Author's Note: This is my first time attempting a story like this so feedback would be much appreciated. Also, if you are a big fan of Hitman Reborn then you should check out my other fanfic Soul Reborn. And if you're looking for something a little cheerier then this is also a good choice as well as my other fanfic Kenichi: The Fallen Child. Thank you.

Chapter 1

It took time, but the ninth boss of the Vongola made his decision for his successor. He chose a mysterious boy named Tsunayoshi Sawada, the son of the former head of the CEDEF, Iemitsu Sawada. The boy's childhood was well documented up until the age of six and he seemed to live a relatively normal life. However there wasn't much known about his life at this point in time other than he was fourteen and living with his mother. It was a mystery why Nono chose him but when asked, all he said was that he had a feeling that the boy was the right choice. It seemed like an odd reason, but no one questioned the Vongola Hyper Intuition.

The world's greatest hitman, Reborn, was hired to teach and train the boy to be the Vongola Decimo. Reborn looked like an infant, due to a curse that transformed his body into that of one, though he retained a good portion of his strength. Since he hated going into missions blind and dug up as much as he could on the boy, but all he found were school, medical, and fractured public records. The information was pretty much useless as all he could tell from his school records was that the boy's grades were terrible and there was almost nothing in the boy's medical records. As for the public records, almost any important information was missing and what was there he already knew. Whoever was in charge of filing his records most have had the brains and common sense of Iemitsu. Reborn mental scoffed. 'It probably was Iemitsu trying to 'help' in the most idiotic way,' he thought.

Reborn was annoyed to no end. He had to figure out the most effective way to teach this kid and had nothing to go on. So, he decided to do what any hitman would do in this situation, scoot out the target.

He arrived in Namimori, Japan wearing his black suit and fedora, with a chameleon resting on top of it, and headed to the boy's home address. When he got there, something was off. The house was in decent condition, but there was a for sale sign in the front. 'Are they moving?' Reborn thought. Even with the few records Reborn found, he know that Tsunayoshi was still in Namimori. Reborn decided to investigate further. He could have knocked on the door, but then he'd have to introduce himself and it might interrupt the normal order of the boy's life. Reborn had to see how the boy acted normally before interfering. Still this was no obstacle for the world's greatest hitman. He made his way over to a window and picked the lock open. He went inside and the place seemed lifeless. The was no sign of any messes, and the trash cans were empty. Reborn checked the closets, but they were also empty. He made his way to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. Just like everything else, not only was it empty but spotless. He also noticed that it was unplugged. 'Did I get the wrong address?' Reborn thought. It was improbable, but not impossible.

He looked at the time and figured that he should check the school, as the boy's classes were about to start. He reached the school and climbed up a tree till he saw a boy that matched Tsunayoshi's description through the window. 'Fluffy brown hair, check,' Reborn thought. 'Brown eyes, check.' He held his hand to his fedora and the chameleon transformed into a pair of green binoculars. He looked through them to get a better look at the boy. He was dangerously thin and his clothes were ragged and covered in dirt. 'Is it possible that his mother is abusing him?' Reborn thought. It seemed unlikely considering the reports of Tsunayoshi's childhood, but people do change.

"Tsunayoshi Sawada?" the teacher called out. Reborn was surprised to see the boy raise his hand instead of say here like the rest of the students. The teacher sighed and moved on. Tsuna then turned and looked in Reborn's direction and Reborn ducked out of view.

'He's got good instincts,' Reborn thought. He continued to watch as the boy made his way through the day. The boy clumsily tripped occasionally and was constantly mocked by the other students, mostly calling him Dame Tsuna. The boy reached math class and the teacher wrote a problem on the board.

"Okay, who would like to solve this?" the teacher asked and looked around the room. She suddenly gave a devious smile. "How about you Tsuna? Tell us the answer."

The boy slowly looked up, then back in the direction of Reborn, then to the problem. He sluggishly got up and walked up the board as the other students laughed. Reborn was curious to why the boy got up to begin with though. Tsuna picked up a piece of chalk and quickly wrote a number on the board before walking back to his seat.

