Connecting Past and Present2

About an hour later, they were finally seated at a restaurant that Tsuna had already forgotten the name of. Gokudera helped with the translations once again, using the same cover story he used on the receptionist. Unfortunately, their waiter wasn't as easily swayed at Gokudera's antics as the receptionist had been, but once Tsuna angrily flashed the credit card at him the waiter shrugged and gave them their menus.

"Tch. Asshole," Gokudera muttered.

"Language," Tsuna chided as he lightly flicked Gokudera's forehead.

"Whatever. Here, let me help you decide."

They spent the next five minutes going over the menu until Tsuna decided on what he wanted. He hadn't had that much experience with Italian food, so he relied partially on Gokudera's suggestions. Eventually, he decided on the Shrimp and Crab Tortelli Romana. He already knew he liked seafood, so he figured this was the best way to start.

After they placed their order, Tsuna took a moment to inspect the young Gokudera. He looked more at ease in public now that he had clean clothes on. Tsuna had nearly gone overboard on buying clothes for the small boy, knowing that this was the only time Gokudera would be able to get them before he starting doing hits for various Mafia families.

While at the stores, Tsuna was unable to fight back a fond smile as Gokudera displayed his rather interesting choice in apparel. It appeared he really didn't like the suit and shorts that he had been forced to wear before, and so when Tsuna assured him he could choose whatever he wanted, Gokudera looked like Christmas had come early.

Then on their way to the restaurant they passed by a bank and Tsuna got a brilliant idea. He dragged Gokudera to one of the outside kiosks and with his help, withdrew €150 which he then gave to the boy once they were out of range of the cameras. Tsuna had been very careful to position himself just right so Gokudera wasn't seen.

This was one of the times he was truly grateful for his Hyper Intuition. He wasn't exactly sure if the Vongola family would notice that much money being drawn from their account or even if it was a lot, but he did know that he couldn't have Gokudera connected to it or they might come after him. It was fine if they saw Tsuna, because they'd never be able to find him.

And so, they were now sitting together at a nice looking restaurant with three small bags of clothes for Gokudera and €150 in the boy's pockets, as well as a hot meal coming their way and a warm place for Gokudera to spend at least the night. All in all, Tsuna felt rather proud of what he had been able to accomplish.

Once their food had arrived and they had spent a few minutes filling their hungry stomachs, Tsuna knew he had to break the bad news. His Hyper Intuition was telling him that he didn't have much time left. He cleared his throat.

"Listen . . ." Gokudera glanced up from his fettuccine and Tsuna swallowed hard. "Um . . . the thing is Gokudera-kun . . . as much fun as I've had today, I—I'm probably not going to stay here for much longer." Tsuna tightly grasped the napkin that laid in his lap at Gokudera's expression. The little boy looked shocked, hurt, but worst of all—resigned, as if he expected this to happen.

"It . . . it's okay, Mochida-nii," Gokudera said softly. He glanced up at Tsuna and tried to smile. "I understand."

Tsuna could practically hear the thoughts going through Gokudera's head. "Hey—listen to me," he said sternly as he grasped Gokudera's tiny hand. "I'm not like everyone else. I'm not leaving you because I want to. If I could have my way I'd stay with you forever . . . but things just don't work out that way. I'm not abandoning you."

Tears welled up in Gokudera's big green eyes and Tsuna pulled him close as the little boy trembled with tiny sobs. "And besides," Tsuna said as he ran his hand comfortingly through the silver locks, "I'll meet you again in the future, so can you wait for me?"

Gokudera sniffed and pulled away from Tsuna. "Of course, Mochida-nii! I'll always wait for you."  

Tsuna laughed as he ruffled Gokudera's hair. "Well that's good! It makes me very happy. Oh, and Gokudera-kun? I know that I'm an exception and I'm sorry for misleading you, but you should never accept food from strangers or let them take you places unless you know them very well." He felt bad telling the small boy to be wary of everyone he ran into and fervently prayed that he didn't end up being the cause of Gokudera's cynicism towards other people—but there was no way he was going to misguide Gokudera into thinking that everyone would be as nice as him. He couldn't live with himself if something bad happened to Gokudera because of that.

To his surprise, Gokudera looked a little offended. "Of course I know that, dummy! Everyone knows you shouldn't accept anything from strangers!"

"Well, then . . . why did you trust me?" Now that he thought about it, Tsuna was actually rather astonished at how easily Gokudera just followed him. He had been so concerned with helping Gokudera that he didn't really notice before, but why?

With a deep blush, Gokudera glanced down at his hands. "Um . . . I just—you . . . I-I've never met anyone as . . . as nice as you and I just . . . I just felt really safe around you, that's all!"

