Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn, Akira Amano does. (And man, does she do a good job).

In a way, this is more like several little interconnected stories than a whole.

Giotto was dozing off. Actually, there was a very good reason to explain why Primo was finishing his paperwork at four in the morning, scrawling his signature on paper after paper between yawn and yawn. It was the fifth time that week he had ditched paperwork in favor of going to town. So it would be unfair for him to complain now; after all, he hadn't told G (or any of the other Guardians, for that matter) the reason that kept compelling him to make the twenty-minute trip to the nearest town café time after time.

He knew it was nothing but a fleeting dream. He could see now, in the dimly lit office, that no matter how much it hurt he was Vongola Primo. He knew that he was only the mysterious and slightly eccentric land-lord, owner of the great mansion on top of the hill, the blonde who liked to hide on the back of the store with a Viennese coffee and would always leave a huge tip as one of his friends dragged him out.

And still, every time he took a seat in one of the emerald green chairs, watching the people busying themselves with their normal lives on the other side of the glass and listening to her bright laugh and her lively voice as she asked, "Same as always, Sir?", he imagined that he would shake his head, he would take her hand and kiss it gently. They both would blush, and he would ask, "Are you free this evening, cara?"

And they would walk hand in hand, and he would show her that place nearby where the sea could be heard. And he would tell her everything, everything and he would beg her to never, ever leave his side.

Then G would barge in, dragging him out and telling him that this Famiglia wanted to form and alliance, or that so and so where massacring each other or that Alaude had bitten yet another assassin to death, and the dream would end. He had long since resigned to a lonely life as a single.

The quill fell with a muted 'thud' as he loosened his grip, and his head was soon resting over the still fresh ink, screwing the already sloppy signature of a bill on who knows what. Almost without realizing it, Giotto drifted to sleep.

~)*(~

He was in a room without a single paper, so it wasn't a nightmare. Giotto examined curiously the small lights beeping and lightning alternatively in red, green and amber. But before he could touch any of them, he heard voices on his back, and he turned around.

"I was right! I knew it! Now who is the Head Inventor of Vongola, huh?" bragged a funny looking man, looking defiantly at a blond who was boredly licking a lollipop, scanning Giotto as if he was a bunch of data he had to classify. A third person coughed, catching his attention. He turned to find a spectacled boy looking apologetic.

"Ah… welcome, Vongola Primo." He greeted politely. "I am Irie Shoichi, from the Millefiore Famiglia. Spanner and Giannini, mechanics from the Vongola Famiglia." He motioned for his partners. The blonde nodded in his direction, while the other man greeted him enthusiastically.

By now, Giotto was amazed at how real this dream felt; his mind had not only added a Family he had never heard of but also people he didn't know. He was fairly sure Talbot preferred to work alone, no matter what the task, so he was sure those two couldn't be really part of his Family. Speaking of the devil…

"Talbot helped us, actually, but we are the ones who brought you here. It's, umm… It will only be for a few hours, so you don't need to worry; after the time is up you will return to… well, to your time."

Giotto played along, amused. It seemed like he had eaten way too much sugar that time; Knuckle had already warned him about it. "What you mean is that I somehow time-travelled?" The red-haired boy was so nervous now that Giotto felt pity for him, but he still answered. "Yes. You are currently in the 21st century, in the time of Vongola Decimo. Also, we are in Japan."

"Really? And where is he?"

The blond opened his mouth to answer for the first time. "As of this moment, he is hiding from an overly-excited Storm Guardian, a blood thirsty Varia boss and another messenger from CEDEF."

"Oh? Who did they send this time?" Giannini asked, momentarily forgetting about his grudge against Spanner.

"Dolphin guy. Wonder why they didn't try that one sooner." He said, motioning for a glowing box using a weird looking stick full of buttons (a remote).

Giotto observed curiously as paintings in movement (wow, dreams really don't make any sense, he thought) appeared, and was shocked when he recognized someone; his Sun Guardian, who for some reason had grey hair, was laughing loudly (Spanner set a low volume for that one when he noticed) while two girls sent him disbelieving looks.

~)*(~

"Really, onii-chan… that is the third suit you have ruined today. Were you fighting with Kouyou again?" The younger girl asked, shaking her head.

