Music Can Be As Badass As Mafia
Full Summary: ...And keys can proclaim one's will just as well as flames can. When Reborn comes to Namimori to train the Tenth Vongola boss, he anticipates an average homeschooling student with barely any athletic skills whatsoever and an inclination to get a musical education, as per the info Reborn received. Instead, he finds out that everything is much more serious. Sawada Tsunayoshi is a... well-known and greatly loved pianist? Though still a hysterical one, at that.
Instead of dumping the mafia world on the boy's head, Reborn is the one who is thrown into an equally as crazy and hectic world of music schools, jury politics, competitions and back stages in which Tsuna is more known as Yoshi, though he still is Tsuna to people who know him closely, and he is nearly not as awkward nor as talentless and bullied as he seems to be in everyday society. Though it's not as if Reborn can be thrown off so easily, huh?
Warnings: AU, Talented!Tsuna, Musically-gifted!Tsuna, Smarter!Tsuna, passing OCs, (musical) language, Italian terms and a big amount of music-related plot. Musical instruments ahoy!
"Ciaossu."
The water from the tap dripped in the ensued silence.
Reborn watched with well-hidden amusement the scene of two pairs of different-hued brown eyes zeroing down on him with screaming similarity, one Sawada Nana lightly cocking her head with a puzzled expression as she was in mid-step with a basket of laundry on her way to the back of the house, and one Sawada Tsunayoshi who blinked down at him from beside the kitchen sink where he was pouring water into a numerous vase and was about to lower a bouquet of roses into it, though he was having trouble fitting the whole bunch in.
No wonder – it was huge. Reborn wondered if the Satsuki girl from earlier today did get to the stage with the roses. Though it didn't explain the countless other ones.
Well, Reborn hadn't really stayed to see all the flowers get passed on to the young pianist – though he'd seen how the boy was forced to run behind the scenes with one portion of the flowers and return back for the rest – so it was natural there was more than the baby remembered. Reborn had left the hall and almost bumped – though he didn't, because he was Reborn after all – into the aggressive black-haired teen with the red armband from earlier.
The boy had been leaning onto the doorframe but, unlike before, he didn't emanate a deadly aura, instead watching passively from the shadows, his eyes gleaming from the darkness much alike to those of a predatory animal.
Not hungry one, no.
He had observed the commotion in the front rows from behind and if the hitman wasn't mistaken – and he was never mistaken, especially in reading subtle language – the teen's lips were quirked upwards in a mix of amusement, leisure, and almost unnoticeable but still present enjoyment.
The raven-haired had glanced down at Reborn impassively and the Sun Arcobaleno met the sharpened steel grey with a slight smirk of his own. The teen didn't bother waiting for either of them to break the stare and with a quiet 'hn' turned around, his black jacket sweeping behind him – points for the high-quality dramatics – as he opened the doors to hint that the concert had ended and then stormed down the aisles much to the displeasure and terror of the people as he muttered something sounding like 'discipline obsessive female herbivores'. From the looks of it, the front rows really did need some disciplining.
Reborn left to the sound of female (and not only) screams for mercy.
All the while, the hitman had been going over his newly-acquired information - and this was very newly-acquired information indeed. So the Yoshi boy everyone in Namimori knew and loved was Sawada Tsunayoshi, meaning that Sawada Tsunayoshi was a full-fledged pianist.
Reborn had shook his head.
Repeat.
Sawada Tsunayoshi was a pianist, or, at least, on a very steady path to becoming one.
Somehow, at the time, Reborn had had a bit of trouble wrapping his mind around the fact that the boy currently onstage was the same person as the future student he was to train into the Tenth Vongola boss.
And that Sawada Tsunayoshi embraced a whole concert hall with an ease and Power of a true Sky in his natural domain.
But he wouldn't be Reborn if he hadn't taken the challenge, right? He'd promised Nono and he will keep his word.
And so, he had waited for the phone call from Nana which he only got two hours later, after he saw both the woman and her son pull up in front of their house on a car - on further observation, the hitman realized that it wasn't their's because Nana had thanked the driver for giving them a ride and Tsunayoshi had thanked him too, smiling, which earned a blush from the driver much to Reborn's bemusement, though he didn't get to see the smile itself from the angle he had been watching from.
Twenty minutes later, after entering the house and not bothering to ring the bell, his greeting was met with a thoughtful pause.
Right now though, the hitman was productively using the moments of quiet, with unusual patience waiting for a response from either of the Sawadas, and meanwhile observing the house, or rather, the part of it that he could currently see.
