Author: Ri-Ryn

Chapter: Riattualizzare Qualifiche (Reenacting Qualifications)

Word Count: 3321

Rating: M* (Content suitable for Mature Teens)/ +T

Disclaimer: Katekyo Hitman Reborn belongs to Akira Amano.

Warnings: Severe/coarse language!

A/N: Yeah, so I unintentionally lied when I said there were four chapters left in Ch. 11. Turns out it's only two because I looked at my file folder for this instead of my story/chapter plot line where I apparently did a lot of condensing. My bad. So, welcome to the second to last chapter of this, what, two year long journey? Thank-you everyone for your support. I'm also a new high school Graduate, yeah! P.S. I've had this written for awhile, just not typed. I recently read the end of Chu-chan's 'Their Boss' and, well, it seems we both hurt Dino in the end! Totally unintentional, but hey, great minds think alike I guess.

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"Are you really going to put off them meeting me?" Tsuna questioned suspiciously.

Reborn felt the barest twitch of the corner of his mouth at his student's intuition. "You're still healing." It was true; the various scars with cracked scabs oozed, keeping his clothing constantly stained and a few of the burns turned out to be infected. "You'll give m' a scare, Decimo."

"Doesn't matter." Reborn raised an eye brow at that but said nothing.

"And they're still healing, too, I take it?" Reborn smirked.

"Not answering that, dame-student."

Tsuna rolled his sightless eyes, feeling a contact shift and rubbing it back into place. "Well then, Reborn, when are we going to meet them?" Tsuna leaned back in his desk, pen down to stretch and crack his back.

"We?"

"My family and I." Ah, as regretful to some extent as it was, and disturbing that it was himself that led to the change in a great soul, Reborn was pleased Tsuna learned.

"Soon, when they can all walk."

Tsuna felt a shift in the atmosphere. "…Tomorrow, huh?"

"Too soon?" Reborn was pushing boundaries, trying to rush this along.

"I've had more," Tsuna stressed, "than enough time to think about this alone or in a hospital. I don't need more time." Tsuna coldly looked up. "I've wasted enough agonizing about it. It's always been okay, as long as I was the only one to suffer…"

Reborn opened his mouth to berate his student, but Tsuna intercepted his warning. "I'm tired, worn, worried, and drained. They involved too many others who were uninvolved and innocent. And honestly?" Tsuna gave a small hack between a cough and laugh, defeated but strong. "I'm through being a human shield for them to hide behind. But that doesn't mean they get away home free. They want to be scared and misunderstand my every intention? So be it. I'll give them something to flinch away from. I'll keep them away from me but they won't ever escape from here, the Vongola. They'll all die here." Tsuna gave his office a once over. "It's really the least they could do…" He muttered. The only favor they can return, for now. We all become demons in the end: Welcome to Hell.

Reborn felt a shiver down his spine, words so callous like his own and dangerously exemplifying his teachings coming into play. Tsuna hadn't followed but outgrown the footsteps of Primo. "Does it hurt?"

Amusement flitted across the Decimo's mouth. "I'm a patchwork case." Tsuna rubbed the family ring adorning his finger, "Yet I think they stitched me up ethereally." Tsuna looked at Reborn's coal eyes.

"A real work of art."

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The meeting room chosen was large, tucked away deep inside the mansion away from prying eyes, open ears and concealed intentions. Tsuna waited, letting Andrea make braids in his hair, longer than preferred with his recent bed confinement, as he made pleasant conversation with Diva and Donatello. The young girl was finally off oxygen and there were the barest signs of some hair growing even after the burns. The pendent Tsuna bought her stood out against her chest.

Fuuta stood guard behind Tsuna's chair, a modified flame fire arm constantly touching his palm lightly. Renz was much the same, four S-class mist rings adorning his hands with his characteristic sickle-and-chain mostly tucked away, covered by his suit jacket. Mantua quietly spoke with him, eyes waiting on the door, as they burned time for the patients discharged this morning to arrive.

It was ten more minutes before the door cautiously opened as Tsuna watched closely, entertained as seven original guardians were transported in various states of repair, all technically unable to walk contrary to Reborn's earlier reassurance. Tsuna gave the hitman a side glance to his right, questioning.

"What?" The Vongola member shrugged, feeling no remorse for a lie a little larger than 'white.' "Three of so of them can walk unaided for the most part; grammatically, that counts as they." Reborn justified.

"I didn't say anything." Tsuna chuckled as the occupants eyed him. This feels good. I feel good. It had been an unprecedented amount of time since he'd laughed sincerely: genuinely.

Reborn smirked. "Your eyes said otherwise."

"Eyes speak?"

"Don't get smart with me, Sawada Tsunayoshi."

Said person laughed lightly before seeing everyone gathered and seated, apprehension coating one side and poorly concealed anger the other.

