AN: This is an AU. About the nightclub chain Vongola. Have fun.

Title: Amaretto - Opening
Part: 1/?
Rating: G?
Pairing: Gen
Warnings: AU? Failure of an attempt at serious fic? I seem to have trouble writing non-crack.
Summary: Tsuna finds himself the unwilling and unknowing successor to the foreign nightclub chain Vongola.


Today was a normal day. A normal day in the normal life of a normal first year university student who was going home from school. It just so happens that in this very normal first year's backpack, lay an essay with a mark of 27%. Really, it wasn't so bad. He improved slightly from the first essay. Just because he wasn't as smart as everyone else in the class didn't mean he wasn't a normal student. That being said, he'd been failing his exams ever since middle school, and mysteriously passing his finals even though he knew he failed them all miserably.

That's right. Sawada Tsunayoshi was a failure.

Tsuna turned into a small side street and headed towards one of the gates that most houses had. He headed for the front door, ignoring the daisies that lined his path. He could already feel the bed under him, his soft pillow beneath his head. Home was a relaxing place.

Tsuna entered the house and proceeded to take off his shoes. Or, that's what he should have been doing. Instead, he stood frozen in the doorway with the muzzle of a handgun pressed into his forehead. "HIIIIIIIII!" Even if he was a failure, he was too young to die, right? "So you're Sawada Tsunayoshi. You have a lot to work on." The world seemed to slow down infinitely as Tsuna watched the stranger pull the trigger.

The sound of footsteps sounded from the direction of the kitchen.

"Tsu-kun, is that you? Tsuna's mother walked into the foyer. Upon seeing the situation in front of her, she beamed. "Oh, I see you've met your new home tutor! Well, don't just stand there, Tsu-kun. Sit down and I'll introduce him to you." Tsuna stared aghast as the man tipped his fedora at Nana, while still pointing the gun at him. The gun never fired. He was still alive. And his would-be murderer was going to be his home tutor.

Nana ushered them into the dining room.

Sitting on a chair, Tsuna watched a tiny chameleon lounge on the tutor's fedora, its green bright against the solid black material, as his mother carried on about finally getting a chance to see his grades improve. The man, who looked like he walked out of a mafia movie, was being invited wholeheartedly to live in their house by his mother. Sometimes, his mother was just too generous.

After all the necessary introductions, Tsuna was free to retreat to his room to contemplate the horror that was intruding into his life. He sagged onto his bed and sighed. From the voices carrying through his door, he assumed his mother was showing that tutor to the guest room. The guest room that happened to be right across the hall from his. What was his name, Reborn? What kind of tutor has a name like Reborn? And normal people don't look that shady! No matter how he looked at it, it had to be a scam.

Speaking of scams, that scam of a tutor was standing in front of him. Strange, did his mother already go back downstairs? He hadn't heard his door open either. "Sawada Tsunayoshi. As your home tutor, I will make you into the finest nightclub owner in the world." Tsuna stared at Reborn. "…Huh? What? Is this some kind of a joke-" The tutor tugged on the rim of his fedora. "And we will start your training by making you study for your midterms with your dying will." Tsuna gaped. "What is this nonsense-" The muzzle of Reborn's gun pressed between his eyes. "Understand, Tsuna?" It took too long for the gun to leave his face and disappear back into Reborn's suit jacket.

"You, Tsuna, will be the future owner of the nightclub Vongola. The current owner has decided that you will inherit his business. For your training, you will be placed as the manager of Vongola's newest chain establishment in Japan, effective immediately. It is up to you to staff this new nightclub accordingly and run this joint as you see fit. Of course, if you decide to refuse this inheritance the current owner has so generously given you, you will be sued. And you will definitely lose that lawsuit." Tsuna stared dumbly. "I'm only eighteen! Can't he pick someone who actually has experience? Wait, lawsuit? I've never heard of this nightclub, let alone some inheritance-" Reborn stared down at him. "All the other candidates are in jail. You are the only option the owner has left. This isn't just some regular part-time job, Tsuna. This is your future." Tsuna sat frozen in the sound of footsteps and the closing click of the guest room door.

The rest of the evening consisted of Tsuna trying to convince his mother over dinner that he did not need a home tutor, to no avail, and reading the assigned pages in his books, which he gave up on relatively quickly. As Tsuna lay in bed, he heard the guest room door open and footsteps leaving the room. After watching the minute hand on his clock slide past several painted lines, the footsteps returned and the guest room door closed again. It was dark outside the curtains of his bedroom window.

Kyoko was standing in front of him. She was giving him Valentine's Day chocolates. And then the covers were being ripped off Tsuna's bed. "Ngh… Five more minutes…" Half asleep, Tsuna heard a rustling sound come from somewhere above him. Then there was an eardrum-shattering bang and something whizzed by Tsuna's ear. "HIIIII!" He remembered that there was now a trigger-happy home tutor living in his house. "Re… Reborn? What was that for?" The home tutor tsked. "Hn, I missed." Tsuna gestured wildly at the hole in his pillow. "What do you mean you missed? Why'd you do that? I could've died!" Reborn tucked away his gun and turned to leave. "You really are no good, Tsuna. I expect you to prepare and be down for breakfast in five minutes. Don't be late. I really don't want to waste anymore bullets on you."

