Chapter 2 - An Empire's Birth

Time passed and no one really remembered Dame Tsuna, just insulting him when they passed off reflex and went on with their day. Tsuna didn't bother anyone and never spoke in class, fading into the background of everyday life for the students. His grades remained awful as the child just did not care to do well on the test, that and he found that he still had some issues focusing. It wasn't to the body's extent thanks to the mind mastery Potter had, but it made focusing for more than an hour on subjects he had no care a difficult chore. That and Potter already knew everything public schools offered as he did go to college off and on after Hogwarts.

The king trained constantly in his spare time, working on his magic in private and working out with increasingly difficult exercises to condition his body. By the end of his body's twelfth year, he had gained a reasonable strength and endurance of a soldier along with the scarring of a rebel king. The latter was expected, but he didn't fully understand how he became as powerful as he did physically.

He experimented of course, as an unknown with the body wasn't a good thing, but in the following months, he found it was not magic, or magic he knew, and it wasn't steroids due to him cooking everything himself. It was a mystery that bugged him, but ultimately, he did not have the needed information to begin to examine why it was.

The child wore loose clothing that hid his body from all to see. The more major facial scars were hidden under makeup so not to stand out in school. He barely made it into middle school and was barely passing as it was.

On his thirteenth birthday, he finished cooking dinner for his mother, whom he had grown to think of as his real mother. He would never forget or stop loving Lily, or his idea of her, but Nana was real and there for him. The woman was lovely and pure to a fault, making liking her an incredibly easy task. She was a bit absent-minded, but she had her heart in the right place and wanted what's best for Tsuna. When the food was plated, he went out to have his two hour long workout at five in the morning.

He left like usual before his mother woke up and headed off to school. As he walked with his head down, short hair fluttering in the breeze after he had cut it himself, he heard a small cry of terror from a female sounding voice. The king's head didn't react to the sound, but he did wander to the side towards the origin of the sound. His earbuds now dangling at the collar of his shirt.

Rounding a corner, he saw a brunette girl, Kyoko Sasagawa, being pulled to an alley by a bunch of high schoolers. They didn't notice him approaching silently as they dragged the girl into the alley, all muttering something about a bastard learning not to mess with them.

Tsuna quietly advanced, taking his hands from his pockets. A roar took his notice as a figure jetted around the corner, sliding at full speed across the concrete. The boy noted it was an upperclassman, Ryohei, the girl's brother.

Behind him came two other running after him with bats, screaming for him to give up. Tsuna watched them advance and slowly raised his hand, pointing into the alley next to him where he saw the kidnappers go. The white-haired youth, fifteen at least, nodded as he darted around the corner. Tsuna stepped past the alley at the approaching teenagers and as they tried to get past him, he lashed out.

For the first time in Tsuna's body's life, he went on the offensive and crushed one of the teenager's noses, aided by him running into the punch and the strength his smaller form held. As he fell, Tsuna ducked the other's haphazard swing. His hand sweeped down, picking up the downed one's own weapon, another bat made of aluminium, before swinging it to the side. It gave a satisfying ting as it struck flesh, fracturing the attacking one's left knee. The teenager went down with a scream of pain.

Tsuna glanced at him before straightening up, putting the bat on his shoulders. Replacing his earbuds into his ears as he had all the targets lined up now, the brunet walked into the alley and saw Kyoko's brother giving as good if not better than what he got while fighting the three older boys. Kyoko was to the side, covering her mouth and crying at the sight of her brother fighting so fiercely against her attackers.

"Oh my lord, if you can hear~," Tsuna hummed out as he approached, eyes focused intensely for the first time in years on something. His small voice drew the teenagers' attention as they shoved Ryohei back to get room. "There's a man that you fear, and its coming your way as a gunner~," his lips curled as everyone turned to face his stalking form, the bat lowering from his shoulder.

The boy didn't say a word as he stopped next to the older, bleeding, boy. The five people all stared at the new addition before they all flinched when they heard the wailing at the entrance of the alley. A snicker escaped Tsuna's lips just before he took a hard step forward, swinging the bat right into one of the teenager's arms, not wanting to kill him after all.