Tsuna blinked in surprise at the admission but couldn't stop the wide grin that appeared on his face. "Well, that's good to hear. I feel safe around you too, Gokudera-kun. Now—you up for dessert?

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Now with their stomachs properly filled, Tsuna and the younger Gokudera went on a leisurely walk. They ended up staring at the sunset as they sat down on a bench in a park. Gokudera had dozed off a few minutes ago and Tsuna merely sat there with his arms wrapped around the sleeping boy. He glanced down at Gokudera and sighed. All he had were a few minutes left, so it was time to say goodbye.

With great reluctance he gently shook the little boy. "Gokudera-kun? Hey, Gokudera-kun—I need to tell you something."  

"Huh?" Gokudera yawned and rubbed his eyes. "What is it, Mochida-nii?"

"I'm going to be leaving in just a little bit," Tsuna said as he brushed aside Gokudera's bangs. "I wanted to say goodbye to you before I did."

Gokudera looked crestfallen. "Do you have to leave so soon?" Tsuna winced at the expression but he had to remain firm.

"Yes, I do," he said slowly. "Believe me—it's not like I want this to happen." They both stood up off the bench and Tsuna knelt so he was eye level with Gokudera. He wiped away Gokudera's tears and tightly grasped the little boy's shoulders.

"Before I leave, I want you to listen to me very carefully," Tsuna began. Gokudera fervently nodded and gazed at Tsuna as if he were about to divulge the world's greatest secrets. "I want you to know that you are a wonderful person, and no matter what anyone says or does to you I don't want you to ever doubt yourself. Things are going to be hard, but you have a strong heart and you must remember to never give up. My best friends are not quitters, you understand?"

"Yes, Mochida-nii! I promise to never give up!" He lifted a hand in salute and grinned at Tsuna. The older boy laughed and pulled Gokudera into a tight hug.

He pulled away and gave Gokudera a light kiss on the forehead. "I love you, Gokudera-kun. Never forget that. And if you keep fighting and never give up, I promise you'll find friends who care about you." They stayed like that for a few seconds longer, each of them overcome with emotion, until Tsuna disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Young Gokudera just stared in disbelief at the now empty space in front of him. How did . . . what was . . .

He gasped as he realized what must have happened. He never thought it was possible, but the fact remained that Mochida had disappeared just before his eyes. The little boy had read about instances where this sort of thing happened, so there was only one logical explanation.

"UMAs are real!"

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Tsuna coughed as the smoke dissipated. A mournful frown made its way onto his face but he didn't have much time to be sad because someone barreled into him.

"Ooof!"

His head smacked against something hard and wooden. Tsuna's vision swam in and out of focus for a while. Hearing worked just fine though.

"Tenth! I'm so happy you're back! Well—you never really left because your younger self was here but it wasn't really you and once the five minutes was up and you weren't back yet and then it turned into hours and I was really worried and I didn't know if you were safe or not and—"

"It's all right, Gokudera-kun," Tsuna said. "I'm perfectly fine but . . . my head kind of hurts." Tsuna regretted the words the instant they left his mouth.

"I'm so sorry, Tenth!" Gokudera quickly backed away from Tsuna like being too close burned him and he started slamming his head against the ground. "I deeply apologize for hurting you! I was just so relieved to see you returned and—" He was stopped by Tsuna's hands on his shoulders, preventing him from hurting himself even further.

"It's all right, Gokudera-kun. You don't have to apologize." Tsuna glanced around to discover they were still in his room. "How did things with my younger self go?"

Gokudera cringed at that. "Well, Tenth . . . he was kind of scared of me at first so I disguised myself with one of your hats and put my glasses on. Then I got him some snacks from downstairs and we played video games for most of the time. After a while he got tired and took a nap on the bed. He had just woken up when you came back."

The brunette nodded and let out a sigh of relief. He hadn't really had too much time to think about what happened on this end, but since Gokudera was there he shouldn't have had anything to worry about. Tsuna took a good look at his silver-haired friend and for a moment, the nervous fourteen-year-old was replaced by the happy nine-year-old he had just spent the afternoon with. Suddenly, Tsuna was seized with a crazy idea. He had no idea why, but he knew that he wanted to do it.

"Come with me, Gokudera-kun!" Tsuna said as he grabbed the other's hand. "I've got an idea!" And so he ended up half-dragging a bewildered and flustered Gokudera down the stairs and into the kitchen. Thankfully his mother was there.

"Mom! Do we have any watermelon?"

