The Dragon of the Vongola: Boss
Childhood: Part One
October 11
Time: 9:58 p.m.
"Ugh! Hah, hah, haaaaaaaaaa-."
"A little bit more, Nana!"
A brief moment of silence, and then:
"WAAH!"
A piercing cry rang through the night as a baby was removed from his mother's warm stomach and into the cold hospital room. On the hospital bed covered in light blue sheets lays a woman with shoulder-length brown hair who was clutching her stomach in relief. Her doe-brown eyes glimmered with hope, love, and happiness even though her body screamed of exhaustion and fatigue.
Thirty minutes later, the doctor and the midwife came back with a clean and quiet bundle wrapped in a blue blanket.
"Nana Sawada and Iemitsu Sawada, I present to you your healthy baby boy," the blonde midwife stated presenting the blue bundle.
Iemitsu held out his arms intending to take the baby first, but was ignored as the midwife walked to Nana's bed, placing the newborn into her arms. Choking back a sob, the woman held out her arms encompassing the baby boy into her warm bosom.
The baby opened his eyes revealing large brown eyes- like his mother's. Nana cooed at him clutching his pale hand gently in hers. Happy, she looked towards Iemitsu who was looking at his newborn son with amazement and love.
"What should his name be, Papa?"
It only took a minute for him to respond. A wide grin spread across his face as he did so.
"Tuna; My sweet tuna fish- err, Tsuna." He restated nervously under the heavy glare of both Nana and the midwife.
"Tsunayoshi Sawada, from his grandfather," stated Nana smiling sweetly.
The doctor nodded writing the name on his clipboard. However, unlike other occupants in the room, he wore a grim smile; his eyes crinkled in thought.
"Everything seems to be in order with Tsunayoshi-kun," he began looking up from his clipboard. "However, he seems to have quite the unusual birthmark. A golden sun," he explained showing the parents the picture. "It may just be uncolored skin spots that have not begun to fill in. Your son is unnaturally pale for his age; but other than that, he seems fine. Please take care of him, Mr. and Mrs. Sawada."
Both Nana and Iemitsu nodded, focusing on the baby in Nana's arms.
October 11
Six Years Later
9:58 p.m.
Hurts.
Mommy… Papa…help
Hurts
The now six year old boy writhed on his bed, his face flushed red in pain. The nails on his hands had elongated into pitch black sharp claws sending drops of blood on to the floor. His body convulsed in pain as sharp tipped but camouflaged scales peeled his normally smooth and unblemished skin; a strange appendage was growing from his tailbone.
It was a miracle that no one had woken up. The young child had been sent to his grandparent's house after his papa had taken mama out on a vacation cruise. His Obaa-san was nice. She had given him a stuffed animal in the form of a dragon! It was gold with burnt orange colored eyes. Oddly enough, it had no wings like the dragons in his coloring books, but that didn't matter to Tsuna.
Tsuna whimpered again, feeling his teeth beginning to sharpen and grow with his head, which was growing larger and wider by the second. Overwhelmed by the pain, young Tsuna finally welcomed the black abyss; leaving his body to change in the light of the full moon.
The stuffed dragon lye innocently on the floor, its amber eyes glinting in the moonlight.
The next morning, Nana's mother had awoken feeling more vibrant than she had in years! Normally, this would be an occasion to celebrate; however, that was not the case.
Careful to not wake her husband, the woman hoisted herself out of bed and into her nephew's room. With a grim expression upon her face, she prayed to the Celestial Dragon of Heaven, Kami, whoever would listen to her that her grandson had not received the curse.
Her prayers went unanswered.
With a loud THUMP, the woman went on to her knees and began to cry, because in the bed was not her adorable fluffy brown headed grandson, but an eight foot long dragon. Not just any dragon, but a Celestial Dragon! His scales were a mix between light and dark brown, his tail and paws being the only solidly colored appendage- tan. His paws had five thick and tan webbed fingers which accompanied his spiky sepia colored ruff. The wings on his body (which had to expand to at least twelve feet) were covered with burnt orange colored spirals that extended to the tip of his tail. He was gorgeous.
The dragon itself began to shrink thirty minutes later as the clock struck 9:58 a.m. back into the human Tsunayoshi. This only made the old woman cry harder. It took another twenty-five minutes for her to calm down, and that was only because she knew that she hadn't had much time left.
