SkyGem: Yoohoo~ Anyone still waiting for this fic? I'm so sorry, minna-san, for taking this long to update

"Why?"

Reborn's eyebrows furrowed at this question, and he asked, "What do you mean, 'why'?"

Tsuna, his expression curiously blank, asked, "Why would you want to see Sawada Tsunayoshi? Your job is to teach Vongola Decimo."

Letting out a small growl of frustration, Reborn told him, "Before you are Vongola Decimo, you are Sawada Tsunayoshi, and because I am your tutor, it is my job to make sure that Sawada Tsunayoshi grows into the kind of man Vongola Decimo will one day be. I can't do that if Vongola Decimo is only a mask you put on when around your subordinates; Vongola Decimo needs to become a part of you."

Tsuna just stared at his tutor for a few more moments, not knowing how to react, and Reborn just stared right back.

This impromptu staring contest, though, was interrupted when Cielo, who had been getting quite bored, decided to tackle Tsuna to the floor in a fit of playfulness.

Tsuna let out a small yelp of surprise when he crashed to the ground, and was soon giggling breathlessly as a warm pink tongue licked his face, coating his cheeks in saliva.

Reborn watched in mute shock as Tsuna tried to push his dog away, still giggling breathlessly.

Had Tsuna just laughed?

Now, despite having known for his student for quite a long time, Reborn had never heard him laugh, and it wasn't even the fact that he was laughing that had shocked Reborn so much (even if it was in itself quite unexpected), it was the fact that these weren't silent laughs. Reborn could actually hear Tsuna's laughter, and the boy had even yelped in surprise when Cielo had tackled him earlier.

Immediately, Reborn reminded himself that it wasn't terribly unusual for mutes to be able to laugh and cry audibly, but there was a small part of him that began to hope.

In all the time he had known him, Reborn had never heard Tsuna make a single sound, but now that he had, new possibilities opened up in his mind, possibilities that he had never even considered before.

By now, Tsuna had managed to sit up, and Cielo was lying on the floor with his front legs resting on Tsuna's thighs, nuzzling his head against his owner's stomach. Tsuna smiled softly down at his pet; the dog seemed to have this strange habit of cuddling against the brunet's stomach and nosing his inner thighs every once in a while, which had amused and mystified a great number of people.

Stroking Cielo's fur, Tsuna looked up at Reborn, his expression suddenly becoming serious, and after a few moments of staring, he finally nodded his head.

Reborn, taking this as a sign that he would finally catch a glimpse of the boy's true self, decided not to mention his newest discovery, not wanting to destroy any progress he may have made with the boy.

After agreeing to act as himself around Reborn, Tsuna felt as if a weight had been lifted from his chest.

The young Decimo had been fully prepared to keep up his act around his tutor, but the fact that he wouldn't have to, the fact that he would be able to act even remotely like a normal teen made finally being home again just that much sweeter.

The rest of that day passed without incident, with a nice, quiet dinner with his mom and sisters (as opposed to the complete chaos he got whenever it was him and his four guardians), during which Tsuna realized just how much he had missed his mother's cooking.

Afterwards, Reira and Reiko invaded Tsuna's room to clue him in on all the gossip about Namimori; they told him who to avoid the next day at school, who he should definitely try and befriend (a certain handsome baseball ace being at the top of the list), and so on and so forth.

By the time Tsuna was able to get them out of his room, it was already late, and Reborn was glaring at him with fierce eyes.

Normally, this wouldn't have fazed Vongola Decimo the slightest bit, but right now, he was just plain old Sawada Tsunayoshi, and he was scared as hell.

The moment the bedroom door had closed after his sisters, Reborn stood from his seat, saying, "Tomorrow, we're going to be looking for some potential candidates for your empty guardian positions, so you better go to sleep now if you don't want to be tired, Tsuna."

The hitman had taken to calling Tsuna by his name in order to reinforce the idea that Tsuna was to act as himself around him, and not as Vongola Decimo.

Not even bothering to question how a grown man would be able to infiltrate a junior high undetected, Tsuna nodded sleepily, and threw open his closet door to look for his pajamas.

By the time Tsuna had found them, Reborn had already left for his own room, and Tsuna went over to lock his bedroom door before shedding his shirt.

Cielo, who had been lying on Tsuna's bed until now, watching him carefully, got up and trotted over.

Coming to a stop in front of him, Cielo looked up at Tsuna with his wide, innocent black eyes, letting out a whine before opening his mouth to lick at the skin of Tsuna's stomach, which was crisscrossed with lots of long, thin scars.

Smiling softly, Tsuna petted the dog, who then lowered his head to nose gently at the skin of Tsuna's thighs, currently covered by the fabric of his pants, but which was also littered with lots of white scars similar to the ones on his stomach.

Quickly changing into his pajamas, Tsuna lowered himself onto the floor, dedicating a few minutes to cuddling with Cielo before he went to sleep.

Even as far as German Shepherds went, Cielo was very intelligent, incredibly protective of his owner, and the main reason that Tsuna had gotten so much better than he used to be in those years before he'd gotten his pet.

Tsuna had gotten Cielo about four years ago, when the dog had been just three months old, still a puppy with disproportionately large ears and paws and full of seemingly infinite energy as he was constantly bouncing all over the place.

When Iemitsu had first brought him to the mansion, the first thing he did upon seeing Tsuna was to run up to the boy and start barking loudly and jumping, just begging to be picked up.

