"Tsuna! Wake up, sweetie!"
The cheery voice caused Tsuna to instantaneously open his eyes. Due to the overbearing light, however, he had to shut them tight right afterward.
"Come on, Tsuna. Breakfast is ready! You'll need to eat so that you'll be strong enough to get through the school day. You know that, Tsu-kun."
When Tsuna was comfortable enough to raise his eyelids, he was able to catch his mother leave the bedroom and softly close the door. He shifted his head and saw the sun rising above the horizon through the window.
Tsuna yawned loudly, stretching his arms. As he tried to get out of bed, however, he fell onto his face, his nose crunching against the carpet floor. It may have been a common habit of Tsuna's, but that didn't make it any less painful or infuriating.
A loud, obnoxious snore prompted Tsuna to look up at its source.
Ienobu was lying in his own bed, across from Tsuna. His body was spread across the fabrics, his shirt dragged up to expose his belly. He snored blissfully, noisily breathing in and out without a care in the world.
Of course kaasan wouldn't even try to awaken Ienobu.
"Oi," Tsuna poked his brother's side, "get up, Ienobu."
The elder Sawada hit the floor again, this time because Ienobu had involuntarily kicked out his leg before turning to his side. Tsuna's eye twitched.
Just another day in the Sawada household.
Thankfully, it wasn't long before Ienobu woke up, soon after Tsuna poured a glass of cold water over his face. It wasn't something that Tsuna would normally do, but everyone's patience runs out at some point.
Tsuna made sure he jumped four feet back to avoid the whirlwind of shoving limbs. Ienobu rose into a sitting position, panting and spurting out the water that got into his mouth. He snapped his gaze to his brother.
"Aniki," Ienobu shrieked, "why'd you do that?! You know I need my beauty sleep!"
"You get enough sleep as it is, though," Tsuna complained. "Come on, you need to eat breakfast."
"Let me sleep Tsuna." Ienobu tried to lie back down again, but Tsuna grabbed his arm, pulling him off the bed.
"No, you'll just complain about being hungry later and nag Kyoko for her lunch."
Ienobu broke away from Tsuna's grip. "Fine, fine. Let me take a shower. Go eat and save me something good." Before Tsuna could say anything, Ienobu was already on the other side of the door.
Tsuna sighed. What else was there he could do?
Once Tsuna was nearly done eating his morning meal downstairs, his mother approached him with her per-usual smile.
"Oh Tsu-kun," she began pleasantly, "do you want to tell me about this piece of paper I found hidden under your bed?" She held the aforementioned piece in front of Tsuna.
Instantly, Tsuna's tired and relaxed demeanor shifted into a tense, nervous state. His eyes were now wide open. Despite the shivers his body was emitting, he tried to reach out and snatch away the paper.
"It's n-nothing!" Tsuna shrieked, but she held the paper back.
"Now, now Tsuna," her mother chided with a deceptive smile, "I know that you aren't a prodigy or the best at everything, but I expect you to try harder than this." She tapped on the red markings on the paper for emphasis.
"But, but I do try," Tsuna meekly stuttered, giving up on trying to retrieve his failed test. His hands fiddled, unsure what to do with them.
Nana Sawada ignored the offhand comment, flipping the sheet of paper to hover helplessly into her son's hands. She let a fist press onto her hip. "You can live your entire life going nowhere like you are now, or live it happily and striving to be successful at something."
Nana looked at how Tsuna was staring at his crumpled paper, so… fragile.
"I just want you to live life with a smile on your face," she said more somberly, "to say, 'It's great to be alive,' each morning. Is that so hard for you to do?"
She saw Tsuna's lips quiver as he continued to stare down to his feet. As his mother, Nana could fairly easily recognize his telltale expressions and their hidden meanings. This look he gave was a familiar one, the one she often saw when –
"Oi, aniki!"
Almost faster than Nana could comprehend, Tsuna disappeared from her view, the rapid footsteps trailing into the living room. As she turned to watch the front door be slammed closed, she noted how the lunch she packed was missing from the table, along with the half-full bag of bread loaves.
Undeterred, Nana went on to clean up the dining table before readying herself for her day job at the café, doing it all with a smile on her face.
