A/N: i've been getting very lazy so i apologize in advance for my future very scattered updates :) but finals are over so maybe between now and camp (no internet D:) i can try to update more - no promises though! and if some of you are wondering why, i stopped putting up times and places because i'm just really lazy, but if the time and place is very important i'll be sure to add it.

ooooh lookie - a mildly long flashback - at least compared to last time

Disclaimer - KHR would've been much less epic and much more R-rated if i owned it...

Chapter 5:

He couldn't breathe. And despite his best efforts his legs couldn't go any faster. He glanced behind at his pursuers and choked back on a sob. How had this happened?

Today was just another day of preschool. He played with another boy who didn't make fun of him for being girly. What was his name?... Taka...? Take...shi? and spent the rest of the day hiding from the scary boy with the metal things on his arms that kept on saying he would bite people. But then everything went wrong.

It was nearing dusk, and Nana still hadn't picked him up. He stood at the school gates staring at the empty streets and the setting sun. He wanted to go walk home, but mama said that it was dangerous for cute boys like him to walk alone on the streets - so he waited, and waited, and waited.

He heard the car before he saw it. In the deathly silence of the empty street the sound of a car engine was deafening. And when he looked to his left he saw it come into view over the hill in the road. It was a nondescript black luxury car with tinted windows, and it was slowing down.

Tsuna paled, mama warned him about bad people in expensive black cars: 'tsu-chan if you see a black car or a white van stop or slow down near you, run away ok? promise me that you'll run away tsu-chan.' He cautiously took a step back, hesitated, and then turned away, dashing past the school building.

There were the sounds of car doors slamming behind him and yelling in a language he didn't recognize. His fear skyrocketed when he heard the slap of shoes on pavement that was rapidly nearing him.

His breath came in panicked pants and his lungs burned as he ran block after block. He passed a bunch of houses, why weren't the people in them helping him? Tears blurred his vision but he was able to make out the green of a park. Desperately he dashed towards it, maybe he could find a hiding spot and wait the scary men out. He glanced back at them, they were tall and definitely not Japanese, brunette and blond-clearly European. They wore black suits and as the wind blew past them, their jackets fluttered, showing guns holsters. They yelled at him in that language he couldn't understand, but he assumed they meant "stop."

He looked back forward and forced his legs to go faster to get the park where he would hopefully find some safety, it was his last hope. Despite his obvious preoccupation with escape he still had time to wonder - panic - over why he was being chased. He didn't do anything wrong, and mama was nice to everyone. Was it daddy? Daddy was never home, always at work. But why would people chase him because of daddy's work?

He dashed into the park, wildly searching for a hiding spot, but in his search he failed to notice the rapidly approaching men in black. Hearing their footsteps, Tsuna turned, only to see one of them not more than a yard away from him, reaching for his shoulder when

BAM

he dropped down - blood blossoming on his chest, his eyes clouding over - on his knees before falling down face first.

The pursuit of the rest of the group stopped suddenly, warily looking at a point behind Tsuna.

Tsuna -on the other hand- was horrified by the sight that met his eyes, a dead body on the floor and a spreading pool of blood. He blacked up slowly, beginning to turn to continue his mad dash only to bump into the legs of his savior.

He looked up slowly and his eyes widened quite comically at the sight of the hitman.

His. Hair. Was. BLUE...

a very flamboyant neon blue

The man look down at him, grinning

"hey squirt"

The sounds of men running away didn't even register in Tsuna's brain as he stared at the man before him.

His blue hair was spiked in a very natural, messy way. His eyes were ... pink? and he had the biggest grin to top it all off. He wore a simple black trench coat and a black fedora to further cement the mafia image.

A poke on the forehead woke him from his trance.

"Hello? anyone in there squirt?" The blue-haired man joked , placing his gun back into his holster. "Or are my dashing good looks leaving you speechless?"

"HIIIIIIIEEEEE!" Tsuna blinked rapidly to regain his bearings, and blushed, not sure what to do and slightly uncomfortable about the situation in general.

