Doing All Right
By Nan00k

Tsuna's baby is born on March 9th and is a healthy baby girl. The only problem is that no one's sure who the father is. [female!Tsuna/Multi; oneshot]

I came up with a headcanon for "what if Tsuna had been a girl?" awhile ago and then this story happened. Basically it's the same as canon, except Tsuna(ko) has always been a girl. This changes a lot of the relationships, but as this oneshot demonstrates, the pairings are quite varied and short lived. Tsuna/all Guardians (except Lambo, because of obvious reasons). The chronology in this bounces around.

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Warnings: alternative universe, female!Tsuna, genderbending AU, kidfic
Disclaimer: Katekyo Hitman Reborn! © Akira Amano. I just wrote this mess.

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Tsuna has her baby on March 9th and it's a healthy baby girl. She names her Himeko and everyone admits the child has Tsuna's eyes. Himeko has pitch-black hair and a scream that makes even Reborn wince.

No one knows who the father is.

0000

Himeko will call them all ojisan and Chrome is obasan. It's easier that way, Tsuna tells Reborn, who only hums in either agreement or uncertainty. He at least didn't have to worry about being linked to the child's origins, so he's far more at ease than the others. He takes on "Reborn-ojisan" gracefully and is far gentler with her than he ever was with Tsuna (but Tsuna suspects this will only last until Himeko is older.)

At first, Tsuna refuses to answer anyone's questions; she won't even talk to Reborn about it. When she first tells them, reluctantly at Bianchi and Kyoko's insistence, that she was pregnant, only Ryohei has the guts to assume it is his out loud. When Gokedera speaks up and says it could have been his, it gets more than a little loud in the room. Tsuna runs from the arguing and pretends to ignore the whole situation for weeks until Dino and Reborn both yell at her to explain what the hell was going on.

The baby could be any of theirs, Tsuna finally admits. 'Any' meaning the majority of her male Guardians. That's not the sort of answer that sits well with most of them. Yamamoto just grins and shrugs, like he always does, while Gokedera grinds his teeth when he thinks Tsuna isn't watching. Ryohei recovers naturally quick and almost forgets about the father issue entirely. Mukuro can't stop laughing about it and those voices across the ocean are mixed, with the Ninth delighted and Xanxus furious about this newest scandal. Kyoko and Haru pick out baby clothes and Enma is dragged along to help.

Chrome, when she's around, looks ill at ease at Tsuna's growing belly. Her normally distant behavior becomes even more pronounced. She doesn't touch Tsuna at all anymore. Tsuna tries to pretend not to notice.

They don't expect Hibari to stay around regardless of the situation and he lives up to their expectations. He sneers when he's told the news and dismisses it as irrelevant. He does cease the pitiable amount of time he used to have with the Tenth, however. That doesn't soothe Gokudera's jealousy or make the baby bump go away.

Lambo cheerfully declares he's going to be the best big brother ever, utterly missing the point of contention.

Nine months of morning sickness, hormones, and a Tenth who can't go out onto the field at all later, there's a screeching baby being passed around into waiting arms. Hibari doesn't visit the hospital room (though they're sure he's somewhere nearby) and Chrome refuses to go near the crying infant; she leaves soon after.

Tsuna cradles her baby and names her Himeko, smiling fondly.

They get multitudes of well wishes from various members of the extended Family, including the Ninth, and it all becomes normal.

0000

They all have their hidden doubts and wonders, especially when it seems taboo to theorize out loud, but when Himeko's first birthday comes, everyone is thinking she is Yamamoto's.

It's the hair at first. It's not like black hair is uncommon for any of their lineages, but the hair seems oddly familiar when unbrushed. Himeko's got a lot of it and it grows upwards. She's still got Tsuna's light brown eyes, but as she grows, Himeko looks more and more like the Rain.

Yamamoto says nothing and merely dotes on the child like he always had and always will. He tells her, in a sickeningly voice that Gokudera and Lambo mock, that he's Takeshi-ojisan and she's the sweetest little niece ever.

