Written by: Hajimeru Rinko
Genres: Fantasy, Adventure
Rated: T
Summary: Found by a young girl, Sawada Tsunayoshi had no idea of his origins. When he gets targeted, he sets out to search for his memories and prevent his friends from getting hurt. Will he able to find them?
Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn! and all rights goes to their respective owners.

A Fantasy Tale I Chapter 2

\ *Chapter 2: The Assassination Attempt* /

As Rinko left, Sakaishi returned to the house, grabbing a bowl of the soup she had cooked and started eating. Suddenly he heard someone coming down the stairs. The ten year old Tsuna was standing there, yawning.

"Did Rinko-nee-chan just leave?" Tsuna asked, and Sakaishi nodded.

"Come and eat your breakfast before you get to school." Sakaishi said, and Tsuna immediately started eating.

"Hurry, it'd do no good to be late for school." Sakaishi hushed, reminding Tsuna he had school.

"Alright, I will." Tsuna obediently answered.

During the past four years, Rinko had worked hard in order to earn income for them and give Tsuna an education. Even though Tsuna had not needed it because he already seemed to have been educated in his past, proven when Rinko bought him an Italian book and he read it easily. Still, he goes to school and make friends. Rinko, on the other hand, discovered having a latent aptitude for magic, given a large bonus and sent to a prestigious magic school due to her talent. Unfortunately, this made her schedule tighter and Sakaishi is brought in to babysit Tsuna.

However, despite Sakaishi did not want to babysit Tsuna, he knew the possibilities happening if Tsuna was left behind with that estranged fat mother. Sakaishi hoped he could teach Tsuna to be independent, be more like a "man" since Rinko is literally spoiling him…in his point of view. Waiting for the little boy to get dressed, Sakaishi looked out the window. 'It's the beautiful autumn…The Maple Trees are doing great, aren't they?' Sakashi thought, looking outside. Unbeknownst to Sakaishi, hiding in the trees was a ninja. The Ninja fortified his disguise in the trees, and Sakaishi never noticed.

He closed the window, and sees Tsuna standing in the doorway, dressed in uniform. Going to an average school is a privilege for a peasant like him, with other not so famous nobles. As they went down the stairs, the mother just woke up, yawning. Sakaishi hurried Tsuna to the door upon seeing the mother preparing to feast on the remaining soup Rinko had left. Immediately, she jumped over to the kitchen and started eating. 'Grr…this woman makes me sick. My wallet is going to have a hole in it since I'll have to buy food for me and this kid.' Sakaishi thought, being disgusted by the mother's amazing appetite.

"Come, let's go." Sakashi said, opening the door.

"Okay."

They then headed in the direction of the town. In the trees, the ninja watched them, and started to stalk them.

"Today is a beautiful day in Cadre De Arden! Enjoy the beautiful autumn as the Maple leaves are all around the whole beautiful Cadre De Arden!" A person shouted, using a loudspeaker powered by magic, as Tsuna and Sakaishi walked through the bustling marketplace.

Cadre De Arden (pronounced Sadi De Ard-den) is a town surrounded by the beautiful green scenery found most of the time in spring season. The Ligeria Falls are also located here, making the final scenery excellent. In the autumn, the whole area is red and orange, decorated by Maple Leaves. Because of this, it is a tourist attraction and many people visit this place for the Spring Festival. There are a few facilities despite earning a lot of money from being a tourist attraction, mainly because they did not want to damage the viewing of the scenery and want to keep things natural. 'Keep things natural? That's a lie. The mayor is counting the money earned and keeping them in a safe. Corrupted mayor, what's more?' Sakaishi thought as he held Tsuna's hand, strolling past the crowds.

"Sakaishi-nii-chan, we're here." Tsuna said, snapping Sakaishi of his random thinking.

"Oh. Have a good time at school." Sakaishi said, letting Tsuna go into the school campus.

'Now to go do some stuff for my dad.' Sakaishi thought, heading back home. The ninja stopped at the tree facing the school, perched on the branch, deliberately waiting for his target; Tsuna.

"Many young boys with brown hair are being attacked as we speak." The secretary said, holding her report.

"This is quite bad…" The man said, trying to think.