"Of course not! I was extremely writing what I'm going to say at the dinner party, when a cat stole my notes TO THE EXTREME!"

"And I take you chased the extreme cat to its hideout, didn't you? Honey, sometimes I don't know what to do with you. What is Himawari going to think of her father?" The raven haired woman sighed dramatically, patting her stomach tenderly.

"Don't worry Hana and Kyoko! I'll go get an EXTREME new one!" And he jogged off, leaving the two women behind. His wife shaked her head, bemused, and turned to the auburn haired one.

"Well? How are you feeling, Kyoko?" Her expression turned more serious and she placed a hand on the other's shoulder. At her questioning look, Hana frowned. "Come on, Sawada was your first crush, wasn't it? I've known the two of you since middle school, I can tell. Back then, I would have sworn that you would end up together. What happened?"

Kyoko thought about it for a while. "I don't really know. I guess it was never meant to be." She wasn't lying; true, they had liked each other, but it had not hurt as much as she expected when she noticed that someone had claimed that special place in his heart. Slowly but surely, they had become just dear friends. She liked them both too much to mourn over their happiness, anyway. She smiled melancholically, and Hana patted her in the shoulder. "Shall we go see Chrome?"

The women began walking, and as they left, a couple of teenagers passed them. They both were so focused on their musings, that they ignored the women's greetings; when they were half-way into the corridor, Lampo's lookalike took the girl by her shoulders and made her turn around, facing him.

"I… I-Pin…" He gulped, looking at her eyes. "You… you look great." He said pathetically. She nodded, unsure of what to say, and waiting for him to gather the courage he was desperately looking for.

"Well you see… I know that we haven't been seeing each other much lately, and that you left the assassin's life, and that I am still part of the mafia and will always be, but I was planning on moving back to Japan to finish high school, and well, I hoped…darn it, where did I put it… that… wait just a second, will you?" It was strange to see Lambo this flustered; finally, he managed to get a small box from his inner pocket, and I-Pin's hands flew to their mouth. "I was hoping that…"

POOF!

A cloud of pink smoke engulfed him and, when it cleared, a six-year-old child was standing where the male had been. I-Pin let out a dejected sigh and knelt down to talk to the child who was wailing loudly.

"There, there, Lambo. What happened?"

The boy stopped crying and looked at her through his tears. "Reborn hit me because I said he looked like a brat." I-Pin sighed again. She remembered some parts of the time that followed the Arcobaleno representative battle; all of the babies had their curses lifted but they didn't regain their old bodies; instead they'd had to grow naturally.

That had caused the Sawada household to be even more crazy than usual, especially since Lambo kept pressing his luck. Over the past months not only him but Tsuna, Enma, Fuuta, herself and once even Nana (which sent them into a panicked frenzy) had come from the past repeatedly. The worst, however, had been Bianchi, or so had she heard.

She wished she had something sweet to give to him, but settled with patting his head affectionately. He, however, was soon thrilled by the new toy he had found; when I-Pin realized with horror that it was the deep blue box his older self had been holding, pink smoke came again and left the present Lambo sitting on the floor, empty-handed.

"Damn." He stood up and began to walk away dejectedly, but I-Pin tugged his sleeve and smiled happily. "Say, what did you want to tell me?"

He looked her way, flustered. He gulped, and closed his eyes. "Do… Do… Do you want to be my girlfriend, I-Pin? I wanted to give you a…" She quickly put a finger on his lips, silencing him. Then she reached for her purse, and took a small, battered silver ring from it. Lambo's eyes widened in shock, and she giggled. "Don't you remember? You gave this to me almost ten years ago, because it was shiny. It was soon after Reborn almost kicked you out of Nana's house. I was waiting… waiting for you to ask me that." They hugged in silence.

The moment was broken by a happy laugh, and they stepped away from each other, blushing madly, as the Rain guardian approached them.

"Congrats Lambo, I-Pin!" The newcomer said, taking off his sunglasses. "At this rate, I'm going to be the last one of us to fall in love!" He laughed again, not the least bit worried about it.

