Greetings :)

This didn't turn out like I wanted it to (nothing unusual, unfortunately) but I like it anyway. Not as much Humor as I had planned, but... Meh.

Please review and tell me when I spelled something wrong or my sentences don't make sense.

Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn. But it would be nice...

Enjoy!

~ Santoka

Learning for Life

Uno

Tsuna was content.

Well, almost content, but it was better than he'd been for almost two years now, since the day the baby in fedora had knocked on his door and had started "tutoring" him (was he the only one who thought that it was a strange coincidence "tutoring" and "torturing" sounded so similar?).

Three days ago Tsuna, Gokudera, Yamamoto and Chrome had started High School and it was almost eerie how smooth everything went. The teachers had been nice so far, there had been no freak-incidents involving him and his group, the school building was still standing and the best: Nobody knew him! No more Dame-Tsuna, no teachers who failed him just because they knew he was no-good and even the bullies had ignored him (for the most part anyway, but Tsuna had resolved to overlook the resulting carnage at the hands of his right-hand man and just pretend that it didn't happen).

Life was good and the future looked a little bit brighter.

In hindsight, he really should have seen it coming.

It was on his fourth day, in the third period (English, a subject Tsuna was struggling with because he kept mixing the vocabulary with Italian, but the teacher was more impressed than annoyed) and they were in the middle of reading a text from their book as the door slammed open with a force that left the wood cracking and six black clad, armed men stormed in.

Tsuna and his Guardians were the first to jump out of their seats, Yamamoto gripping his Shigure Kintoki, Gokudera reaching for his dynamites and Chrome fingering her earring while Tsuna just prepared himself to dive out of the way of an attack. The rest of the students followed soon though, most of them screaming in terror and hiding under their desks while their teacher, Mrs. Nara, was so startled that she fell onto the floor.

While his classmates worked on creating a total chaos in their haste to hide or flee, Tsuna felt panic gripping him.

Why were there armed men in his school? Did they come because of him? Because they were part of the mafia? What if they started shooting? How should they fight with all the panicking teenagers? What should he do?

Tsuna thanked the heavens that Kyoko and Hana hadn't been sorted into his class.

He felt his friends moving to stand with him and frantically searched his pockets for his pills and mittens. If they had to fight, maybe he could take the action away from the school. But he couldn't use his flames in here, too many civilians and not enough room. And if Gokudera started throwing his bombs…

In that moment Tsuna spied something that send his mind reeling and started a new bout of confusion. With reflexes he had earned by dodging bullets and grenades he took hold of Gokudera's hand that was about to throw a few of his dynamites and hissed loud enough to be heard over the mayhem: "S-Stop, Gokudera-kun!"

The bomber spun his head around to face him, confusion and anger in his gaze. "Juudaime? They are armed and probably dangerous!"

"They are the police!" Tsuna whispered urgently and hoped that Chrome and Yamamoto could hear him too, before they did something stupid. "And even if they weren't, you can't throw your bombs in here! You could hurt someone!"

Tsuna waited until Gokudera had spied the stark white inscription spelling "Police" on the uniforms of the intruders and made to put his dynamites back where they came from, although with gritted teeth, before he let go of the teen's hand. Then Tsuna looked to his left to check if Yamamoto and Chrome had gotten the message, noticing that the swordsman had dropped his defensive stance but still had his sword in a death grip (thankfully in his bamboo-form though) while Chrome had hidden herself behind him.

The general chaos died down slowly as everyone had taken cover somewhere and now just eyed the policemen fearfully. Those used the opportunity to speak up, now that it was quiet enough for them to be heard.

"Please stay calm and settle down. We are from the Namimori Police and are here to arrest a suspected criminal said to be residing here."

Gokudera snorted disbelieving and Tsuna couldn't help but agree mentally, even though dread pooled in his stomach at these words.

Which kind of police officers stormed a school class armed with firearms just because there was a rumor of a criminal hiding there?

