"You've been quiet," Reborn grumbled. He jumped up on the balcony railing where Tsuna was looking out at the sand garden below his room. Reborn raised an eyebrow over the fact that it had been turned to mirror-smooth glass. "Did you do that?"

"Ah," Tsuna replied calmly, staring down at it. His reflection looked back up at him, coldly thinking about what it was seeing.

"Everyone was worried about you," Reborn commented in effort to break the silence.

"I saw," he mumbled softly.

"Are you going to tell us what happened?"

"No," Tsuna answered.

"Can you at least tell me why?" Reborn asked grouchily.

"There's nothing to tell," Tsuna replied with a sigh. He leaned down over the railing, finally seeming to relax. "I stopped pulling on the anchor halfway back."

"Why would you do something like that, baka-Tsuna?" Reborn inquired, glad to have finally gotten Tsuna to start talking.

"I needed to think," he said with a sad smile. "I had to decide for myself if I would regret coming back. If I did, then there would have been no point in returning."

""But you came back," Reborn stated. Leon morphed in his hands and he absently pulled out a cloth to clean the pistol-shaped chameleon. Tsuna smiled softly at him for a moment, strangely soothed by such normality.

"I almost didn't," he finally admitted. "I saw how everyone was upset that I was gone, but they were all managing to find their feet again."

"Except for Hotaru," Reborn muttered in understanding.

"No," Tsuna replied with another sad smile. "Hotaru would have been fine, too. There were only four people that were being hurt too badly by my absence, although none of them showed a single tear."

"Who?"

"Se-cr-et," he warned. "But even then, I might not have come back if there hadn't been two other things calling me."

"Am I going to have to prompt you for everything?" Reborn grumbled when Tsuna didn't immediately explain. Tsuna laughed good-naturedly and rubbed a hand through his hair.

"A feeling from Prometheus' Flame and my own selfishness," he answered. "I can't really explain the feeling I got from his Flame, but it was as if I was needed. Truly, absolutely needed for something. As for my own selfishness, I realized that more than people needing me to return, I still wanted to be with everyone. Even if I'm worthless to them, they aren't to me.

"No one thinks you're worthless, Tsuna," Reborn corrected gently.

"I know the value of my existence," he replied quietly. He pressed a hand against his chest over his heart and lost even the trace of the sad smile he'd been wearing. "I'm chained to that now, Reborn. I learned so much by being faced with...with everything. I've also learned that I've been swearing by a false resolution this whole time."

"Eh?"

"I love my Family, Reborn," Tsuna continued painfully, "but my resolution was never to simply protect them. If it had been, I would never have accepted the desire to simply give up. The resolution to protect them was broken the moment that I asked to end the Reckoning, thinking that I was never coming back."

"Then what is your resolution?" Reborn asked curiously.

"Do you remember when I first got control of my Flame?" Tsuna asked in answer. Reborn nodded in sudden understanding.

"You made the resolution to not do things you'd regret," Reborn supplied.

"Exactly. I was blinded once because I believed I regretted my choices, but even then I hadn't truly broken that resolution. Right up until the end of the Reckoning, that oath was never destroyed. I had to be faced with my sins to understand that simple thing, because my sins are part of who I am and I had to truly know myself to be worthy to lead Vongola. A Boss can't understand and lead others if they don't first know themselves."

"So you had to face your sins?" Reborn asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Ah," Tsuna confirmed sadly. "That was another reason I almost didn't come back. I knew that if I came back, I would just end up adding more sins to the scales and I will one day have to pay for all of them in full. I'm pathetic, though. I'm willing to do that because I'm such a selfish person. I love my Family too much, Reborn. I wanted to be with them and laugh with them again, even knowing that I'm going to--"

"It must have been a tough choice," Reborn interrupted. Sensing that Tsuna was on the verge of tears, Reborn decided that a change of focus was in order. "So why did you turn the sand garden into glass?"

"I was testing out my new gloves," he replied. Reborn's eyebrows shot up and Tsuna held out his hand. While he watched, Tsuna's '27' gloves melted down his fingers and morphed into the X-Gloves, with one major alteration. A shadowed dome covered the back of it where Tsuna's seal had once been. It was as if the dome of the Vongola Ring had been enlarged and attached before being held in the smoke of a fire full of impurities. "My Flame has been cut in two, too. I still have the same strength as before, but I can feel that the valve around my inner Flame has been altered. It's like there's a compressor or something that's tapping half of it and making it hard. I was trying to learn to control it, since the pressure is a little unpredictable when I use it."

"How so?" Reborn asked worriedly.

"Hmm," Tsuna mumbled, trying to find a way to explain. Finally he groaned and rubbed his head, disliking the only image that appeared. "It's like when a Lambo used to try to pour himself a glass of juice. He could hold the jug steady and get a even flow for a little while, but then he'd suddenly get overwhelmed and it would spill all over the place. Half of my flame is acting like that now. I can control it for a little while and then it'll just explode. If I hadn't been outside, I probably would have went through a few walls instead of just turning the sand to glass and flying upwards a few stories."

"I hope you weren't doing this alone," Reborn warned.

"I had Chrome here with me," Tsuna smiled. "Although I think Mukuro just wanted to check up on me."

"Its nice to know that you aren't always reckless," Reborn grinned.

"That's not really true," Tsuna replied sheepishly. "I was planning on doing it alone. She just happened to come along and cover my accident at the right time so no one saw." Ducking a Leon-Hammer aimed for his head, Tsuna laughingly headed for the door. "I'll see you later, Reborn. They're throwing a Resurrection party for me down at the Club."

"I'll join you later," Reborn promised.

"Hey, Reborn," Tsuna mumbled, pausing at the door. "Promise me something."

"What's that?"

"The next time I die," he replied sadly, "Don't be one of the people that hides their pain. You might be a top-hitman, but you're human, too."

"Then don't die," Reborn answered simply, promising nothing. Tsuna shook his head to himself and quietly closed the door behind him, leaving Reborn to hide his sad smile from no one.


Author's notes: Yes, we're going to end the fun, fun, fun here! Flames and Family III is going to pick right back up after this, (literally, right after this...) so don't cry! For my own sanity (and because my husband has started gaping every time I tell him the chapter number) we're going to go on to yet another sequel!

If you're happy and you know it...give a review...
If you're happy and you know it...give a review...

Seriously, people! I won't know what to focus on in the third part unless you tell me!

More fluffy, normal, day-to-day Family love?
More bloody, gore-filled Mafia tasks?
More supernatural fiestas?
More Mafia meets Normality?
More emotional trauma and recovery?
More Tsuna in Italy?
More Tsuna in Japan?
More Tsuna doing gymnastics? (giggle)
More Hotaru?
More Toshi?

More what...?...!

Make it long and make it painfully detailed! LOL I know what I like, but I want to know what you want!

Also, thank you for everyone that reviewed! I'd list all your names, but that would probably fill up a chapter to itself. Rest assured I have read every single one, though, and I appreciate them to a HARROWING and EXTREME degree!