Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn

A/N: Thanks to UnfadingPromise, Serendox, tora-chan83, fatesmask, blacklightningwolf, mangopudding, NenePasciele, Markhal, kakita101, Alia Inverse, TsunaHibari1827, Soul Vrazy, Five Seconds, Wolf D. Dragon, Kanrei, Mimi522, Past Story, PurpleBlue23, MissSexyRain, XxShadowfangxX, Narutopokefan, shanagi95, blizzard 10, cutelildragon, Xj9, VongolaFamilia, Sylvia-san, Tiger723, , Sina Xiel, TheUndertaker-27, aiRingo, Rikkai and hyotei lover, Azrayah, MintLeafeon, echo andalice, asian0music0lover, Niwaki, xXStorm-AraXx, KK, princess123897, Deko, charm13insomnia, hibary-kyo, PureTower21, for reviewing!

A/N: There are some italicized parts in the story that have nothing to do with the story. They are just names of the quotes that are said. It's my way of giving them credit for the quotes.

"Talking in Italian"

"Speaking in Japanese"

'Thinking'

Chapter 10

Raising a brow, Reborn removed his gun from Tsuna and stood up. "An interesting proposition, but why should I accept? One little boy isn't going to help much in taking down the Millefiore."

Tsuna swung his feet off the couch and planted them firmly on the ground to help him sit up properly. Once he was up, he stared at Reborn. "There is a reason that the Millefiore is after me, Reborn. I have great power."

"Hmm, then shouldn't I just kill you?" Reborn retorted, pointing his gun at Tsuna's head again, except this time, the boy didn't flinch. He just kept staring determinedly at the hitman. "Get you out of the way so you can't give your power to them."

"I wouldn't help those bastards in a million years. There is a reason why I never accept a job from them." Tsuna replied calmly as he leaned back into the couch. "And you need my help, Reborn."

"Why does the Vongola need the help of a brat?" Reborn asked, lowering his gun.

Smirking, Tsuna's eyes suddenly shined with a mischievous twinkle. "Because if the Vongola had the power to take down the Millefiore, they would have done so a long time."

"You are scared of the Vongola and its power, and yet, you say you have the power to take down the Millefiore." Reborn summarized, raising a skeptical brow.

'No, I'm lying, you idiot.' Tsuna thought, but on the outside, he showed nothing. "I am one person. To take on the whole Vongola by myself, which has the Varia and CEDEF backing it up, is suicide."

Reborn sat down in his chair and stared at Tsuna with a contemplating look. He never had any orders to kill the boy, but he never needed orders to kill someone before. He just wouldn't get paid if he killed someone without orders. Then there were the guardian heirs who wouldn't be all too happy with him if he killed their acquaintance.

But a few threats that he wouldn't go through with were always good and got him some good propositions from his prisoners. And this proposition just might have a few good points to it. This boy, if Byakuran really was after him, could be of good use to the Vongola to finally get rid of the Millefiore. When he accepted this job from Giotto to find some information out on this boy that the guardian heirs were completely loyal to, he never expected something like this. He knew he had the authority to do whatever he could to get the information he needed from the boy as long as he didn't kill him, but the offer to help get rid of the Millefiore had never crossed his mind.

"Why is the Millefiore after you?" Reborn asked after a few minutes of silence.

"I don't know." Tsuna half-lied. "I lost my memory of the last two months. Something must have happened then that I would have caught their attention." 'Or, their damn boss never forgot the scared boy he saw eight years ago that interested him because he was player. But once more, player in WHAT?'

"I'm trying to be civil here, Tsunayoshi, but you are making it rather difficult." Reborn said.

Tsuna scowled. "I can't help it if I've lost my memories! Get mad at those damn Millefiore agents for coming after me if you want someone to blame for this!"

"All you've got to do is tell me who you are in the underground world." Reborn growled.

The brown haired boy raised a brow. "Hardly seems fair if you ask me. You know my real name, but I don't know yours and yet, you are asking me to tell you my identity in the underground world. Shouldn't this be a fair trade?"

