Once upon a time, there was a princess locked away in a tower, guarded by an evil dragon…

.

King Iemitsu had a lot of grievances – most of which involved his most beloved and only child, Tsunayoshi.

"My poor baby," he wailed. His wife, the Queen Nana, patted his back soothingly. He was hunched over on his throne, face buried in his hands as he sobbed, "I want that dragon's head on a pike! His scales ripped off! I want him gutted, gutted like a fish!"

"Dear," Queen Nana sighed.

Takeshi, knight of the house of Yamamoto, smiled awkwardly from his kneeled position in front of the king. "No worries, Your Majesty," he assured. "I'll get back Prince Tsunayoshi safe and sound."

The king's wails subsided for the moment. "I never should have trusted that damn snake," he snarled, his depression taken over by rage. "I'll never forgive him!" He stood up and glared imposingly down at the young knight.

"Give me my son back," he demanded, "And I will reward you in gold and jewels. The name of Yamamoto will carry the royal prestige and honor for as long as we stand." King Iemitsu swallowed as he considered his next words. "I'll even give you Tsuna's hand in marriage," he grudgingly added, spitting the words out as if they burned his tongue.

Sir Yamamoto shifted uncomfortably ("Your Majesty, that's really not necessary!") as the queen frowned at her husband.

"Iemitsu!" she hissed. The king turned watery eyes on her.

"Nana," he whined. "I just want my tuna fish baaa-aack!"

He started to sob again, launching himself at her, and she turned her head to the young Yamamoto. She gave him a weary smile and a nod, dismissing him, and the knight bowed once more before leaving.

Sir Yamamoto wasn't really sure how he got pulled into this quest (somewhere, Sir Squalo cackled in vindictive glee), but his honor wouldn't let him leave the issue. Tsunayoshi was his prince, after all, and he had heard tales of his kindness and generosity, though the stories of his more pathetic qualities used to be more prevalent in his younger years.

There were stories said of how the dragon had kidnapped him, taken by his large and fair heart, keeping the prince all to himself. The selfish dragon hoarded Prince Tsuna away as his most favorite piece of treasure, dragging him all up around the country. Yamamoto might not have known him personally, but he wasn't quite willing to leave his prince in the hands of a monster.

Meanwhile, back at the throne room, Queen Nana mused on the letter she would send to her son after she comforted her husband. She was sure he and Reborn would be just fine and she smiled.

A brave and noble knight went on a journey to rescue the lovely princess…

.

After a long and arduous quest, Sir Yamamoto finally managed to track down Reborn the dragon, and Prince Tsunayoshi to a nice and cozy little inn on the other side of the country. It… didn't seem like the kind of place a dragon would hide away in, but the trail ended up here. The town's citizens seemed pretty sure, although they seemed strangely nonchalant about having a dragon in their midst.

Tired and hungry, Sir Yamamoto tentatively knocked on the door the inn keeper had directed him to. After a moment, the door creaked open, revealing a shorter boyish man with great resemblance to Queen Nana.

"Prince Tsunayoshi?" he asked and the other man nodded cautiously. The knight smiled. "Great! I was afraid I got the wrong room number. Your father asked me to come and rescue you."

Prince Tsunayoshi rolled his eyes with a groan and opened the door wider. "Yeah, you and the hundred others," he muttered, and then louder, "I knew you were coming. Mother sent me a letter."

Yamamoto blinked. That wasn't the reaction he had expected.

He jerked at the sound of a menacing growl, and suddenly, a blur of silver and green lunged at his boots.

"Hayato, no!" Prince Tsunayoshi yelled trying to drag the vicious looking dog off of the knight's feet. It was a pretty looking mutt with silver fur and bright green eyes. Yamamoto grinned.

"Aww," he said, leaning down to pet the large dog. The dog clamped his jaws on his gloved hand and growled lowly with narrowed eyes. He grinned wider, using his other hand to scratch him behind the ears.