Behind Tsunayoshi, on the table - the boy really did look fragile and the humongous bouquet of flowers he was holding wasn't doing him any favor looking any less so - were at least three long rows of vased bouquets of all the colors one could imagine. (Reborn wondered where people got the black orchids in a pot. That was just plain exclusive.)
The kitchen was otherwise clean if not for the cut-off stems of some of the bouquets lying on the kitchen counter and from the looks of it, the boy was used to doing this if the almost professional way the stems were snipped off was anything to go by.
Reborn could glimpse a side of a small brown piano in the entrance corner to the living room - no, not a grand piano contrary to what Reborn thought; the boy ought to have a grand piano otherwise how would he practice to such heights? - and he could even from this angle see the cluster of papers lying on the instrument's lid in utter chaos.
Reborn's eyes narrowed. Couldn't Iemitsu afford a better instrument for his son? Honestly, if the man had planned for Tsunayoshi to stay unrelated to mafia, surely supplying his only child with a proper grand piano was the least he could have done, because from the looks of it, the instrument Tsunayoshi had was, to put it lightly, not of the best.
Come to think of it, Iemitsu could've warned both Nono and Reborn of his son's future profession because the way Reborn found about it just earlier today had drastically changed many of the plans he had. It was one thing if the information he received was true - which it was not and Reborn would personally take measures for the intelligence-gathering to never be done so poorly - and the boy was drifting through his life with no plans for a career whatsoever and a perfect opportunity for him, the Sun Arcobaleno Reborn, to meddle with the boy's life as he pleased, but it was another thing entirely if the boy had a purposeful and esteemed idea and not only idea but a very possible future of it.
Reborn had come to train a teenager who wasn't occupied with anything else, not to take away a hard-earned future the boy had lying in front of him.
The CEDEF boss was an idiot and Reborn could sign under that statement, but Iemitsu couldn't have been that stupid, could he? Because if didn't even bother to know his only son's career path...
Reborn was snapped out of his thoughts as he saw the boy put down the vase on the table next to the other vases with a small clang! and walk over to him, crouching to the baby's level. The hitman was slightly surprised by the soft kindness residing in the boy's golden brown eyes and that was the moment that Reborn realized that Tsunayoshi wasn't a victim of a superiority complex despite the clear popularity he had among his audience.
Though even with that, Reborn was having trouble comprehending how this boy with a weak aura and gentle smile could be the same pianist who performed earlier in the evening with the strong-willed eyes of a grown-up musician. It was still a mystery to be unraveled.
Nana had hurriedly put down the basket on the washing machine and walked up too.
"Ara? Are you lost? Where are your parents, aka-chan?" The dark-haired woman asked worriedly, not at all thrown off by Reborn's appearance which the hitman could already see as an advantage.
The boy however, despite the seeming gentleness and ignorance in his eyes, had narrowed his eyes a bit too warily. "Can we help you?" he asked, albeit quite hesitantly, and Reborn found himself under two scrutinizing gazes.
Fed up with the surprises, Reborn did the logical thing and kicked the boy for leaning so much in the baby's private space (though he was careful not to hit the hands - they were sure to be sacred to the boy.)
That was another problem, Reborn thought as he watched Tsunayoshi sail over through the air with a surprised gasp. The boy will be subjected to much violence and breaking a finger or arm might be the least of the injuries he might receive which even Reborn knew would mean the end of the boy's successful career.
But on the other hand, it could also serve as a reason for the boy to agree to train to fight because Reborn had a big suspicion that the brunet won't take the news about his heritage lightly. Maybe, he could convince the boy to learn fighting to protect himself and his career. Yes, he would try that...
...a bit later.
After he observed Tsuna's way of life.
Reborn smirked as he realized that he referred to the boy as Tsuna. That was more like himself - with all the discoveries that evening, he was loosing his usually unbreakable inner composure.
Tsuna had smashed into the wall, though not as harshly as if Reborn wasn't careful - not that Tsuna knew - and he let out a predicted yelp. Although his eyes had narrowed even further as he, quite quickly, regained his footing and continued to stare at the baby who smirked.
"I am your home tutor, Reborn."
Nana, not one to be surprised by this episode, or, in fact, by anything at all, had clasped her hands. "Ara! Reborn-chan, right? You must be tired from the travel! Would you like something to eat, Reborn-chan?" She smiled so sweetly and innocently that Reborn was left unsure as to exactly what Nana knew in spite of his mind-reading abilities. The woman had continued talking about how quickly he arrived - after all, she only got to phone him less than half an hour ago - and how punctual he must be and on and on.
