"Pizza delivery for Sawada Tsunayoshi." A knock sounded from the front door.

Strange, I didn't order any pizza.

Tsuna frowned as he made his way downstairs. He cautiously opened the door just a fraction and there stood a tall, slim woman with long, pink hair, holding a pizza box. She wore a cap that hid her face and that just made Tsuna more suspicious of her.

The hair on the back of Tsuna's neck prickled, making him even more wary of the stranger.

"I think you got the wrong house. I didn't order any pizza."

Instead of answering, the woman smiled; a sly smile creeping up her cheeks and without warning, she threw the pizza box at Tsuna.

Tsuna instinctively ducked and the box flew over his head and struck the ground. In an instant, the ground started to ooze out a foul smell. Purple mist rose from it and the pizza sizzled into a gaping hole on the floor.

Tsuna stared at it in horror.

If that had hit me, I would have died!

He had experienced death by acid before and he can tell anyone who's wondering that it was definitely not a pleasant experience.

His instincts flared up like a beacon and he reacted by ducking to his left just in time to see another purple pizza fly over his head and landing on the couch. The pizza quickly dissolved, destroying part of the couch with its foul ooze.

What is wrong with her?! He yelled in his head as he ran for cover. Why is a woman I've never met before trying to kill me with her toxic slime?!

Before she could throw another deadly pizza at Tsuna, a sudden gunshot whizzed past her cheeks, stunning her.

"Ciaossu Bianchi."

She whirled she head around to see what had stopped her and her eyes softened when she saw the infant.

"Reborn....."

Tsuna stared at the two of them in confusion.

So Reborn knows this weird lady. Why am I not surprised.....

The lady—now known as Bianchi—stared at Reborn with a longing expression and all of a sudden, tears welled up in her eyes.

"REBORN!!" She cried and flung herself forward with open arms to scoop up the infant in her arms.

"Reborn, my dear. I've come to take you back. Let's go do more big jobs together again like we used to." Cuddling the infant like a stuffed doll, she rubbed her cheeks back and forth against Reborn's.

"I can't. I have a job to raise Tsuna to be the Vongola Decimo." Reborn stated.

Bianchi looks devastated at Reborn's answer but quickly recovered. "Oh, my poor Reborn. This is not the place for you. You deserve to be out there in the bloody field, with me by your side. Not stuck here babysitting a brat..." She cooed.

Tsuna felt a little offended by her comment but kept his mouth shut. After witnessing her crazy way of fighting, he didn't want to say anything he might regret.

"U-um...Reborn...." He quietly called; being cautious not to anger the pizza woman. He could practically feel her shooting daggers from the way she was glaring at him.

"Who is she? And why does she want to kill me the moment we met?"

"This here is Bianchi." Reborn introduces. "She's my lover and a freelance hitman skilled in the art of Poison cooking. She can turn any food she touches into poison thus earning the name 'Poison Scorpion'."

"So that explains the poison pizza...." He mused before taking a step back in astonishment at what Reborn causally said.

"Wait.......YOUR LOVER?!" Tsuna exclaimed. "How could a baby like you have a lover?!"

Instead of answering, he glanced at Tsuna with a condescending smirk.

"I see you're still too young to understand the complicated world of love."

"I don't want to hear that from an infant!"

<~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>

As the two stood there arguing at the front door, Tsuna heard two familiar voices coming from a distance. It seemed like the voices were engaged in a heated debate about something.

"Look here baseball freak! I'm the one who's going to become the Tenth's Right-Hand man! So don't try to compete with me." Gokudera growled at Yamamoto who just laughed it off as a joke.

"You mean the mafia game? I didn't know you're playing it too Gokudera~"

"It's not a game you idiot!" Gokudera yelled, fingers twitching to grab some dynamites to blow this fool away.

"Maa~ Maa~ Don't stress. Let's all have a good time together~"

Tsuna smiled at the two when they turned the corner into his view.

Really. Yamamoto is a natural airhead but he could be sharp sometimes when needed to be. Being with him makes Tsuna feel relaxed and calm due to his easygoing personality and his bright smile.

That's right, his smile was now different ever since that fateful day. His smile is now radiant and true. It makes Tsuna want to smile along with him. Tsuna was really glad to have someone like him as a friend.

He watched with slight amusement as the two banter back and forth till they reached his house.

"Yo Tsuna!"

"How dare you greet the Tenth so casually!"

"Maa~ Maa~"

"I don't mind it, really!" Tsuna quickly tried to defuse the tension between them but Gokudera was too hot-headed to cool down.

"Really Hayato. You shouldn't be making a scene in front of people's houses. It's rude." The voice seemed to stop Gokudera in his tracks and he stiffened.

Bianchi walked out from the house with Reborn in her arms.

"Sister...." Gokudera's face paled as soon as he saw Bianchi's face. He groaned out low and sank to the ground on his knees with his arms clutching around his stomach in pain.

"Gokudera!" Tsuna yelled as he rushed forward to his shaking body, worried and puzzled as to what might have caused this.

