Wishing Star
Summary: Star light, star bright. First star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might. Have this wish, I wish tonight. In an alternate universe, one genius, but melancholic, Sawada Taiyohoshi 'Reborn' makes a wish on a star. The next day, a lion cub totting, fireball-throwing cursed baby hitman, Tsunayoshi, appears in his home with the incredulous claim of Reborn being next in line for the Vongola throne... An AU in which almost every single character of KHR switch places. Not necessarily canon compliant.
Author: The Storyteller of Dreams
Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn!
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Chapter 1: To Wish Upon a Star
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Star light, star bright
First star I see tonight
I wish I may, I wish I might
Have this wish I wish tonight
.
.
.
Inside a classroom of Namimori Middle School, a teacher droned on and on to the bored and sleepy students. Equations and numbers were scribbled down on the chalkboard. The more studious students wrote the equations down on their notebooks and were busy trying to solve it, while the regular students tried but with considerably less success. However, one student was exempted from the struggles against the evil math problems. That student was glared by the teacher, but he ignored in in favor of looking outside the window.
That student has dark hair that was impossibly spiked upwards. His eyes were just as dark, glinting with intelligence and boredom. He looked outside, bored. White clouds lazily drifted by in the vast expanse we call sky. The sun shone, lighting the heavens it hung upon like the smile of his childhood friend would brighten the room (and here, the boy almost blushed. He quickly changed his train of thought). Birds flew by, heedless of gravity and chirped at the day, a song for the sky.
How nice…
Sawada Taiyohoshi, or most commonly known as Reborn, sighed as he watched a breeze ruffled the leaves of a tree. He was envious. Perhaps of the birds for having wings that takes them to freedom and away from boring, trivial math problems. Or perhaps he was envious of the sky, the great expanse that ties the heavens together. The sky wasn't lonely when the sun smiled, the storm protected, the cloud swirled, the rain poured, lightning flashed and mist appeared for it. However, as much as Reborn was a genius, he wasn't the sky that harmonized the weather.
I must be really bored to have such poetic thoughts.
"Sawada!" The teacher shouted, disrupting his reverie. "Since you were not doing anything I assume that you can do it. Do the math problems on the board!"
With a roll of his eyes, because the teacher must have known who he was, Reborn stood and walked to the front from his seat behind Luce. His childhood friend glanced at him worriedly as he passed. The dark blue-haired girl knew that Reborn could, and probably would, cause trouble for the teacher and himself. Everyone else in the classroom knew it too; in fact the whole school knew it. He was notorious for that after all, the cold, untouchable genius student that didn't deem most of the worthy of lowering himself to their level.
Very few knew that Reborn simply doesn't know how to deal with people.
Reborn didn't bother to glance at the teacher as he took up a chalk and began to write. The teacher seethed at being ignored so easily. That level of disrespect was intolerable, genius or not.
There was apprehension in the air. Everyone was anticipating one trouble of one kind or the other. The only ones who didn't seem to notice the tension was Reborn, Luce and the teacher. The teacher was too busy silently fuming while Reborn calmly wrote the solutions and Luce was too worried for her friend to notice.
Only when he finished answering the questions did Reborn looked at the teacher.
"Any idiot can do this." He said, blunt and ignorant of the emotions his words stirred. "I can't believe these are middle school questions."
"Not everyone can be a genius." The teacher said through gritted teeth, barely pleasant. "Get back to your seat, Sawada."
Luce hoped he would, for once, not get himself into trouble, but he didn't. Luce held back a groan as Reborn continued to speak.
"And babies can solve these problems faster than you." He pointed to an equation. "Look, it'll take time if you do it that way. If you do it like this." He erased the equation and made another one. "You'll solve it faster and easier."
"Not to mention," Reborn continued, looking at the teacher. His next words weren't said in malice, but with a hint of curiousity. "That you answered the question wrongly anyway. Are you really a math teacher?"