The boy's thoughts on the whole matter were quite evident though as he scratched his head with a hand where he bumped it into the wall and looked at the small blotch of red thoughtfully, glancing up at the baby and momentarily, their gazes met.
Tsunayoshi, Reborn had concluded, was not stupid and that was for sure.
Reborn graciously accepted the offer on food, following Nana into the kitchen to settle for a cup of espresso as he absently heard her apologies about the mess of petals and leaves.
Out of the corner of his eye, Reborn looked at the boy who was watching him unblinking though it was obvious that he wasn't buying it. He saw the boy voicelessly mutter, "Right." The brunet thoughtfully wiped the specks of blood on his pants and slowly entered the kitchen, all the while trying to look innocent in spite of continuously eyeing Reborn as he edged to a happily-humming Nana, reluctantly averting his gaze from him to his mother.
The boy was clearly trying to imitate his mother's nonchalance, though he still had a long way to go before he reached Nana's level of proficiency in that department.
"Kaa-san, I have an algebra test tomorrow and I've got a repetition with Kimura-sensei at the music school. And additional solfeggio. I don't think I have enough money for the train so could you give me some?"
Nana smiled at Tsuna and nodded cheerfully as she finished the coffee and served it to Reborn with a plate of sandwiches.
"Of course, Tsu-kun! Will Sasagawa-chan go to the additional lesson with you too?"
Tsuna looked away and Reborn could see the red blush painting the boy's face.
"Y-yes." He stuttered, evidently happily.
The inner joy was as apparent as the sun on a clear day and the hitman had inclined his head to view the entertaining scene, sipping the - goddamn delicious; Nana was a saint - espresso with pleasure.
Watching the boy with amusement, Reborn plotted.
...
The next day came and Reborn discovered that his student loved his beauty sleep.
Too bad that Reborn didn't.
The kick to the boy's head resulted in much flailing and screeching, and the hitman thought that the day decidedly started very well.
Tsuna's eyes had snapped open as he saw Reborn's smirk and he scampered - with a speed Reborn didn't give the boy the credit for having until now - off the bed, bolting through the doorway and down the stairs.
The crash had notified Reborn of the intimate meeting between Tsuna and the floor.
The hitman shook his head and almost-sighed.
His student was as clumsy as- well, Reborn didn't even have an example. The boy's clumsiness was in a league of it's own. It was another thing he'd have to beat out of the boy.
The baby headed downstairs to see the brunet sprawled on the ground in a tangle of limbs though the boy quite rapidly jumped up and said a quick 'good morning' to Nana who smiled at him and handed him a plate with toast and omelet.
When Reborn took his rightful place at the table and glanced at the boy, he was slightly surprised to see the previous terror from waking up to Reborn's foot completely wiped away by the happy light bouncing in Tsuna's eyes.
"Tsuna, what are you so happy about?" He asked casually.
The boy had looked at him - trying to hide his fear though it was futile; Reborn could smell fear - and gulped. "A-ah, it's nothing."
Quietly, he added, "It's none of your business."
Before Reborn could shoot the boy right then and there with Leon, the boy got a light cuff from Nana who happened to pass by and hear him. "Tsu-kun, that's rude!"
The boy had sighed and his shoulders slumped, though after a minute, he'd reverted to the daydream state with those glittery-eyes of his.
That wouldn't do.
While Tsuna smiled about that girl he was supposed to go to school with - the reason for the brunet's state was obvious enough - Reborn hopped up to him and snatched the food away.
To his annoyance, the boy didn't seem to notice.
The collision of Leon's baseball bat form with the boy's head had brought the latter's attention back to the earth though. Tsuna had the most annoying 'hiii' sound, Reborn had decided.
A few minutes later, the boy headed back upstairs - again meeting the floor somewhere half-way there - and came back fully dressed as he took the half-full school bag and went over to the piano, loading the bag with some of the clipped papers and textbooks.
Reborn had glimpsed a quite frightening amount of black on the pages which, he presumed, were the respective notes.
"Oh, so you have a lesson with Kimura-sensei today after all, Tsu-kun?" Nana had asked while cleaning the dishes as she glanced to the particular stack of papers Tsunayoshi was about to put into the bag.
Tsuna shrugged. "I might end up having it. If we end the repetition early, we could get a class and practice for a bit. You know, every minute is important right now since I've got a competition in a month."
Reborn listened intently, filing away information with lightning speed.
"Tsu-kun, please try to get Kimura-sensei to play the second partition for the concerto with you. At least once! You know Kimura-sensei - you've got to nudge him a bit or else he might simply forget to."