"Well, I tried being civil." Reborn said and pulled out a black gun.

"Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait!" Tsuna shouted frantically, reeling back on the couch. "No need for guns, Reborn!"

The hitman pointed the gun at the ceiling so Tsuna would calm down, but he had an amused smirk on his lips. "Are you that afraid of guns?"

"I'm afraid of what you do with them! Those yellow streaks I saw in the alley were bullets from that gun with your sun flames! Those things are highly dangerous when in your hand!" Tsuna growled. "That was your Chaos shot, wasn't it?"

"Very good, Tsunayoshi." Reborn replied. "But I'm not going to fire that shot in my house."

Momentarily forgetting his fear, Tsuna looked around the house he was in, well the living room at least. It did look like a nice place, a normal one. Well, if he wanted to hide from the authorities, living in a normal place was best. "So, the number one hitman kidnapped me and brought me back to his place? What? Do you think I won't be able to escape from here and discover where we are?"

Reborn put a hand on the back of the couch and leaned over Tsuna so their faces were only a few inches apart. He put his gun under Tsuna's chin and tilted the boy's head back with it. "You'd be a fool to try to come back here for any reason at all, Tsunayoshi Sawada."

"O-of course, Reborn. I won't ever return to your house under the threat of death." Tsuna replied, giving a shaky smile. "I'd salute you, but my hands are still tied behind my back."

"Smartass." Reborn grumbled as he stepped back from the boy.

Sighing in relief when Reborn walked away from him, Tsuna leaned his head on the back of the couch to stare at the ceiling. Why? Oh, why did he have to be held captured by the number one hitman? He wasn't a bad person…well, accept that he was a thief…..But that didn't mean anyone had the right to kidnap him and keep threatening to shoot him! He even avoided people like Reborn so he didn't make enemies of them so things like this didn't happen to him. Oh, where did he go wrong?

"I'm still waiting for an answer." Reborn's voice interrupted his dramatic thoughts.

"Can't you respect a kid's privacy?" Tsuna retorted.

"Not when it is going to help take the Millefiore out."

Tsuna glared at the man. "I can see why you have no friends. Your only concern is reaching the goal. Anything that happens along the way, even lost comrades, means nothing to you! You only care about reaching your goal! If anyone gets hurt along the way, it's not your problem."

He didn't even get the chance to realize he said something wrong until Reborn had already grabbed him by his shirt and thrown him to the hard ground, freezing him in place with the shock of the pain running through his body. His mind was a total blank as his eyes stared in absolute confusion and a bit of fear at the man that had him pinned to the ground.

"You really don't understand the world you have gotten yourself involved in, do you?" Reborn said harshly. "This place may not be all sunshine and daisies, but we still have our honor and loyalties. We still mope for those who we've lost in missions. The world is covered in darkness, and we are the ones in the midst of it. Our honor and loyalties fill Famiglias. Family is not who you share blood with but rather who you'll shed blood for. That is what this world means. We are part of the crime world and we do bad things, but never forget. We never abandon someone. We don't leave them to die. And if they die protecting us, we go back for revenge. This world is filled with wars, never ending wars because of the tension that comes when one of our own is killed. The goal is never reached if someone gets killed along the way. Do you understand this?" The hitman scowled at the brown eyes that just blinked at him.

"No, you don't. I know you. You don't make friends, but acquaintances. You never let anyone get close enough to you because you don't want them hurt. And when they begin to get too close, you run. You don't understand the loyalties that we have for our Famiglias here. So, what are you doing in this dark world, Tsunayoshi?"

Reborn roughly turned Tsuna onto his side and grabbed a hidden knife. He cut the boy's arms and legs free before standing up and leaving the room. All Tsuna could do was collapse on his back and stare at the ceiling in complete shock. What…what was that all about?

*The Shadow*

A scowl crossed the hitman's face when he entered the living room hours later to find the boy still lying on the ground. He grabbed the boy's arm and threw him onto the couch. "I untied you. You could have ran so why didn't you?"

"I….I…" Tsuna mumbled, staring at the hitman.