Mustering whatever courage and sanity she had left, the grandmother went inside the room, kneeling down beside the bed to stroke her grandson's cheek. "I am very sorry, Tsunayoshi. I have failed you as your grandmother, and I hope dearly that you can forgive me for what I have passed on to you."
With one last kiss on the little one's cheek, the old woman went back upstairs to her awaiting husband. The grandfather, seeing a severely somber face on his wife, began to ask what was wrong but was halted by a shake of her head. He didn't question her again.
Young Tsuna's week was then filled with stories of the different types of Chinese dragons and what each of them did as well as the ranking of all of the dragons all the way up to the important Celestial beings.
On his last day, Tsuna's grandmother sat him on her lap. The grandson looked up eagerly, wanting to hear another story on dragons- the Grandmother chuckled.
"I have no story for you today, little one," she began. Tsuna pouted, but relaxed into her soft hold. "I do have a present for you though."
Aware of the large eyes filled with curiosity directed straight at her, the old woman reached around her neck and untied a key attached to a purple string. The key itself was a dull bronze color made out of brass like any other key. What made this one different was the density and end shape. The key was about three inches thick with a triangle for the head. No, it wasn't a normal key at all; this key was used to open something unique and special. With a small sigh, the woman draped the key over her grandson's neck and retied the string allowing just enough room to breathe but not enough to remove.
"Tsunayoshi, promise me something before I pass on from this world." The brown haired child nodded, wondering why his Grandmother had such a sad look on her face. "Never take off that key, ever. That, and don't give up. It can't rain forever, it needs to stop at some point and let the sun shine through. Do you understand, Tsunayoshi?" Slightly scared at her serious tone, Tsuna nodded.
"I promise." And he meant it.
"The key that is wrapped around your neck, is your entire future," the woman continued leaning back into her chair. "Everything you need to know, your goal in life, what friends you'll make, who not to make your allies, can be unlocked with this key. Plus," the Grandmother chuckled, her hand falling to rest on the armrest. "That is now your last gift from me. Do use this knowledge…wisely…Tsunayoshi."
Pale chubby hands clutched the key in fascination, watching it sparkle in the remaining sunlight before tucking it into his shirt. "Thank you, Grandmother." The old woman gave another tired sigh, her eyelids closing on involuntarily. "Don't thank me…Tsunayoshi, for I have done nothing good for you at all."
Not knowing what else to do, the brunette climbed off his slumbering grandmother's lap and went back to coloring in his dragon coloring book.
The next day, Tsuna's Grandmother died at the age of eighty-four due to old age. Her husband died two days later due to depression.
A week after her father had died; Nana Sawada entered the former home of her parents with red eyes and a sniffle. Everything had been cleaned out, from the furniture to the multiple pictures hanging on the walls. It took everything she had not to burst into tears like she had the previous weeks. A man in a black suit with red lining met her at the front door. Nana's parents had left her with all of their money, their pictures, and their car (for when Tsuna was old enough to drive). In addition to all of this, her mother had left her the trunk in the attic, just for her son, Tsuna.
She could remember going into the attic when she was a child and looking at the strange triangular lock with no key. Of course, her mother had said that the key was lost forever, but she hadn't believed that at all. The trunk wouldn't be there if the key wasn't, would it?
"Thank you for doing this," Nana thanked the man with a warm smile. The man stumbled over his words as he offered to help carry the packed boxes of memories out to her car.
"No, no, you're already doing too much!" With a small chuckle, Nana hoisted the trunk up with her own two hands walked down the stairs, and placed it into her open trunk. "Phew, that was lighter than I thought it would be," she chuckled.
With one thing finished, all she had to retrieve were the boxes of picture and photo albums; and she would be on her way to pick up Tsuna.
One Year Later
October 12
2:57 a.m.
It had happened again, this time whiskers had grown on to his muzzle. He had learned how to tolerate the pain from each transformation ever since he was four; now he was a natural- a natural born freak. None of the kids in his kindergarten had scales, or sharpened teeth. He was the only one there. His Mama had laughed when he had told her that he was a dragon- simply pushing blaming it on his own imagination. She hadn't seen the pointy scales that lined up to look like skin, and he hadn't had time to point out his sharpened teeth before she shooed him away.
So he had kept to himself.
Nobody had even attempted to befriend him except a pretty orange haired girl with round hazel eyes. She had smelt like flowers- the nice ones that his mother had called tulips- and cinnamon. Unfortunately, a brown haired girl with a mean looking expression on her face dragged her away mumbling something about "weak monkeys".
