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Words: 2477.
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02 – Deal
Reborn sighed, looking at his fainted student. The day had taken a downhill after his breakfast at the café, called 'Librarians', he had noted only after leaving. And, for that to happen, the hitman was obviously still in an inattentive state. So, he had decided to act his way.
He had reached the school and waited for classes to end. At the ringing of the bells, he had observed as Ienari talked friendly with Yamamoto Takeshi while leaving the classroom. Then, Sasagawa Kyoko had called his student and told him something with pink dust on her cheeks. So, the crush on her side was true. Ienari, though, seemed regretful.
Pity he couldn't hear them, because he wouldn't have used the Dying Will Bullet.
Hitting straight the centre of his forehead, the boy fell backwards limply. A second later, he broke his stomach and was reborn with an orange flame where the bullet had hit. He was wearing only his azure boxers and the hitman could hear his shouts. At which, his smirk fell.
"I'LL TELL TSU-NII TO BEWARE OF THE PERVERT TUTOR WITH MY DYING WILL!"
Reborn had never face palmed in his whole life. But, hearing that, he did. With a groan. Damn brother complex and damn Hyper Intuition! How the hell had he caught on that?! No, wait, this was actually his own fault. First, for not checking what the conversation was about. Turned out the girl was asking how Tsuna was, and Ienari regretted not warning his dear older brother against the new home tutor. And, secondly, because he had looked at the man's rear that morning. So, his fault. Totally.
…
He did not regret looking.
Reborn then had hurried after the teen, finding him at the outside corner of the café, patiently waiting. He was rendered speechless, again. The Dying Will state was not something that allowed a presence of mind to think before acting, it gave the will to do something without thinking of the consequences, most of all not before doing it.
It was then that the customers had begun noticing the boy, almost naked, and gossiping about it with their companions or waiters. Tsunayoshi had been called, apparently, by a worker. He had looked, chuckling in an exasperated manner, at his brother and had exited the building.
"Ienari…" He had barely held in the laughter. "What are you doing here? And… Where are your clothes?"
Reborn had watched the scene leaning on a trunk, plainly visible and frowning. The older brother had stolen a glance at him, mildly entertained.
"TSU-NII! YOU MUST NOT TRUST THE TUTOR! HE'S A PERVERT! STAY ALERT!"
The hitman frowned while Tsunayoshi all but burst into a loud laughter with teary eyes. Ienari's flame slowly disappeared, making the teen notice his state and actions. He quickly hid in an alleyway, promptly followed by his brother. Reborn approached the corner and listened.
"Tsu-nii! I was shot!"
"Oh my, really?" A chuckle. "I see no holes, though."
A cough, probably the younger expelling the bullet. Silence.
"OH MY GOD!"
"Ienari, calm down…"
"But see! It's a bullet! Someone shot me!"
"A strange one, but… you're alive, safe and sound, right? Do you feel any pain?"
"Uhm… No…"
"Then it's fine, don't you think?"
"Y-yeah…"
"Nice. I'll go take some clothes for you, wait here."
Tsunayoshi left the alleyway and went back inside the shop, not before launching a wink at Reborn. That scowled. He felt played, for a reason or another. He came back shortly after with a uniform of the shop. And another wink.
"Thank you, nii-san."
"No problem, I'll use your help in the shop sometime."
"Okay, but… what with the tutor?"
Ruffling of clothes.
"Ienari, you seriously think some random man would come to Namimori just to flirt with me?"
"Tsu-nii…" A whiny voice. "I don't like him…"
"You don't have to like him. He's your tutor, it would be strange the other way around."
"I…"
"Listen, Ienari." Ah, a serious tone. "I was not kidding about Italy. God only knows if that man could just take notion of your grades and claim the parental authority over you. What do you prefer, the tutor or our father?"
Silence. Long silence. A sigh.
"Fine. Only because you say so… But, be wary of him."
A chuckle. "I can totally defend myself. Now, go home. I'm sure Takeshi will bring there your bag."
"Okay… Bye, Tsu-nii!"
The younger brother left, running towards the house. The older one was still chuckling when he walked towards Reborn.
"Seriously, what kind of mess was that?"
"I misunderstood."
"Oh… Kyoko-chan, maybe?"
Reborn simply nodded.
"Ahah… They're already kind of… dating, you know? The only regret he may have would be to not do what he can for someone he cares about. And that's hard to see."