"Takeshi! Didn't you have an important match today?" I-Pin asked, sending a worried look at the man. Among the guardians, Yamamoto had been the only one who pursued his old middle school dreams, combining his duties as Rain Guardian and his love for the sword with a bright career in the basketball word. He was a player known from his successes as well as for his long absences, but even so he had a lot of fans. As every other time someone of the Family asked him that question, he answered with a "Nah, I couldn't miss this."

"I saw Squalo on the way here; never thought Varia would come to this kind of thing. They must be really fond of Tsuna, even if they try to deny it!" He was about the only person who would put 'Varia' and 'fond of Tsuna' on the same sentence without a 'no' in between.

"I saw Dino and Romario too. Who else is missing?" I-Pin asked. Lambo answered her, trying to put an arm around her shoulders naturally and without blushing. "Just the Shimon and the Arcobaleno, except for Mammon and Yuni. I saw Byakuran and the rest of his goons a while ago. Wonder why they had to come."

He didn't have as many memories of the battle against the Millefiore as the rest, but he remembered that it had not been pleasant. Byakuran's recurrent pranks after he turned a new leaf had not helped Lambo change his opinion of the marshmallow-lover. "There is no way we'll start without Reborn. Or Enma, for that matter. I thought he'd be the best man, and not that fool."

"Who are you calling a fool, stupid cow?" Time had still not freed Lambo from that nickname, and it probably wouldn't while the effects of the Ten Year bazooka were still manifesting themselves every now and then. They turned to find a disheveled Storm Guardian, looking at them with blood shot eyes.

"Ahahahaha, what's wrong, Gokudera? You look like you didn't sleep last night from excitement!" At this, the silver head snorted; he absolutely hated it when the baseball nut got something right. Sometimes he had to wonder if he too had some kind of super intuition (but not as great as Jyuudaime's, of course).

"I was looking for Haru, have you seen her?" He asked, fixing his suit as he waited for their response.

"I think she was with Bianchi, helping Chrome." I-Pin had already visited the Mist Guardian earlier that day. She giggled as she remembered the boss of the Vongola Family wandering around until they threw him out (no seeing the bride before the ceremony). Then she turned at Gokudera, a bit worried. "Um, about Basil…"

"He already talked with Jyuudaime and left. I wish that man doesn't come; Jyuudaime has already enough on his plate with Varia, Mukuro and the Millefiore attending to be worried about Iemitsu. I can't believe his nerve, trying to order us around like that."

"Ma, ma. He is Tsuna's father. He can't not come to his wedding, can he?" His laugh was a bit forced; he had hoped for Tsuyoshi to come but he couldn't make it in the end. And though he accepted the tense relationship between Tsuna and Iemitsu, he had never been able to comprehend the animosity his boss had against the other. "Anyway, weren't you looking for Haru? What do you want her for?"

"Hahi? Were you looking for me?" Haru appeared out of thin air, making all of them jump, startled. Over the years she had developed that skill, especially since she decided to formally become part of the Vongola as well (to which Tsuna objected but was monumentally ignored).

"Haru! Don't appear all of a sudden, you idiot woman!"

"What? Look who's talking, octopus head. You were talking about me behind her back, weren't you?" She sent them a murderous look, before breaking into a big smile. "Well, Haru won't get angry at you today! After all, today is another success for the great Haru!"

"Success?" I-Pin asked, confused. Lambo just shrugged, Gokudera groaned and Yamamoto grinned. I-Pin hadn't been present in that. Haru pouted. "Of course! Operation 8733 and 2796 are now officially concluded thanks to Haru!"

"You mean in spite of Haru." Retorted Gokudera teasing her, still hurt at being called an octopus.

"Hahi! Who was it that got confused and made Tsuna and Chrome see Transporter 6 instead of the remake of Titanic? Oh yeah, it was the bomber idiot."

"Ma, ma. Calm down, everyone. So Haru, what game are we playing next?"

Haru beamed at Yamamoto, forgetting about the rest. "Oh, you are going to love next one. Remember when we trapped Tsuna and Chrome on the haunted house? Well, I saw something reallyinteresting … Next in line is operation 0095!" Everyone sweat-dropped, wondering what thought process had made Haru create those silly (although rather cool) operation names.

~)*(~

An alarm distracted Giotto and the three mechanics from the scheming group, and Spanner quickly checked it. Then he displayed the entrance in the TV screens.

"The Arcobaleno have arrived."

