Surprise! Yes, three whole chapters up already! I tried to keep the word count for all them about the same. Around 4k is about where I end it :P

So this chapter will be Tsuna vs. Natsu and then some quality time with the Guardians. Shounen ai, no smut. (1. I can't write it well and 2. I don't want it to get taken down)

"Red accepts Blue entirely." -Remember 11 [NO 8059!]

.*-_Last chapter_-*.

"Start!"

Hanatsu rushed towards his opponent, using his flames to propel himself forward.

He tried throwing punches at Tsuna, but he easily evaded all of them with little effort. Sidestepping, blocking, but never going offensive.

This dance continued for a good five minutes. Reborn for one, was about ready to sleep. The only thing that would give him away would be the bubble on his nose. He slept with his eyes open.

But Tsuna surprised them by suddenly lashing out an attack upon his opponent. Unlike usual, his eyes were a bright orange, a similar yet lighter shade of Hanatsu's own.

Sky Dying Will Flames were also on his forehead and hands. So he was handling them without gloves and wasn't getting burnt. He even got into HDWM without pills or bullets!

Mist flames appeared for a brief second before forming two twin daggers. He held them similarly to Hibari's tonfas.

Instead of waiting for Hanatsu to process the new information, he launched furious attacks against him. He gave no time for the Decimo to get into position for either of the Zero Point Breakthroughs. Small beams of fire appeared out of his hands between slashes and by the next minute, the victor was obvious.

He was using the first five minutes to observe his fighting style? Smart choice for a kid.

While he had defeated his opponent, he had tried to keep the injuries to a minimum. So he was holding back as well.

Reborn couldn't help but smirk, tilting his fedora down to give a shadowy effect.

But the surprises weren't over. Leaning down beside the injured Hanatsu, Tsuna lit his hands with Sun flames and began to heal him. The flame on his head also turned to a yellow color. When he was done he picked up the now unconscious future Decimo(which looked quite strange since the one he was carrying was bigger than himself) and walked towards Reborn.

"So Reborn, just what exactly have you been teaching the boy this whole time?" The brunette sneered.

"Don't underestimate him." Was Reborn's blunt response.

"Oh? But the one I think I overestimated was you." Reborn lowered his fedora to cover his face. Ignoring the comment he jumped up toward the nearest tree and made his way back to town. There, he would call Vongola to see if they had any new leads on Hanatsu's new tutor.

Sighing, Tsuna knew what Reborn was asking of him. Making his way back down the mountain, he wondered when was the next time he would be able to hang out with Chrome and the others again. Probably not soon, Reborn would force him to stay with him and the mafia children at the Sawada residence.

Of course if he wanted to train Decimo to become stronger this would work in his favor. After all, none of the mafia would ever be able to find Akirameru Tsunayoshi. He had forsaken that name long ago. Those people were not his family, and neither did they consider him theirs. The fact that the Akirameru family in Kyoto ever had a boy named Tsunayoshi was widely unknown. When he was sold to the local yakuza by them, all of his records had been secretly destroyed. He no longer existed.

"Oi! What are you doing to Juudaime!" Oh great. Some idiot had decided to interrupt his trip down the hell that was his memory lane. And without turning around, he knew exactly who that idiot was.

"Hayato, I was asked by Reborn to return him home." Not the truth, not a lie. Keep a perfect smile.

Gokudera spluttered at the mention of Reborn's name and blushed at his smile before recognizing him.

"You! You were that kid at the Mist Ring Battle! Get your filthy hands off Juudaime!" Gokudera pulled out his bombs. The only thing that stopped him from launching them was the fact that his target was holding Hanatsu.

"No can do Hayato. You see, I'm here to train him to get stronger and control his flames." Zero Point Breakthrough is a good technique, but he needs much more to beat opponents that might not use flames like Xanxus. People like Hibari Kyoya for example only used his tonfas and was considered one of the stronger tenth generation guardians.

Before more protests could be made, Tsuna started running at a speed that rivaled light. A blur, Gokudera could only watch in awe at the retreating figure before making his way to the Sawada residence.

Not even breaking a sweat, Tsuna arrived at Hanatsu's house. Setting down the Decimo for a second, he knocked on the door similarly to a few hours ago.

"Oh Na-kun's friend again?" Nana opened the door.