"Sorry," Tsunayoshi apologized awkwardly. "Hayato is really protective." He dragged the animal away with a "bad boy, Hayato, bad!"

Sir Yamamoto shrugged with a nonchalant laugh, and then he remembered how the quest was supposed to go.

"Whoops," he cleared his throat, drawing out his sword and kneeling, "ahem. My Prince! I am Sir Takeshi of the most Noble House of Yamamoto! I have come to Rescue you from the Evil and Most Dastardly Dragon Reborn!"

Awkward silence. Even Hayato had stopped growling.

"That's… great…" Tsunayoshi tried with wide eyes. He shook his head. "No. No, actually not great. There's been a little bit of a misunderstanding here." He grimaced, pulling Yamamoto back up to his feet. "Don't do that. That's, uh, that's weird. There, up you go." He sighed at his look of confusion. "Just call me Tsuna. Please."

"Oi Tsuna, what's with all the racket?" Another man with dark eyes and spiked hair entered the room. He was pleasing to look at, aesthetically, with wide shoulders and a rather roguish expression. He was also very naked. If dogs could look scandalized, Hayato certainly was pulling it off well. Yamamoto wondered where he should look without coming off as being rude.

"Reborn!" Tsuna screeched, rushing over and throwing a cloak over him. Yamamoto blinked.

"Reborn…?" he repeated, surprised. He scrutinized the man more closely. Looking closer, he noticed the small barely noticeable scales scattered along the man's body and up his neck. His eyes were too dark and cat-like for a human's, and when he grinned, his teeth were fanged.

"Sorry, sorry!" Tsuna apologized again with a harried look. "Shouichi still hasn't come up with a spell that lets Reborn keep his clothes when transforming." He glared at the dragon. "Have some propriety!"

Yamamoto wondered if he was dreaming. Since when did a dragon have transformation magic?!

Reborn laughed gruffly, wrapping his arms around the shorter man and resting his chin on top of his head (toeing Hayato away when the dog lunged at him in fury). "And who's this?" he asked, looking at the other male, eyes flashing dangerously. There was a strange kind of accent to his voice. "Another knight?" They stared at each other.

"…. I'm honestly really kind of confused right now," Yamamoto admitted.

.

However, when the knight found the princess, she did not want to be rescued, and had instead, fallen in love with the dragon.

.

A Fairy-Tale of Two Idiots

It all started on Prince Tsuna's sixth birthday celebration. At the party, the shy child had approached his father, tugging on the hand of an older boy. Prince Mukuro, King Iemitsu had realized. The eight year old boy had arrived from Kokuyo kingdom as part of their alliance.

"Aw," he cooed, leaning down so he was face-to-face with the two children. "Did you make a new friend, Tsu-tsu?" He smiled goofily at his son.

"Un," his son affirmed, showing their clasped hands. "Rokurodo Mu-muko-muku –"

"Rokudo Mukuro," Prince Mukuro corrected, with a well-hidden wince at the mangled pronunciation of his name.

Tsuna nodded. "Muku," he decided and Iemitsu resisted the urge to giggle at his son's adorableness. His smile widened.

"Making friends already," he praised happily. "Are you having fun?"

This time, it was Prince Mukuro who nodded. "A lot of fun," he purred out in a tone that was completely inappropriate for his age.

"Fun," Tsunayoshi echoed obliviously.

Prince Mukuro's strange heterochromic eyes gleamed in an unnatural way. King Iemitsu stilled and the wheels in his mind started to whir suspiciously as his previous happiness turned to caution. His intuition was screaming at him – not the Vongola's famed intuition. No, this was the intuition every father was wired with. The kid smirked and took his hand out of Tsuna's to wrap it around the younger boy's body and bring him closer to himself.

"Playing house," the little prince chirped with a small smile at his older companion.