The yet un-named hitman's smile became marginally softer at Tsuna before holding out his hand. "My name is classified but you can call me Indigo-sensei"

Tsuna hesitantly took his hand "Sawada Tsunayoshi, but why 'sensei'" he looked up to lock eyes with merry pink ones.

"Well I would assume because you are now my new student tsu-chan" He straightened, put his hands on his hips and looked down at him "We can't have you being chased by lackeys you know" He paused and frowned, thinking of the reaction Reborn would have if he found out that he planned to teach his future student. "But don't think I'm a nice or easy sensei just because of my handsome face and charming personality tsu-chan"

As he said this Tsuna stared wide-eyed as he swore that the rose that appeared in Indigo's hand came out of nowhere, and there were suspicious sparkles floating around in the air.

Indigo ruffled Tsuna's hair and left, walking into the cover of the trees, raising only his hand in farewell and a "We'll see each other soon."

Tsuna could only stare at his back with a rose in his small hands.

Sawada Tsunayoshi was not having a good day. Actually, when was the last time he had a good day? He looked back at his memories of the recent month under the tutelage of Reborn... nope not one good day there.

He focused harder, Spartan training- well he was used to that, stalking in the form of a "right-hand," the odd way the Takeshi seemed to attach himself to him, nii-san's constant pestering, and the odd presence that had been following him recently.

He was slightly suspicious about the odd presence because there was a suspicious amount of "herbivores" and "I'll bite you to deaths" recently - likely due to this "odd presence."

"Dame-Tsuna..."

"HIIIIIIEEEEE! g-gomen Reborn... I just drifted off for a second..."

BAM

"No excuses dame-Tsuna" Reborn replied with a sadistically amused smile. He "innocently" gazed at the shaking Tsuna and the smoking bullet hole behind the boy.

Tsuna very much wanted to cry 'he's almost as bad as In-' Tsuna frowned at the memories flooding into his brain 'not going there Tsuna, there's nothing I can do about it now'

Before Tsuna could pull himself fully together, and before Reborn could place another bullet into the wall-

"GYAAHAHAHAHA! I LAMBO-SAN IS NOW HERE! DIE REBORN!"

oh dear...

10 minutes later:

"maa-maa Lambo-kun, I'm sure Reborn didn't mean to say that you were lower cla-"

"but I did dame-Tsuna- did you not hear me?"

"Reborn! you didn't help the situation at all!"

Indeed, Reborn's rather cruel comment didn't help Lambo's currently delicate emotional state at all - if anything it only worsened it, a lot.

Already highly battered by the one-sided fight that had taken place in Tsuna's bedroom, Lambo was currently bruised, battered, and crying. Which - rather miraculously - went even higher in volume.

Tsuna couldn't help but feel great pity for the sobbing mess in the corner - after all, Lambo only wanted attention, there was no reason to degrade him to this level. Really, Reborn was too cruel sometimes.

" Oi, dame-Tsuna what's the answer to question 5?"

Tsuna bit his lip and cautiously glanced over at the dark corner currently occupied by Lambo. Should he...

Reborn cocked his gun - "if you don't answer in the next 6 seconds, you better run for your life"

That comment only gave Tsuna the resolve to go through his rather poorly thought out and spur of the moment plan. Flinching slightly he dashed to Lambo's corner, lifted the sobbing and shaking mass into his arms and sprinted for the door. Inside he was already sobbing himself: 'Reborn's gonna kill me' Tsuna knew very well that Reborn had no qualms about killing him - especially since he had disobeyed orders. The only hope the two had at escaping alive was the shock Reborn from following the two of them.

"THE ANSWER IS CHOICE TWOOOOOO!"

Reborn - who had been about to chase after the two and reign hell on both - stopped abruptly. 'oooh? that was correct, and it has been only 5 seconds... hmph I'll let them go this time'

He always knew he was different from the people around him - he was special. Even his parents - who loved him despite being poor and not being able to provide much for him - were different, no matter how much he cared for them and how much they loved him. But it wasn't until he was five that he discovered what was so different about him.

"Kill the brat! We can't have any witnesses!"

"Run Fiorenzo!"

BAM

"Ma- mama... I'LL KILL YOOOUUU!"

