“Kaa-san, where are you going?” eight-year-old Tsuna asked as he rubbed the weariness from his doe-brown eyes.
His mother, Sawada Nana, paused at the door, allowing some of the darkness from outside to seep into the home she shared with her son. “Tsu-kun! I thought you went to bed?”
Tsuna yawned while he nodded. “Where’s kaa-san going?”
Nana smiled and ruffled Tsuna’s soft, brown hair, very much like her own. “Kaa-san’s going to buy some milk. I just found out that we're out.”
Tsuna looked beyond their yard and back at his mother. “I want to go too!”
Surprised, Nana nodded. Tsuna raced to his room to get dressed, fumbling with his hoodie. He darted back down the stairs with a wide grin on his face.
“Alright, let’s go!” Nana said and held hands with her son. “Why do you suddenly want to come with kaa-san?"
“I-I just want to,” Tsuna said and looked around him fearfully, tightening his hold on his mother’s hand. Although the street lamps were on, it was still dark and the shadows loomed over them quietly.
“Mm~,” Nana said. “Your father used to say that all the time.”
Tsuna looked up at his mother, taking his attention away from the shadows. So his father used to do this too? Tsuna guessed that they weren’t too different after all.
He knew he wouldn’t be useful in a fight; the bullies at school could attest to that. But he wanted to protect kaa-san from any monsters in the dark, dark night. That was why he wanted to go with her in the first place: to protect her, even if he was only eight. Maybe his presence will be enough to dissuade the monsters from attacking.
And then he shrieked when their neighbour’s dog yipped.
…
“Kaa-san?” Tsuna called from the kitchen. Nana gasped and turned on the light.
“Tsu-kun! What are you doing up? You have school tomorrow,” she scolded quietly, not wanting to wake up the other occupants of the house. Her fifteen-year-old son was looking back at her with partially closed eyes and rumpled clothes. He held a glass from the dish rack and was turning to the fridge.
“Reborn forced me to finish all my math and English homework. That’s the worst combination ever!” Tsuna whined. “I just came down for a drink. I swear, he drives me crazy on purpose.”
Nana's tone softened. “Reborn-kun is a good influence on you, isn’t he?”
Ever since the baby, who went by the name Reborn, had appeared that day on her doorstep, she knew that Tsuna’s life was going to change. Not only was his room cleaned every day, but he never willingly skipped a day of school and he did all his homework. Having young ones in the house must have made her son realise that he would become an adult one day and should set an example for the children.
“Eh! There’s no milk,” Tsuna said. “Lambo must have taken the last of it!”
Nana smiled at the mention of another child she had taken under her wing. “I was on my way to the store just now. We can’t have Lambo missing his favourite milk, can we?”
“He’d only complain and yell at me if that happens." I don’t want to be hit with grenades again! Tsuna thought wearily.
“You’d better go to bed now,” Nana said and started to push her son toward the stairs.
Tsuna’s eyes widened. “I don’t really want to go back up so soon! Reborn’s still grading my assignment - he’ll kill me when he finds out it’s below an eighty." He paused, taking a look a his mother and then outside the kitchen window. "C-Can I go with you to the store instead?”
Nana let out another musical laugh and shooed her son towards the stairs. “You’d better get dressed then.”
Tsuna dashed up the steps two at a time and barged into his room. “Hey Reborn, I’m going with kaa-san to the store so I’ll see you later!” he said as he threw on some more clothes over his pyjamas.
He grabbed his blue and white Vongola X Gloves, which was his weapon of choice, and shoved them into his pocket before turning to the door.
Reborn, expression dark, kicked the back of his head.
“Ite!”
“You better come back soon. I’m not liking what I’m reading," the hit-man said, gesturing to the sheets of papers in his tiny hands.
“I got it,” Tsuna hissed in pain. He went down the stairs, nearly tripping a couple of times. “Okay, I’m ready.”
Nana closed the door behind him with a smile. “My protector, with me once again.”
“W-What?”
“Never mind,” Nana sang out and tugged at Tsuna’s arm.
That was one thing Tsuna couldn’t fault Reborn with. Meeting the Mafioso hit-man meant he could finally—properly—protect kaa-san from the monsters.
A/N: I hope that you've enjoyed reading this. The manga that this fan fiction is based off on is called Katekyo Hitman Reborn! by the mangaka Amano Akira.
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