(Tsuna had later learned that her name was Kyoko and her friend's name was Hana.)
She had smelt strangely of dogwood and roses.
A spiky black haired kid with a large grin smelt of rain water and earth. Tsuna wanted to bask in it and never leave because it was so comfortable just being in his presence. Once again, the boy was popular. So he was dragged away from Tsuna, leaving no one left for him.
(His name was Yamamoto Takeshi, and his father made delicious sushi.)
When it was show-and-tell day, Tsuna had practically burst with energy. The six year old had kissed his mother on the cheek, grabbed the bento box and his stuffed dragon (recently named Kin), and raced out the front door. It had taken five minutes less than usual to get to school and Tsuna was out of breath- but it was all worth it.
I'm going to make a friend today! Nothing could go wrong! We'll tell secrets, and play house, and come over to each other's houses…
Anxiously, the fluffy brown haired ball of sunshine waited eagerly until the clock struck one p.m. All of the kindergarteners retrieved their items from their cubby holes and returned to their desks.
Tsuna's hand shot straight into the air like a rocket when the teacher asked who had wanted to go first. She had laughed and backed away toward her desk. Nervously, the brunette strode to the front of the class aware of twenty pairs of eyes following his movements.
"Ano…My name is Sawada Tsunayoshi," he began, looking through his fluffy brown bangs. They all stared back at him with curious eyes, so he continued on.
"This is Kin, my stuffed dragon. He is only four years old and was given to me by my Obaa-san when I was two." Tsuna placed the dragon in front of his chest and waved its golden paw. Most of his classmates waved back, and that was the end of the presentation.
Contrary to belief, Tsuna did not have any admirers of Kin who were looking forward to talking to him, nor did he have any hybrid classmates like him. Therefore, Tsuna spent the rest of his day alone.
Sniffling to himself, Tsuna pulled out his triangular shaped key he had gotten from his grandmother, wishing more than anything that he knew what it unlocked. Maybe it unlocked a pirate's chest, or a diary of somebody famous. That would be amazing!
"The key that is wrapped around your neck, is your entire future," the woman continued leaning back into her chair. "Everything you need to know, your goal in life, what friends you'll make, who not to make your allies, can be unlocked with this key."
His eyes widened. His fate resided with the key, but where was it? What did he have to unlock to find his future?
He had looked everywhere, including his parents' bedroom, but could not find and triangle-shaped locks. It was frustrating!
"If you could just give me a hint," Tsuna whispered to the key, "then maybe I could return you to your rightful lock."
As if it could hear his thoughts, the key pulsed twice, exciting Tsuna. "Wow! Okay…ano, point me to your lock, please!"
It stayed silent. Tsuna hummed in thought stroking the top of the key. The key pulses twice more and started to heat up. The child's eyes lit up in recognition. In a book his mother had read to him, an orb had grown hotter and hotter every time the character moved closer to the treasure and grown colder when the character moved farther away.
Excited, he hopped off the bed and raced out the door careful not to wake his mother in the other room. The key grew warmer in his hand. Tsuna took a left, backtracked, and then went right when the key grew colder. Eventually, his travels had led towards a small wooden door in the middle of the wall. The brunette shivered in anticipation.
Creak
Creak
Creak
Groan
…
Creak
One step, two steps…red steps, blue steps. Tsuna giggled at his own joke as he climbed all the way up to the attic. A small purple chest lined with black stripes sat innocently on the floor. His heart soared noticing the lock's odd engraving: a triangle. As silent and quick as a mouse, the brunette scampered towards the chest and inserted the key into the lock. It fit. A small click later and he was holding on to a fairly old brown leather journal. To Tsuna it seemed to glow brightly in an orange light. He thought it to be just right -an orange book for an orange dragon.
The clock chimed twice snapping him out of his daze. The chest was then closed and locked with the same small click, the journal pressed tightly against his chest as he raced down the steps.
Thud
He winced, hearing the attic door close louder than he intended. In less than two minutes, the brunette was in his room hidden underneath the covers with a large smile on his face. "Happy Birthday to me."
I've gotten this idea from Mistress Tyche who has been waiting very patiently for me to post this story. Thank you very much for the inspiration and I will have the second chapter up when I update Team Japan now that I know people are interested in it.
Azusa Mukami