Summary: Tsuna pouted as his family made fun of his imaginary friend, it wasn't his fault they couldn't see him. It wasn't his fault that they couldn't see the tall man with a fedora that was behind them watching everything with those sharp dangerous looking eyes of his.

Pairing: None, parental!Reborn, child!Tsuna

Disclaimer: Seriously? Don't own, just the idea

Beta'ed by WhiteAngel128 and Ankou13

Chapter 12

"Tsuna?" Giotto poked his head through the opening of the door, peeking at his youngest sibling who was sitting on the floor near the center of the bedroom. He could see the little brunet settled at the table in the center of the room. Tsuna's legs were folded neatly underneath the wood and were leaning over something Giotto couldn't quite see from his position. He could hear a soft hum from the small boy who was concentrating on the object before him, as well as the scribbling of a felt-tip pen. There was an empty plate on the other side, completely cleaned of all content, with the utensils placed neatly on top. At the sound of his voice, the brunet perked up and pulled away from the table, putting down the markers he had been using to color in what looked like a picture. Since Tsuna had just started, there wasn't much on the sheet except for a few lines.

The child smiled brightly, almost like the incident from earlier hadn't happened. His rabbit was on the bed, unnoticed by the blonde, and Tsuna spoke, "Brother!" He rushed up to the eldest for a hug, crashing into his legs with a giggle.

Giotto immediately returned it, gently petting the brunet as he ran his fingers through the soft hair, and smiled at the mere happiness the other showed him. Reborn, meanwhile, was at the corner of the room, simply watching the bonding moment. As the blonde pulled away from the other, Giotto kneeled down so that he could be at the same level as Tsuna. He bit his bottom lip, trying to say something about what had happened only moments before. Tsuna, seeing the frustrated look, kept quiet. He was unsure how to react considering Giotto's personality of straightforwardness. "Tsuna, about earlier…" He paused, trying to form his words, and peered around the place. His momentary lapse in speech allowed him to avoid the subject just a little longer, before he released a heavy sigh. "Look, about what happened with Gokudera, I'm sorry about that."

The brunet blinked curiously, tilting his head to the side. "Sorry? Why are you sorry? You didn't do anything to me."

Reborn snorted in the background, ignored by the two brothers. Giotto sighed heavily once more at the denial and stopped his petting, placing his hands onto the youngest's right shoulder. "Well, I let Gokudera do that to you. I mean, I didn't stop him when I should have. For that, I'm sorry."

"Oh…" Tsuna tilted his head to the side, curious about the matter, before glancing back towards Reborn. He was hoping for some guidance in this situation, for the right words to say, but the hitman remained quietly settled on the edge of the bed with his arms crossed against his chest. Reborn smirked and waved a hand as if telling the child to 'go ahead' before reaching up to pull his fedora over his eyes. At that sight, and knowing he wouldn't be getting any help, Tsuna pouted and turned back to his brother. He blinked his large honey-colored eyes and gave a small smile. "It's okay. It's not your fault."

Giotto's shoulders dropped; his eyes glancing downward as he went over Tsuna's words. "No, but it is. I didn't stop him when I should have. I just let Gokudera hurt you like that."

"But big brother loves me, right?"

"Of course I do, you're my little brother!"

"Then that's fine!" Tsuna wiggled out of the grasp and raised his arms outwards from his side as if he was trying to hold something big. He grinned widely, thinking he had found the perfect reason for everything. "Brother loves me so everything is fine!"

Reborn silently snorted in the background, raising a hand against his lips as he tried to keep himself from laughing. He carefully flopped back onto the bed, still watching the entire scene through the corner of his eyes. It was odd how Tsuna's logic came about, but he'd rather have Tsuna think like that than any other way. It was cute, after all. And pretty disarming, Reborn would have to give credit to Tsuna's innocence. Giotto sighed heavily, quickly figuring out that his younger brother wouldn't be budging on this subject and ran a hand through his hair.

