Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Katekyoshi Hitman Reborn! I just wish I did.
Beta: the lovely Midnight-Kitsune11. Also lovely shout out to AryaZEvans. Thank you both for your help on this chapter!
AN: Thanks to Shadewatcher, CAD270895, Mumia0813, Feiden and Mukuro234 for their reviews! It means a lot! I didn't reply because I don't want to spoil anything ^^ I hope you understand
AO3: Thank you to everyone who left a comment! If I didn't reply to you, it's because I didn't want to spoil anything ^^ I hope you understand.
Chapter 3: Going back to school
Going back to the Academy is hard. Tsuna honestly doesn't want to face his classmates, especially the fangirls and he had lingered before the building that morning, ready to run the other way until Takeshi had nudged him.
It had been a reminder that his Rain doesn't have a good enough reason to keep missing class, and Tsuna will not stay alone anymore with only his dark thoughts for the day. The cooking classes distract him, and he's really starting to enjoy them, but it's only about an hour every few days. Teuchi doesn't have a lot of free time, what with having his own business to run, so the only solution is to go with his Rain to school.
He gathers his courage and accompanies his friend.
Their sensei, the man Takeshi had told him about but whom Tsuna barely remembers, takes him aside as he walks in for the dreaded talk.
Are you feeling alright? Ready to start school again? If there is anything, he can always leave early without trouble. Are you sure this isn't too soon?
It was embarrassing, and Tsuna felt like sinking through the floor.
By then the other students had arrived (including the fangirls) and everyone's staring at him and whispering about him.
You'd think future ninja would be more subtle…
'Keshi's presence by his side is the only reason he hasn't bolted out of the room yet.
There are some screeches of "Sasuke-kun!" as they take their seats, with Takeshi shielding him from the rest of the room. Tsuna ignores them as best as he can.
Class itself is boring. Going by the reaction from the other students, their sensei is repeating old material. Tsuna can't remember having heard this before (and he is top of his class in this life – how strange is that!), so it's probably from the lessons he's missed while in the hospital.
Part of him is grateful to their sensei, because new materials keep his mind off the other students, but on the other hand, clearly those other students have too much time on their hands right now. He can hear them all talking, especially the girls who keep mentioning his name. It's like they think he can't hear them…
He feels a bit unsure about the girls though. Well, the fangirls really, because only the Hyuuga girl wasn't trying to catch his attention… Before remembering, he hadn't ever paid them much attention. He'd ignored them, mostly, but he had ignored almost everyone in their class, so that wasn't anything special.
Tsuna had never gotten much attention from girls. Even right before he died, he still flushed when Kyoko-chan or Haru overwhelmed him (or just talked to him really, let's be honest).
Now he has to grasp every bit of resolve he has not to flush again when he hears Haruno and Yamanaka discussing him. Something about how shiny his hair is?
He tries to tune them all out, but he's stuck between irritation and mortification.
Their sensei's behaviour is not helping. Iruka-sensei had never seemed to care a whole lot about him, except when he praised him on a job well done, so Tsuna doesn't need the man to hold his hand now. It would have been different if they had a connection beforehand that went further than teacher and student (like Takeshi and Iruka) but they hadn't so this behaviour only seemed very patronizing now. He doesn't need anyone's pity.
It also really doesn't help improve his bad mood…
But, as long as he has Takeshi, he'll be just fine.
He keeps himself distracted from the other students by writing in his newest notebook. It's almost strange how easy it seems now. He isn't used to doing well in school or even finding classes easy, but it seems to come natural now. Takeshi, on the other hand, seems to be struggling more than ever before. He shot the Rain a worried look, but Takeshi laughed it off. Tsuna frowned but let him be, for now. He'd help him out when they got back home.
Iruka-sensei kept shooting him strange looks throughout the class, and even dismisses everyone early for lunch. Seeing the man approach, Tsuna grabs Takeshi by the arm and drags him outside. He really doesn't feel like a repeat conversation from earlier. Lunch consists of evading as many of their classmates as they can, which Takeshi finds hilarious, of course, but Tsuna is less enthusiastic about. He'd once dreamed of being this popular. Now, he wants to curse his own naïve self. He definitely knew better now.