He was going to die an early and painful death. That was the predominant thought in Tsuna's head as he trudged down the stairs. "Tsu-kun, what a surprise! You're up earlier than usual!" His mother placed a bowl of rice in front of him. "Only the first day, and we're already seeing results! I should've thought of this earlier." Tsuna sat down at the table and squinted blearily at his breakfast. "Mom…" Yes, whining to his mother at the age of eighteen was going to make his new tutor, however homicidal, see him in a better light. Definitely. Just look at that guy, lounging on that chair like he owns the place, that stupid green lizard on his fedora, and his gun lying there comfortably beside his food and oh god his mother will see it! Nana smiled, "Why, Reborn-san, that's a really nice gun replica you have there. Is it your hobby?" What. The tutor (he must be part of the mafia; he just has to be) glanced at Tsuna. And said, "You could say that. I also enjoy target practice." How could his mother, his own mother, let this man do these things to her only son? "My, such a well-rounded young man. Tsu-kun would do well to learn from you." His mother has been swayed by the devil.

Tsuna ate his breakfast as fast as he could without inhaling his rice. The faster he ate, the faster he could go to school and leave this retardation behind. His chopsticks clacked against the bowl and the chair scraped as he pushed it in. "Mom, I'm leaving!" The front door slammed behind him as he left to catch his bus. Good thing Reborn wasn't with him. He'd probably pull out his gun (where'd he get it, anyway?) and have Tsuna arrested by association. The rest of the bus ride was blissfully filled with thoughts of Kyoko.

Half an hour later, the bus arrived at its destination. Tsuna glanced at his watch. For once, he was on time (he refused to attribute it to Reborn). The university loomed from across the road and he realized he never finished his assigned readings. Oh well. Preparing to cross the road, Tsuna's brain promptly performed a mental shutdown as a group of girls strolled past him. Kyoko-chan, his sweet, adorable Kyoko-chan! His angelic Kyoko-chan! Tsuna was sure he'd died and gone to heaven. "So that's Kyoko, eh?" The girls had crossed the road and the incoming traffic blocked out any sight of them. Tsuna sagged against the lamp post in bliss. "Of course that's Kyoko-chan! She's so pretty… Hiiii! Reborn? Why are you here?" And then promptly got kicked out of heaven and thrown straight into hell.

Reborn adjusted his fedora and surveyed the school. "Don't fall asleep in class today, Tsuna." With that, he walked off. Tsuna stared. Not only was his tutor trigger-happy, he was also a stalker. He sighed. Might as well get today's classes over with.

It was only when he was halfway through his last class did he realize he never told Reborn who Kyoko was.

After nearly an hour of monotone lecturing, the professor ended the class and the rustling of papers transformed into a hubbub of voices as students prepared to leave. Tsuna shoved his notebook in his bag and reached for his pencil case. A piece of paper slid onto the desk as he picked up the case. Unfolding it, he read the contents scrawled on it.

By the time he arrived, the sun was beginning to set. It didn't help that he was nearly waylaid several times by suspicious looking people standing outside various equally suspicious establishments. Tsuna stared. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately. In front of him stood a building in the last stages of construction. The dark gray stucco was nearly black in the setting sun; it seemed to have been applied recently. Beyond the double doors still covered in their plastic wrapping drifted out faint murmurs of conversation. The second floor windows were dark. There was no visible signage that he could see. It was quite an elegant building, if not for the fact that it was situated in the red-light district.

The murmurs within the building faded and one of the double doors swung open. Reborn stood half-turned in the doorway, looking to his side. He exchanged several words with a person standing out of sight, nodded, then stepped out into the street. The door swung shut behind him.

"Tsuna." Reborn placed his hands in his pockets. "I see you didn't get lost. You're not as hopeless as you look." Tsuna wondered briefly if Reborn had made it his goal to demean him at every moment possible. He then wondered if Reborn had just complimented him in a really backhanded way. Indignation surged through him. "You told me to come to the red-light district just to see if I'd get lost? Aren't you a tutor? Shouldn't you be tutoring me instead of going off to shady places like this?" Reborn's impassive eyes stared out from under the rim of his fedora. In the setting sun, he seemed to blend in with the dark building behind him. "Tutoring lesson number one, Tsuna. Know the location of your business. In this case, Vongola is still being built. When it's complete, be sure to have your staff ready." Reborn gave the building a fleeting look. "I'd say you have about a week." He glanced at his wristwatch. "Just in time for dinner. See you at home, Tsuna. Don't get detained."

Tsuna stood rooted to the spot. He glanced frantically from the departing tutor to the building and back again. "My what- What do you mean, my staff? Are you serious? Reborn!"

Reborn didn't give any indication of having heard him.

Tsuna wailed and ran after his tutor.

Nothing was worse than getting lost in the red-light district after dark.


AN: ...Yeah.