Chapter 1: Blunt Sword

Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn!


Somewhere far away, a school bell rang.

Not far from the source, a brunet sighed. He was late again.

He had stayed up late last night playing his favorite game. As a result, he overslept. His Kaa-san and Tou-san weren't home at the time, so he had no one to wake him up. They were some place in the middle of nowhere enjoying themselves on a tropical island. And of course, they didn't bring their son Tsunayoshi. Nope. They hadn't even given him a second thought.

The brunet sighed again. Hibari—the school prefect—would probably be waiting by the school gates to bite a certain someone to death. And that someone was Tsuna himself.

By the time he arrived in front of the school, Hibari was there—of course—brandishing his steel tonfas.

"Ohayo, Hibari-san." Tsuna pasted a reluctant half-smile to his face, knowing what was coming.

"Herbivore, you're late for school, I'll bite you to death."

Tsuna let out a sharp 'Hiiee' and made an attempt to escape as always but it ended in vain as he got whacked on the head by Hibari's weapons. After that, Hibari proceeded to give him a few bruises and cuts then left him on the school grounds, his mood seemingly content.

Tsuna swore Hibari looked forward to 'biting him to death' every morning.

Tsuna let out his third sigh of the day. For some reason, whenever he was in the virtual world, he had heightened senses and skills—amazing speed, exceptional dodging skills, sharpened eyesight. But none of these seemed to follow him back to the real world. It made no sense, no sense at all.

The doors of the class neared and the brunet slid them open, bruised and battered, preparing himself for the insults that would immediately be thrown at his face, not noticing another person standing off to the side of the door, staring at him.

3…

2…

1…

"Hey Dame-Tsuna, did you get beaten up by Hibari again?"

"You're late, Dame-Tsuna."

"You should just quit school if you're always this late, no one would miss you. I know I wouldn't."

And so on…

"Sawada, go find your seat and sit down!" The teacher barked, causing the brunet to flinch at the raised voice.

Slowly, he made his way to his seat right next to the window, just where he liked it. But it also meant that he had to dodge legs and spitballs on his way there as it was all the way across the whole classroom.

Oh how he wished the day would end.

"OK class, now that everyone is settled down, I would like to introduce a new transfer student. Gokudera-san, would you like to introduce yourself?"

The door slid open once again and in walked a silver-haired teenager with flashing emerald eyes. A scowl was stuck like glue on his face and his hands were shoved in his pockets. Basically, he looked like a delinquent.

A few "Kyaas!" came from every corner of the classroom. No doubt there would be a fan club the very next day.

Something told Tsuna that this guy was not a threat but he choose to ignore that feeling and label this new student as 'scary.'

"Tch. Name's Gokudera Hayato from Italy."

"Anything else, Gokudera?"

But it seemed like he wasn't listening. Instead, his eyes were scanning the whole classroom, seemingly measuring every student's capabilities. When he was finished, he walked uninterestedly to an empty seat that he guessed (correctly) was his. As he dragged out the chair, it made a high-pitched squeal against the floor, resulting in many complaints. But again, he made no move to apologize as he leaned back in his seat and stuck his legs up on the desk and closed his eyes.

Could this day get any worse?


Back at the Sawada residence, Tsuna threw his school bag on the floor of his room. He dashed out and grabbed a small snack from the kitchen and munched on it on the way back to his room. Once there, he lay down on his bed and attached a small device to his arm and closed his eyes, awaiting sleep.

Before he knew it, he was in a blank expanse with a single screen in front of him. It read: Login.

He tapped the screen and something new popped up reading: Username and Password.

Smoothly, with practiced ease he typed in the word Oozora and the number 27 for his username and password.

Shortly afterwards, he was transported to a friendly looking town called Città di Inizi just like all the other starting towns of different worlds. Right now he was in the world called Percorso di Luce, the 17th world and also where he had logged off the previous night. At the moment, it was currently morning. Time would tend to differ from world to world along with other things.

Remembering his objective as of last night, he swiftly headed to Bonifacio's store. He cautiously looked around, remembering Bonifacio's words before melding once again in to the crowd. He found himself in front of a broken down store and stepped inside, unconsciously pulling his hood father down his head.