Silence fell upon the classroom. Luce sighed and slapped a hand to her forehead. Not again…
"Sawada," the teacher's voice held fury, his face red from anger. "Get out of class. You're disrupting the class."
Reborn frowned. "But-"
"OUT!"
Murmurings sprang up in the wake of their teacher's exclamation. The indistinct noise grew as Reborn stayed silent and walked towards the door, head hung low. Luce looked at him with sad eyes, knuckles white from gripping the table too hard. It's not fair...
"Akiharu-sensei!" The girl shot up from her seat. Instantly, the class turned quiet. Reborn stopped and looked at her, eyes glinting with confusion and…Luce couldn't see more because the teacher drew her attention.
"Yes, Sasagawa?" Akiharu-sensei asked, voice a bit strained from his earlier exclamation but held none of his previous fury on Reborn. Sasagawa Luce was a kind, sweet girl who was practically the school's idol. If she had a fault it would be for being friends with that troublemaking Sawada.
"Please, Reborn was just fixing your equation." She said, voice imploring. "He didn't mean to insult you. He shouldn't have to go out because of that."
He sighed. "This is the third time he 'didn't mean to insult me', Sasagawa. Such repeated offends must be punished."
"But-"
"Luce." Reborn cut her off. "Don't."
Her mouth shut, but her blue eyes spoke all the words she would otherwise said. Reborn turned his black eyes away from her gaze. It was times like this that he couldn't bear to look at her. He walked out.
The murmurings of the other students rose up as the door gently slid shut. Luce sank back to her seat, eyes glued on the door. The lesson resumed as normal, but Akiharu-sensei didn't erased Reborn's equation. Math problems were scribbled down on the board, but Luce's mind wasn't on the lesson anymore.
She already missed the presence behind her.
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"Why do you always do that?"
"Do what?" Reborn asked back. It was a comfortable day, so he was laying on the rooftop, enjoying the breeze as it ruffled his curly sideburns.
He could hear an annoyed sigh from beside him, a few taps on a bento box. Reborn knew that Luce was exasperated and confused by his attitude. He closed his eyes, but he could still feel the weight of her gaze.
"You know, antagonize the teachers." Luce bit her lip and said,"….and practically everyone else."
"I don't antagonize everyone." Reborn grumbled lightly, but it was a weak protest, he knew.
"Colonello, Fon and I don't count. We're your childhood friends." She said, shooting him an amused look. That faded quickly however, replaced by a sad one. "We're worried. You've been distant lately, Reborn, and we don't know why."
"The bastard's actually worried about me? The world must be ending." Reborn joked lightly, but it sounded faint and hollow to his ears.
"You and Colonello can have your weird rivalry, but that doesn't mean he doesn't care." Luce admonished him, frowning slightly. "He does care, we all do. Tell us what's wrong, Reborn. We're your friends."
"I know." He sighed. "But you wouldn't understand."
"Try me."
He rolled his head to look at her. Contemplating for a while, he finally said. "I don't know."
The look of confusion on her face couldn't be more obvious.
"I mean," he continued, head turned to face the sky now. "I don't know why I bother."
"Bother what?" Luce asked, voice soft.
He sighed. "I don't understand why I bother anymore. It's the same thing everyday. Wake up, go to school and all that. A monotone rhythm, always the same thing every time. I don't know why I bother. Do you understand, Luce? There's nothing for me to do."
"But what about us? What about your friends?" She said softly, her tone fragile. "Are we 'the same thing' too?"
"No." Reborn denied quickly, looking at her. "No. You are-you guys aren't. Opposite actually."
"Then why?" The girl asked again. "We're your friends. If you don't know what to do, you can come to us."
"But I rarely see you guys now." He replied quietly. "Luce, you're either busy with the Student Council, archery club or your other friends. I can only see you in class and times like today -like now- is rare. Fon's busy with the Discipline Committee and taking care of his temple. Colonello's also busy with his basketball club, working with his mother in that pizza restaurant and running away from fangirls. All of you are too busy."