Reborn rolled his eyes. Did he shock the kid that much? "Knock out of it." He said, whacking the boy on the head roughly.

"Ow," Tsuna whined, rubbing his head. "What did you do that for?"

"You were out of it like an idiot just because I pointed something out to you." Reborn said.

"Doesn't mean you hit me." Tsuna grumbled. He leaned back on the couch and turned his complete attention to the hitman. "So, what do you want now?"

Reborn took his own seat before turning back to the boy and saying, "Your deal, it seems to have interested Vongola Nono."

Tsuna breathed a sigh of relief. To be honest, he didn't know that Reborn had decided to contact the Vongola just yet. He was expecting to have a bit more time before the hitman did that. But, hey, at least he wasn't dead yet! That had to mean something. "So, that means….?"

"It seems that Giotto is considering going against Millefiore with your help, if he deems you as strong as you claim."

"Then, it's you and me versus the world...we attack at dawn." Tsuna declares dramatically to Reborn, throwing one his hands out in front of him like he wanted Reborn to grab it in an act of companionship.

Reborn rubbed his throbbing temples. "Don't make me want to hurt you."

"You seem to be a very sadistic person." Tsuna commented, grinning slightly. "Must be why you became a hitman."

"I will gag you, smartass." Reborn threatened.

"Eh?" Tsuna said, wide eyed. "Does that mean you'll tie me up again? I don't want to be restrained again! It is so horrible, you know?"

Reborn smirked. "No, I do not know. I never let myself be captured before."

Scowling, Tsuna crossed his arms, glaring at Reborn. "Surely, that is a lie. You aren't perfect. There had to be a mistake at some point in your career."

"Unlike you, Tsunayoshi, I had training from a pro and became the best. I've never been kidnapped or captured."

"How do you know I don't have teacher?" Tsuna retorted. "You don't even know my codename in the underground world."

A smirk graced the hitman's lips, which annoyed the thief to no end. All he was doing was constantly pointing out the fact that he was much better than Tsuna. Which wasn't hard to do! Tsuna was still a kid while Reborn was a trained adult. Of course he was better than Tsuna.

"A tutor wouldn't leave a fifteen year old boy on his own. He would have stuck around to make sure nothing happened to his dear apprentice." Reborn replied. "Including saving him from being kidnapped."

Well, that made sense. The underground world was a dangerous place, even more so when it was a fifteen year old by himself. If there was a master for him, he wouldn't have let him go off on his own like this. He would watch over him a bit, even if they didn't live together. "Okay, I'm a lonely criminal. So what? Can I leave now?"

"No."

"But I've agreed to–"

A raised eyebrow and a frown cut Tsuna off. Reborn tapped a finger on the armrest of his chair. "You've agreed to letting the Vongola protect you, and I am not going through the trouble of hunting you down and kidnapping you again."

"It's like you don't trust me!" Tsuna grumbled.

"I don't."

"Why not?"

"Never trust a thief. They have no honor."

Tsuna scowled. "I have my honor. I never steal for my own pleasure, only when I get a job. I don't kill and try to keep causalities to a minimum."

"So you have it all figured out."

Choosing not to reply, Tsuna looked behind Reborn at the black curtains that covered the window. Because of those stupid curtains he couldn't figure out where he was by looking out the window. That must have been the purpose. No one could see in the house and no one could see out it. He would prefer to know where he was before he made a daring escape from Reborn, but if that wasn't possible, it wasn't possible.

A smirk graced Reborn's lips when he saw Tsuna scowling at his black curtains. So it seems the boy was finally thinking about finding a way to escape from his house. He had a clear chance earlier, but because he was so shocked, he couldn't even find it in himself to attempt an escape.

Standing up, Reborn left the living room, feeling Tsuna's eyes on him as he went. He went down to the kitchen. As he was there, his ears were trained for any noise from the living room. Being a trained thief, Tsunayoshi should be good at being silent, but even the best sometimes made mistakes….unless it was him. He never made a mistake.

Once Reborn was gone from the living room, Tsuna waited another minute to see if he would come back. When he didn't, Tsuna grabbed his box and chain of rings off the table behind the couch before leaving the living room himself.