One of the officers, obviously the leader as he was the only one not gripping a gun, took a step forward and asked: "Is here a certain Sawada Tsunayoshi?"

Every head in the room swirled to the group of four standing in the back and Tsuna felt his knees going weak as a small "Eep" escaped his lips.

Within seconds every weapon was aimed at them and the leader made a few steps towards them before stopping, as Yamamtoto and Gokudera stepped before the brunette protectively. Thankfully Gokudera refrained from taking out his bombs.

"Who do you think you are? Stay away from Juudaime!"

Yamamoto was a little bit more polite, although his voice was steely and dangerous and sent Tsuna shivers down his back. "I'm sure there is a misunderstanding. Tsuna hasn't done anything."

The officer seemed taken aback first and then glared at them from under his helmet as if trying to make them step aside by his gaze only. As the both of them didn't even flinch and Gokudera scowled back with a vehemence he answered with forced nonchalance.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi is suspected to have ties to the organized crime and to have participated in several cases of aggravated battery and property damage. We are here to restrain him and take him back to the police headquarters where he will be questioned. Now step aside, else you will be arrested for interference of the law enforcement."

At that moment only Chrome's grip on his arm prevented Tsuna from sinking to the floor. Organized crime? Aggravated battery? Property damage? Arrested? What?

Funnily enough, Tsuna had never considered that, yes, he was indeed a criminal. He had certainly caused a lot of bodily harm to several people, he housed several Mafiosi at his home and property damage was practically ingrained into his daily routine. And, denying or not, he had ties to the mafia. His father was in a high position in the most powerful Famiglia there is and he himself was trained by a world-class hitman to be the next leader.

The revelation had Tsuna almost fainting.

Gokudera and Yamamoto meanwhile hadn't moved an inch and the formers hand was twitching towards his belt.

"And what makes you think that I'll let you take Juudaime away just like that?"

The officer took a threatening step forward and scowled even heavier. "I advise you to step aside, boy. Don't force me to make you."

"You can try, bastardo!"

Tsuna decided to step in before Gokudera made the situation only more complicated and got himself arrested for harming a police officer.

"Gokudera-kun, it's alright."

For how extreme said teen reacted he could have screamed instead of whispering as he did. Gokudera whirled around, wide eyed, shock obvious in his features.

"But Juudaime! You can't just let them arrest you for no reason at all. This is misusage of power on the police's side!"

Tsuna saw the angry twitch the office had at this accusation and hurried to convince his Storm Guardian.

"Please, Gokudera-kun, don't make this more difficult than it already is. I don't want you to get into trouble for me. And anyway, I'm sure Reborn will sort this out. When someone can do that, then Reborn. Surely this evening everything will be alright again."

He tried to give them a reassuring smile, but judging from their miserable mines it didn't work.

"Tsuna…" Yamamoto looked at him pleadingly and Tsuna returned the look.

"Please, Yamamoto."

The Rain Guardian nodded hesitantly, lowered his sword and stepped aside.

Gokudera positively glowered at him. "What do you think you're doing, sword freak?"

Yamamoto's gaze was determined but miserable.

"Tsuna said to let him go, so I'm doing that. You should follow him in this, Gokudera."

Tsuna meanwhile had smiled at Chrome and then carefully loosened her grip on his arm.

"Bossu…"

"It's alright, mina." Tsuna repeated and then stepped out of the protective circle his friends had created. Immediately the officer winked two of his men forward to restrain him. Tsuna fought the urge to shake of the handcuffs and instead focused on his Guardians, who all looked as if they wanted to attack the officers and break him free. "Just tell Reborn what happened and he'll get me out."

"Hai, Juudaime!" Gokudera replied as the officer snapped the manacles shut, put a hand on his shoulders and then steered Tsuna to the exit.

Yamamoto, who had slung a comforting arm around Chrome's shoulders said: "Don't worry, Tsuna. You'll be out of there before you can say 'baseball'."

