[fic] The Forgotten Time 18

[metamorcy1]

Title: The Forgotten Time
Pairing: Main is R27 RebornxTsuna, there is Arcobaleno27, X27 and others
Summary: An incident with the 10-year bazooka leaves Tsuna stuck in the past... What's he gonna to do? AU
Rating: R/NC17
Warning: Two chapters of adult-content but the rest are PG13


This has been beta’d by gracefulsunshine.

Chapter 18: Shift
            Tsuna yawned, stretching his tired body, and brought out his hands before him. Slowly opening his honey-colored eyes, the brunet peered around the room, recognizing it from last night - though it was harder to see since the lights were off. Still, his eyes adjusted to the darkness and he could tell that everything was as messy as it had been before he gone to bed. Out of the disorganized bedroom, at least the bed was comfortable. For a while when he had first arrived inside, he had thought he was going to sleep on top of some books or have to make a improvised bed out of something. After all, Verde didn’t really need one, since all he needed was a large pillow, and that was it. He was small enough to nap on one with ease.

Sitting up slightly, Tsuna took a better look of the room, hoping to find some kind of clock or time-keeping device, yet didn’t find anything. All he saw was piles upon piles of stacked books in the darkness, and if he didn’t know better, they appeared to be infinite in the way it kept going into the shadows. Shaking his head, he peered down at his wrist, pulling back his sleeve to see his watch. Of course, since it was dark, he couldn’t read the numbers until he pressed the nightlight with a small beeping sound going off. What he saw made him grumble. It was only six o’clock, way too early for him to be getting up. School didn’t even start that early in the morning either and neither Reborn or his mom woke him up until an hour or so later. Grumbling under his breath, he flopped back down onto the bed, burying his face into the pillow. He was about to fall back asleep when he felt something nudge into his side.

‘What the… Must be a book.’ Tsuna cautiously moved, making sure to keep whatever it was from falling down, and looked over. What he saw made him smile and the sky guardian had to hold in his giggles. Verde was leaning against his body, fast asleep, glasses at the side, and looked quite peaceful. Tsuna finally chuckled quietly, finding this cute, and leaned over the edge of the bed to see Verde’s pet alligator lying there, sleeping as well. ‘Well, what do you know…?’ Shifting a bit, Tsuna reached down and carefully lifted the baby from his spot, immensely careful not to wake him up. Luckily for him, Verde wasn’t a fighter or an assassin like the others, and didn’t stir at his touch. Instead, the green-haired Arcobaleno seemed to move closer to his skin, as if searching for warmth, and gripped onto him.

The brunet managed to twist his body into a more comfortable position, no longer wanting to lie on his side, and let his back rest against the mattress. His muscles seemed to unwind at the shift of arrangement, and he stared up at the blank ceiling for a second, seeing that it too was made of metal.

Soon after that observation, Tsuna placed Verde against his chest and managed to grab the baby’s glasses, locating them to a better place in case they got crushed if one of them moved during their sleep. He was certain that Verde wouldn’t be very happy if that were to happen. Sighing, Tsuna closed his eyes for a moment, getting his body to relax before glancing back over to the scientist. Verde, had by now, prodded around his new spot, getting himself back into a comfortable position then went still as if all was right.

‘Never thought I would have Verde sleeping on me. Actually, I think he’s the second Arcobaleno to do so.’ Tsuna watched the peaceful expression on Verde’s face in the darkness, and after a while, he looked away. ‘Well, I better catch some extra sleep. Never know what might happen later on.’ Within that in mind, he found himself drifting off, falling back into obscurity.

“Hmm…?” For some odd reason, Verde felt warm… really warm, actually. And he found himself lying on his side - if Verde wasn’t mistaken, he was in a sitting position before he dozed off. The scientist squeezed his eyes together, trying to get himself to wake up but it was harder than he thought, since it was so comfortable. Eventually, he succeeded in opening his eyes to see what was going on. Immediately he noticed that his face was closer to Tsuna's face than he remembered, and it made him pause for a moment in surprise. Even with this new renovation, he didn't budge from his spot. His small body was wrapped around Tsuna's arms, which kept him close, and he could smell the soft scent of cinnamon and vanilla coming from the hair, skin, and clothes. 'Was I moved during the night? Why didn't I wake up?'