Shoichi frowned. "I don't see Skull. Is he coming with Enma and the others?" Spanner shrugged, and turned to a microphone on the desk.

"Vongola, the Arcobaleno Reborn, Fon, Verde, Colonello and Lal Mirch have arrived. Can they come in?" He waited for an answer, and then replied. "Yes, I'll do that. No, Xanxus is busy avoiding the Ninth now, he won't attack you again. Gokudera isn't near either. Yes."

Giotto used that time to digest the information he had been given over the past few minutes. It seemed that the dream was trying to get a point across quite bluntly.

"Decimo is getting married?"

"Yes." Answered Shoichi, smiling. "With his Mist Guardian, too. We have been expecting this for quite a long time now, actually. I know Tsuna believed he would never marry."

Giotto quickly erased the image of Daemon in a bride's dress from his head (it really was a nightmare, after all!) and watched curiously as five kids no older than eleven years old greeted people on their way inside.

"Umm… You still haven't told me why am I here."

The mechanics laughed awkwardly. "Well, we thought that you might be able to solve a little problem we have. You see, it is a tradition that the father of the bride walks her down the aisle, right? Well, Chrome… we haven't known anything from her parents for years."

"Won't Decimo's parents do?"

"Nana, yes. But Tsuna and his father… aren't exactly on agreeable terms." More like they weren't on any terms, Shoichi might have added. The two had barely spoken to each other in, well, ever since he knew them. It had been just like Iemitsu to show up as if nothing has happened and claim his rights as a father a week before his son's wedding. Tsuna had been evading him since.

"So…" Oh, the blond Vongola so didn't like where this was going. "We wondered if you, his antecessor, would do it."

"No. No way. Even if this is a dream, you can't be serious about this." He pleaded, trying to make them see reason.

The three mechanics thoroughly ignored him; they hadn't broken all laws of Nature to bring Primo to their time only to have him secluded in that tiny room. A red alarm, far louder than the first one, successfully managed to shut any other complaints the Vongola boss could think of. "It's them. CEDEF is here." Spanner muttered. An amused smirk appeared on his features. "You know, I always wondered who would win between Iemitsu and Reborn."

Giotto could only watch dumbfounded as the mechanic leaned back, ignoring the situation at hand much to Giannini's displeasure.

~)*(~

Back with Reborn, he quickly made his way to the room where Tsuna was staying in. The rest of the Arcobalenos left him in favor of joining Yuni and Nono, and he stepped into it without any introduction.

"Hello, Dame Tsuna."

"Reborn! Thank goodness your plane arrived on time!" Over the past years, Tsuna had changed greatly; he had had a growth spurt and had grew his hair slightly longer, much like what Primo showed on the paintings and memories he had seen of the other man. His dame-ness had also somewhat receded, at least when he was in front of outsiders; even if he would never admit it, Reborn was actually quite proud of his student.

"Tonto Carlos can handle a few days without me." He said, referring to the latest soon-to-be no-good boss he had been put in charge of (and that had fainted on the spot when he learned that the bosses of the Cavallione and Vongola Famiglie were now his 'older brothers'). Tsuna did feel from him, since the poor guy had to handle an eleven years old Reborn now. He sighed.

"I still can't believe it. I never thought Chrome would accept me like this." A smile slowly crept to his face. "Soon after she fought Mukuro to claim the Mist guardian title… she said she did it to be by my side. But I didn't dare to hope that she would mean it this way."

"Now you can hurry up and bring Vongola Undicesimo."

"HIEEEE! What are you saying, Reborn?"

The young boy smirked, fully enjoying the horror in his former student's voice. Some things would never change, after all. They stood in a comfortable silence for a moment. Just then, the door flung open, and the sight before them made Tsuna grimace a little while Reborn's expression remained unreadable, obscured by a fedora that was starting to become too small for him.

"How is my boy!?"

"Father." Tsuna greeted, looking coldly at the man in front of him. He had dreaded this moment, but deep down he knew it was bound to happen. It wasn't that he hated him; contrary to what the man might think, it had been a long time since he had felt anything that strong for the leader of CEDEF.

"I can't believe my son is finally getting married! What took you so long?" He joked, but it fell on deaf ears. He continued. "I was just about to go see my lovely daughter-in-law!"

