Ribbon-Tied Box
By B1ockh3d
It was a late Thursday night, and after three attempts to tie a bow, Tsuna did it.
A silver box, perfectly tied with an orange ribbon. No crinkles, no bulky knots, no kinks, and no uneven spacing.
Tsuna smiled, fawning over his handiwork, and set it next to his backpack on his desk carefully.
He scoped out his room, and made sure no one was around. Nana was out shopping with Reborn, Lambo, I-Pin, and Fuuta. He was certain they were going to be a few hours. Next week was Christmas, after all.
He pumped both his fists in the air, "Yes! I did it!"
Two months prior, he was out shopping with Ryohei, Gokudera, Kyoko, and Haru. After several hours of browsing, Kyoko was stopped and became entranced with a silver necklace in the shape of a cat wrapping its tail around a Rose, with a red crystal in the bud.
"That necklace is sooo adorable!~" Kyoko entranced. Haru leaned in and looked at it closer.
"Yeah! I would want one!" Haru rubbed her cheeks
The price tag hanging off it read ¥5,215 (about $50 USD), and at the time, they couldn't afford it. They had already spent most of the money shopping for gifts for Reborn's birthday, which was only a few days after that shopping trip. They moved on, and forgot about the necklace.
Except Tsuna.
Every time Tsuna visited the shopping center, he would always go to that store on his way out, just to make sure they still had it.
Tsuna saved up part of his allowance money for the last two months to purchase the necklace for Kyoko, which he was able to just yesterday.
He was going to give it to Kyoko tomorrow, because it would be the last time they would see each other until after winter break. She was heading to the Kyoto prefecture of Japan to stay with relatives for the holidays. This gift had to be the epitome of perfect for Kyoko, and Tsuna wasn't going to accept anything less than that. Perfect.
Now relieved of his Herculean task of perfection, Tsuna went downstairs and made himself a sandwich and began cramming for his history final tomorrow. If he didn't pass, Reborn swore he would put him through his method of teaching. And his method of teaching is never, ever good.
Several hours later, after finishing up another article about the Chinese Cultural Revolution, Tsuna became brain-fried and went downstairs for a drink. And discovered that his entourage had returned home.
"Tsuna-San! Play with Lambo-chan!" Lambo begged.
"Eh, not now. I'm busy studying. Afterwards, okay?" Tsuna promised. But the Attention Deficit Cow had already moved on to pestering Fuuta, "O-okay then..."
Tsuna made his way into the kitchen, and saw Nana grabbing the water pitcher from the fridge.
His mother turned around and noticed her son, "Oh! Hello Tsuna!"
"Hello." He greeted back, "Can you leave the water out when you're done?"
Nana poured a glass of water and slid it over to Tsuna.
"Ah- Uh- Thanks!" Tsuna stumbled. Nana smiled, and got another glass out from the cabinet.
Tsuna walked back through the living room and up the stairs, and Reborn was waiting for him on his desk.
"Tsuna, are you done with the Cold War yet?" The baby asked.
Tsuna shook his head, "I still have to do the Korean war…"
"Get to work then!" Reborn kicked his water out of his hands and onto the desk, "No breaks!"
"Ah!" Tsuna quickly, and carefully, picked up the wrapped box, which was within inches of the spilt water, "Reborn! Please don't do that!"
Tsuna grabbed a shirt off one of his shelves and soaked up the mess, while delicately holding the box on the palm of his hand.
"Oi," Reborn pointed at the box, "What is that?"
"E-eh?!" Tsuna blushed, "N-nothing!"
Reborn observed the gift from afar, "What'd you get for Kyoko?"
"W-w-what makes you think it's for Kyoko-chan?!" Tsuna stumbled.
"You've never done such a nice wrapping job." Reborn complimented. "Who else would it be for?"
Wow, a compliment from Reborn? Tsuna thought, then put the gift gently down on a higher shelf, "T-thanks… I gotta work now."
Reborn smiled, then turned serious "Work harder and I won't hide your gift!"
And he left.
Tsuna sat back down, and swiveled towards his notes, which were all now waterlogged. Great…
The next day, Tsuna began walking to school, holding his backpack in front of him, as to not crinkle his precious cargo. Prior to leaving, he put it in another box and stuffed it with newspapers. Perhaps I'm paranoid…
"Jyuudaime!" A familiar voice called out. Gokudera ran up to Tsuna and then matched his walking speed, "Are you okay? Do you need me to carry your bag?"
"I-it's fine, Gokudera-kun." Tsuna promised.
Gokudera regained his posture, "Oh, okay. Are you ready for the last finals?!"
Tsuna groaned, "As ready as I'll ever be…"
"You'll do great, Jyuudaime!" Gokudera grinned in assurance.
I certainly hope so… Tsuna sulked, remembering that half of his notes were destroyed by Reborn kicking his water out of his hand yesterday.