Immediately, all heads were bowed, even the ever proud Hibari if ever so slightly. Gokudera raised a shaking head. "We're so sorry, Juudaime."

Tsuna watched carefully. Really? "Decimo, and raise your heads. It's hard to properly address all of you if you hide yourselves."

Confused eyes found him. "Decimo?" Gokudera echoed.

"That's right, Decimo." Tsuna tilted his head, off its previously resting position on his hand. "We're only this kind of famigila, certainly not trusted friends, correct?" The seven finally took in Tsuna's current state, oozing, infected wounds and the ever elusively carved 'SINFUL' twistedly drawing attention to his throat and neck. Chrome and Lambo started to sob softly as the remaining members felt sick to their stomachs.

"Andrea?"

"Yes, Decimo-nii?" The girl popped up over his should, glaring daggers before giving her full attention to Tsuna with her raspy voice asking, "What is it that you need, sir?"

"My contact case." The small maid nodded, blue hair swishing as she removed it from an apron pocket and guided the Vongola boss's hand to it on the table. Tsuna flashed his teeth softly before taking and removing his engineered corrective lenses. "Thank-you." Tsuna's eyes were now milky, unseeing and unfocused compared to the previously bright light brown. Mukuro and Hibari caught on immediately.

"Vongola, why are you blind?" Mukuro observed the damaged eyes, exhibiting outside abuse and concluding that this injury was fully intentional by the opposite party.

"Why?" Tsuna parroted acidly. "I can only imagine. You're good at that too, Mukuro, Hibari. Take your best guess, please."

"They didn't protect you…!" Gokudera knew he was similarly fully guilty, having lost every bond and ounce of trust with Tsuna by his own hands, but to know his boss was repeating past mistakes with his second choices again? He wouldn't let that happen-

Gokudera hissed stiffly, vibrant orange flames leaving a scorching burn to his cheek as the door behind him suffered the blunt of the hostility. A warning.

"They didn't?" Tsuna asked incredulously. Who the Hell does he still think he is, what rights he still thinks he's privileged to? Curve your tongue, bastard. "I was almost positive it was their screams I heard and their blood I've smelled the past weeks, swathing the mansion." He was livid. How dare he imply any of them weren't here for me! Not here? Didn't they protect me, stand by my side, you hypocrites? Tsuna snarled, the tendons of his neck muscle tightening and cracking more scabs, pus simultaneously draining. "I'm fairly certain it's Andrea crying as her burns stick to her sheets and tear the healing skin at night, every night.

The aforementioned girl blushed and shifted embarrassed, unaware that Decimo had heard her pain. She was supposed to be strong. The girl's golden eyes widened as a reassuring, warm hand pat her head. She buried her head into Tsuna's shoulder, comforted.

"Or was I mistakenly miss-informed that Battista and Renz collapsed out of sheer exhaustion from the constant care of critical condition family and trying to reestablish some semblance of security order for everyone's safety?"

Tsuna bit his cheek harshly, feeling the frustration of human emotions and tears gather but refused to let them show anymore weakness and insecurity. If his family noticed anything, they said nothing. Reborn let it be once more.

"Maybe Donatello hasn't organized over a thousand funerals thanks to lives lost and Diva hasn't turned to comfort grieving families, not allowing one righteously angry person to 'lay a hand' on me?" Everything, all of it, never should've happen if I was stronger, more resolute: if I wasn't naïve. "Reborn once said this world would chew and spit me out mercilessly. What Ryohei, Yamamoto, Gokudera, don't like looking at the ugly bite marks?"

All of them flinched and Tsuna let his blind eye stare unwaveringly ahead, never turning to address the direction of the original question. "Why am I blind? Surely no one has forgotten Baldassare here?" Tsuna's hand unconsciously clenched, feeling the knife's sturdy handle and the dull weight of the sharp blade at the end. "The one I killed in exchange for your lives."

"You thought the boss of an infamous poison trade spat something benign into my eyes for kicks?"

"Xarexyl." Hibari muttered under his breath, naming the disarming chemical favored on the black market currently.

"You've done your research," the brunette returned. "It was a guarantee I'd lose my sight unless I left you all to seek treatment immediately or if I had waited for sufficient back up as Dino suggested." Tsuna sighed. "I didn't though." It was a soft, almost unperceivable confession that rang clear as a bell in the meeting room.

"That's still not enough, Tsuna." Reborn leaned on Tsuna's chair. "Let's not forget Signora Vulpiani peeling back your chest cavity after cutting you open when you're sick with your Famiglia dying around you. I'm positive you can feel those empty slurs she carved into your flesh, still."

Tsuna clenched his jaw, feeling the phantom pain of Camilla's torture, but Reborn pushed further. "Mukuro, did the Estraneo and Vindice not do enough or have you forgotten your past pain that Tsuna alleviated?"