"Not even close," The teacher said. "Did you even try, or did you just write a random number down?" Tsuna just stared blankly at his desk. The teacher smiled. "I don't even know why I bother."

'Obviously because you get a kick out of it,' Reborn thought and couldn't wait to bring Tsuna's grades up just to see the look on her face.

The class broke into laughter and the teacher made no attempts to quiet it down. "That's Dame Tsuna for you!"

Reborn continued to watch the boy as the lunch bell rang. Tsuna got up and headed for the door empty handed, as a few of his classmates got up to follow him. "Where do you think you're going Dame Tsuna?" The boy didn't answer and kept walking. "If you keep walking you know what will happen." He kept going and the other boy grunted and returned to the room.

Tsuna kept going until he reached the roof. He walked over to the edge and looked down before sitting down just a few inches from it. Reborn watched the boy just sit there, occasionally looking in his direction, the entirety of his lunch. Reborn realized that the boy wasn't going to eat anything and noted that he was going to have to have a... talk... with his mother.

Even so, Reborn wondered why Tsuna came all the way up to the roof to begin with. Then he noticed the other boy napping on the corner of the roof. This boy had a dangerous aura around him and Reborn figured that Tsuna came up here to avoid the bullies.

The day continued and the boy never uttered a word. Reborn was beginning to wonder if he was mute, but according to his childhood records, he was perfectly talkative. 'Maybe there was an accident,' Reborn thought. No, that was impossible. Reborn already went through all of Tsuna's medical records, and there was no record of such an accident. The day ended and the students shuffled out of the classroom. Tsuna was the last to leave, but his way was blocked by the same bullies from before.

"I told you to stop walking. You had some gall ignoring me. What do you have to say for yourself?" Tsuna remained silent. "Say something!" The bully punched Tsuna in the face, knocking him to the ground. "Well! Spit it out!" Before Tsuna could get up, the bully kicked him in the stomach. The other bullies joined in on kicking the downed child. After a minute that seemed like an hour, they stopped kicking Tsuna and the leader picked Tsuna up by the shirt collar. "Give me the money you owe me, and we'll call it a day." Tsuna still didn't say a word, but reached into both pockets and turned them inside out to demonstrate that he had no money. "Still!" The bully punched Tsuna so hard that he crashed into the wall. "First you stop bringing money, but now you won't even bring lunches, even after I offered to accept those as payment instead! You're two years behind on your payments!" He grabbed Tsuna by the shirt collar again and began dragging him further into the school. Reborn followed at a safe distance as not to be noticed. They dragged Tsuna to the janitor's closet and threw him in, locking the door behind him. "Why don't you stay in there and think about what happened, and what will happen if I don't get my money!" The bullies snickered as they left.

Reborn was trying to see a day of this boy's life uninterfered, but he also needed to figure out where he lived and was not patient enough to wait for someone to find the boy. Reborn made his way over to the door and picked the lock. Afterwards, he slowly opened the door, making sure to stay out of sight. The boy walked out with a look of shock and fear. He cautiously looked around before settling his sight in Reborn's direction. After a few seconds of staring, the boy started walking towards the school exit. As he walked through the halls, he jumped at nearly every noise he heard and occasionally turned back in Reborn's direction. The hitman was surprised at how hard it was to say out of this fourteen year old's sight.

It was only after they made it out of the school that the boy seemed to calm down, although he didn't drop his guard. Reborn discreetly followed him through the streets until he stopped in front of a decent sized house. Definitely not a house that someone that had a reasonable excuse for why the boy was in such a bad condition could live in. The boy walked up to the front door and lifted his hand to knock. However, he hesitated, as if he was debating whether or not to do it. He started to shake, seemingly terrified. Even so, he eventually knocked on the door.

The door opened and a woman that did not match the description of Tsuna's mother answered. "Home on time for once," she said in a harsh tone that was full of disgust. "Get in and make dinner. We can actually eat at a reasonable time for a change. The boy followed the woman inside and headed for the kitchen. Once in there he tripped and fell over, implanting his face into the floor as a man came over.

