A/N: Finally I have arrived with the first chapter of my revision. As you can see, I only put up the first chapter for the revision. To be honest, this is my fault. A lot of things happened and up until recently, I had been unable to write the revision for this fanfic for a long time. I'm really sorry for this but I do plan to send out the future chapters in intervals for about three to four days before I catch up to the Varia arc. This should only take a couple of chapters as I decided to make them longer too. I'm sorry once again and thank you all for your patience.
-Nilani
Chapter 1: Dear Xanxus/Tsunahime
There are a few known wonders in Nanimori that most outsiders know. The first is Hibari Kyoya. The young man is a terror to anyone who happened to break the peace of Nanimori. While young and inexperienced, his battle prowess is undeniable as he is capable to beat up grown men until near death. His methods of keeping the peace is a paradox, he enforces his rules through chaos. The next wonder is Sawada Nana. They call her the angel in the human world. Her kindness and brightness knew no bounds despite having a useless daughter. Next is, Sasagawa Ryohei and Yamamoto Takeshi. Both are gifted athletes in their respected sport, by the time they entered high school their prodigious skills were already well known throughout Japan. On top of their skills, their personalities are also very odd as Ryohei is extremely dedicated to boxing, while Takeshi always seems to smile except when he is concentrated on something. Then there is Yamamoto Tsuyoshi, Takeshi's father and owner of TakeSushi. While not that well known, his restaurant is a humble yet a fairly popular restaurant, it is recommended to try it out as their sushi is phenomenal. Tsuyoshi's skill in the blade when handling sushi makes everyone wonder if he was a skilled swordsman before he opened his shop. Lastly, there's Sawada Tsunayoshi. Unlike the two athletes and her other peers, she is not gifted in anything, in fact her lack of talent was the cause of her brutal bullying in Middle School. Near the end of it, she was expelled before once again entering high school. What had happened to her is left up to the rumors as the girl refuses to speak about it.
Dear Xanxus Rossi,
My name is Sawada Tsunahime, Tsuna for short. Let me tell you one thing, if your the type of person who thinks that this a positive thing kill that thought immediately. This is merely a short trial for this project. No-
Tsuna looked down on the paper and frowned before crumpling the paper up. This sounded too cold. Too cruel. She then looked over to her clock before sighing. 12:00 PM. Midnight. The day before, she was assigned this project and it was only the first week too. As expected, high school was much harsher than she had expected.
"Tsu-chan," A gentle voice shouted from outside of her room, knocking on her door. "Tsu-chan dinner is ready."
"I'm coming mom," Tsuna said before getting up from her seat. She then glanced backwards to her desk which was littered with paper before going out of her room. When she went out, already her eyes were assaulted with a bright light.
"Gah mom tune down the sparkles!" Tsuna screeched, while covering eyes with her hands.
"But Tsu-chan your finally back at school," Tsuna's mother, Nana answered with a teary smile. "My little Tsu-chan is growing up, you even agreed to cut your hair a bit."
"That's only because thick hair can be a pain whenever I shower," Tsuna countered with a distasteful frown.
"And your even staying up all night to finish an assignment."
"It's because It's an easy grade."
"You even made friends with Kyo-chan."
"He's a demon, a demon I tell you!"
Seeing that her mother brushed off what she had said earlier, the brunette shook her head and soon gave up. It was easier that way. There was no fighting with her mother, not when she looked like she had sprouted wings and sparkled like the sun. There was a reason why she was called the Angel of Nanimori after all. Before long though, things had quieted down as only sounds of utensils clinking were the only things heard in the household.
"You have to continue on Tsu-chan," Nana softly said as she took a bite of her own fish. "I know you can do it, Kyo-chan has helped, even Papa is sending you a tutor next year."
"That old man has nothing to do with this," Tsuna replied with a small scowl before letting her features soften. "But I'll do it for you mom, just until highschool.."
"Well that's the deal with Kyo-chan right?" Nana said with a bright smile. "My little Tsu-chan is so dependable."
