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THE HAND YOU'RE DEALT
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I do not own Katekyo Hitman REBORN, I do however own this story and the characterisation of Agatha.
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SIOFC!Gokudera, Slash/het... Kinda? I was a mind that remembered more than one life. Physically born as a boy, mentally reawakened as a woman. I am Gokudera Hayato, please call me Aya.
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CHAPTER FOUR
A Beginning
Tsuna felt miserable.
Gokudera-chan had avoided him all day, looking embarrassed and upset, not even daring to look at him as she made her hasty retreat after lunch, arriving back last to class, sliding into her seat just as the Sensei came in. Preventing him from speaking to her. On top of that, her apology that morning had set the rumour mill blazing. Everyone was now under the impression that he had confessed to her, and she had turned him down, and felt bad for doing so. The girls were whispering behind their hands about how despicable he was, confessing to Kyoko only a few short weeks ago only to immediately turn around, as soon as she arrived, confess to another girl.
Tsuna felt miserable.
Because, what if Kyoko-chan believed it? What if she thought he liked Gokudera-chan more than her?
N-not that he had anything against Gokudera-chan! B-but! Kyoko-chan... She was more his type. Her smile was the sole reason he came to school most days of a year! If not for Kyoko-chan's sweet smile, her purity, he would have probably been held back another year through simply skipping school too much. Perhaps even been moved down a class ranking.
"Stop moping, Stupid Tsuna!" Reborn commanded, tiny foot impacting against his jaw. He backflipped off his student's face and landed on the silver haired girl's shoulder, settling himself back down, and smirking at the boy as he hit the ground and flailed for a bit, like a turtle flipped onto its back, before managing to sit up, clutching his cheek and wailing.
"REBORN! WHAT WAS THAT FO- Gokudera-chan!" he squawked, spotting the girl who had been avoiding him all day. She flushed and looked away, Reborn perched cheerfully on her shoulder as she twisted the hem of her skirt awkwardly, shuffling her feet. Tsuna quickly scrambled to his feet, "I uh I..." he trailed off, words abandoning him. He didn't know what to say now.
They stood in awkward silence, neither quite sure what to say, or how to speak to one another.
Reborn rolled his eyes, "I invited Gokudera to dinner tonight. There are some things that need to be explained," he declared.
"Things?! What things?!" Tsuna squawked, flapping his arms as Reborn tugged on Gokudera-chan's hair and pointed her in the direction of his house, the girl looking a little uncertain but going as she was directed.
"Her role within the Family, how it relates to you, the situation with the Vongola. It needs to be explained, along with other specifics," the Sun Arcobaleno explained as they left the school, Tsuna chasing after them, flailing in alarm. Reborn huffed, "Do you not want Gokudera-chan to stay?" he asked slyly.
Tsuna immediately shut up, but he still looked like he was having a heart attack.
The girl stopped suddenly and faced him, "Sawada-san, I've been in the Mafia since I was eight. Bouncing from Famiglia to Famiglia, and never really wanted. If you're concerned with my joining the Vongola, don't be."
"But – but you could finally get away! Isn't that what you wanted? To leave?" he asked frantically, confused.
She shook her head (she still wouldn't look at him), "What I wanted more than anything was to be accepted. Now I have," she explained, shrugging a shoulder as jade green eyes flicked up to his face and then turned away just as quickly, "Only one other person has ever accepted me after knowing everything. And I owe him a debt I can never repay. But, I can pay you back. The Mafia world... you have a foot in the door, Sawada-san, you'll need someone to hold it open so it doesn't break it off. That's where people like me come in, Family, Guardians," she continued as they began to walk once more, heading in the direction of Tsuna's house.
"B-but! I don't want to be a Mafia Boss!" Tsuna wailed.
"I know. But at this point... You are the only one who can. Unless you're okay with the idea of a younger sibling being born solely for the cause of stepping into the Underworld," she pointed out ruthlessly, making Tsuna freeze in place for a moment. Reborn has said that there were no other candidates for the Tenth, that the previous candidates had all been assassinated, so his family line was the only one left. If he refused... would they really make his family have another baby just to have their – his eyes slid over to Reborn. Reborn who was already considered the world's greatest hitman, while still wearing a diaper, Reborn who wandered around with guns that were illegal in Japan, Reborn who thought the answer to all of Tsuna's problems came with dying, and fighting, and bullets.
They would.
If he refused, they would force/trick his mother into having another baby for them.
"Tsuna, stop." A pair of hands landed on his shoulders, giving him a short shake. He shuddered looking up into jade green eyes. "Stop thinking like that. There would be no forcing, no tricking. As much distaste as I have for your father, he does love your mother dearly. He would never force or trick her into having another child simply for the sake of the Vongola. The only reason why you have been kept out of Mafia affairs thus far is because that was one of his stipulations to taking his current position within the Family: That his family would remain out of it, that you, and your mother, would be kept safe and ignorant. But, if the worst was to come down to the worst, then yes, a second child would be required. Either from your mother, or... someone else, if she refused."
