A/N:
So I've been thinking about this AU for months and finally decided to start it at least since I have lots of free time. I have a bunch of notes for this, mostly about the relationships and dynamic so expect the to be a heavy investment in that. Expect lots of gore with this story too since that's what I live for and what kind of tokyo ghoul au would this be without the gore.
For this you don't have to have read tokyo ghoul in it's entirety but some basic background information about the universe would be helpful. Later down the road, there are things that will be explained about like ghoul anatomy and ccg and whatnot, but that might be a few chapters before I get there.
Warnings: Soft cannibalism (I'll use that when referring to when cannibalism is implied as in nothing is specified) & brief mention of blood
Edit as of June 16, 2016: After going through the Daily Life Arc and thinking hard about where I want the first part of this series to go, I realized that I wouldn't be able to take the story as seriously as I would like if I kept Reborn a toddler. As such, I have edited the ending and written him as an adult, but the Arcobaleno Curse is still in effect, it's just a bit skewed to fit the situation. Plus, I'm very into the idea of Reborn being a disgruntled uncle/pseudo dad figure and actually looking the part.
It's the stomach gnawing and dull pain of hunger that wakes Tsuna up. Similar to how it's been every other morning lately. He's used to it in a sense, but not enough to like it. No one can ever get used to spending days at a time hungry.
He curls in on himself, hands placed feebly on his stomach, hoping that sleep will take him once more to ignore the aches. Before he can properly doze off, his alarm sings a shrill and screeching tune from his phone, shattering all and any semblance of silence. He groans loudly into his pillow with only himself to hear it and gropes around the bed for to stop the offending noise. Action completed more so due to muscle memory than actually looking at the screen.
He stays stationary in his position for a few seconds longer, covers now down around his waist, wondering if school is something he can avoid today. It's the smell of brewing coffee that gets him up in the end, familiar and a little comforting.
Tsuna stands with all the grace of a newly birthed fawn and ignores the way his stomach rolls at his jarring movements. He puts on a clean uniform, though the shirt is wrinkled and tie crooked, he doesn't much care. If he's lucky (or unlucky depending), he might not even have to go today. If he does, he's always dreaded what school brings about, and this morning will be no different in changing how he feels about it.
The thought of it makes his stomach roll again for entirely different reasons this time around. His mother has always wondered about him having anxiety of some form or another, but they both know there are no doctor's visits outside the bare minimum. He's not upset about that really, doctors have always made him nervous and nervous feelings tend to subside after a cup of coffee or two. He always has some in the morning; their coffee pot is always going, seems like anyway, so some might be fairly helpful now.
"Good morning, Tsu-kun." His mother greets, smile on her face kind as always when she spots him from the stairs.
She presses a kiss to his forehead when he sits down at the table and sets a mug of coffee down in front of him. Tsuna drinks it greedily and doesn't mind how it scalds his tongue and throat on the way down. The burning is gone in a few seconds anyway, so he ignores the look his mother gives him for being so hasty. It isn't until he's halfway through his second cup does he feel coherent enough to speak, body feeling much more alert than when he first walked down.
"Morning mom." He finally greets in return, taking a more subdued sip of his drink before continuing. "Do I have to go to school today?"
Nana purses her lips into a thin line and frowns, concern etched in the way she furrows her brow. Tsuna knows she's not upset with his question, that's just the look she tends to make when she's thinking hard about something, probably weighing the pros and cons of him missing another day. It'll be the third one this week and the tenth one this month already. Not good for his already poor grades. Everyone just assumes Tsuna is sickly and they both run with that as much as they can, have been since he was little.
"Is it bad today?" She asks and he nods.
"Feels like an eight." Tsuna specifies, using a scale they perfected over the years for days like these.
It's a risky number to be at, they both know, but it's even riskier if people get called over to their house because of Tsuna missing so many days. Nana gets near daily calls about her son skipping like always, so it feels like only a matter of time before someone knocks on her door and questions her parenting. They'll inspect her house and see that the fridge and cupboards are bare as bones save for a large amount of coffee and then it's all over. Tsuna either gets taken away, found out about, and killed or they both get killed. Neither of those options are exactly preferred.