When Tsuna had placed the dog in his lap, he had immediately curled up with his head against his new owner's belly.

Somehow, Cielo had immediately known something was terribly wrong, and even as he grew older, no matter what Tsuna did, the young pup couldn't be convinced out of his habit. Cielo must have had some kind of sixth sense, because whenever Tsuna would feel the urges, he would appear out of nowhere and curl up next to, or sometimes even on top of, Tsuna, giving his silent support.

It had taken time, but the brunet had eventually been able to give it up with the unfaltering support of his pet, and the two had forged an unbreakable bond.

Placing a kiss on Cielo's muzzle, Tsuna got up from the floor and slipped into his bed, and was out like a light, but not before he felt the reassuring weight that was definitely Cielo settle near the foot of his bed.

One Gokudera Hayato paced back and forth restlessly, trying to get rid of his building anxiety.

His fellow guardian, Rokudo Mukuro, just sat on the sidelines, watching in amusement.

"Pacing isn't going to make the time go by any faster, you know," said the illusionist, his voice holding a distinctly amused tone.

"It helps me calm down," snapped Hayato, glaring at the other male, who just chuckled.

"Well, it's not doing a very good job."

"It's not like I can help it!" said Hayato, not stopping his pacing, "He's thousands of miles away, all by himself in a foreign country! I feel completely useless!"

Rolling his eyes at his overdramatic little friend, Mukuro said, "First of all, it's not a foreign country, it's Japan. He's lived there before, and he's with his family, and not to mention that he has three bodyguards and Reborn to look after him. He'll be fine."

Hayato stopped pacing, and seemed to deflate a little.

"I know," said the silveret, his gaze glued to the floor, "But it's not only him I'm worried about. I know he'll be fine, but I just…I get agitated, being so far away from him. This is the first time we've been more than a mile apart since that incident."

The amused smile was immediately wiped off Mukuro's face, and the teen stood up to approach the younger male.

Ruffling his hair in an almost brotherly show of affection, Mukuro said, "Everything will be fine. Just remember that this time tomorrow, we'll be back with him, alright? In the meantime, if you have an attack, just come see me. I may not be quite as good our little tuna fish, but I can at least help distract you."

Hayato looked at him with a somewhat lost expression in his eyes for a few moments before nodding in affirmation and going back to his pacing.

Mukuro sat down with a little huff, feeling resentment building up inside him for the Estraneo.

Even though Tsuna and Hayato had been with them for the shortest time, and had gotten away without any lasting physical side effects, they had been very badly affected mentally.

Hayato still sometimes got panic attacks because of the horrific things he had experienced at the hands of the Estraneo, and Tsuna would occasionally wake up in tears. It was during these times that Mukuro was especially grateful for Cielo, and for the fact that all their rooms were in close proximity with each other, and that they had a wing all to themselves, so that no one would stumble upon one of these little episodes. It wouldn't be very good for Tsuna's reputation if rumours were to spread about him being reduced to tears due to mere nightmares; it was already hard enough having other Famiglias accept him despite his mutism.

"We'll be with him tomorrow," Mukuro repeated his earlier words under his breath quietly, only this time, he was trying to convince himself.

Yamamoto Takeshi sat quietly in his seat in homeroom, his mind preoccupied with the slump he had recently been experiencing in regards to his baseball playing. The issue was really beginning to bother him, and he really wished he had someone to discuss it with, but unfortunately, there was no one he could trust enough.

Suddenly, the boy was brought out of his thoughts as the door opened, and the sensei entered the class, followed by a tall, handsome young man with coal black hair and impossibly curly sideburns, a short-ish brunet about his age, and…was that a dog?

Though not entirely certain, Takeshi was rather sure that bringing pets to school was against the school's rules.

Arriving at her desk, the teacher turned to look at the class, whose attention was already completely fixed on her due to her rather unusual entourage.

Clearing her throat, the sensei started off by saying, "Minna-san, today, we will be having two new additions to our classroom. First off, I would like you all to meet Reborn-sensei, a student teacher who will be staying with our class for the rest of the year."

There were a bunch of appreciative sighs from the girls when she said this, and Takeshi was faintly amused to realize that most of them had probably already made plans to form a fan club for their new student teacher.

"And next, this is Sawada Tsunayoshi-kun, a new classmate of yours."

The girls were able to tear their eyes away from Reborn long enough to realize that even Tsuna was quite good-looking, and Takeshi was more than a little amused to see a few girls faint.

"Sawada-kun has medical conditions which deny him his ability to speak, and as a result, his help dog, Cielo, will be accompanying him to school. Please remember to be nice to Sawada-kun, give him help should he need it, and do not pet his dog without permission. Is that understood?"

There was a collective call of, "Hai, sensei!" from the class, and the teacher nodded in satisfaction.

Pointing out Tsuna's seat to him, the teacher then went on to begin her lesson, but Takeshi wasn't paying attention, his mind already on the fascinating new transfer student.

There was something different about the boy.

SkyGem: So, what did you think? Like it? Hate it? Please review and let me know what you thought! Oh, and I'm letting you all know right now that there's not going to be an enemy Famiglia in this or anything, and even if there is, it won't be a huge part of the plot. The plot is mostly going to be centered on Tsuna's guardians, and how they overcome their respective problems. So, if you all want to continue following this even after knowing that, please stay tuned for the next installment coming soon! Ja ne!