To be honest, it's been bugging me for a while. Iemitsu is the leader of CEDEF but his family doesn't get targeted, at all. So, either he is really good at hiding paper trails, had someone stationed to keep and eye on his family or there was some form of outside interference. Seeing as there never seems to be any sign of black suits that seem to be synonymous with mafioso or hidden bodyguards in Tsuna's childhood and the apparent ditzyness he has towards his family, I'm inclined to believe it had something to do with the last one. But then the story doesn't make sense because if there was outside interference then they would turn up at some point in time within the story. And his wife, Nana. Is it possible for someone to be that clueless? Then again, I'm picky like that because since when was manga always realistic? Which is what fanfiction is for, right?
Disclaimer: As much as I would like to claim KHR is mine, it's not.
"Are you sure Na-chi?"
The boy took a deep breath and nodded, "I don't want to hurt anymore." He murmured in reply.
The hand gently petting his soft brown hair paused as the owner studied the young boy.
"I don't know what will happen if I do seal your memories away though, there are so many things that could go wrong."
Thin arms wound themselves tighter around the woman's neck as the boy buried his face in her shoulder for comfort.
"Don't care," was the quiet reply, "just wanna forget."
A pause, then a sigh.
"Very well little one." Gentle hands cradled the child as she walked away from the bloody room, careful to not disturb him more as she stepped around the bodies, "I will protect you from the monsters, Sawada Tsunayoshi."
(This is a line break. No, really)
The day started pretty normally for one Sawada Tsunayoshi. He woke up late to his mother's call of 'Breakfast is ready!', rushed about to get ready for the day, tripped down the stairs before snagging a piece of toast and tumbling out the door to hopefully get to school on time.
It continued to be a fairly normal day too. He didn't quiet manage to get to school on time, which led him to be 'bitten to death' by the local disciplinary committee leader, Hibari Kyouya, which made him even later for class, which led to the usual ridicule and scorn, which lead to the usual calls of 'Dame-Tsuna' and bullying.
Then he got home and his whole world was turned upside down.
"I'm the world's strongest hitman, Reborn." Said the baby masquerading as a tutor, "and I'm here to make you into the successor of the strongest mafia family."
Or something like that.
Tsuna had panicked, because him? Dama-Tsuna? The kid who still fell over his feet by tripping on air while walking over a perfectly flat ground? Who struggled to get a test score above 20? Who was at the bottom of the bottom of the food chain? Surely there was no way. Not to mention the absurd claim of a baby who claimed to be the strongest hitman, because, come on, it was a baby! No way a two year old could be capable of being a hitman of any kind.
Reborn then proceeded to prove him wrong, forcing him through what seemed to be never ending trials and challenges, that - thank god - he managed to survive. Several of which he was sure he was gonna die from, like challenging Mukuro and Xanxus.
But he had survived. And his hard won friends did as well. And to him, that's all that really mattered.
To Reborn though, while he was glad Tsuna had survived and gotten stronger as a result, there were a couple of descrepencies that didn't match the image of 'Dame-Tsuna'.
Firstly, he seemed oddly desensitised to brutality. Sure he 'Hie-ed' his head off when he came across beaten and bloody scenes, but there was an element of, falseness he felt. As if the boy was more surprised at the presence rather than the cruelty. He would've written it off as the infamous Vongola hyperintuition, but his instincts had told him otherwise.
Then there was his fighting ability. He had started with none, as expected, but he had picked up the fighting style quickly, a little too quickly for a completely untrained novice. It was as if his body remembered being trained before.
Not to mention, the boys intelligence. According to the records, up to age 8, the boy had been doing fairly well in school. Then one day, his scores had immediately plummeted to the bottom of the class, as did his ability to do anything well said the teachers comments. Reborn had initially thought that the boy had simply started repressing his intelligence for some unknown reason, but it became apparent that there was something else at play, because that boy clearly was that thick as he struggled to learn even the most basic concepts. There was no medical reason, no hospital visit, no accident of any sort to prelude the drop. It just happened.
In addition, there were the disappearing assassins. He regularly received reports where assassins had been sent to target Vongola Decimo. Several, he had dispatched himself, but many were removed before he had time to eliminate them. Several, he had mused, probably fell prey to the bloodthirsty Discipline Committee, as there were reports of hitmen ending up in hospital after being beaten up by a blunt object. Then there were the ones that vanished, the only remains and signs they were there and had been killed were easily washed away blood stains.
Finally, there were the times, not often, but often enough, where Tsuna seemed to completely disappear when he had gone off somewhere to arrange a challenge, delivery of materials, status report of his charge or something of the sort. The kid was supposed to be completely untrained in the art of stealth, but the damn boy still managed to send away the silver hair puppy and the baseball ace, then vanish for an hour or so at a time when he was occupied with something else, only to be found later as he came home from somewhere.