"We're never too busy for a friend." Luce said, voice filled with conviction.
"Of course." He replied, not sarcastically but it was clear he didn't believe her.
They passed the rest of their lunch in silence. The girl's mind whirling in confusion and worry while the boy's was on thoughts of loneliness and emptiness.
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School passed quickly for Reborn. Despite what Luce said, he didn't feel better because he knew –as Luce's friends dragged her away from him- that his friends were too busy for him. So with a sigh, Reborn packed his bag and walked home alone.
It wasn't always like this. Back when they were children they used to play together. Him, Luce, Fon and Colonello. He became friends with Luce first, way back since they were in kindergarten, by defending her from some kids who were a couple years older than either of them. Fon came later in elementary, where they were in the same class together. Colonello came a year later, having moved from America due to his father's death. But the first time Reborn truly interacted with the blond boy was when he had to tutor him. Since then they were all friends, inseparable and always together, like a family.
Inseparable, yeah right…
Those were ideals for children, kids who didn't feel so empty and purposeless. Ever since middle school started, Reborn had been stuck in a state of melancholy. It didn't help that all of his friends were suddenly too busy for him, either because of club activities or otherwise. Seeing them happily doing their own thing, Reborn felt lonely and unwanted.
"I'm home!" Reborn cried out as he opened the door to his home.
Silence greeted him. The boy walked into the kitchen and looked for a note. He found on stuck on the fridge's door. Apparently, his mother has some kind of charity meeting today. The cheery note also said that there was food in the fridge. He took the cold food and placed it in the microwave. Reborn leaned on the counter and waited.
He didn't know when he changed, though he guessed it must be sometime between sixth grade and the start of middle school. It just happened. One day the world was bright and wide and full of wonder and the next day it was dull and dreary and monotone. Thinking back, Reborn thought that was the same day he started distancing himself from his friends. At that time however, the change wasn't as obvious as now.
The microwave beeped and the young genius took the food out. He ate it alone and quietly. Before his melancholic state, he remembered that he, Luce, Fon and Colonello used to gather at his place after school and ate together. His lips twitched upwards as he remembered how he and Colonello used to fight over food while Fon and Luce were busy making pastries and dumplings. It twitched downwards however, when he noticed the silence in the air, a huge contrast to the sounds of laughter and amusement of his childhood. He quickly finished his food and washed the dishes.
Grabbing his bag, Reborn quickly climbed the stairs to his room, away from the memories of cookies and food theft.
He wouldn't admit it, but he sorely missed them.
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There was homework to be done, but Reborn finished it quickly and easily. That was one of the perks of being a genius, trivial things like this was easy for him. Now, Reborn crossed his arms on his desk and placed his head on top of them, eyes staring at the orange sunset sky.
As the orange glow of the sun descended with the falling darkness on it, a star appeared, bright and clear. The first star on the night sky, Reborn realized. He remembered a poem that Luce loved and would recite whenever the star appeared and she had a wish. Unbidden, Reborn spoke the words.
Star light, star bright
First star I see tonight
I wish I may, I wish I might
Have this wish I wish tonight
It was a silly thing, childish. Stars didn't grant wishes, a poem wouldn't make it come true. Yet Reborn, though he would deny it later, said.
"I wish…"
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And here we go! Even though this is the first chapter, it's more of a prologue, really. How was it? Good? Bad? I can guarantee you'll see Tsuna in the next chapter, but for that to happen I need at least 5 reviews. So please review! I accept any kind of review (flames, critics, short, long, etc), so don't be shy and tell me what you think!
The next chapter will be much longer than this one, I can promise you that. You'll also see Fon and Colonello. It'll also star one Reborn in his underwear running around due to the Dying Will bullet! ;) If you guys want to see that, please give me some feedbacks on this chapter!
Until next time!
The Storyteller of Dreams