Body Parts

Rating: T+

Summary:Reborn glanced at the young teenager's face and watched the different expressions flit through his eyes: a combination of love, hate, sadness, bitterness, nostalgia, and finally one last look that he couldn't place. He stared a few more seconds to see if Tsuna would do anything, but his face didn't change. And for the first time in meeting his student, the cursed baby was perturbed that he couldn't understand a thing about him, not at all.

On behalf of the Ninth Vongola boss, Nono, Reborn was sent to Sawada Tsunayoshi to be his home tutor to teach him the ways of the mafia. Tsuna seemed average at first-in fact, below average if you consider his abysmal grades-but then he started to notice something strange about the boy. And it seemed that no matter how much he dug and pried, the answers would either dissipate into thin air, or would lead to a dead end, where he would be placed right where he started from.

Person A: Did you hear? Katekyo Hitman Reborn has a new owner!
Person B: What, really? Since when?
Person A: Since just this year. Some friends and I were talking about it. Their name is…Machillusion or something.
Person B: You sure you're not talking about some random dude making fanfictions? Those are pretty popular too.
Person A: No, no I swear. They're the new author of KHR!
Person B: *looks on the internet* Nope. It's still the same Amano Akira we know. Don't scare me like that.
Person A: Oh…whoops?

Disclaimer: In other words, I don't own it. Probably never will. XD

A/N: I appreciate the feedback I've been getting. I find it extremely funny that just like with my first set of fanfics, I get a lot of follows and favorites but not as many reviews. But still! Thank you everyone for reading and either reviewing, following, or favoring. I will try my best to meet your expectations. I also wanted to let y'all know that I'm not writing smut for this story after all. So the rating will more or less stay the same. There will be gore though, so please keep that in mind. There also is OOC, so be aware of that.

(Edit: To be honest, I feel kind of unmotivated for this chapter. I have working so hard on the juicy parts in the future that I don't have any motivation for the intro. If it sucks, tell me so, so I can rewrite it. Thanks!)

Enjoy!

Part I: That which is and was

Tsuna figured Reborn was around there somewhere. Maybe he was in a cupboard or something. Or maybe he was hiding in the ceiling and poked a hole through one of the tiles. That was one of his favorite places to hide, after all.

After Reborn had a feel for what Tsuna's life was like, he would then make his little hide-outs around campus in a somewhat futile effort to watch his student. It was so pathetic how Reborn made hide-outs in the same exact places every single time. But once in a while, Reborn would do something different, which would give Tsuna a little bit of hope for the future.

Sadly, this was not one of those times.

Tsuna was sitting in class—though to be honest, he really couldn't pay attention no matter how hard he tried; it was just too boring and dull—listening to one of many of his useless teachers blabbing about something with imaginary numbers, a concept that he both thoroughly understood and yet couldn't comprehend at all. He memorized it all: the formulas, the usage, even what imaginary numbers were, but he couldn't understand the concept of imaginary numbers. If he was given a fresh, new question on it, he was sure that he would fail. But then again, he was coming to school in the middle of a semester. It was no wonder he couldn't understand it.

The teacher called on him to answer a question, and Tsuna, knowing full well that the teacher was aiming to make him into a laughing stock—because really, part of the reason why he was always bullied in the first place was because the teachers were too incompetent to stop it or even had the heart to want to stop it—wrote the wrong answer on the board rather hesitantly. The teacher, a portly and balding man by the name of Nakamura, cackled obnoxiously and pointed at his answer.

"How could you get that wrong, Sawada?! We've done these types of problems at least eight times in the last week!"

Tsuna allowed a flush of shame to flood his face, and he quickly sat down, but not without taking a glance at Kyoko to see how her reaction was. Everyone else was laughing as the teacher erased his answer off the board, and, with a little more energy then what was really needed, thoroughly explained the question—but not without throwing a few jabs at how stupid Tsuna was—but Kyoko seemed rather sullen that he was being made fun of so publicly like that, and he felt his heart go out for her for what seemed like the thousandth time. Kyoko, while sometimes oblivious to things, had such a sweet soul, and no matter how much time passed for him, he couldn't get rid of his little infatuation for her. It wasn't quite love, but it was adoration. Maybe even a little bit of admiration. And he knew that he could never get with her, that the two of them were so completely different, but sometimes he couldn't help but dream about a future with the two of them every so often.