Tsuna tensed violently as the silver haired girl grimaced unhappily.
"That's just the world we live in," she told him softly, drawing away.
"It isn't right," Tsuna murmured.
"It isn't," she agreed, "But the fact of the matter is that the Vongola Primo's bloodline is as close to a national treasure that the Mafia World gets. Originally, the Vongola started as a vigilante group, battling corruption in the Italian Government, brutal police regimes, and criminals who preyed upon the poor, sick, and destitute. They rose to considerable power from very humble beginnings through hard work and dedication to their ideals, the determination to better the lives of those they protected being their driving cause.
"But as with all good things, it came to an end. There are no exact records, but it is known that one of the Vongola's greatest allies was wiped out one day, completely, their names even stricken from record and lost. At the hands of the first Mist Guardian, Primo's close friend, Daemon Spade. Some say he wished to make a grab for power, others that he viewed the allied family as a weakness that the Primo couldn't afford, others that it was revenge for his lost lover. No one could really say as Daemon Spade vanished not long after, dubbed a traitor. That was when it all came to an end for the Primo's generation. They split, returning to their old lives, their former ways. The Primo handed leadership to his cousin, Ricardo the Secundo, in order to make the Vongola strong, then, heartsick, he left for Japan where he met his wife, and began your family line.
"The Secundo was relentless in his pursuit of power, he brought about the bloodiest generation known to the Vongola as he fought all rising contenders for the title of strongest Famiglia, ruthlessly beating them down. He brought the Vongola to power in such a meteoric rise that the name of his son, the Third Head, has been lost to history, hidden within his father's shadow. The Secundo... he was not a pleasant man, but his loyalty to the Vongola is unquestioned. The only one of the Heads to have ever possess a unique manifestation of Dying Will - "
Tsuna hung off her every word as they made their way back to his house, the way she wove the History of the Vongola for him was much more interesting than all the dry texts that Reborn tried to force down his throat. It was as if she knew what had happened, was there at the time.
"We'll need to save the rest for later," Reborn interrupted, "Tsuna isn't ready for the Flame aspect yet," he reminded her. The girl frowned a little at him but nodded.
"You'll need to tell him sooner, rather than later. Xanxus is waking up. When the VARIA are knocking on our door is not a good time to unload onto him," she pointed out making Reborn eye her in something Tsuna was beginning to identify as concern.
"Xanxus, hm? How did you know that?" he asked, watching as she frowned a little and then blanched as if realising what she'd just said. She turned away quickly.
"If you think Squalo and the rest of the VARIA haven't been chipping away at that ice - "
"Ice? How much do you know about the CRADLE Affair?"
"Reborn! Stop badgering her! Who is Xanxus, what is the VARIA?!" the young brunet demanded.
The girl shifted, looking between Tsuna and Reborn, before turning her attention to Tsuna, clearly choosing to answer him over Reborn's objections. The Sun Arcobaleno, after all, did not have her loyalty. Tsuna did. "Xanxus is the adoptive son of your predecessor, the Nono. VARIA is the assassination team he controls within the Vongola," she explained before turning to Reborn, "And the Sky Arcobaleno is not the only one in the world with foresight. You meet some interesting people when you're homeless and a lot of people can't tell when junkies are spouting about the future, or just off their tits," she pointed out, her voice hard as she turned away from him, Reborn's mouth twisting slightly in grudging acceptance. Not many Mafioso would sit and listen to a junkie claiming to know the future, less still actually believe them. Gokudera-san had been homeless for a length of time when she was younger and inbetween hunting for a Famiglia, it wasn't out of the realms of possibility that she ended up being forced to share a cardboard box with one such individual, or simply stayed with them and listened out of sheer desperation for human contact that didn't hate her very existence (Reborn would like to hunt down all those idiots and alternatively thank them for leaving such a treasure for the Vongola to pick up, and shoot them for being so fucking stupid that they would reject her for having a brain that didn't match her parts).
The Hitman shifted to a more comfortable position on the girl's shoulder. She was an interesting addition, one he was beginning to think was divine intervention on Tsuna's behalf. Only here a handful of days and his student was already seriously considering his role as the Vongola Tenth, already reaching out to potential Guardians with his Flame, and actually now aware of the Famiglia's History – the books Reborn had thrown at his head before now had gone in one ear and out of the other without registering.
He turned to his student with a smirk, "Aren't you glad to have such a reliable underling?" he quipped, feeling the girl tense beneath him as Tsuna started flailing and protesting. "Careful, Dame-Tsuna, carry on like that and you'll hurt her feelings," Reborn warned, ignoring the glare the young woman shot him and the look of horror that painted itself on his Student's face.
