Irregular Bonds

Editor (She doesn't have a Beta Profile): AshenDamnation

Disclaimer: No one owns Katekyo Hitman Reborn…

Summary: Tsuna had just failed another test and Reborn wasn't going to let it go unpunished. As a result, Tsuna's room is destroyed, but that is the least of their problems as there is another enemy watching just around the corner.

It was a sunny day in Namimori and the streets were as quiet as ever. Peace like this was wonderful. However, Tsuna knew everything was going to go wrong. He had just failed yet another test and Reborn, no doubt, knew about it. The day was going to end with training and no matter how you looked at it, training with Reborn was torture. Taking a long route home, he made the twists and turns. He knew he was only delaying the inevitable, but you can't blame him; Reborn was a terrifying person, anyone would run. Sadly, this plan didn't even last a minute, because the mentioned sadist had just popped out of the neighbor's tree.

"Where do you think you're going, Tsuna?" asked Reborn as he landed. Reborn was not only a sadistic spartan tutor, but a good stalker.

"HIIIIIIIE!" shrieked Tsuna in surprise and horror. Tsuna turned on his heels and attempted to run, but he should have known better; no one could escape the world's greatest hitman. Reborn turned Leon into a lasso and effortlessly caught Tsuna before he could turn the corner. Reborn had bound Tsuna like a rodeo cow and Tsuna was kicked and rolled all the way home.

There was no salvation for the poor boy, especially when there was a shadow watching them from just a block away.

Fuuta wanted to see if Tsuna was improving. It's been a long time since the last time he ranked his big brother and he really wanted to see if Tsuna's rank went up. Thankfully, it was nice outside, so there was no way something bad could happen today. Fuuta opened the door to Tsuna's room.

"Tsuna-nii, I'm-" Fuuta froze. The room had a really dark and suffocating atmosphere. The curtains were dusty and torn and there were some broken shelves, the closet was missing its door, but if you look down, you could see the remains of the poor door. The light had stopped functioning and the only thing that was providing the room a light glow was Tsuna's desk lamp. The walls were not as bad, but there were burn marks, making the place look like a war zone.

It felt like he entered hell.

Tsuna was tied down to his desk chair and the room was surrounded by tiny bombs. Reborn was sitting next to Tsuna, wearing a very irritated look, ready to press the switch at any moment.

"Help…m…e," Tsuna struggled to say, failing to reach for Fuuta in desperation. His words and shaking hand were shouting, 'I'm a victim of unjust actions and I'm not going to make it at this rate.' It was like a macabre late-night program.

Fuuta slowly closed the door and reluctantly walked away, abandoning him. Tsuna didn't need his teasing to try harder and boost his ranking; Tsuna was in enough pain already. Now that he thought about it, why did Nono send Reborn to tutor Tsuna and why was Iemitsu allowing this? Tsuna could protect his friends from enemies, but who was going to protect Tsuna from Reborn's wrath?

Tsuna had never been in so much pain in his life, he bet that his room had never been this torn down before too. When they got home, Reborn had demanded his bag to see what he was hiding and found Tsuna's test. The test result was zero again. Reborn, in his enraged disappointment, tied him down and began drilling formulas, explanations and treats in Tsuna's mind. Naturally, Reborn would ask questions and Tsuna's wrong answers would mean the demise of his room and his already pitiful well-being. Reborn had activated dynamite like crazy and it was likely he would have to spend his weekend fixing his room.

It was sunset now. The sky seemed pink and violet and the sun darkened to a beautiful orange as day changed to night, but Tsuna couldn't tell, he was barely alive and Reborn had made Tsuna miss dinner. The cunning hitman gave Nana a coupon for Takesushi and she took the kids with her, Bianchi tagged along as well. She was told that Tsuna failed a test again and Reborn, along with his Dame-student, weren't going to join them because of it. Nana promised to bring them something and left. The next hour was hell, but Tsuna was finally getting some answers right.

"N-No…more…p…ple…ase," begged Tsuna.

"…Fine, but were starting again tomorrow and I'll have a test ready for you. You'll keep writing it until it takes over your brain."

'Is that some form of brain washing?!' thought Tsuna.

"May as well be." said Reborn tiredly.

"Hi…iiie…kn…ow wha…t…I'm… to…o…ti…red…for…this." And Tsuna lost consciousness.

Reborn watched his sleeping student for a while. Tsuna's peaceful and relaxed face made Reborn smile. His heart brightened and forgot his frustration about Tsuna's lack of ability to learn. As he looked at Tsuna's room, he supposed that he went a little overbroad. Sighing to himself, Reborn made his Leon lasso place Tsuna on the bed and tucked the brunet into the sheets. With that, he took one last look before going downstairs to eat the sushi Nana brought. He'll heal Tsuna when he's finished.