The brunette suddenly was painfully aware of all the curious, fearful and disbelieving stares his classmates gave him. It seemed his anonymity just died a very painful death. Tsuna wanted to scream.

The little procession was forced to stop as an unexpected figure suddenly blocked the doorway.

"Please, step aside, Miss."

Mrs. Nara shook a little but didn't budge.

"No. I want to know why you are arresting one of my students, a teenage boy."

"I already told you, Miss, he is suspected of ties to-"

"Everybody can say that. Do you have an arrest warrant?"

Tsuna could hear Gokudera cursing somewhere behind him, probably because he didn't think of that, but he was busy gazing at his teacher in awe and with hope. Maybe he could get out of this mess yet.

The officer didn't look happy to be interrupted by the woman, but the request was a reasonable one he couldn't ignore. So he motioned to one of the men, who had by now let their weapons disappear, to bring forth an official looking paper, which he then gave to the petite woman blocking the door.

Mrs. Nara scanned the paper and Tsuna observed with trepidation her face becoming paler with each word.

When she was finished Mrs. Nara had lost all color and was shaking like a leaf.

"That… I-I'm sorry, Officer."

With that she handed the warrant back and stepped aside. Tsuna noticed that she was desperate not to make eye contact with him.

Just what stood in there?!

The officer nodded and then proceeded to march out of the classroom, tugging Tsuna with them.

"Good afternoon, Miss, and I am sorry, for the mess."

A faint "No problem" and a yelled "Juudaime!" was the last Tsuna heard before they rounded the corner.

Tsuna really had to use the loo, but he didn't think they would let him.

The officers had taken him to the headquarters, led him into an interrogation room and then left him there for two hours now, alone with himself and a glass of water.

The room was cold and sparsely furnished, with only two very uncomfortable chairs, a desk and the obligatory see-through mirror on one wall.

Tsuna fiddled with the hem of his shirt as he waited. It was a relief that they had taken off the handcuffs, but there wasn't really much he could do besides over thinking his situation again and again and again… But he had done that for the last few hours and still hadn't found a solution. For all means and purposes, he was guilty.

Hopefully Reborn would come soon.

As if it had heard his plea the door chose that moment to open. Tsuna allowed himself a moment to hope, only do be disappointed a second later as the officer who'd arrested him and another one he didn't recognize entered the room.

The latter had a folder in his hands and took the seat opposite of Tsuna while the other one leaned against the wall next to the door, effectively blocking the exit. Not that Tsuna planned to escape, but the message was clear: He wouldn't get out of here.

"Mr. Sawada, right?" the officer before him inquired, gaze fixed on him as if he wanted to look straight into his head.

Tuna gulped.

"H-Hai."

"I am Officer Hanaba and that is Officer Yoshikuni."

Tsuna nodded hesitantly, not sure what to say, trying not to look at Yoshikuni who glared holes into his head.

"Do you know what this is?" Hanaba asked, indicating the thick, yellow folder on the desk.

Tsuna shook his head.

Hanaba folded his hands and stared straight into Tsunas eyes, gaze cold and emotionless. "This is all the material we have about you."

Tsuna's eyes widened as he gauged the object. The folder was big.

The officer unfolded his hands, opened the folder and started skimming through it. "It contains everything from reports of property damage, over accusations of assault and battery to complains about breach of peace."

Tsuna said nothing, but his eyes widened further. This didn't sound very good.

"Here are things like" - Hanaba took a sheet out of the folder, reading out loud - "'Noises like from bombs and shots at all times of the day' in your neighborhood and" – another sheet – "some people who claim to have been 'brutally beaten'. There even is a report about 'demolishing and setting ablaze the closed amusement park Kokuyo Land'. Do you have to say something to that?"

Hanaba's cold gaze once again returned to Tsuna and the teen shifted uncomfortably in his hard chair.

"I…I don't know." he stuttered lamely and could have kicked himself as soon as the words left his mouth.

Hanaba just lifted a skeptical eyebrow.

"Do you want to know what I think?"

Tsuna didn't reply, but Hanaba continued anyway.