The more her personality emerges, the more they all look to Yamamoto. Himeko is a bright, energetic and happy child. She doesn't shy from anything (well, she doesn't like "Zio Xanxus" the first and only time they meet at her Christening in Florence) and she is emboldened by challenges. Her smile is ever-present.

As she grows, other suspicions sometimes lessen the resemblance, but there are times it seems inevitable. Yamamoto takes her to see a baseball game and she loves it. As her training progresses, Yamamoto teaches her how to use a sword and she takes to it as a natural would. She is disinterested in academics—she wants nothing but to move and dance and fight. Life motivates her.

But she doesn't play sports. She turns down Yamamoto's offer to teach her to play the game or to join her school's team. She tells him that she knows professional teams don't let girls play and she has no interest in "coming second" in anything. She is good at the sword, but she is good at many weapons. She chooses knives as her primary in the end and never seems interested in mastering technique. She prefers spontaneous. She rejects tradition.

Yamamoto is all right by this. He is there from the beginning to remain a constant, just like Gokedera, and is there for the moments that matter most for her. He can't help with homework or her specialized skills, but he embraces his role as a confidant and favored uncle. He is there, always, as part of the dual pillar Tsuna needs and he is always there for her daughter.

Over time, the suspicions never quite go away, but inevitably, they cease to matter.

0000

There is only one silver lining in it all, Yamamoto says one evening as the adults watch Himeko build a tiny city with plastic blocks, is that she's definitely not Lambo's. The point is driven home as they watch the ten-year-old Lightening Guardian burst into tears when Himeko casually knocks him over with the strength of a two-year old.

"Small mercies," Gokudera says, without much malice. Tsuna pinches him anyway.

0000

They think the baby is Hibari's three years after the baby is born. The dark hair is one thing, but the behavior changes makes Gokudera panic.

It's not so much a change as an emergence, Reborn points out. The moment they put Himeko onto the training mat at the ripe age of three to start the foundations of self-defense lessons (Reborn's idea), Gokudera suffers through it with clenched teeth. A toddler has no interest in sitting still or listening to Dino's child-friendly instructions.

She does have interest in waddling over to the edge of the mat to try to grab a tonfa off a rolling rack. When Ryohei goes to take it from her, she whacks him hard on the shin, though it's probably by accident. Her grip is strong on the wooden weapon.

Needlessly, Yamamoto points out Himeko definitely didn't inherit that from Tsuna. That earns him a glare.

That isn't the reason Gokudera panics or why even Yamamoto casts a wary eye on Hibari whenever he is in the same room as Himeko. They see it come up gradually. The more she trains and learns, the more they see Hibari.

She's a good fighter. Not like Ryohei, with superior strength or interest in mastering her muscles. Not like Yamamoto, since she finds technique boring despite interest in the blade. Not even like her mother, as Himeko is good fighting with or without a flame.

She's a good fighter in her patience and calmness. In the control of her face and emotions, they all see glimpses of the Cloud guardian.

Sometimes, that's as much as Tsuna ever sees of Hibari and it does make them believe it for a few years, unspoken. Eventually, Himeko's other traits decrease the suspicions, but there is always lingering doubt.

Having a child who likes a fight doesn't mean she's a killer, Tsuna insists, and it's mostly true. Himeko is too much like Yamamoto and that's some level of comfort to Gokudera (though not much).

Himeko excels at the tonfa and the resulting argument over her using it often turns Gokudera and Tsuna against each other for weeks. It's almost a relief when Himeko settles on knives and other close-combat weapons.

For a long time, no one ever bothers to ask what Hibari thinks about the rumors.

Hibari doesn't linger for the child any more than he lingers for Tsuna or anyone else in the world.

But when he does, when they're not going out for a fight or a mission or recovering from one that just ended, Hibari always walks by Himeko's room to get a glimpse when he thinks no one else will notice.

As she grows, she remembers him and occasionally asks after him. She calls him ojisan until she's seven and then it's suddenly Kyo-ojisan, though Hibari never told her that was acceptable to call him that. He wants to blame Tsuna, but even the Boss is at a loss over the nickname's origins. Hibari doesn't say anything and lets Himeko call him what she wishes.