He went down screaming from his fractured bone as Ryohei took that as his queue to pounce forward and take down one of the others as Tsuna spun with the bat, taking a step to add his whole body behind the swing and slammed the top of the bat into the remaining teenager's stomach, bringing him down to his knees.

The bat slowly lowered as the now thirteen year old checked on his upperclassman to see him finished off the third teen with an impressive one-two combo, driving him to the ground. A wheezing cough drew the brunet's attention and with an uninterested eye, Tsuna took a step forward with one foot, bring the other one up to slam the toe of his sneaker into the winded boy's nose, breaking it, and knocking the foolish teen on his back.

The teens were now all crying on the ground from their various injuries, leaving a panting Ryohei with a deep wound next to his left eye, a sniffing Kyoko that was staring at her brother with worry, and a bored looking Tsuna spinning the dented bat around his hand. The brunet looked down at the girl as he took the needed steps to get into range and offered his free, blood covered hand to help her up, giving a kind smile even with the crimson splattered on his body.

She hesitantly took it and Tsuna lifted her up. "Take your brother to an infirmary, darling," Tsuna whispered in her ear as he stepped past her. The bat clattered on the ground as he released it and made his way out of the alley.

"That was EXTREME!" The boy heard Ryohei yell as he normally did, bringing a smile to the teen's face. The music still blaring in his ears, Tsuna made his way to the school, the little detour not causing him to be late in the least.

He put the thought of any consequences of his actions out of his mind. Not legal, but social. No one would believe the pair in thinking the loser of the school could fight like he could. When he found his seat in the back corner, he used a little magic to clean his hand and pants of the blood on it, so there was nothing that showed he was in any fight.

He was wrong to think this. The moment lunch came around, Kyoko grabbed his arm as he went to go to leave the class and wordlessly pulled him to the side where she and her friend, Hana. The latter scowling as the brunet was forced to sit next to them by her friend. "Hello," he sighed out as he looked at the two.

"Thank you for helping my brother!" Kyoko started with, grabbing Tsuna's one exposed hand.

The boy glanced at the hand and the girl holding it without much care. "What are you talking about?" He asked with a frown. "I didn't even know you had a brother," he lied expertly through his teeth.

"Wha-" Kyoko gasped, looking at Tsuna's maroon eyes. "No! You were there this morning! You help brother with those meanies that tried to hurt him! You talked to me!" Tsuna didn't react in the least.

He took a breath and leaned forward a bit, eyes dead on Kyoko's. "I didn't help your brother fight off those upperclassmen," he said under his breath, quiet enough the girl and the one next to him barely caught the words. "I didn't break anyone's bones and I didn't see anything. You didn't see me there either. Your brother was able to take out the five of them alone," he told her in a no nonsense voice. "Goodbye, darling," he muttered out as he got up with a nod of his head. "Have a lovely day."

On that note, he walked out of the room and outside where he rested until the next class begun.

Tsuna thought that was it. The next day, Kyoko forced him to eat lunch with her and Hana, but didn't mention the fight again. Hana was a bit annoyed with his being there, but suffered through it as Tsuna barely spoke to them, focused on his meal and music. But he thought that would be the most that happened.

Then, one day a few months later, Ryohei ran up to him out of nowhere. "Extreme comrade!" He yelled out as he grabbed the startled Tsuna by the shoulders. "There is a group of bullies beating up a student! Come on!" He pulled Tsuna after him and the younger teen didn't get a chance to say anything before he was literally thrown into the thick of things.

Not one to never be ready for a brawl, he recovered quickly and started slinging out lightning fast punches and grapples to take down the three bullies in front of him with the older fighter backing him up, taking three others.

Two were taken down for the count, both from Tsuna's brutal fighting while the other four quickly fled, nursing their wounds with their tails between their legs. The victim of the bully had quickly fled during the brief scuffle, not that Tsuna really minded.

Ryohei was bleeding from his nose once more, but it was a simple nosebleed, nothing broken. He turned and grinned at Tsuna who smirked up at him before slapping him on the arm as a farewell, walking off to get to class. Fast approaching feet drew the boy's attention and he glanced to his side where Ryohei was walking.

"Would you extremely join the boxing team?!" Ryohei asked with a passionate fire in his eyes.

Tsuna glanced around and saw no one around, so he answered, "No." The teen deflated a bit. "My fighting is too dangerous for the ring and I might hurt someone badly."