"Alright, alright," Giotto shook his head and slowly pulled away from the other with a smile. "I lose this battle." He reached down to rub Tsuna's head gently, watching in amusement when the brunet laughed happily. "Well, I'm going to head back down. I need to keep my friends in control or else they'll destroy the house."

"Okay!" Tsuna just continued to smile, watching as his older brother stood up. Giotto made a small wave of goodbye before exiting the bedroom, leaving the two within alone. Reborn smirked before turning away, comfortable with his position, and closed his eyes while Tsuna went back to drawing with his colorful markers. It wasn't quiet though; the downstairs noise, which consisted of yelling and various crashes, carried up to the second floor. They could recognize the older brothers' voices easily among the chaos and laughter. Slowly, Tsuna began to hum gently to himself as he drew some more lines, concentrating on his picture as it began to take form. Reborn tried to peek over from his spot, but due to the distance and position he was in, all he could see was the ends of the table. However, he didn't have to wait long to find out what exactly Tsuna had been working on. "Done!"

Reborn opened one eye from underneath the fedora, peeking at the little brunet. "You finished your drawing?"

"Yeah! Look!" The child stood up, grabbing his little drawing, and ran over to Reborn's spot. He had to crawl onto the bed with one hand, the other gripping tightly onto the paper, but he managed just fine, slipping onto Reborn's abdomen. He heard the adult make a small 'oof' at the added pressure and giggled softly to himself in content. "Reborn, look!"

Reluctantly pulling off his fedora to actually see, the hitman hummed in amusement when a piece of paper was pushed up against his face, just inches away from touching. With the distance, he couldn't focus on the whole sketch so he sat up carefully, watching as the child rolled down his stomach and onto his lap. "Well, well, what do we have here?" It was a crappy drawing, but it was to be expected from a child. Children didn't exactly have the best artistic sense. Still, he could make out the colors and shapes enough to understand what was going on. There were two figures, one that represented Tsuna and the other was… him. It was pretty obvious with the black hat and clothes. No one else dressed like that except for him. Reborn chuckled gently, finding it cute. "Trying to draw me, huh?"

"Yep! Do you like it?"

"Obviously." The adult reached down and pet Tsuna's head gently, his fingers running through the soft locks. He fell back into bed, his head cradled by the soft pillow. "It's very nice."

"Yay!" Tsuna squealed, crashing back down onto Reborn's abdomen, and shone in delight when he heard another small 'oof' from the adult. He giggled lightly, staring up at the other in delight. His small arms tried to wrap around the waist, rubbing his chin into the stomach with a grin. The hitman didn't do anything but lay there, letting the child do whatever he wanted, and reached up to help balance the boy before he tumbled off him and the bed. Tsuna's legs rocked back and forth, curious at how the adult would react to his push, but when there was nothing, he tilted his head to the side with his ear against the warm skin. Listening carefully, he could hear the gurgling sounds of the stomach and beamed, closing his eyes in satisfaction.

Reborn shook his head and let his fingers slide back, running his hands through the soft brown hair as he chuckled. Tsuna was just too cute for his own good. He continued to let the child do whatever he wished, content in his position and relaxed against the bed once more, finding himself in the perfect spot for a nap. Continuing his strokes, he observed as the child slowly drifted off into slumber and pulled the boy closer to his body, wrapping himself around Tsuna protectively. He really was getting too used to being a dad to the brunet.

"You're doing much better in your homework," Reborn commented as he went over the sheets of paper before him. It had been a month since the incident with Gokudera, by Giotto's decree the silver-haired boy was no longer allowed to come over until he apologized. Of course, with the boy being so prideful and Tsuna unaware of the whole battle that was going on in the background, it never happened. Reborn had taken great care in watching over the child as if Tsuna was truly his own, allowing the boy to follow him to most places when he went out, except for his missions. The hitman honestly didn't mind the little duckling thing that was going on between them, finding it incredibly endearing with the way Tsuna would cling to him for protection.