'This is really bad. Since the disappearance of the hidden prince, many organizations are desperately trying to find him and kill him, so as to cripple the Vongola Empire.' Sasagawa Heisei, head of the noble Sasagawa family, thought as he fiddled with his fingers.

The Sasagawa family is the head of the police force that keeps peace in the whole Empire, with some help of course. Few people know of this 'hidden' prince, because it was never announced to public. The only fact that this prince on had brown hair, made anti-empire organizations desperately search for him so as to get an advantage on the Royal Family. However, brown hair is very common, so it is hard to track down. The same exact reason for being a 'hidden' prince was because he was a peasant's child. Unknowingly to this man, eleven year old Ryohei opened the door, greeting his father.

"Dad! When are you going to bring me to the Boxing Arena Championship of the Vongola Tournament XXXIII?" Ryohei asked innocently.

"When it is that day, did I not tell you? I'm kind of busy right now." Heisei replied, feeling slightly stressed out.

"Oh. Sorry." Ryohei then left the room, closing the door.

'Dad looks tired…I must find some way to help him!' Ryohei thought, heading to look for a friend.

"Did you know? Brown-haired boys are getting attacked everyday!" A girl exclaimed as Tsuna came into the classroom.

"Yeah! It's so scary! Brunan from the Jangkoff family got attacked due to him having brown hair!" Another girl replied hastily.

"Hmm…maybe our dear Tsunayoshi-kun might get attacked…" The girl smirked, sending an arrow at Tsuna's back. "I wonder why a peasant is even here in the first place."

"According to the rules of the 304 guidelines regarding statuses, peasants can attend school if they are children of merchants or related to a magician talent, and if they can cough up the money to pay the school fees. In Tsunayoshi-kun's case, his sister is a prodigy who got sent to a prestigious magic school. So he has the right to attend this school, no matter how you complain." A boy who was nearby leaning on the wall, summed up immediately.

'Ah, there goes Kaito. That smart ass seriously should be involved in politics in defending peasants.' Tsuna sarcastically thought in his mind, sitting down. Life at a school is normal for everyone. Except for Tsuna, who is considered abnormal as he is a peasant, and literally his classmates did not like him for he was not of nobility. However, that did not mean that he didn't have any friends since he made friends with his classmates, finding that being peasants and nobles does not change the fact that they are the one and the same. Tsuna even made friends with the most popular guys of the school; Yamamoto Takeshi and Gokudera Hayato.

Girls would often duke it out under Yamamoto's and Gokudera's name to fight to prove that their side had the best leader. Once Tsuna accidentally met Yamamoto, they immediately became great friends. Then somehow, Gokudera jumped on from behind him, as if he known him, and became friends with Tsuna. The girls' biggest enemy wasn't the other side; it is Tsuna now. Few days after being friends with the two, Tsuna sees a lot of knives around the corridor near his classroom and sees more chipmunks trying to eat his acorn art project more than ever before. He feels threatened, but did not mind it.

Friendship isn't meant to be broken just by some threatening letters or signs. As Tsuna walked out of the school, someone tried to catch up with him.

"Yo Tsuna!" A brown eyed boy with black hair, with a baseball bat sticking out of his bag, ran after Tsuna.

"Ah, Yamamoto-kun." Tsuna greeted as Yamamoto caught up to him.

"Drop the suffix, please. I'm not some rich guy." Yamamoto told him, pleading him.

"You are a noble, while I am a mere peasant. It is as simple as that." Tsuna blatantly said with a stoic tone, dividing their status in the Empire.

"Tsunayoshi-kun."

There, waiting right for Tsuna, was Gokudera Hayato. He had been waiting and treating Tsuna like some king, which Tsuna did not like and made the girls furious. Technically, Tsuna hated being treated to stuff that is too fancy for his liking. He seemed to have inherited this perfect humbleness from Rinko, the person who is known for hating selfish people.

"Gokudera-kun…can you please drop that servant stance? People are staring at us!" Tsuna whispered to Gokudera in a panic.

"I cannot! I shall serve you Tsunayoshi-sama!" Gokudera shouted loudly, bowing even more, and making the misunderstanding between Tsuna and the girls even worse.

"There he goes! That peasant *****" The girls clenched their fists, with fiery feeling flames enveloping them as they glared furiously at Tsuna.

