Title: Songbird
Summary: Once upon a time, there was a boy named Sawada Tsunayoshi. To his despair, all he was good at was singing, attracting... unique people, and being a mafia boss. This is part of his story. Somewhat AU, and slash. 1827
Warnings: Slash, OoCness, and language.
A/N: Yeah. I shouldn't be writing stories. But this came to my mind, and slapped me around till I wrote it. Enjoy. I apologize for the shortness of this chapter, but I'm not an epic writer, and I have no patience to write anything near as long as the Odyssey.
Guide: "Speaking"
"Singing"
Dame* Tsuna, despite his nickname, was good at something. However, it wasn't exactly something he was proud of, since most people consider it not very manly, and he isn't really masculine in the first place.
"Yume wo miteimashita, haruka inishie no hi, yami ni matataki dasu, hoshi no soba de..."
Sawada Tsunayoshi was wonderful at singing. He had always hidden it however, because his peers would not hesitate to use it against him, as they had with everything else. It also didn't help that his mother had signed him up for singing lessons when he was three, and he learned to enjoy singing, and most forms of music. At least no one he knew went to the music center that he was taught at… well, no one as far as he knew, but he'd rather not think about it.
Currently, he was singing Kokoro no Hoshi**, a song that was more often than not, sung by girls. It was extremely mortifying, since his voice was high enough to sing the song as intended… He almost couldn't wait for puberty to come. The only problem with that was that once his voice broke and lowered, he would essentially have to relearn singing.
"Your focus is slipping again Tsunayoshi. Remember, you breathe from-"
"From the nose, through the windpipe, and from your belly," Tsuna interrupted his instructor, "and not from your mouth." He sighed and sat down. "Sorry to interrupt your tirade and all, I've just been yelled at all day. My teacher at school*** is so snobby that he just insults students rather then teaching them. The school won't hear anything bad about him either, since he apparently graduated from Tokyo U. I wish the Disciplinary Committee would punish him…"
His instructor raised an eyebrow, and then smirked. "Sometimes I wonder if you really are a boy."
"What? Just because I have a higher pitched voice than most boys my age does not mean I've suddenly lost my manhood! I have parts down there that say quite clearly I'm a boy!"
His instructor smirked at that. Tsuna was so fun to make fun of, especially when it came to his gender… "I'm quite sure you do Tsunayoshi. I was just trying to say that most boys, pansies or not-"
"Hey!" Tsuna yelled, getting the subtle gibe.
"-would want to stop their teacher on their own."
Tsuna stuck his tongue out childishly. "I don't really care, and I wouldn't mind who or what happens, just as long as the man stops harassing me. I'm not dumb enough to think the school values me over a Tokyo U graduate."
"Why would they? Now, sing the song from the beginning, and if I find it satisfactory, you will be dismissed for today."
-x-X-x-
The next day, Tsuna walked to school, expecting a completely average day. Instead, when he entered the classroom, he found a pale class staring at the front of the room, deathly quiet, and a Disciplinary Committee member sitting at Nezu-sensei's desk.
When the bell rang, the Disciplinary Committee member stood up, and glared at them. "I am Kusakabe Tetsuya. As you can very well see, your old teacher is not here. He is currently being charged for fraud and for harassment. However, due to the suddenness of this, the school had no time to hire a substitute teacher, so, for today, I shall be your teacher."
While attendance was being taken, Tsuna couldn't help but think that Kusakabe-sempai looked familiar… and not just because he was a Discplinary Committee member. Maybe he had seen Kusakabe-sempai at the convenience store?
"Sawada Tsunayoshi."
"H-Here!"
Tsuna trembled as Kusakabe paused for a moment. and stared at Tsuna. Kusakabe then shook his head. "Sugiyama Ichiro."
The weak boy slumped in his seat in pure relief, forgetting his previous thoughts.
-x-X-x-
"Anything interesting happen at school today?" A somewhat bemused music instructor asked as practically Tsuna skipped into the room.
"My teacher was fired on account of fraud and forgery, and I didn't even have to learn today!"
"Learning is good for you, despite your dislike for it. Now, we're going to start with your vocal exercises."
Tsuna grinned. "Alright sensei.."
"Good. That reminds me Tsunayoshi… Read this after our lesson, and you can talk to me about it tomorrow."
The preteen blinked, and grabbed the piece of paper from his tutor. "All right then…" Tsuna put it under his bottle of water, forgetting it for the rest of the lesson.
-x-X-x-
Tsuna glared at a piece of paper, attempting to make it burn and shrivel up with just his glare, and oh gods, how embarrassing…
"I hate you in every way, shape, and form."
"Now, why would you say something so hurtful Tsunayoshi?"
