Reminiscing: Katekyo Hitman Reborn!
Sawada Tsunayoshi settled back into his leather chair, feeling what felt like a decade of joint pain achieve relief. That pain had cropped up around the time he was 13, and too scared to ask the girl of his dreams on a date, and remained with him through his teen years, and into his adult years. Yes, Reborn was about to go off, to train another person. This time, as a hitman. He stretched, feeling as though a burden had lifted. At twenty-four, he was quite a bit more successful than most people his age. On one hand, he was in his senior year at Tokyo University, in a business course. His marks were among the top in his class, despite a level of intellect even he thought of as limited. He had a girlfriend, who at 13, he could never had seen himself with. He had friends in high places, legitimately. Hell, his best friend was the biggest thing in the MLB at the moment, over in the states. Another friend of his was an amateur boxer, about to turn pro, to the great excitement of sports analysts worldwide. Another acquaintance, who he couldn't quite bring himself to call a friend, was well on his way to becoming chief of all the police in Japan. On the other hand, he was the boss of the biggest mafia family on earth at the moment. His MLB star best friend was, as a matter of fact, a former hitman-in-training, for the Vongola. That pro-boxer friend of his might still have his undefeated record, but he would be more impressed with it if he had faced anything half as brutal as he had in the years he had spent as a soldier under Sawada. Even that cop on the fast track to success, Tsuna noted, could be connected to the mob. A connection Tsuna had quickly destroyed any evidence of. Finally, Hibari owed him, as opposed to the other way around, as Tsuna felt it had been for a good ten years. Still, for all his griping, Tsuna couldn't help but feel the success of the family vongola, which had largely been attributed to his work, and his management, as of late, was more the masterwork of a now preteenaged vongola assassin. His personal success could be traced back to that young boy, too. If it wasn't for his old tutor, for example, Tsuna would never have learned the study habits he needed to enter a top-tier high school, and later, the top tier university. As a matter of fact, even his present girlfriend, Sasagawa Kyoko, the sister of that superstar boxer, could be attributed to Reborn's meddling. As could nearly all of Tsuna's well-maintained, but once reluctant, friendships. Once again, even if he had griped about it, Reborn had been his saving grace. Tsuna couldn't help but miss the little guy. He leaned back in his recliner, and heard his secretary tell him "Mister Sawada, a Mister Gokudera, and his wife, are here to see you."
"Send them in."
Gokudera. There was another friend he had been rather reluctant to accept at first, but had come to value later. Sure, the guy was a bit zealous, but most people who the young vongola boss knew weren't quite normal, either. Miura-Gokudera Haru. There was another odd one. She was more eccentric, though. She and Gokudera were the result of Reborn's machinations, even if Tsuna never saw it coming until it happened. He wasn't the only surprised one, either. Even so, they were quite nice, together, and Kyoko was the happiest of anyone, about the pairing. Since Gokudera was his right-hand man, he and Tsuna spent a great deal of time together, planning the future of the vongola. Which meant, by extension, Kyoko spent more time with Haru. This suited both women fine, seeing as they were such good friends, to begin with. Gokudera entered, and Haru trailed a little behind. "Hello, tenth!" Gokudera said, bowing slightly. Tsuna nodded, a slight grin on his face.
"Hey, Gokudera-kun. Haru, you're looking good today. Married life suits you two well, doesn't it?"
The two both nodded. Tsuna knew they would be first, in a stream of friends of his who were connected to a certain young assassin. Today was the send-off. It wasn't too lavish, but he knew Reborn would like it the way it was. It would be an unemotional goodbye, as everyone knew full well that it wasn't goodbye for good. Yet everyone found time to arrive, for a simple reason. When the chapter of his life had began, he couldn't see far enough to view Reborn's profound, far-reaching effect. Now, it was in plain sight. His whole life was connected to Reborn, and he finally had the confidence to take the reins, himself. For that, a goodbye was the least he could give.
Post-story note: If it's lame, I apologize. I just wanted to take a shot at writing a one-shot, short story. I picked Reborn, because I follow the story, relatively faithfully. Plus, lately, I've been hit with waves of inspiration, so I figured I may as well take advantage, and write up a storm while I've still got it in me. Thanks for reading.