Summary: Tsuna is five and has long hair. His mama gathers it up for him in a pretty tail with a pretty hair bow.
(Tsuna likes the bow, it's his favorite.)
Note: pretty much a metaphorical retelling of KHR events using the imagery of Tsuna with long hair. I thought it was going to be like 100-200 words, and, well… it's 1k now. I had a lot of fun with it, I should warn you :D
WARNINGS: Shameless Self-Indulgence, Metaphors, Symbolism, Some Feels, Reminds Me Of 'He Wants, He Knows, He Lives Again', Hair Focus, Hair-Centric (Pffffft), Tsuna's Hair Becomes A Mess, A Lovely Mess, Feels? Feels.
Disclaimer: I don't own KHR.
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Tsuna is five and has long hair. His mama gathers it up for him in a pretty tail with a pretty hair bow.
(Tsuna likes the bow, it's his favorite.)
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Tsuna is five and papa comes home with an old man.
Tsuna's hair slips from the bow, and his papa puts it up in pigtails with rubber hair bands.
(Tsuna doesn't like them; they're tight and they hurt, he can't take them off.)
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Tsuna is five and the other kids pull at his pigtails.
(It hurtsithurtsithurts.)
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Tsuna is thirteen and a baby barges into his life. Reborn pulls at Tsuna's pigtails, takes off the rubber hair bands and puts Tsuna's hair into pigtails again, using elaborate hair bows.
(Tsuna doesn't like them, they're heavy and he can't take them off.)
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Tsuna is thirteen and Gokudera Hayato storms into his life. Gokudera harshly tugs at Tsuna's pigtails-
-before he changes and shyly fixes them for Tsuna, putting fancy decorations on them.
(Tsuna likes them and doesn't; they're pretty but heavy, he's afraid they'll fall to the ground and break.)
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Tsuna is thirteen and Yamamoto Takeshi falls from the roof. Tsuna helps him up and Yamamoto helps him fix his hair. He braids small, pretty things into them while he's at it.
(Tsuna doesn't know what to think about them; they make his hair heavier, but he knows they won't fall.)
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Tsuna is thirteen and Little Lambo makes himself at home. He pulls weird things from his own hair.
Like a bazooka that makes time travel possible.
(Older Lambo chuckles and carefully puts colorful pins in the hair around the base of Tsuna's pigtails.
"You won't get rid of me that easily, Tsuna-nii.")
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Tsuna is thirteen and Sasagawa Ryohei rushes into his life. He invites Tsuna into his club, challenges him for it, and even after being rebuffed, it doesn't deter his enthusiasm.
Ryohei gently takes Tsuna's pigtails in his hands and braids them together, mindful of the decorations, mindful of the heavy hair bows. He braids them together and lets the braid rest against Tsuna's skull.
(He ties its end with a cheerful, yellow band. Tsuna likes it; his head doesn't feel as heavy as it used, what with his hair carefully secured.)
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Tsuna is thirteen and Hibari Kyouya slams into him with a vicious grin.
He thrusts a hair band into Tsuna's hands and walks off, seemingly nonchalant.
(Tsuna puts the hair band on and it keeps his bangs from his face, Tsuna is thankful and doesn't bring it up.)
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Tsuna is thirteen and Rokudo Mukuro levels a blade at his throat.
Mukuro snickers at him, and his fingers flit about Tsuna's hair.
(Tsuna doesn't notice the colorful mess of hair clips until later.)
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Tsuna is fourteen and his father comes home with heavy rings.
He puts the rings in Tsuna's hair.
(He doesn't like them, they're the heaviest yet. He doesn't want them.
They hurt the others too and he wants them to go away.)
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Tsuna is fourteen and Dokuro Chrome kisses his cheek.
(She gently fixes the hair clips Mukuro put in before she walks away. Tsuna lightly touches his hair and smiles.)
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Tsuna is fourteen and Xanxus di Vongola wants the rings in his hair.
Xanxus digs his hands into Tsuna's hair and tugs; he spills Tsuna's hair down in a mess and takes the rings.
(He leaves in the decorations and pins and bands and clips Tsuna's friends gave him. And for that, Tsuna is relieved.)
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Tsuna is fourteen and Xanxus doesn't get to keep the rings.
Tsuna wishes Xanxus did.
(Reborn carefully puts Tsuna's hair up again like it used to be, putting in everything back in its place.)
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Tsuna is fourteen and he finds himself in the future.
He wakes in a coffin littered with sheared brown hair strands and dropped hair decorations.
(Tsuna is scared of what it could mean.)
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Tsuna is fourteen and Byakuran Gesso wants him dead.
Byakuran almost tears Tsuna's hair and Tsuna is scared, Tsuna is angry, Tsuna doesn't want to fight but he has to and so he will.
(Byakuran almost tears Tsuna's hair, almost tears his hair bands, almost destroys his hair clips, and Tsuna will not take it lying down.)
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Tsuna is fifteen and Kozato Enma reminds him of himself.
Enma has pretty hair, Tsuna decides.
(Enma's hair is up in a ponytail; its bows and ties and decorations as heavy as Tsuna's own.)
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Tsuna is fifteen and Enma harshly tugs Tsuna's hair of its confines and lets it fall on Tsuna's shoulders.
(Tsuna cries and wonders why, why, why.)
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Tsuna is fifteen and Enma is sorry.
Enma soothes Tsuna's aching scalp and gently combs his hair. Enma puts Tsuna's hair in a ponytail like his own, carefully and gently putting all of the ties and pins back into Tsuna's hair.
(It's all the same as before, but Tsuna feels lighter, the touch in his hair taking away the pain. Tsuna likes it.)
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Tsuna is fifteen and Reborn needs help.
No one tugs at his hair.
(He should be happy, but he isn't; he knows this isn't the end of it.)
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Tsuna is fifteen and Kawahira wants to put the heaviest hair bow in Tsuna's hair.
Tsuna refuses.
(He refuses, he fights, he looks for an out.
And happily takes a scissor to Kawahira's offered bow.)
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Tsuna is fifteen and Reborn helps him with his hair in the morning, combing it, redoing the ponytail, putting the clips and bows back on.
(And if Reborn uses a black and yellow stripped scrunchie to pull the ponytail up before he puts on the hair bows he brought to Tsuna on his first day in Namimori, then it's his business.)
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Tsuna is fifteen and he has long hair. Reborn gathers it up for him in a heavy tail with a heavy bow-
-and bands and decorations and pins and clips-
-it's heavy but pretty, it's been made pretty.
(Tsuna likes it- all of it. It's his favorite- all of it.)
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End.