He was welcomed by the sight of an empty room, no sign if life whatsoever. But he knew from experience that Bonifacio was in the back, probably making some finishing touches to his weapon.

Tsuna waited by counter where they had last talked, curiously peeking around the corner to see if Bonifacio would come soon. He really wanted to see his new gloves—he went through sweat and blood to get them.


Flashback

World 14- Invertire

Tsuna raced up a tree jumping from branch to branch, the tree swaying in the process. Once he reached the top, he leaped off and landed on the back of a large falcon-like bird causing the bird to veer sharply at the unexpected weight.

Trying not to hurt the bird too much, Tsuna slightly twisted the wings to make it fly to the right in order to follow the course of a large male Drago. This was his 10th time doing this absurd act but it was well worth the time and effort. He willed the bird to go faster and for some reason it did. They slowly gained on the Drago until they were close enough for Tsuna to jump on his back.

The falcon let out an indignant squawk as he vaulted off its back and onto the Drago's. Sliding one of his swords out of its sheath, he followed specific steps in order to get the rare item that he wanted.

Instead of plunging the weapon into the Drago like a normal player would do, Tsuna took his sword and sliced a large 'X' on to its back. Then he took an item out from his inventory. It was a small bottle of murky black liquid called Sangue del Serpente. He uncapped the vial and proceeded to pour it into the wound until it was all gone.

The Drago cried out in pain and went into a spiraling nose-dive into the ground. The item that Tsuna used on the monster would not kill it but it had served its purpose. The wounds on the Drago's back quickly healed over and new aqua-blue scales grew from its back. As soon as they had stopped growing, Tsuna took the freshly regenerated scales and stuck them in his items bag. Quickly, he jumped off of its back and rolled onto the ground using the momentum from the jump to bring him back up to a standing position.

From behind, he heard the monster crash and he hoped it wasn't too painful—he didn't enjoy hunting—but at least it wasn't dead.

Now, his next stop was Foresta di Vermi or the Forest of Worms to find a silkworm's silk. Finding a silkworm was rare. They tended to stick to the highest parts of the trees. But what he really needed to find was the silk from their cocoons. The cocoons were only located in one part of the forest, and if you were lucky, you would have a 25% chance of stumbling across it. But, after doing this quest a few times, he knew the way there by heart. And as it so turned out, the forest he landed in was the forest he has looking for so it spared him the trouble of walking there.

The forest was dark. The trees stretched up to the sky and blocked any light that dared come through. It was very risky to go in alone. There were a high number of monsters just waiting to ambush you at any second and to top it off, it was almost pitch black, making it hard to see. But after doing this tons of times, Tsuna weaved through the trees easily, after all, knew it like the back of his hand.

He came to a rest in a small clearing. Though the sun still blocked any light, you could see a sea of glistening silver cocoons hanging from branches. There must have been hundreds lining the leaves, each reflecting light off one another. It was a beautiful sight Tsuna had to admit but he wasn't here to sight see.

He went up to the nearest cocoon and used one of his hidden daggers to slice a thin thread. He grabbed the end of it and slowly unwound the string from the rest of the cocoon until he had two good handfuls of smooth silk from the rare item, Seta Liscia.

Pocketing the threads, Tsuna headed for the next town to get new gloves custom made for himself. And this time, he would get Bonifacio to raise their durability, to make them indestructible so that when he entered a battle, they wouldn't self-destruct on him.

End of Flashback


"Ah, you're here already? I would have expected you a little later seeing as you have school in your real life."

Tsuna let out a little 'humph,' being unexpectedly jolted back into reality (not the real world kind but the virtual reality). "Yeah, I hooked myself up to the game as soon as I could. Are you done with the gloves?"

Bonifacio snorted, "Why yes I am, just finished them actually thought you'd never ask. I noticed you spacing out a little while ago, are you ok?"

"I'm fine, just thinking, that's all."

Bonifacio placed bright orange gloves on to the counter. They still had the blue crystal in the center that came from the Drago Scales and instead of a silver 'X,' it was golden. The actual glove made out of the silk from the Seta Liscia had turned sunset orange and a lighter orange made up a flame pattern along its edges.

"Ok, I made them so that they have a high durability, it should be higher than your previous ones. They also have ability to withstand heat just like you asked for, even the hottest flame can't destroy it."