It was relative easy for him to find the front door of the place. The problem came when he found the door though. There were multiple locks on the door. Some were locked from the outside, while others were locked from the inside. Then there were the chain locks, which weren't a problem. All he had to do was unhook those. The problem were the locks that were locked from outside. He either needed to find the key or pick the lock.

That damn Reborn! The purpose of this was to keep people out, but also keep prisoners locked in!

"Having fun?" An amused voice asked.

Tsuna sent a glare at the hitman over his shoulder.

"Well, while you're thinking of an escape plan, let's have dinner. Can't have my prisoner starving to death on me." Reborn said before waving his hand dramatically in front of him with a bow like a butler to let Tsuna go first.

Snorting, Tsuna did as he was told. He didn't really have a choice here. "You like your cosplay and playing fake parts too much." He muttered. "But I guess it's great practice when you have to do so in a job."

"You've never done it?"

"My work is confidential." Tsuna replied calmly as he was directed to a seat at the dinner table while Reborn went over to the counter and stove to continue making dinner. The seat he was in was at a good angle for Reborn to keep an eye on him while preparing the food.

While Reborn was cooking, Tsuna was looking around the kitchen for anything that he could use to escape. He needed something to get out of here unscratched, hopefully, and without catching Reborn's attention. He also had to do it in a way that wouldn't alert the hitman to just what thief he was. The Shadow Demon had certain tricks that were solely defined as his. Everyone in the underground world knew what they were so Reborn could easily claim him as the Shadow Demon if he did something even remotely like that thief. His only saving grace was that he didn't have any interaction with the hitman before this so his personality couldn't be compared to the Shadow Demon by Reborn.

The only sound in the kitchens were the ones being made by Reborn, who was subtly giving Tsuna looks once in a while, as he prepared food. Normally Tsuna wouldn't have a problem with the silence, but considering who he was with and how the silence could be interpreted, he was getting jumpy and couldn't stop tapping his fingers on the table as a way to deal with the nerves. He needed some type of conversation going.

"Hey, Reborn, do you think I'll end up getting Stockholm Syndrome if I stay with you for too long?" Tsuna asked.

"Dear god, I hope not." Reborn muttered. There was only so much he could handle of a smartass thief.

"Reborn? Is something wrong?" Tsuna asked innocently.

"Will not shoot. Will not shoot. Will not shoot."

Sweat dropping, Tsuna returned to silence. Maybe it wasn't in his best interest to start a conversation with the hitman…then again, it was fun annoying him. But, as he looked at Reborn cooking, he decided he liked living and not getting poisoned food.

When the food was finally done and placed in front of him, Tsuna looked at it warily. Even though Reborn said Giotto was interested in his deal, he wouldn't put it past him to give a poison that would at least immobile him for a while.

As if reading his mind, Reborn rolled his eyes and snatched some food from Tsuna's plate and put it in his mouth. "There is no poison in it so eat."

"Never trust anyone who wants what you've got. Friend or no, envy is an overwhelming emotion. Eubie Blake." Tsuna retorted, stabbing his food with a fork while shooting an untrusting glare at Reborn.

Reborn put his glass down, giving his victim a mocking smirk. "And what is that you got that I want?"

"You're going to use me for Vongola's own good." Tsuna pointed out, watching Reborn take his glass and take a sip out of it to show that it was poisoned before giving it to the untrusting thief. "I could never trust someone like that. Someone who only uses others."

"Learning to trust is one of life's most difficult tasks. Isaac Watts." Reborn replied as if accepting Tsuna's reasoning to distrust him. But then he frowned as he examined the boy in front of him who was no longer giving him any of his attention as he was focused on his food. It was true that trusting people too much could harm them, but to distrust everyone completely would result in an extremely lonely world. Even he had people he trusted and could call family and friends.

*Demon*

Reborn glanced at the boy that was now had his knees pulled to his chest and was staring at Reborn as if he feared that removing his eyes from him for just an instance would be fatal. "I'm not promising you any full-time protection. There is always a chance you will die."