Tsuna sighed. "Right, because even with all the hysterics he had when I told him I was gonna play this concerto, he can go and forget that his student has a competition." The boy frowned and shook his head. "Sorry, I'm complaining again. At least Hibari-senpai allowed me to borrow the music class for more than three hours today! Hooray for the grand piano!" The boy emitted sky-high excitement. "I won't be back until six, kaa-san, so I'll eat out, okay?"
"Of course Tsu-kun!" The woman smiled.
"I'm off then!"
Reborn hopped off the chair and followed the boy as the latter put on his shoes and left the house.
The boy didn't appear to notice him as he dug into his bag and took out a solfeggio textbook, eyes running over the page with voice exercises while he walked as he hummed the melodies lightly under his breath. When the hitman hopped right on his head from a wall, he was utterly delighted at the flailing reaction he got from the teen.
"R-Reborn?"
Ah, the stutter. Got to beat that out too. "Yes, Dame-Tsuna." The nickname slid off the hitman's tongue as if he'd always used it. The boy flinched but didn't say anything as he continued walking on in silence, though he'd put away the text-book and was as quiet as a mouse.
Frankly, it was strange.
The boy hadn't in this whole time even once asked who the hell Reborn was and why did he decide to live in one room with Tsuna without the latter's permission.
The baby had a suspicion that Tsuna was trying his best to copy his mother's ignorant behavior but if that was it, he was failing horribly. Reborn would have to find out why Tsuna was trying to do that, later.
Not one to be ignored, Reborn poked at the brunet with a question.
"You have a competition soon?"
Tsuna glanced at him and nodded, a bit shakily. "Yeah, next month."
"Hm." Reborn snorted. "Is it a hard one?" The boy must be playing something from yesterday because really, the length of the performance was still quite astounding.
The boy seemed more thoughtful than terrified now and Reborn found that he was wrong. "Well, I guess that it's not one of the hardest ones. I've already passed on the second round and I've got to play Bach's English Suite - I'm playing the third g-moll one, also an Allegro from a classical sonata - I got Mozart's thirteenth, a couple of Cherny's and Mozshkovsky's studies and Andante Maestoso- it's a piece from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker and I found a piano edition! And if I get to the third round, I get to play the second and third part of Bach's E-dur concerto with orchestra. Yeah, some competitions are much harder and- Reborn?"
The hitman had a deadpan face as he looked at the brunet.
Right. So this is what counted as normal for his student.
The fact that just yesterday, a gigantic program was played by this- this thirteen-year-old, and that he still had more in store... Exactly how good was the boy's memory? Reborn exhaled sharply.
"Dame-Tsuna," again the flinch, "Do you have anything else you play aside from this and what you played yesterday?"
The boy turned red. "Y-you heard me y-yesterday?" Reborn could hear the mental 'hiiii' and feeling annoyed, he pulled a lock of hair to hear heavenly screams of pain. "Yes, I did. Now answer the question."
"Okay, okay! Just not the hair!" Tsuna waved his arms. "I've got a few studies, Chopin's waltz and Rachmaninoff's fifth prelude in work and two of his Musical Moments - the h-moll and e-moll ones. And, well, pretty much half of what I played yesterday is something I've gotta practice a lot more. Leave much to be desired."
Reborn nodded with a slightly distant expression.
This boy is a wimp but regarding his memory, he is something and coming from Reborn that is a very, very respective thing to be proud of, though the boy didn't even know about Reborn's thoughts, instead fidgeting his fingers nervously as he tried to understand whether the hitman's reaction was negative or not.
Just as Reborn was about to ask something else, he felt the boy stop in his tracks. The hitman looked down to almost get hit with a sparkle that were bursting from the boy in frightening numbers. Reborn looked up and saw the reason.
"Kyoko-chan!" Tsuna almost jogged to the girl who rounded the corner and looked at the boy with wide eyes before smiling brightly and waving.
"Sawada-kun, good morning!" The girl - Kyoko - greeted Tsuna enthusiastically. Reborn jumped off the brunet's head which immediately caught attention from the girl who leaned to take a good look at him.
"What a cute baby!" She exclaimed cheerily. Reborn glanced at the Sawada boy and saw him watch the bright-haired girl with a dreamy expression. Kyoko had stood up and faced Tsuna, "Is this baby your brother? He's a sweetheart! I didn't know you had one."
The boy looked a bit depressed that the Sasagawa had asked him such a thing but he, sparing a small glance at Reborn, looked thoughtful for a few seconds. Reborn could see the wheels turn in his head and thoughts like 'Kyoko-chan won't believe that he's a home tutor anyway' almost written on his face. Slowly, he nodded "...Yeah, something like that. Though he's not my brother, he's a-" another hesitant glance at the baby and an audible gulp, "-he's a distant cousin, Reborn."