Mukuro paled with Chrome who had seen the memories when they shared a conscious body. Tsuna snapped. "That's not the point here, Reborn."

"Shut the hell up, Tsuna." Reborn was pissed, as if he hadn't already felt the necessity to relieve his anger a third time. "I didn't tutor a scapegoat.

Tsuna listened carefully for responses. Fair enough.

All Hell broke loose with Tsuna's family going to verbally assault the opposite party of the table.

Warm. Tsuna absently listened, still somehow stunned at how quickly his family formed a metaphorical and literal defensive line in front of him. They love, trust, want me to stick around.

Andrea spat. "Shut up bastard child!" Gokudera recoiled. "I've got more salt than you ever will, fucker! I know he's killed, we all do, we all have. If I wondered how Decimo-nii could live with himself afterwards, I should've killed myself first. We're all guilty of protection, the desire to save our loved ones, aren't we!?"

That's right. I killed, and will again, if it means protecting my precious ones. Always. Tsuna's eyes widened.

"It was unexpected, unnatural even when that was a side of Tsuna we'd never seen before. We were shocked, is that so weird?" Yamamoto weakly defended.

Donatello snorted dismissively. "I remember, Diva and I both with the exceptions of Signore Hibari and Rokudo, that Decimo has embraced each and every one of you, in suits, night wear, daily clothes, no matter what time or situation you came home in, and embraced you, blood splatters and all. His clothing still bares those stains, all of it, not a drop by his own hand, yet Signore Vongola accepted the hidden burden of it all."

Fuuta grimly met his superior's eyes. "Hibari-heichou," Fuuta drew himself up proudly as the new Cloud Guardian, "I didn't realize you were so weak." The beige haired man licked his dry lips, eyes sharp and ready for the ensuing fight he knew he was picking. "Worse than an herbivore, really."

Hibari bared his teeth, animalistic and tense. "De la Stella." There was a warning lilt in the Japanese man's voice.

"It wasn't a surprise; it was inevitable. And yet you viewed it with unwarranted disgust. How many bodies have you left in you wake since high school?" Fuuta challenged. "Middle school, even, before Tsuna-nii was ever involved."

Hibari looked away. "You're ranked twenty-fourth, you know? And Mukuro's fifteenth." It was a firm rebuttal. "Everyone else is in the five hundreds."

Fuuta glared. "But Tsuna-nii is 220,027 out of 220,421."

The statistic further proved what they all knew. "Hardly a mass murderer," Battista mused aloud.

"He made it quick." Renz gave Mukuro a pointed look the former mist couldn't refute. An unspoken 'unlike you' hung heavily in the air.

Andrea shifted. "I knew what I was getting into; I wasn't born into the Mafia or chose it initially." Andrea sniffled, a brief flashback of her parents, their untimely death, and the kind, gentle arms that held her close, whispering apologies for a sin they didn't commit no matter how much she yelled, screamed, and cried at them. Her gold eyes focused on Chrome and Lambo. "The same could never be said for either of you."

Ryohei clenched his fists. "We'll never be able to repay you." He should've listened to that ounce of doubt his conscious held, he, all of them, should've believed in Tsuna. Why had he been so ignorant?

"That's right." Battista affirmed. "It clings, doesn't it?" The smell of death, failure- guilt. "You'll never be able to right this, not for the rest of your miserable, undeserved lives."

"That's not true, because that's exactly what they'll be doing, what it'll take." Every pair of eyes in that room found Tsuna. Two more times left, once more now I'll steel myself. Impervious, not self-sacrificing. "You'll continue, until you're unable to, to work for and protect the Vongola. Even after I leave and my heir takes over, after new guardians take their rightful places, until physically you're incapable and a hindrance." The murky honey iris drew across the room, seeing the shock so apparent and clearly on their faces with his disabled sight, somehow, so easily. "You will help them, you will serve them, you will belong to the Vongola's bright future. Not to me, you all owe it to the people and lives we've all taken and lost to reform the Mafia."

Tsuna stood abruptly, his family collecting behind him in the following silence. "I'm no glorified soul and I wasn't meant to be idolized as a saint, it's partially my fault for not correcting the misunderstanding." Tsuna picked his way carefully to the door, standing tall. "But I'm done being a martyr for your convenience."

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His family dispersed after the door closed, pleased with the final verdict sans Diva who quietly slipped her hand into his, guiding him through the mansion.

"Was I right?" He asked finally. Even if I wasn't, there's no lie in the lightness of my heart right now, as if the chains fell right off. Tsuna waited for a reply but received only a simple, light squeeze of hopeful reassurance.

Donatello interrupted, rounding a corner in his wheelchair in front of the blooming couple. "Signore Vongola?"

Tsuna was thrown off for a moment by the intrusion. "…Yes?"