The class ended without another guffawing outburst, and Tsuna slowly made his way, lunchbox in tow, to the rooftop. He sat down and sighed; eating alone was never fun. But it's not as if he had any friends, and to be honest, he didn't want to make friends this time. Reborn was more than enough. And if Reborn had his druthers, he would force Tsuna to make friends.

Geez, this is part of the reason why he didn't want Reborn around. He could be so persistent. And yeah, it was his mission to make Tsuna into a mafia boss, but no matter how many times he told Reborn he didn't want to do it, Reborn would always point that stupid green chameleon in his face and gruffly inform him (how funny was that? A baby gruffly informing him, a baby…) that he never really had a say in the matter, that it was his duty to do it no matter what. And sometimes, Tsuna wanted to slug Reborn in the face despite him being a baby, because no matter how much his pride was stomped on, he didn't want to be ordered around by a baby of all things, but most times, between his "fear" and that look that Reborn had in his eyes, those eyes that gently reminded Tsuna of him, he could never quite say "no." Even if he wanted to. And he really did.

As Tsuna was about to take a bite of his food, he felt something slap roughly across his face, enough that normally, he would be balling out in pain, but now, simply tilted his cheek to the side. But still, he was supposed to be crying out in pain. He turned to Reborn, who was standing there with a rather irritated expression on his face.

"Reborn! What was that for?!"

"What was that pathetic excuse of an answer back in the classroom?" Ah. That was why he was mad. Well, that makes sense, but…Reborn should have known this.

"I'm not good in math, it can't be helped."

"Not that, No-Good Tsuna. You didn't even try to answer the question. And don't tell me that you did, because I'll hit you even harder than I did just now."

"I did try! And how did you find out about my nickname anyways?" Reborn cocked his head toward him, a little more irritated than before. He started to say something but Tsuna cut him off, not really caring one way or another. He just wanted to eat in peace, and although he knew this would happen, it was annoying nonetheless.

"At any rate, you have no right accusing me of something I didn't do. I tried, I'm just not good at—" Reborn transformed Leon into a hammer and thrust it in Tsuna's face.

"Didn't I tell you not to lie to me? I can tell the difference of someone who isn't trying and someone who is. I'm seriously going to hurt you, No-Good Tsuna."

"Why are you even bothering me about this anyways? In fact, why are you even here? I thought I told you to leave me alone earlier."

"And I thought I told you that I don't give up easily. Are you going to continue to fight me on this, No-Good Tsuna?" He raised his hammer in warning, and Tsuna backed off, almost tipping over the lunch box his mother made for him. He glanced over his food and then he raised his hands in surrender.

"Okay, okay! I get it! I'm sorry, okay?" Reborn also glanced at the food and then he plopped next to him.

"As long as you understand. If you don't have motivation for this, then you won't have motivation for your family either." Tsuna scrunched his eyes a little and then cocked his head.

"My mom has enough motivation for the both of us. Why would I need to have motivation for her?" The baby looked as if he wanted to insult Tsuna, but held back.

"Not that family. Your mafia family." Tsuna knew this. He was kind of hoping that Reborn wouldn't say that. But of course he did. Why wouldn't he? That's the sole reason why he was here in the first place: to make Tsuna into a mafia boss.

"I don't want to be a part of the mafia! I don't know how many times I have to—"

"You're going to be the leader, no matter what. Stop arguing with me about it; it's going to happen whether you like it or not." Reborn glanced at his food again, and then at the sun. "Aren't you going to eat? Your break is almost over, you know." Tsuna had almost forgotten about his food.

"Oh, right." He picked up his chopsticks and ate his rice, and with a very bitter laugh, he continued to chew.

"Why do you look as if something died in your mouth? It doesn't taste good?" Tsuna had to swallow a bit too hard, but he made the food reach down his throat and into his stomach. He told Reborn that it tasted good, but seeing the very sour look on Tsuna's face, took some for himself. The food was delicious; Reborn couldn't see a problem with it.

"It's not the food," Tsuna breathed. He took one more bite and then offered it to Reborn, who thought about eating it, but declined.