He had noticed that, with his tutoring, Tsuna's grade point average had improved, going from failing to passing with a B-average. He wanted it to be a little higher, but he was fine with the improvement for now. It was a lot better than before and making up for those previous grades wasn't easy for the brunet who didn't understand some of the most basic information. He remembered the time when Tsuna had gotten his first 'B' on a test, waving it towards the raven so proudly, before jumping up into his arms. He had completely by-passed the rest of his family without a single care and went straight to his father. It was adorable, and to Reborn, it was showing him just how close they were becoming.

"That's because of you, Papa!" Tsuna smiled happily, settling into the raven's lap. He peered up at the adult and leaned against the chest happily, watching his father check over his homework carefully. Reborn huffed in amusement, patting the brunet on the head gently. His eyes roamed through the answers and questions, looking over everything carefully. He smirked and pointed down to one, circling it before placing the paper down on the table. Tsuna smiled at the sight of that. "Does that mean I only got one wrong this time?"

"Yep, you're doing much better now," Reborn stared down at the other proudly, feeling warmth that his adopted son was rapidly improving under his tutelage. "Now, I believe dinner will be ready soon. You can go eat before looking over this wrong answer."

"Aww." The brunet didn't move from his spot, too comfortable with where he was located, and leaned further into the warmth. "Papa is so warm."

Reborn rolled his eyes, running a hand through his hair. His fedora was on the nightstand along with his jacket on the edge of the bed. He was clearly relaxed in this setting, his expression softening up the longer he was around the brunet. Slowly, he wrapped an arm around the child and pulled him closer against his chest, clearing up the table as he organized everything neatly into different stacks. Everything was done for the night except for that one question, leaving them enough time to do whatever they wanted until dinner.

"Hey, Papa," Tsuna nuzzled closer. "Could you tell me about your life?"

"My life?"

"Yeah, like how you became… you?"

Reborn blinked at that, humming gently to himself before shaking his head. "Perhaps another time. I'm not comfortable with telling you about my life story yet."

"Aww," Tsuna disappointedly pouted before brightening up. "Then what about a plain old story? Mama never did that for me."

At that sudden change, the hitman laughed. "Sure, I can do that. Should I choose this story then?" He got a rapid nod from the child and sighed, knowing exactly what the child wanted. "Alright then, I'll do that for you. Now, I think that's Nana calling out for you."

As he spoke those words, Tsuna picked up the voice of his mother calling out for dinner and wiggled out of Reborn's gasp. He twirled around in glee and smiled contentedly, running to the door before turning around towards the adult. The hitman chuckled once more, standing up so that he could follow, knowing that the other wouldn't go anywhere without him these days. Reborn rubbed the back of his head before following, opening the door that was blocking their way towards the hallway. Tsuna rushed out first, smiling joyfully and spun around to face the adult. "Thank you, Papa!"

Reborn reached down to pat Tsuna on the head, ruffling the hair softly. "Yes, yes, come on. Let's go downstairs. Everyone is waiting."

"Right!" Tsuna rushed down the steps, making his way towards the kitchen where he could see everyone else. Nana was happily putting the plates onto the table and even an extra one for Reborn, who she still believed to be Tsuna's imaginary friend. No one really questioned it anymore, simply going along with it even when they caught the child talking to thin air with a smile on his face. They had gotten used it and as much as they wanted Tsuna to stop, they couldn't quite bring themselves to ruin Tsuna's happiness. The smiles the youngest sibling threw around with his imaginary friend and the improvement in his attitude was too obvious to break. As everyone settled into their seats with Reborn hanging to the side (never really joining to not make things suspicious), Nana suddenly clapped her hands together to gather everyone's attention towards her.

"Everyone, I have great news!" She was beamed brilliantly as she peered around everyone at the table and watched as they froze to listen. Natsu had his fork hanging above his plate, ready to literally dig in. "I just got the call about it today. You won't believe what I just heard!" Everyone went silent to let the only female of the household continue, wondering what this was all about. They tried to think about it, but none of their answers were truly the correct ones.

"Mom?" Natsu was the first one to speak, his curiosity on the subject much stronger than the rest. "What's the great news?"

"Iemitsu is coming home!"

And there!