Disclaimer: If Katekyo Hitman Reborn were mine, I wouldn't need to write fanfics. If any of these songs were mine, I wouldn't be writing fanfics.

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Claddagh

Hibari Kyouya was always patrolling the halls with a scary gleam in his eyes so Tsuna didn't think twice about it as he darted past the disciplinary committee member on his way to history class. Granted, he always felt nervous doing so – the dark-eyed boy would leap for your throat if he found you breaking the rules, and he always found a rule you were currently breaking. Slowing considerably as not to be scolded for running inside, Tsuna snuck a peek back at Hibari to make sure the third year wasn't watching him. When the latter didn't turn, Tsuna started to pick up the speed.

"Sawada."

Oh crap. Freezing immediately, Tsuna chastened himself for jumping the gun. Reborn would have shot at him for showing such impatience. Thank heavens Reborn didn't feel like coming to school today. As he turned to face the upperclassman, he patted himself down…shirt tucked, hair relatively combed. Caught running not in dress code…well, even Reborn's training would be less painful.

"Don't run in the hallways."

"Oh, yeah. Sorry." Tsuna caught himself nervously shifting weight from one foot to the other as Hibari walked up to him. As if it wasn't bad enough Hibari was towering over him, but Tsuna knew what the senpai could do. What the hell was Hibari doing anyway? Didn't he have class?

"Are you late?"

There were two ways to answer: no – and you would be punished for running around for no good reason and being idle…yes – and you were punished for being late. Damn Reborn for shooting holes in his clock. Damn Lambo for showing up out of nowhere and demanding he show him where Reborn was. Hell, while he was at it, damn life for making him the 10th generation…

"Answer me, Sawada."

"Um, yes. Sorry." It seemed like he was always apologizing. Mafia boss, he ain't.

"You dropped this." A hand, accustomed to wielding tonfa, curled into a fist jutted toward him. He didn't remember dropping something, but Tsuna held his hand out the same, blinking as a flash of silver fell on his palm. Inspecting it, Tsuna stared at the ring – the crowned heart held by a pair of hands. He had been staring at the ground the entire time but he forgot and looked up and met Hibari's eyes in surprise. "What is it?"

"A ring." Tsuna could hear the sentence finished quietly: Idiot.

"It's not mine," Tsuna said, holding it out to give it back.

"It's yours." The words were grounded out so slowly and menacingly that Tsuna shot the hand back, taking the ring with him. The flash of chain around Hibari's neck led Tsuna's eyes to where it disappeared, holding the Cloud ring. Yes, was stupid, but not entirely dim. "Why are you giving it to me?"

"You'd better get to class or you'll also be getting two detentions," Hibari said icily, boring holes in Tsuna's head.

Resisting the urge to flee, Tsuna managed to squeak out a, "Yes, Hibari-san," before running off to class, ignoring the "No running!" behind him. The press of metal upon skin reminded him he had the ring, which he kept gripped tightly in a fist the whole class. Afterward, as he relaxed his fist, the imprint of the held heart remained in his palm. Kyoko spotted the piece of jewelry from a mile away.

"Sawada-kun! That's a pretty ring!" Holding it up where she snatched it from his hand, Kyoko turned to Tsuna. "Who're you gonna give it to?"

Tsuna, in a fit of bravery, nearly said, "You," but decided it would be extremely stupid. No one in school had a ring like this and if Hibari saw it and found out he had given it away, he would kill him.

"Um, it's mine." He nearly sighed sadly as he said this, but Kyoko continued.

"Who gave it to you then?"

"Um, a friend."

"A friend? A girl friend?" Before Tsuna could rebuke, blushing furiously, Kyoko grabbed his hand. "You gotta wear it then!" Ignoring his unidentifiable gibberish, she forced it on his left index finger. "Now everyone will know you're dating someone," she finished triumphantly.

Dating? Hibari-san? Kyoko-chan, no!

"But-but-but…" Tsuna couldn't choke out words fast enough as Kyoko excused herself to go to her art class. Tsuna sat immobilized in his seat when Gokudera appeared out of nowhere.

"Hey, 10th! What're you doing after…" he trailed off as he noticed the foreign silver object on his boss's finger. "T-tenth! Where did you get that ring?!"

Tsuna blinked. He had never seen Gokudera look so distressed…okay he had; every time he was being friendly to other kids. "Um, someone gave it to me. Why?"

"Do you know what that ring means?!"

"What it means…?" Tsuna glanced at the ring before looking back up to his subordinate's face. "No. What does it mean?"

