Growing Up - 1
Disclaimer: I do not own KHR but I believe this story to be mine.
"HIEE?! W-why do you have that?" Tsuna backed away from Reborn, eyes wide with terror. This was not a sight he wanted to see so early in the morning. Then again, it wasn't a sight anyone would want to see at any time of the day.
"Training, of course!" was the innocent reply. Reborn watched his terrified student with a smug expression. In one hand, he held his Leon-gun, in the other was an innocuous looking–
"Knife! Why do you have a knife with you?" the pitiful student's gaze shifted nervously between the gun and the blade.
"Dame-Tsuna!" Reborn used neither weapon to get his student's attention, instead opting for a well-placed kick to the forehead.
"Itte!" Tsuna rolled onto his floor, covering his head in defense from future attacks.
Ignoring Tsuna's cry, Reborn continued. "This isn't a knife, Dame-Tsuna. This is a blade."
"Like there's a difference…" Tsuna muttered under his breath, sitting up warily.
With a glint in his eyes, Reborn finished: "A razor blade." Noting the confusion in his student's eyes, he sighed. "To shave."
"Ehh?" Tsuna self-consciously rubbed the area under his nose. It was a bit rough…
Now that Tsuna thought about it, it really was about time for puberty to start… He was already 15– turning 16 in a few months– but he was still the shortest in his class, still had some baby-fat on his cheeks, and most embarrassingly, he still had a girly shriek. Maybe this small stubble was a good sign– he was finally growing up! But one look at his tutor's smirk told him otherwise. This was not the pleasant beginning of a step towards adulthood, but the hellish start of a new training period- whatever that meant. He gulped as his gaze slid toward the shaving razor that seemed to have the same sinister glint under the light as the one holding it. This new stage in his life was going to be painful at best and at worst… Tsuna shuddered just thinking about it.
Reborn's babyish voice startled him out of his day-mare, "Hurry up, Tsuna. We don't have all day."
"H-hai!" Tsuna scurried into the bathroom, tripping over a stray pen on his way.
Musing over his student's clumsiness, Reborn followed. This ought to be entertaining.
Tsuna stared at the blade in his hands. He had accepted it reluctantly, knowing Reborn would have used any method to force it into his hands. Luckily, Reborn was feeling merciful today, and gave him a real razor- not a knife or sword or bazooka or anything other than a simple blade. However, that in and of itself was a problem: Tsuna had never used a blade before, not even a kitchen knife. Ever since he had nicked himself with a small pencil-sharpener when he was 5– he still wasn't sure how, as it was one of the supposedly kid-proof sharpeners with the blade deeply embedded in the plastic block away from the surface– he had avoided any and all things sharp. He gulped, gathering his courage to conquer this mighty adversary as he had defeated all of his previous enemies. But still, the blade looked so… menacing… as if it would turn and bite him at a moment's notice. He tilted it to examine the edge, but as he was doing so, the light reflected off the blade into his eyes, momentarily blinding him. He dropped the razor with a yelp.
"Pathetic." Reborn's amused expression contrasted– or rather in Reborn's case, reinforced– his fake-pitying tone. He had found it boring when Tsuna accepted the blade without a fight, but now the fun was finally starting. Besides, if this turned out uneventful, he could always bring in his own devices to help his student accomplish his task.
What little courage Tsuna had mustered was dashed by his tutor's comment. He slunk against the counter in defeat.
A new voice brought him out of his self-pitying thoughts: "Ararara? Lambo-san sees a shiny-shiny!"
Tsuna eyed the wild black puff with horns that was slowly inching toward the bathroom. "Lambo, what are you doing?" he asked with a sigh, exasperated enough by Reborn's early morning tutoring. Although he loved Lambo as a little brother, he had to admit that he was annoying at times, as in most of the time.
"Gyahahaha! It seems that Dame-Tsuna has seen through the great Lambo-sama's disguise!" A pair of round, green eyes peered at him through the tangled curls. Two hands popped out, clad in cow print, and pulled away the hair surrounding the eyes, revealing Lambo's contemptuous grin. Next to appear was a waggling tail that peeped out through from behind the fluffy mass, followed closely by the rest of his body dressed in his usual cow onesie.
Tsuna stared at him in shock. He had always been amazed at Lambo's hair– an unruly mess that could hold anything and everything ranging from his favorite grape candies to his Vongola gear to the 10-year-bazooka that was bigger than Lambo himself– but to hide his own body? Tsuna couldn't grasp his mind around it– all he could see was Lambo being swallowed by his hair getting lost in the 4th dimension it contained, which just hurt his mind even more because he didn't even understand what another dimension actually was– so he just gaped at the child before him.
