The second Tsuna met the strange baby claiming to be his tutor, he ran.

It was four months ago that the brunet realized he had little to no purpose to go to school. Everyone bullied him, his attraction to his crush was slowly disappearing and everything taught there was boring. Slowly, the boy found himself skipping school more and more, if only to walk through the city or lock himself in his room. It wasn't until now that his mother confronted him about it.

"Tsu-kun, a home tutor is coming today." 'Oh hell no!' Those were the words that had him scrambling to put his street clothes on -a pair of jeans and a white hoodie with orange trimmings- and bolt out of there. Grabbing only his wallet and cell phone, he vaulted over the stairs and out the door. He was only stopped when he almost tripped over a baby in a fedora.

"Ciaossu~!" The baby said in obvious Italian (although how he knew it was Italian, he wasn't sure), causing Tsuna's thoughts to go haywire. 'Who is this?' 'Where's the home tutor?' 'Is he lost?'.

Crouching down to the kid's eye level, Tsuna wondered what the kid was even doing here, "Hey, are you lost? Where are your parents?"

Before the kid could respond, a resounding "TSU-KUN!" came from inside the house. No doubt his mother was irritated at him for vaulting over her stairs and running away again.

Biting his lip, Tsuna turned back to the kid in obvious discomfort. "Look, I can't help you right now, but if you go to my mother, the woman who will be barging out of that door, she'll be able to take you to wherever you need to go. I gotta go before she catches me!" Running around the strange baby in the fedora, the brunet bolted down the street, climbing over the fence and headed into the city.

Taking a break from running ten minutes later, the boy tightened his shoelaces and pulled his hood over his head before walking the rest of the way to his unknown destination. It didn't take long for the taller buildings to come into view, Namimori was a small town, after all. So Tsuna stuck to the crowds that were erupting, naturally blending into the background before taking a seat at a park bench.

Tsuna wondered when things had changed for him. It still felt the same, but ever since he woke up in that abandoned apartment a few months ago he felt . . .unnerved, to say the least. His homework suddenly felt ten times easier and his body lighter, more graceful. Still, he kept his grades on the low side for fear of being accused of cheating and hid his athletic prowess from the . . .less forgiving of his peers.

That wasn't even the weirdest part. It was the feelings he held for his parents and peers as well. He still loved his mother, but there were times when he just felt so tired with having to deal with her. The smoldering hate he used to carry around for his father was gone, replaced with an indifference that Tsuna didn't even know he was capable of feeling. It almost felt like he didn't even have a father. Hell, he started referring to the man as 'Iemitsu' instead of 'dad' in his head. His crush on Kyoko-chan had dulled to friendly affection and his fear of Mochida was more annoyance than actual fear.

He still held a healthy fear of the prefect, Hibari, but it was more . . .cautionary then panicked. Like he knew that he wasn't at Hibari's level and probably shouldn't engage him, even accidentally. So, with that thought, he started arriving to school on time, if he even bothered to come.

What freaked him out the most though was that all of these changes happened literally overnight. That wasn't normal no matter how you looked at it.

Looking at the time on his phone, Tsuna decided that his mom had probably cooled down enough for him to go home. Letting down his hood, the brunet was about to get up before he heard a strangely familiar high-pitched voice, "Ciaossu." Looking over next to him, Tsuna saw the strange baby from earlier. "Are you Sawada Tsunayoshi?" Blinking in confusion; the teen debated with himself whether or not he should answer the kid.

Before he could really make up his mind, his mouth moved ahead of him, "A-ah, I am. And who might you be. . . ?" It felt strange addressing a baby with such a polite demeanor, but something told him that this was the right thing to do. Maybe it was that smirk that seemed to be ever-present on the infant's face.

A smirk appeared on the fedora-wearing baby's face, causing a shiver to run down Tsuna's spine. "I am your new tutor, Reborn."

Oh fuck. The brunet could only hope that his legs could carry him far enough. Whoever this . . .Reborn was, he was dangerous. Tsuna's instincts were going haywire, telling him to get out of there.

Hands shaking, Tsuna jumped up and ran in a random direction. Desperately looking for a way to break the infant's line of sight that he instinctively knew was trained on his back. Dodging around corners and jumping over fences, Tsuna tried to shake Reborn off his tail.

Falling down a couple times and quickly running out of breath., the boy finally made it home. Ignoring his mother's enthusiastic cries about the home tudor being 'absolutely adorable', Tsuna went straight to his room and locked the door behind him.

He didn't hesitate to grab an old, tattered backpack and began stuffing clothes into it. He was just about to pack his toothbrush when he heard a distinct 'click' from his bedroom window. Freezing, Tsuna could feel his lungs try to take in as minimal air as possible in an effort to quiet himself. A bead of sweat ran down his neck as he tilted his head to the side to look at the figure in the window. It was the baby.

"Running, Dame-Tsuna?" Asked Reborn as he cocked his gun to the brunet's head. Tsuna started to panic, a shriek on his lips as cold metal made contact with his head. "So . . .does this mean you know who I am?"

Swallowing tightly in an effort to bury his shriek, Tsuna only shook his head, not trusting his voice. He prayed that the gun held to his head wasn't real and was only a toy. He was able to tell, however, that it wasn't. How he knew, he couldn't say. But every fiber of his being was telling him to get out of that room.

"Hm, if you don't know who I am, then why were you running?" The infant's voice sounded calm, but Tsuna could hear a steely edge embedded into it.

Trying his best not to scream, the boy answered in a soft, nearly unused voice, "I-I d-didn't want Na-, I mean, Ka-chan to find me at the t-time." That was why he ran in the first place. "W-when I met you, I d-didn't want a t-tudor, so I t-thought that leaving for a f-few days would settle things d-down." He neglected to tell the baby of the dangerous feeling he held in his gut and the fact that he was planning on running away for a few weeks instead of a few days. He hoped that his half-truths would be enough for now.

Reborn stared at his new student, mentally comparing the file he was given to the child in front of him.

'Sawada Tsunayoshi or 'Tsuna'. 'Dame-Tsuna' to his peers. 'Tsu-kun' to his mother. Thirteen years old. Has been prone to disappearing for days on end or coming home late since the age of ten. Presumably to get away from other children who seek to bully him. Grades: below average. Athletic ability: minimal.'

Rattling off the facts in his head, the hitman snorted softly before lowering his gun. 'An overall coward with no friends and no capabilities. Still, I feel like I'm missing something. A supposedly athletically inept boy was able to run and jump away from me at that speed? Granted it wasn't nearly enough to get rid of me. However, I will admit that I almost lost sight of him in that crowd of people. Not to mention he was able to recognize my gun as real at only a glance. Not to mention he hasn't once treated me like a child since we've traded words. Maybe it's his Hyper Intuition? Has it awakened already?'

Watching the gun lower itself from the corner of his eyesight, the brunet sighed in relief and sank to his knees. He was going to have nightmares of babies holding guns to his head for weeks. Looking over at the baby, Tsuna could only sigh before sitting down cross-legged. It was no use running away now. He was caught. At least he hadn't shrieked in front of his supposed 'tutor'. That would have set him up for more ridicule than he was already dealing with.

"Dame-Tsuna!" barked Reborn, annoyed at the abruptly teenagerish display of ignoring him, "I am a hitman, Reborn and I am here to train you to become the Vongola Decimo."

"HIEEEEEEEEEE!?"

Me: It's here! The sequel! Hope you all enjoy it!