With no answer, Tsuna simply blushed bright red before looking down at her food.
Dear Xanxus Rossi,
My name is Tsunahime Sawada, Tsuna for short. I am a 16 year old girl that lives in Nanimori, Japan. As you know, I attend Nanimori Highschool as a first year student. My favorite food is Salisbury steak. I don't like small dogs and think they are little devils in disguise. I know that this is a short introduction but this is all I'm willing to share to a complete stranger at the moment. I hope that you understand that there are some things that I cannot share even some of the basic information on the top. I hope that we can get along pretty well.
Sincerely,
Sawada Tsunahime
Tsuna looked down at the letter before finally giving up and putting it on the envelope and sealing it. She then cleared her table of the clutter before leaving her room to go outside to the backyard for a while. Looking up, her lips lifted up slightly into a warm smile as she saw the stars up in the sky. As always the stars shone with such luster that made it impossible for her to take her eyes away from it. Tsuna spent the rest of the night staring upwards before finally going to sleep on the spot.
The next morning was a blurr for Tsuna, she had totally forgotten that she had school that day. Panic set into her system as she started to prepare for school then swallow down at least a bowl of food. She then picked up her letter before putting it in her bag before running out of the door just barely greeting her mother out of the door before coming back into the house to grabbing her forgotten phone then left again.
Unfortunately, by the time she came there, the gate was already closed and the brunette was greeted with the familiar sight of the school prefect in front of it. Inwardly her panic meter had risen once again.
"H-hellow Hibari-sempai," Tsuna stuttered with a small shaky smile, slowly backing away from the guy himself.
"Herbivore," Hibari said with a distasteful scowl on his face. "Your late and on top of that trying to run away away."
Tsuna squeaked in fear before quickly running away from him, only to be hit on the back of the head with a tossed tonfa. In the windows of the classrooms, the students who were watching, inwardly shook their heads as the brunette grabbed the back of her head in pain. Before their eyes widened at the sight of the brunette shouting at Hibari like it was the most normal thing in the world. Meanwhile within the scene itself.
"What the hell Hibari you devil!" Tsuna shouted him, throwing the tonfa he had tossed to her back over to him. The prefect simply caught it before looking boredly at Tsuna before turning around and opening the iron gate. Tsuna froze for that moment before scowling, a memory sprung from her mind. The same situation happened a year ago if she had recalled though this time it was on a different location and for different reasons.
"Thanks," Tsuna muttered softly before entering the gates and heading to her classroom. She ignored the stares and whispers of her peers around her as she quickened her pace.
Dear Tsunahime Sawada,
My name is Xanxus Rossi, a 27 year old man that owns a company in Italy. My company is actually part of a bigger company here in Italy. As such, I don't think it will be appropriate to tell you the rest as much of it is a company secret. I enjoy meat in general as well as alcohol to go along with that. I understand that you might not be comfortable sharing some basic information with me so I won't ask. You seem to be interesting though, so I will have to ask if you like anything else so we can start there.
Sincerely,
Xanxus Rossi
It took three hours for Timoteo to get the terms "brat," "trash," and "shitty project" out of the letter, he now produced the final product towards Xanxus, who read it before burning it once again.
"Fuck this shit," he said before leaving his office.
"No wait Xanxus!" Timoteo said, going after his stubborn son. Xanxus simply quickened his pace no bothering to look back as well as ignoring the shouts of the old man shouting his name. He didn't know why he had agreed to this. He just got out of his ice prison a week ago and woke up to see his old man and his three brothers all looking at him. It pissed him off.
Taking out his X-guns, he shot his wrath flames at the nearest wall, blowing it into flaming smithereens before going out from it. He then went out, leaving a bewildering trail behind him. From behind him, Timoteo paled at the thought of the cost of the repair and paperwork that needed to be done before shaking himself back to reality and going after his adopted be honest, what he was asking Xanxus was something that wasn't in his place to even ask for. After all it was him who had sealed Xanxus away in Ice then unsealed him again.