"Great, thanks a lot Bonifacio."

"Sure thing, Tsunayoshi, come again."

The brunet exited the store and headed back to the main part of town to find a quest to kill some time. He cautiously slid the gloves on, flexing one of his hands to get used to the new feeling. The gloves for some reason felt warm. Not scorching hot but just a warm, comforting kind of heat, he liked it.

Tsuna leisurely walked down the cobblestone pathways of town, enjoying the slight breeze that slid under his cape. As always, the town was as lively as ever. Gossiping, chatter, laughing, you name it.

With nothing at the top of his priority list to do at the moment, Tsuna eavesdropped on a few of the conversations going on here and there. None of them really interested him. Except for one.

"Have you heard?"

"Heard what?"

"Y'know, the rumor going around town about a player challenging anyone he finds strong to a duel? Not only that but he also defeats every single one of them no matter how skillful."

"Really? That's strange. I hope don't even cross paths with this guy, I mean, after battling so many strong players he must be pretty powerful himself right?"

"Yeah, maybe we should move on to the next town as soon as possible."

"I agree."

Tsuna kept an ear trained on the conversation. It really did pique his interest. Personally, he didn't mind if this player challenged him—he could use the experience and he hadn't fought a real opponent in a while. But he had his reasons for that—he didn't like to see injured people on the ground lying at his feet. He shuddered at the very thought. But anyways, this was a good time to test out his new gloves.

"Hey you there, I challenge you to a duel!"

Speak of the devil.

The brunet turned around and came face-to-face with a white-haired kid with fierce forest-green eyes. For some reason he looked a little familiar but he couldn't quite place a finger on it. Maybe it would come to him a little later.

"Oi, I'm talking to you, brat!" The other growled a deep scowl marred his face.

Not exactly used to this type of treatment in this game, Tsuna had to swallow a "hiiee" that was threatening to escape his mouth. But he forced on a cool façade and declared: "I accept."


Kaa-san- a way of saying mother or mom

Tou-san- a way of saying father or dad

Città di Inizi- City of Beginnings

Percorso di Luce- Path of Light, the name of the 17th parallel world

Invertire- Reverse, the name of the 14th parallel world

Drago- dragon

Sangue del Serpente- Blood of the Serpent

Foresta di Vermi- Forest of Worms

Seta Liscia- Smooth Silk

Sorry if I confused you guys with all the Italian.

As for Tsuna's new gloves, just imagine how they always were before the upgrade that Talbot did during the Inheritance Arc but instead of black, they are orange. They also don't have the words Vongola Famiglia running through it because there will be no mafia in this story.

If you listen to the Katekyo Hitman Reborn character songs they do say 'Oozora' for sky instead of 'Sora.' If you want or haven't listened to the songs yet, listen to the song done by Tsuna called Mamoru beki Mono.

OK, I know some of this story doesn't exactly match what I had in the prologue (like the making of the gloves) but I didn't know how to tie it in correctly so yeah…

Just to clear up possible future confusion, Tsuna does kill monsters but he is reluctant to do so. He also fights other player but very rarely. He does not kill other players, he considers it a taboo to do so even though they don't die in real life.

I will do some further explanations about classifying players and their matching flames types later on.

I noticed that lots of people mention Sword Art Online in their reviews so I will mention this: this story was inspired by SAO but will not follow the same plot. (If you haven't seen this anime, you're really missing out on something, I recommend you watch it).

I know this usually goes before the story starts but personally I don't like it there, I'm more like "get on with the story already!" type so I'm putting it at the end. Anyways, I must thank everyone who reviewed, they seriously made me happy—so happy that I had the urge to tell everybody in my family! You don't even know how many times I read each one. So, thanks to SkyFlameLitMoon23, RagingTempestaCx, GattoV, SkyGem, mangopudding, MirageIceDragonSlayer, Vikky Plushie, Final Syai Lunar Generation, Esperanz, Dreamless-Sleep777, FireRaven99, ArcobalenoCanvas, and Aira-Chama! And thanks to all that favorited or followed this story!

And lastly, kudos to SkyFlameLitMoon23 for giving me absolutely awesome ideas for this story!