There is only taijutsu practice in the afternoon, and it's a boys-only class - the girls are at kunoichi class, if he recalls correctly - which is a relief. Sensei asks him to sit this one out, just to be sure not to trigger a flashback. Part of him bristles at this, but mostly he just wants to take a nap. Not that he can do that now, with sensei keeping a very close eye on him.
"No need to worry, Sasuke-kun. You'll be able to re-join training soon enough. You'll have plenty of time to grow strong."
Strong?
True, before he'd done everything he could to grow stronger. Strong enough to be noticed by his father, strong enough to earn some of his brother's time…
But he's not the same anymore. Even if he hadn't remembered, what Nii- what Itachi did, it would have changed him either way.
But what is strength? And how does one become strong?
You are weak. Why are you so weak? Because you lack... hatred. Foolish brother, if you wish to kill me - hate me, detest me, and survive in an unsightly way. Run... run and cling to life.
Before that day, he never would have thought Itachi capable of hatred. Nii-… No, Itachi had always been kind, gentle and patient. Hate would never have been the emotion to motivate him, or at least that was what Sasuke had always thought. Now though…
However, life as Tsuna has proven him otherwise. It can't only be training, otherwise he'd never been able to lay a hand on Xanxus during their battle. Xanxus had had years more experience than him, years filled with a hatred so powerful that it had taken physical form as Wrath flames, but because he hadn't wanted his friends to get hurt, Tsuna's resolve had let him fight somewhat equally against such hate. A teenager who had barely even known what flames were had managed to fight on equal terms with the strongest fighter in the mafia.
Fighting to protect his friends has always made Tsuna stronger.
Hate and training couldn't be the answer. At least not completely, because training was still needed of course.
He still isn't sure if he has a completely satisfying answer. His father (both of them) fought for family, for the clan, even if they couldn't be bothered to show they cared in everyday life.
It's very confusing.
"You alright?" Takeshi asks from next to him.
Tsuna blinks. The blond is clearly just done with his part of the sparring and sat himself next to Tsuna a bit away from the sparring ground. They are alone, no one around them to hear them, so Tsuna explains what is on his mind.
"Huh? I never really thought about it." Takeshi looks thoughtful, which is a rare emotion for the happy go lucky boy. "I guess strength can be something different for different people. Me, I always fight with you guys in mind." He grins again. "It hasn't failed me yet."
They both refuse to mention what happened at the Millefiore base.
"Wait…" The blond looks confused. "What exactly did Itachi tell you?"
Tsuna repeats it. It not like he will ever forget it after all. He can even ignore the pain thinking about that time usually brings him.
"Why on earth would the guy tell you something like that? Is he … giving you instructions about how to get strong enough to kill him? Or is he setting you up for failure? Because I don't think you could ever hate anyone…"
Tsuna gapes at him. "What?" he asks stunned.
He hasn't thought about it like that… After Itachi killed Tsuna's trust in him and completely traumatized him, why would Tsuna follow what could easily be orders from the one who had just killed his entire family? What had Itachi been trying to achieve when he told him that?
Both Sky and Rain are still deep in thought when sensei announces class is over. Tsuna barely hears what Iruka-sensei has to say to them about their field trip next week. It will be their first experience being shinobi outside of spars and lectures. After such a dull and boring day, everyone chatters enthusiastically when they hear the details. Tsuna is apprehensive, even if Takeshi is super excited.
Now, Tsuna feels validated in his apprehension because he has no idea how everything had gone so bad, so quickly.
This is supposed to be a simple camping trip, for them to gain experience in the field. Nothing dangerous, just routine.
The day had started badly when he had been separated from Takeshi. Despite the blonde's loud protest, they had been split up by Iruka-sensei. Apparently, they spent enough time together and needed to learn to work with other people.
Tsuna had scoffed angrily at that sound logic. It made sense, but that did not mean he'd been happy with it.