"What are you doing!?" he said. "Get up and make dinner!" The boy picked himself up off the floor and did as he was told. Reborn's fedora cast a heavy shadow over his eyes. No matter where this boy went, abuse wasn't far behind.

The boy finished making dinner and put two plates on the table. "About time," the woman said as she took a seat. The man took his seat and the two grabbed the plates. Tsuna just stood there silently. Not only did he not attempt to take any food, but he didn't even try to sit down. After the two finished eating they left without a word and Tsuna went back into the kitchen to grab a piece of toast before heading up the stairs. Reborn wasn't done. He wanted to observe the boy for one more day. After all, this couldn't be an average day in his life... right?

The next day went almost exactly the same, except Reborn didn't let the boy out when he was locked in the closet. Hours passed before the janitor came and unlocked the door. "It's you again," he said harshly, clearly frustrated. "Seriously, who keeps putting you in here." The boy looked at the ground and the janitor groaned and massaged his temple. "Just get going. I have a job to do." The boy gave a slight bow in gratitude before leaving. "Yeah, sure, you're welcome and whatnot."

Once the boy reached the house he had the same hesitation as the day before, but this time the door opened before he knocked. "You're late!" the woman yelled and dragged the boy in by the shirt collar before throwing him on the floor. "We told you that we have an important meeting tomorrow!"

The man came in. "We couldn't wait all night!" he immediately screamed at the boy. "We had to make dinner ourselves!"

'The horror,' Reborn thought.

The man picked up the boy and then punched him back to the floor. Reborn had seen just about enough. Fortunately, he knew just the way to teach these two some manners. He lifted his hand in front of the chameleon on his fedora, Leon, and it transformed into a green gun. He loaded a dying will bullet, a special bullet that brings you back to life after killing you to carry out your dying regret. Once the effect wears off, you are returned to normal without so much as a bullet wound to show for it. Well there was the one problem that it destroys the clothes you are wearing, save for the underwear, but the boy's clothes were so far gone there was no fixing them anyway. He took aim at the boy as he got off the ground, and that's when he saw it, the boy's cold, lifeless eyes. The chameleon transformed back and continued resting on his fedora. The dying will bullet wouldn't do any good, as this boy would have no dying regrets. On the contrary, he'd welcome death, as he was all but dead already. It was a miracle that he didn't kill himself.

"This is what we get after taking you in!" the woman screamed. The man grabbed the boy by the shirt collar and lifted him straight off the ground. He carried him up the stairs and threw him into a room before locking the door.

"Stay in there and think about what you've done!" the man yelled so loud that it echoed throughout the entire neighborhood.

Reborn went up to the door and didn't even bother knocking, there would be no reasoning with those two. He snuck into the house, made his way to Tsuna's room and picked the lock. He then entered the room and re-locked it from the other side. Reborn finally turned around to see the boy shivering in fear. "I'm not here to hurt you," Reborn said.

The boy looked at him confused, as if the phase was spoken in an alien language, but still refused to say a word. Reborn was prepared for that however. He took out a notepad and a pen and tossed them over to the boy, who immediately picked them up and started writing something down. [Why are you following me?]

Needless to say, Reborn was impressed. He knew the boy was aware he was being followed, but the fact that he knew it was him put him a step above even some of the professionals Reborn knew. "I've been hired to tutor you," he said, thinking it best to leave the mafia business for later. The boy turned his pockets inside out. "I've already been paid for." The boy looked shocked and was trying to figure out by who, and then a look of horror covered his face. He backed up against the wall, shivering like it was fifty degrees below freezing. "It wasn't those two," Reborn said, implying the man and woman in the house. He figured that was the conclusion the boy came to. The boy relaxed so much that he collapsed onto the floor. He then started to write something else.

[You don't look like a tutor.]

"What, am I too young?"

[No. Too dangerous.] This boy was full of surprises. He was the first one he ever met who knew from a glance that he wasn't an ordinary infant, at least when Reborn wasn't showing it. [You're not really an infant, are you?]

Reborn smiled. "No, well I didn't use to be." The boy nodded. "What happened to your mother?"

[Gone.]

Reborn looked shocked. How'd he not find out about that. "When?"