"That's – no – I didn't mean – I'd rather have Gokudera-chan as a friend! I don't want underlings!" Tsuna wailed.
"Comrades," the girl interrupted, the two looking at her. "Technically we're all under the umbrella of Vongola, ergo, that makes us comrades (Nakama)," she pointed out.
"But Tsuna is the Boss," Reborn pointed out, giving her hair a hard yank, "Don't get ideas above your station."
She huffed and delicately pulled the hair out of his grip and tucked it behind her ear, "Yes he is, thus it is to his wishes we must defer. If he is uncomfortable with the word 'Underling', change it to a more acceptable one," she stated primly, eyeing the Arcobaleno challengingly.
Tsuna flapped his arms, if Gokudera-chan kept saying things that Reborn didn't like he would shoot her!
"A-ah! We're here! This is my house!" he squawked, spotting the two floored building and quickly darting forward to open the gate. Anything to end the argument that wasn't actually happening. "P-please be welcome!" he squeaked as he quickly opened the door to let her in first.
"Thank you," the silver haired girl muttered as she stepped in, pausing to let Reborn down before pulling her shoes off, setting them neatly to one side.
"Maman, we're home," Reborn called as he left his shoes and made his way to the kitchen, Sawada Nana's voice greeting him warmly as Tsuna took his own shoes off. "Tsuna made a friend, so we brought her home," the Sun Arcobaleno explained bluntly.
Nana-san laughed as she came out into the hallway, "Oh my, really?" she chirped before actually getting a look at said new friend, she immediately stopped and gasped, floundering for a moment before the girl took pity on her and bowed politely.
"It's nice to meet you, Sawada-san. My name is Gokudera Aya, thank you for having me," she intoned respectfully, hands clasped in front of her as she bowed, as was proper for a Japanese girl (she learned from a culture book she found that boys bowed with their hands to their sides, girls with their hands down and together at the thighs).
Nana quickly bowed back, "G-good afternoon! Welcome! Oh goodness, my Tsu-kun with such a pretty girl!" she exclaimed, flushing happily, and then, shockingly enough, bowing deeply on her hands and knees, "Isn't it hard, having this no-good son as your boyfriend?" she commiserated.
Aya scowled, "Excuse me, please don't say things like that," she scolded, taking the woman aback at the same time as Tsuna yelped that she wasn't his girlfriend.
"Oh? Are you two not - "
"I mean calling your son 'No Good', right in front of him!" she snarled, "Just because everyone at school calls him that is no reason for him to get it at home either!"
Nana flustered, "Oh, I, um - "
"Aya-san has strong feelings about parents speaking poorly of their children," Reborn explained to the woman gently, "She grew up in a broken home," he added knowledgeably, making the brunette woman gasp in pity.
"Oh, goodness, I had no idea. I'm so sorry, Aya-chan!"
"Don't apologise to me you clueless airheaded bint!" the girl grit out in cold Italian, not even flinching when Reborn slapped her leg for being so rude. Nana didn't notice, too busy bustling around, cooing about making tea and snacks for everyone, ushering her upstairs with Tsuna, and urging her to call her 'Mama' like everyone else.
To call that woman anything resembling 'Mother' was an insult to Hayato's mother Lavina, and Aggie's mother, Penny.
"L-let's go upstairs!" Tsuna suggested quickly, that cold tone of voice was frightfully familiar to yesterday and he didn't think his mother could survive the temper of one Gokudera Aya if she got upset.
Grumbling, the girl did as he asked, picking Reborn up and following him up the stairs where she let him down again once inside. She sat herself down at the low table and set her backpack beside her before unzipping it and rummaging inside for a notebook and a pen, paying absolutely no mind to Tsuna freaking out over a girl being in his room when it was so messy as he whipped around and grabbed his things to shove them out of the way.
By the time Tsuna finally sat down, Nana had appeared with a tray of snacks and a teapot, cheerfully setting them out and bustling off back down the stairs, still marvelling over her Tsu-kun knowing such a beautiful girl.
Seeing the dark look said girl was directing at his mother's retreating back, Tsuna flailed, "S-so, what did we need to talk about?" he spluttered, dragging her attention back toward him and away from his mother.
"My place within the Family, which at the moment I am assuming is protection detail?" she asked looking down at Reborn who nodded solemnly behind his espresso.
"Correct. I am forbidden from interfering with Vongola affairs beyond training Dame-Tsuna. As his underlin- comrade," he corrected seeing the look of mounting panic on Tsuna's face, "you will be expected to watch his back and prevent anyone from doing him harm," he explained. "On top of that, you are to assist me in selecting other family members. Normally I wouldn't ask for anyone's opinion, but you have a surprising level of perception with regards to Dame-Tsuna." Enough perception to get close enough to him, get dynamite into his mouth, get him to agree to his 'release', on top of how he reacted to the idea of being a Boss and several other little things.