The entire day flew by. His history test? Done. Lunch? Done. Surprise gym test? Failed. Tsuna thought about nothing but the reaction he would receive from Kyoko when giving his gift. They've all ranged from "Please marry me" to "That's sweet and creepy you remembered." And even one reaction from Haru: "Did you get me one too?!"
The bell rang, signifying the day was over. Tsuna slowly put his books back into his bag and most of the class had left when he took the box in his bag out, and then removed the perfectly tied gift out.
It was still pristine.
He sighed in relief, and put his backpack over his shoulder and headed out.
Hopefully I can give this to Kyoko-chan before I meet up with everyone. Tsuna searched. He turned around a corner, towards the school lockers, and caught sight of the lovely brunette walking down the hall towards him.
He quickly put the gift behind his back, and made sure that he wasn't crushing the bow against his backpack.
"Ah- Kyoko-chan!" Tsuna called out. His heart fluttered. I just called out her name! What do I do now? Do I walk up to her? Does she walk up to me? Do I talk? Does she talk?
She looked up at him and smiled, "Tsuna-kun!"
Tsuna instinctively walked over to her, and the two met next to the lockers.
"Hey- uh- hi!" Tsuna stuttered. I'm no-good…
"Did you survive finals?" She casually asked.
"Ah- yup!" he nodded, then let go of his hands, "Ah-I-I-"
"Hm?"
Tsuna clenched his empty hand, and brought the gift out, "I got you a g-gift. F-for Christmas."
She smiled, and took the gift from Tsuna's hands, "Aww… Thank you, Tsuna-kun!"
He breathed out slowly. The ribbon tied box has stayed pristine to this moment. There was nothing around to ruin this perfect gift. Not even Reborn. Just Tsuna, and Kyoko.
She carefully untied the box, and ripped open the wrapping on it. She opened the box and peered in. This was the moment Tsuna has been looking forwards to for nearly two months. Two months! Two months of watching, two months of saving, and two months of keeping it a secret from everyone. It was his gift, and nothing can get in the way of it now.
"It's…" she held the box up awkwardly, "…Empty."
"EHH?!" Tsuna panicked. Oh no! What am I gonna do?!
His patience, his effort, was all gone. Ripped from his hands. In this quest for perfection, did Tsuna skip step one: put the gift inside the box? Did Reborn hide his gift like he said he would? Were they switched at some point with a fake? What happened?
Right then, a locker door slammed into Tsuna's face, causing him to stumble backwards. Inside the locker was none other than Reborn.
"Oh, hi Reborn-san!" Kyoko diverted her attention.
"Ciaossu!" he greeted back, "Tsuna wanted you to have this."
Reborn pulled out a black velvet box from under his hat and handed it to Kyoko. By this time, Tsuna finally came back to all of his senses.
Kyoko opened the velvet box in front of Tsuna, "…Ah!" She pulled the necklace out of the box, "Tsuna-kun, I forgot all about this!"
"Eheh…" he scratched the back of his head, "Do y-you like it?"
"I… Love it. Thank you, Tsuna-kun." She smiled, and handed it to Tsuna, "Can you put it on me?"
Tsuna blushed, and nodded, taking the two ends of the necklace and reaching it around her neck. My hands are too shaky to hook it in!
Through an assumed miracle, he managed to like up the two ends and get them linked to each other, "Ah- I got it!"
Kyoko wrapped her arms around Tsuna, and hugged him tightly, "Thank you, Tsuna-kun.~"
Finally. All his hard work paid off. And he got all he wanted. Thankfulness.
"Kyoko!" A familiar loud voice called, "Are you ready to go?!"
"Onii-chan!" she looked around Tsuna, "I am!" she picked up her stuff, and looked up at Tsuna, "Thank you, I'll see you after break!" And she left.
Tsuna walked around the open locker to Reborn's side, "Th… Thank you Reborn."
"Enjoy it while you can. You failed history and gym." Reborn smiled.
Tsuna sunk the back of his head into the locker he was leaning on, "Ohh noo…"
And there went all his winter plans. But at least he was somewhat happy.
Author's Note:
Hey guys! It's me, B1ockh3d! It has been almost two years since I last rolled any KHR work out, my goodness! I hope you all liked this story though! Especially since I wrote it a year ago but I forgot to post it here and I've been dying to post it but I needed to wait for the Christmas season again but you don't need to know that.
But don't ever think I've abandoned my stories! I've put too much time and effort into them, I'm not going to let them rot away in my head, especially for a series I'm STILL passionate about! But with that being said, it's very unlikely I'll post anything new for a while. A very LONG while. I'm in college now, and I'm just too busy to do what I love. Writing.
But regardless, I'm going to finish my stories. All of them. I'm a man of my word. Even if It takes me 10 years before I find time to do it. They WILL get done!
My flame will never go out.
-B1ockh3d