"Don't."

"Huh?"

"Look, I thought it was already clear. We invited you, but only as a normal guest. I'm sorry."

"But, son! You can't let the bride walk down the aisle alone! That won't look good."

"Chrome agrees with me." He looked coldly at the man in front of him. Things had never been the same since the days of the representative battle, after all. They both knew it, and Tsuna had had enough pretending. The brunette heaved a long sigh at his father's dejected expression.

"Look, ummm, father. It is not a matter of whether you did the right thing or not back then." He began bluntly, guessing what the other was about to say. "I can understand that at first you did what you did to protect us, and really, I can respect that."

He took a deep breath before continuing. "But then, when it was obvious that I could no longer have a mafia-free life, you never tried to contact me. Why didn't you try to explain things to me when Reborn came, why didn't you call? The first time I saw you after that, you never even asked about me; you just threw my best friends into danger and disappeared again."

"Tsunayoshi…"

"No, let me finish. I know that you didn't mean things to go that way, but in the end, it was Reborn who supported me all the times I had given up on myself. It was Primo who gave me the power to defeat Byakuran. Nana, I know that she prefers not to know about the danger we face, but she is the one who is always there when I come back. And Chrome…"

He smiled again, before his expression changed to a rare scowl. "Look, Iemitsu. Things won't change just because you kept watching patiently from the sidelines. You should have taken action sooner."

"I still…"

"It's too little, too late."

Iemitsu stood there for just a few more seconds, while he digested the words, seeing his son's unforgiving glare, knowing he had been dismissed. "I'll go with the Ninth, then. See you at the ceremony, son."

Once he left Reborn huffed, obscuring his eyes with the fedora. "Are you okay with this?"

Tsuna closed his eyes. "I am. I meant every word." And every word had hurt him, but it was something that needed to be said. He sighed again. "You know, you have b…"

Reborn kicked him, cutting the brunette mid-sentence and making him gasp for air; they examined each other for a while before Reborn smirked and turned around. "I'm going to check on my other student. Get ready, Tsuna." As he closed the door, the infant could hear a faint chuckle behind him. His smirk softened; there were some things that didn't need to be said.

~)*(~

On the other hand, Giotto was too shocked to register this exchange anymore. Things won't change… He didn't want things to change. He only wanted… he didn't want to involve anyone else in his world. How would she be able to forgive him, huh? There was just no way, he concluded dejectedly.

"Umm… well, if you are so sure about not doing it, Primo… You could at least go see Chrome. I know she'd appreciate it." Shoichi said, pushing his glasses into place and trembling like a feather. "You won't be going back for another hour, after all."

Much as he tried, Giotto was not able to find a reasonable argument against that, and soon he found himself dragged in front of a room much like the one he had just seen on the screen. He really didn't have to come in; they couldn't force him to do this.

"Kufufufu, may I ask what is the great Vongola Primo doing in front of my dear Chrome's door?" A voice sneered on his back, sounding amused. Giotto knew that voice; sure enough, he quickly turned around to the sight of Daemon's look-a-like smirking creepily.

"Huh…" What an intelligent answer, he thought. The other man chuckled eerily.

"You are not an illusion, I can tell. Verde might have made a robot, but he wouldn't do a thing that didn't result in profits for him. It was that fool of a mechanic Tsunayoshi has, am I wrong?"

He nodded, dumbfounded. This was possibly the creepiest moment he had ever lived.

"The ceremony is about to start. I suggest you enter if you have something to say." He said as he opened the door. "You have a visitor, dear Chrome." And he disappeared, chuckling at Giotto's flustered expression.

"Yes, Muk… Oh?" The girl on the door stopped mid-sentence. Giotto looked at her, unsure of what to do next. Now he couldn't leave, and if she was like the others he had met, she must have already known who he was. The girl smiled shyly, before motioning for him to enter. Giotto couldn't help but note how beautiful she was. Her purplish black hair fell naturally over her shoulders, and it matched the purple embroilments of the white dress. When she turned, he saw a white eye patch covering her eye.

"Um, Primo? Why are you here?" She asked with a questioning look.