It's only one of the many allowances he gives her. Tsuna comments (when she doesn't think he can hear her) that it's his way of compromising. He gives a little when he wants or can and somehow it's enough. Just enough.

He isn't there for homework like Gokudera is. But he does lurk on the school grounds when she enters kindergarten and keeps the Disciplinary Committee especially active in that area of Namimori. He nearly attacks Reborn for suggesting they move the Family to Italy as they had planned to before Himeko's arrival. He insists she is educated in Namimori. Tsuna agrees wryly; it's a nice thought to have her child go to their old schools.

He isn't there for her first day of martial arts training, but he watches multiple first matches against all the other Guardians. He's there to fight her when she gets older and he never goes easy on her. He's there long enough to tell her pointedly her flaws, what to improve upon to actually survive a fight, and that she is as weak as her mother (though sometimes, it's difficult to tell if that's an insult or not.)

It drives the point home to Gokudera's fears on those days when Himeko only tilts her head and considers what Hibari tells her.

"Will I be as strong as Kyo-ojisan, then?" she asks, utterly serious in a way she isn't outside the training room, in a calm manner that is too far too familiar to be comforting.

Hibari just stares at her and wonders where his teeth have gone. The years seem to wear them down more and more.

"Maybe," he concedes. It's difficult to tell whose more surprised over those words—him, Gokudera or Tsuna. Himeko just smiles.

He gives her her first knife on her sixth birthday and ignores the quiet look Tsuna gives him.

0000

It's natural to assume the girl isn't Chrome's; it's probably one of the only certainties that have next to Reborn and Lambo's exclusion. The intimacy, although brief and infrequent, shared between the Boss and her Mist Guardian could never amount to anything like a child, quite obviously. Mukuro certainly never goes near the Tenth like that; he is also spared of suspicions.

That doesn't stop Chrome from watching Himeko grow at a distance—always a distance, even further than the distance held by Hibari—and wondering. She wonders about motherhood and what she has lost in coming back the way she did. She owes Mukuro everything and doesn't lament her losses. It still leaves her wondering about what-ifs as the Family adjusts to their newest member. The wondering makes her ill; she doesn't like the threat of what-ifs.

The wondering fades, thankfully, as she gets used to their new world. The Boss is kind and the Family is strong. She is always on the outside and she is safe there. Part of her understands that they are safer with her at a distance and she doesn't mind it being that way. She is there when the Boss needs her to be and she finds purpose in Guardianship.

That doesn't make it easier when she is there at the main house—the new main house of the Vongola Decimo in Japan just outside of Namimori, built in defiance of protests from Italy—and she is surrounded by the very people she can only dream care about her as much as they say they do.

The child is there and is there to stay. Chrome watches her grow and never dares to go closer; she fears what her touch can do. The girl—Himeko, Chrome has to remind herself time and time again—watches back with curious eyes. When Himeko is a baby and can't walk or talk, it's a lot easier to endure it.

When she gets older, it's harder to come and go safely, without feeling like she interrupting something in the home. Tsuna and the Family always welcome her warmly, but Chrome always hesitates when Himeko begins to greet her with real words. Then, hugs. Then, questions. Chrome can't always deal with it, and while Tsuna understands, Chrome doesn't know if Himeko does. That makes her stay away even more.

But eventually, it's clear that the distance doesn't matter. At least not to Himeko. She stills hunts Chrome down when she comes back in that rare-while. It's always worse when they are alone and Chrome is left wondering why the child would ever go near her just to see her. It just doesn't seem real. It is a curse to be so sure of what reality is compared to an illusion.

"Chrome-obasan," Himeko says one day, startling Chrome terribly the moment she entered the estate's main house. "Do you like my hair?"

The girl has cut her hair by herself with safety scissors. It's a mess and Tsuna will throw a fit later. Chrome doesn't know what to say about the short, uneven mop. Himeko grins proudly.

"I wanted to look like Chrome-obasan," she says, in a way that cuts through Chrome like Yamamoto's blade might. "Because obasan is pretty!"

Chrome can't react and merely nods. Himeko gazes at herself in the mirror and seems utterly delighted by her new look.