"Huh? Tsu-kun! There you are! I've been wondering where you've been all afternoon!" she chided. "You left Gokudera-kun and his cousin in your room—"

"I'll explain later," Tsuna said. "Do we have any watermelon?"

"Hmm . . . I think so. Lambo-kun wanted some the other day so I bought a big one . . ." Nana opened the refrigerator door. "Ah! Here we go! There's only half left, but—"

"That's perfect! Thank you, mom!" Tsuna grabbed one of their shopping bags (his mother had recently become obsessed with being environmentally friendly—hence the shopping bags), put the watermelon in it, then grabbed a large knife and threw it in as well. "Come on, Gokudera-kun!" Tsuna said as he bolted out the door. Gokudera was right at his heels, but it was obvious he was extremely confused. What had gotten into the Tenth to make him so . . . enthusiastic? And what was with the watermelon anyway?

Tsuna didn't stop running until they reached Namimori Park. The brunette was panting from the exertion but he ran just a little further until they reached an unoccupied bench.

"Tenth . . . can you please tell me what's going on?" Gokudera feared that something had happened to his beloved Tenth while in the past. Where was Reborn when you needed him?!

"Phew!" Tsuna collapsed on the bench, panting hard. "I just . . . thought we'd have some . . . fun together as a . . . way to thank you for . . . looking after my younger . . . self." He then pulled the watermelon out of the bag and started to cut it.

"Here, let me do that, Tenth!" Gokudera said quickly. "You just catch your breath, okay?"

Tsuna nodded. "Sounds like a good . . . idea. Please cut it into four pieces, Gokudera-kun."  

The bomber did as instructed, taking care to cut them as perfectly as he could. Ideally, he would have liked to use a ruler to do so, but alas it was back at his apartment.

Tsuna watched Gokudera meticulously cut the watermelon and was unable to hold back a smirk. His friend really was something else.

"There, Tenth! All done!" Gokudera presented the cut watermelon with childish glee.

"It looks great, Gokudera-kun. Please take one," Tsuna said as he himself reached for a quarter slice. The silver-haired boy looked a bit surprised but nonetheless obeyed. Things were silent between them for a few moments as they just sat there eating their watermelon. Finally, Gokudera couldn't take the silence any longer and turned towards Tsuna.

"Tenth, wh—" To his surprise, three small, wet and sticky things landed on his face. He yelped and jumped to his feet, his hand already in a defensive position, ready to ignite the flames on his rings should the need arise. His plans were stopped when he heard the Tenth's laughter.

"I—I'm sorry, Gokudera-kun but I . . . you looked so funny and it—"

Since the Tenth wasn't alarmed, Gokudera slowly reached up and wiped the three foreign objects off his face. They were . . . watermelon seeds? Gokudera raised an eyebrow in confusion and looked back at the Tenth. "What—"

Splat. Two more landed on his shirt and Gokudera stared at the Tenth in disbelief. What in the hell was going on here?

"Got you again, Gokudera-kun!" The bomber couldn't take it anymore.

"Tenth—what's wrong with you? Did that stupid cow somehow switch bodies with you? If so, I know of some shops that have just the right supplies for an exorcism!" He rushed forward and knelt in front of his boss.

"I won't rest until I've saved you, Tenth!" Gokudera declared boldly.

Realizing he was getting nowhere, Tsuna took a deep breath and sighed. "Gokudera-kun . . . I promise I haven't gone insane, and no—I am not being possessed by Lambo." He placed a hand on Gokudera's shoulder. "I just thought that . . . after all the battles and everything we've been through that well—we deserved a little break. I thought that this would be a fun way, since I know Gokudera-kun likes watermelons."

Gokudera's eyes widened and he blushed. "You . . . know I like watermelons? How?"

"Secret," Tsuna teased. Mentally, he was rather astonished at his boldness. Normally he wouldn't be this forward with Gokudera. Sure, he had acted like this with the younger version, but that's because he wasn't as frightening as the older one. But once he returned to the present, Tsuna was faced with the realization that his Gokudera was exactly the same as the five-year younger version; so eager to prove himself with his only real objective in life to be to accepted, loved, and wanted. The only difference was that his Gokudera was better at hiding it.

And Tsuna wanted to make that child smile.

"Come on, Gokudera-kun! You can't tell me you're chicken!" Tsuna leapt off the bench and pointed a finger at his friend. "Time to die, Gokudera-kun!" He then immediately took a large bite out of his watermelon and focused on separating the seeds, so he didn't notice the strange look gloss over Gokudera's face. If he did, he might have decided to be a bit more careful with his wording.