Tsuna nodded. "Yeah, Natsu fell asleep on our trip and I carried him back." Nana motioned him into the house and opened the door to Hanatsu's room.

"Reborn mentioned that you had nowhere else to stay. Is that correct?" Tsuna sweat-dropped. It wasn't exactly true, but it would help give him a reason to stay here.

"Yes ma'am." Nana nodded and turned to him smiling.

"Then why don't you stay with us for awhile?" Tsuna returned the smile.

"That would be great. Thank you very much."

"Then I'll show you to your room later. If you have any stuff, feel free to bring it over whenever." Exiting the room, she left Tsuna in Hanatsu's room.

He knew that Hayato would be coming here soon, he might've even told the other Guardians. But wait, this was Gokudera he was talking about. Of course he didn't. Well, easier on him.

Deciding his course of action, Tsuna could sense Reborn's presence on the roof. Probably still trying to find information on him. It wasn't that he was worried about himself, he was worried that it might hinder his plans to release Mukuro from Vendice.

And nothing would separate him from that goal.

This would be great chance to train some of Decimo's Guardians. Hayato was better at using dynamites after the Battle for the Rings but he needed training for close range attacks. After all, we couldn't have Hayato blowing himself up in order protect his precious 'Juudaime' no can we?

He wouldn't need much. A bit of martial arts training could help him get distance between him and his opponents. Getting him a gun could be helpful as well.

But that was all for later. For now he had to calm down the Storm's head and gain his trust. If he started following him around even a fraction of the way he did to Natsu, he would have to control himself to make sure he didn't kill Hayato by accident.

Opening the front door, Tsuna found himself in front of a surprised Gokudera, arm extended as if to knock on the now open door.

"Ahh...Hayato. Natsu is sleeping right now, so why don't we take this little chat somewhere else?"

"Hmph. Whatever kid."

"That's rude Hayato! Y'know, I'm as old as you guys!" Tsuna led the way to a more secluded part of town. Gokudera ignored the comment and followed him.

This freak... At the Mist Ring Battle he was with the Kokuyo and that woman. I'll eliminate him before he can become a threat to Juudaime!

Tsuna honestly respected Gokudera for his devotion to Decimo. If he could teach him to utilize that to grow stronger, all the better.

Arriving at their destination Tsuna turned around to face Gokudera. They were at an empty abandoned parking lot.

"So Hayato..." Gokudera tensed and grabbed his dynamite. From where, it was a mystery.

"Would you like to go on a date?" At this Gokudera thought he had hit his head. Or it was all a dream. Yeah, a terrible dream.

"W-w-WHAT?!" Tsuna acted oblivious to his reactions.

"Hn? I thought it would be a nice way for us to get to know each other. I know a place nearby that we can go."

Gokudera spluttered and his face was completely red. A date? With a guy?! (A guy that could pass as a girl but still)

While he was distracted, Tsuna grabbed his arm and pulled him the rest of the way towards their next destination.

A short time later while the Storm Guardian was still stuck on the idea of going on a date, the arrived at a place where nothing but sunflowers could be seen for miles.

Gokudera broke out of his thoughts as he stared at the flowers, entranced.

"W-where are we?"

"Haha! Silly Hayato, we're at a flower field!" His smile was brighter than the yellow flowers behind him.

"I-I know that? But why?!" Tsuna pursed his lips in thought and put a finger to his cheek.

"Well, I thought it would be a good place to talk. So sit!" He sat down on the grass and Gokudera grudgingly complied.

"So kid, what did you do to Juudaime?!"

"Hayato, I told you, Reborn asked me to carry him home after some training."

"But why were you there? I'm his right hand man!" Gokudera scoffed. Reborn wouldn't need the help of this weakling.

"Hehehe...Hayato." Gokudera looked up again to see that the flower field had vanished. He was surrounded by nothing but black.

"Why did you join the mafia...Hayato?" The voice, that kid's voice echoed through the darkness.

"To prove myself!" He shouted. There was no one else there, but he knew the voice came from somewhere.

"To who? Your father? Your mother? How about your half sister? Shamal, your hero?" The voice was slightly mocking.

"To Juudaime! So get me the f*ck out of here before I blow it to bits!" He grabbed his dynamite out of his pockets and took a threatening pose.

"But, you never met 'Juudaime' until you came to Namimori. So, who did you join the mafia to prove yourself to?"