"I need regret for the bullet." He countered.
"I know, but… It's not like his flames are sealed like mines. You should try with meditation. He has already used them once, after all, without meditation or a bullet."
Well, he had a point. Though Reborn quickly filed the info about the seal for later investigation.
After that, the man had gone back to his job and Reborn to the house. Ienari had just put the neatly folded uniform on the couch of the living room, next to the kitchen, when he barged in. Yamamoto Takeshi was sitting at the table, smiling amicably. The younger brother assessed him with a glare.
"I don't like you."
Reborn smirked. "Scared I'll kidnap your brother, Dame-Nari?"
The other gritted his teeth while his friend giggled and stood. "Maa maa, Ienari, if that's truly the case, Tsuna-san can fight for himself and you know it. He's your tutor, right?"
The teen nodded. "Tsu-nii said I need to increase my grades, else… Iemitsu."
"Ah, I see." The baseball player's eyes sharpened, reminding Reborn of a hitman. "Then you should listen to him, right?"
"Regrettably."
With that taken care of, Reborn had then tutored his target and the best friend. The latter had serious problems, but the torturing session satisfied him a lot. When the other teen left, the hitman told his student about Mafia, the title he was bound to inherit, the flames, the bullet, the Dying Will, and taught him some important things about hierarchy. It had been because of a wrong answer that the nth hit with Leon-mallet made the teen faint on his bed.
Leon flickered his tongue from his perch on Reborn's fedora. The hitman left him there and went downstairs. It was almost 23 in the night, so the hitman decided to have a relaxing walk. Though the torturing session had done wonders, he still felt kind of tired, psychologically.
He walked the way to the Librarians' swiftly, stretching. The latest customers were leaving and the workers were tidying the place up for the day after. He observed from the outside as Tsunayoshi gave some orders and did paperwork. In the end, it was 23:15 and he was the only one left in the shop. Reborn entered.
There were two lit lamps near the man. He was sitting on a table, scribbling something and reading a document. The hitman sat in front of him, hands in pants' pockets.
"Sorry, Reborn, there have been… issues, today."
He arched a brow. "Issues?"
"Some idiots tried to harass a waitress. I kicked them out. Hence, lots of paperwork." He groaned.
Reborn hadn't really had his load of paperwork, aside from reports for missions. Really, signing documents was not his thing. Reading files and checking for information, yes.
"So, you direct the shop. Who's the owner?"
He didn't even lift his gaze. "Kyouya's father…" He did, then. "Don't you ever try that again, cheater."
Reborn smirked. He had just found a way to knowledge. The father of the Committee Leader? Strange…
"No promises."
"Evil… And dangerous. The best, no doubts." He smirked. "Should have guessed you wouldn't have liked surprises."
"I didn't. Now, spill it."
"Oh, right. A moment."
Tsunayoshi scribbled something more before giving out a satisfied huff. He stood and gathered the documents, disappearing in the back of the shop. Reborn decided to wait outside. Five minutes more and the man was closing the shop.
"So, ask your questions."
They started slowly walking towards the house. "I want details."
"On what, exactly?"
"Everything."
Tsunayoshi stopped, assessing the other. Reborn almost crossed his hands in retaliation. Instead, he arched a brow and positioned a hand on his hips. He felt judged.
"Well… Then I'll start from the beginning." He sighed. "Seems to me Iemitsu told you less than nothing."
The hitman waited patiently while beginning to walk beside the man.
"Our mother died of cancer when I was eighteen. Ienari was ten." Reborn noted the composed expression, so… out-of-place, given the subject. "Iemitsu wasn't even there when it happened. And, despite his continuous absence from our lives, he came when we were most… vulnerable." The hate, this time, was radiating off the man through raw killing intent. "He appeared out of nowhere and claimed he had the right to take my brother to Italy." Reborn blinked at the… hitman beside him. "I was furious… And… Ienari noticed it right away." The bloodlust subsided, as if defeated. "His flames awakened. Iemitsu was rendered a blabbing mess. Ienari told him he wanted to stay with me and that he would have never forgiven our father if he took me away from him. Then, he fainted… from overuse of the flames, I learned later." He sighed. "If my flames were not still sealed, he would have caught on everything."
A wild thought hit the hitman at those words. "You are… Forcing the seal to stay in place?" His voice sounded more unbelieving than he had intended it to be.