In short, it was frustrating and concerning.
There were very few people of the caliber who could match Reborn in terms of skill. Most of them having very specialized skill-sets or were part of the Arcobaleno who wouldn't have any reason to hang around Namimori for a prolonged period of time, nor to target Vongola as most had an unspoken agreement with Vongola of non-interference with family business. The idea of one being in constant contact with the Vongola heir was...unsettling.
So he started shadowing the boy more closely after the 6th time, going to extreme measures to go undetected in hopes of finding out why the boy kept disappearing.
It took a while, but eventually it happened again.
He watched as the boy sent away his followers (Gokudera-kun I really need to pick up the groceries for mum, but I also need to go drop off a letter at the post office as well could you go buy them for me? Could you help him Yamamoto-kun?) which was surprisingly manipulative and subtle of the boy. ("Hai Juudaime! I would be honoured to do so! Come on baseball freak, you heard Juudaime, let's go!" "Maa, maa Hayato-kun, the groceries aren't going anywhere soon!" "Don't call me by my first name you idiot, and hurry up!)
For a moment, both tutor and student stood watching the self proclaimed right hand man drag the other away in amusement, before the student turned away and began walking in the opposite direction. Sure enough, the boy went to the post office to drop off a letter, but instead of returning home, the boy wandered down several roads and an alley to an ordinary apartment block, went inside, the gatekeeper letting him pass with a friendly wave, showing he was a regular visitor.
Riding the lift up to the sixth floor, (and wasn't it amusing to remain unnoticed by Tsuna for the entire lift ride, although he was standing right there. He made a note to up the boy's training on awareness of his surroundings.) and to apartment 604, Tsuna knocked on the door before stepping back a little.
When the door opened, Reborn felt his eyebrows involuntarily ride up. His charge had been meeting with Nephilim Tsukikage, one of the very, very few mercenary's who could claim to be close to or on a similar level as him.
It was with disbelief as he watched the woman greet Tsuna (Ara, Na-chi? Come on in, I managed to get some really good cake today.) and usher him inside. As she was closing the door, Nephilim looked over to Reborn's hiding spot, an amused smile curling around her lips and golden eyes glowing knowingly.
"You too are welcome Signore Reborn."
Ignoring Tsuna's startled 'Hiieeeeee!', the baby hitman dropped all pretence of hiding and calmly entered the apartment.
It was a very nice apartment, open and modern. The kitchenette was connected to the living room and Reborn could see the merged bedroom and study as well as the bathroom through the open doors. Furniture was arranged to provide cover and good visual in case of an attack. Or in this case, a peace offering in the form of afternoon tea.
"Boungiorno Signora Nephilim, I wasn't expecting to see another of us in town." Stated Reborn as he kissed the air above her knuckles in greeting (he was a gentleman after all) and then seated himself on one of the couches. It was the colour of fresh earth, soft enough to be comfortable, but most likely resilient enough for sudden fights.
"Well, I've been here for a while." Was the nonchalant reply as the woman opened a fresh packet of coffee beans. He could see an opened packed tucked away next to the coffee machine, so it was a clear peace offering. "You drink of preference was espresso yes?"
"Yes, black, no cream."
Tsuna had been shocked speechless, whipping his head back and forth to stare at his long time friend and his tutor, trying to understand what was going on. The hitman's fingers itched to aim a bullet at the boy to startle him out of his unbosslike behaviour.
"Sit down Na-chi, don't look so panicked, I'll have the cake ready in a moment." she chided gently as deft hands prepared his coffee.
Numbly, the Vongola heir sat down next to his tutor on the couch, eyes still wide in bewilderment as the woman brought over beverages and cake, Black Forest from the looks of it.
He studied the woman as she set things out. Long black hair tied up in a simple tail, tanned skin covering well honed muscles as she moved with elegant, predatory grace. Long lashes framed golden eyes, a hint of asiatic descent making her seem exotically beautiful, all enhanced by the black sleeveless shirt and leather pants she wore. He guessed she was in her twenties, well taught in the art of blades from the calluses on her hands.
Eventually, everything was set out and they descended into small talk, Nephilim brightly enquiring about Tsuna's latest adventures and offering advice where it was due. Reborn felt unsettled as his student, after seemingly to forget his presence (then again, he was trying to not interfere to try and understand the dynamics of their relationship), spoke of everything with out hesitance between bites of cake. Cake was devoured, and indeed it was excellent cake, and soon Tsuna was nervously preparing to leave, clearly anticipating some form of punishment from his spartan tutor.
