Angel from the Ashes

Chapter 1: The Red Hooded Stranger and a new Wallflower

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Katekyo Hitman Reborn characters and they belong to their respective owners. I only own the red hooded stranger, Kuhaku Hikaru and her family and Fulton.

The night was cool and windy and the sky was a deep blue, almost fading into black. No clouds were marring the sky tonight. A lone figure in a loose deep red hoodie and ripped jeans walked the deserted streets of Namimori. He pulled his hood down lower so his face, if anyone happened to be around, would be unseen.

He was behaving strangely calm in these late hours. A normal person would have looked really paranoid and would be walking really fast when walking out this late. On the contrary, he seems to be perfectly calm, walking at a leisurely pace as if taking a stroll. It was either that he's really dumb, really good at hiding his nervousness or that he is foolishly brave.

Menacing shadows appeared in the alleys on either side of the street- the local yakuza has come to play.

"Do you know it's dangerous to come out this late at night, little boy?" a menacing looking gangster with dyed neon green hair wearing punk clothing came out of the alley, walking to the lone boy like a wolf stalking its prey.

"Did you run away from home, little boy?" another gangster came out, following the first, mimicking his menacing actions.

Soon the two were joined by ten or so gangsters, all looking intimidating and menacing- clearly with no good intentions. The lone boy in the red hoodie was still but still seemingly calm. He wasn't running away from them or cowering in fear or pleading for mercy like many people would do. Some of the yakuza gangsters were confused at this show of calmness but others didn't care. This boy was their prey tonight.

"Say, why don't you give us your money and we'll leave you with only a few stab wounds?," the gangster with neon green hair asked with mock politeness with a wolfish grin, "What do you say?"

To most of their surprise, the boy answered not in Japanese but English.

"My, my, is this what they call a welcoming party in Japan?", the boy said in a surprisingly smooth and calm voice. Surprising them further, he switched to Japanese, "How rude,"

Both his English and Japanese were fluent. His English with a hint of American twang and his Japanese clearly intonated and said.

"So, you can speak English," the neon green haired gangster said his wolfish grin, "We're so scared. Is that supposed to be a threat?"

The gangsters snickered and some laughed out loud. Even more so surprising, the hooded boy chuckled along with them as if nothing was wrong. Some looked at him strangely. Just who does this guy think he is? He's surrounded by gangsters and he's laughing and acting as if nothing was wrong. Were kids these dumb these days? Perhaps.

"Yes, forgive my incompetence at sounding threatening," the hooded boy said, his choice of words and tone being surprisingly polite and light to these crude gangsters.

"Enough stalling," one of the gangsters said impatiently, "Give us your money or else."

The hooded boy chuckled, "Or else what?"

"Get him, boys," the neon green haired gangster, taking out a switch blade from his leather jacket pocket. The other yakuza gangsters followed suit, taking out weapons like switchblades, knives and steel pipes. These were the kind of gangsters who don't hesitate to kill.

The boy didn't seem fazed- at least from looking at him, his face was still hidden under that hood.

"Yare, yare," the boy said, with a light airy tone, "I guess there's no talking you out of your sins, ne?"

"Sins?" one of the gangsters asked mockingly, "What nonsense are you spitting out?"

"Just get him!"

"You'll regret ever crossing us, boy,"

"Prepare to die,"

Threats were thrown at him as the gangsters closed in. The boy chuckled airily as they did. The boy lifted his hood a bit so that only a fraction of his face was showing. His eyes were impossibly bright and also, a really weird color- gold. The gangsters didn't care about this and continued closing in with their weapons bared-but they should have.

"Repent,"

It was another…somewhat normal day for Tsuna. Except for the fact Reborn had blown him off his bed to wake him up and that Lambo and I-pin and trampled all over his breakfast. At least, there wasn't anymore major fighting after the Ring Conflict.

Tsuna sighed in relief as he went out of his loud house- Lambo and I-pin were still fighting in the kitchen. His stomach growled in hunger but there wasn't much he could do. His breakfast was totally annihilated and he's almost late for school. He'd better hurry otherwise… Otherwise he'd have to face Hibari for being late. He shivered at the thought. He wouldn't want to be beaten up by him- again.

He started jogging at a pace he could handle so that he could reach school on time.