"Tsunayoshi will make a lovely bride," Mukuro – no, the little demon, added. He stared directly into the king's eyes. A challenge. "I've already proposed and he said yes. It's a good thing, strengthening ties between two kingdoms, kufufufu." His smirk turned contemptuous at the Vongola king as his grip on Tsuna tightened, very possessively.

King Iemitsu's smile slowly dropped completely as he looked between the two.

That was when he realized just how cute his son was (and for the first time in his life, cursed Nana's genes).

It didn't end there.

A year later, Prince Kyouya arrived from Namimori kingdom with his father to discuss an alliance. When the two children were introduced to each other, he took one glance at the younger who was trying to hide behind Iemitsu's legs, and tugged at his father's robes.

"Father," he said seriously and with deadpan expression. He pointed at Tsuna who flinched. "The little herbivore over there will make a good mate. A union between us will be extremely beneficial for both families and kingdoms." Iemitsu jerked back, horrified, and Nana laughed behind her hand. After a while, he started to laugh nervously too.

"Ah, children will be children," he said, perhaps a little hysterically. (Because what the hell kid, what the hell)

But the king of Namimori was looking at Tsuna thoughtfully.

And Iemitsu thought, oh fuck.

Mukuro, who had taken to visiting Vongola kingdom – and by extension, Tsuna – did not take the arrival of Kyouya well.

Their epic fight during Tsunayoshi's seventh birthday party became the stuff of legends. Literally. There were songs written about it, embellished highly, but songs nonetheless. The fight completely destroyed the ballroom, almost starting several wars, and only Tsuna's tears stopped the whole madness.

Then there was Lady Haru who had taken a particular fancy to Tsuna. This is not too bad, Iemitsu had thought. He wouldn't have to beat off his suitors off with a stick or worse. A girl! Wonderful! Of course, he was proven wrong.

Lady Haru proved that just because she was female, she wasn't any less than the male suitors. She was utterly vicious in the fights over Tsuna's attention.

Over the years and much to King Iemitsu's dismay, his son's suitors did not end there, though most of them didn't last long thanks to Prince Mukuro and Kyouya and Lady Haru. But once Tsuna turned eleven, things became worse. Sir Dino, in particular, might have acted like a good brother, but Iemitsu knew just what was going on behind that innocent act of his.

One morning during breakfast, to Iemitsu and Nana's surprise, young Duke Xanxus came up to them with a slightly pink face and gruffly asked if he could marry Tsuna once he became of age. Xanxus – infamous for his uncontrollable rage and father issues – asked for permission to marry Tsuna.

Iemitsu dropped his spoon. "Wha-wha-wha," he gibbered. Nana held his hand consolingly.

"If Tsuna loves you and you love him, I don't see why not," she said to Xanxus with a cheerful smile. His face turned a darker red.

"B-but you're cousins!" Iemitsu finally managed to get out.

"Adopted," the duke snapped, eyes narrowing. "And distant cousins. And royals marry each other all the time!"

"Tsuna's twelve. You're seventeen." Iemitsu continued to weakly protest.

"I can wait. The age difference is only five years – not as bad as some of the other trash panting after the little brat." He sneered.

That was when the king had an idea. Perhaps Tsuna's suitors will kill each other, he thought hopefully, if I set them against one another.

He didn't count on the love-induced resilience and desperation that Tsuna's suitors had. And although part of his plan worked, he didn't think his castle could take much more damage from their fights (speaking of which – why was it always his castle being destroyed, those damned freeloaders).

And then there was Byakuran.

"THAT'S IT," King Iemitsu roared. "I've had enough of those perverted bastards trying to lay a hand on my son!" The latest stunt almost had him throwing all politics aside and just assassinating all of them. Particularly Byakuran.

"Tsuna can choose for himself of whom to love," Nana tried to reason, but Iemitsu was in a situation of every father's worst nightmare. He was beyond reason.

"I need a tower," he muttered while pacing in their bedroom. "A tall tower – no, a castle with a tower."