"I think that this is an extremely long list of misdeeds for someone so young. This sounds more like the record of a hardened criminal with pyromaniac tendencies. And I think that this is a very long list without someone trying to bring the offender to justice. Now, what do you have to say to that?"

"I-I-I'm sure this is a m-misunderstanding." Tsuna stammered feebly.

His eyes darted around the room as if to search for an escape and he wrought his hands nervously. He knew he just did everything to confirm the suspicions of the officers, but he couldn't help it!

Where was Reborn?

"A misunderstanding?" Hanaba's voice dripped with sarcasm and Tsuna flinched.

The room was silent for a minute before the officer started again.

"That is an interesting ring, Mr. Sawada. Family heirloom?"

Tsuna's gaze snapped back to the man in front of him who was smirking slightly. The way he had said Family left a bad feeling in the teen. Could it be that…

"W-What, I-"

A knock interrupted what surely would have been Tsuna's death sentence

Hanaba's mine became annoyed as he turned to the man who had stuck his head into the room.

"What?" he spat.

The man seemed to be used to such a behavior as he didn't even flinch. "Sir, there is someone here who says he is the kid's attorney."

Hanaba closed his eyes and sighed through his nose. "Send them in."

"Hai."

The man disappeared again and a second later the door opened fully to reveal…

"Ciaossu."

Reborn, clad in a grey suit and with a green briefcase clutched in his hands.

Reborn hopped onto the desk next to Tsuna who felt a wave of relief flood him at the sight. Reborn was here. He would help him.

"And you are…?" Hanaba's expression was sour, no doubt because his victim had now someone to defend him.

"My name is R.E. Born. I am Mr. Sawada's attorney." Reborn produced a card from somewhere and handed it to the officer, who glanced at it and then stared skeptically at the disguised Arcobaleno.

"I wasn't aware he had one."

Tsuna was a little bit disturbed that Hanaba didn't question the fact that a baby was an attorney. He had seemed like a very down-to-earth guy to Tsuna. But then again, so far everybody had believed Reborn once he was in disguise.

"Of course. His family contacted me as he wasn't able to. May I now know why you currently restrain my client?" Reborn inquired as he settled down, legs crossed and hands folded in his lap.

Hanaba seemed a little taken aback by the unblinking stare at first but caught himself quickly.

"Mr. Sawada is accused of collaborating with dangerous individuals and is linked to several cases of aggravated battery and property damage as well as breechings of peace."

Reborn seemed unfazed.

"Your evidence?"

"Several witness statements."

"May I see?" Reborn asked and Hanaba handed him the folder after a second of hesitating. After a few minutes where the only sound was the turning of paper Reborn closed the folder and handed it back, gaze still unwavering and emotionless.

"None of these reports state the name of my client specifically."

"The descriptions are palpable." Hanaba replied, obviously offended.

"There are many short, brown haired teenagers out there."

"The witnesses often saw him together with people very similar to Mr. Sawada's school friends."

"That's hardly a proof for my client's guilt."

"They are reported to have called him 'Tsuna' or 'Juudaime', both of which are nicknames of Mr. Sawada."

"Again, there are many teenagers and surely there are similar nicknames. Witness reports are never impeccable anyway. The human brain isn't made to save every little detail, so mistakes often happen."

Tsuna, who had followed the argument like one would a tennis match noticed a twitch in Hanaba's left eye. The man lost his cool.

But it was the other one, Yoshikuni, who made the next remark.

"He has ties to the Italian Mafia!"

Hanaba turned to glare at him but then fixed Reborn with an expectant gaze.

"Just because my client speaks Italian – and that not even good, I might add- and because there have been sightings of 'men in suits and limousines' before my client's house, doesn't mean that he is in the Mafia." Reborn dismissed the officer. "This would never hold at court."

"His father works for them." Hanaba replied, frustrated now.

"Do you have proof for that?"

"No, but-"

"Then how can you make such accusations?"

