At a young age, all children are taught about soulmates.
The teacher sits them all down and takes out six different objects, asking what the differences are. Besides the slightly different shades of gray, only one or two usually noticed what really made them different, though they always had a hard time explaining how. The teacher had smiled, pointing to each giving them labels. Colors. They'd explain that when one met their soulmate, the gray-black-white world would be filled with the fantastical, unimaginable Colors.
Tsuna had eagerly looked at other kids his age, staring into their eyes hopefully. All little kids bravely looked people in the eyes, eager and impatient to see Color. But of course, Tsuna was always, would always be, bullied. They surround him, telling him to stop looking them - at anyone - in the eye. But that didn't stop Tsuna. Nor did the second time, or the third. But somewhere along the way, his gaze started being trained on the floor, on someone's nose or cheek, only ever looking his mom in the eye if that.
After all, nobody deserves the terrible wreck that was Sawada Tsunayoshi as a soulmate.
oOo
When Reborn came, the hitman looked upwards to look at his new student. He always made sure to look people in the eyes, windows into the soul. One's eyes revealed everything about one's thoughts and emotions. But Tsuna was resolutely looking at the ground. Even once they were in his room and Reborn had revealed his true purpose, Tsuna's shocked and fearful gaze was locked onto Reborn's forehead.
Reborn, the proud - man? Baby? - that he was didn't question Tsuna about it. A single day observing the heir gave all the answers. It had been a while since Reborn had thought about the soulmate phenomenon, even longer since colorblindness had been an issue. Reborn had vague memories of a kid who wasn't Reborn - shoved into the very back of his mind - Tsuna's age. All the other kids were eager to meet his eyes, hoping the charming boy was their soulmate.
Well, no respectable mafia box shied away from eye contact, and by the time Reborn was done with him, neither would Tsuna, with or without his soulmate.
oOo
The night Tsuna gained Gokudera Hayato's allegiance, he wouldn't stop looking at his hand. It distracted him throughout Reborn's lesson, earning him more hits on the head than usual. He kept whatever was bothering him to himself right up to bed time.
"Reborn?" Tsuna's voice shook. "I think I-I hi-it my head."
"I hit your head a lot, dame-Tsuna."
"B-but my-my hand looks weird!" Tsuna all but shrieked.
Reborn hopped over to Tsuna's bed, taking his students right hand in his two tiny ones. He was certain that Tsuna's head was fine, and the hand had a minor burn that did little more than irritate the skin. But surely Tsuna had been burned before, had seen the red, angry skin-
Red.
"Is your hand the only thing that looks weird?"
"N-no. The apples on the cou-nter, and a bit o-of the sunset."'
Reborn was no stranger to multiple soulmates, having seven of his own (more when the dead ones were counted). He considered going into the explanation with Tsuna, what multiple soulmates meant and perhaps even going as far to explain his own experiences. But it was also late in the night and it was only the first of very possibly six soulmates if Reborn's suspicion proved correct. That could all wait a little longer.
"It's called red, it's a color. Now go back to bed. And if something like this happens again and you don't tell me, your tutoring will double."
"O-okay!" Tsuna squeaked.
In a rundown apartment across town, a young man glares at a vase of flowers whose petals definitely didn't look like That earlier.
oOo
Yamamoto sighed, eyes on the light-gray sky. His arm gently throbbed with pain, a silent reminder of why he was on this side of the fence. What did he have to live for? Had there been a point before he broke his arm? He went through the motions, but they were just that: motions. Motions that he was getting tired of doing. He was distantly aware of the crowd gathered behind him, murmuring and occasionally calling out to stop, to come back to the safety of their side of the roof. But the last thing Yamamoto wanted was to be with them. What did they understand? They weren't afraid of his life being eded, they feared losing the baseball player they'd placed on a pedestal. Even now, they didn't try to actually help, just stayed back and watched.
"Hiee!" A shrill scream came from behind. Yamamoto looked back to see Tsuna had stumbled into the empty area between him and the crowd. He had broken into the no-man's land.
"Y-Yamamoto," The shorter boy stuttered, "Why are you doing this?"
"I took your advice, and now my arm's broken. My best isn't enough, probably never will be. The baseball Gods have thrown me away."
"But, but what I told y-you… I've never practiced in my life! I know nothing about practice, but I told that to you anyway! I-I'm just… just dame-Tsuna…" Slowly, Tsuna brought his eyes up to meet Yamamoto's. "So please, don't throw away your life because of me!"
And for a moment, a heart-beat, Tsuna's eyes became fierce and strong and powerful, the gray becoming something more. In shock, the baseball player took a step backwards, off the roof, taking Tsuna and a broken piece of fence withem them.
The fall was a blur, but in the end all that mattered was that they were both on the ground in no worse shape than when they fell (though Tsuna's clothes had miraculously disappeared). Tsuna was lying on his back, staring up at the sky in awe, and Takeshi looked at Tsuna's eyes. The more was gone.
That night, Yamamoto stole his dad's color dictionary.
oOo
Green.
The small kid in the cow costume had jumped around, tugging on Tsuna's shirt until he could see his eyes. And Tsuna had watched as Lambo's eyes brightened and filled in with the sharp and fresh color. Tsuna gasped, leaning in a bit more to get a better view and Lambo on his part laughed out loud, grabbing onto Tsuna's jacket and admiring the darker grey part of it - a color Tsuna had yet to see.