Nana twitched. "Honey," she warned. "Don't be ridiculous."

A few days after Prince Tsunayoshi's fourteenth birthday, he was sent to live away in a tower of a hastily built castle. After the first day when his suitors tried to kidnap him, Iemitsu decided he needed a stronger deterrent.

Thus, Reborn was hired to guard the castle. (It was also around this time that he slept in a separate bedroom from Nana for a month)

A good king, Iemitsu was, but when it came to Tsuna and his wife, he was really, really single-minded.

Reborn was a huge dragon with smoky scales and eyes as black as pitch. The stories claimed that he razed thousands of villages and loved the taste of human flesh and that he could turn into a human man who kidnapped princesses for ransom.

Only of that was true.

It took a while to convince him, but Iemitsu promised him reign of the whole castle and his own hoard if he would guard his son.

Reborn might have been smart and cunning, but he was a dragon and like all dragons, he loved a good hoard full of treasure and a nice drafty castle to put said hoard, not to mention fighting off knights which was always fun. And his own princess. Well, prince, but details – it elevated his status among dragons.

Prince Tsunayoshi, meanwhile, took the time to revel in the peace and quiet and sighed in relief. He also cursed his father silently in his head. The lack of explosions was nice, but it really got lonely after a while. Also, did he really expect him to live in only the tower? Fuck that. He was taking over the castle, dragon or no dragon.

"The king is kind of weird," the dragon said one day. It was a sunny day outside, and they were both in the courtyard – one lying down and lazily soaking in the sunlight, and the other sitting under a tree next to him and reading a book.

Tsuna started (it was the first time Reborn spoke to him) and then he shrugged. He had that long suffering look of a young man who was really done with all of this shit. "Yeah, I know," he sighed. "But he's my father." A tentative smile curled on his lips and he put his book down. "We never really got introduced to each other, did we. You can call me Tsuna."

The dragon snorted lazily and gave out his own name.

"It's a nice name," Tsunayoshi said politely. "Reborn. I like it. Uh, I apologize if I offend you, but do you really eat humans?"

"Pfft, don't be stupid. As if I would eat one of you mud monkeys – ugh. Bleh." Reborn visibly made a face, which looked strange on a dragon. Tsuna laughed.

"That's reassuring. Well, Reborn, thank you for protecting me."

Reborn peered at him with one eye before snorting again and closing his eyes. "Humph, well. That Byakuran is bad news anyways. Gives me the jeevies."

Reborn was a (sadistically) good protector and a (sadistically) good teacher. Apparently, after a 'rescue' attempt by one of his suitors after he was out finding food, he decided enough was enough and started to teach Tsuna how to better protect himself.

Then stuff happened and. Well.

Three years later, King Iemitsu arrived at Tsuna's castle on one of his visits to find the surprise of his lifetime.

"What do you mean you don't want to come home?!" he yelped at his son who was calmly drinking some tea. They were in one of the smaller, mainly used kitchens.

Tsuna frowned. "Don't yell, it's rude," he scolded and gestured to the tea kettle. "Here have some. Chamomile is very soothing."

"Oh thank you – wait, stop distracting me. You're seventeen years old now; you are finally strong enough to protect yourself, thanks to Reborn. You can finally choose who to marry without those damn bastards taking your innocence!" He wailed the last part, clutching at his graying hair. Not that he was letting anyone near Tsuna. (If he knew just how Tsuna's 'innocence' was taken and very thoroughly…)

Poor father, Tsuna thought distantly. Chasing away all those suitors must have really put a stress on him. "Yes, but it's fine now. It's like you said, I can choose who I love and I've already chosen."

Iemitsu froze. "What?" he asked, panicked. "What? What? How? When?"

Tsuna poured himself some more tea and considered his next words. An idea was forming. A vindictive, passive-aggressive idea. "Huh," he finally said. "Mother must have forgotten to tell you." He raised his head to smile cheerfully at the king. "Reborn and I have decided to get married once I turn twenty-one. It's a respectable age, you know. Plus, it's my coming of age." He sipped his tea, pretending not to notice the rapid paling of his father.