"I-"

"If there is nothing else, then we will take our leave." Reborn made motions to stand up and grab his suitcase as Yoshikuni again butted in.

"He is the bloody heir to the bloody Vongola!"

"Yoshikuni!" Hanaba reprimanded his colleague, glaring angrily.

"I won't let him get away like that!" the other defended himself, glowering at Tsuna, who flinched.

How did he know?! Did they know the whole time?!

"Yoshikuni, hold yourself together, else I am forced to exclude you from this case."

Hanaba seemed to be at the end of his tether and Yoshikuni backed away.

"…Hai."

Reborn had overcome his shock (not that the officers would have known. Only Tsuna had noticed and that was only because he knew his tutor so well) and had his attorney façade working again. "Where do you take this information from? Do you have any evidence on that?"

"My source is none of your interest. As for the evidence: He wears their ring." Hanaba replied coolly.

Tsuna, in shock, turned to look at his Vongola ring. So he had seen it! He peered at his tutor, trying to gauge his reaction, but Reborn still seemed unfazed.

"Is that everything? A shady source and a ring? I am sorry to inform you, but these are not enough to warrant an arrest. The Japanese police indeed has stooped low if that is everything it takes to storm a school building with armed men to arrest an underage boy."

With that Reborn rose and took his suitcase.

"Mr. Sawada and I will take our leave now. I hope that next time you accuse someone of being part of the organized crime, you have real proof. A good afternoon."

And then he jumped from the table and made his way to the door without looking back. Tsuna went to stand and follow him, but Yoshikuni gripped his harm and held him back, glaring hatefully at him.

"I will get you, Sawada."

Tsuna stared wide eyed at the man. What had he done to earn the hate of this man? He was pretty sure he had never seen him before.

Reborn calling him ripped Tsuna out of the staring-contest.

"Come, Tsuna."

The teen pulled his arm out of the grip of the scowling officer and hurried after his tutor. Once they had stepped out of the room and the door had closed behind them did Reborn hop onto Tsuna's head and said: "Let's go, Tsuna."

Tsuna followed this order with relief and within minutes they exited the building. Once there the boy took a deep breath and heaved a heartfelt relieved sigh.

"Free again. Thank you, Reborn."

The reply he got was a kick in the head that send him to the floor.

"Dame–Tsuna, that was pathetic. You did nothing to defend yourself and let these idiots just ride over you. You didn't even make your phone call or demanded an attorney. Next time, Dame-Tsuna, you do better, understood?"

Tsuna, still holding his head in hopes of easing the pain, looked up in shock.

"Next time?" he croaked incredulous. He rather didn't repeat this experience.

Reborn, obviously, had a different opinion. "Of course next time. You don't think that they'll let it go now, do you? They know that you're Vongola Decimo. They just can't prove it."

Tsuna let his hand drop and paled. "You… you mean that someone told them?"

Reborn emitted a positively dangerous aura as he answered."Probably. And when I find that someone, he'll have to answer to me."

Tsuna shivered at the killer intend that swept over him at these words and suddenly he was very, very happy that Reborn was on his side.

The dangerous aura disappeared as suddenly as she had appeared as Reborn aimed another kick at Tsuna's head that once again sent the teen to the floor.

"Anyway, this is a great training opportunity. You and your Guardians will make some very useful experiences. So make sure to learn something from this."

Tsuna just groaned and worked himself into a sitting position. Did he have to kick so hard?

Reborn wasn't impressed. "Stand up, Dame-Tsuna. Next time I won't go so easy on you. Anyway, everyone is waiting for you at your house."

Reborn hopped onto his student's head as he jumped upright.

"Ah, I totally forgot! They really must be worried. I better hurry!" And then the brunette took off at a run towards his home, desperate to assure his friends that he was fine.

Tsuna was resigned.

It was two months into his first year in High School and against all his efforts it was worse than Middle School.