"You signed me up for a singing competition. I swear, I've told you time and again! I have some pride in my maleness!"
"Too bad. Now, because of your pansy condition-"
"I repeat my earlier statement."
"You have pride in your gender? I don't quite see what that has to do with what I said. Anyway, because you are an utter wimp, we're going to make you cross-dress."
"HIIIEEE? What does that have to do with-"
"I thought you'd be grateful for my attempt at keeping your peers from school from 'recognizing you and making life hell for you' or what not. Ingrate. Now, before you try to pull the whole, you don't have parental consent shit, yes, I have it."
Tsuna just stared at his music tutor. "…My mother agreed?"
"She said this would be interesting, and a good experience."
"My own mother betrayed me… I officially hate my life. Can I trade it in?"
"Of course not. Now, you will be singing this piece during the prelims, while this one will be for the semi-finals. Now, if you don't wimp out before the finals, you will be singing 'Kokoro no Hoshi'. You won't wimp out, will you?"
Tsuna could only whimper as his sensei gave him an intense glare.
"Good."
-x-X-x-
Tsuna shifted uncomfortably in his seat. His tutor had promised to train him 'epicly hard' for his competition that he didn't want to enter. Fun. And there was the whole crossdressing thing. It wasn't going to be pretty. Well, he wasn't going to be pretty.
"Here is your outfit for the first day. You will not rip nor tear it, for any damages occurring to it will happen tenfold upon you, got it?"
The poor boy could only stare at the pink, flowery camisole. "It's so… pink. And flowery." His eyes were starting to tear up. Oh gods, what had he DONE in his past lives?
"Oh, wrong one. Sorry about that." The pink… thing was forced back into the bag, and this time an orange t-shirt came out. "That was something your mother bought. Don't worry, I'd only force you to wear it if you didn't win the competition."
Tsuna eyed the t-shirt, before he began to pale. "Sensei, while I may not exactly be the smartest person around, or have the most masculine body, but I don't think that this will flatter my nonexistent curves."
"Yes it will. Believe me, it will."
"But-"
"Don't you trust me?"
"Not really, and-"
"Shut up and change into it. You'll see."
Tsuna pouted, grabbed it, and yanked it on. He attempted to make it sit right, noticing some awkward lumps at the front, and then realized…
"The inside is pre-padded! And the pads feel squishy and…" Tsuna's face turned bright red, and he was beginning to feel quite faint.
"All we need to do is make your hair stop defying gravity, and you'll make a wonderful girl! Mind you, your hips and your Adam's apple are both off place, your shoulders slightly too broad, no real chest, and you're still a bit short, but we can call you a late bloomer or something. And it's not like all girls are perfectly proportionate, I suppose."
Tsuna gave a half twitch at the insulting words. "You're so kind."
"It's true. Even though you aren't quite masculine looking, you don't look too much like a girl. I'm not saying you aren't pretty, because for a boy you are. What I'm trying to say is you take after your mother, but you manage it without looking too feminine, so it's kind of androgynous. When you're older, I'm sure you'll look… masculine. Maybe." Tsuna's tutor shifted awkwardly, and mumbled, "Doubtfully."
"Did you say something?"
"Hm? Did I?"
Tsuna frowned. "I must have imagined it. Anyway, do you have anything else to tell me?"
"Nope. Actually, yes. If you strain your voice on accident or on purpose, you will become a castrato****, got it?"
"HIIIEEEE? That's illegal! And horrible! And painful sounding!"
"And you think I care, why?"
Tsuna had a mild panic attack.
The music instructor could only sigh at that. "Wimp."
-x-X-x-
*Dame is a Japanese word with a negative general meaning of 'no', 'bad', 'not possible', 'you can't do that', etc. For Tsuna, it's more of a, 'useless', 'no-good' sort of manner.
**Kokoro no Hoshi is actually Uni's song, from the Katekyo Hitman Reborn soundtracks. Personally, I'm not a big fan of it, but with Tsuna's songs they usually refer to events within the manga, so… that wouldn't work out too well in this story.
***This is indeed, Nezu-sensei. I am going to go with the Japanese schooling system for this. Please note that Tsunayoshi is twelve right now, and is in his first year of junior high, which is seventh grade. In canon, he's currently in his third year of junior high, and starts in his second. I realize Nezu-sensei is his eighth grade teacher, but teachers can teach different years… Yeah, I realized this mistake after I wrote this part, and it's kind of important.
****Castrato is an Italian word, and is used to refer to boys who were castrated before puberty to preserve their high voices before it broke and then deepened. You can look this up on Wikipedia for more information.
Word Count: 1,477
Date: July 3, 2010