Her sons were blissfully unaware of their mother's wandering thoughts, too imbued in their own conversation and a good deal away from earshot of the Sawada homestead.
Tsuna was in the basic white collared shirt, the ends of his sleeves folded under his wrists. A black tie and vest overlay his torso. He wore black slacks and white shoes. His hands gripped on the strap of his book bag. The breeze fluttered through his hair, the effects magnified as the brunette tried to keep up with his brother's vigorous gait.
Ienobu was dressed in almost the exact same attire as Tsuna. However, he left his sleeves unfolded, albeit wrinkled. The thin blazer tied around his waist, however, was much smoother in comparison. It wavered almost as much his hair. The brown mane was identical to his older twin's, give or take a few centimeters of height. His own book bag lacked a strap, so he simply carried it under his left arm. That arm also bore a particular red and golden band wrapped around it.
"Wait up, Ienobu!" Tsuna called after his brother.
They soon eased into a calmer pace, Ienobu feeding on pieces of bread from the bag under his other arm. He offered one to Tsuna. "Want one?"
Letting out a deep breath, Tsuna shook his head.
Ienobu shrugged and threw the bag over his head. The plastic and its contents bounced off the low wall of a neighbor's backyard and made a mess on the ground.
"Otouto, what are you doing?" Tsuna questioned, whipping his head around. He would have dragged his brother back with him to clean up the litter if not for that dog jumping over the wall and nibbling the bread.
"I was done with it," Ienobu replied, continuing to walk forward and neglecting to face his brother.
"Don't be so careless," Tsuna once more sighed and jogged forward again. "And slow down!"
"You don't want to be late, do you, aniki?"
"Why are you in such a rush?"
Ienobu suddenly tapped his ankles together, swerving his body to face Tsuna. However, he kept on moving, maintaining his faster pace while hopping his feet backwards. He eyed his brother with a patronizing smirk.
"I've got a good feeling today, Tsuna!" The ensuing clap had to have awoken the neighbors. "Don't you have those mornings when you get out of bed and feel like conquering the world?"
"N-No, but I know you do."
"Exactly!"
Another tap of ankles and a 180 degree spin later, Ienobu slowed his pace and began to march steadily, one foot after the other. Tsuna's back sagged alongside his brother's swagger.
"Hey, let's cut class after P.E.!" Ienobu suddenly suggested as they rounded a corner.
"What?" Tsuna flinched. "Why –"
The question could never be finished as Ienobu abruptly fell forward and onto his face, much like how Tsuna often plunged down. This descent, however, was enacted by an outstretched foot exposing itself on the other side of the corner.
"Planning to skip class again, Ienobu?" the foot's owner said in a haughty and reproachful tone. She revealed herself, clad in a black skirt and a buttoned up khaki collared coat with a shirt just like the Sawadas' underneath. Complimenting her was the Namimori Middle School insignia planted on the upper left of her coat, a scarlet bowtie secured around her neck, and long, wavy dark hair.
"Hana-chan," whined the slightly shorter girl accompanying Hana, attired in the same uniform but styled her hair in a shorter brush if golden brown. "You shouldn't trip your friends."
"You know how he gets, Kyoko." Hana folded her arms atop each other, Ienobu doing a handstand before flipping to his feet. "He shouldn't be dragging his brother out to get in trouble with his own antics."
"Nonsense!" Ienobu objected. "If anything, Tsuna would be the person to testify my innocence if the police think I'm trespassing again!"
Kyoko nodded and supported Ienobu's declaration. A simultaneous sigh escaped both Hana and Tsuna, one drained and the other unamused.
"I'm so sorry that you have this buffoon as a twin brother, Tsuna," Hana remarked as the four resumed their promenade.
Tsuna shrugged absentmindedly. "You can't choose your family."
The rest of the walk consisted of the Tsuna and Hana trying to appreciate a quiet morning sunrise with the ardent conversation taking place between Ienobu and Kyoko, mostly chatting about Ryohei's birthday that had passed.
"Tsuna," Hana muttered to the brunette as they walked a few paced from behind their more energetic counterparts, "did you confess to Kyoko-chan yet?"