Tsuna does throw a fit and blames Gokudera for leaving the art supplies out when he was supposed to have put them away. They get Himeko's hair fixed, but it's still short and Himeko defends her look fiercely. Chrome says nothing and leaves to search for Ken and Chikusa in a blind terror she can't quite explain even to herself. Mukuro probably knows why better, though he never says anything about it.

Several months later, she finally comes back to the House and tries to convince herself she isn't intruding. There is no reason to be there, since the Boss doesn't need her at the moment, but Chrome cannot keep away for the same reasons she flees.

Himeko seeks her out as always, just a little older and with short black hair that frames her features in just the right ways. It makes Chrome's heart ache strangely.

"Would you like me to help you with your hair?" she offers that night at bedtime, before she can think twice or even ask Tsuna for permission.

"Yes!" Himeko says. Her excitement makes the pain worse.

Chrome combs through the dark locks with trembling hands and gives up halfway through, but the second time she does better.

By the fourth time, Chrome dares to look up at the mirror and is captured by the smile on the child's face. She dares to wonder again—about the what-ifs of her own life, about what if this was what she could have been had things gone differently in a Mukuro-less world, about what if she did in fact have some part of what was right there in front of her now—and she has no idea why she smiles back.

It's a start of something. She takes her time in figuring out what of.

0000

Himeko possesses the power of the Sun and the day they realize this is the day Ryohei has his first ever panic attack under the duress of powerful what-ifs.

He recovers quickly, especially after Gokudera and Tsuna chide him and Kyoko gives him a good talking-to, and he spends the rest of the day promising to teach Himeko everything about her abilities. Himeko is more interested in chasing after her pet cat and watching cartoons and Ryohei keeps her company.

He isn't sure, because none of them are, but that moment changes the level of importance of things for him.

For the first time, boxing comes in second place to something greater.

He teaches her everything he has and she accepts it with blinding trust and exuberance. She can't hit as hard as he can, but she makes up for it with speed and diligence. He's never been more proud.

She calls him Ryo-ojisan and it fills him with uncontrolled joy. He catches her up in a hug and she squeals in delight and everything is perfect.

0000

It takes everything in him not to feel heartbroken.

Gokudera will never betray the Tenth. He loves her as any Right Hand should; he will be there as any Right Hand should be, no matter the circumstances.

But it still hurts to look at the child and see nothing but questions. He does not know if the child is his and the doubt crushes him for weeks when he is first told.

Bianchi tears him apart for it when she sees him staring at Tsuna with what she calls "pathetic eyes" and, between stomach cramps, Gokudera realizes she's right. He sees how Yamamoto and Ryohei are as cheerful as ever when they help make up a nursery and how nonchalant Hibari is and realizes that he is nothing more than a weakling. He vows to never let anything get between him and the Tenth.

This won't either.

Especially when this is born and it's a three kilo bundle of screams, bad smells and a squashed up red face. Gokudera doesn't know how to hold it and he does it wrong according to Tsuna, but once it's settled in his arms, he's face to face with a baby that may or may not be his and is entirely the Tenth's.

Her name is Himeko and he falls in love with her instantly.

Raising her is going to be a team effort, Reborn says, though Tsuna tells Gokudera that the hitman said it sarcastically. Regardless, they all seem to take it to heart. Gokudera learns everything he can on child care (though he knows the Baseball idiot and Turf-top have also done their research) and tries to be everything Himeko will ever need of a father.

It's easier when she's still in diapers and helpless. As she grows, the aching feeling in his chest grows with her body as her personality emerges.

She's too much like the others. She isn't interested in school. She isn't as smart with maths and science like he is (though it's possible this is merely because of Tsuna, though no one dares says that in front of the Tenth). Her hair is dark, her eyes are bright and she certainly doesn't have Gokuedera's scowl. She screams the first time she hears an explosion outside her room courtesy of his dynamite and hasn't liked fireworks since. She doesn't like how he makes breakfast, and whenever he forgets not to yell in front of her, her flinches hurt worse than any physical wound.