And wait a minute....did he just call her sister?

"I'm....sorry...Tenth...." Gokudera raised his head weakly and spoke through clutch teeth. "I'll be taking my leave first..." He quickly got up to his trembling feet and like a newborn lamb, he wobbled off as fast as he could using the wall as a support while clutching his stomach tightly all the way.

"I wonder what happened to Gokudera." Yamamoto wondered out loud.

"Don't mind my brother. I bet he's shy to see his sister again. He's still just a kid." Bianchi chuckled.

I really doubt that's the reason for that....'

Tsuna thought with a roll of his eyes. He saw how Gokudera's face scrunched up in agony the moment he laid eyes on his suppose sister. That reaction was definitely not due to his shyness but more like trauma.

"See ya Tsuna~ I'm going to check on him just to be safe!" Yamamoto waved and hurried off with a smile.

"Hm. I'm glad that my little bro have some friends now. He was always so unsociable."

Tsuna turned to her to see her smiling into the distance with a relieved look.

Huh. For a hitman, I didn't think she could make such an expression.

That look reminded him of something, or someone. But no matter how he wracked his brain over it, he still couldn't quite put his finger on this weird nostalgic feeling.

Oh well. No use thinking about it now. I'm sure I'll remember it in time if it's important.

With a casual shrug of his shoulders, he decided that he had enough surprise for the day and it wasn't even noon yet!

<~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>

Thus, as anyone would've predicted by now, Tsuna's household grew even larger. Bianchi would not leave Reborn alone so she decided that she'll be living with them as Tsuna's home economics teacher. Though Tsuna bets his cooking was ten times better than her (and safer) but he'll keep that opinion to himself.

His mother—as usual—has no objections to having another member living with them and was overjoyed to have her teaching her son for free. Tsuna couldn't help but really admire his mother's naivety sometimes.

Bianchi still hasn't given up on trying to assassinate Tsuna so that Reborn will be free on this burden. Thus, everyday was like a battlefield for the boy, especially during mealtimes when he would've to personally prepare the food so she'll not have the opportunity to poison it.

A week has passed since she started living with them and yet for Tsuna, it felt like a year.

Is this how my life is going to be like for the next few years till my 15th birthday?

That thought made him groan out loud.

He was so very tired of everything and everyone ruining his day and even invading his peaceful home. He doesn't need any more whack-jobs in his life. One was enough to last a lifetime.

But he tried hard to stay positive. It was the only thing he could do for himself right now to stay sane. If things are already this bad, the next few days wouldn't be that bad right?

.

.

.

Nope.

He was dead wrong.

<~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>

The next few days was filled with chaotic events that happened one after another. Tsuna didn't even had the time to stop and pounder about what the heck was going on with his life right now.

In between Reborn spartan teachings and torture sessions, Tsuna also had to deal with multiple unfortunate encounters with hitmen coming for his life and several attempts of his life being threatened courtesy of the small hitman.

One assassin even ended up living with them, much to Tsuna's dismay.

The irony of it all was that, the girl wasn't aiming for Tsuna's life at all. She had mistook Tsuna as her target and attacked him but soon realized her mistake when Reborn told her to put on her spectacles. But it was not before she caused a whole lot of trouble in school by chasing Tsuna around. Even the Skylark got involved at the end and really—it was difficult to run away from him more so than Reborn.

Speaking of Reborn, throughout all of this, he didn't step in once to help his student and even if he did, it was right at the end when he got his fill of watching Tsuna run around like a headless chicken for his amusement.
When asked why, he'll say: 'It's all a lesson.' or 'It'll help you grow stronger.' as an excuse for his crazy antics. Tsuna didn't know why he bothered on relying on the psychopath.

Why, just another day, Tsuna had the displeasure of helping out a stalker who had been wondering around his house for days, all to catch a glimpse of Reborn because she finds him adorable. Seriously, was there something wrong with her eyes? How in the world was that fedora-wearing, trigger-happy baby anything but adorable?

The girl was hostile towards Tsuna at the start because she thought Tsuna was abusing the baby. If only she knew how wrong she was and she might laugh if she heard it was the other way round. Things went out of hand quickly and she ended up falling into the river. When Tsuna found out she didn't know how to swim, he wasted no time at all and jumped in after her.

Thankfully it was the right move to make because he could see Reborn getting ready to shoot him with a dying will bullet and he definitely do NOT want to get his clothes burned off again. He already has enough trouble trying to explain to his mother as to why he'd need to buy extra sets of school uniforms in a month.

Anyway, Tsuna thought that rescuing her from almost drowning would make her more reasonable to talk to but it turns out it had an opposite effect. Instead of stalking Reborn, she's coming after Tsuna now. She has it in her head that she'll be his future wife and worse part was, Reborn told her about the mafia which she seemed to take it in well. She even said it'll be exciting to be a future mafia's wife.

Tsuna was sure she's delusional.

