Well, Thank you, No, Really
They always taunted him, he, Sawada Tsunayoshi, but he never listened. When they punched him in the gut and made his everyday life a misery, he ignored it.
A tragedy, that's what his life was to them.
Why?
Did he care in the first place?
His Mother didn't care about him. She ignored his very existence and instead catered to his brother. His brother who was younger than him by a year absolutely hated him. He was surprised; they even remember his name and still consider him as a family. Though, with upturned mouths like he didn't matter.
Did they matter to him?
Pain, was his best friend.
Of course, as a child, he would feel lonely, because why didn't Mama, Nana love him? Where was Papa, Iemitsu? Why did Otouto hate him? Why can't they play again? So many questions his old child-self asked.
Then he stopped asking.
He became too numb and empty. Like a shell, forgetting his bright self.
In Junior High, he became known as Dame-Tsuna because he's so useless.
"No, I'm not. I know I'm not."
Did he care?
No. Not a damn about it.
He swam in the sea of networks. He became emerged in Hacking. In truth, he was more intelligent than his younger brother. He just didn't feel the need to show off. He started accumulating money by hacking for information that mafia families wanted. It was dangerous, he knew, but he hid his tracks and it was clean. He was safe.
At least now, he didn't need to ask for money and get meager pieces of coins.
Through his first year in middle school, he drowned in words. He loved reading books. It was his only positive friend to shield him from his other, negative friends called pain, loneliness, sadness and abandonment.
Books filled his clean room. His mother couldn't care less for him so there was only a bed, a cabinet and a small table on the floor. The only thing his father left for him was the laptop with an external drive. The books lined themselves on a corner. It raged from classics to teen fiction, he didn't care; he just wanted to occupy his mind.
Eventually, he disappeared. He learned to divert people's attention from himself and his family just forgot about him. It was bad.
But he didn't care.
His room was untouched, no one opened it, and no one bothered to.
People from his school forgot he existed, carefully going through the crowd and disappeared. Teachers just called his name and marked him present, then eventually forgetting him the rest of the day. Dame-Tsuna did not exist. Neither did Sawada Tsunayoshi.
He still lived in his house but his mother didn't cook him breakfast or call him for dinner. Only calling her perfect son to come down and eat. Tsuna just got down and went straight to school. The school population didn't bother with him anymore and he just did his best to keep his grades on average.
Then on second year of his Junior High, the fact that his father worked in the mafia surfaced. Of course, he knew. He was a Hacker; he knew the insides of the mafia but didn't show it. A baby, Arcobaleno went to tutor his brother. The baby was a curious being. He has the body of a baby but didn't seem to think like a baby at all.
Tsuna just ignored him.
The Arcobaleno didn't bother with him either, just telling him about the mafia with his brother then that's it, he seemed to always forget him anyway.
It was really easy to erase any trace of rivalry with his brother.
He just disappeared out of the picture and no one wondered why.
Then his brother confessed to Sasagawa Kyoko in his boxers. He looked at the scene impassively and turned away.
A kendo captain challenged him in a fight for Kyoko.
"Wow, just, wow. A round of applause because I don't care."
He looked at the fight and knew the Arcobaleno was involved in his brother's sudden strength.
He knew the Disciplinary Committee would not stand this and looked across the gym to see Hibari Kyoya in a corner. He noted the look of pure blood lust in his eyes and continued his merry way.
His brother won.
"Wow. Congratulations! You won with your boxers on!"
A transfer student from Italy, mmhm, it smelled mafia.
He challenged his brother.
His brother won.
The challenger is a lost puppy. Isn't that great?
Then his brother said something stupid to the fake Yamamoto Takeshi.
"His smile is fake."
Yamamoto Takeshi almost committed suicide.
His Brother saved him. Hooray.
Then other people came barging in the house like the kid in cow print suit and the Chinese girl.
"Well," Tsuna thought. "It's time to move out. They will need the extra room and I want to get away from all those craziness."
So he moved out. His mother and brother with his tutor didn't even notice it. His room that was filled with books was now empty and bare save for the original furniture's.
He moved to a small apartment in Tokyo, and left entirely for good. He enrolled in another school and sustained himself by writing articles and translating articles, novels and mangas into English online. He left all the hacking in Namimori.
The mafia didn't need anything from him anyway
Five years have passed, he is now a first year student in college and again, he just moved with the flow of everything and still drowned in words.
Their school allowed them to work in part-time jobs and he worked as a part-time assistant editor in a nearby publishing house.
He was content with his life, going to school, editing books and reading books. He didn't want to be bothered by mafia anymore.
Not until mafia came knocking at his door.
It was a Thursday night, one of the days where he didn't have school but he had an editor job. So he came home with his dinner in a plastic bag in the cold autumn breeze behind his back. He's having a small feast for the success of that book; thankfully, he wasn't allowed to drink so he wasn't invited in the celebration.
