Tsuna, as it turns out, managed to drift off to sleep on the couch after Hibari left – he guessed coughing up blood did that to a person. He woke up at some pointing he afternoon to find his old shirt neatly folded and clean on one of the tables. At this point he saw little reason to return to class – if anything it was likely to incur the wrath of the disciplinary Committee, so instead he reached into his backpack and pulled out one of his notebooks, writing a short and concise letter saying thank you to Hibari and explaining that he had chosen to head back school where his medicine was.

Of course he didn't actually go back to his house – Nana would be worried about him leaving school an hour early – instead he chose to go back to the hospital. The same nurse as earlier smiled at him and let him through, where he sat down next to Byakuran.

"Okay, so, we have a problem. My body isn't able to withstand Dying Will flames. I'm not really sure why – it just isn't. I mean, I just activated them enough to speedwalk and that took me out. I don't plan to get wrapped up into the whole mafia mess here, but if we're honest at some point I'll probably get into the situation where I'll need to defend myself using flames, and I have no idea how I'd do that without killing myself."

The silent beeping of the room was his only response.

"Okay, fine, I also brought you these." Tsuna withdrew a bag of mini marshmallows, opened it, and placed in on Byakuran's nightstand. "I know that you those extra big puffy ones, but if you wake up I doubt you'll be able to swallow those without choking – you dying from marshmallows is not going to either of us any good." Tsuna Byakuran's forehead – it was moderately scary to see the boy looking so withered. "I'll see you… I'll be seeing you. Wish me luck, Reborn starts his tutoring today."

Tsuna could have sworn he say Byakuran's heartbeat rise just a bit – but it might have also been wishful thinking.

Time to face his house.

oOo

Ieyasu slumped through the door, tossing his backpack onto the couch and rolling his shoulders slightly, glad to have the weight finally off.

"I'm home Mama!" He called as he walked into the kitchen, where his mother was…. Making an alarming amount of food. He paused. "Mama… what's the occasion? What happened? Is some sort of surprise guest going to walk through that door, cuz last time that happened it was that creepy lady you met at the supermarket and I swear if she's back I'm moving out-"

"Don't be silly. I've noticed that your grades have been slacking recently," Ieyasu shrugged at that - there was no denying he had been slacking off recently. "...I decided to get you a home tutor!"

"...a what?"

"A home tutor to help you with your studies. A flier came in the mail the other day and I thought it was just perfect for you!"

"Kaa-san, it's not that I don't appreciate it, but… how much does this cost?" His mind flashed to his younger twin's medical expenses, a list that went on far too long.

"All he wants in a place to sleep and food to eat, I'll just cook for four like when your dad's home!" Ieyasu resisted mentioning that the last time his dad was home was a long time ago.

"Well… I guess it's okay then. Thank you mama for watching out for me." Ieyasu gave his mom a quick peck on the cheek.

"Oh, Ieyasu, have you seen Tsuna? He usually gets' home from school before you do." I tremor of panic rumbled in Ieyasu's chest, his mind instantly flashing to all the possibly nasty reasons why Tsuna wouldn't be home yet, but before he could question further the sound of the doorbell rang through the house.

"I'll go get it." He tried to push his worries about his brother away for now and opened the door. "Huh, is… no one there? Did we seriously get doorbell ditched again?"

"Ciassou." His head shot down to see the… baby? Yup, it was definitely a baby wearing a suit, a fedora, a a bright yellow pacifier, smiling up at him and waving.

"Hey Kaa-san, a little kids at the door. I think he's lost."

"My name is Reborn," The baby jumped up and hit Ieyasu in the head with his foot, landing effortlessly on the floor while Ieyasu topped to the ground. "...and I am your home tutor."

"Kaa-san I'm… home…" At that exact moment Tsuna entered the room.

oOo

Tsuna took one look at the scene and his face paled. Crap. He was not prepared to deal with Roborn - a Reborn who had not personal connection to him and undoubtedly had already been told that he was worthless as the Vongola heir, and therefore should be ignored (he couldn't use flames for goodness sakes, Tsuna actually would agree with such an assessment)

Reborn leaped at Tsuna and, emmitting a shriek, Tsuna ducked, putting his hands protectively over his head.

"P-please don't hurt me." Tsuna said as he turned and saw Reborn's eyes assessing him.

"Reborn, you're my tutor, right? Well… let's talk about my tutoring in my room." Ieyasu rose from the ground, gingerly rubbing his forehead. It was one of the first times Tsuna got a real good look at his brother. He really did look a lot like his dad, and his hair was the same golden color as Primo's had been. Reborn was quiet for a moment.

"You're right, I have something very important to discuss with you." Tsuna made eye contact with Ieyasu as they left the room, mouthing the words 'thank you.' Ieyasu gave a shrug, like he didn't care, and left with Reborn.

"He seems nice." Nana cooed and Tsuna gave her a smile.

