Author's Notes: This is set a little bit after the "Curse of the Rainbow" Arc of the Reborn manga. As I was doing more reference work for my current fan fictions in progress, I ran across an interesting line in the wiki and it got me to thinking. Was Reborn always his name? So, I had Tsuna present the question and this is what I came up with ^_^
Katekyo Hitman Reborn doesn't belong to me nor do the characters (these are all Akira Amano's)—I just like to play around in this world right now.
Thanks for looking.
"Ne, Reborn…"
Tsuna's voice broke the mostly comfortable silence in his room and drew the former Arcobaleno's gaze.
"What?" Reborn asked. "Did you finally answer that question?"
There was a click and Tsuna's eyes went nervously to the dynamite strapped around him. "Ah, no, but I was wondering…" Tsuna trailed off.
"What?" Reborn asked.
"Was Reborn always your name?" Tsuna asked.
"Does it matter?" Reborn countered.
"Well, no, not really, but…" the future Neo Vongola Primo said.
A look crossed Reborn's face and Tsuna immediately felt his stomach clench. When his tutor got that particular look, it never boded well for him. He'd just finished healing from the fights from the Representative Battle of the Rainbow, he didn't really want to go back to the hospital again.
"I'll tell you what, Tsuna," Reborn said, hopping down from his hammock and walking up to the table.
"What?" Tsuna asked warily.
Reborn smiled. "This test of yours will determine whether or not you're held back in second year, right?"
"Y-yes…" Tsuna said slowly.
"If you pass it, I'll answer your question," Reborn said.
Tsuna's eyes went wide. "R-really?"
"Yeah, and if you actually score over eighty, I'll tell you something only two other people and the other Arcobaleno have ever known," he said.
"Over eighty?" Tsuna exclaimed. "That's im…" he cut himself off. "No, I'll give it my best."
Reborn actually smiled. "You have definitely changed, No Good Tsuna, just a little bit."
Tsuna glared at his tutor, but turned to his textbook with a newfound determination. This was going to be hard though…none of the questions in front of him in the practice final made any kind of sense.
"Judaime!"
"Don't shout in the library!" the librarian hissed.
Gokudera's cheeks heated and he ducked his head, mumbling apologies.
"What are you doing here? Weren't you going home after school?" Gokudera asked, hurrying up to Tsuna though he kept his voice down this time.
"It's impossible to study at home right now, my room's a wreck from last night," Tsuna grumbled. "Reborn set off too many bombs and Mom keeps nagging me to clean it. I have something more important to do than that right now."
"Another Family's threatening?" Gokudera immediately growled, dynamite dropping into his hand.
"No!" Tsuna exclaimed in a strangled tone, drawing a disapproving look from the librarian.
"Then what?" Gokudera asked, the dynamite vanishing into his sleeve again.
"Next week's final determines whether or not I get held back, I have to study," Tsuna said, though honestly if it wasn't for that carrot of Reborn actually answering one of his questions he probably wouldn't care nearly so much—there was just some things he wasn't good at.
"Don't worry Judaime, if you get held back I'll stay back too," Gokudera proclaimed.
"Don't be stupid Gokudera, there's no way you're not going to pass this test," Tsuna hissed and then his eyes widened—it hadn't worked out before, but maybe… "Would you help me?"
Gokudera's face lit up in a smile. "Of course! How can I be called your right hand man if I can't help you pass this test?"
Tsuna had a sinking feeling that this probably wouldn't turn out the way he intended, but right now he only had straws to grasp at to keep from drowning.
"Why the hell do I have to help the baseball idiot too?" Gokudera demanded, glaring at Yamamoto across the table in his small apartment. "And why is the stupid woman here?"
"Haru is not stupid," Haru snapped.
Tsuna immediately intervened between Gokudera and Haru, "Please, I really need to get this down," he said. "I need help from everywhere I can get it or I'm going to be held back in second year."
"If Tsuna passes I won't have anyone to take supplemental lessons with, so I figured if I study with him we'll both pass," Yamamoto said with an easy smile.
"Fine," Gokudera said grudgingly.
It was well past nine when Tsuna finally managed to stumble home after making sure Haru got back to her place okay. "I'm home," he said wearily.
"Where were you, Tsuna?" his mother demanded. "You didn't call at all and your room is still an absolute disaster!"
"Maman was about to send me out to look for you after the kids were tucked in," Bianchi said, looking out from the dining room.
"I was at Gokudera's house, studying for my final," Tsuna said.
"You were…studying?" Nana's voice was disbelieving.
"Yes, I was studying," Tsuna said. "I don't have time to clean my room if I want to be a third year in the spring."
Before Nana could say anything else, Tsuna pushed past her and ran up the stairs to his room. He opened the door and stopped in surprise. Fuuta was smoothing the bedspread on his bed and I-Pin was putting books on one of the shelves that had been restored. "You're working hard, Tsuna-nii, we wanted to help," Fuuta said. "Sorry for intruding on your room. We tried to get Lambo to help but…"
The stupid cow was lounged in the corner with an engorged belly and fast asleep mumbling about a candy forest and how no one could have Lambo-san's candy.