Nana takes Tsuna's already empty cup, refills it again despite the fact that he normally stops at two, and rifles around in the cabinets where he knows they keep a precious store of sugar cubes hidden out of sight just in case visitors get curious. He wants to tell her not to waste one on him, he knows how expensive they are but he also knows she won't listen. All he can do is gratefully take the coffee and savor every sip, make sure not to waste anything.
"I'm sorry it gets this bad." She apologizes a lot for things she can't help, but wishes she can. She smiles brightly though, because there is some good news to share. "Mama was able to save up enough money this month, so I'll be doing some shopping today. Isn't that lovely?"
Tsuna sighs relieved at the thought of finally being able to have something in his stomach other than coffee. He doesn't think it's fair that the butcher costs so much, but the ghoul population in Namimori is small so there's only a need for one. With only one person working the business and the few handfuls of ghouls that are in town too afraid to hunt often because they don't want the definite attention it'll bring, it means the butcher can make the prices whatever and they're usually high. He doesn't do the shopping but he's seen his mom pour over her work checks and the fake smile she gives when she isn't able to buy as much as she would have liked. Those are the times when they have to save everything, even the bones. Stock isn't that filling, but at least it's something to keep the hunger at bay for a while.
"I don't see why you just can't use the money dad gives us. That would make things easier." He speaks his into his coffee cup and tries to keep the bitterness out of his tone, but he knows it's still there.
"Papa's human, Tsu-kun." He doesn't have to look up to know his mom's staring at him, can feel the weight for her gaze though it isn't scrutinizing. Maybe it's a little sad; it's always gets that way when dad is mentioned nowadays. He hasn't shown up in five years. "I couldn't use his money to pay for our food."
He thinks life would be a lot easier if they were human and maybe dad would have bothered to stay around or at least visit more, but there's no changing anything. Tsuna sighs his feelings out one last time and downs the rest of his coffee to avoid having to say anything else about the topic. Mom gets it though and doesn't say anything else either, conversation avoided. Iemitsu has always been a sore topic for Tsuna, especially now that he's older and much more aware of the world around him.
Nana holds him close when he gets ready to leave out the door, whispers into his ear words of safety and caution and their age old rules that he's been hearing since he was six. He doesn't mind though since it helps him ignore the sudden clawing feeling of apprehension that strikes him.
Today feels like it's going to be a bad one.
XXX
An hour later after Tsuna has most definitely failed a pop quiz he knew none of the information for, Nana gets a call from her husband.
It's the first this year and she dreads what's to come after she hangs up.
XXX
Tsuna leaves school early like he always does on days when they have gym class.
It's distracting, all those very human bodies and the sweet scents that come from them. A hungry ghoul around people is a very vulnerable ghoul, at risk of accidentally revealing themselves at any given moment. After getting hit with the ball in the face and forced on cleanup duty, he decided that going home would be for the best and maybe by the time he got there, mom would be back from her run with something to eat.
He opens the door and calls out a greeting and there she is. It's different though, she's puttering around the kitchen and he can smell a sharp scent of fear from her though it's faint. She seems more nervous than anything.
It's definitely not good either way.
Tsuna enters fully into the house, toes off his shoes, and drops his bag by the door, all slow and careful movements. He doesn't know what to expect.
"Mom, what's wrong?" He asks and wonders if he should prepare himself for the worst.
Nana turns around quickly, her low ponytail falling off her shoulders at the movements. Relief overtakes her features when their gazes lock. "I'm so glad you're here early Tsu-kun." She sighs, ushers him to sit at the table and places a plate of chopped meat in front of him. "Eat. I have something to tell you."
"Have you eaten yet?"
"Of course I have, don't worry."
He nods and takes her word for it, having made an agreement not to lie to each other about eating after an incident a few years ago. He doesn't waste any time after that, suppresses a groan when the sweet taste of blood hits his tongue. He makes sure to chew thoroughly even though he wants to shove everything in his mouth as quickly as possible.