Instead of Takeshi, Tsuna had been paired with his pink-haired fangirl (who thought a bright red dress was the ideal outfit for their trip in the forest) and the laziest kid in their class.
He had honestly come to suspect that Shikamaru was able to sleep while walking.
Their task should also have been simple enough: cross the forest, spend the night out here and meet again tomorrow at the gathering point. Seemed simple, which was a good idea as they were only in their first year at the Academy, except the Haruno girl hasn't stopped complaining and swooning since they entered the treeline.
Tsuna is grateful to Shikamaru, who mostly kept his mouth shut but the loud and dramatic girl isn't really helping with Tsuna's always present temper these days.
Then, after what felt like hours with those two, an angry giant panda with claws emerges from the bushes roaring in anger.
Ignoring the 'what-the-fuck?' feeling, they turned and ran.
Of course, the creature decided to chase them.
Why is this his life?
Tsuna grit his teeth as he easily outran the other two.
He slows down.
Shikamaru easily catches up again, but Sakura… In her panic, she pays less attention and trips on the roots of one of the trees they're passing.
Tsuna feels himself turn back for her without having consciously made the decision.
He still can't believe they are running from a giant panda.
Grabbing Sakura by her arm, he drags her with him as they take off after Shikamaru again but she's too surprised and can't seem to regain her footing, so she stumbles behind him.
The bear gains on them quickly.
"Faster!" Shikamaru yells at them.
Tsuna makes the mistake of looking back. Fear crawls up his throat. He can almost feel the creature's breath on his neck. It's probably just his imagination, because Sakura is still running behind him, but still…
She screams and Shikamaru is yelling something again.
Pain.
His sides explode with pain as long claws pierce his flesh.
He stumbles and lets go of Sakura's hand.
That was too close.
He clutches his side and he instinctively reaches for his flames.
The animal screeches as bright Sky flames burn it. Tsuna can't even bring himself to feel bad for it and makes his flames as hot as possible.
It runs away screeching in pain.
Tsuna takes a deep breath, lets go of his flames and looks down at the three long claw marks that shredded his clothes and his skin under that. The two exterior scratches look shallow, but the middle one looks pretty deep.
He presses his hand against it again to stop the bleeding, only to freeze in shock as Sakura grabs her head and crumbles to the ground with a pained moan.
"What the-?" Shikamaru grunts in a pained voice as he stumbles and clenches his eyes shut.
Tsuna quickly moves to help keep the boy upright. "What is going on?" he asks in confusion.
"H-headache. Please shut up!" the Nara heir grouches in pain.
Tsuna audibly shuts his mouth and hesitates for a second but he steels himself and gently leads the boy to sit at the base of a nearby tree.
Shikamaru sighs in relief and almost melts into the bark. He rubs tiredly at his eyes while Tsuna goes back for the pink haired girl. He carefully helps her up and has to half carry her because her legs can't seem to carry her weight anymore.
She moans in pain at the change in position. Tsuna briefly bites in indecision, he doesn't want to hurt her after all, but he continues on.
"D-did someone g-get the plate o-of the truck t-that ran m-me over?" She moans when she sits and immediately leans into Shikamaru's side.
What?
Wait…
A truck?
There weren't any cars in Konoha, let alone trucks. His eyes widened. Could this mean…?
"Haruno-san, what are you saying?" He asks her hesitantly.
"Not m-my name." She mutters with a frown as she closes her eyes.
Could it really-?
"If you both don't shut up immediately, I'll bite the both of you to death, headache or not." Shikamaru snaps at them.
Tsuna freezes in reflex. That used to be Hibari-san's catchphrase. His Cloud used it all the time before he beat people up.
Until they all died of course…
Could this really be Hibari-san and another of his friends? Chrome perhaps?
"Juu-juudai… Where are y-…" The girl suddenly mutters with perfect timing.
Gokudera-kun? Tsuna flinches in shock.
He's… A girl now?!
How is that…?
His brain seems to stop.
He feels guilty about it, but all he can think is 'thank god that didn't happen to me', and it makes him feel so, so bad, but he really can't help it.