No response told more than Tsuna could have ever said with words.
"Really, Tsuna," Hana said, unimpressed. She whipped her hair around her shoulder, looking at her only sane male friend, albeit the most cowardly as well. "Even she knows you like her, but she thinks you only look at her the same way your idiot brother does sometimes. Why don't you say something?"
The boy continued to pointedly ignore her. She supposed stupidity and rudeness ran in the family, if she accounted the brief encounters she had with the Sawada matriarch.
"You realize at this rate, Mochida is going to ask Kyoko out first."
Tsuna's upper body recoiled back, his stare snapping to Hana's disappointed expression.
"A relationship between them will never go anywhere," she reassured Tsuna, "but keep putting this off and my money's on Ienobu stealing her heart."
The look of sheer and pure horror on his face brought about such… satisfaction from within Hana.
"Just look at them."
Kyoko and Ienobu each kept one eye on the road and the other eye at each other. Ienobu constantly made erratic hand motions. Kyoko never seemed to stop talking, head hung high and the vibrancy illuminating around her.
The simple mindset of Tsuna's would have immediately assumed the pair was a romantic couple.
"Just trying to lend a helping hand," Kurokawa added. "You should get at least one thing straight in your life, seeing how your grades aren't doing too well."
Tsuna replied with a weary groan.
X
"Tsuna! At one o'clock!"
The warning came a second too late, or perhaps young Tsunayoshi was simply incapable of dodging the incoming ball. Either way, a round red mark was painted over his left cheek, and he faintly heard the coach's call of game over. Tsuna's team lost the dodgeball match.
His teammates' silent comments were broadcasted on every radio channel known to man.
"Lost again, thanks to Dame Tsuna."
"Just our luck Mr. No-Good was placed on our team."
"Always dragging the rest of us down…"
And there were rebuttals to these complaints.
"Don't be so hard on him."
"Just keep Tsuna at the back next time, so he'll be less likely to get hit."
"Sucks at sports, but he ain't a half bad guy, y'know."
Of course, there was the one key statement that ceased all further critique of Tsuna's performance.
"Don't let Ienobu hear you."
Tsuna didn't miss smug expression on his brother's face, his lips curved up at one end.
The two Sawadas were left alone to clean up the gymnasium at the end of class, mops and buckets of water in hand.
"Where's Takeshi?" Ienobu asked Tsuna. "He could lend us a hand! He owes me a favor, anyway."
Tsuna shook his head at his younger sibling. "No, he has baseball practice. We can clean this place ourselves."
"Really?" The sarcasm was apparent in Ienobu's voice. "Because I'm pretty sure that the people who are supposed to clean up the gym is everyone on the losing team!" He shouted into the hallway, their classmates hurrying off. "Yeah, run you little bastards! Just wait till we play street hockey. See who gets their asses handed to them then, huh!"
"Otouto, please."
Tsuna tried to pull him away from the door, but someone unexpectedly ran up to them from the opposite end of the hallway. It was a member of the Namimori Disciplinary Committee, a boy that looked like he should have been a senior in high school with a pompadour haircut and the Committee's armband. Parts of his jacket were torn, and he had a black eye.
"Ienobu-san!" the random prefect exclaimed, nearly slipping on the shiny floor of the gym. "We need your help!"
Ienobu just raised an eyebrow and waited for his nameless coworker to continue.
"I-It's the gang from out of town," he stuttered. "We underestimated their strength. We're outnumbered, and Kusakabe-senpai sent me to get you."
"…Weapons?"
"No gu-guns, all they have are some kendo sticks and switchblades."
Ienobu nodded, twirling the broom in his hand before letting it rest on his shoulder. He turned to Tsuna.
The elder brother felt like he should have said something, do something more than just gaze at Ienobu with pleading eyes, but that was all he did, and Ienobu could only give an apologetic look in response.
"I'll be back before sundown," Ienobu promised with a smile. It was only partly forced, his more feral side exposing itself. He always got excited when he had a job for the Disciplinary Committee. "Don't worry. Those punks will be sorry for cutting into our brotherly bonding."