[Two years ago.] Reborn cursed under his breath. He swore that if Iemitsu was still alive he'd shoot him. [You know my father, don't you?]

"Yes,"

[Where is he?]

"Dead."

The boy seemed almost unphased by the news, although he seemed to be hiding his face. [When?]

"About two months ago." The boy's lips twitched upwards. "So those two are your legal guardians?" the boy nodded and Reborn cursed. "One day I'll show you real guardians." The boy just shook his head like Reborn was being naive and Reborn had just about enough of this. "Why don't you talk?"

[Because no one will listen.] Reborn had to use every once of his strength to avoid losing composure. If he didn't have to keep a low profile in the town he would have killed both of those would-be guardians. [Do me a favor.]

"What?"

[Kill me.]

Reborn's fedora cast a heavy shadow over his eyes. He would have kicked the boy's face in if it wasn't for his frail body. Leon morphed into a gun and the boy stared at it longingly. Reborn aimed the gun at the boy and fired it inches from his leg. "Ask that again and you'll never feel the sweat relief of death!" The boy looked disappointed. "If you want to die that bad, then why haven't you done it yourself!"

[Because I can't find the strength.]

Reborn let out a sigh of relief. At least he didn't have to worry about the boy killing himself. Suddenly there was a rattling sound behind them. The door unlocked and opened. "What's with the racket in here you bra…" the woman screamed before stopping short as Reborn cocked the gun and pointed it at her.

"Honey what's wrong?" the man said as he came over to the room. The two looked down to see Reborn. Then they turned back to the boy full of rage. "You dare threaten us!" They started walking towards him.

"And you couldn't even do it yourself!" the woman said. "You got an infant to point a toy gun at us!" The boy violently shook his head as he backed further against the wall. Reborn figured they weren't very bright. After all, if they had any common sense, they know that there was no way for Tsuna to let Reborn in the room. "This is what we get for taking you in out of the kindness of our hearts!" She kicked him. "You useless child!"

The man joined in. "You'll lucky anyone was willing to take someone like you in and this is how you repay us!"

Reborn fired in between the two's heads and they turned around in shock. "This isn't a toy," he said.

"It's real?" the woman said and then the two turned back to the boy.

Reborn fried at the roof. "Eyes on me." he said as he cocked the gun and the two turned back to him. "What's the real reason you took him in?"

"Like I said," the woman said, "it was out of the kind…" She was cut off as Reborn fired another bullet centimeters from her face.

"I said the real reason," Reborn said as he cocked the gun once more.

"I..it was for the money," the man said afraid. "The government gives us money every month to care for him."

Reborn's fedora cast a shadow over his eyes. "And you call this caring for him?"

"What business is it to you how we treat him!?" the woman yelled.

"He's coming with me."

"Hold on," the man said. "Do you really think that you can come in here, wave a gun around and take our money away!? You think that we'll rea…" The man and woman froze and began shivering. Reborn had released a killing aura strong enough to stop even the bravest opponents in their tracks.

"That wasn't a request," he said. "Tsuna will be coming with me and you two will leave as he packs his things. Do I make myself clear?" Reborn lowered the strength of the aura in order to allow the two to move, barely. The two nodded and left the room.

"Tsuna, pack your things." The boy just sat there. Reborn sighed and transformed the gun into a whip. He wiped the area next to the boy causing him to jump right off the floor and stare at the whip with unadulterated fear. "Obedience or torture, death is not an option." The boy gave a sigh of relief when Reborn had Leon transform back into a chameleon and began to pack. In truth Reborn did not want to threaten him, but that seemed to be the only thing the boy would respond to. He got an empty box from under his bed and threw some ragged clothes in it. He then grabbed a small photo album and worn out notebooks that he had hidden under his mattress and put it into the box as well before shutting it. "That's all?" Reborn asked. The boy nodded and Reborn sighed.

"Come on, we're leaving." the two exited the house and Reborn sighed once again. The ninth sure chose a piece of work this time. Reborn definitely had his work cut out for him. This was going to take a while. Step one, get Tsuna to talk.

To Be Continued...