"Then… Will you like to team up to protect this school?!" He loudly asked, hand landing on Tsuna's shoulder, drawing him to a halt.

Tsuna blinked and shrugged. "If you can find me, I'll help you break up things."

This was the first mistake in the king's new life. Agreeing to aid a manic boxer in vigilante justice.

Every day, he'd sit with Kyoko due to her all but demanding it, much to the school's jealousy and Ryohei would join the pair to bug Tsuna about joining the boxing team to which the answer never changed. The teenage king was amused and even began to enjoy being around the group.

Hana's hate for boys flaring up whenever a male, not known through Kyoko, tried to initiate a conversation or even breath around her. The little amount Tsuna spoke, didn't cause the girl to get annoyed as she normally would. Kyoko's naive innocent nature scolding her brother for his obsession with fighting in underwear and with oven mitts. A hilarious description of boxing that horrified the brother. Lastly the intensely passionate brother that loved fighting for the sake of fighting and found hunting bullies a fun pass time. It reminded the former king of his time as a child back in Hogwarts. Less violent though.

The pair cleaned up the bullying problem quickly, Tsuna always the boxer's much more dangerous shadow no one ever expected to be with the fighter. He would direct the boy in a fight and the teen would immediately follow through with the order.

Soon, the bullying problem was gone, so they set out to take care of the crime issues of the town, always careful not to step on the toes of the local yakuza gang, Rubitaigasu. Ryohei didn't understand the care that Tsuna took, why he'd allow some people to get away with some crimes, even after the teen explained what the people were. A criminal was a criminal to him, so he didn't want to use any care, just take them down.

Rubitaigasu were a dangerous small time gang. From the reconnaissance that Tsuna was starting, they were approximately thirty strong and hung out in the poor district of the town. They controlled the protection racket of the town and were small time drug dealers. Arguably, their territory was pathetic, but they controlled the town. The power hungry teen wanted their operation as his, but knew he didn't have the firepower as of yet.

Ryohei was ready to raid their base the moment Tsuna spoke of them as they patrolled around the town, but Tsuna expressed his concern for doing that. "They are not a powerful gang, no political clout, no police in their pockets, nothing to get them off. Small time and probably don't even have the connection for firearms. But they have numbers on their side and we are but two teenagers."

"Then… why not extremely recruit Hibari-san!" He cried out excitedly, forcing a frown on his companion's face.

"Because when they fall, I take over their operations and men, get rid of the drugs, but keep the protection racket open," Tsuna admitted grimly, startling the man next to him. "Force them to patrol the territory under my control for crime, help out the town while bringing in some money while doing it. Hibari-san is a lunatic that wouldn't be satisfied until they are all bleeding at his feet."

"Why?" the boxer asked. "That doesn't seem too extreme, Tsuna."

"Because if you want to stop the more serious crime in this town past children preying on children, we will need men and power behind us," He informed the teen next to him darkly as they walked around. "Neither which happens if in our power grab, a lunatic breaks the entire gang I wish to control." He placed one earbud into his left ear as he walked around the sparsely filled street, the boxer to his right. "This is my town and I don't like the idea that my mother is in any semblance of danger."

"Same with my sister," the teen next to Tsuna quietly noted. "So… how do you think we go about this?"

Tsuna explained in a bored tone, "Beat them senseless and tell them their new place. When they rebel later, we repeat the same thing again, offering no quarters and break some bones of the more strong willed. When they go down, we will have the manpower to make sure this town is protected. So for now, we train harder, learn how to fight better, and teach you to understand the proper way to fight against knives. In time, we will get them off the street."

The teen next to him sounded receptive to the idea now there was an attack plan in the works and so for the next nine months, that was what they did. Tsuna increased his training regime greatly, doing dangerous hikes in the wilderness with Ryohei to get practical muscles, and started sparring with the blond in the ring, both using their preferred fighting method. Ryohei loses more than wins due to Tsuna's brutality, but he was getting away from boxing solely and learning kickboxing on the side, strengthening his legs. Tsuna used conjured dull knives and taught the boxer how to fight with a blade, stating when his sister was in danger, you don't play by rules anymore.