"Where's Reborn?" Tsuna asked slowly, noticing the hitman's absence from his usual hammock.
"He said he had some business to take care of and he'd be back later," Fuuta said. "Are you okay, Tsuna-nii?"
"I'm fine, just tired," he said. "I need to finish up a section of questions to go over tomorrow with everyone. Thank you for helping with my room."
"Clean room, clean thought!" I-Pin announced firmly.
Tsuna blinked and tried to figure out what she meant by that and then smiled as he realized that she meant that if his room was clean it'd be easier for him to think.
The kids left soon after and Tsuna went and took a bath then changed into pajamas, startled when Reborn still wasn't back, it was really late compared to the Arcabaleno's usual bedtime. He sat at the table and forced himself through the questions.
Reborn slipped silently into Tsuna's room and couldn't help the smile that curved his lips. Tsuna was slumped over the table, drooling on his textbooks as he slept. Reborn settled a blanket around his student—something he'd never let Tsuna see while he was awake—and glanced over his shoulder at the answer sheet. Fifteen of the twenty answers on the sheet were wrong, but that was four more that he had right compared to the last time.
"Keep it up, Tsuna," he said and hopped into his hammock to rest.
"Tsu-kun you're going to be late!"
His mother's cry jarred Tsuna from sleep and his eyes flew in horror to the alarm clock that hadn't gone off like it was supposed to. "Oh crap!" he exclaimed and sprang up from the table, knocking the papers all over the room.
"Hurry up!" Nana ordered him.
Tsuna got dressed in record time and scrambled to collect all his papers and textbooks, flinging them carelessly into his bag and racing from the room, not noticing as one of the papers fell to the ground.
Tsuna upended his bag on his desk, frantically searching for the English composition he'd worked his ass off on the night before and couldn't find it anywhere in the mess of papers. If he got it turned in, he'd be able to recover at least enough of his English grade so that he could pass that class, his friends had gone over it with a fine tooth comb helping him make sure it all worked together, even if it wasn't the best.
"Sawada, your little brother's here."
Tsuna glanced up in horror at the principal and rose from his chair immediately; all he needed was Lambo to do something overwhelmingly embarrassing to top everything off. He left the room, trying to ignore the snickers from his classmates who remembered his "little brother's" last visit and heard Gokudera snarl something unpleasant that immediately shut them up. To his surprise, it was Fuuta who stood outside waiting for him, wrapped in his usual scarf.
"Tsuna-nii, ranked fifth of 86,202 mafia members in most likely to forget his homework when it's really important," Fuuta giggled.
Tsuna's cheeks heated and he nearly snapped something at the younger kid and then he realized something with shock. "That's the first ranking I've heard you make in…" he trailed off, not wanting to remind Fuuta of the confrontation at Kokuyo Land.
"The ranking planet came out of the clouds last night," Fuuta beamed at him and handed him the paper he was carrying. "I can be useful to Tsuna-nii again."
Tsuna's eyes widened and he dropped to his knees in front of Fuuta and ruffled his hair. "You were always an important person, Fuuta, rankings or no," he said firmly.
A slight blush tinged Fuuta's cheeks and Tsuna heard whispers behind him.
"I didn't know No Good Tsuna had more than one little brother, this one is so cute!"
Tsuna flinched a bit. "Thank you, Fuuta, you'd probably better go before those girls glomp you."
Fuuta eyed the gathering crowd behind Tsuna and nodded slowly. "I think you're right, Tsuna-nii. Mama said we're having Salisbury steak tonight for dinner since you finally got your room done and you're studying, so don't be late."
Tsuna's eyes widened, "But I…"
"We didn't tell Mama we did it," Fuuta grinned. "Bye, Tsuna-nii. See you tonight! Should I ask her to make enough for Gokudera-nii, Yamamoto-nii, & Haru-nee?"
Tsuna thought for a moment and then nodded. "Probably, thank you."
"Good luck, Tsuna-nii!" Fuuta said and raced off where he was met by Bianchi.
Tsuna entered his classroom and carefully ignored his classmates, glancing at Gokudera and Yamamoto and silently promising them an explanation later. "Can I continue class now?" the teacher asked testily.
"Sorry!" Tsuna said and hurried to his desk tripping over nothing and smacking his head on the corner amidst the laughter of his classmates.
"Judaime!" Gokudera gasped and bounced to his feet, knocking his chair backwards.
"I'm fine," Tsuna said faintly, forcing himself up and catching himself on the edge of the desk.
"You may as well go to the infirmary and get that checked," the teacher said. "Yamamoto."
"Okay!" the baseball player exclaimed and ignored the glare focused his direction by Gokudera.
Tsuna sighed and put his paper on the teacher's desk as they made their way out the door.
"What's this?" the teacher demanded.
"My English composition, it was due today, right?" Tsuna asked, suddenly worried he'd screwed up anyway.
"I don't treat men, you'll find the stuff over in that cabinet," Dr. Shamal snorted from his desk when Yamamoto led Tsuna in.