Gokudera was as a loss. He couldn't attack anything, and this kid was messing with his head.

"Yourself, maybe?" The Storm Guardian's head shot up and his pupils contracted.

"Am I right? After all, you are just a half breed. It would make sense that you developed an inferiority complex against them. By joining the mafia, you could prove to yourself that you were stronger then all of them. That you were more then a bastard child."

"N-no..."

"No? Are you sure? By the unsteady beat of your heart I would guess that I was right." The voice paused for a few seconds.

"Before you can prove to him that you are worthy of being his right hand man, you must prove it to yourself. So, are you ready?"

The darkness swirled and scenes of Gokudera's past surrounded him. Some of them he had even forgot, the times he had spent with Bianchi and his father, the Storm Ring Battle, all of it.

"Stop...STOP!" Gokudera clutched his ears as memories resurfaced. The death of his real mother and how it had made him run away, and the time he had resented Hanatsu for being the Vongola Decimo.

"Hayato..." His mother was standing right in front of him holding his hands. She smiled, and then her image turned into sparkling dust, which floated away.

Tsuna stood beside him and smiled in a similar way as his mother, with sadness and pride.

"Stop blaming yourself. Embrace your weaknesses and find something worth protecting. Or have you already?"

"I have." Gokudera no longer needed to hesitate. He already knew what he wanted to protect.

The memories formed into a picture, a picture of him next to Hanatsu and the rest of the Guardians, even Mukuro and Hibari, smiling.

"So this is it? What you want to protect? Then cherish it. And remember, you are not only a protecter, but a protected as well. It's okay to rely on them sometimes."

The next time he opened his eyes, Gokudera found himself lying in the middle of a sunflower field. When he tried to sit up, he noticed a neatly folded paper.

After opening it up, he found a simple and easy to understand map drawn to lead him back to Namimori. Underneath a note was written.

Hayato! If your reading this, you probably understand what I was trying to tell you earlier. I'll be staying in Namimori for a while to help Reborn train Natsu. Feel free to come by anytime! -Love, Tsuna

Gokudera blushed slightly at the use of 'love' but shook it off. Following the instructions, he sat in his apartment for awhile before going back to the Sawada's.

The whole thing with Hayato had gone well.

Mission 1: Stop the self-sacrificing Storm from killing himself-check.

Mission 2: Understand what the hell was going on through Yamamoto's head, well that's still in progress.

They had only been gone for three hours, so it was possible that Natsu was awake by now.

At least Tsuna hoped so, so that he wouldn't have to deal with any more of Reborn's pestering questions. But, eventually he would have to tell him, if at least to get him to stop bugging him. Stupid nosy Arcobaleno apparently couldn't stay out of his business.

Tsuna huffed indignantly.

When he opened the door to his new 'home', Nana greeted him warmly. He replied back and went to Natsu's room again to check on him.

When Natsu woke up, he was surprised to see that Reborn had not hit his head with his green mallet and that the Sun was very bright through his window.

As he looked around his room, he saw the brunette who had beaten him earlier, Tsuna, sitting in the chair in front of his desk. His head was drooped to the side and his eyes were closed, showing that he was asleep.

It was hard to believe that this was the same person that had beaten him just a little while ago. Speaking of which, he didn't feel any aches or pains.

Maybe Reborn had healed him? He was the Sun Arcobaleno, but it was hard to believe that Reborn would ever do something like that.

Natsu tried to get out of bed without waking the sleeping brunette up, but his efforts were in vain as said person stirred.

"M..'kro?" He lazily opened his eyes and yawned.

"Hm? Ah...Natsu, good...Afternoon?" His eyes were now fully open and he looked back and forth between the clock and Natsu.

Hanatsu blushed slightly at the sight of his cute tutor waking up. The moment however, was sadly broken as the window opened and Reborn hopped in.

"Ciaossu, Baka-Natsu, Dame-Tsuna."

"Dame? How am I no-good?" Reborn smirked and Hanatsu sweat-dropped. If Tsuna was no-good, then what was he? Being beaten by a no-good ruins your already low self-esteem.

"Dame-Tsuna's Dame-Tsuna." He tilted his head down.

"Reborn!" Tsuna pouted, rather cutely in Natsu's opinion. And not that either of the two in the room would listen to his opinion either. Demon tutors.