The sky flames shot from the hands of the small child, engulfing the screaming criminals until they were little more than ashes. The child slowly sank to the floor, staring at his hands in horror before what had transpired caught up to him. Tears streamed down his face as he soundlessly sobbed. All around him the place he called home was in shambles, his parent's bodies cooling on the floor with bullet holes in their chests. And the criminals that had killed them were ashes on the floor, and the space around them scorched. He stayed like this for several more minutes before a hand came into his vision. He sharply looked up - expecting to see another associate of the criminals here to kill him, but instead met pink eyes.

"Hello Fiorenzo, I'm Indigo, would you like to come with me?"

Fiorenzo never liked sharing. As a child he never had anything he could call his own, as such when he finally got something that was his - he became very protective and threatened. This didn't only apply to objects - he was just as possessive when it came to the people in his life.

That hadn't changed even in his teen and adult years. If he declared something as his, it stayed his. And that had been true for a long time - until that brat came along.

He and his mentor had been together for three years before Indigo found his ideal student - Tsuna.

Fiorenzo knew very well that Indigo tried to treat both equally, but he also knew that he always liked Tsuna more than him. Tsuna was more lively, cheerful, powerful. And according to Indigo, he could well become the next head of the Vongola family.

And then Indigo was taken from the both of them.

He clenched his fist, causing the passersby on the street to look at him with a mixture of awe and terror. He gritted his teeth, scowling. He swore that no matter what he would take revenge for what happened. That became his goal for the last three years, constant training, and finding any leads possible. But before he could go he had to remove all weakness, including his ever-present insecurity when it came to his fellow student: that no matter what he did, he could never defeat the favorite student of his teacher.

But that was over now.

Tsuna looked down at the toddler that was holding his hand and slurping up ice cream with a sweatdrop.

The reason he risked his life to help the toddler was due to his sense of pity, as well as his worry that Reborn may have permanently scarred or destroyed all sense of confidence in the boy. But... nothing really prepared him for what happened the instant they were out of the danger zone.

"GYAHAHAHAHA! REBORN IS PROBABLY COWERING BEFORE THE GREAT LAMBO-SAN!"

Tsuna decided not to mention the fact that Lambo was the one cowering before the great Reborn three minutes ago. But really... he was beginning to understand why Reborn so adamantly refused to pay any attention to the boy. Lambo didn't thank him like he somewhat expected, but instead deigned Tsuna as his servant and ordered him to buy him ice cream. 'Brat'

But he didn't really expect a hitman from the Bovino family to be like this... or perhaps he should've.

He was disturbed from his mental pondering on the Bovino family when he heard the blubbering of Lambo ahead of him.

"And what does a brat in a cow suit want by dumping ice cream me?"

Tsuna gazed at the scene ahead of him. It was clear that Lambo wasn't looking where he was going and spilled his ice cream onto the pants of the man before him. The intimidating man before him was tall, about six feet and had tousled brown hair. His eyes were black and his handsome features marred in a twisted scowl. There was something familiar about him...

Indecipherable mumbling was all that was heard from Lambo before the words "Tsuna! HELP ME!"

Tsuna sighed and walked forward, pushing aside his reservations, hoping to calm the other man down. He didn't notice how the man froze at his name and suddenly glanced up at him, only to smirk darkly when he saw his face.

"Well lookie here, it's brat number one, just who I've been looking for" the man murmured darkly. Tsuna froze and looked at him warily.

"Do I know you from somewhere?" he asked as the feeling of familiarity grew within him, and from what he could tell, it was not a good type of familiarity. The other man's smirk only grew.

"Ohhh? it looks like the Tuna fish has forgotten me? perhaps you need a reminder, does 'Indigo-sensei' mean anything to you?" The now identified man looked triumphant at the realization in Tsuna's eyes and the paling of his face.

"Fiorenzo"

AH HA! some real plat has started to form in the form of Fiorenzo the plot device!

and just to inform you the reason i updated was because i was feeling quite guilty for not updating when really nice reviewers showered me with praise... ahhhhh! i am too easily guilt-tripped!

And tell me what you think of Indigo-sensei and Fiorenzo, love them? hate them?