oh, Lambo is like my little brother."

Tsuna stared at the cow with widened eyes. "Lambo is part of the family?"

Shoichi nodded.

"Is Lambo strong?"

Patting Lambo's head the non-bomb-triggering way, Shoichi smiled. "Yes. Lambo is very strong. He is the Hibari-san type of strong."

"Ciaossu." Reborn appeared from nowhere.

"REBORN!" Tsuna shouted. "Don't use Lambo as a cannonball." He loudly complained.

Reborn ignored him. "Irie Shoichi, you know Tsuna?"

Shoichi nodded. "I work with Hibari-san and Tomiko-chan."

"Sol-nii is the student council president! People call him 'the King'." Tsuna excitedly announced.

A blink. Reborn looked at Shoichi, highly amused. "King?"

Shoichi turned as red as his hair.

"Sho-nii is the King?" Lambo peered at Shoichi, carefully holding in his laughter. What a nickname. For some reason, it reminded him of some sadistic trigger happy monster. The one that is not Reborn.

"I… I…" Shoichi flailed. "I need to go." He ran off. The canary flew off the wall after him and easily matched his pace. They distantly watched as Shoichi suddenly grab the bird out of the air and stuff it into his pocket, face glowing even redder than before. The bird probably laughed at him.

"Irie is Kaichou? Then why wasn't he at school?" Reborn asked Tsuna.

"Sol-nii was at Tokyo for a meeting for the past few days." Scratching his face, Tsuna muttered. "They are usually longer though. I guess it ended earlier this time."

"What about that bird?" Reborn never recalled Hibari having birds a shade of deep blue. Actually, he never recalled a colour other than yellow.

"Hmm? Oh, he is Toku-nee's... I think." A glance from Reborn got Tsuna to continue. "They are from Otogi-jisan. He was the person taking care of Toku-nee before he had to move away with his friends, so I think Toku-nee is probably taking care of them before he returns."

"Is he her relative?"

Tsuna pondered over this. "I think he is her uncle or something... but Toku-nee called him niichan... then again I don't really remember. It was so long ago." He sighed. "I miss Otogi-jisan..." Tsuna peered down at Lambo when he noticed something glittering. "You have bits of glass still stuck in your hair. I'll help you wash it."

Lambo's eyes widened. Nonono, that does not sound like a good idea at all. "Gyupa! Lambo-sama can take a bath by himself. Lambo-sama needs to empty out all of the grenades, candy-"

"You can't even reach most of your hair." Tsuna headed into the house, ignoring all forms of protest.