The teen was a born fighter, that was clear to Tsuna. He would never be a knife fighter, but that wasn't the point behind the training. He could control a knife fight and that would be enough. Get the man to take up some martial arts, some military fighting styles, and even old American boxing, then the teen would be unstoppable in a street fight.

In the dead of winter, the two teenagers walked the streets toward where Tsuna knew the yakuza gang hung out. Ryohei had a baseball bat on his shoulder, a warm jacket on with the hood up along with simple khakis on. Tsuna led the way with loose jeans belted at his waist, his old sneakers, a worn hoodie with a leather vest over it. For what was a vampire king without some leather, he justified to himself in a moment of humor. His short brown hair slicked back with gel, tamed for once in his life. At his waist, hung in a leather sheath, was a combat knife that he hoped he wouldn't need, but had just in case. Both of them had black leather gloves on.

The pair walked towards the building where two men were smoking outside. They saw the two coming and both flipped out a switchblade as the two approached. Ryohei stepped forward and with a shout of "Extreme!" knocked the knives out of their hands with one well aimed strike using the wooden bat. That was one habit the teen couldn't be bothered to stop.

The two gangsters held their broken hands and were too distracted to stop Tsuna from coming behind them and elbowing them in the head, knocking them out by the painful blow. Tsuna opened the door and took point as Ryohei trailed behind him.

In front of them was a staircase so they jogged up and got ready to bust into the main room of the building. There were a few offices above, but the first floor was a large lobby area that had a thin door between the landing and the stairs. Tsuna took a step forward and kicked the door in, immediately scanning the room as it was revealed. He noticed that the lobby was filled with couches and gang members.

The two didn't wait for them to get their bearings as they rushed in, "Take the left!" Tsuna roared out as his fist crashed against the cheek of a gangster, laying him out on the floor, unconscious. Ryohei quickly started swinging his bat in tight arches as Tsuna had showed him, taking down yakuza left and right. None of them had any training and were too surprised to put up a strong defense.

The king made short work of the men in front of him, flipping them around like flies and breaking noses and jaws with each punch and busting nuts with each kick. Soon, everyone was on the floor, all twenty members of the gang, groaning and moaning. To the side was a large tattooed man that was holding his balls from where Tsuna had kneed him. The leader of the gang.

The teenager silently walked over to him as Ryohei covered the room. "Eyes up, bastard," Tsuna said in a quiet voice above the wheezing man. He did so and Tsuna slammed his knuckles into his face, his torso hitting the ground. Ryohei said nothing as Tsuna had explained what he was doing before hand. "Sorry, sorry," he chuckled out as he reached down and pulled the groaning man up. "I don't like criminals and all, so I get ahead of myself sometimes."

"Who do you think you are?!" The yakuza spit out, spit and a tooth bounced off the leather vest.

"Well… I think I'm the guy that just led a two man strike on your gang," Tsuna smirked out arrogantly as he looked around. "But… I'm also a power hungry guy that is very interested in usurping your control of this territory. See… You hurt people for fun and well… I'm a concerned citizen that is taking action for the good of my home."

"You're just a kid whose balls haven't even dropped!" The man sneered up at Tsuna. The boy just smiled passively at him and without his face changing, he slammed his calloused fist into the man's cheek, knocking him to the floor once again. "Fuck!" He cried out.

Tsuna pulled him back up onto his knees. "Doesn't matter where my balls are. What matters is this. This operation of yours. It's mine now," Tsuna informed the man. The guy's face twisted into a sneer and whipped up his hand. Tsuna knew he could have dodged it easily, but when he saw what was in the man's grasp, his face turned into a grin.

His hands met the swing and grabbed the object, jacking it to the side to break the leader's finger as he relieved him of the weapon. Now in the boy's hand was a Japanese police issue revolver. "tsk tsk tsk," Tsuna clicked his tongue at the yakuza as Ryohei expressed his shock at seeing the gun. "Having a pistol in this country? Wow." Tsuna than did something no one expected, he placed the gun barrel to the man's head. "You were going to kill me, weren't you?" He asked like he was asking if it was going to rain.

"Now… be careful with that!" The gangster warned with sweat dripping from his head. "It's dangerous!"