Grumbling for being completely unaware of the change, Verde stared at the sleeping face and slightly shifted in the grasp, succeeding in loosening Tsuna’s somewhat vice-like hold. When he managed to get into a better position, he stopped all movement and went still in the grasp. He couldn't really will himself to move anymore - it was just too nice and warm. Looking around his room, he glanced down at his tiny watch for the time, and found it only eight in the morning. He reached to the bridge of his nose to push his glasses up, only to remember that they were no longer on his face. Glancing towards them, he questioned what to do next. 'Should I get up? I do need to check the surrounding area to see if Reborn has arrived, though, he shouldn't be able to do so yet since I didn’t leave much for him to search me with. No matter how good he is, he can’t find me on nothing.’

He didn’t get to think very long as Tsuna started to stir from his sleep, making a soft sound from the back of his throat and shifted in his position. He raised a hand up to touch his face, rubbing one eye, before the hand fell to the side of his head. Slowly, those honey-colored orbs peaked through, staring up at the ceiling in a sleepy daze, before breaking out into a yawn, stretching in his position. Verde jumped out of the grasp and got onto the stack of books to pick up his glasses so he could watch the other slowly wake up. Tsuna moved around a little more before rolling onto his side and catching sight of the other. Blinking his eyes to clear up his vision, Tsuna gave a smile. “Good morning, Verde.”

“Morning, I see you’re finally awake,” the lightning Arcobaleno huffed, hopping off the stack of books and went back to Tsuna’s side to turn on the lights. His hands were inside his pockets, and he pushed his glasses up higher on his nose - which was definitely a habit now. “Why did you move me during the night?”

At that comment, Tsuna turned away, looking red in the face, and scratched the side of his cheek. “Um… Well… I was going to move a bit and I saw that you were using me as a pillow. I didn’t want to wake you up so I just… moved you. S-Sorry about that. Are you mad?”

Verde shook his head and turned away, jumping down on top of his pet before doing another one to reach the books that were stacked along the floor. "No, it’s alright. I was just curious." He slowly made his way towards the front door, before rotating around to look at the other. Tsuna still sat on the bed, staring at him in confusion. The scientist snorted. "Well, are you coming? I was hoping you'd make breakfast, since I highly doubt you'd like to try my cooking."

Tsuna blanched and rapidly nodded his head, knowing that it was true. He had a strong gut feeling that anything Verde made... wouldn't turn out so well. He was actually afraid of trying any creation Verde produced. Standing up and making his way over, he leaned down to pick the baby up, balancing him on his shoulder. The door opened up and they exited the room, with the alligator right behind.

When they were about to reach the kitchen, the animal moved away, heading towards another direction. Tsuna questioned the action for a moment, but not for long, as he had other things to do. His cooking skilled was decent, having learned a few things from his mom, but the brunet never really had the chance to put it to use, since she always did the work. What could he say? She would nudge him out of the way even when he tried to help.

Now that Tsuna thought about it, Verde was probably the only one to ever try his cooking. Even when trying to cook in the future, it didn't end well - simply because of his friends. He was so concerned about them, at that time, that he really didn't really have much of a chance to make a proper meal. And if he did have a chance, it was usually messed up by the others when they were running around, destroying things.

'What shall I try making today? Omelets? Fish?' Tsuna thought to himself as he went towards the table that was in the center of the room, letting Verde off. 'Well, I better check what he has first before deciding...'

Verde remained sitting, studying the other with interest.

“Dino has arrived with a few of his most trusted men, kora.” Colonello announced the moment he entered the room, his bird gripping his head and flying him around. Right after he said that, the Cavallone boss entered with a group of men right behind him. The blond glanced over the room, peering over the people that were settled on the couches, and sighed deeply at the sight of them. Everyone looked so tired and worried; he could feel the atmosphere even outside of the building. The location was at one of the Cavallone mansions that had been borrowed to hold the meeting place, since none of the other locations were usable.