"Xanxus what I'm asking you," Timoteo shouted over to his son as he followed him. "I know it's unreasonable and unfair of me."
"You fucking sealed me in Ice old man," Xanxus shouted without ever looking back. "Then you unsealed me again before telling me to participate in this shit of a project."
"It was for a friend," Timoteo replied. "But please understand, this is not only for your sake but for the Varia's as well."
Xanxus froze before turning around upon hearing the word, Varia, before scowling and signaling his old man to continue. The ninth boss simply smiled warmly as he stopped before continuing on.
"Today Enrico was nearly killed in an assassination attempt," Timoteo calmly said. "While he is fine, almost everyone in the family pointed the assassination attempt to you."
"What the hell," Xanxus interrupted. "How the hell did they even point it to me anyways? If the Varia was to assassinate that shit, there would be no evidence leading it back to us in the first place."
"That's what I had said, of course without calling my own son that, but they didn't listen. They insist that it is still you as the place that Enrico was nearly killed in was nearly impossible for a regular assassin to come in and kill him."
"So they blame me, well fuck, so you think this project will help prove my innocence or something?"
"Partly, I will announce to them that this project is to help you recover from your time in the ice which will hopefully let them figure out that you're still not capable enough to order the Varia into action."
"This is stupid."
Timoteo simply chuckled before nodding, understanding that it was indeed stupid.
"Fine," Xanxus finally said, before crossing his arms. "I'll join in this shit of a project but only because the one I'm writing to seems to be okay. Just be sure to capture the real culprit though."
"Alright it's a deal then," The ninth Vongola boss said with glee in his tone before holding out his hand to signal a handshake. The Varia boss himself huffed before taking the old man's hand and shaking it, though it was brief, he could feel their flames temporarily harmonizing as if to signal the proof of the deal.
"Now to re-write that letter from earlier," Timoteo happily chirped before leaving the shocked Xanxus on his own.
"Oi old man come back!" Xanxus shouted angrily. "I said I didn't approve of that shit of a letter!"
Dear Xanxus Rossi,
Thank you for the compliment, though I don't really think much of it, it is really nice of you. I don't have that much interests but I do like my family. You see my I live with my mom at the moment, my dad is out of the country though to be honest I don't like how he rarely visits. How about you?
Sincerely,
Sawada Tsunahime
"It's been a couple of days since we started this project and I'm sure that some of you are exited about your pen pals," the english teacher said with a warm smile. "That's why we'll use the remaining class time to improve on your English as you write the letters."
Within the class, there seemed to be relief before he heard the screeching of seats and tables being moved around. Though it wasn't his intention, the man excused it as it seems that many were already starting with their letters right away. In the far back, a certain brunette was on her own but seemed to be focused on writing her letter. On top of that his students seemed to be talking about their pen pals which certainly is a delight to hear about it.
"Yeah my pen pal is a cool guy," he heard on of his students say to her friends. "He works part time at a cafe in America."
"Mine's from America too," another in that same group spoke up. "She likes manga though and apparently is learning Japanese as well."
"Man your lucky," Another student spoke up with a shrug. "My pen pal doesn't like manga and the only thing that we could agree on was movies."
"Well that's still good," the english teacher spoke up, making the students in the talking group jump slightly. "As long as you have a common ground then there's no need to get nervous around that person. "Sawada, how about you?"
The brunette seemed flinch and nervously looked up from her paper.
"I-I'm so-sorry what is it Teacher?" Tsuna asked, the man inwardly grimaced. This person was the reason why he had made the pen pal project in the first place. No it wasn't Tsuna's fault, it was mostly the entire town's fault. She was being bullied because of her uselessness and the fact that they had never given her a second chance.
"Who's you're pen pal?" the english teacher asked, ignoring the rather shocked stares from his other students.
"A-ah he's an Italian," Tsuna replied softly yet hesitantly. "He said that he owns a company there, he seems nice."
The man himself paused at the keywords "Italian" and "owns a company" before trying to connect that to the people who he knew. There were a few Italians that he knew joined the program though only one person came into mind when she said those words.