"Juudaime!"

Tsuna turned to see his self-proclaimed right hand man- Gokudera.

"Gokudera-kun!" Tsuna greeted, "Ohayou."

"Ohayou!" Gokudera greeted back, grinning at him, "How lucky for me to bump into Juudaime so early in the morning!"

Sure lucky, Tsuna thought. Gokudera's enthusiasm about him serving him was almost overwhelming but at least, he was nice to him. It's already great that he has friends- unlike before.

"Tsuna-kun!"

Yamamoto appeared around the corner, grinning his grin of his.

"Yo!"

"Ohayou Yamamoto-kun!" Tsuna greeted, smiling.

Yamamoto grinned, putting an arm around Tsuna and Gokudera, "Lucky for all of us to bump into each other in the morning, eh?"

Gokudera flared up at Yamamoto's presence and pushed Yamamoto's arm off them, "Baseball nut! Don't touch me! And you have no right to touch the Juudaime!"

Yamamoto just laughed. Tsuna sweatdropped at the antics of his friends. It was nice that everything was back to normal.

They reached school on time- thankfully. Tsuna sighed in relief as they passed the school gates. He won't be beaten up by Hibari anytime soon.

So the day so far for Tsuna and company was normal. No beatings, no fighting, no Reborn popping up- yet. Reborn hasn't been bothering at school for the past few days- it was only when he got home Reborn would start pummeling him with his revision style- which involved blowing him up when he answered something wrong. It was strange that he didn't bother Tsuna for this long at school but he wasn't complaining. In fact, Tsuna was savoring it- wishing that it would last.

He entered the classroom and took his usual seat next to Gokudera and plopped his briefcase bag under his desk. There was a fair amount of people in the classroom now and he scanned the class for one person- Kyoko-chan.

And there she was talking to her friends at her desk on the other side of the classroom. She looked well.

"Wah…Kyoko-chan looks cute as usual…and she looks happy again today…thank goodness," Tsuna thought happily, smiling.

"Eh? A new transfer student?"

Tsuna's attention switched from Kyoko to another group of girls in front of the class. Transfer student?

"Yeah," one of the girls said excitedly, "I heard from Minato-sensei yesterday after school!"

The girls giggled excitedly at this new piece of information.

"I hope he's a boy!" one of the girls said, "Hopefully we'll have one more cutie to add to our class!"

"Totally!" another girl agreed, "Is he going to be another foreigner?"

"Yeah, Minato-sensei mentioned that as well," the girl who first informed of the coming of the new student said, "But he didn't mention where he's going to be from,"

Foreigner?, Tsuna thought. The last time a foreign transfer came into this class- it was Gokudera. And he happened to be part of the mafia. Maybe this person who was coming is part of the mafia as well. Tsuna really didn't want anymore people from the mafia coming again. Not that the people he knew are in the mafia were bad people…they were just…really weird…and they tend to drag him into all sorts of trouble. Perhaps Reborn has something to do with this new transfer student as well. No, he shouldn't think of that. That would just be…

"Juudaime," Gokudera turned, suddenly looking serious, "Do you think this new guy is involved in the mafia?"

It seemed Gokudera had come to the same conclusion as him but it's not fair to judge the guy without seeing him first. "I don't know. Probably not, Gokudera-kun,"

Hopefully.

"The mafia game again?" Yamamoto-kun said in his usual carefree tone from his desk next to Gokudera.

He STILL thinks the mafia is a game, Tsuna thought.

"The mafia is NOT a game, baseball nut!" Gokudera snapped at him glaring, "Get it through your thick skull!"

Yamamoto just laughed at Gokudera, "Ma, ma, no need to get so fired up about this, Gokudera-kun."

Gokudera just got even more annoyed and started ranting and shouting at him- again.

Then, Minato-sensei walked into the class and Gokudera quit his ranting. Everyone stood up and did the customary greeting and sat back down.

"Ok, now that everyone's settled down, I have an important announcement," Minato-sensei said, "We're going to be having a new student in this class,"

The class buzzed with conversation.

"I told you so!"

"I didn't know that,"

"You weren't listening to me weren't you?"

"Is he going to be a boy?"

"No a girl! We already have a boy transfer student!"