"I think he'll be a great influence on Ieyasu-nii." Undoubtedly right now he was getting the mafia version of 'the talk', aka telling your child about the aforementioned mafia. Tsuna smiled and went into the kitchen to help her set up dinner. Reborn took Ieyasu out for a skills assessment, so it was just Nana and Tsuna for dinner, and after helping to clear the dishes and set aside a little bit of everything for both Ieyasu and Reborn when they got back, Tsuna excused himself to his room.

He laid in his bed for a moment, took a deep breath, and cried.

He cried because he was scared. Because if he didn't succeed here his friends were better off dead. Because Reborn didn't know him, and he meant nothing to Reborn here. Byakuran was too sick to help. His flames might as well be gone. And he was so, so afraid.

At some point he drifted off into sleep.

"Tsu-chan~" Tsuna opened his eyes to find himself lying down in the grassy field again, Byakuran hovering over him.

"W-what? Byakuran? I'm back here?"

"Yup~ I brought you back here. Don't worry, you won't come here everytime you go to sleep. In fact, I'll probably only bring you here if I really need to talk to you, cuz dang," Byakuran wiper his brow, which was trickling sweat. "It's hard not to overexpose your body to my flames just by talking to you."

"Yeah… Byakuran that's going to become a problem pretty quick." Byakuran nodded.

"I know, I was mulling it over, and I think I have an idea. Part of how the Arcobaleno curse works is it plays on the fact that it adjusts your flame output to your body. That's why the Arcobaleno are babies - when you're an infant your body can contain flames the least, although usually they're non-existent when you're that young."

"Your plan isn't going to be to turn me into a baby, is it?"

"No, Tsu-chan, you're so silly~ My plan is to find a way to share a section of the the Arcobaleno curse with you, so your flames will be forced to not overpower your body. Don't worry, I'll try to make it an object you can take on and off, in case you ever need to go full power on something, although that probably would kill you on the spot, so try not to get into a situation where you'd have to do that."

"Byakuran, you know a lot about the curse of the rainbow." Byakuran's eyes suddenly became downcast.

"I… I know a lot about each section of the Tri-ni-sette. I had to for… you know." Tsuna's mind flashed to the future, to the Byakuran who had been so thirsty to power.

"Yeah… I know."

"I'll catch ya on the flip side, Tsu-chan."

Tsuna woke up in his room, staring at the ceiling and thinking.

oOo

Tsuna went for a walk that morning, sleep having left him alone with his thoughts, and he figured he might as well make somewhat of an effort to get his body back into the shape he was used to. On his was towards the door his hyper intuition sparked and he whirled around to see Reborn sitting on the countertop.

"H-hi Reborn-san." Tsuna said tentatively. Reborn looked hsi over.

"Ciaossu, Tsunayoshi." His black eyes unnerved Tsuna, the intensity of them crushing him. There was silence for a while before Reborn spoke up. "I'm training your brother. He will become the next boss of a mafia."

"I… how… when…" Tsuna attempted to make his face look somewhat surprised, but he could tell Reborn wasn't going for it.

"You won't have a place in this world your brother is entering." Reborn said, and Tsuna could tell he was gauging his reaction. Reborn was interrogating him, testing him, evaluating him based on his responses.

"I think I'll be okay with that. I have a lot of… homework right now. And I'm sure you'll take care of Ieyasu." Tsuna hurried out the door after that, and shuddered once he was out of Reborn's line of sight. He had never been on the receiving end of one of Reborn's stare downs and now he knew why they were so effective.

He began to walk and try to shrug off the uncomfortable feeling that was crawling all of his skin. Reflecting back, what happened next was quite poetic. In front of him he could see the sun peaking up of the horizon, just barely beginning to lighten up the world, and it was at that moment that Tsuna noticed the figure running towards him.

"EXTREMELY GOOD MORNING!" Tsuna simply couldn't resist the smile that broke out on his face as his gaze landed on the familiar boy.

"Good morning." Ryohei stopped his run. Tsuna recalled Ryohei mentioning offhandedly before that it was rare for anyone to welcome him back in the mornings (saying that it was because they were extremely still asleep)

"I am Sasagawa Ryohei and it is an extreme pleasure to meet you." Ryohei gave him a wide smile.

"I'm Sawada Tsunayoshi - I'm in your sister's class." Ryohei's smile grew brighter - if that was even possible - like it always did when the topic of his sister was brought up. They spent the morning talking and walking around until Tsuna finally said goodbye and headed to school. He thought he caught a glimpse of Hibari, but he couldn't be sure.

The entire day made him smile at the blast from the past. He heard about Ieyasu confessing to Kyoko, the rumblings of the event permeating throughout the entire day. Tsuna didn't go to Ieyasu's match against Mochida (which he won, of course), instead opting to go and visit Byakuran again. Nothing had changed since the last time he was there, and Tsuna just sat next to him and worked on some of his homework, turning on some music that he knew Byakuran enjoyed.

It was pleasant, just what he needed in order to prepare himself for the Smoking Bomb that would be arriving soon.

oOo

Please tell me your thoughts! What did you like? What did you dislike? Headcanons? Reviews are what keep me typing! Thank you so much for reading!