Both of them turned to Natsu at the same time and asked,

"What did you say (Baka) Natsu?" Damn! He had forgotten that Reborn was able to read minds and apparently the other one could as well.

Cursing his bad luck, Hanatsu apparently had some form of luck and was able to avoid their wrath when they could hear someone knocking on the door downstairs.

A few seconds later, Tsuna and Reborn had composed themselves when someone opened the door to Natsu's room.

"Natsu!" It was Yamamoto. Natsu's good friend and Tsuna's next mission.

"Ah! Yamamoto-kun!"

"Oh? Natsu? Who's this?" Yamamoto made a small hand gesture towards Tsuna.

"I'm Tsuna. I'll be working with Reborn to make Natsu and all of the other Guardians stronger." Tsuna stated somewhat mechanically.

"Haha! That's nice." If they had not heard Tsuna, they might have thought he was replying to something like the fact that his classmate had won a match in their club sport.

"I just wanted to come by to tell you that Hibari's looking for you." Natsu perked up to make sure he had heard correctly.

"Hibari?"

"Yeah. Something about some damaged school property. I would tell 'ya to keep away from him for a while but I'm not sure anyone could avoid Hibari!" Yamamoto laughed nervously.

"Yeah..." Damaged school property? Then he remembered the time Gokudera had lit and thrown a dynamite at one of the storage buildings. Some assassin had been sneaking around.

Natsu facepalmed outwardly and cried inwardly.

"Hibari? Y'know, you could probably deal with him Natsu." Tsuna remarked offhandedly.

Reborn raised an eyebrow at this encouragement but said nothing. Yamamoto and Natsu seemed a little surprised.

"N-no way! Hibari would 'bite me to death!"

Hmph. Looks like I'll have to do a quick patch on Hibari before I can move on to Yamamoto. I can focus more on Hibari's other traits later.

"It's alright Natsu! I'll support you! And I'm sure Takeshi here wouldn't mind helping, right?" Tsuna acted a lot more cheerful then before. Whether it was at the prospect of a looming fight or being able to strengthen the Guardians, even he didn't know.

"Yeah! I'll help ya guys!"

"Really?" Natsu was happy that they believed in him. If Hibari beat him, at least Tsuna could step in and stop him from actually getting hurt.

"Al-alright." He usually wouldn't do something like this. What had changed in him?

Natsu became increasingly nervous as they stepped onto the path leading to school. Tsuna and Yamamoto were being cheery and talked about this and that.

Reborn was perched atop his head and was surprisingly silent for most of the trip since Yamamoto had arrived at their house.

It never failed to make Hanatsu sweat-drop at the thought of Hibari being in the Disciplinary Committee office during the weekend.

His hands shook slightly as he reached out to the handle of the door. Quite different to a horror film the door was clean and didn't creak as he opened it.

However, it didn't change the fact that the person on the other side of the door was a monster. A monster that would,

"I'll bite you to death, herbivore."

Omake 1: On the Way to Getting Bitten to Death

"So, Tsuna what do you usually do on Saturdays?" Yamamoto asked.

"Me? Well I usually just spend time with Chrome and the others. There's not really anything else to do over there." Tsuna sighed.

"Haha, that's nice. Getting to spend time with your friends 'n all." He smiled.

"Yeah, it really is." Tsuna smiled as well, but more forlornly.

"Y'know Tsuna, you really should drink more milk." Having sensed the other's discomfort, he changed the subject.

"Milk?"

"Yeah! You look so small! How old are you? 11? 12?" Tsuna was wrapped in a dark, depressing aura as he held himself in a corner, surrounded by swirling mist of depression.

"T-Takeshi...I'm your age!"

"E-eh?" How could he have known?! The boy looked so small and girly, he didn't look like he could be in middle school at all!

Tsuna sniffed, as though he needed a tissue.

"Do I really look that small Takeshi?" Yamamoto scratched the back of his head, not knowing how to comfort the brunette.

"W-well...I'm sure you'll grow in the next couple of years!" He patted the smaller boy's back encouragingly. It seemed to work as Tsuna smiled a bit.

The smile got brighter as Tsuna seemed to be thinking about something in the past. It made Yamamoto blush.

He found that he wanted to be the reason the other boy smiled.