Eventually, Tsuna was able to coax his apprehensive friend into abandoning restraint. The two of them dashed around the park, spitting watermelon seeds this way and that. Tsuna was beyond pleased to notice that all the worry lines that had seemed to grow in number since their arrival from the future on Gokudera's forehead were gone. Now the Storm Guardian was acting more his age and his strange qualms about possibly hurting Tsuna with mere watermelon seeds was gone. They were simply two friends having a great time together.

Once they ran out of seeds, the two of them came together in front of the bench. They laughed and recounted their battle while brushing the seeds off one another.

"That was really amazing, Tenth!" Gokudera gushed, flicking away the last of the seeds in Tsuna's hair.

The brunette giggled. "You're no match for Mochida-nii!" Tsuna immediately covered his mouth in horror, but the damage had already been done. Gokudera was staring at Tsuna in absolute shock.

He took a few steps backward and fell over, but he continued to stare up at Tsuna with an odd sort of shock and terror. Tsuna wanted nothing more than to be able to retract his words and write them off as nothing, but the dawned realization on Gokudera's face was all too apparent. He couldn't take back his words now.

But what to do, what to do?! Tsuna had absolutely no—oh crap! Gokudera was actually crying! The tears flowed down his face and Gokudera covered his mouth. He looked like he was going to be sick.

For the second time that day, Tsuna itched to be able to bang his head against something. A frustrated growl threatened to be released but he knew it would just bring about more problems. Why had things turned out so wrong?! All he wanted was for Gokudera to smile and laugh more, but it looked like his plan had horribly backfired.

Tsuna knelt down on the ground and slowly crawled over to Gokudera. "Look . . . I just—I didn't . . . Gokudera-kun, I—"

"So . . . so it was really you then?" Gokudera asked, his voice muffled by his hand. "That's where you were today? I wasn't visited by an UMA?"

"Yes, I—" Tsuna frowned. "UMA?" He gasped as he realized what must have happened. Oh please no—was he to blame for Gokudera's strange obsession with the supernatural? Tsuna nearly wanted to die right there.

"All this time . . . all this time I thought that the UMA was trying to tell me something," Gokudera continued, his voice shaky as he cried. "Then when I met you, I-I thought that you were the one who'd be my friend just like the UMA promised, but I wanted to test you first, and . . . and then you showed me your kindness and I just . . . it was you all along!"

Tsuna grunted as all the air was forced out of his lungs when Gokudera slammed into him. For a brief second, Tsuna had a horrifying thought that Gokudera was going to hurt him for tricking him like that, but that train of thinking died immediately when he realized the bomber was sobbing in his arms, Gokudera's own tightly wrapped around Tsuna's waist.

Gokudera said nothing for a few minutes, too overcome by his emotions. Feeling incredibly awkward, guilty, and a little bit confused, Tsuna nevertheless did his best to comfort his friend. He made gentle soothing sounds and brushed his fingers through the silver hair.

"Heh, your hair is still as soft as ever, Gokudera-kun." Tsuna just barely escaped having his head severed when Gokudera's head sprung up. The silver-haired boy's face was bright, bright red and Tsuna could practically feel the heat on his own face.

"U-um . . . yeah, I-I guess so," Gokudera sniffed. He leaned back to a kneeling position so he wasn't sprawled out all over Tsuna and furiously rubbed his eyes.

Tsuna bit his lip. "Look . . . Gokudera-kun, I—I never meant to deceive you, I just—"

"Huh?" Gokudera glanced up at him in genuine confusion. "What are you talking about, Tenth?"

Now Tsuna was confused. "What . . . what do you mean what am I talking about? What are you talking about?"

"I'm not angry at you, Tenth." Tsuna could only stare at Gokudera incredulously.

"You're not?"

Gokudera shook his head. "Of course not, Tenth! In fact I'm really . . . really uh—grateful." The bomber rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly and his cheeks heated up in embarrassment. "You see—um . . . whenever I was going through a hard time or w-was depressed because . . . because um—I was kicked o-out of an-another F-Family . . ."

Recognizing Gokudera's difficulty, Tsuna reached out and lightly touched Gokudera's knee with a small nod for him to continue. Gokudera looked surprised at first then gave Tsuna a small smile.

"Um—yeah, so whenever that happened . . . I remembered what you told me about never giving up and—and so I didn't." Gokudera gulped and leaned forward, grabbing Tsuna's shoulders. "And some days, the only thing that kept me going was your promise that I'd meet you again someday and—and your pr-promise that I would  f-find friends who cared about me!"

