10 Year Mishap

9

Dinner in Vongola castle that night was mildly entertaining for Reborn, but not anyone else. The staff had all been made aware of the situation with Tsuna, so none were too surprised to see the child version of their boss walk into the room. In fact, they'd taken certain measures to child proof' the castle. What did surprise them was the fact that their child boss walked into the dining room with his hitman advisor. It didn't even stop there because instead of sitting with his Guardians, Tsuna sat on Reborn's lap and he let him! Not to mention the fact that ten-year-old Yuni was here without her mother or any bodyguards, and  twenty-five-year-old Byakuran was here without his Guardians!

When they were assigned to Vongola Castle, everyone was made well aware within the first week to expect the unexpected and to not let surprises overshadow their judgement. But the surprises mentioned normally came with a warning! This situation, did not.

So, yes, it was a very entertaining dinner for Reborn, but not anyone else.

Tsuna looked up at the hitman he was sitting on with curiosity shining in his eyes. "Reborn-san?" he asked in Japanese. Reborn had been teaching him his home language after he'd finished his laps around the ballroom. "Why is everyone surprised?"

Reborn smirked as he answered the child, also using Japanese, "Don't worry about it." he then gestured to the two plates in front of them, "Eat your food before it gets cold. Were going to the library when you're done.

Library? Tsuna had decided earlier that he likes the library. Smiling, he nodded and politely dug into his food. Everyone else, seeing their child-boss eating, said their thanks or prayers in their home languages before also digging in.

Dinner in Vongola Castle was always an event. Everyone in the castle was required to be there, so it worked as a good transition period between the day and nights shifts. Sure, the place was largely unguarded, but there were alarm systems and traps everywhere that were moved around at random intervals. On top of that, any invaders would have to get through Vongola Territory undetected. They had yet to be attack, so no one was worried, but they all kept their guard up.

No music had been played during dinner, so everyone either stayed to help clean up, got ready for the night shift, or headed off to do their own things. Reborn had led Tsuna back to the library, the Vongola Guardians, Byakuran and Yuni all following after them. They were going to explain the full situation to the boy now that he was calm.

Upon arrival, Reborn and Tsuna sat on one of the armchairs in the seating area in the centre of the room while the others scattered around the other chairs. They all made sure to be close enough to protect the child Sky should anything go wrong, but far enough away as to not make him feel crowded.

"Tsuna," Yuni greeted him with a soft smile. She had been chosen to be the one to start off the explanation for a number of reasons. Not only was she the one closest to him in age, but she was also the most patient and welcoming of the current group. She was also great with kids. Normally, she took second place in all of those categories, but first place had been sent on a preemptive trip to a parallel timeline.

After having had time to process the fact that this Byakuran and this Yuni were not his fratello and sorellina, Tsuna managed to lock down any emotions that reacted to the longing and attachment to felt towards them. It wasn't hard to do this when looking at Yuni because she looked starkly different, but he chose to avoid looking at Byakuran for longer than needed because he just looked so like his brother! "Yes?" The use of Italian shocked none of them.

"I understand Takeshi told you a bit about what's going on?" she spoke softly. He nodded. "I see. Well, we are going to explain it in a bit more detail. Is that alright with you?" Again, he nodded. "Good, good. As Takeshi said, you're not in your home world. We made a mistake on our end and you ended up here while our Tsuna ended up where you're from. You swapped places. We don't know if there's a time limit on long this swap is going to last or how to get you back if there isn't a time limit. Does that make sense?"

Tsuna thought for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, it does. Though, can you go into a bit more detail?"

This is where Byakuran spoke up. "All worlds run as a vertical lines parallel to each other. Each one is connected by intersecting horizontal lines running through them and keeping them on pace with each other, meaning they all start and end at the same time. Events, while slightly or drastically different for every vertical line, all happen at the same time in every world. Basically, your world's equivalent to our worlds World War Two would've happened at or around the same time ours did."

Again, Tsuna nodded in comprehension. "If there isn't a time limit, I'm I stuck here until you guys figure out how to get me home?" He liked it here, but he didn't like the feeling of replacing someone. Besides, these people were strangers to him. It didn't matter if they knew a version of him, they didn't know him.

Lambo took this as his cue to give a status report on what he and Giannini had been working on. "Well, we haven't exactly figured out how to get you home yet, but we know it's possible and we know we'll have to use the Parallel Bazooka. Without actually testing the bazooka on anything, we won't be able to know anything other than it does work. Shoichi and Spanner are on their way back now. With their help, we might be able to get a bit more information, but that's really all we can promise at the moment. " Lambo sat down and the room fell into quiet.

Tsuna had known since just after Byakuran finished talking that he was no longer included in whatever was to be said next and was only in the room as either a formality or so they could keep an eye on him. Without a word, he slid off of Reborn's lap. He was fully aware that everyone was now watching him, but that wasn't anything he hadn't experienced before. He didn't look at anyone as he opened the door a crack, slipped out of the room, and closed the door behind him. Now in the hallway, he sighed and pushed away from the door.

The little whisper in his head was back. It was telling him where to go. He didn't know where he was going, but he trusted the whisper. It hadn't always been a whisper, but it had been with him all his life, guiding him and keeping him safe. So, he followed the directions it gave and found himself in front of the room he'd woken up in. Opening the door, he didn't bother to turn on the lights as he walked inside, shutting and locking the door behind him, and curled up in the middle of the middle of the bed. He had a feeling tomorrow would be an interesting day.