“Reborn, is it true? Has Verde really kidnapped my little brother?” Dino went straight to Reborn, staring down at the hitman, and was looking with hopeful eyes that what he had heard only yesterday was all a lie. But the almost-imperceptible shake in Reborn’s head told him otherwise, and he tightened his hands into a fist, looking positively seething. “Dammit…”

Gokudera suddenly stood up, making his way over to the sun Arcobaleno. Yamamoto glanced up for a second, his hand stretched outward, but didn’t do anything else. "Reborn, who still needs to arrive?"

"A few more. Fong is on his way here right now, he didn't get my message until a few hours ago. Iemitsu is on a plane with Lal Mirch and a couple of other members from the CEDEF. They, as well as Fong, will be arriving sometime later today. That's all the people I could get due to the situation. No one else is to know that Tsuna has been kidnapped by Verde. This won't do well with any of the other families out there," Reborn grumbled, yanking his fedora down closer to his face. “If they were to find out, there’s a high chance that they might try to attack Vongola in its current state.”

A deadly silence passed over the group, glancing at each other.

“Dino, I want you and your men to try and locate Verde’s location. None of us has any idea where he might be hiding. If we find Verde, we’ll also likely to find Tsuna. Watch out for any traps - there’s a high chance that he has set up something in advance for us, so be prepared for anything. If you find any information, small or large, tell me immediately,” Reborn ordered with ease as he stared at his former student, watching the blond nod his head in compliance. The hitman turned to the guardians, eyeing them carefully. “Gokudera, Yamamoto, I want you two to scout the city; there’s a possibly that you might spot those men who kidnapped Tsuna. If you do, locate one of us. We’ll handle them ourselves.” Reborn glanced towards Colonello, who had a dark smirk on his lips. If it was needed, they would use torture to make sure those bastards talked.

The group quickly filtered out of the room, with the rest of the guardians following Yamamoto and Gokudera. Reborn was left alone in the room with Skull and Colonello and he sighed, his shoulders sagging down. All he had to do now was wait once more. Even he doubted that they would find Verde’s location that fast; it would take at least a day or two before they really got anything.

Tsuna’s day passed by quite slowly, and he was actually getting quite bored of waiting. Not that he could blame himself. There wasn’t much to do in Verde’s base in the first place. The entire area was completely empty and devoid of all life. The only ones that were staying here was Verde, his pet, and Tsuna himself.  Cooking was the only thing that helped keep him busy, which he didn’t seem to mind all that much - it did let him refresh his skills. However, that didn’t take away those in-between hours that the sky guardian needed to kill.

Verde wasn’t much of a talker either, which just made things harder. All the scientist did was sit in his little room, continuously working on whatever came in mind, and checking updates, that was it. Tsuna was amazed that the lightning Arcobaleno didn’t get fat from just sitting there the whole time. Maybe it’s because he had a high metabolism rate in his baby form or maybe he starved…

Most of the time, Tsuna ended staying in that same room with Verde, reading his school material because he was so bored. He had already finished all his homework, a miracle to his standards, and had even gone ahead and read for future classes. That’s right, he was actually studying for once.

Amazing what boredom could do for him.

“Tsunayoshi, I believe there’s something I need to tell you,” Verde suddenly announced as he was staring at the numerous screens before him, reading something that only he could understand. The light reflected off his glass, giving him a bit of a glare. Tsuna glanced up from his notes he had been working on, now and then asking the other for help in understanding something. His pencil was held up in mid-writing, and he blinked his eyes before nodding his head, telling Verde to continue. “I believe that it’s best for you to know this. You’re in love with Reborn, you’ve seen our true forms, and you’re trustworthy enough to not sell this out to anyone.”

Knitting his eyebrows together, Tsuna tilted his head. “What are you talking about, Verde?”

“I want to talk to you about the Arcobaleno curse.”

There was a long pause, a silence filling into the room. Tsuna stared as if he had mistakenly heard that phrase wrong, but he knew he didn’t.

Verde spun around in his chair, holding onto a cup of tea made by the brunet, and brought it up to his lips, slipping quietly on it. When he pulled it away, he closed his eyes for a second, taking a deep breath, and opened them to observe Tsuna. “You’ll be able to understand us and our condition much better if you know. Are you willing to listen?”