Then he walked out the door.
It was only a few hours later when Tsuna, back at home having removed his vest and reading his recent manga issue, answered the door bell to Tetsuya Kusakabe.
Kusakabe gave the impression that he was a hulk of a man, dressed similarly to the average prefect but evidently of greater stature and importance. Tsuna rarely interacted with the man, and he did look far older than the average student in Namimori Middle. Nevertheless, Tsuna was guaranteed that he was a person that could be relied on to take care of his brother.
And Tsuna was glad that Kusakabe managed to uphold that promise, as here he was, carrying an unconscious Ienobu on his backside.
"Nothing life threatening," Kusakabe quickly relieved Tsuna as he moved to lay Ienobu on the couch. "We already took care of the injuries he did sustain. Just make sure he doesn't move too much until tomorrow morning."
Ienobu didn't look too worse for wear. His clothes were no more wrinkled than usual, only dirtied up a bit. His jacket was no longer folded around his waist and instead veiled over his body like a blanket. A white bandage was placed directly under his closed eye, and another went behind his right ear to his chin.
"Thank you for bringing him home, Kusakabe-senpai," Tsuna said, pulling up a stool to sit upon and pressing his hand against Ienobu's forehead.
"No problem, Tsunayoshi-san." The second-in-command of the Disciplinary Committee dusted off his hands together. He gave a curt nod to the brothers, though Tsuna did not acknowledge it. "Ienobu will be taking a two, possibly three week leave from his duties in the Committee, starting tomorrow, so please ensure that he does not strain his body."
"Of course." Tsuna retracted his hand and brushed it with his other. He noted that Kusakabe exited the house and kaasan entered the living room, holding some sort of pamphlet, but all Tsuna was focused on was his twin brother.
"Oh Tsu-kun!"
What was Tsuna doing with his life?
"I thought about our talk this morning."
He had very few friends, a mother who played favorites, an absent father, and a brother who would get himself killed one day.
"And I think you need some motivation to get you to smile more often, starting with your grades."
Nana was right. No life goal to strive for and no notable skills to get Tsuna a good job. What kind of job did he even want?
"So, I called for you to get…"
Tsuna needed something, something more. Right now, he's just another no-good scrawny brat with no hopes or dreams. Can he keep living like this? For the rest of his life?
"… a home tutor!"
Tsuna looked up.
"Ciaossu!"
A bipedal baby in a black suit and top hat with curly black side burns jumped atop Ienobu's comatose head.
"… Who are you?" Tsuna asked, rubbing the back of his head with dazed eyes.
"I'm Reborn, the home tutor," the child answered.
That had to be a lie, and yet Tsuna had a hunch this baby was here for a legitimate purpose.
The next thing Tsuna could remember was struggling to get to his knees in his room. He held his gut to suppress the pain and stared at the "home tutor," Reborn, putting together a miniature sniper rifle out of parts from a briefcase. Where did that briefcase come from?
How was this toddler so strong?
"My real job is to make you a Mafia Boss."
"Wh-What?!"
Reborn had a god-awful smiling leer. "I was assigned by the Vongola Family's Ninth Generation Boss to come to Japan and raise you to become the Vongola Decimo. Vongola Nono is getting old and plans to pass on leadership to the Tenth Generation."
"Isn't the mafia Italian?" Tsuna pointed out, recalling the period when Ienobu was obsessed with The Godfather.
"The Vongola Family's first Boss retired early and crossed over to Japan," Reborn explained. "That is your great-great-great-grandfather, so you are part of the Vongola bloodline and a legitimate Boss candidate."
"B-But I've never even hear about this, this Vongola!" Tsuna objected. "Aren't there other candidates?"
The photographs of Nono's sons Reborn presented answered plenty. Tsuna sucked in a deep breath, holding it in.
"What, what about my father?"
The smile on Reborn's face flickered to a flat line, only for a second, or Tsuna was just seeing things. "Iemitsu Sawada is the current leader of CEDEF, an offshoot organization related to the Vongola Famiglia. Within this position, he is no longer an eligible candidate for the tenth boss."
"Then why can't he just quit CEDEF or whatever?"