The girl chattered happily about something obliviously while Reborn jumped and kicked the boy in the stomach. "Dame-Tsuna, if you lie, you should at least do it with a straight face. I am his home tutor, Reborn."
To the evident despair of the boy, Kyoko only blinked and giggled. "Reborn-chan is doing acrobatics? And he's teaching Sawada-kun? So cute!"
A ringtone sounded and the girl took out her cellphone, flipping it open. She turned to Tsuna and sighed. "I'm sorry Sawada-kun, I have to run now - let's meet up after school so we can leave together!"
With that, the cheerful girl was off, running at a speed Reborn raised an eye brow at.
The boy still sitting on the pavement looked fairly sad because obviously, he'd been looking forward to walking with the girl to school.
Well, this was the perfect time.
Reborn turned to the boy, eyes shadowed by his fedora forebodingly. "Dame-Tsuna. Why don't you confess to Sasagawa Kyoko?"
Reborn never saw such a deep red on a human's face.
"I- I, um, I don't-"
The hitman raised his finger and Leon crawled on it, transforming into a gun.
Tsuna's eyes widened impossibly wide, the light in them quivering frantically as he tried to sprint up and run away as Reborn raised his gun.
The boy let out a terrified scream just as the hitman fired and he dropped his bag as he hit the ground.
A couple of seconds later though, he was back on his feet and a flame engulfed his forehead.
"REBORN!" Tsuna yelled. "I SHALL TELL KYOKO-CHAN WITH MY DYING WILL!"
With that, the scrawny boy was off.
Without his clothes, that is.
Of course, Reborn reasoned, this was all for the sake of introducing Tsuna to the mafia world, but still. Seeing his students embarrass themselves brought immeasurable amusement. He wasn't even sorry for being one to sully the boy's hard-earned reputation, because after all, such a state would surely bring disgust from others?
Though, he should've known that the boy was yet to surprise him. Because Tsuna hadn't exactly said what he wanted to tell Kyoko.
The hitman arrived at the gates of the school just in time to see the scene unfold, and he watched as the boy sped down the street, half-naked and all, and ran up to the bright-haired girl.
He was not, however, prepared for the next.
"KYOKO-CHAN."
The girl stared at Tsuna and blinked.
"Yes, Sawada-kun..? Aren't you cold without your clothes?"
"NO. THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONCERN. KYOKO-CHAN?"
"Yes, Sawada-kun?"
"WOULD YOU LIKE TO SING RACHMANINOFF'S 'VOCALISE' WITH MY ACCOMPANIMENT?"
The students that have already formed a wide circle around the scene gasped, clasping their hands over their mouths and instead of the anticipated, by Reborn, comments of pervertism, he saw that some of the girls were 'aww'ing.
Reborn watched as in the ensuing silence, the flame ran out on Tsuna's forehead, though the only difference was the profuseful blushing as he continued to look earnestly at the other girl, now with his large brown doe eyes.
The hitman saw some females turn pink as they squealed 'kawaii'.
Kyoko had gasped as well, staring at Tsuna.
Then she brightened and smiled widely, glitters of happiness sprinkling off her.
"...Of course, Sawada-kun! I'd love to!"
And to Reborn's never ending surprise, the two were off to find Tsuna some clothes and an instrument as the crowd dispersed with some girls watching Kyoko enviously and some discussing the first-class gossip material this was. The raven-haired from the Disciplinary Committee, if the arm band was anything to go by, that had too been watching this whole scene unfold had looked sharply at another teen with a strange haircut - a subordinate obviously - and the other teen nodded, as he spoke into a radio and sprinted after Tsuna and Kyoko with a set of clothes that seemed to arrive in his possession from another teen with a similar haircut who just came running with them from the school building.
Dame-Tsuna had an undeniable talent for screwing up plans, even Reborn's.
So. About how Reborn is 'softer' with Tsuna than in canon – did you notice that Reborn is very respective of people who have a goal and do everything to achieve it? Like with Yamamoto's baseball or Hibari's disciplining people or Ryohei's boxing. Did you ever see Reborn hit Takeshi? No. Did you ever see Reborn hit Ryohei? No. Did you ever see Reborn hit Hiba- ah. I don't think anyone hit Hibari, even if they don't respect his work. So yeah, Reborn respects Tsuna's profession choice and what Tsuna must be doing to achieve it, but he still hits him when he shows whimpiness. I hope that explained some things.
*clears throat* So. Next chapter - Reborn witnesses Tsuna's very, very normal day.