True, no bully had ever bothered him again, no one called him Dame-Tsuna and no teacher had given him any bad grades. No, since that fateful day where the police had stormed his classroom the whole school was content to either act as if he didn't exist or to try to get on his good side with all sorts of presents, by doing his homework, helping him with his duties, going out of his way in the hallways…

It was Hell.

And the worst part was: None of his friends seemed to mind.

Yamamoto just laughed and said that everybody suddenly was so nice, because they now knew what a great guy Tsuna was, Ryohei called them all extreme and was done with it, Chrome didn't really seem to mind and Gokudera just said that they finally showed the appropriate respect for Juudaime.

The reasons for Tsuna's new status as super-delinquent were the now almost daily arrests he had to suffer. Every other day Officer Yoshikuni and his squad of policemen would storm the school (or Tsuna's house, the park, Takesushi… wherever Tsuna was at the moment) to arrest the brunette for yet another ridiculous reason.

Every time they would take him to the headquarters for interrogation and then try to pry information out of him, to prove that Yes, he was Vongola Decimo and a dangerous criminal. Each time someone of his friends would come to take him out of there, so sometimes he didn't even have to sit five minutes in the cold room before he was outside the building again.

At first it had been Reborn who came, but after the first few days he started bringing Gokudera, Yamamoto, Chrome and sometimes even Ryohei so they could learn. Last week he stopped coming himself and just sent one of the guardians.

Tsuna had stopped making a fuss after the first month. It was just not worth it.

And (dare he voice it?) it had somehow helped him. His guardians now were strangely adept at outwitting the Officers and speaking Tsuna free and Tsuna himself had at one point learned to keep a façade and not to let the questions and attempts at intimidation bother him anymore.

The one with the most improvement had been Yamamoto: He could talk the officers in circles and then be out of the door before they even noticed that they had lost.

But still, the fear of his fellow students disturbed Tsuna. He just wished that they would stop and ignore him again.

The brunette repressed a sigh as he and his friends came down from lunch on the roof to once again see his desk full with appeasement-chocolate and –presents.

"Ah, chocolate!" Yamamoto remarked as he bounded over to Tsuna's desk. He unwrapped one of the many pralines and popped it into his mouth. "Yummy! Now they've really outdone themselves."

"Idiot!" Gokudera fumed and stalked over to the happily munching teen. "Keep your dirty hands off Juudaime's tribute!"

Tsuna sighed again as Yamamoto laughed and popped another praline into his mouth sending Gokudera into a fit and starting one of their infamous one-sided arguments.

The brunette ignored them and instead turned to the girl by his side. "Do you want something too, Chrome? Really, I don't mind. In fact, I don't even like chocolate that much." … anymore.

She shook her head and answered in her quiet voice. "No, thank you, bossu."

"No problem." he replied absent mindedly as he tried scanning the room while at the same time keeping an eye on his Rain and Storm in case the latter decided to become violent.

He only spied his classmates, huddled in groups, gazing fearfully in his direction and whispering to each other, as if he was a dangerous animal that could decide to attack them at any moment. Tsuna felt the usual unease crawling under his skin at that. Why couldn't they just ignore him?

His attention was violently returned to his two fighting friend as Gokudera started yelling ("Is that a challenge, baseball freak?!"). Tsuna once again wondered how Yamamoto could be such a smooth talker with the police but managed to rile the bomber up every time anyway. Just another proof for Tsuna's theory that the baseball player did it on purpose.

Before he could decide if he wanted to step in or not the door slammed open and seven very familiar men streamed in.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi, you are under arrest for-"

"Hello Yoshikuni-san, good to see you again." Tsuna interrupted the by know well-known speech. He obediently stepped towards the officers and held his hands out for them to handcuff. "Just get done with it and take me away from here, please."

At least at the headquarters there were no whispering students that thought him a dangerous criminal. The policemen at least had a reason.

As he was (once again) led in handcuffs out of the room he could hear the infamous words yelled after him from his cheerful Rain.

"Don't worry, Tsuna. You'll be out of there before you can say 'Vongola'."

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Please review :)