Two diminutive shoulders almost seemed to shrug. "You were chosen, and my orders from the Ninth are to train you to become a good Boss."
"And what about me?"
Tsuna involuntarily jumped, backing up against his bed. He and Reborn turned to Ienobu, who was leaning against the door frame with a scowl. His jacket was on the floor, having been dropped a few minutes ago.
Reborn's smile and overall assertive posture returned with its consistency as he put away his rifle. "As the elder twin, Dame Tsuna will be trained as the heir. You, Ienobu, will receive some training from me, as you are still a member of the Vongola. We can always use more lieutenants in the field, perhaps even place you in other branches of the Famiglia."
Tsuna bounded up to his feet. "No!" he screamed at the baby assassin. "We aren't mafia, gangsters, or anything like that! We're just regular middle school students, and that's it!" His twin has enough trouble with the law as it is.
Ienobu took a step into the bedroom. "Tsuna –"
Reborn swiftly grasped Ienobu's ankle and Tsuna's wrist. He threw the twins to the end of the room, their bodies hitting the wall just below the window. Tsuna's eyesight became temporarily blurry while Ienobu's head spun from where he sat on his brother's lap.
The child who obviously was not a child turned to leave, mentioning something about being hungry and of his extended residence in the house for the foreseeable future.
"Are you alright, otouto?"
An arm slapped itself at Tsuna's arm. " 'm fine," he mumbled, "but what the hell kind of toddler was that?"
"I," Tsuna gulped, "I don't think that was a regular baby."
"No shit." Ienobu rolled off Tsuna, sitting with his legs crossed. "Does Mama Sawada know about this?"
"She never said anything," Tsuna thought on kaasan's swift acceptance of Reborn's claim of being a home tutor from earlier and ignored the title Ienobu liked to use. "She really believed he was a tutor."
"Well then." Ienobu yawned, scratching his head. "It sure is odd she or otosan never told us that we had Italian blood," he said flatly, stifled, "or that otosan wasn't really a construction worker."
"Maybe they were protecting us?" guessed Tsuna. He just felt so lost, more so than usual. He couldn't tell how exactly Ienobu was feeling. He looked, disturbed, and had his brows lowered with some locks of hair wavering over his eyes.
Ienobu looked outside. Twilight was settling in. "You should go ask our mother. I'm going to head out, need to think."
Setting aside the absolute shock of their mafia heritage, Tsuna prevented Ienobu from leaving, clutching his shoulders. "Stop! Kusakabe-senpai said you needed to rest your body!"
"But aniki," Ienobu whined. He forced himself free to only be knocked into his bed. He groaned into his blanket, dragging a hand through his hair.
"As the brother of a future Mafia Boss, you should listen to his advice," Reborn lectured, having just kicked the side of Ienobu's head. "And you, Dame Tsuna, Nana is calling for you to eat dinner. You should eat, and bring something for Ienobu for later."
As Ienobu tried to make himself comfortable, he said, "Don't call Tsuna that." He was ignored, Reborn tossing Tsuna toward the door.
"Wait a second!" Tsuna screeched, but Ienobu signaled to him with two fingers.
"Shush Tsuna." He met Reborn's deceptively innocent gaze.
"Yes, Ienobu?" the home tutor prompted.
Ienobu grimaced slightly, his eyes narrowing before he voiced his question. "What makes our relation to the first Vongola Boss so special? Why not just get one of your top lieutenants or mafia members to take over, people who are already loyal to the Vongola Nono? Surely they would be better qualified then training two middle-schoolers."
All Reborn gave was a knowing smile. "You'll find out, eventually, if you prove to be good students."
With that, Reborn hopped onto Tsuna's back, pushing him through the door. Ienobu gave a reassuring wave and grin, quietly insisting that he'd be fine.
Once the room was vacant except for Ienobu, he reached into his cell phone. First, he sent a quick text to Kusakabe-senpai, asking for information on this "Vongola Famiglia." Then he went to dial the number of a certain baseball player.
"Takeshi! You home? Oh, I'm fine, and Tsuna's doing alright. Uh, still hasn't confessed yet, last I heard. Anyway, can I talk to your dad?"