"What did you want to talk about?" He asks around the fork in his mouth. They stopped using chopsticks for uncooked meat early on, blood and wood don't mix.
There's the nervous look on her face again, the one that doesn't suit her very well. He's much too used to seeing his mother smiling, not that it's a bad thing.
She must be reading his thoughts because she forces a smile that almost looks believable, could probably pass if it was anyone else she was looking at. Tsuna isn't that dumb though. "Well, your father called. He…he hired a home tutor for you."
Tsuna looks immediately affront at the words, a frown quickly overtaking his features. "What! Why? Yeah my grades are bad, but why does he care?"
"He's your father Tsu-kun." Nana tries her best placate, pats gently at Tsuna's free hand that rests on the table. "He said it was a personal pick by his boss even. You remember him don't you? Apparently everything will be fine as far as payments go, we just have to provide a room and meals."
"Mom, we can't take in a human. We don't even have human food in the house. We only get that when dad's around and he hasn't been home in years." He can feel the panic rising in his tone. This might not be the worst situation, but it's definitely in the top five, something he didn't even consider in first place.
"I know dear," Nana's tone takes a soothing connotation. "that's why I went out and bought some. Tsu-kun, I know this will be hard and you might have to bear through a few human meals, but I still have food for us. It's in a cooler in my room and we're just going to have to be really careful, and maybe this will only last for a few months until you get your grades up again."
Tsuna sighs, shoves another piece of meat in his mouth to give himself time to think. He doesn't trust himself not to insult his father right now, only holding back because his mom always looks upset when he does. Not the angry upset either, or the I'm disappointed in you kind, but the kind of upset that's sad because things aren't better like she wants them to be.
"When's the tutor coming over?" He asks just to get off the topic of his father.
"Sometime today apparently. Private jets go pretty fast I hear."
Great, he definitely won't get to relax at all today seems like. "Are you sure there's no way out of this?"
"I asked. Iemitsu's boss was quite adamant about this apparently."
Tsuna sighs and decides to finish off his meal. It's great to know that his dad worries more about his job than the safety of his family. Really, how does he expect this to go? If something bad happens, at least Tsuna knows who to blame for all this.
Just as he finishes the last bit of food off his plate, satisfied that his stomach is at least sated, the doorbell rings. His mom immediately moves up from her seat and Tsuna washes off the plate and fork in a hurry, double checking the kitchen for any overt evidence of what they really are.
They stand next to each other when she pulls open the door and Tsuna does not try to hide the tenseness in his shoulders when he sees who is standing at their doorstop. On principle he is wary of people in finely pressed suits. Mom says that's one of the ways she was taught to identify a Dove, a nice suit and body leaking confidence. She said it isn't fool proof method, but any sort of precaution is a must.
He assumes a Dove wouldn't wear a bright yellow shirt or wear a fedora, but Tsuna's never met a Dove before. Dad wouldn't be stupid enough to let one come in their house despite allowing a human house with them for an indefinite amount of time; he has to give him that much of the benefit of the doubt.
Mom snaps out of the daze first, puts on a smile to be polite, and opens the door a little wider. "You must be the home tutor."
The man smiles back, more like smirks like he knows a secret, and speaks in a steady voice. "My name is Reborn, it's a pleasure to meet you both."
A/N:
So i hope you enjoyed that first chapter at least, something really simple to set the stage for everything. As you can already tell, there's gonna be a lot of different takes on the relationships in this and characters particularly starting with Tsuna and Nana. Their mother-son dynamic is something I look forward to writing more about. Hopefully no one was too OOC this is an AU but I'll try to keep canon personalities as clear as I can. I'm gonna have to go through a reread of KHR honestly but I know the daily life arc pretty well at this point in my life.
Any who, thanks so much for reading and please please review. I want to hear feedback and any constructive criticism and I'll even try to answer any questions y'all might have if they aren't too spoiler-y.
A good song to listen to when thinking about this series is forest by twenty one pilots. I wasn't listening to anything specific while writing this chapter though, mostly just son lux.