"Go home without me," was the order, instead of the expected borderline inhumane torment, "I would like to talk to Signora Nephilim about something."
The boy shifted uncomfortably for a moment longer, before being sent a reassuring smile from the hitwoman, "Don't worry, we just need to talk Na-chi, I'll still be in one piece after this."
Tsuna nodded hesitantly, and with another backwards glance, left the apartment.
Silence reigned for a moment longer as she replaced the spent drinks.
"What do you want with Sawada Tsunayoshi?" Reborn finally asked, eyeing the admittedly enigmatic woman across from him. She was known to accept jobs seemingly at random, with a near 100% success rate. One day, she would accept a high paying assassination, then turn down another high pay job for a voluntary retrieval job the next. Strange for an assassin, who normally only accepted the highest paying jobs.
She studied the pseudo-baby over the rim of her cup, "To protect him." she finally stated.
The words seemed to echo on the silent apartment.
"To protect him?" Parroted the baby hitman, "so you can get in the good graces of Vongola?"
The cup clinked as she placed it back on the table with a sigh.
"Let me tell you a story Signore Reborn." she began, folding her hands in her lap, eyes haunted, "there once was a young boy. His father was a mafia man who had married a non-mafia wife, and to protect his family, he left for long stretches of time keeping minimal contact with them so that no-one would target them. It worked for a while, but during that time, the boy grew to be sad and upset that seemingly everyone but him had a father. The other children saw it too, and would mock the boy how his father hated him and didn't want such a stupid boy. One day, a passing hitwoman came by, and saw the boy being bullied. Being disgusted at the shameful behaviour, she chased the bullies off and comforted the child. She was in the area to lie low after her last high profile job, as such spent several days getting to know the child when she went out and about.
"Overtime, she grew to adore the boy as a little brother and at the same time, noticed a mafioso family in the area as well as the inherent strength he had. Wary the boy would be targeted because of her and the power that slumbered within him would burn him out one day, she offered to teach him a couple of tricks for self defence, under the guise of helping him ward off future bullies. The boy took to the lessons like a duck to water and soon grew in strength. Sure enough, one day, the mafioso made a move. But they weren't targeting her, rather the boy. It was then she found the boy was the child of a high ranking mafia leader, luckily, the boy was intelligent enough to avoid capture and harm, instead luck helped arrange it so the men were taken care of by the rising group local law enforcers."
Here her lips quirked up in amusement as did Reborn's, it was probably the fledgling disciplinary committee. It seemed Tsuna's cloud guardian had started his career early. But a chill of worry remained. It seemed Iemitsu didn't hide the presence of his family enough to have them targeted by enemy families.
"The boy explained to the hitwoman this was normal," she continued, "that many times there were men in suits that tried to catch him, but he always managed to get away. Though he knew that one day his luck would run out, which was why he was eager to learn what she taught him. So the hitwoman decided to remain in the city to keep an eye on the boy. Then one day the worst possible thing happened. The boy was kidnapped and couldn't escape, when the hitwoman discovered this, she went on rampage, hunting down the enemy family mercilessly until she found the boy. But by then it was too late. He had seen the monsters the underworld had to offer and darkness that lay there. So he asked the hitwoman to make him forget. And she did."
He swiftly put together the pieces together, the puzzle unravelling before him. "You are the one killing the stray mafioso. And you sealed his knowledge of the underworld and fighting abilities."
A wry twist of the lips. "Correct."
"Will you continue to hide?" Why she hid was obvious, and as much as he wanted to, this was not the time to investigate her abilities.
"No, I feel my presence and Na-chi's memories need to be returned soon."
The baby narrowed his eyes, "you know something?"
Nephilim gazed silently at Reborn through hooded eyes, suddenly seeming more ancient than her youthful appearance.
"Change is on the horizon. Sawada Tsunayoshi has the power to change the underworld as we know it, but he needs to face his past to change himself before he can change anyone else. The him now is a cover, an echo of what he was and what he can become."
The words were heavy, resonating within him. It was the truth after all, he had glimpsed the man the boy could become.
He gripped the edge of his hat bringing it down to shadow his eyes. "When will you release his memories?"
"Hmm, there's no time like the present yes?" she replied brightly, bouncing back to the cheerful persona before the almost interrogation started.
Reborn couldn't help but smirk at the mischievous gleam in her eyes.
"Indeed, I'm sure maman wouldn't mind feeding an extra person."
Ok...It started out the way I wanted it, but the rest really didn't turn out the way I expected...my mind scares me sometimes. And that ending. I hope no one minds the giant segment about my OC too much.
I'm very tempted to leave this as a one shot, but it feels like it could be continued. Decisions, decisions.
Anyways, you know the drill, R&R. It boosts my ego.
Just saying.