Tsuna smiled sadly at him. "I try my best, it's not so hard. It is a seal, after all... Anyway, he has used his flames a few more times." The smile softened. "Because of me, I suppose, like today. It seems I attract… unwanted attention, to be delicate." He chuckled. "And he would chase everyone off with this flame on his forehead." A finger pointed the spot on his own. "I knew only about Mafia, so the flames scared me. I…" He glanced at Reborn, unsecure. "Searched for the information I was lacking." Another glance. "I'm not telling you how, but I accessed that knowledge."
Reborn hummed, feeling his throat vibrate. "There are few ways in which you could have found it." He lifted his right index. "One: enemies. Highly improbable that they know about the cradle affair." Right middle finger. "Two: allies. Although there are ones that would sell Vongola's secrets, they are the ones Vongola doesn't trust." Right annular. "Three: through an investigation in Vongola itself. But it would have required years to access information about something Vongola wants to stay hidden forever." Right pinkie. "Four: hacking." He smirked at the almost invisible flinch. "Nowadays, everything is accessible through a computer. Everyone knows how to use it. Few knows how it really works and, those ones, are a danger to anything kept secret." They had stopped walking altogether, only one house left between them and their destination. "I remember… A certain happening. Maybe three years ago. A friend of mine kept whining about several, increasingly advanced, attacks at CEDEF's main base."
"Indeed, the best." Tsunayoshi smirked, looking back at the hitman.
He had practically admitted it. "So, you're the culprit."
"What of it?"
The pure challenge in his eyes, on his face, slightly surprised Reborn. And made him smug. Why, he didn't know.
"Will you tell them? I don't think it will be wise, considering Iena–"
"No."
The other blinked a few times. "What?"
"I said: no."
Tsunayoshi gaped. "But… It can't be so easy."
Well, he had guts. "Who said it would be easy?" Reborn shook his head. "I'm not easy."
A flash of orange passed through the other's eyes like a gust of wind, so strong that it could have knocked trees off. And it did, figuratively. It surprised Reborn like one, like a thunder on a clean sky.
"And what do you want, World's Greatest Hitman?"
Never in his entire life Reborn had had the opportunity to admire such defiance against himself. Normally, his bravest enemy, when facing him alone and defenceless, covered in fear at his only sight. This man, instead, was glaring at him with confidence and open challenge. He felt his lips stretch into a smirk for the amusement of the situation.
"We'll see." He said, observing the flash of orange once again. "For now, you're already helping me."
The other narrowed his eyes before scoffing, arms crossed. "As if I could hinder you in any way."
"Such trust you have in me."
He frowned, before slowly smirking. "I've read some reports, Reborn. I know who I'm dealing with." Tsunayoshi's brows shot up. "Ah… Now that I think about it. I could always tell Ienari you harassed me." He snickered. "That's a scene I wouldn't lose for anything in the world."
He shot Reborn an amused look and walked to the house, entering and leaving the hitman. His mind was suppling only one word: dangerous. The man shrugged, releasing some tension.
Tension… Like the one he had when doing a mission. Endearing and… welcome. His smirk didn't fall off his face as Reborn entered the house. The older brother was in the kitchen, brewing warm beverages. He smelt coffee and chocolate, sitting at the table. A fuming cup appeared in front of him.
"I have two spare bedrooms upstairs, you're free to choose one." Tsunayoshi sat, sipping his hot chocolate. "Tell me which, for chores and privacy, tomorrow."
Reborn nodded. "Which one is closest to Dame-Nari's room?"
"The one between his and mine." He smirked. "Whatever alteration you plan to do, please make it hidden. Oh, and I'd ask for peace during the night, I need my sleep."
"I'll make chaos in the morning." He obliged.
"Seems fine." The other shrugged, finishing his drink. "Then, goodnight."
"One more thing." Reborn said standing, while Tsunayoshi was on the stairs. "I would not worry of… Mafia anymore."
He smirked. "Thank you, then."
The hitman nodded, following the other. Tsunayoshi opened the first door and entered, leaving him to open the room next to it. There was a wide bed in the middle, right under a window, with black sheets and matching closed curtains. The wardrobe was wooden like the desk and the chair, at opposite sides of the room. Few paintings decorated the white walls. Leon flickered his tongue and slid to the windowsill, settling down for the night. Reborn used the attached, simple bathroom to take a shower and followed his example, planning for the day after to take a position as a teacher.
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