“Yeah, I am. I honestly never thought I’d ever hear it though,” the brunet leaned forward against the table. Some of his papers were pushed with him, causing the pencil marks to faintly smudge the paper. “Reborn would never tell me and neither would anyone else. You guys like to keep your secrets, and if you still want to keep it, that’s fine by me.”

Verde immediately shook his head. “No, it’s for the best if you know. Listen, as you may already know, we are the protectors of the Tri-Ni-Set powers. We basically protect the entire world and balance it out. These pacifiers are containers that bear the power to do so. Each one contains enough power to disrupt everything, but there is a reason why there are seven besides the fact that there are seven flames of Sky. The pacifiers balance each other out perfectly and in accordance. Not one is more powerful than the other except for the Sky.” He paused for a second, to take another sip, to give him some time to gather his thoughts. “However, to keep the users in check and to make sure that no one would abuse their powers, the curse was introduced. We were transformed into a form that could also handle the power usage easier, but it’s still far too great even for us, even in our current form. There are times when we have a hard time controlling it, and lose control over our powers, which causes us to go berserk.”

At that Verde paused, glancing away for a moment, and looked a little guilty. From Tsuna managed to get from that look, Verde had been one of them. “Another reason why we were transformed into children was because our adult bodies aren’t able to handle the stress and strain of these powers. From what I managed to find out though numerous tests, our bodies would start to break down after a while if we stayed as adults.”

“What?” Tsuna paused, biting down on his bottom lip. Did Verde just say that their adult bodies couldn’t handle the strain? Did that mean it was impossible to transform them back in the first place? Was it impossible to have Reborn back to his real form? The form he still remembered holding him tightly? The brunet grinded his teeth together in frustration and snapped, jumping up from his seat. The chair fell back, metal colliding with metal, a ringing sound echoing in the room. Tsuna didn’t wince from it, and slammed his hands down onto the table angrily. “Why didn’t you tell the others that?! That it was impossible to turn back from the start?! Why didn’t you tell me?!”

Verde watched the other snap, and just sat there calmly because he couldn’t blame Tsuna for acting like that. He had kept some facts back from everyone but, it was simply because he didn’t want anyone to know. He didn’t want to be beaten by some stupid curse. Verde wanted to go back to normal no matter what happened. He no longer wanted to be trapped in this ridiculous and pathetic form any longer. If he confessed, if he let those words slip from his mouth, he would be admitting defeat.

“Because you gave me an idea a while ago when we were talking and it just might work. But it’s going to take a lot of time and money to research it, and then test it. And who can I test it on? Myself? If something were to happen to me, who would complete it?” the green-haired scientist grumbled under his breath, tightening his grip on the cup. Tsuna stopped talking and listened, his shoulders falling down. “I couldn’t tell the others - they wouldn’t understand. And I highly doubted any of them would want to be used as an experiment of mine no matter what happened. I had to keep quiet. Honestly, I wouldn’t hesitate using them for it, but if I were to do so, they would uncover my plans. I couldn’t allow that to happen either.”

The brunet deflated at that, taking a deep breath to release any remaining tension in his body, and rotated around to pick up the fallen chair, putting it into place. He sat down to lean forward against the table and sighed heavily. Tsuna’s eyes drooped downward and he just felt tired.

“Listen, the Arcobaleno have so much power, could you imagine what could happen if it were to fall into someone who wants to use it? I, myself, don’t care much about this power - it’s more of an inconvenience to me - but what choice do I have?  I was chosen to bear it probably because of those reasons. To tell you the truth, none of us really use our powers, if not rarely. I only used my power at that time with you at the trials because I saw I was outmatched, and I wouldn’t get very far if I didn’t. But that was the first time in five years.” Huffing, Verde placed his cup to the side and folded his arms across his chest.

“Yes, that would be bad if someone managed to steal it.” Tsuna didn’t want to state that someone had already tried and succeeded except that Byakuran never knew how to activate the powers. It wasn’t until Uni showed up, revealing that she had absolute control. He hoped that something like that would never happen again.