"Ok, quiet down," Minato-sensei said firmly, and everyone quieted down., "Ok, you can come in now,"

The door slid open and a short tanned girl with above shoulder length black hair entered. She wore her uniformly neatly (or maybe it's just because her uniform was brand-new) and seemed to be nervous from the way she was fidgeting with her hands. But the really weird thing about her was her sunglasses. They were really dark and big, covering her eyes entirely and reaching about halfway on her eyebrows.

"Is she blind?"

The same whispers resonated quietly in the classroom; they didn't want her to hear them. Tsuna was thinking the same thing when he saw her sunglasses. Or maybe she's wearing them to look cool? Probably not.

Minato-sensei wrote her name on the blackboard: Kuhaku Hikaru. She most definitely did not look Japanese, more South East Asian than that, but the same could be said for Gokudera. He didn't look Japanese but he has a Japanese name.

"This is Kuhaku Hikaru and she recently moved here to Japan from Hong Kong," Minato-sensei said gesturing to the small tanned girl, "She has a condition with her eyes so please take extra care of her,"

The whispers buzzed around the classroom again.

"So she is blind,"

"Then why isn't she in a special school for the blind then?"

The small girl made an awkward bow as if she was not used to the gesture. What's to be expected? She just moved here to Japan anyway.

"Hi…" she said in a quiet, shaky voice after bowing.

"Can you tell us a bit about yourself, Kuhaku-san?" Minato-sensei asked, urging her.

Tsuna sweared that she winced a bit when he asked her to talk some more. She reminds him of the old him…the old him when he was more commonly known as "Dame-Tsuna". He can sympathize with her. He doesn't like talking in front of a lot of people too.

"Um…I'm Kuhaku Hikaru…I'm 15…" she started shakily.

"Ok, how about hobbies? Anything you like to do? Sports?" Minato-sensei urged on.

This time, he visibly saw her wince.

"I like reading novels…and comics…" she said in her soft voice, "I'm not very good at sports…"

Minato-sensei was finally satisfied with her performance and sent her to sit at the empty seat in the back row. She walked and sat down quickly, not wanting to have people stare at her anymore. The girl looked normal enough and she doesn't look like she's involved in the mafia either. But the same could be said for Fuuta as well… he looked innocent yet he's involved in the mafia.

But for now, she's innocent. To be honest, she didn't look remarkable in any way. It was just the sunglasses that made her stand out but that's about it. She seemed to have achieved the feat of blending in the class on her first day. No one seemed to be too interested in her so she got fewer glances and stares when compared to when Gokudera first came. She was unremarkable. A wallflower. Nothing too good or bad about her. Way too normal.

At least there's one person that's normal for sure, Tsuna thought.

"Did you see the news this morning?"

Hana and Kyoko were chatting in their usual corner of the classroom and Tsuna couldn't help overhearing what they were talking about. He was only half listening to what Gokudera and Yamamoto were talking about.

"No, I haven't," Kyoko said shaking her head, "Why?"

"You better be careful when you go out at night," Hana said in a serious tone, "There's another crazy guy on the lose,"

Another crazy guy? Tsuna looked at his dynamite crazy friend and his baseball obsessed friend who happened to know how to swing swords. Then his mind wandered to Bianchi…who manages to poison his food every now and then…then Lambo and I-pin. Then that pervert of a doctor Shamal… He did not want another so called crazy guy to be in Namimori. He's already had more than his fair share of crazy people.

"Crazy guy?" Kyoko asked worried, "You mean like a stalker?"

"No, even more dangerous," Hana replied her tone getting more serious by the minute, "This guy is in a completely different league. He managed to take down an entire gang by himself and the police are looking for him because they think he's dangerous. I mean, who goes around beating up gangs randomly?"

Hibari that's who. But this doesn't sound like Hibari at all. He only beats them up when gangs had done something to catch his attention. So far, gang activity in Namimori was relatively low, almost nothing had happened. So this guy must be someone different?

"Wow…by himself?" Kyoko said, a bit wowed, "Is he really a bad guy? I mean he did take care of a gang. Isn't that a good thing?"

Tsuna thought the exact opposite. Of course, anyone who beats up a gang doesn't mean he did it for charity. He's definitely dangerous.

