"Faster," said Tsuna. "You're not going to get close enough to attack them if you're that slow."

Huffing in frustration, Matteo collapsed to his backside, running a hand through his close-cropped black hair.

"This is absolutely impossible," he grumbled, and Tsuna laughed, gesturing for Fuuta to pass the water bottle to the tired young man.

"You're doing really well though," said Tsuna as Matteo took the bottle from Fuuta with a murmured thanks. "You've improved quite a bit since last month."

Matteo didn't say anything, instead taking a large gulp of water before wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

For the past hour, they'd been working on a tricky little technique that technically wasn't even supposed to be part of Matteo's training.

But Tsuna had gotten fond of the young man, and was thinking of choosing him as a part of his own group. He was certainly talented enough.

Suddenly, there was the sound of approaching footsteps, and Tsuna turned to see who it was.

Or rather, who they were.

Approaching Tsuna's little group were three very disgruntled-looking recruits, Alonso, Costanzo, and Ada.

They were close with Matteo's, if Tsuna remembered correctly.

"Are you three alright?" asked Tsuna, approaching them with a worried look on his face.

Ada tried to smile.

"We're fine, Sensei," she said.

"No we're not!" chorused the two boys.

"Iemitsu is completely unreasonable!" declared Alonso, crossing his arms.

"He expects us to be on the same physical level as his CEDEF officers," whined Costanzo.

Tsuna rolled his eyes at his father's actions.

He'd been keeping a clsoe eye on his "training," and to be honest, he wasn't the least bit surprised that the students were starting to lose their patience.

"Go find some space on the floor and relax for a bit," Tsuna told the three. "Your bodies have been exhausted and continuing to tire yourselves out won't help one bit. Just do your cooldown exercises, relax for five minutes, then start with your proper warm-up exercises. Got it?"

"Yes Sensei!" answered the three of them, immediately going to do as they'd been told. They'd already met with the consequences of not trusting their teacher's guidance.

Over the course of the next two hours, the rest of the stuents started trickling back to join Tsuna's group as they got fed up with Iemitsu.

The man himself seemed to be getting more and more desparate with every student that left his rans to join up with Tsuna.

And finally, when there were only six people left that were willing to put up with his bullshit, Iemitsu strolled up to his son with a friendly yet condescending smile on his face.

"So how's the training going, tuna fishie?" he asked, going to throw an arm around his son's shoulder.

At the last moment, Tsuna ducked away and turned to stand face to face with him, quite a bit apart.

"It's going well," replied Tsuna in an awkward voice. "The recruits are on a much higher level than usual this time, which is amazing."

"Higher level than usual?" asked Iemitsu, seeming incredulous. "These kids? Tuna, they can barlely stand long enough to finish their warm-ups! How on Earh is that higher level?"

Growling low in his throat, Tsuna stepped up to his father, who was by now only a little taller than Tsuna.

"They're not CEDEF officers!" growled Tsuna, punctuating every word with a vicious jab at his father's chest. "They're NEW recruits! They still need some time to get better."

Iemitsu snorted.

"At this rate? They're never going to get any better if they don't pick up their pace a bt more," said Iemitsu with a shrug and a goofy grin, as if he had no idea how much he was riling his son up.

"Yes, they WILL!" Tsuna almost shotued, and suddenly, all heads turned towards him and his father. "It's not like they're going to just get better in a day. These kinds of things need time! ...Not that you would know, of course."

Iemitsu gaped for a moment, wondering just when Tsuna had become...this.

"What do you mean, not that I would know?" demanded the older Sawada, feeling anger well up inside him.

"I mean that by the time any something reaches you, it's already been polished off perfectly, no blemishes whatsoever, so you don't have to get your hands dirty! It doesn't matter if it's a new recruit you're training, or even if it's your own son!"

"Wha-you...you don't really think that, do you Tsuna?"

"I don't think it," said Tsuna. "I know it. And for some godawful reason, you've been trying extra hard to make us bond or whatever the hell it is ever since mom finally left you!"

"Tsuna," said Iemitsu, a warning tone in his voice as he cast a look around at all the students, who were watching them both with rapt attention, more than a few of them sporting confused expressions. "This isn't the right time-"

"Then whem IS the right time, dad?" demanded Tsuna. "Because whenever you're not trying to 'mend the rift in our relationship,' a ship that saild long ago might I add, you're out in the corners of the world, taking whatever jobs you can find that will keep you away from the mansion for as long as possible!"

Iemitsu flinched at this, and Tsuna knew he had hit close to home.

And then, before his father could say anything in return, Tsuna turned and headed back to his students.

Iemitsu stood where he was for a few moments longer before turning and leaving the room with quiet steps.

Tsuna fumed silently for a few minutes more, before looking up and realizing that now each and everyone was staring at him with wide eyes and gaping mouths.

"Y-you..." said Costanzo, pointing at Tsuna with a horrified expression on his face. "You just called him dad."

"Yeah?" said Tsuna in a confused voice, wondering just why that was such a shock to them.

"So y...you're V-Vongola Decimo?" asked Ada, and it suddenly clicked in Tsuna's mind why everyone around him looked like fish out of water.

Laughing sheepishly and scratching the back of his head, he replied, "...yeah?"

"Oh," said Ada, her eyes still wide. "Good to know..."

There was a moment of heavy silence as everyone tried to process this new information.

Some of the recruits looked dangerously close to fainting as they remembered how they'd essentially abandoned "Sensei" earlier that morning.

In the end, it was Matteo who broke the silence.

Quelling the nervous butterflies in his stomach, Matteo smiled what he hoped as a reassuring smile.

"You're a very brave person, Sensei," replied Matteo.

"It's not easy to tell a loved one they're wrong. But sometimes, it's something they need to hear."

Here he smiled awkwardly at Tsuna, hoping his message had gotten across.

It had.

Loud and clear.

And Tsuna couldn't help but smile like a goon.

THE END

SkyGem: Well, that's it! Hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did! Please do leave one last review and let me know what you think, yeah? Oh, and also, I'm curious, how many of you have read Assassination Classroom? I'm sure you'd all love it! Check it out if you haven't already, yeah?

OH, and I almost for got! This fic was a prompt from the lovely and talented Bleach-ed-Na-Tsu. I honestly have no idea what I'd do wihtout her. Three cheers for you, Em!