Tsuna was oblivious to Yamamoto's blush and thoughts as he pondered over his standing with the mafia. Maybe, just maybe they all weren't as bad as he had thought. If he could help them change the mafia, the world would become better and Mukuro and Chrome and the others wouldn't have to worry. He smiled a bit.

That is, after they got 'bitten to death' of course.

Omake 2: Where's Juudaime?!

Through the streets of Namimori walked the young future Storm Guardian of the Vongola Decimo.

Currently, he was on his way to Hanatsu's house to see if he was alright. After getting 'talked to' by the kid, he felt a lot better.

Like a large weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. He was also going there to get some answers from Reborn and the rest. If he was Juudaime's right-hand man, why hadn't he known about the kid tutoring him earlier?!

Quite differently from usual, people avoided him like the plague on the streets. One second he had a killing murderous aura directed at no one in particular, and another he looked depressed and ready to kill himself right there.

The dynamite he was holding in his hands could do either of the jobs, and let's just say that the Japanese population wanted to live.

When Gokudera finally reached Hanatsu's house, he knocked on the door. Juudaime's mother answered.

"Na-kuns friend! Oh, come right in." She smiled. He followed her into the house.

"Sorry, but Natsu's out with some of his other friends right now. Reborn went with him."

"..."

"WHAT?!"

"The Fool is the spirit in search of experience. He represents the mystical cleverness bereft of reason within us, the childlike ability to tune into the inner workings of the world. The sun shining behind him represents the divine nature of the Fool's wisdom and exuberance, holy madness or 'crazy wisdom'. On his back are all the possessions he might need. In his hand there is a flower, showing his appreciation of beauty. He is frequently accompanied by a dog, sometimes seen as his animal desires, sometimes as the call of the "real world", nipping at his heels and distracting him. He is seemingly unconcerned that he is standing on a precipice, apparently about to step off. One of the keys to the card is the paradigm of the precipice, Zero and the sometimes represented oblivious Fool's near-step into the oblivion (The Void) of the jaws of a crocodile, for example, are all mutually informing polysemy within evocations of the iconography of The Fool. The staff is the offset and complement to the void and this in many traditions represents wisdom and renunciation, e.g. 'danda' (Sanskrit) of a Sanyassin, 'danda' (Sanskrit) is also a punctuation mark with the function analogous to a 'full-stop' which is appropriately termed a period in American English The Fool is both the beginning and the end, neither and otherwise, betwixt and between, liminal.

The number 0 is a perfect significator for the Fool, as it can become anything when he reaches his destination as in the sense of 'joker's wild'. Zero plus anything equals the same thing. Zero times anything equals zero. Zero is nothing, a lack of hard substance, and as such it may reflect a non-issue or lack of cohesiveness for the subject at hand."

-Wikipedia

Just to clarify some more, Tsuna used mist to form the daggers. Reinforced with other flames, they're super strong! He can also make other weapons like in the next chapter. Just imagine Ryohei's healing gloves, the Storm flame to do damage, and the Rain flame for extra strength among other things combined.

The whole sunflower field thing was just to get Gokudera relaxed. The SUNflowers to me represented a new 'dawn'. And I think he needed that.

I've notice a lot of fics with HibarixHaru and GokuderaxHaru. Umm, not to be particularly offensive to any of her fans, I don't quite see her charm.
To me there's a certain line between willful and annoying, and sadly Haru is just a millimeter across that line. If someone can show me a fic that proves me wrong, please, I'm all ears.

Tell me if you think I can make improvements, especially on Tsuna's character. The thing that's driving him right now(Mukuro's freedom) makes him a bit bipolar in my opinion.

I can practically hear all of the people wondering if there's gonna be 1827. Wait a bit to find out! Review! Favorite! Alert! All of this will increase my motivation :)

For sure the fight of Hibari vs. Tsuna is gonna be a lot more exciting then this one. Or at least, I'll try.

As for 7227, could you even call it that? I mean Natsu is very different from the HDWM Tsuna in the manga/anime. There will be hints but very small. Not really gonna go very far with that unless by popular demand.

As for how long I think this is gonna go on, I really can't tell. Definitely over 100k but I shall make no promises and tell you no lies.

Hmm, not entirely sure if I'm happy with the first part. Please review so I can see different perspectives on my work!

Happy 8027 day everyone~! (8/27) This is why I wrote the first omake :D