"We are in need of an heir, and I whole heartedly approve of my granddaughter's choice. So, please, don't hold back on the family's account. We'll be waiting, if albeit impatiently." The older gentleman smiled cheekily.

Diva blushed but was more curious as to Tsuna's reaction. His face was crimson. Sure, he could be suave, but when it involved him privately on a personal level? That was asking for trouble.

"Isn't that a conversation to be held in private for the concerned party?" Tsuna groaned pointedly, hand over his crimson face out of embarrassment. He heard a faint chuckle and the wheelchair's retreating squeaks seconds later.

"Signore Vongola?" Diva called softly to obtain his attention again.

"Tsunayoshi." Tsuna turned, hand tracing up her smooth arm and neck until he could gently cup her face in his hands. "If anything Signore Donatello implied is correct, I'd really prefer you call me that."

"… or Tsuna?"

"…I somehow feel I might as well marry your grandfather if your personalities are anything to go off of. Appearances taken into account, you're his female replication."

"Tsuna's cute for a nickname."

"I'm well into my twenties and-"

"It still applies." Diva cut in, a ringing bubble of laughter escaping her.

Tsuna smiled faintly but it fell just as quickly. "Then what's your opinion, future Mrs. Diva Sawada?" Please, there's no going back for me.

"Truthfully," Diva collected her thoughts, "I don't think you can know if you were correct until the end, when all is said and done. You've made your decision, now you'll live with it. All we can do is wait and see what comes of it." She sighed softly. "The same way they've made their beds, now they'll lay in them."

Diva rested her forehead against his broad chest, Tsuna automatically wrapping his arms around her. "Regardless of the outcome, Renz, Andrea, Battista, Fuuta, grandfather and I will be by your side through of it, till the very end."

Tsuna rested his chin on top of her head. "Thank-you."

Reborn listened of to the side, glad the last item of this whole mess was resolving itself: confirmation.

Diva smiled contentedly. "We're both Famiglia and family, it's to be expected."

Reborn started walking away into the shadows, not willing to intrude further upon their privacy, a small, true smile playing the lips of his mouth. "That's right, Tsunayoshi, because you all are family. One small infrazione della vita for their sake isn't strong enough to destroy that, not this time." Because it's only to be expected when you love something whole heartedly.

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[4 years later:]

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Reborn watched from the hospital room corner he'd claimed for himself as family surrounded Tsuna and his wife. Diva glowed, holding their newborn girl with black, half-way spiky hair like her father's apparent from the downy tufts already present. Andrea gushed at the newborn while the respective males present kept a respectful, safe distance, mindful of every threat and guarantee of physical harm that left the second time mother's mouth mere minutes beforehand. Hindsight was a beautiful thing considering the result after their first born's birth.

Tsuna lifted his two year old son, a brunette with straight brown hair and olive eyes a few shades lighter than his mother by the name of Ienobu Sandrino Sawada, to see the newest addition to the family. Ienobu was seated on the bed carefully with his mother to see properly.

"Well, Tsuna, what's the name you've kept hidden for so long?" Reborn took the bait willingly.

Husband and wife shared a glance before Tsuna turned to answer. "Renata Yumie Sawada."

Reborn was touched. They named their daughter after him, with a beautiful follow-up of Yumie… "Tsuna, how is 'Yumie' spelled?"

Tsuna held up a piece of card stock with the kanji for "helpful" and "serpent" on it.

Reborn leveled his gun with the father's head. "Tsunayoshi Sawada." He was ticked; after all he'd done, really?

Tsuna smiled, dropping the first card to reveal the one behind it with different kanji, hiragana out to the side for pronunciation.

Reborn's eyes widened in surprise. "Megumi…?"

Tsuna was clearly pleased, nodding and looking to said girl. "That's right. Renata Megumi: 'Reborn Blessing.' Reborn, I wouldn't have any of this family, love, or life without you shooting your crazed way into it. I'm thankful more thank you'll ever know, more than words can ever convey."

Tsuna watched Reborn carefully. "Because you're family too."

He couldn't believe the brat had heard him four years ago. Reborn felt his throat constrict, tilting his fedora down, signature smirk in place as his eyes misted a bit…

"Holy shit." Dino's eyes bulged as his mouth gaped, turning away from his god children and ignoring his grievous misuse of language in their presence. "Reborn's crying!?"

…and Reborn shot the Cavallone boss without a hint or remorse or hesitance, the stupid Bronco had a death wish and a reaper couldn't say no. He'd apologize to his god children later (a responsibility he begrudgingly shared with said idiot, even if two unaffiliated males went against the norm), at their uncle's funeral.

"Reborn!"

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Chapter 13 - Epilogue:

- La Menzogna che era Discordia Armonica –

(The Lie that was Harmonic Discord)