Tsuna raised a brow. He already knew that. There was always a chance they would die in this world. "I risk my life stealing from mafia Famiglias all the time. What was it….Oh! The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time. Mark Twain said that you know. I like to think I've been living my life. As long as I am doing what I want and for the best reasons that I believe are right, I am alright with dying."

"I am become death, the destroyer of worlds. J. Robert Oppenheimer. You follow me, I may destroy your world and everything you know and understand." Reborn retorted, pushing off the wall he was leaning against.

The thief scowled. Reborn has already pointed out that he didn't understand this underground world as well as he should already. What else could he possibly destroy for him? "Am I not destroying enemies when I make friends with them? Abraham Lincoln."

Reborn shook his head. "A friend is nothing but an enemy. Kurt Cobain. You will be dealing with a great enemy if you agree to work with me."

"What does that matter?" Tsuna retorted, glaring once more at his kidnapper. "You kidnapped ME! Whether I want this or not doesn't matter, not as long as you hold my freedom over me. This great enemy I will be dealing with will be coming whether I want it to or not, whether I work with you or not. This is MY FATE! DESTINY! I can't escape it. The only thing I can do is survive, and I will do whatever it takes to survive, even making deals with the Vongola and number one hitman."

"Is that all you care about?" Reborn asked, frowning darkly.

Tsuna jerked at the implication and looked away from Reborn. "Again with the family thing, Reborn? Leave them out of this!"

"Them? I never said anything about anyone." Reborn said, moving slowly over to the couch where Tsuna was sitting. "Would 'them' be those acquaintances you swore to never get close to?"

Eyes narrowed, Tsuna looked away from his capturer. "I have agreed to work with the Vongola on this. That is all we need right now. Can I go to sleep now?"

"There is a guest room upstairs. Don't attempt to escape." Reborn replied as he stood up and motioned for Tsuna to do the same. "I'll show you where it is."

The room Reborn gave him was small, but it had a bed and that was all Tsuna cared about. He kicked is shoes off and collapsed facedown onto it. He heard Reborn close the door as he left, which was followed by a clicking sound which told the boy that the door was locked.

Sighing, Tsuna rolled onto his side and pulled his pillow down to his chest so he could hug it. He looked at the clock on the nightstand to see that it was almost midnight.

"Ridiculous." Tsuna muttered. "A fool he is."

For the next half hour Tsuna just laid on his bed and played with his rings. He took one off of his chain and slipped it onto his finger. How could Reborn forget that he took his things back? The number one hitman never made a mistake, until now. Or, did he leave them with him on purpose? Did he want Tsuna to attempt to escape?

Honestly, Tsuna didn't care. He wasn't going to stay trapped here. No one kept the Shadow Demon locked up.

So after a half hour of pretending to be asleep, Tsuna sat up and quietly slipped his shoes back on. Not making a noise, which he was very good at from his years of being the perfect thief, he moved over to the window and tried to open it. Go figure, the window was stuck shut.

Scoffing at the thought that a stuck window would keep him trap, Tsuna pulled his gloves on and enter his Hyper Dying Will mode. "You're going to so want to kill me for this, Reborn." He murmured, amusement filling his voice. His fist was swarmed in his bright orange flames before he slammed it into the wall. There was a loud SMASH that filled the entire vicinity that was followed by rubble crashing into the ground below. Tsuna paid none of it any heed though as he chose to simply fly off into the sky instead. He had to get away before Reborn showed up.

In the sky, Tsuna paused for a moment to turn around to face the house with a frown. "Protection from the Vongola?" He snorted. "As if I'd really want that." With those parting words, he turned back around and flew off into the night sky.

A/N: I can't recall if I gave Tsuna the X-burner yet. Well, he's not supposed to have it yet. So if you ever saw anywhere in the beginning of the story that said he had it, well the story is lying to you. He does not have that yet.

Oh, this was just so much to fun to write with Reborn and Tsuna. I love making Tsuna a smartass. It was my enjoyment of this chapter…the whole chapter was their interaction, which it wasn't supposed to be. It just happened.

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