Perfect timing as always, Reborn popped into the kitchen that moment, shirtless, asking for snacks. Iemitsu made a small noise that resembled that of a dying animal when Reborn took notice of the king. They stared awkwardly at each other. He coughed.

"Your Majesty," he greeted with a half-assed bow. He slowly started to shuffle back out the door.

Iemitsu stood up, knocking his chair back, making Tsuna wince at the sudden scraping noise. He pointed at Reborn who stopped moving, making indecipherable sounds. "Who-who-who the hell are you?!" he finally sputtered out.

Tsuna, serene, said, "Don't be ridiculous, papa. That's Reborn." Perhaps Reborn's sadistic traits were rubbing off of him… then again, his father kind of deserved it for leaving him alone for three years with only a dragon for company.

"Impossible!" Iemitsu shouted. "Reborn's a dragon."

"Dragons can turn into humans depending on their strength," Tsuna said brightly before Reborn could explain himself. "And Reborn's pretty strong. Really strong. It was a wonderful decision to make him my tutor and guard, papa." He paused and glanced at Reborn's crotch. And beamed. "He taught me many things."

Reborn stared at him in mute betrayal. Iemitsu was already turning an unhealthy purple. His son – his chastity - He took a deep breath.

"BLACK MAGIC," he howled and drew his sword. "I'LL KILL YOU. YOU TRAITOR. YOU PERVERT."

Reborn breathed fire into his face, before turning tail and running out the door.

It wasn't as if he was scared or wasn't strong enough to defeat the king. He just didn't want to hurt him too badly or Tsuna would make him sleep outside for weeks.

Meanwhile, Tsuna smiled into his tea cup. Reborn would probably punish him later, but he would enjoy his revenge for now. Revenge on his father for leaving him alone. And, he grimaced as his hips ached in pain, revenge on Reborn for being such a horny bastard.

Unfortunately, Iemitsu remained convinced that Reborn was some dragon sorcerer using black magic to bewitch Tsuna into some twisted Stockholm Syndrome-esque relationship. It didn't matter that although dragons were born of magic, they were incapable of using it, or that their relationship came about in a gradual and inevitable way.

That was where their troubles started.

The king put out a bounty on Reborn's head and all these knights started showing up on Tsuna's doorstep with the mistaken notion of 'rescuing' him. At first, a polite word and sharp smile (and maybe some dragon fire) was enough to send them on their way but then some of them started to be a little….persistent.

During one of Reborn's outings to hunt for some dinner, one particular knight had backed Tsuna into a stone wall.

"Come on," he wheedled with a lecherous grin. He leaned in closer to his face. "We could have soo much fun," he cooed. He could have been called handsome if it weren't for the way he was trying to feel Tsuna up.

Tsuna cringed away, trying not to smell the other guy's putrid breath (because ew, what did he eat), and was just about to kick him hard between his legs when a blur smashed the guy in the back of his head and into the wall. He slumped to the ground, completely knocked out. Tsuna blinked at the tonfa sitting innocently on the ground.

"Tch," a very familiar voice said. "What a particularly dumb herbivore." Prince Kyouya leaned down and picked his tonfa up.

"Hibari, what are you doing here?" Tsuna asked surprised, but not ungratefully. Considering that the last time was three years ago with Reborn breathing fire at him…

The older prince averted his eyes and Tsuna noticed the horse with a pack behind him. "I've decided to stay here for a while," he said coldly. Tsuna sighed.

"You didn't have to worry about me," he guessed (correctly). Kyouya's lips thinned and he opened his mouth to retort when –

"Kufufu, how delightful, a reunion!" Contrary to his words, Mukuro sounded anything but delighted.