"Doesn't matter, who gave it to you?" The impatience and haste of the bomb-meister's voice seemed sketchy. Tsuna wondered if Gokudera would pull out dynamite in a situation like this. It was just a measly ring.

"It's an Irish ring," Gokudera explained, sensing Tsuna's confusion. "Who gave it to you?"

"Oh. Hibari-san. He stopped me in the hallway and that's why I was late."

"Hibari?!" Gokudera almost physically wilted. "Why would he do that?"

"I don't know…why? What does it mean?"

"I'm sorry, tenth…I just…I gotta…" Gokudera sprinted out of the classroom with a wail and Tsuna thought he saw a flash of red from under his friend's shirt.

"Wait, Gokudera! Don't blow yourself up!!"

--

"Ciaossu. How was school?"

"It was okay, I guess." Reborn nodded as he returned to polish one of many in his arsenal of guns. Tsuna let his backpack fall on the ground before remembering what Gokudera said moments before he tried to blow the whole school up. It's an Irish ring. "Reborn, you're from Italy, which is where Irish stuff comes from…"

"Ten points for a stupid question." Reborn held the gun up and cocked it. "Have I taught you nothing in geography?"

"Wait!" Holding his hand up frantically (and uselessly) to avoid a bullet, Tsuna flashed the ring. "Do you know what this ring is?"

"Yes. It's a Claddagh ring." Reborn put the gun down and returned to polishing it.

"Oh." Oh, wait, not oh! "What does it mean? Gokudera got all mad when he saw it."

"Who gave it to you?"

"Hibari-san."

Reborn merely nodded. "It means he's pledged his heart to you."

Granted, he was going to trip over the gun anyway, but Tsuna fell over the unusually large gun beside his bed. "What? What does that mean?"

"Tsuna, Tsuna, Tsuna. Do I need to teach everything to you?" Reborn sighed and threw his polishing rag on the carpet, which left a shiny stain. "The ring means he's handed over his heart to you, thus the hearts and the hands. The crown means his undying loyalty, so on and so on. Which is a good thing."

"Why would it be a good thing?" Yes, he, um, liked Kyoko, but his face burned up still the same.

"Because, Tsuna, it means he's going to be a trustworthy subordinate!" Reborn sighed and shook his head. "Honestly, what am I to do with you."

Well, obviously everything having to do with me and other people has to do with the mafia. What did I expect.

But what do I do now?

--

Rush, rush, huff, huff. The cycle of torture never ended. It was bad enough Lambo decided to attack in the middle of the night, effectively ruining the piece of everyone in a ten mile radius, but he was intercepted in the middle of his way to school by Yamamato, who wanted to show him some sort of baseball article or such. It didn't make much sense to him but they lagged on until Yamamato realized the time and raced off, leaving Tsuna behind. Why did he bother.

Hibari was waiting at the gates and the bell was set to ring in…yes, about three seconds. If only by the skin of my gums, I hope I make it! Tsuna couldn't get another tardy or risk a demerit. Hibari actually looked smug as he prepared himself to make the secret mafia boss (questionable) late yet again.

"I got your back, tenth!" Tsuna didn't know if Gokudera meant to throw the bomb to help him or to try and kill Hibari, but all he knew was some dynamite exploded and he was pushed onto school grounds by the force just as the first chime of the bells rang out.

"I'm alive…" Tsuna breathed a sigh of relief. He was off the hook for a couple of minutes. Probably. A hand grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him to his feet. Tsuna gulped as he saw that hand unfortunately belonged to Hibari.

"I'm hoping for that kind of effort tomorrow as well." Oh dear. Would he never be free?

"You're wearing the ring." Tsuna nodded, the ring still on his finger. Reborn said it had something to do with loyalty and stuff…but that's the only reason I'm wearing it. Yep, that's right.

"Um, thank you for giving it to me." Even when the dust cleared, Hibari was a scary person. Even gratitude had a hard time being genuine.

"Just don't be a stupid herbivore about it next time." Tsuna flinched as Hibari raised a hand, expecting a smack, and blinked when the older boy just ruffled his air affectionately. Or…

"You're also out of dress code." Hibari smirked as he pointed at Tsuna. The blast had untucked his shirt and he looked like a complete mess. To go off that, his hair was a perfect storm.

"You're kidding me."

"I don't kid people, Sawada."

Wonderful.

Owari

Note: I sincerely apologize if I have gotten any facts wrong. I discovered Hitman through doujinshi and I've only read up to chapter…11. but I felt like writing a 1827 fanfiction. And my new year's resolution is to make my uke's not traditionally uke-like. So there was not much fluffiness. Feel free to flame me, I deserve it for not reading further before I wrote this.