“But there is a safety net if something like that were happened. Only the Sky Arcobaleno can control our pacifiers. Only she can, but it wouldn’t be hard for someone to get to her to control the rest of us. The Sky Arcobaleno is an easy target. Well, the past one was.”

Tsuna perked up to that. “The past one? Do you mean Luce?”

“Yeah, Luce. She’s strong, stubborn, and very kind. I found it hard to disobey her, even if it was a tiny request. That’s how powerful she was. But she’s dead now. The curse killed her. Her daughter, Aria, on the other hand, proved to be stronger than her mother. She’s what you can call scary when it comes down to it,” Verde sighed, his mind remembering those times back long ago. Those were fun moments, but they no longer existed anymore; they were all ruined by Luce’s death. Everyone fell apart, and even now, they had a hard time with Aria, whose looks were just like her mother’s appearance, but with short hair. When they looked at her, they still saw the smiling Luce that would say ‘Welcome home’ after they came back from a mission. He actually missed those times even when she would pester him at work just to make sure he had eaten something. But no matter how much he thought on it, it was already over and done with. “Luce may be strong, but she was an easy target for people. The only thing that protected her so well were the people around her.”

“Verde…” Tsuna watched as the other fell into a depressed state and quietly made his way over. He kneeled down in front of the Arcobaleno and reached over carefully, running his fingers over a cheek. “It’s okay…”

This made the scientist snap out of his thoughts and peer up into the warm honey-colored eyes, relaxing at the sight immediately. He didn’t understand why, but the sight of Tsuna being so concerned over him made him warm inside. A feeling that he had felt so long ago with Luce was starting to resurface again. “Thanks…” Verde took a deep breath, well aware that his pet was moving around in concern as well. “Okay, let me continue. You’re by now wondering about the curse for the Sky Arcobaleno.”

“Only if you want to, Verde.” Tsuna muttered under his breath, not really enjoying watching someone suffer under past memories.

“It’s fine. Anyway, the Sky Arcobaleno takes the worst of the curse… The most despicable part of it. They all have very short lives and possibly even fleeting, since they can give up their life flames to protect or revive us. Luckily, that hasn’t happened yet. But for Luce, she just suddenly vanished one day, never to return. By then, all of us Arcobaleno had gone our separate ways, never really interacting with each other anymore than necessary.  And then one day, Aria suddenly appeared before all of us during a group meeting about six years ago bearing the orange pacifier. It was obvious from the start that the moment Aria appeared, Luce was dead. Luce probably knew that she was going to die from the very beginning. She always had that special ability of hers, the ability to see the future.”

“As for the rest of us, we must bear the pacifiers for the rest of our lives. We will never age, and will always exist in a time different than everyone else.” Verde reached forward, touching Tsuna’s cheek, feeling the warmth that was radiating from the skin. It was a wonderful feeling and he realized that he was being drawn in and yet didn’t bother to pull away. “You will age, grow old, and die. But Reborn and I will continue to look the same, trapped by our responsibilities. That would be the only reason why none of us really have any attachments to other people, we’re afraid of watching them leave. We’re afraid of watching them grow old and die before us. Eventually, after watching something like that for so long, one of us will go insane. So we keep our attachments to people as little and small as possible.”

Tsuna froze at that, unable to move. He couldn’t help but feel that this whole thing was just… terrible. But what could he do? Nothing… Nothing at all. He could only watch and hope for the best but he knew it was completely useless. Because, in the end, no matter how much he could pray and beg, time would still continue on regardless of those that wanted to stay or those that got left behind.

“We are trapped…” Verde muttered under his breath, turning away from the brunet to stare at the screen. Numbers flashed by, only the Arcobaleno understanding what they meant, and glanced back. “But not forever.”

Tsuna perked up at that for a moment, a silent question in his eyes.

“Eventually we’ll be let go. One day or another when we are no longer needed to contain and balance the Tri-Ni-Set. I hope for Reborn’s sake and my own that you are still around during that time… No, I will make sure it happens,” Verde slammed his fist against the keyboard, startling Tsuna. “Right now, I am the only one with the ability to get us back to normal. I will make sure it happens before you die.”

Smiling at that announcement, the brunet closed his eyes and whispered the words “Thank you” under his breath.