"Umn What's his name?" The english teacher asked hesitantly, wanting to confirm it himself.
"Rossi Xanxus," Tsuna said, looking a bit confused. "I thought you knew which ones we were assigned to."
Dear mother of…The english teacher thought as he paled slightly. The girl that he was trying to help ended up being paired with that person.
"Do you know him teacher?" One of his students asked him.
"Know him is an understatement," he replied with a small distasteful frown. "If you ever feel like being antagonized you have to tell me Sawada, that man that you are writing to…he's not the friendliest person on the planet."
The brunette looked at him in shock before nodding slowly, uncertainty in her eyes. It was enough for the english teacher though as he relaxed a bit before wandering out of the classroom to call a friend of his. Taking out his phone, he dialed his friend's number before waiting a few seconds to have the man himself answer. He didn't see the brunette student frown slightly as she looked down at her written paper before starting a new one.
Dear Xanxus Rossi,
I don't have many interests except caring for the wellbeing of my mother. You see my dad is out of the country because of work and rarely visits us. Honestly, I couldn't care less about him but I know my mom still loves him. How about your family? Also I am wondering if you know my english teacher, he's the one that started this pen pal project along with another person. When I mentioned to him about you, he seemed to think that you are a bad person. Are you really?
Sincerely,
Sawada Tsunahime
Dear Tsunahime Sawada,
Oh I know him. He used to be such a wuss, though I did hear him with my old man talking about this project to help a student of his though so he's not that bad. To be honest, I don't care what you think of me. At the end of the day, this is still a project, so kid, if you have any problems with that then I'll gladly take you on it. As for family, I have a dad and three brothers. They're not blood related so their a pain in the ass sometimes.
Sincerely,
Xanxus Rossi
Timoteo, the ninth boss of Vongola raised his imaginary white flag into the air as he realized what his son had just did. To be honest, he expected Xanxus to eventually get tired of the censoring and use some sort of way to make him stop. What he didn't expect though was that his own son actually negotiated with him. From what he could guess, Xanxus came to the conclusion that burning everything isn't going to solve everything. To be honest, that made him proud of his own son too. Thus after a long discussion and a shit ton of broken bottles and glass, both agreed to mildly censor Xanxus' colorful vocabulary.
Dear Xanxus Rossi,
I don't have any problems Mr. Rossi. I'm glad that I could have that guilt off my chest. I never did plan to take this thing seriously though I wish I could have siblings too. I'm the only child and it gets kinda lonely. On the other side of that, I could see how siblings could be a problem. By the way, the way your letter format changed is amazing, did someone censor your stuff?
Sincerely,
Sawada Tsunahime
It's been a few weeks since Nana had seen off her daughter on her first day in highschool. To be quite honest, she was worried at first but after a while, she noticed that Tsuna was in a slightly better mood than she had been in years. When she had asked, her daughter had revealed the pen pal project. A project assigned by her English teacher to improve their English as well as widen their perspective in the world. In that instant, Nana' mind seemed to punish her with thoughts of "why didn't you try that in the first place?" but then moved on to complimenting the teacher for figuring it out first. With this hope shining on her and Tsuna. Nana, continued to wait until the day she would see her daughter smile with joy once again.
Dear Tsunahime Sawada,
I'm surprised you guessed that, looks like I didn't get a complete idiot in this project. My old man censored some of my cursing at first until he gave up. As you can tell, I curse a lot. Not really a kid friendly thing to do but what the hell. I can curse as long as I don't make you uncomfortable as said in the fucking rules. Though you are taking this thing pretty well, I like that. Also call me Xanxus, Mr. Rossi make me sound like a stuck-up fucker with no mind at all.
Sincerely,
Xanxus Rossi
Dear Xanxus Rossi,
Wow, that's a lot of fucks in one letter. I guess you do give a lot of fucks about a ton of stuff. Ahem, I should shut up. Ah right, it seems that my english teacher saw your letter in class today. While it is amusing to see his face turn red and blue from shock, can you lay it off a bit? This guy is actually nicer than the other teachers here in this cursed school. As such, I want him alive and kind of well. Also call me Tsuna too if you want me to call you Xanxus.