"You can call me Giotto." He wasn't quite sure why had he said that. "Well, there were these three people who said my great great great grandson was marrying and for some reason decided that I had to be here." He said bitterly, realizing how stupid everything he had just said sounded. It didn't really help when she smiled knowingly and let it go. He didn't know time-travelling was a normal issue for the future Vongola, after all.

"I see… they were really concerned, weren't they?"

"Concerned?"

"Because… we wanted to do this right. Tsuna and I, I mean. But you see… there hasn't been a single time when things had gone smoothly for us." Like the First Inheritance Ceremony, what with the Shimon incident. Or the Second, for that matter, where Varia had had to go on a rampage against… well, it didn't really matter. And not to talk about the Sun Guardian's wedding, that had been eventful to say the least.

Giotto blinked, not sure he had understood what she meant. She continued. "Even now, I know there are times when he… wished he had never involved himself with the mafia." Yes, so very much like the blond. "And times when he regrets to put us in danger. But I… am so glad… That I met Mukuro-sama, and Tsuna, and the rest. This would never have happened otherwise."

"You can say that. You are the Mist Guardian, you can take care of yourself." Since when was so much venom in Giotto's words? "But what if you couldn't use your flames? What if you were defenseless against the mafia world, our word? Wouldn't you hate him then?"

"Why?"

Giotto was taken aback, and recoiled a bit. It was obvious… there was no one on their sane minds who would chose a mafia Don as a husband.

"I could never hate him. No matter what. I will never regret my decision."

"Even if you suffer because of it?"

"Even if I die."

You should have taken action sooner.

"Pri… Giotto-san. When you like someone… even if you think it won't be good for them… isn't it fair to give them a chance to choose?" Her eye seemed to be scanning the very depths of his soul, and he found that he didn't want to keep resisting anymore. He suddenly felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders, and he sighed.

A knock was heard on the door. "Miss Dokuro, everything is ready."

She exhaled a deep sigh. "Would you accompany me? Please?" She held out her arm for him, and he took it after a little hesitation. It felt as if he had just made an oath he hadn't want to make.

The ceremony was splendid; so many people, some faces he could recognize, some he couldn't. There was Cozart's descendant with his family, and on the far end he saw a carbon copy of Ricardo. His own guardians were reflected in the people of the front row, with the same expressions he would have expected from them. G trying to hide his tears, Asari grinning proudly, Knuckles beaming with pride, Alaude watching coolly, imposing in his suit.

It was a small reunion of friends no doubt, a far cry for the social gathering that would include the most powerful Capi of the Underworld, but in this single moment, even he was swept into the fantasy and forgot about the trials and the darkness ahead.

Because Decimo was there in front of the bride, living in that precise moment and showing him everything he could have and Giotto felt suddenly jealous because yes, caving to his feelings meant that he was being selfish and maybe someday he would regret this decision. But he wanted to be selfish, even if that would only give him a few stolen moments in his life, like the ones he had seen.

Decimo looked at him and smiled bashfully, adding a slight shrug for good measure. He looked as if he couldn't believe his luck, far too innocent to carry such a dark position in the world.

Giotto understood. Even if only the happiness of stolen moments awaited him, that was something worth more than anything. He was not going to keep running away. He would do it… with his Dying Will.

~)*(~

The sun was shining lazily in the room as Primo opened his eyes, stiff from his awkward position in the desk. His head hurt, and it took him a few moments to remember where he was and how had he gotten there. For a few minutes he didn't move despite the pins and needles in his body; committing to memory every single detail he could still remember of the dream he had had, that was already blurry in his mind.

With a new force in him, he quickly finished signing the papers on his desk, not even aware of what he was agreeing to. He finished off hurriedly, change clothes and proceeded to jump out of his window, avoiding the front door where his right hand man was surely mounting guard. Short of breath, he flew above the forest, never stopping until landing in the outskirts of the little town.

The nerves took possession of his body. He was sweating and his legs trembled. He could not do this.

You have to take action.

Holding his breath, he bought a bouquet of lilies, the flowers that had always made him think of her. With a new gait in his step, he entered the café, slipping to his favorite spot.

She came after barely a minute, saying "Same as always, Sir?" While she eyed the flowers with a small blush on her face.

With a smile, he leaned forward and asked:

"Are you free this evening, cara?"

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it! Your comments are very much appreciated! ^^