"It's your food that your mother made for you. You should eat it." Tsuna nodded and then continued to eat. He wanted to spit it out so badly, but he couldn't. At least, not in front of Reborn. Chances are, the food that Nana made scored some sort of point with Reborn. Spitting it out would make Reborn angry and…augh, he didn't want to think about how many ways Reborn would try to make him bleed for spitting out Nana's food. He managed to eat it all in time before his break ended, and then he quickly packed his lunchbox into his bag and ran for it. He didn't feel that Reborn followed him, which was good. He probably wouldn't like what he was about to do.

Stumbling into a bathroom stall, he planted two hands firmly against the toilet seat and vomited. He kept regurgitating over and over again, so much that his throat grew hoarse. He kept coughing and coughing and soon he just sat on the cold floor, a little bit of bile falling from his mouth. He knew this would happen, but it still shocked him anyways.

He couldn't digest his food. He had no digestive system to work with.

He stumbled out of the classroom an hour and a half later. The lecture on chemical bonds was so boring that he started to sleep a little. He knew Reborn was watching him from some hole of his, but after vomiting, all of his strength sapped away and he was left a rather confused and dizzy mess. Whoever said that eating too much was bad was a complete liar. Eating a lot keeps your strength up and keeps you awake. At least, that's what Tsuna thought.

As he watched his classmates peel out in pairs and groups, Tsuna dusted a little bit of imaginary lint off of his pants and left, his schoolbag in hand. It didn't matter how many times he saw it; seeing people be so friendly with everyone but himself stung a little. He should be used to this by now—it's been happening since he was younger—but for some reason, he still felt a pang of jealousy whenever he saw people being so chummy with each other. That nagging thought that he tried to push from the back of his head, "Why couldn't I be normal enough to have a friend or two?" kept stirring around, aimlessly poking at his conscious until he snapped out of it and started to head home.

That is, until he saw who was waiting for him outside.

"Hey, it's No-Good Tsuna! Finally sick of skipping school?" He didn't bother explain to them that he didn't skip school, that he knew school started in April and yet it was his first day in September, a full five months past when he should have come, that it was due to extenuating circumstances why things were like this (would they even know what that meant? Probably not), but he didn't say anything and instead wobbled away. He wasn't in the mood to be bullied today. If he ignored them, they should leave him alone after a while…

"Hey! Are you listening to me, you piece of shit?!"

"He doesn't understand, Hiro-san. He's too stupid to understand."

Just ignore them…

"Then we ought to make him understand. Stupid kids need to be taught a lesson physically."

Just ignore them…

"Alright! That's the spirit!" One of them grabbed onto Tsuna's shoulder and tugged, hard enough for Tsuna to drop his bag and thump into the window. The students that were in the halls were just watching, almost as if it was some television show, but no one reached out to help him. Like always.

Just ignore…

"You dare show your pathetic ass here? You're stinking up the air with just your presence. Hurry and get the fuck out of here, you useless piece of trash!" The student named Hiro, a tall, long-faced man with a slight Kansai accent—he did just transfer into their school a few years ago—kicked Tsuna in the shin. It wasn't enough to make Tsuna cry out in pain—there was only one man who could do that, and he wasn't around right now—but it hurt. A lot. He felt the area start to swell and he wondered how long he could ignore them.

Just…

"Hurry up and go back to where you came from!" With that, he punched Tsuna so hard that the window shattered. Screams echoed the hallways, and everyone froze, almost like pausing a video game. Still, no one reached out to help him. The two students smirked in satisfaction, but Tsuna couldn't take it anymore. He had never done it before this, but he was so tired of it. So tired of the bullying. So tired of being alone. So tired of having to deal with something so small, so insignificant. So tired of having to entertain the same scenes over and over again, when there was so much more that he had to do. So tired of having to deal with these two imps that thought they were better than him, when in actuality it was the other way around. If he wanted to, he could have killed them in a second. But he always chose not to because he didn't need another death on his conscious. He just wanted to live. Was that so wrong?

I can't take this anymore.

He waited, waited until they came close, and then he walked around them. Blood was dripping from his head and his left eye was glued shut from said blood, but he was determined. He would make an example out of these two, and then no one else would bother him. He could live in peace when everyone was scared of him, and even if Reborn wanted to make him get guardians for the Vongola family, it wouldn't work because everyone would be too scared for their own lives to be friends with him. It was perfect.