Mukuro had arrived on foot, with another horse with a pack. The two princes glared at each other and tension spiked. "What are you doing here," Kyouya hissed, grip tightening on his tonfa. Mukuro held his trident up in warning.

"I thought I'd visit my Tsunayoshi, especially with all the rumors of the dragon," he replied with narrowed eyes and a dangerous grin.

"Tsunaaa, I've come to rescue you!" This time, it was Sir Dino, self-proclaimed older brother, who had arrived with some men with a cheerful grin.

"Where are all of you coming from?!" Tsuna wailed, bemoaning the loss of his peaceful life.

Reborn was not happy.

Back from the hunt, his snout was splattered in red and his mouth was curled up in a snarl, revealing blood soaked pointy teeth. The blood lust was practically rolling off of him in waves and the two princes and one Sir Dino tensed, hands on their respective weapons.

Then Tsuna bopped Reborn on the nose with a loud smack. "Stop," he scolded, ignoring his dragon's wounded look. He whirled around to the humans and graced them with an unhappy expression. "Put them away!" he snapped, gesturing to their weapons. They reluctantly obeyed. Kyouya, in particular, had a mutinous expression – he hated being ordered around (but it was best to listen to Tsuna once he got that look in his eye or else). Tsunayoshi crossed his arms and glared at them all, his eyes burning a dangerous orange.

"Listen here," he said. "I don't know what my father said, but I've seen the wanted posters and I just want to let you know that I am perfectly safe and happy and so help me god, if you try to do anything funny, I'll rip your heads off."

Dino raised his hand.

"What," Tsuna snarled.

"Does this mean you're still single?" he asked hopefully. The other two gained eager expressions.

Reborn sidled up closer behind Tsuna who was trying not to scream and growled, "He's taken." There was a very obvious smirk in his tone. Haha-losers-I-found-it-first-it's-mine his eyes seemed to say.

All three men looked at him and then at Tsuna with dubious expressions. Then they looked at each other. That's when pandemonium broke out.

Later that night, Tsuna sat on his bed with his face buried in his hands. Reborn, in human form, lay behind him. "My castle," Tsuna whined, voice muffled. "They destroyed my castle. And they have the nerve to freeload off of me! Why can't they just leave!"

"It was only the front wing," Reborn supplied not so helpfully and then petulantly, "And it's my castle too." The prince lifted his face to glare at him.

"Part of it was your fault," he said angrily and threw a pillow at him. Reborn caught it with a smirk.

"Brat," he commented, fondly thinking back to when he used to chase Tsuna around, blowing fire, teaching him how to get stronger to protect himself from perverts. Good times. The boy rolled his eyes and flopped next to him, curling under his arm.

"What am I going to do? I'm going to go crazy at this rate."

Reborn thought for a moment then hopefully, "We could always elope."

Tsuna actually wavered on this, but then he shook his head. "No, mother would skin you alive. She really wants a wedding. And father really will have a heart attack."

"Well, we have four years until your coming of age…" Reborn paused. Tsuna frowned.

"So?"

"And it's been a little boring stuck in this castle all the time."

The prince sat up. "I've already said no eloping –"

"It'll be a date, traveling the world. A very long date."

"…A four year long date?" He sounded dubious.

The dragon gave a very pointy grin. "Exactly."

"Well, what about your treasure?" Tsuna asked, referring to a dragon's instinctual need to have a hoard. "It's not like we can take all of it with us."

At this, Reborn rolled over on his other side, facing away with a mutter. Curiously, his ears seemed to be a little red. Tsuna leaned in, perplexed. After all, he had never really seen the dragon particularly embarrassed. "What was that? I didn't hear what you said."

Reborn grabbed Tsuna, who yelped at the sudden shift, putting him in an awkward head lock. "I said," he hissed, not looking at the younger, "that it doesn't matter. I have you."