The tears fell freely once again down his face and he buried his face into Tsuna's shoulder. The brunette was unable to keep a few tears from escaping as well and rested his face against Gokudera's hair. He felt . . . really happy to know that he had been able to do so much for Gokudera. True, he never knew his words would have that much of an impact, but knowing it did made him all giddy inside.

He—Dame-Tsuna—did something helpful, and without any Dying Will Pills or Reborn. It was moments like these that Tsuna felt made life worth it.

A few minutes later, Gokudera had gotten himself under control and leaned back on his knees. He had a hard time looking Tsuna in the eyes, no doubt embarrassed by his actions. Tsuna merely smiled and reached out to wipe away Gokudera's tears.

"I still mean every word, Gokudera-kun," Tsuna said softly.

"Th-thanks," Gokudera chuckled, rubbing his eyes against the back of his hand. Then he bit his lip and glanced at Tsuna with a sheepish grin. "And . . . and I uh—always w-wanted to thank you for what you did for me and um—" Gokudera blushed a light pink, then to Tsuna's surprise, he leaned forward and lightly kissed Tsuna on the forehead. When he pulled back he averted his eyes. "I-I love you, too . . . Ts-Tsu—" He took a deep breath. " . . . Tsuna-nii."

Tsuna's face split into an enormous grin and his chest swelled with warmth. Then he sprung forward and tackled Gokudera to the ground. The silver-haired teen let out a surprised yelp, but as Tsuna buried his face into Gokudera's chest, the bomber was unable to prevent a wide smile from breaking out on his face. He tried to awkwardly sit up and then wrapped his arms around his most important person—the one who truly changed his life for the better.

Far off in the distance was a small figure who set down his green binoculars with a satisfied smirk.

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Tsuna returned home late that night in high spirits. Once they had stopped being all mushy like girls, the two of them had a lot of fun just talking and playing at the park. Because of all that had been going on with the mafia in the Ring Battles, then the whole ordeal in the future—they hadn't really had much of a chance for a break. But for this afternoon at least, they were able to act like kids again. Part of Tsuna wished things would just stay like this, but he wasn't stupid.

He knew that come tomorrow he'd have to face Reborn again, he'd have to think about his answer to the Ninth, he'd have to deal with the Shimon family, he'd have to go back to school, Gokudera would go back to calling him Tenth and disregard his own safety for Tsuna's (though Tsuna hoped this incident would soften that zeal), but . . . there was no way Tsuna would trade this afternoon for anything.

"Hey, Reborn," Tsuna said as he collapsed on his bed. Great day or not—he was exhausted!

The Arcobaleno was seated in one of his specialty-made chairs on top of Tsuna's computer desk. "You're home late," he said. "And you haven't studied enough for your history test."

Tsuna let out a moan. "Reborn!" he whined. "I'll study more tomorrow, okay? I'm really, really tired right now." Despite the fact that part of him didn't care what Reborn did to him, Tsuna couldn't help but cringe slightly out of anticipation for the inevitable kick to his head. Surprisingly, it didn't come.

Reborn let out a small sigh. "Well, I suppose since you were strengthening the bonds within your Family I can let you go just this once."

It took a few seconds for Reborn's statement to sink in. "Huh?!" Tsuna shot up and stared at Reborn incredulously. Did he hear what he thought he heard?

Apparently Reborn didn't notice Tsuna's shock. He grabbed his empty coffee cup and stood up. "Oh, and by the way, Dame-Tsuna, take this." Reborn held out a small slip of paper.

"Huh? What is this, Reborn?" Tsuna bent over and pulled the paper out of the Arcobaleno's tiny fingers. "Four numbers? What's this for?"

The Sun Arcobaleno pulled down on the rim of his fedora to hide his smirk. "The pin key to your Vongola credit card. Now if you'll excuse me, Maman has drawn up a bath for me." He leapt off the desk and made his way to the door, but was stopped by Tsuna's shout.

"Wait—Reborn! What do you mean this is the pin key? You already told it to me!" He glanced down at the paper then waved it in the air. "And this one is different!"

Reborn gave a small chuckle. "Don't be silly, Dame-Tsuna. I made a mistake and the pin I gave you before was old. Probably about five years old. The Vongola Family changes the pin regularly. Can't chance someone figuring it out on their own now, can we? Ciao."

The door slammed, leaving a horrified Tsuna all by himself. Tsuna raised the piece of paper with trembling hands. His knees then gave out and he collapsed back on his bed. It . . . it couldn't be true—could it? There's no way Reborn could . . .

Tsuna shook his head. In situations like this, it was best to forget about the whole thing if he wanted to stay sane. Reborn was always messing with his mind, so there was no point in succumbing to his twisted game.

Right?