"No sensible person would beat up a gang who didn't do anything to them, Kyoko," Hana said, trying to get her point across, "With this guy on the loose, who knows what he'll do next? He might start attacking innocents."

"So who is this guy anyway?" another girl nearby butted in, really curious, "Is he cute?"

Hana scoffed and rolled her eyes, "Seriously, Ai-chan, all you care about is cute guys,"

Ai puffed up her cheeks looking annoyed, "I so do not! But anyways, does this guy have a name? What'd he look like?"

"Even the gangsters who were attacked didn't know what he looked like," Hana answered, reciting what she heard in the news that morning, "The only description about him is that he was wearing a red hoodie with his hood down so his face wasn't seen and judging from his voice, he sounded like a teenager…around 16 or 17."

Ai nodded, not really satisfied with the lack of description.

"Any names?" Ai asked.

"The media gave him one…Robin Hood…"

"That's lame!" Ai exclaimed, "Way too lame!"

Another kid? Another crazy kid on the loose to be precise. Tsuna couldn't help wondering if Reborn had anything to do with this new crazy kid who beats up gangs. It seemed that all the crazy people he knew were young…except for Shamal and Dino.

"It's about time," a smooth voice said, his airy tone a bit annoyed. A black kite (the huge brown bird kind not the toy that you fly around in the wind kind) swooped down from the sky and perched on his shoulder. It was the lone boy with the red hoodie again. He was out in the deserted streets of Namimori, walking as if he doesn't have a care in the world. He was a strange sight with this huge brown bird of prey perched on his shoulder.

"What took you so long, Fulton?" the boy in the red hoodie asked the bird. The bird just gave him what seemed like an annoyed look- if birds could look annoyed. The boy nodded as if the bird had spoken, "Ah turbulence eh? I thought our dear friend Mistletien took care of that."

The kite, name Fulton, flapped his wings as a gesture and gave him another annoyed look. The red hooded boy gave him an amused look, "Oh? News spread fast here. I didn't expect those yakuza people to be tellers if you know what I mean,"

Fulton gave his head a quick peck and dug his talons deeper into the guy's shoulder, this time clearly irritated. The boy continued walking on ignoring his companion's irritation.

"Hey, hey, at least they didn't catch me," the hooded boy said, not fazed by whatever Fulton had 'said', "And what did the news say?"

Fulton bobbed his head and flapped his wings twice and gave him a look. The boy nodded as if he understood everything.

"The police are looking for me and I'm in trouble," the boy said thoughtfully, "Not like that's anything new,"

The bird gave him a hard peck on the head. "Ow, that actually hurt that time."

"And the media's getting lamer," the boy said with an amused chuckle, "They named me 'Robin Hood'. My last title was way better don't you think,"

Fulton made a gesture that seemed like he was rolling his eyes but birds can't do that right? Right?

"But I'll take it," the boy said accepting his new name, "It's not too bad. Robin Hood."

"Hey you kid,"

Robin Hood smirked under his hood. Gangsters seemed to have melted out of the shadows in the alleys and this time they didn't hesitate to take out their weapons.

"My, my, another party?"

"The nighttime vigilante, Robin Hood, has seemed to have struck yet again last night at around 2:30 A.M," the news anchor said, reading from her notes.

The late news was on at the Sawada residence and Reborn was alone watching it. Something had caught his interest.

"Another group of local yakuza members from the Ryuujin Gang has been attacked and all are currently hospitalized due to their injuries- not are fatal and all are in stable condition. Police are currently investigating and finding the real identity of Robin Hood and possibly his whereabouts but unfortunately, even with the last incident's investigation results, the police have not been able to confirm either. Police suspects Robin Hood to be a 16 to 17 year old male- a middle schooler. The police also strongly advises Namimori citizens not to roam the streets at night. In other news…"

Reborn turned of the TV with the remote and sat down on the sofa thoughtfully. A middle schooler who can manage to take on an entire group from the yakuza? Interesting. This Robin Hood guy has just caught his interest… Would he make a good addition to Tsuna's family? Another strong person could further strengthen his current family and it's always good to expand it. But Reborn would have to be the judge of that. He smirked. He'll find out who this guy is- that's for sure.

To be Continued…

Author's Note: This is my first KHR fanfic so please kindly leave comments and reviews… It'll mean a lot to me… =D