Thank you for waiting paciently for his chapter, I hope you do enjoy reading it and thank you for all the favourites! And thank you Sora no hono KHR for reviewing, I appreciate it very much! I hope you enjoy this chapter and soon (a few more chapters) we all will know what is the terrible secret that Tsuna have been hidding with all his might.

And of course, thank you BeArOcKpRiNEsS for beta-in! I'm really grateful for your help :3

"Speaking in Italian."

"Speaking in Japanese."

'Thoughts.'

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn and its characters, but Amano Akira does.

Chapter Twelve

Fake Smiles

Yamamoto looked at the paper on his hands and frowned. He held the paper closer to him and with a small growl, he banished it away. He looked at Gokudera who was waiting impatiently in front of him with an angry face. The baseball star player gave a carefree smile and laid the paper softly on the table.

"Sorry, I don't understand the meaning of this sentence," he admitted in Italian and then gave out a carefree chuckle.

"Damn you!" Gokudera shouted, losing his self-composure. His left eye blinked and twitched in nervousness which meant that he was at the limit of his patience. "Don't say you don't understand! Try to understand!"

'Gah! Why do I have to tutor this brainless Yamamoto?' Gokudera asked himself, feeling that agreeing to Reborn-san had been his fault.

Gokudera sighed, controlling his anger for the umpteenth time of that day and gave a death stare to Yamamoto who, in result, trembled slightly.

"Listen to me!" The silver-haired lad looked Yamamoto intensely. "Listen to me because I won't repeat it again!"

The Storm Guardian exasperatedly took the paper and began to explain everything that the sword freak would need to know.

"Ah! I understand!" Yamamoto exclaimed happily, "Thank you, Gokudera!"

"Tch."

Yamamoto looked at the paper for a few seconds, glad to finally understand the sentence in Italian. Suddenly, a thought he had wanted to avoid thinking in the past few days flashed in his mind.

"Gokudera…" he called out the other boy who was once again muttering colorful words because of his bad luck, "About Tsuna… Do you think that Tsuna is really hiding something from us?"

He lowered his head when he asked and look at his owned hands that were clenching his knees quite painfully. "I thought so… but, hearing that from the kid that Tsuna is really hiding something from all of us… I don't like it."

Gokudera sent a surprised glare to Yamamoto since the Rain Guardian hadn't expressed any opinion about what Reborn told him. When the hitman explained about whatever big secret Tsuna was hiding, Yamamoto simply remained silent with an unreadable expression as Reborn and Gokudera stared at him. Somehow, Gokudera knew that Yamamoto was feeling guilty for not being able to find what Tsuna was supposedly hiding. Frankly, he felt somewhat the same, but…

"Whatever it is that Juudaime is hiding from us, I believe... no, I'm sure he had a very special reason for him to do so!" Gokudera said confidently and Yamamoto smiled at his friend's antics.

He suddenly remembered something. "That kid must be trying to find out what Tsuna is hiding at the moment, right?"

Gokudera nodded. "Yeah."

It had been four days since Gokudera switched places with Reborn in teaching Italian to Yamamoto and Ryohei, and in those four days, he was also trying to find the secret of the young boss. To give an excuse to Tsuna, Reborn said that the brunet wasn't required to take classes for a while because he had already advanced incredibly in class which wasn't actually a complete lie. He really advanced in learning with the help of Reborn's Spartan methods when they were still staying at the Vongola HQ in Italy.

Now that Reborn was free from teaching, he could look for more clues closely.

Tsuna walked aimlessly around the shopping district of Namimori as he thought of the recent actions that Reborn and his guardians/friends were doing in the last days. He let out a long sigh and messed his fluffy brown hair with his right hand.

'Perhaps... Reborn said something to them.'

He stopped walking in front of a candy store which Kyoko and Haru usually liked to spend their days of 'consideration' once a month and he felt a pain in the chest because once again, he would be doing something that could wipe out the peace of the innocent girls.