The small silver lining for Tsuna was that she goes to another school so they won't be seeing each other much. But then again, her school was not far from his and so she's always coming over to Tsuna's school to see him before heading back to her school.

Tsuna didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"What's it like to be a ladies' man?" Reborn had teased.

Of course Tsuna didn't have an answer to that and settled to just ignoring him.

Right now, Tsuna sighed as he laid in bed, desperately wishing for some peace and quiet. But there's never a moment of quiet in this household, not when you're living with assassins and hitmen. Lambo's obnoxious laughter can be heard throughout the house along with I-pin's incoherent Japanese and Bianchi's frequently occupying the kitchen, whipping up some nasty concoction for her next deadly recipe.

With the kids busy playing with one another downstairs and Reborn out of the house, this might be Tsuna's only time to relax and think.

Truth be told, the sounds around the house weren't so bad. It made Tsuna feel less lonely. The presence of someone near--even though annoying—was somehow strangely comforting.

As Tsuna thought about this, a warm, fuzzy feeling ignited inside of him, making him sigh in content, instead of exhaustion as he usually did.

It's strange. He thought. This was something he did not experience in all his previous lives but he didn't quite hate it or reject it.

He thought solitude suited him. But now that he's surrounded by people—whether he wants to or not—he felt a strange type of warmness swelling up inside on him.

An image of a burning candle pops up in his mind.

Flames huh?

He recalled the many times where Reborn shot him with the dying will bullet and the feeling that came with it. If he put aside the shame that came when he ripped his clothing apart and just focus on the dying will part, he could almost say that it's not too bad to have a dying will. That way, at the end of day, you can die without any regrets.

That warm feeling must have come from my flames inside of me. He concluded.

He frowned as he tried to recall where had he seen that flame before. He was sure he had never heard it in all his previous lives before so he must have heard it somewhere during his childhood.

That's right!

He jolted upright as a memory of an old man came into his mind.

He recalled when he was a kid, his father would often come visit and would sometimes bring home a friend from work. He seemed to be a good friend of his father and his father would always accompany him wherever he go, just like a bodyguard.

Till now, Tsuna didn't know who this old man was but he knew that his child-self had warmed up to him which was a hard thing to do seeing how shy he was when he was young.

He remembered there was once a time when he was out playing in the yard alone and that evil Chihuahua that always tormented him came into the yard. He got so scared and cried for his parents. They came straight away and chased the mean dog away but chuckled when they saw what a crybaby he was. The old man was there too and Tsuna had saw him staring at him with interest. He said something to his father and then came towards Tsuna with a strange orange light on his finger. The moment the strange light made contact with his forehead, Tsuna quickly fell into a deep sleep. He remembered clearly the warmth that had spread all over his small body. Like a comforting blanket over him, lulling the child into a peaceful sleep.

Thinking back, that orange light resembles a flame. Why did that old man possess it too? Would he be able to use that flame just like the old man? Without any of the whole clothes burning away thing of course, because that was just embarrassing.

There was so many possibilities swirling in Tsuna's mind. So many theories waiting to be tested and answered.

If Tsuna's able to control the flames within him to do his bidding, to be able to use it to his advantage, then maybe—just maybe—he would be able to use it against Death.

The chances are low but Tsuna didn't have anything to lose. His life was at stake after all, it's not like it could get any worse.

Tsuna's willing to bet his all on this new power he found in this life. 'Dying Will Flames'—well, Tsuna certainly has lots of will in him and he got that dying part down. Now if only he knew how to make it into flames and control it.

If so, then there might be a chance for him to win against Death in this life after all.

<~~~~~~~~~~~~>

The boy watched as a cloth came flying by his head, landing on the ground next to him. As he reached down to pick it up, he heard a shrill voice call out to him.

"Wait!"

The boy turned his head to see a small girl—probably around the same age as him—stumble her way towards him. She took a moment to catch her breath before facing him.

"Sorry about that. That's mine." She pointed at the cloth the boy was holding and he returned it to her.

"Thanks!" She smiled cheerfully at him and the boy felt a blush creeping up his cheeks. He never had anyone around the same age as him and definitely wasn't used to talking to a girl.

Another voice sounded from a distance and someone else was running towards them.

A young woman came into view and her expression turned from worried to relief when she saw the girl standing there.

"How many times have I told you not to run off without telling anyone?" The pink-head scolded and the little girl hung her head in shame.

"Sorry."

The woman turned her head towards the boy and shock registered onto her face.

"Oh my! The prince! I'm sorry for disturbing you." She bowed but the boy quickly waved it off.

"Hahi! The Prince!" The girl exclaimed and scrambled to make herself presentable. "I'm so sorry! I wasn't aware!"

The boy giggled at her panic but assured her it was fine.

"Say, if you don't mind...." The girl began. "I'd like to come here again next time when I'm free. Would that be alright with you?" She asked shyly.

The boy was a little surprised at this but nevertheless smiled brightly at her.

"Yes. I'd like that." The boy beamed and quickly hung his head to hide the blush on his face.

"I'd like that very much."