However, that moment did not go unnoticed by the shadow who was watching through his binoculars, the sunset barely shedding light on his silhouette.

The next morning was just like all the other mornings, excruciating and outright crazy. Reborn decided to not waste any time and teach Tsuna early. Reborn knew better. People learn more in the morning when they feel fresh and they can concentrate better. When the afternoon came, people tended to get lazy from work, school or are distracted by whatever activity they were doing. So his plan was to teach in the morning and then fix the room when Tsuna's guardians got here. Reborn was one sly cat. With that plan in mind, Reborn woke Tsuna up the way he always wakes him up…using some crazy gadget and making his student scream his lungs out.

Reborn climbed up the shelf next to Tsuna's bed, turned Leon into a cannon ball and dropped Leon on the sleeping boy's stomach.

"AHHHHHHHH!" Tsuna groaned in pain and fell off the bed. It was a perfect shot. 'This is ridiculous…' thought Tsuna, his eyes twitching in anger. He got to his knees and looked at Reborn in irritation. "I'm beginning to regret releasing you from the curse."

"Oh, please. Admit it, you love having me around," replied Reborn, slightly smiling.

Tsuna opened his mouth to retort and suddenly stopped. Tsuna blinked. Strangely enough, Tsuna couldn't bring himself to deny that. Reborn had done so much to him in these past two days, but Tsuna doesn't hate Reborn for it. It made Tsuna wonder why. Tsuna looked down thoughtfully. The sun was barely up from the horizon and it shone between the black suited baby on the shelf and the boy who was sitting up with his hand resting on his stomach.

Reborn started to move, catching Tsuna's attention. "Anyway, let's go get breakfast. It's early, so let's let Nana stay asleep for now. After breakfast, we're going to start studying again. We'll do an hour of review and then a quiz. Got that?" said Reborn, jumping off the shelf and heading for the doorway.

"Yes…" groaned Tsuna.

Tsuna was doing his best to prepare breakfast. He wasn't as good as his mother, but he could still make eggs and toast. In the meantime, Reborn was trying to teach him on how to write lab reports and essays, apparently these are important things for his future; honestly, Tsuna didn't see it. They ate in Tsuna's room and continued to study, in an attempt to teach Tsuna everything he needed to know. Reborn resorted to taking a bite of Tsuna's breakfast every time he got a wrong answer. Tsuna was getting even better; he only lost half his breakfast.

When they finished reviewing, Reborn handed Tsuna his test. It was just like any other test, short answers, multiple choices, long answers and Reborn really emphasized showing your work. Tsuna was scared of the dark look Reborn gave him as he said it. He looked like a lord of darkness that was ready to unleash the hounds of hell. The test was hard, but some of them were easy, it was probably because he was forced to practice them more or maybe it was when he was forced to try harder when Reborn was about to set off more bombs during the review.

"All right, that should be enough time." Reborn said nonchalantly.

"W-Wait, give me more time!"

"You're not going to get something like that in real life, Tsuna. Just do what you can like always." Reborn grabbed the sheets of paper and looked at Tsuna's answers. Reborn smirked as he looked at Tsuna's answers closely. There were a lot of answers that weren't completely erased, but the funny thing was that the answers that were erased were actually correct, but they were replaced by ones that were completely unrelated. That made Reborn frown, "Tsuna, why did you erase these?"

"Huh? Well, I thought they were wrong." Tsuna replied.

'Oh, right. I still need to fix that self-esteem…Sigh, this is just sad; Tsuna could have gotten some of these right. I have to remember to fix that.' thought Reborn.

While Reborn was looking at the rest of the answers, Tsuna decided to get a head start with fixing his room, starting with the broken wood and putting them into a pile so he can bring them to the dump. Silently, he took some of them and left. A part of him thought that he shouldn't and stay next to Reborn, but he brushed it off. "Reborn, I'm going to bring this to the dump." Tsuna informed.

"Alright. I'll join you when I finish looking at your test." Reborn answered.

And Tsuna left. Reborn watched Tsuna as he left from the window, but then he saw someone that made his heart stop. He knew that person; that person who had an amazing lack of presence when he wanted it. That person was dangerous and was following his student. Reborn rushed out the window, letting Tsuna's test scatter like dove feathers.

When Tsuna reached the dump, it was empty, nothing but garbage bags and some crows that were pecking around. They flew away as Tsuna approached and dropped the heavy pieces of wood from his closet door. The brunet brushed off the splinters from his jeans and hands.