He, the current boss of the Vongola Famiglia, had promised before the battle with the Shimon Famiglia to never put them in danger again- and that's what he kept on doing so far. The battles that Tsuna and his guardians experienced in the last two years were all kept in secret from the people who he would never put in the firing line because he could no longer make the same mistake that the future him had caused. He couldn't repeat the error in his timeline, because any small mistakes could be enough to kill them.

The brunet walked away from the store with a sad look in his big brown caramel eyes, but if you look closely, you could see his dying will; his resolution.

'I can't let my friends drop their smiles!' he thought with assurance, 'I just have to wait few more days and I'll be able to solve all the mess before anyone finds it. I can't let them be in danger again. I definitely won't, even if it means I have to hide the truth from everyone until the very end.'

Little did he know that not so far away from him, onyx eyes attentively and curiously watched every expression he made.

Reborn amusedly grumbled, watching the serious look that the boy made. "It's enough of these games because if you still kept the way things are, it'll be too late. Right, Dame-Tsuna?"

Meanwhile, elsewhere in Namimori, three men and a woman were standing around a table full of different papers in a dark room, talking quietly.

"Why don't we just attack already? It had already been more than a month since Tsunayoshi Sawada became the new boss of Vongola!" a man exclaimed. He had light brown hair, eagle-like eyes and a thick aura surrounded him.

"There's a reason for everything, Democrito," a young man retorted with a cold voice and his almost-reddish eyes narrowed as he smirked, "There's no need to hurry. After two months of observing the movements of that child, we know what exactly he will do tomorrow. I know exactly when we have to attack him, and I know he's not completely vulnerable. Yet. Let him be completely broken to the point that he would have nightmares about that."

"But Mr. Cappellari! The other families are starting to get impatient," a woman with short blond hair with slightly covered green eyes said, "This way, we-"

"As I've said, my dear Bianca." Cappellari smirked again. "There's nothing to worry about. I already know when we'll show ourselves."

He walked from the table to a TV screen where they could see Tsuna walking through the shopping district of Namimori. Cappellari looked at the TV screen for a moment before giving a demonic laugh. "Now, about the other families, let them start to get impatient! I don't care! We don't need them anyways."

The only woman of the group gulped nervously. Her boss always did the unnecessary.

"I'll give that boy's life a week and a half," the man continued, "I want you to be ready by then, Democrito."

"I'm always ready whenever you need me," the man called Democrito answered coldly.

The last man who remained silent the whole time watched their discussion quietly before Mr. Cappellari turned to face him.

"Raphael, you'll also accompany him. We cannot give any mercy to that Vongola boy."

"As you wish, Mr. Cappellari," Raphael solemnly said.

"Very soon, that loathsome family will fall by our hands!" Cappellari smirked once again. He passed a hand through his black hair and elegantly put them away from his forehead.

"We, who were once allies of the Vongola before Vongola Settimo cut our ties and mislabelled us as enemies,-" he clenched his fist tightly, causing his nails to cut the palm of his hands and blood ran down on them. "-and I, as the Sixth Stagnazi, will never forgive them!"

With that, the TV screen behind him exploded. No one in the room was impressed but nobody dared to say a word. They knew the temper of their boss when he was angry and there was only one thing to do to avoid making things worst; it was to keep quiet.

"Especially because this little game is so fun." Cappellari grinned, adjusting his black suit. "I bet that Tsunayoshi Sawada feel the same as me after that one particular night a month ago in Palermo."

"VOOOOOOOOOOI! How many times do I fucking have to repeat it? It's GI, not GUI!" Gokudera yelled, surprising Yamamoto who blinked several times, "Put this already inside that small brain of yours, you baseball maniac!"

"Maa maa, Gokudera!" Yamamoto laughed, waving his hands over his face. "There's no need for stress! It's just that Italian had many different pronunciations that Japanese don't have! Haha."

"Oh, and why did you shout like Squalo?" he added.

A vein popped on Gokudera's forehead and tch-ed, ignoring the question of the other. The truth was that he also didn't know why he did that.

"Just hurry up and translate the next sentence from Japanese to Italian!" The silver-haired boy looked at another direction, trying his best to avoid losing his temper once again just by looking at Yamamoto.