'I can feel the arrows pointing at my back… This is scary!' Tsuna nervously thought, as he dared not to stare back at the girls furiously thinking about Gokudera being tortured. Yamamoto tapped Tsuna, snapping Tsuna out of nervousness.

"Tsuna, you should take a break from school. It is not good to overstress yourself!" Yamamoto giggled, reminding Tsuna how studious and overstressed he is, not knowing that the stress came from the fan girls.

'I can't because my sister pays every cent to my school fees. It'd be bad.' Tsuna thought, obviously he cannot do what Gokudera can do every day; skipping school and comes to school whenever he likes it or not. He's too smart for school.

"W-well, I got to get going now, or else Sakaishi-nii-san will get worried." Tsuna said, separating from the two.

"Oi, Tsuna! Don't get attacked!" Yamamoto shouted, leaving for his carriage.

"Don't worry, I won't!" Tsuna replied, with Gokudera following him.

The ninja, perching on the tree facing the school, held up a bow with an arrow, and started to aim at Tsuna's head as he came into view. As most nobles leave in carriages or a bus, they would not normally walk out of the school, making this an easy job for the ninja.

"Gokudera-kun, can I ask you something?" Tsuna asked with a stoic look.

"What is it?" Gokudera said, with a calm smile.

"Why are you treating me like a king?" Tsuna demanded, trying not to offend Gokudera with his tone.

"Because…you remind me of this friend I used to have..." Gokudera admitted, reminded of the shut-in environment he was raised in. "I was always kept indoors, and have limited contact with people outside…"

'Oops, now I kind of feel bad for him…' Tsuna thought, thinking of how happily he was raised. 'Behind that stoic look he puts on in class and everywhere, is a person who wants to make friends…' Well, because of the horrid status system, both are estranged from each other to even share feelings. Everyone is human; they have feelings too. He is definitely starting to empathise with nobles now.

"I met the hidden prince of the Royal Family." Gokudera blurted, immediately, he noticed what he said and tried to take it back.

"W-" Tsuna got his mouth covered by Gokudera, with Tsuna trying to recover from the shock.

'Since when was there a hidden prince…' Tsuna tried to calm down from the surprise, and soon enough, Gokudera released his hold, and started to walk off.

"Please forget those words. I might have gotten the wrong impression as I was very young at the time." Gokudera said, disappointed, heading away from Tsuna.

"Okay…" 'So a hidden prince doesn't exist after all.' Tsuna thought, starting to head home and separate Gokudera. "Sorry."

"It's fine." Gokudera quietly replied.

Sakaishi, who was waiting outside the gate, sees Tsuna coming into his view. As Tsuna approached Sakaishi, the ninja prepares to shoot. When the arrow was shot, Tsuna immediately took a step back, barely missing the arrow that was shot at him. This made Sakaishi grab Tsuna's hand and make a big run for it. The ninja jumped out of the trees and starting followed them. Fear came over the poor little boy for he had never seen someone targeting him and trying to kill him before. Was it because of his brown hair? Why are they attacking brunettes for? Sakaishi immediately ran into the crowd, hoping to lose the ninja.

He had no experience of combat and hopes to stay safe. He promised Rinko he would keep Tsuna safe. 'Curses, if I had gone to train I wouldn't be in this situation…' Sakaishi bit his lip as he meets the ninja at the end of the road. Immediately, Sakaishi started to mix with the crowd, seeing that the ninja cannot attack with many people around. Tsuna, in the confusion, grabbed tight of Sakaishi's hand, refusing to let go. Afraid to look behind, Tsuna looked to the front, and sees a familiar object – it's Yamamoto's carriage! As Sakaishi stops due to the moving carriage, Tsuna also followed. He let go of Saikaishi's hand and ran towards the carriage.

"Yamamoto! Are you there?" Tsuna yelled loudly, making the carriage stop.

The boy in the carriage looked out, seeing Tsuna.

"Yo Tsuna. What is it?" Yamamoto asked.

"Umm…I'm just asking how you are…" Tsuna is too frightened to speak of his predicament.

"Oi, Tsuna, we don't have time to talk to your friend! That ninja is after you!" Sakaishi grabbed Tsuna's hand and started to run in the carriage's direction.