He turned to start heading home and he saw a man with a dangerous glint in his eyes. In those eyes was pure hatred. The man was wearing a black suit and black shirt, even his tie was black. He was tall and had spiky black hair, but he was nothing like that man who helped him in the Representative war because this man was tanned and his eyes were silver. Not to mention his side burns weren't curly.

Tsuna desperately searched for his pills and gloves, but the man fired his gun. Tsuna tried to dodge, but the bullet grazed his right arm. He tried to run away, turning just in time to miss more of that man's bullets. Tsuna knew he couldn't fight that man like this; he had to find Reborn or his guardians. He looked behind him, that man was following him and the worst of it was that the man was faster than him. Tsuna knew he wouldn't be able to reach home at this rate, but he tried anyway, he had to put his faith in Reborn and hope that he can save him.

Turning corners whenever he sensed that the man was going to shoot, Tsuna was able to avoid most of the bullets. He went straight, when the man was reloading. Tsuna knew where he was going and despite all the unnatural turns, he knew how to get back on track. However, it wasn't enough. Tsuna was beginning to tire and slow down. Just as Tsuna turned left, a bullet hit his leg. Tsuna fell and hit a cement wall, gliding on the pavement as he did, blood gleaming on his path. It hurt, there was a hole in the wall and blood trickled down his face. His eyes started to blur as the man came closer, smirking triumphantly.

"I've waited so long for this. Finally…my revenge against that bastard," the man growled dangerously. His voice was like poison, every word was filled with venom. Tsuna tried to force himself up, but the man shot another two bullets. One of the bullets hit his other leg and the last hit his left shoulder. Tsuna's eyes went wide before they lowered as he slid down, panting heavily. The man smirked evilly at the dim look in Tsuna's eyes and the pool of blood that was beginning to develop, turning Tsuna's clothes crimson. "You look beautiful in red, just like she did. Oh~ I can't wait to kill you."

"I won't let you do that."

The man's eyes went wide as he turned to the baby hitman. Reborn wasted no time; he shot thrice at the dark man. Reborn clicked his tongue in consternation as the man dodged the bullets. The man pointed his gun at Tsuna and fired, but Reborn was fast and skilled enough to shoot the bullet off its path. Reborn shot more bullets at the dark man and positioned himself between the injured Tsuna and the man with midnight eyes. After a while of staring down the man at the opposite wall, Reborn was standing between Tsuna and the man protectively. Reborn looked back for a second and saw Tsuna's bloody body and hurt eyes that showed he was barely keeping himself awake. In fact, Tsuna couldn't register what had just happened. Reborn growled and turned back to his enemy.

"Kahahaha! I knew it! This boy is important to you!"

Reborn glared and shot a fast and powerful chaos shot, it was hit by the skilled vindictive man's gun, but it wasn't able to stop it. Instead, it hit his shoulder, but that didn't wipe off the man's grin. "This is just like before, isn't it? Just sixteen years ago, we were in this exact same position! Except, instead of your best friend, it's your favorite student!"

"Tsuna has nothing to do with what happened back then! It was Kohaku and I that destroyed the Sangue Family, Whiro!" exclaimed Reborn.

"Yes, I know~ But my revenge on you is special! Kohaku killed the family, but you killed my best friends and my dear boss! I'll make you suffer for it! You couldn't save your precious Kohaku and you can't save your beloved boss to be!" yelled the man, Whiro.

Reborn fired again as the man deflected the bullet with another, but Whiro was unprepared when Reborn ran up to him and gave a merciless kick. A crater formed when Whiro hit the wall and he coughed blood. Whiro's eyes widened. 'How can this guy be so strong in that form?!' he thought.

"Because I'm the world's number one hitman." Reborn answered darkly.

And the fight continued, Reborn once again ran up to him, this time Leon changed into a one ton hammer. Whiro grabbed it and delivered a punch, but Reborn blocked it with his hand and twisted out of Whiro's grasp. Seeing an opening, Whiro used this chance to shoot Reborn while he was still in mid-air. Reborn turned Leon into a gun and fired, using the force to move him out of the bullet's way.

Tsuna snapped out of his daze a minute ago, only to see Reborn and the scary man fighting. He was amazed at how fast everything was happening. He wanted to get up and help Reborn, he didn't want to lose his tutor, but he couldn't, Tsuna just didn't have the strength. His breath had evened, but his muscles refused to move. Why can't he move at a time like this?! He did it all those other times. All Tsuna could do was watch all those kicks, punches and shots aim at their targets, each one trying to retaliate and attack relentlessly. It looked like the fight could go on forever.

"Urgh…come on, move!" Tsuna said in frustration.