'Honestly. Why did Reborn-san have to give this job to me? It's true that as Juudaime's right-hand man, I have to do whatever I can to help the family, but of all people, why it had to be this stupid Yamamoto? Even that other freak was smarter!' He paused for a moment and frowned. 'No... wait! What am I talking about? I'm overestimating that Shibaku-atama too much. He's even worse than Yamamoto!'

He was too busy thinking that he didn't realize that the raven boy was calling him for a minute already.

"Gokudera?"

"What?"

Yamamoto placed a paper in front of his eyes. He looked at it and started to read all the answers. As he read the sentences that were supposed to be translated, his eyes began to bulge out.

"What the hell is this?"

The ¾ Italian released all the stress he was holding him by shouting a thousands of profanities to Yamamoto who actually didn't even know that most of them really existed.

As Tsuna walked out of the busy street of the shopping district while thinking about his friends with a small smile, a voice coming from his front made him stop.

"Tsuna-kun?" Kyoko tilted her head to the side like a curious child. She smiled and ran towards the brunet who looked confusedly at her. "I knew it! It's really Tsuna-kun!"

"Hahi! Tsuna-san!" Haru gave a smile as she went to Kyoko's side. "What are you doing here? Where are Gokudera-san and Yamamoto-san?"

The so-called future wife of Tsuna looked around, but saw that neither Yamamoto nor Gokudera was around. She looked back at Tsuna who was still looking at the two girls with a confused look.

Tsuna blinked three times to confirm that scene was real. After making sure that the girls in front of him was really the girls who he was thinking about moments ago, he forced a smiled and greeted them.

"Kyoko-chan! Haru!" he exclaimed cheerfully, already feeling an early yearning of the two girls before he leave, "Oh, and Yamamoto and Gokudera-kun aren't with me. They're probably in their homes."

He gave a sad smile; something that both of the girls noted as they both exchanged worried glances.

"Reborn-kun told us that Tsuna-kun is sad lately," Kyoko commented with a worried look and Haru, who was beside her, gave a slight nod. "We are concerned, Tsuna-kun."

Tsuna look surprised at Kyoko and Haru, not knowing what to say to them. "R-Reborn said that?"

Kyoko nodded slowly with a sad look. "Hai."

"So we were actually thinking of going to Tsuna-san's house to cheer you up!" the other exclaimed cheerfully with a real smile plastered on her face.

"H-Haru…." He muttered, and once again, not knowing what he should say nor do. Still, he was EXTREMELY happy for the concern of the two girls, and he felt fortunate for having such great friends—it was almost overwhelming to continue lying to them.

'But there's no other way, right?'

"What are you doing here anyways?" Tsuna stared at them, curious.

Both of the girls realized that Tsuna wanted to change the subject, but neither commented on it. They knew he had a strong reason for him to keep a secret and they don't want to force him. They would wait until the brunet started to feel comfortable to open up to them about it because they didn't want him to feel a huge weight once again for having a secret to tell; just like he had when they went to the future.

"We were going to our favorite cake shop!" Kyoko gave a soft smile, temporarily forgetting the sad smile Tsuna had given earlier. "Haru-chan came with me. We were also planning to buy a candy for Lambo-kun and I-pin-chan."

"Oh, I see." Tsuna smiled, but his smile wasn't as bright and welcoming as it did before. It was an empty smile, and the two girls could see it.

'Tsuna-kun…'
'Tsuna-san…'

The girls of the Vongola Decimo's life looked concerned at the brunet. 'Please, don't make that fake smile again.'

Tsuna closed the door of their house behind him and walked slowly to the kitchen.

"Okaa-san?" he called out. The young lady, who was checking up on the three children looked at her son and smiled fondly.

"Tsu-kun! Where were you? Dinner is already cold."

"I was walking around," he answered with a faint smile, sitting on one of the chairs. He looked at his 'siblings' and smiled. It was a true and gentle smile; the smile that was hard for him to do nowadays.

Nana looked at the scene and smiled as well. It had been a while since she last seen her son smile like that, and contrary to popular belief, she is not that dense to not notice it. Lately, she found him depressed and serious, totally unlike his cheerful yet clumsy son.