Yamamoto laughed and Tsuna sat on the bed, holding the tissue they'd had to grab from the bathroom on the way to keep the blood from getting into his eye. Yamamoto proved surprisingly deft on getting the bandages into place and he grinned at Tsuna's unspoken question. "The balls hit guys during practice, it's better if we know at least a little first aid," he said as he taped the last bit. "You probably want to lay down for a little while. I'll make sure and write down the assignments."
"Okay," Tsuna said.
He finally escaped at lunch to meet his friends on the roof. "Judaime, are you okay? How could you let that baseball idiot help you? I'm your right hand man!"
Tsuna winced as Gokudera's voice rose and the silver-haired boy looked contrite. "Sorry, Judaime. Are you okay?"
"Yeah, it's just a nasty bump, head wounds bleed a lot," Tsuna mumbled and settled down on the roof with the lunch his mother made him. "We were going to go over that math section again right?"
"Yeah, but you should finish eating first," Gokudera said.
"Let's do both, there probably won't be time otherwise," Tsuna said and the three gathered in closer and pulled out their books.
The rest of the time flew by, Haru having to leave the study group to take care of studying of her own and a cram school about midway through.
"No!" Tsuna whimpered to himself as he stared at the questions and his answer sheet the day of the test. "I just went completely blank…"
His head crashed into his desk drawing giggles from his classmates, but he couldn't even bring himself to care enough to blush. Automatically he fumbled through his pockets and found the omamori charm Kyoko had given him. He felt himself settle and forced himself to lift his head back up and go back to the questions and began to work his way through them.
"Judaime!"
Tsuna glanced up as Gokudera ran towards him, a plastic bag from the convenience store in his hand. Gokudera had been one of the first students to finish his test and had left the classroom long before Tsuna. "Hey," Tsuna said.
Gokudera dipped his hand into the bag and pulled out some bread. "Melon bread?" he asked.
"Ah…thank you," Tsuna said and accepted the bread and being rewarded by a bright smile from Gokudera.
There were days when he just didn't get his silver-haired friend.
Yamamoto emerged a minute later and Gokudera extracted another bun from his bag and tossed it at him without saying a word, a scowl furrowing his brow. Yamamoto caught it and smiled. "Thank you," he said.
"Whatever," Gokudera mumbled.
The three exited the school in silence and Tsuna sighed heavily. "I'm going to get held back, I know it," he mumbled.
"Don't say that, Judaime!" Gokudera said frantically. "You'll make it come true!"
"It is what it is," Tsuna said. "I'm really just 'No Good'."
"Just humor me," Gokudera said. "Superstitions do have a basis of truth you know."
Tsuna couldn't help but laugh. "Fine," he said.
"Well, since we don't have anything else going on, why don't we go to my place?" Yamamoto suggested. "We never finished that game and Dad wants to test out some new recipes."
Gokudera grumbled a bit, but followed anyway.
"No…way…" Tsuna said, his knees giving out beneath him as he stared at the posted scores a few days later.
"Oh no, Tsuna-kun!" Kyoko said. "Did you get held back after all, even after all that studying?"
Tsuna was momentarily blinded by Kyoko's appearance, unable to stop the thought that she looked really cute when she was concerned. "I…" he started.
"I'll stay back in the grade with you," Gokudera said loudly and Tsuna flinched—Gokudera had aced it like usual.
"Congratulations, Tsuna!" Yamamoto exclaimed, the baseball player had actually looked over the scores. "You got a seventy-eight!"
"Seventy-eight…I got a seventy-eight!" Tsuna's voice was disbelieving.
"Congratulations, Judaime!" Gokudera said, his enthusiasm making Tsuna wince just a little bit.
"Too bad, you missed the grand prize by two points, No Good Tsuna," Reborn smirked, appearing out of one of his many hidey holes.
"Grand prize?" Yamamoto inquired.
An unreadable smile curved the toddler's lips.
"What are you going to do when you're too big to fit in those holes, Reborn?" Tsuna asked as he and Reborn walked home after the celebratory dinner at Take Sushi.
"I'll make them bigger," Reborn replied.
They made their way into the house and Tsuna found himself tackled by his mother. "You actually passed, Tsuna!" she exclaimed.
"Mom!" Tsuna protested.
"I'm so proud of you," Nana smiled. "You're going to be a third year, after all. At least you made it that far."
Tsuna managed a weak smile.
Later that night, Tsuna sat at his desk going over one of the papers and looked over at Reborn. "So, about my question…" he said uncertainly.
"You passed, so go ahead and ask," Reborn said. "We'll get you started on studying for High School sooner."
"Hiee…" Tsuna said, stiffening in his chair. "I've still got most of the year to go before I have to worry about that!"
"Better to get started early because if you don't make it into a high school, you're going to have to do something else," Reborn said.
"Like what?" Tsuna asked.
"Who knows," Reborn shrugged.
Tsuna was going to start barraging his tutor with more exclamations and realized that Reborn might be distracting him from asking his question.
"So, was Reborn always your name?" Tsuna asked after a long moment.
"No," the Arcobaleno answered simply.
"Then what was it?" Tsuna asked in spite of himself.
"You didn't get an eighty, Tsuna," the tutor smirked.
"REBORN!"