Sincerely,
Sawada Tsunahime
Dear Tsunahime Sawada,
Shit I almost wish that I was there to see his face though you do have a point. It wouldn't be entertaining if he died because of a heart attack. Alright I'll tone it down a bit but I'm not making any promises. By the way, has anyone told you that 'Tsuna' sounds like a boy's name? I figured some girls would have a problem with that. By the way, here's my current picture. A lot of people say I look younger than what my age is but they don't give two fucks about my life.
Sincerely,
Xanxus Rossi
Xanxus had to do a bit of asking and sneaking to get the picture. Once his father found out though, he was ecstatic and told him to pick up the picture in his huge ass book he had somehow produced out of nowhere. Upon seeing it's contents, Xanxus swore to one day find a chance to burn the book. There were too many embarrassing pictures, too many regrets that he did. Once picking out a decent yet recent picture, he left and went off to send the picture along with the letter that he had written.
Dear Xanxus,
If you shorten it to tsu-chan like my mom does then it sounds like a girl's name. Though to be honest, I just want to be called by that despite how much it sounds like a boy's name as my classmates call me by a much more worse nickname. I also see what they mean when you look younger than you're actual age. I also sent mine too, though I don't know how my mom got it. Parents are pretty weird. Does your dad keep a huge book of photos too? I just recently found out that my mom has about two volumes of it though I plan to hide them though since some of them are embarrassing.
Sincerely,
Tsuna
Looking down at the picture of her pen pal, Tsuna couldn't help but smile and chuckle. This was the same man who was her teacher's friend. This spiky haired, ruby red eyed, scar face man. She didn't get it how her meek faced teacher ever befriended a guy like him. Leaving the picture next to her letter, the brunette left her room to look for her mother, who happened to be in the kitchen cooking. After a few minutes of talking then walking to her mother's room. Nana produced a thick book that she had called her documentary of Tsu-chan. After looking inside Tsuna quickly paled. In it were embarrassing pictures that made her cringe to this day. In her mind, she was already thinking up a way to hide this huge book so when her mother would look for it to show to her 'father' she wouldn't get to see him fawning over his 'tuna-fish.' Flitting the thought away for the moment, Tsuna did pick out a recent picture of her before going back to her room and sending the letter as well as her picture.
Dear Tsuna,
Your mother too huh. I thought my old man was odd but it must be something about parents. Even if you're a 27 year old man that has a job, they seem to have a hobby of taking pictures as much as they can. I also recently found out that my old man has been keeping these huge ass books too. He has about three for me and my brothers. After I left, my idiotic brothers surrounded me and started to baby me like I'm some kid. Apparently they know of my old man's hobby too and are freaked out by it. But enough about that, what's with the bandages on your arms in the picture?
Sincerely,
Xanxus
"I don't get why the fuck you three are here," Xanxus said as he glanced back to his three older brothers, who were looking from behind him as he opened his letter from Tsuna and took a look at the picture. It had only been a week since they had confronted him about their father's 'hobby.' Now here they were bugging him about his pen pal.
"She looks cute," Enrico noted with a grin. "You don't get to see brown haired Japanese that often, she must be half-Japanese then."
"Man Xanxus she looks like someone who would run off if they saw your glaring face," Massimo added.
"Guys knock it off I'm as surprised to see that the person that Xanxus tolerated to even write to is very innocent looking I thought that kid would be some sort of punk in a gang," Fredrico reprimanded his older brothers. "Xanxus ignore the-oh hey what's with the bandages on her arms?"
Silent and wary of their conversation, Xanxus looked closer to see what Fredrico was talking about. As his older brother had said, there was indeed bandages on her arms. It was odd to see them though as Xanxus concluded that Tsuna was the quiet type who, once opened up to other people is more talkative.