Off to the side, Reborn looked between the two and frowned. He would not have pegged the brat to be one of Tsuna's guardians, but there was nothing to be done now.
oOo
"Yellow," Reborn says, and Tsuna stares at the baby's pacifier. Tsuna is still in a bit of shock. He'd always hoped Kyoko would be his soulmate, still hadn't worked up the courage to look her in the eyes. It was more than a bit surprising to find out her brother was his soulmate.
He isn't alone for the 'lesson'. Gokudera also stared at Reborn's pacifier while Yamamoto flicked through his pilfered color dictionary. The yellow page is bright and cheerful, one side fading into green while the other fades into gray.
"It took me until I met you to realize this was a color. I must've looked Ryohei in the eye ages ago." Yamamoto grinned, running a hand down the page. They had figured out after Yamamoto that they all connected to the same soulmates and got the same colors from each other. Gokudera had taken it upon himself to make his own version of a color dictionary for them, pictures of things that represented each person.
"Reborn, who's your soulmate?" It wasn't the first time Tsuna had wondered about it. Obviously Reborn could see color, which meant he must've met his soulmate. Still, asking a professional hitman about a person that literally gave color to your world seemed like a dangerous move.
Reborn's hand gently touched his pacifier. .It seemed to glow a bit brighter for half a second.
"I… have a few. It's not dissimilar to your situation." Reborn replied. "We all live dangerous lives, so we rarely see each other, if ever."
Reborn did not say anything else on the matter.
oOo
Hibari falls to his knees.
The disease that Shamal gave him had kicked in. Tsuna takes a hesitant step forward, and he swears he can feel Reborn smirking behind his back because yes, this is some ounce of the training he has been getting kicking in. While Tsuna doesn't really agree, this could be called a win, that Tsuna has defeated Hibari.
It's only right that he faces the man.
Hibari is looking up, a glare, and Tsuna looks down.
The sakura petals had been beautiful before, more beautiful than Tsuna had ever seen them, but as Tsuna looks as Hibari's eyes he can see the world grow even more intense. His training is tossed to the side as he gasps and looks around, at just how colorful and vibrant the petals look now.
And his stomach sinks at the thought that The Hibari Kyoya is his soulmate.
oOo
Tsuna looks at the other baby, the one with the blue pacifier.
He sees how close he and Reborn stand, how they fight with each other. There's something else there, though, something between them.
When Skull, the baby with the purple pacifier show up, the two men tease and bug him relentlessly, and there's a small skirmish. It isn't long before Skull has called off his men, but he himself doesn't leave right away. Colonello nudges him with his shoulder and Reborn reaches over and removes Skull's helmet, revealing so much purple all over his face.
Tsuna catches the way both of the other babies look at the color so… if Tsuna thought Reborn was capable of the emotion, he'd say it was fondly.
"Get out of here, lackey." Reborn smushes the helmet back on Skull's head and the octopus snatches Skull up, taking him to the only remaining ship.
oOo
Even with all that comes in the future, Tsuna thinks the fight with Mukuro may be the worst thing that's ever happened to him.
It's terrible, staring at Mukuro, the man sporting the indigo - Indigo - flame on his eye and knowing that this is another soulmate of his and his soulmate is trying to kill him and all of his other soulmates. And it just hurts something deep inside of Tsuna.
When Tsuna activates Hyper Dying Will form, he can see the understanding reach Mukuro's eyes. He'd been told the flame on his head was 'orange', though Tsuna had yet to see the color himself. Mukuro's will is burning in his eye, though, and soulmates or not neither of them were willing to just sit back and let the other win.
The Vindice come, and they drag Tsuna's soulmate away. Tsuna cries out for him, tears cascading down his face for the one he'd barely gotten to know, would never get to know.
It's a somber mood in the hospital afterwards. Takeshi, Hibari, and Hayato had gotten to look in the killer's eyes too. Ryohei and Lambo would never get that chance, would never get to see indigo.
Gokudera's indigo page had indigo kanji numbers and a trident. Nothing more, nothing less. It was all they knew about him, all they would ever know.
oOo
Tsuna meets Chrome, and the girl reminds him of himself. Her gaze is lowered at first, but as she meets the team she'll be fighting for she looks up, looking at Takeshi first. She gasps, and then she looks around. She seems to be reeling back in shock, eyes darting to someone else, anyone else, desperately. She looks Ryohei in the eyes and she doesn't seem to get any better. Chrome is shaking when Gokudera asks rather harshly what's wrong with her and then inhales sharply as their eyes meet.
"Are you okay?" Tsuna steps forward, and she holds the trident in front of her fearfully as their eyes meet. Tsuna blinks. Her skin's color has… stabilized is the only word he can think of for it. Tsuna looked around, and Takeshi had already pulled out the color dictionary. Yamamoto flipped to the blue page, but Tsuna's mind was fixed on the brief view of the orange one, the gray that now was more.
"You're all, my…?" Chrome looked around in disbelief. Ryohei laughed and wrapped her in a giant hug
"And there's more where this came from!"