Tsuna tells him over and over again that it's okay and that there's no way Himeko will be a mirror copy of anyone, including Tsuna herself. The Tenth chides him when he sulks and reminds him that every time he avoids Himeko due to his own insecurities, the child does not understand why.

The guilt is enough to make him bear it in silence. He gets better at hiding his disappointment when Yamamoto takes her along to baseball practices or when he spots the Disciplinary Committee keeping vigilant watch on her pre-school classroom. Himeko clearly loves him and that has to be enough. Hayato-ojisan has to be enough.

It is only when they visit Italy one summer when Himeko is six-years-old that Gokudera sees it. That's the deal, Reborn explains; every summer, they have to go back to Italy. The Ninth is still in power and is in great health, but Tsuna has obligations and in turn, so does the rest of their Family, even if in Himeko's case, it's to merely show up. (Hibari and Chrome naturally don't come along, but it's not like their abilities are needed now, Reborn points out. They're allowed to remain in the shadows. Gokudera is almost jealous.)

It's odd being back in Italy and Gokudera walks the halls of the Vongola's private estate in Sicily absentmindedly when he hears it. Someone is playing the piano, but it's not real music. It's still a melody, if only that, and it prompts him to look into the drawing room he had thought was empty.

It isn't and it's more than a shock when he sees Himeko, in her little purple dress that Sawada Nana had made, sitting on the grand piano's bench. Himeko notices Gokudera and smiles at him as she smashes ivory keys with her tiny, tiny hands.

"Was that you?" he asks, still stunned.

"Yes," Himeko says, grinning up at him proudly. "I'm making music!"

It isn't real music, but it isn't…horrible. There's a sense of rhythm and melody and its absurd that the child could find those things haphazardly on the keys. She has never been near a piano, from what Gokudera had thought anyway, and it is almost a shock to realize what it means.

What it could mean.

Slowly, as if approaching one of Chrome's illusions that threatened to vanish in the blink of an eye, he sits down next to Himeko, who scoots over to give him room.

"You want to learn how to play the piano, Himeko-chan?" he asks.

Her eyes brighten and it's all he ever wants to see now. "Yes!" she says. She's so excited. "Do you know how?"

For the first time in six years and nine months, Gokudera's doubts weaken in his own favor. It's petty and silly but he doesn't care.

"…yeah," he says, smiling back. "I do."

She takes to music effortlessly. She can't really sing, but neither can Tsuna, so they blame her for that. But with instruments, Himeko is a natural. Her fingers were made to play the ivory board of a piano and pluck pizzicato on the violin. For once, her daughter has a skill outside sports and the mafia, so Tsuna is all too encouraging for Himeko to learn music.

And there is no one better than Gokudera, who cannot describe the feeling he experiences every time he sits down with her at the bench. He goes through the basics of reading music, keeping rhythm and the benefits of practicing diligently. When she's ten, she gives them a mini-recital in Sicily, and while it delights the Ninth to no end, there is no comparison to the shining faces of the Guardians present.

She smiles up at him every time her sits with her and he can see life in her bright eyes: life that he would do anything to protect. Life that is worth everything to him.

It is not his alone, but it is still his in part and that makes it priceless.

0000

She could have been any of theirs and that, Yamamoto considers, is the point.

Tsuna raises her daughter to be strong and the Family raises Himeko in all the ways they can. The Ninth visits every year and is as doting as ever. Nana and Iemitsu are always popping in, showering their granddaughter with the affection only grandparents are capable of. Every member of the extended Family gives a little here and there and it all seems like it was meant to be.

Yamamoto does exactly what he is also capable of. He raises her as he would a daughter, but so do the other Guardians. They give her what they have—and none of them have everything to give—and it became enough. What they had divided would never have been suitable for a child like Himeko. Together, it is exactly right.

The Vongola is strong and is getting stronger. Himeko thrives and it's all Yamamoto wants—to be there, with his Family, with Tsuna, with their child, with the chance to become as strong as he needs to be for their sake—and he knows that for each of them, this is all they need, too.

It is all alright, in the end.

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End.

A/Ns:
-I could totally expand more on this AU but that's enough for now. I may go back to write another one-shot to explain the differences of having a female!Tsuna though.