I don't own.
Sawada Tsunayoshi was once an excellent swimmer. Ever since he learned how to swim in the first grade, the young brunette caught on quickly and swam around in the water like it was second nature to him. He may not be good in any group sports, but he could most certainly swim better than anyone in his class to the point where his classmates jokingly stated he was like a fish. At the age of six, he gained the name of Tsuna.
At the age of nine-almost-ten, Tsuna continued to swim in the community pool whenever the chance presented itself. His best friend, Yamamoto Takeshi, keeping him company whenever he went out as both of their parents would never let either children venture out alone outside of their respected houses. Not like that was likely to happen to begin with, as the boys been inseparable since they were both toddlers. And Takeshi really didn't mind as he had Tsuna help him improve his swimming skills, while in exchange he himself taught the other boy how to hit a baseball with the bat and not with his body. It was equivalent enough.
But one day on their way back to Tsuna's house from the pool, both boys chatting excitedly about about the new superhero movie that was coming out, they both stopped when a cry for plea came from the riverbank down below. There, a girl their age was screaming for her brother who was flailing about in the water a good distant away from solid ground. The small brunette didn't even think twice before kicking off his flipflops and tossing his bag to a surprised Takeshi as he ran down the small hill and diving into the water, smoothly swimming up to the flailing boy. He did wonder how the older looking boy got this far when it was rather clear that the other didn't know how to swim that well, but after catching sight of the light pink ribbon in the boy's hand he supposed he understood.
"Calm down" Tsuna said, trying to calm the other down.
He was answered with more water splashing into his face. And this was already ridiculous.
"Please calm down already! I'm trying to help!" Shouting apparently worked wonders, as he finally caught the attention of the other. "Just grab onto my shoulders, and I'll help you get back over to your sister."
The other boy was clutching his shoulders too tight, and breathing too hard, and way too close for Tsuna to swim properly but was managing the travel regardless. He hadn't won those swimming contests for nothing, after all. Granted, it was for small kids like him, but still. They made it back to the riverbank without much trouble, but as soon as they reached it the boy quickly -desperately- scrambled to get to his sister and as a result Tsuna was accidentally pushed back into the water. He heard the girl's scream, the boy's scream and...Takeshi. Takeshi was screaming his name in absolute horror. His best friend's voice became muffled as suddenly he was surrounded by water. There was nothing but blue all around him in various shades, clear air bubbles rushed out of his mouth and he couldn't move because he's so surprised and his body was frozen in shock. Time seemed to slow down for a second as he quickly closed his mouth to preserve some air that he still had but he had already swallowed a bit of water, his lungs were burning and he couldn't breath which caused him to panic even more.
He did a sudden desperate attempt to swim back up to the surface, but his body felt so heavy and the edge of his visions were darkening. Tsuna watched with slowly closing eyes as small amount of bubbles escaped even more, but he couldn't seem to care because he was so tired...
The next thing he knew he was emptying his lungs of water, followed by his best friend clinging to him with the other two kids doing the same as all three children bawled their eyes out and all the while Tsuna was just staring blankly at the retreating figure of the man that saved him, and as his mind started to reboot itself he did something any normal kid scared out of their mind would do. He joined the others and bawled his eyes out.
At the age of nine-almost-ten, Tsuna developed aquaphobia. Following the development of the fear, he had subconsciously locked away his ability to swim.
By the age of thirteen his phobia died down considerably. As long as the water stopped just below the sternum (though preferably lower than that), he was decently fine with just standing or walking about in the water. He could sit and enjoy taking a bath now (showers, thankfully, were never an issue), he can look and/or enter a swimming pool or the ocean without shaking too badly (it was now a very unnoticeable shaking or twitching where one has to be very observant to see). The river though...Well, he can get close to it without wanting to curl into a fetal position and sob uncontrollably. Takeshi's impromptu exposure therapy session worked wonderfully in his opinion, and honestly, it was still an on going thing.
Tsuna thought it was appropriate to be overly optimistic about his eventual overcoming of his phobia.
A/N: Hi. I mostly wrote this to get myself motivated to write more, though truthfully I could've done this at a later time and not at 5 in the morning. I haven't slept yet. I got the insperational sparkles for this piece, yo. I was also listening to "Never let me go" by Florence and the Machine. So. Yeah. that happened. I hope I did a decent job
Also, I've been toying with this idea for a while. I wanted to explain why Tsuna lacks the ability to swim in the series and was like "what if he was actually an amazing swimmer beforehand" and it kind of stemmed from that. He's the one who taught Yamamoto to be a better swimmer. The kids at the river are...actually, it's a pretty easy guess. So please, tell me yourself. Also guess who saved him even though I never gave any hints whatsoever. This is stemming from my AU-ish thing that I have (I dunno how to start it OMFG). If interested-ish, please tell me. I'll try more one-shots and crud.
Thank you for reading my horrible writing! Please review! Seriously, I enjoy reading the reviews so it would be much appreciated!
-Invalid Op.