"Oh I know," Tsuna said as he stared down at the guy. He smirked as he drew the gun back and put it in the back of his pants with a notice-me-not charm on it that would be good for hours. "Now… This building is mine, so let's retire to your office and get things settled in, I have all the transfer papers ready," he pulled out a set of documents folded inside his vest.

"You won't get away with this!" The man sneered as he slowly got to his feet.

"Why do I need to get away with this? I'm simply doing what's best for the town. If you and your men reform, you can even stay here. Nothing changes but who's in charge. Minus the drugs, that's a big no-no," he said in a voice like he was talking to a child.

"Rook, watch these guys while I talk with tattoos here," Tsuna called over to the watching teen, who gave a nervous nod. He didn't sign up for guns after all. "Don't worry man, just watch the door and be ready."

The pair went upstairs. The moment they broke eye line of Ryohei, Tsuna had the pistol jammed into the man's back. "Don't do anything funny," the teen growled at the now renewed nervous man. It only took thirty minutes, but with magic and everything aiding the teen, he had the building transferred to a dummy account he had funds in for the taxes off of looting the pockets of bullies and gangsters. It was under a man named Harold Potter, a native born Japanese citizen that Tsuna had set up using ample amount of magic and mind control.

"Now, get out," Tsuna ordered the tattooed man. "And remember, if and when you come back, I have your gun. Be a shame if a police officer found it with your prints all over it." He waved his gloved hand at the man who paled.

The man quickly fled and Tsuna walked down after him, finding all the gangsters were now against the wall, some with fresh wounds after getting too rowdy. "Now… Gentlemen!" Tsuna called out as he stopped in front of them. "I'm making a new gang. Haven't got the name of it yet, but we will be taking over your old protection ring! Anyone interested in joining?"

"Like we'd work with a brat like you!" One of the older members sneered out from where he stood.

Tsuna blinked at them slowly. "Oh… well… I'm sad to hear that. I'll just be calling my boy, Hibari Kyoya, to clean up then. Sure you've heard of the little psycho. After all, you are a criminal element in his town." The twenty men all paled at the mention of Hibari.

"You wouldn't!" One of them called out.

"Your leader just pulled a gun on me… why wouldn't I?" Tsuna asked the man with a raised eyebrow, causing him to visibly begin sweating. "Now, those who want to join my little gang and keep this place as a hang out, step forward and kneel. Those who don't… well… I'll take your picture, get your name, and you're free to leave."

"What… is the goal of the gang?" One of the younger members called out nervously.

Tsuna grinned widely, showing off a slightly covered Glasgow smile he hid usually under makeup, which was running a bit from the workout. "Why peace-keeping. We," he pointed between Ryohei and himself, "Are vigilantes. And this town is rather large, so we thought it'd be best to step up our efforts with a little recruitment drive."

"We extremely wish to expand our area of protection!" Ryohei exclaimed with a fiery grin. "And you were a danger to our families!"

"Quite," Tsuna smiled out at the man's words. "So… who's in?" They all stepped forward and Tsuna nodded. "Form a line," he ordered as he took out a camera. "Bats, take out the paper."

Ryohei took his side with a pen and paper in hand, the men now nervous. "Oh calm down, it's merely insurance that if you betray us, we have your photo and information for the lunatic." The men slowly came forward, one by one and told their name and had their picture taken. When everything was done, Tsuna ordered them to get out. "Oh… call whoevers not here and tell them of the change. If they object, I'll talk to them tomorrow at six here."

They nodded and did as ordered. When the door was locked, Tsuna finally relaxed. "That… went better than I thought," Ryohei observed quietly for once. A hand fell on the back of Tsuna's neck and he was pulled backwards into a crushing hug against the man's chest. "Why didn't you tell me they'd have guns?"

"I didn't know," Tsuna answered, patting his arm. "Now c'mon, we have to clean up the drugs and find any weapons laying around." The teen nodded, releasing the shorter vigilante, and they quickly started searching the building.

Ryohei found a few packs of weed which they put into a box that Tsuna planned to dump and a box of bullets for the gun in Tsuna's waistband. A few hours later, they started their ways to their home. Paranoid, Tsuna led Ryohei on an elaborate route to his house to avoid tails.

The vampire in Tsuna's soul kept him alert to treachery. A skill he knew would keep him alive in the coming years.