He fished his keys from his bag and went inside. He took a shower and went to cook his small feast and ate it. He was going about his nightly routines before going to bed when he heard a knock.
Odd.
Who would visit him at 11 in the Evening?
Still, he opened the door slightly, not taking the chains off.
"Who is it?"
The man looked eerily familiar; he had black hair and sad but warm brown eyes.
"This is the house of Sawada Tsunayoshi, isn't it?"
Cautiously, Tsuna looked around the man and saw a… child?
"Yes, what do you want?" He was blunt but hell, he doesn't care.
The child spoke to him with a mature voice, "We are friends of you brother, we want to talk with you."
Brother?
The one who seemed to hate his guts and ignored his existence? The one who's got their parents attention? The one who is the mafia boss though, technically, he's the oldest?
Oh, yeah. He remembers now.
This probably got something to do with mafia but none the less, his intuition told him to let them inside.
Once they have settled in the small circular table of Tsuna's small apartment, silence became thicker than anything else.
Wow. This is awkward.
"So, do you want to tea or coffee?"
"Coffee would be fine." The man answered while the child remained quiet.
Tsuna stood up to make it. He came back with three cups of black coffee, sugar and creamer on the side.
The two mixed their coffee to their liking while Tsuna silently watched them as he sipped his black coffee.
Once they were finished, he put his coffee down and asked the question he had in mind.
"So, what do you want to say to me about my Brother?"
"Your Brother is dead." The child said bluntly, his fedora shadowing his eyes.
"Oh." What?
"He was killed in a feud."
Okay. What am I supposed to feel now?
Tsuna didn't know what he was feeling, maybe a bit sad but he was entirely indifferent.
The two watched the Brother of the one they served and searched for some kind of emotion, whatever it is. Some sadness or pain but no, he just looked impassive as if this piece of information was irrelevant.
And that's it, the man, who was the same age as Tsuna, Yamamoto Takeshi, slammed his fist on the table.
Now, don't break anything, I'm just a poor student.
"Do you even care that your Brother died?! That-that-"
"Yamamoto." The child warned the man. Yamamoto seemed to relax and he slumped slightly.
"Your Brother was very important to a lot of people in the mafia."
Okay, so what am I supposed to do with that?
"And… since, the Decimo is now dead, the only living candidate is you."
Oh, wow.
Tsuna remained silent and just stared at them.
The child, Reborn, tried to read his emotions but couldn't.
"If I don't take that throne, what will happen to the mafia?" The candidate finally answered.
He didn't hesitate to answer, "It would be torn apart and fall."
On the inside, Tsuna was frowning and raising his eyebrow, on the outside; his face is very impassive.
Does this kid have any emotions? An unbidden thought from Reborn.
"All of the things your Brother had, the Guardians, the power, the authority, everything will belong to you." Reborn watched Tsuna with calculating eyes.
When suddenly, Tsuna sighed and looked at them, showing expressive but unreadable eyes.
"So, I'm just going to step-up and take the throne like a substitute because the original is dead."
His visitor's eyes widened.
"No-"
"Don't try to cover it up. You see, mafia came knocking on his life and look at where he is now." He said that in a very casual voice, it was scary.
"And then you want me to take over because no one's going to."
"You have a point but-"
"Look, let's all be honest, I bet my father, the Young Lion of Vongola said that my brother is the eldest."
"Yes but how did you know that?"
"Yes well, it was a guess, because in all things, being the eldest counts that you take over the family. It's an ancient common sense but guess what? I'm the eldest."
The two looked at him in shock. "Well, well, looks like the cats' out of the bag." The candidate looked at them amusedly.
"You could ask him, he's so easy to read in the first place." He continued as if daring them.
"And NO," he said firmly. "I will not take that throne. I'm content where I am, with what I'm doing. No one cared about me in the first place. The mafia didn't care about me for five years. So why should I?"
He went to the door and opened it, "Get out."
A firm stare got them walking towards the door and outside of it. "I'd like to say it was nice seeing you after a long time, except it weren't."
"And a warning, if I may, if any of you come to my University or Work, I'm going to castrate all of you. Good bye and don't come back~" The door closed.
Reborn knew; the one they ignored, the one they put aside, will make the mafia strive. Why didn't anyone see this?
But no, it seems it will be hard to persuade the candidate.
They stood there for a long time, staring at the door and wondering how they're going to report this to the aging Ninth Boss of Vongola.
Well, only time will tell what happens; at least mafia will become a bit more interesting.
Author's Note: So, yeah. Hope you like Ignored Tsuna turned into Sassy Tsuna. It's been a long time and I was feeling very Bitchy when I wrote that. Hahaha. Please do review. Though, this could continue if you want. It all depends on my mood after all. If I get lots of reviews about the continuation then... i might think about. If I don't then Okay. If I get bad comments then Okay as well. So yeah. I'll leave this here.