Jerking back in surprise, Tsunayoshi stared at the dragon with an awed expression. To Reborn's horror, he actually started to tear up. "Reborn," he choked out. "You do care!" He broke out of his head lock to throw his arms around Reborn's neck, kissing him soundly on the lips. He pressed other fluttery kisses on whatever skin he could reach. Irritated, the dragon pushed him off.

"Well?" he snapped, throwing the conversation back on course.

Tsuna paused in his affections, thinking. "I dunno," he said, biting his lip. "I mean – "

An explosion rocked the castle.

"We leave as soon as the sun rises," he decided with bright smile.

Four years later in an undisclosed inn, and Sir Yamamoto listened to this, fascinated and understanding all at once.

"I forgot I turned twenty-one next month," Tsuna said miserably. He was sitting on the bed with Hayato on his lap who looked as blissful as a dog could be, a complete contrast to Tsuna's own.

"It was fun," Reborn sighed next to him with a disappointed expression. He didn't really want to face Queen Nana and her terrifying smile and frying pan. King Iemitsu also tended to shout really loudly, trying to kill him.

.

The knight, seeing the love between the princess and dragon decided to help things along…

.

"Well, there's a couple weeks," Yamamoto said with a silly grin. "And it's a long journey back to Vongola castle. Besides, I want to hear the stories about the four years you were gone."

Tsuna looked at him in disbelief, before his lips started to slowly curl up in a smile. Reborn also stared thoughtfully, before smirking.

"Well, wouldn't hurt to take a couple detours," he said, standing up. "Start packing."

Tsuna pushed his dog off gently and jumped up, excitedly pushing his belongings back in their bags. "There are a lot of stories to tell!" he said, happily. "Do you want to hear the one about how I found Hayato…?"

Somehow, they made it to the Vongola castle in time for Tsuna's twenty-first birthday. King Iemitsu was not so happy to see Reborn standing sheepishly beside Tsuna, or Sir Yamamoto laughing cheerfully on the other, or even Hayato the dog at Tsuna's feet. All of them were dirty and ruffled looking.

"YOU-" he started, pointing at Reborn first. Queen Nana smiled, placing her hand on top of his.

"Welcome home," she said, ignoring his wails. "Did you have fun?"

"Lots!" Tsuna replied merrily. "Do you want to hear about it?"

Queen Nana hummed over her husband's blubbering. "Go wash up for dinner first, then you can tell me all about it. Oh, Reborn, stay behind will you? We need to have a talk…"

The wedding was just after the coming of age ceremony. There was a lot of crying (mostly on Iemitsu's end) and sulking (for Tsunayoshi's other suitors), but it finished without a hitch (much to Tsuna's relief).

And then there was Byakuran.

"Hey Tsu-na-yo-shi~," the white-haired Gesso king sang with a lecherous grin and snubbing Reborn completely. "What a shame. You would have made a lovely addition to the Gesso kingdom." He sidled up next to him and gave a very obvious grope to his backside.

Tsuna closed his eyes in exasperation. 3…2….1…

"You damn herbivore. I'll bite you to death."

"Kufufufu, I hadn't realized you had a death wish."

"Trash, prepare to die."

"Hahi! Get away from Tsuna!"

All of the pent-up jealousy and frustration that Tsuna's ex-suitors had spilled over against each other. To his eternal embarrassment, King Iemitsu was in the middle of the chaos, screaming on how, "I'm gonna eviscerate each and every one of you perverts!"

Tsuna took a deep breath. He grabbed Reborn's hand who was seething in anger.

"There's the honeymoon. And a couple of years before my father has to step down from the throne and I have to start doing politics," he said mischievously.

Reborn smirked and turned into a dragon right there in the Great Hall.

Laughing and ignoring the curses and screams, Tsunayoshi leaped onto Reborn's scaly back and saluted his father. "See you later!" he called out to the gaping king. As they broke through the ceiling, he made a mental note to send a message for Yamamoto to remember to bring along Hayato later.

Adventures were best shared among friends, after all.

.

.

.

And they lived happily ever after.