Shikamaru (and is that really Hibari-san?) sighs a last time before promptly falling asleep.
Tsuna can only watch with wide eyes as Goku-… the girl follows him into sleep. He releases a shaky breath. Alright then. Both are sleeping. He can do this. What should he be doing now? He should be doing something, right?
It's only halfway through the afternoon, but he has no idea how long they'll nap. He had never thought to ask Takeshi how he'd handled remembering. All Tsuna knows is that it had taken him days, but he had not only been recovering from that, so… Here's to hoping they won't take as long as he did.
First, he digs into his bag for water and bandages. His wounds are still bleeding, so he takes off his top and cleans the wounds with water before bandaging them.
He's had some more time to think in the meanwhile, so he made up his mind. He digs into their packs and starts setting up their camp, getting their sleeping bags out and spread around. It takes him longer than it should have (mostly because he is tired and in pain), but he manages and once that is done, he starts collecting some firewood. He makes sure not to stray too far from the other two. If one panda can find them, so can another, or any other creature in these woods, so he always keeps an eye on the two leaning against the big tree.
He got their rations out and started nibbling on one of the bars when…
"HIEEE! WHAT THE HELL?!" the girl shot up and flails around.
Tsuna has to slap his hands over his mouth not to scream with her, he's that startled.
The Nara snorts in his sleep as he leans away from her, turns a bit and mutters: "Shut up, omnivore."
Part of Tsuna feels indignant, but most of him is sheepish. "Pretty sure that's not me." He mutters as he gets up and walks towards them.
"THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!? WHAT KIND OF NIGHTMARE IS THIS!?" the girl screeches.
"It's alright…" Tsuna tries to calm her down.
She glares harshly at him. "How is this ALRIGHT?! I'm a GODDAMNED GIRL! I'm NOT! YOU HEAR ME!?"
He raises his hands in surrender but can't help but cringe at her volume.
"Be quiet." Snaps the Nara grumpily next to her.
Tsuna feels dread creeping up on him.
"WHAT WAS THAT?!" She yells, more pissed off than hysterical.
"I said be quiet." The other boy opens his eyes and glares at her.
Tsuna gulps. He'd recognize that glare anywhere. No doubt about it…
"Well, I didn't ask for your opinion, now did I, you STUPID PINEAPPLE HEAD!"
Oh my god…
Hibari-san (because really, Tsuna stopped doubting a while ago) snarls out loud before he launches himself at the girl.
The following fight is short but brutal none the less.
Tsuna winces as the Nara knocks her unconscious in one hit. That had to hurt…
Correction, he knows that hurt. He'd been hit by Hibari-san enough to know.
The Nara gets up, leaving the girl cursing on the ground and walks towards the fire Tsuna made, then proceeds to disappear into one of the sleeping bags.
Tsuna eyes the girl hesitantly but goes closer towards her.
"Go-Gokudera...-kun?" He isn't sure if this risk will pay off or how he'll talk himself out of this if he turns out to be wrong, but...
He's desperate enough to try. The girl freezes and looks up with wide, bright green eyes.
She hesitates, clearly not sure how to react.
So Tsuna offers her a hand.
"Sasuke-kun?" She asks hesitantly.
He's unsure for a second but steels his nerves. He lights his hand in bright orange flames and she gasps, before grabbing his hand immediately.
Their bond slides into place and Tsuna can't help falling to his knees and melting into the hug she tackles him with.
"Juudaime!" She wails through her tears.
And now he's crying as well, because their bond feels so much more solid than it had ever been before. So much stronger. Just like Takeshi's.
"I will not repeat myself, herbivores." Threatens the sleeping bag blob behind them frostily and, though he knows the cloud will hit him for this, hard, Tsuna can't help but burst out laughing.
That's three out of seven guardians back in his sky. Things are looking up.
TBC.
Sorry for the wait!
Most of you predicted Sakura-Hayato! I hope it didn't disappoint ^^ Do you like Hibari-Shika?
Leave me a review on your way out please!?