"I'll ask her," Xanxus murmured before taking out a blank piece of paper from her desk.
"Whoa, who is this person?" Fredrico asked with a gasp. "What have they done with our pissy little brother?"
"Shut the fuck up Fredrico,"Xanxus growled.
"He's back!" Massimo teased as a slow grin overtook his face.
"Fuck you too Massimo," Xanxus hissed.
In that instant, the three older brothers howled in laughter before continuing to tease Xanxus. Xanxus himself lasted only a few second before hehis X-guns and started to shoot at the three who dared to disturb his peace. Yet for some reason, a stupid grin was growing on his face and before long the four brothers were lying on the floor, exhausted.
"It's been a while since we were together like this," Fredrico noted softly.
"Yeah me too,"Enrico agreed. "Tomorrow, I have to prepare for my flight to America. I wish I could stay here."
"Fuck you Enrico you just want to mess with me," Xanxus said, which resulted in a weak laugh from the man.
"Xanxus I don't wanna go back to my villa," Massimo whined. "Can you let me stay here for the night?"
"Same," Fredrico chimed in.
"Me too,"Enrico said, perking up slightly.
"If you get the fuck out the next day," Xanxus said after a moment's worth of silence and thinking. Without even a second though, the four brothers just fell asleep on the floor, now even too tired to get up and go to bed.
Dear Xanxus,
Ah those bandages were from my hiking trip the day before this picture was taken. You see, an acquaintance of mine dragged me out of town to see the scenery. Being the clumsy one, I kind of fell and got my arms injured. Thankfully they were minor. By the way your brothers sound like interesting people. I honestly am creeped out too by my mother's hobby but she's the most nicest person you would meet so it's not that big of a problem. Also it's been a month since this project has started, I honestly didn't expect enjoying myself when I wrote to you. Xanxus you are an interesting person. You are funny, mature, and sometimes can be a bit of a jerk but I like that. I hope this continues until the day this program ends.
Sincerely,
Tsuna
Tsunahime finally managed to wake up early and walk to school like a normal student. For a rare moment in her life, she hummed a simple tune as she walked to school. She didn't even notice the odd stares that people were giving her as she walked to school nor did she care. At that moment, Tsunahime was happy. Happy that there was a person like Xanxus who is her pen pal. Glad of the the sunny weather. Heck, she was even glad that she was going to school that day.
Dear Tsuna,
You look like a clumsy kid in that picture but I don't really care. Usually I get pissy around a lot of people and my temper can backfire on me but when I'm writing to you I feel calm. I think it's because I kind of enjoy these things too but we have a lot of time so let's save the mush for later when we get near the end of this project.
Sincerely,
Xanxus
For the first time in the Varia mansion, things were pretty quiet and it's because of one man. Xanxus, who usually was awake at that time usually made some sort of noise. When Squalo and Levi didn't hear that, they got worried and checked up on their boss only to see him hunched over his desk and writing something. Already the trash bin beside him was nearly full with crumpled balls of paper, some of them half burnt. It was then that all things went down the drain as both Squalo and Levi were unable to move. Their boss was doing something other than paperwork with little noise.
Meanwhile the man himself finally finished with his letter before standing up and stretching. After hearing the satisfying cracks of his bones, the Varia boss turned around only to see a group standing behind the door and staring at him like he was some sort of alien from outer space. Needless to say, he was annoyed by this and sent them all away with his X-guns.
Dear Xanxus,
You are right, mush is for later. By the way thanks. Usually when people call me clumsy it's for more evil reasons. Actually you're the first person to actually not really care about flaws, though maybe it is because I'm wiritng to you. Either way, I am just happy to write to you.
Sincerely,
Tsuna
Thus, this concludes the first year of highschool. The project that the english teacher had started ended up being so popular that it was continued to be used the next year after that. 90% of the students who participated in the project ended up continuing to write to their pen pals, some of them via e-mail. Tsuna was one of those people as her past year with Xanxus had ended up being her most enjoyable one. Once again though as the Cherry trees bloomed, another school year resumes.