A silence engulfed them soon after, seeing as they no longer knew what to say. Tsuna slowly went back to his spot, thinking deeply on those words the scientist had given him, wondering about plenty of things that had sparked his curiosity. Verde, on the other hand, went back to clicking away on his computer, remaining quiet since he didn't know what else to say either.

But strangely, Tsuna had a bad feeling about something in the future. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but it made his stomach drop like a stone, and his body shivered as if the air had suddenly turned cold. He hoped he was wrong about it…

Night came faster than both had thought, for they had watched the cameras for any signs of movement for most of the day. But so far nothing had happened, everything was normal and in place. Tsuna did spot a few animals running around by chance, catching a glimpse of a rabbit and a few squirrels. Still, nothing interesting had happened all day, and the only thing that was keeping the brunet entertained, as stated before, was cooking. He had already explored the small base but nothing was very fascinating - all the rooms looked similar to one another. There was one large door he wasn’t sure about, and when he had asked about it, Verde had stated that it lead to the main part of the base where Reborn would have to travel through to get to him.

Avoiding that area, Tsuna went back to a couple of other rooms, he had even went back to that one he had first entered yesterday, but couldn’t get very far, since he was unable to figure out how to turn on the lights. Not wanting to chance crawling around to find his way out, he went back to the main hallway before going straight to Verde’s computer room.

“Verde, aren’t you sleepy yet?” Tsuna questioned as he peered over the green-haired scientist.

“I’m fine; I can keep going.” The fingers didn’t stop pressing the buttons, the baby continuing to work as if nothing was wrong.

The brunet made a face, peering up at the screen then back at the other. “Verde, is this really that important? Can you wait for tomorrow to finish it?”

Verde responded automatically. “Science can’t wait.”

There was a pause and narrowing of Tsuna’s honey-colored eyes. “Sure…” Right after he whispered that, he reached down, plucking the little Arcobaleno out of his seat. There was a startled cry and some arguments but it all went ignored by the brunet. The alligator lifted up its head in confusion, eyeing its master and guest, and stared, not sure on what to do. Tsuna cradled the lightning Arcobaleno against his chest and slowly made his way out of the room, leaving the door open enough to let the alligator through.  Verde continued to argue and struggle in the grasp, but the only problem was that he couldn’t get Tsuna’s arm to budge. He was a scientist, not a combat fighter like Reborn and Colonello. There was no way he could compete a child’s strength to an teenager’s, but even knowing that, he still tried to find ways to get out. “Stop squirming, Verde. You’re getting some rest and that’s final. At the rate you’re going, you’re going to drop dead before you can figure out a way to fix the curse. And then where will we be at?”

There was some more grumblings - the scientist not exactly happy with this revelation.

“Seriously, your project can wait. It’s not going to go anywhere. And anyway, you should rest up for tomorrow - just in case. You never know when Reborn will arrive.”

“And that’s why I need to stay up to keep watch.” Verde sneered, pushing his glasses up, watching his bedroom door slide open when they got close enough. Tsuna huffed and glanced back at the alligator that was following right behind and kneeled down to its level.

“Hey there, hope you don’t mind, but do you think you could keep watch of the place? Your little master here needs rest before he kneels over dead from exhaustion.” Tsuna watched the alligator pause for a moment before turning around, heading back to the computer room. Smiling at that, Tsuna called out. “Thank you.”

Verde just stared, knowing very well that he had just lost this battle. The sky guardian closed the bedroom door, but left it opened a crack so that if the animal needed to come in, it could easily do so. He settled the green-haired baby against the bed before flopping down next to him. The baby slightly jumped from the movement, made a snort, and placed his arms against his side, staring down at the other in disapproval. Settling against the sheets and pillow, Tsuna closed his eyes, lying on his side and curled his body inward with Verde in the middle.

The scientist, deciding to give up for tonight, took his glasses off and placed them to the side before moving closer to Tsuna’s body, lying down next to him right after turning off the lights. At the last moment, Tsuna reached forward to secure his arms around the baby, keeping him close and insuring that Verde wouldn’t try to escape while he was asleep.

“What’s with you tonight?” Verde grumbled under his breath, using Tsuna’s arm as a pillow.