"What, you gonna run away, you chicken? You're such a wuss, running away is perfect for someone like you!" The other student, a bitter, sharp-tongued student named Kai, grabbed Tsuna by the arm and thrusted him at Hiro so Hiro could kick him, but Tsuna used that momentum to push Hiro out of the window. His Will put that much more force on him, and Hiro's body slipped through the cracked pieces in the window, slicing his skin in the process. He fell from three stories up and hit the ground hard with a sickening crack. His head was lolled to the side, and blood was all over the front of his uniform. His right arm was bent too much to the left, and something—Tsuna didn't really want to know what—wedged itself into his stomach. A piercing scream filled the campus, and everyone ran to the window to see if he was okay, but Tsuna only stumbled away, knowing that at the very least, he would live for a few more minutes. It was up to the people around him to save Hiro, but he didn't kill Hiro.

That, more than anything, made Tsuna feel a bit better about everything. He got his revenge without killing someone.

Later, he found out that Reborn had saved him from being charged with a criminal offense. The students that had watched the whole fight accused Tsuna of not only instigating it, but also pushing Hiro out of the window. Well, he had pushed Hiro out of the window, but he didn't instigate it, and technically it wasn't his fault. He only pushed Hiro out of the window because Kai pushed him at Hiro, who was going to kick him. But Reborn, who had also been there the whole time, recorded it and showed it to the principal and the police. Knowing that Reborn was a good source (who knows what Reborn dressed up as this time), they not only believed him, but they also punished the other two with suspension and possible juvenile detention. He owed Reborn a lot. But honestly, juvenile detention didn't sound so bad. The only problem was that Reborn would probably pay to get him out, smack the crap out of him, and then train him to become a proper mafia boss even harder. He would have rather this than that.

When Reborn finally arrived at Tsuna's house and Tsuna met him upstairs (Nana didn't really ask questions since she didn't notice his bruise, and Tsuna didn't point it out), Tsuna hesitantly thanked him.

"Thanks, Reborn." Reborn only spared him a side glance before he continued to look at some of Tsuna's test scores.

"For what? I didn't do anything worth thanking for." He shuffled a little bit on the bed.

"You helped me out. I heard they would have charged me with a criminal offense." The baby scoffed.

"It's not like you did anything wrong. Besides, I'm your tutor. It's my job to help you." Tsuna felt a little uplifted by that. Because of the actions that Tsuna did, Reborn not only thought a little better of him—actually, did he? Tsuna couldn't tell—but things were different now. Maybe he could…

"If you're thinking that just because I helped you that I won't train you to become a mafia boss, you're dead wrong, Tsuna."

Oh. Well there goes that plan. At the very least, he changed things up a bit more. Tsuna was sure that with a little bit of time, he could convince Reborn not to train him to become a mafia boss. These last two days was proof of that, for sure.

A/N: Cut me a bit of slack; I haven't written in two years...I didn't graphically describe the vomiting and Hiro's injury. I figured since this was a T+ fanfic, the description might be a bit much. Also, Tsuna is going to be OOC. I know some of you are kind of hell-bent on Tsuna being in character, and I will try my best to keep it as close to being in character as I can, but after a while that's going to be impossible. As of now, he probably seems out of character to some of you. He's not scared enough, he's not kind enough, he's too cold-hearted…you'll know why he's like that later on in the story.

Augh, it's four in the morning. I promised y'all a chapter so I spat this out but I have no idea how good it is until I read it in the morning. So if there's any errors or just anything that you don't like (or like), please let me know. I would love to hear and see your feedback, no matter what form it may be. Heck, even PMs are cool in my book.

And I think it's funny in a weird way: Tsuna wants to have friends so he won't be alone, but he doesn't want friends at the same time. (No, that was not a mistake, I really intended to write that XD) I guess I can explain that here since I won't in the story: Tsuna wants to be with people, but he doesn't want to make friends because he knows that Reborn will add them into the family. So permanently alienating himself was the best way to not make friends (as well as getting his revenge), which is partially why he decided to indirectly attack random "once-in-a-story" character Hiro.