Lambo, meanwhile, had other plans. He was going to sneak up on I-pin with his super-Lambo-ninja disguise, when he had heard a yelp from the bathroom, arousing his curiosity. Once he had arrived at the scene, his eyes were immediately drawn to the gleaming object on the floor, as all five-year-olds would be. Ignoring the blatant stares he got from his Dame-Tsuna-nii, he loudly proclaimed while pointing to the blade on the ground, "This sparkly shiny-shiny is now Lambo-san's!" He lunged for the object that had so enraptured him.
"Oi, Dame-Tsuna. Are you going to stop your Thunder Guardian from hurting himself?" Reborn liked the direction this was going.
Tsuna snapped out of his hair-induced stupor just in time to catch Lambo before he landed on the sharp blade. Firmly securing the thrashing Lambo under one arm, he used his free hand to gingerly pick up the razor from the floor. "Do you know what this is, Lambo?" Tsuna asked the little boy seriously.
Lambo had gone still when Tsuna picked up the object, eyes trained on it as if it were a precious grape candy. "Arara? Of course Lambo-san knows! It's a shiny-shiny! And of course Dame-Tsuna wouldn't know!" He stuck his tongue out, making a face at his captor.
At that moment, Tsuna's mom had gone upstairs to wake the children for breakfast. As she was approaching their room, she heard voices coming from the bathroom and went over to check if Lambo and I-pin were fighting for the empty toilet paper roll that they liked to make into a toy. Instead, she came across her son and Lambo.
"Ara? Tsu-kun, you're awake. Ah? Is that shaving cream on the counter? Is my little Tsu-kun learning how to shave?" At that, she tackled-hugged her 'little Tsu-kun.'
Tsuna quickly dropped the blade in his hands so that his mom wouldn't accidentally scratch herself against it.
"Gupyah!" A smothered voice exclaimed.
Reborn piped in, ignoring the sound,"Ciaossu, Maman. I'm teaching Tsuna how to shave today!"
"Ah! Thank you, Reborn-kun!" Nana exclaimed before grabbing Reborn into their group hug.
"Gotta… stay… calm…" a voice squeaked from somewhere amid the pile of people. The whole time, Lambo had been squashed between the mother and son and was starting to turn a bright blue.
"Oh? Sorry Lambo-kun, Maman was so excited to see her precious little Tsu-kun growing up that she didn't notice you there!" She promptly released her children from her tight embrace, brushing tears of joy from the corner of her eyes. "I'm going to make a big breakfast to celebrate. Lambo-kun, can you go wake I-pin and the others? Lambo-kun?"
Lambo had fallen on the floor with a dull thud after he had been released and was now huddled in a corner. Suddenly, he jumped up and yelled, "Die, Reborn! Why did you ignore me?!" He followed this with a string of grenades- pulled from his magical hair, of course.
Reborn casually swatted them with his Leon-bat out of the bathroom, through the room across the hall, and out the open window. Next, a flying Lambo soared out the same window. A boom shook the house.
"Ara? Is my porridge burning?" Sawada Nana had a confused expression on her face as she sniffed the air, unaware of what had just transpired before her. "I'll go down and check. Hurry down for breakfast after you shave, Tsu-kun!" And she left.
"Well, Tsuna? Shall we continue?" Reborn smirked. Deep down, he was kind of sad that the stupid cow had left– it meant fewer distractions for his already clumsy student. Yet, he was somewhat satisfied at the thwacking sound his Leon-bat made as it came in contact with the cow's behind and the short yip that followed. Calling it even with the with the annoying cow, he turned to his no-good student.
Tsuna, sensing the danger in the atmosphere, gulped.
Ding-dong. The doorbell rang.
Tsuna visibly brightened- maybe his friends could help him through his predicament!
Reborn just tugged the the brim of his fedora, not wanting his victorious smirk to dampen his student's hope– after all, the more he hopes, the more satisfying the result when it is crushed. Because more people means more chaos– especially in the Vongola family.
A/N: My first attempt at comedy- I hope you got at least a small grin out of this :)
Also my first attempt at using a multiple-chapter format, so please forgive any mishaps with that (I'm not sure how each chapter is individually titled...)
Hmm... and I'm not very experienced with shaving, but hopefully you can follow where I'm going with it
That said, the next chapter is with Gokudera and Yamamoto... and we all know how their instructions are, right...? *smirks a Reborn smirk*
And please review, it would make me very happy and any suggestions you make could possibly make you happy as well
Thanks for reading!