“Nothing. Just felt like it.”

“Yeah, sure.”

Tsuna smiled at that, feeling the scientist relax against his body and chuckled, unable to resist in patting the short green hair. Slowly, he watched the baby relax and yawn, his eyes drooping downward. The brunet quietly chuckled again, observing the other until Verde fell fast asleep against him. His fingers pulled back a couple strands of green hair, tucking it behind the ear. ‘He must have been really pushing himself…’

Glancing around the room since some light was coming from the hallway through the open crack at the door, he didn’t spot anything strange. It was the same as last night. As his eyes fell onto a picture of some sort of organism that was in an open book, an idea suddenly sprang to his mind. His smile turned a little on the wicked side.

Carefully slipping away from the baby, he got off the bed and tiptoed out the door, hurrying down the hallway to get back to the computer room. Peeking inside, he spotted the alligator settled around the chair and entered, heading towards his backpack. The animal glanced up at him for a moment before going back, ignoring the other for the screens. Tsuna peered inside his bag, searching through his stuff until his fingers brushed up against something that was inside. Pulling it out, he grinned. ‘Hope this works.’

Tsuna peered down at his cell phone and flipped it open, messing around with the buttons that were inside. He had no signal, which was to be expected. This was done, so Reborn wouldn’t be able to track his phone. Verde already had placed that measurement in advance. Pocketing the device, he made his way back to the bedroom and peered down at the green-haired baby. He made the light of the outside hit the other just right so that he didn’t need to turn on the lights. Opening his phone back up, he pressed the side button to open the camera function. His fingers covered the bottom where a sound generally came out and snapped a picture. Immediately saving it to a folder that Reborn would least likely go into, he placed the device into his pocket and made his way back onto the bed after closing the door a little, cuddling up against Verde, pulling the Lightning Arcobaleno closer to himself. Closing his eyes, he nestled his face into the pillow once more before drifting off, keeping a tight grip around Verde’s frame.

Reborn glanced over the entire group before him and nodded to himself. This was as good as he was going to get. No one else could get involved. All the Arcobaleno that could come were at his side, Tsuna’s guardians were before him on his right, and Dino’s men with a couple others added in on the left. Iemitsu was in front with a few members of the CEDEF, all ready for combat.

They had gotten lucky on Dino’s part. His men had been able to locate the kidnappers at the beginning by mistake, and it was only by Gokudera and Yamamoto’s identification that lead to their demise. After some methods to get them to speak, they had only been able to spill out the area where the two had been dropped off. Reborn grumbled under his breath, knowing that Verde had taken precaution in keeping his place a secret, but it was better than having no information. Everyone in the room looked at him for orders.

“We’re heading out tomorrow morning, at dawn.”

Verde squirmed a little in Tsuna’s grasp, hearing something shuffling around behind him. He didn’t bother paying much attention to it until he recognized the exact source of the noise. Snapping his eyes open, he peered at his animal partner, staring into the reptilian eyes, before his own widened at realization. Immediately turning over towards the brunet, he paused for a moment to take in the peaceful form before shaking his head. He had more important things to do right now.

“Tsunayoshi! Wake up!” The green-haired scientist yelled, shaking the other viciously. “Come on!”

Shifting a little in bed, Tsuna turned towards the Arcobaleno, honey-colored eyes peering open and gazed at the other curiously. “Verde? What?”

“They’re here. Reborn’s here.”

Oh yes, we’re finally there to the good part!

And sorry to ask this of you, readers, but if any of you have any extra cash, I’m selling stuff to help with my college fees for summer. I'm even selling those cute little Katekyo hitman reborn figurines like Giotto, Mukuro, and Tsuna and doujinshi from my collection for a special price (that’s how desperate I am), so if you see anything you’re interested, comment there. You can even PM me here if you don’t have an account. The link is here

I’ve also set up a page online so that you can talk to me. Get to know me a little more personal then what’s written on here or ask questions about certain things even about the series for Timeless or Tft. Or about any future stories I might be planning. I have started a little page on livejournal so that you can communicate to me with. I'll give you the basics about me there. I also have my original stories there posted up so check them out. Here’s the link to the navigation page