Having heard what Sakaishi had just said, Yamamoto senses something is wrong. He was proven right when a ninja turned around at the corner, pursuing Tsuna and Sakaishi. Immediately, Yamamoto jumped out of the carriage, landing his baseball bat on the ninja's head, and swung it again to strike a second blow. The knocked out ninja was pushed against the carriage, and laid there.

"Takeshi-sama!" His butler came from the carriage, worried for Yamamoto.

Tsuna turns back to see Yamamoto had knocked out the ninja, and halted. Sakaishi turns back to see that the ninja had been stopped by Yamamoto, heaves a sigh of relief. He walked back to Yamamoto to thank him.

"It's nothing; I just want to help my friend." Yamamoto said with a smile. His expression then changed. "This is quite serious. Douji, we need to report this."

"Yes, Takeshi-sama."

"Why? This is like any other attack…" Sakaishi said, getting more nervous.

"It is an attempted assassination. You can tell that he is after your life." Yamamoto cut in, showing them the list the ninja had on him. "Because the crossed names on this list had been severely injured, or killed in the worst case scenario. If he continued, they would have surely killed you and other boys." Yamamoto added, with a serious expression.

Both boys were stunned, and Tsuna had never seen this side of Yamamoto before. 'I…never seen him like this. He really isn't some random friend you'd get.' Tsuna thought, seeing the circumstances. What they did not know…there will be more assassins coming after Tsuna.

End of Chapter 2

Character profiles:

Yamamoto Takeshi

Age: 11

Likes: Sushi, salmon, tuna, vegetables, fruits and healthy meals. Close to father.

Dislikes: Friends being hurt, cruel people, insults of his sword style

Personality: Easy-going guy, friendly and kind. A best friend anyone would want. Skilled in the sword, but lazy to show off his skills anyway. Yamamoto can be really mean if his friends are injured. He believes his sword style, passed down for generations, is the most perfect sword style in the world.

Gokudera Hayato

Age: 11

Likes: Fried chicken, smart meals, apples, Antidotes, Mother, Friend from some time ago

Dislikes: Sister, Poison Cooking, anything purple.

Personality: Rash and hot headed, but calm sometimes, he is a smart boy who is very studious and practices the piano sometimes. He hates his sister for obviously using him as a test subject for her refined poison cooking and will faint immediately if he gets a look on her face. Due to the fact that poison cooking is purple, he also hates the colour purple.

Sasagawa Ryohei

Age: 11

Likes: Boxing, anything extreme

Dislikes: Boring stuff.

Personality: ?

Notable places of mention:

Cadre de Arden (pronounced Sadi de Arden) is a town located near the biggest attraction of the town, the Ligeria Falls and beautiful scenery. It is green most of the year, red in autumn, bare in the winter however. It is not really huge, but receives a lot of tourists. Few nobles live here, and send their children to school here so as to appreciate the nature. It is kept plain but upgrades only its own facilities to keep the natural look the way it is.

Ligeria Falls is a pun of the Niagara Falls. Cadre de Arden is a made up name I thought up of for a place as I imagined when Tsuna stared at a town in flames. The unnamed school Tsuna went to is called the Arden Noble School. It has a winter and summer uniform.

Comments: Until Ryohei meets Tsuna, then we will have the full profile. This chapter is pretty meh. And yes, Ryohei's father is named after some Heisei era in Japan, lols. So far so good. Editing the finished chapter whilst working on the next chapter is a rather good plan, I'll keep this schedule so as to find errors easily. (to a reviewer for the previous chapter.) xD This will also ensure that my planning do not go berserk and of course, let the wait for the next chapter longer. I will not release fast chapters since people will go yay for a short while and having to wait longer for the next chapter.

Someone is helping me greatly with the story, to prevent the over use of comedy every single sentence and give the story a little dark Adventure and Fantasy genre it deserves. 8D I know that Tsuna is 10, why are his friends 11, simple, I'll have to keep them within the range 10-12 (of course except for that bloody Lambo )": )Please review if you have a comment on how to improve the story or just how MUCH you love it and would LOVE to support it! I need reviews for dinner for thinking up ideas for next chapters! Pretty Pwease?

~Hajimeru Rinko