Reborn was on the wall, trying to get a better view and make it more difficult for Whiro to attack. It worked for a while. He was able to knock Whiro's gun out of his hand, firing many shots of overwhelming sun flames at his opponent, the flames encircled Leon as he fired continuously. Reborn watched as Whiro suddenly changed direction after the loss of his gun and paled when he saw that Whiro had changed his target to Tsuna.

Realizing this, Reborn rushed to stop him. He wished Tsuna wasn't so injured and could move or the hitman would've fired, but he didn't want to risk Whiro dodging and letting the attack hit Tsuna, he's already got a night's worth of healing his student ahead of him. But as Reborn jumped off, Whiro turned again, catching Reborn off guard. Whiro hit Leon out of Reborn's hands. As Leon fell, he turned into a parachute and landed softly in Tsuna's hair.

"Kahahaha! It's always a challenge to fight you, Reborn. But unlike me, you have a handicap! I swear, you've had so many chances to kill me, but the boy just keeps getting in the way, doesn't he?! Honestly, what is it about this useless kid that gets you so protective? You almost let yourself die for his sake in the Representative war!"

Reborn tipped his fedora, eyes locked on the gun Whiro dropped. Whiro was looking at it too, but neither of them could move to get it without a fight.

"It's simple, Whiro…" Reborn ran for the gun and Whiro copied, "He's my student and…my best friend."

Whiro's eyes widened as pain flashed through his body and turned. There, he saw the brunet; his hands were shaking as he held a green gun, strings of orange encompassing around the path of the bullets. That unsteady grip may have made him miss any vitals, but he got him in the other shoulder and cheek. It may not have been enough to take the man out, but Reborn had got that covered. While Whiro was distracted, Reborn grabbed the black gun and fired. Whiro was down. Reborn hoped that this was the last he'll see of the Sangue Family.

As Reborn was about to confirm if Whiro was dead, he heard something collapse. The hitman rushed to Tsuna's side. His student had finally passed out. Reborn pushed Tsuna onto his back and checked his injuries, it seemed that Leon used the residue sun flames from earlier to give Tsuna the strength to fire and somewhat heal his arms. Reborn began to heal Tsuna's legs and turned to where he last saw Whiro. He was still there and he was unmoving, Reborn could only hope he'll stay that way.

Leon went onto Reborn's shoulder and turned into a cell phone, automatically calling who Reborn needed, "Gokudera, it's me, Reborn. You need to get Ryohei…"

Tsuna woke up in his bed, he groaned as sharp light pierced his eyes. He looked at the window, it was morning and the sun was as bright as ever. Tsuna narrowed his eyes to repair his vision and noticed that his room was back to normal, aside from a missing closet door, of course. He looked up and saw Reborn in his hammock. Tsuna smiled, glad that the little mishap was over and Reborn was still here. Tsuna tried to move his arm to rub his eyes and promptly released a whimper; he felt so sore. Reaching for his shoulder, he noticed that his wounds were gone. 'Did Reborn heal me? When did my room get fixed?'

"Not just me, Ryohei too. You're guardians fixed your room yesterday when we were healing you," said Reborn tiredly.

"Hiiiiiiie! Reborn, y-you're awake."

"…With you groaning, it's kind of hard not to be." Reborn looked down, deep in thought.

"Re…born?" called Tsuna worriedly.

"I…"

Tsuna tilted his head in confusion, pressing into his pillow. He brought the covers up in anticipation. 'Is Reborn trying to…apologize? Why?' But that last question was forgotten as Tsuna realized what this meant, he could squeal. He's wanted this to happen for so long. He didn't understand why Reborn was apologizing, but he was going to savour it.

Reborn growled to himself. He didn't want to apologize; he was the number one hitman. Tsuna was looking at him with sparkling eyes, it made Reborn so embarrassed. But right now, he must, Tsuna deserved that much after what happened. He took deep breaths.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…" Tsuna sighed. 'I guess I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up.' "Anyway, thanks for saving me."

"You're welcome."

Loosing that shine in his eyes, he put the covers down and stared at Reborn. Tsuna thought back to what happened and suddenly remembered.

"He's my student and…my best friend."

"Hey, Reborn…"

"What?" asked Reborn, thankful that he might not have to say sorry today.

"Am I really…your best friend?" asked Tsuna.

"…You are annoying, useless, whiny and fun to tease…"

Tsuna grumbled. 'Just say yes or NO!'

"But you have a good heart and you make me proud and happy…Yes, Tsuna. You are my…best friend."

Tsuna smiled a gorgeous smile at Reborn's words. It made him so happy. Reborn felt happy too as he looked at Tsuna's smiling face. It wasn't one of mockery and that made Reborn glad. Tsuna's smile was as bright as ever, and Reborn unconsciously smiled back at the other. Neither of them would ever trade the other for anything.

Happy Birthday Reborn and Tsuna!