Tsuna laid his head onto his arms at the table and yawned. Quietly, he muttered, "I want to take a nap, 'kaa-san."

Even though it was soft and silent, his mother was able to hear it. The young boss gave another genuine smile and closed his eyes. "It's so nice and peaceful, and if I could, I would like to stay like this forever…-" No matter how hard he tried to stop the tears, it still flowed from his eyes. "-ne, 'kaa-san?"

"Yes, Tsu-kun," Nana assured him as she gently rest her hand at the top of Tsuna's head and gently scratched the boy's scalp. She gave a tender and motherly look at the brunet and caressed his brown locks. She was so concentrated on making her son feel better that she didn't notice the presence of the two men at the door. (It's not that she would notice crucial things anyways.)

Reborn and Iemitsu Sawada looked at the scene worriedly and decided not to interrupt the mother-and-son moment by sneaking quietly to the CEDEF leader's bedroom upstairs. When they arrived at the room, Reborn silently locked the door and looked at the other.

"What do you think, Iemitsu?"

The said man's lips became a straight line and answered, "He was acting quite weird down there."

Reborn said nothing. Something had drawn his attention, and Iemitsu doesn't seem concerned at all.

"He acted like someone who's about to go into a battlefield," he continued, making his right arm to support his head while the other opened a bottle of bear. He took a sip and waited for Reborn's response.

"I'm thinking the same," Reborn admitted, hiding his face with his fedora. Now, not only Tsuna was acting a bit strange lately, but his father as well. The chief leader of CEDEF didn't seem to act normally. "He was acting strangely since the inheritance ceremony."

"Since then, huh?" Iemitsu drank another from his beer and looked thoughtfully at the hitman. "Were you able to find something?"

His eyes were serious, but even so, it was also accompanied with some indifference—as if urging Reborn to a lost cause.

"I'm almost sure it must be something related with certain documents that only the boss could access," the hitman said, frowning. He couldn't believe that he was one step behind dame-Tsuna. THE dame-Tsuna! "If that was it, then neither you nor I can look at them."

Venturing a guess, even though he doubted it would solve their problem, Iemitsu voiced out his opinion. "What if we speak with the Ninth?"

Reborn clicked his tongue in disgust. He didn't want to say it, but it's the reality of the world they're living in. "Your son if the boss now. We couldn't access those documents without his permission. Even with the Ninth's approval, we couldn't see them."

"Then the situation is pretty bad, my friend," Iemitsu concluded with a sigh. Reborn looked at him, examining every expressions and actions that the man made. "Anyways, I'm here to investigate as well."

Reborn hummed in agreement and lowered his fedora to cover his eyes. He had a strange feeling that he had to find the answers all by himself, even if Iemitsu was here with him.

Meanwhile, downstairs, Tsuna peacefully slept with a soft smile on his face. Nana looked at her son and the other three, and with a gently look, she said, "Kids grow up so fast, ne?"

She giggled as she put her hands on the table and laid her head on them; just like what Tsuna did. In a few minutes, Nana had also dozed off with both hands tenderly holding Tsuna and Fuuta's small arms which were closer to her than Lambo's or I-pin's.

The scene was a rare one to see; it was peaceful and soothing. It was impossible for anyone to not smile if they saw the five people sleeping peacefully on the kitchen table.

If only this calm environment would last longer…

Writing this chapter took me some time and mostly because of my lazyness, I must say. But mostly due to some circumstances such as university's exams and writer's block - even though I already know what will happen in every next chapter, I still don't know how I should write it. There are another reasons, of course. I am very busy writing more stories, which I would like to have the chance to publish here. Anyway, it was not only me, my beta reader was very busy due to school's matters too. We both were busy. SIGH.

So, I tried to put as many characters as I could, because only writing about Tsuna is boring and we have to see as the other characters are thinking about Tsuna's change. Honestly, I think that this chapter is by far the best because we can see how Tsuna is affected by some thing he did while he was still in Italy and how the plot will develop from now on. I hope Tsuna wasn't too OCC.

If you like this chapter let your review, it's very good reading what you think :)