Aya nodded, making a few notes in her notebook. "Alright, sounds easy enough. Scout the students for potential, and prevent Sawada-san from attacked. Anything else?" she asked, nibbling the tip of her pen thoughtfully as she eyed her book and then turned her attention to the small Sun Arcobaleno.
He nodded, "For now. Merely act as you normally do. Dame-Tsuna has yet to reach a stage in his development where he is physically capable of training his Dying Will. We're taking each day as it comes right now," he explained as he sipped his drink, watching the girl make a few notes.
"Physical training. What about information? There's a lot he doesn't know, I'm assuming?" she asked.
Tsuna grimaced as they both glanced to him, so he wasn't the smartest of students, so what?
"Some I can't tell him yet. Others he wouldn't understand. As for the earlier conversation we had yesterday, you know my reasons," the Hitman declared firmly.
The girl nodded, she looked unhappy, but she accepted it. Whatever it was. Tsuna really hated being out of the loop.
She pushed a few stray strands of silver hair behind her ears and then rummaged a set of reading glasses out of her bag. Tsuna blushed a little. Th-that was a cute look. Then his stomach dropped down to his feet and he wished the ground could swallow him whole when he heard her next question.
"What can you tell me about his habits? Routines? I know some of what I'm dealing with but I need to know the rest," she admitted as she got her pen ready and turned expectantly to Reborn who smirked, and then let rip.
Oh Kami-sama.
Tsuna wanted to die.
No holds barred, unvarnished, non-sugar coated, blunt, ruthless truth. Everything. Even his habit of following Kyoko-chan but never being quite able to scrap up the courage to actually go over and talk to her. How many times he had been gophered by the seniors and forced to buy pornography magazines and snacks for them. Even how many times he had caused the school sports team to fail and how he had a one-hundred percent failure rate for any team he joined. His fear of dogs. His inability to swim. How he screamed like a girl when confronted with cockroaches (though given how Gokudera-chan shivered when this was brought up he assumed she was the same), how often he faked illness in order to skip, and just what those illnesses were.
Nothing was left out and she wrote it all down methodically without pause of hesitation in a weird pictographic code.
He dropped his head down onto the table and wished the universe could forget he even existed.
Then, finally, Gokudera-chan snapped her book shut and offered him a smile, "Done. And, um, it's okay, Sawada-san. Everyone has embarrassing secrets. I won't tell. Promise," she assured him, "Is there anything you'd like to ask me? It's only fair."
Tsuna lifted his head in shock, the girl was clearly a little uncomfortable but willing.
He honestly couldn't think of what to say but, "What's your favourite colour?" he blurted out anyway.
She shrugged, "I don't really have just one," she admitted, "But if I had to choose it would be purple, green, orange, black, or red."
"H-have you ever failed a test?" he asked, still floundering for a few questions because he did want to get to know Gokudera-chan, he wanted to be her friend, but he wasn't quite sure how to do it.
"A few. Mostly Family entrance tests. But when I was younger after my mother died I failed a lot because I didn't want to study," she admitted fiddling with her pen. "I always failed my etiquette classes though. I didn't really like being forced to act like a little gentleman, or what my father thought one should be," she admitted with an irate sneer.
Tsuna kept asking questions, silly pointless ones, some that were unintentionally personal, some that were, and the two of them steadily drank their way through the tea-pot and crunched their way through the snacks that Nana had provided while Reborn sat to one side watching his Stupid Student bond with his very first family member and his future Storm Guardian. She answered every single one of his questions as honestly as possible, even the painful ones that had her staring down into her teacup with a twisted expression as she admitted to her father not caring about her older sister who was mentally unwell (he almost wanted to interrupt to tell her that Bianchi was much better than she was, but Reborn hadn't known the Poison Scorpion when she was a child and suffering with Discord, so he couldn't tell her whether or not the rosette haired woman had improved).
Eventually they fell quiet, Tsuna having run out of questions and the girl patiently waiting for him to think of another one as she sipped her tea.
Then, "Does this mean we're friends now?" Tsuna finally asked, staring at her forlornly over the table, as if expecting her to say no.
She nodded, "Yes. If you want, that is," she added with a flush, looking away.
"C-could you call me Tsuna then? Not Sawada?" he asked awkwardly, he had never liked people being overly formal with him, he didn't feel that he was really worth that kind of fuss.
"Only if you call me Aya," she retorted with a smile.
"Done," Tsuna agreed happily.
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Aya stayed at the Sawada House for several more hours, even staying for dinner, as she helped Tsuna go through his homework when Reborn brought it up. It wasn't that he was stupid, it was that he just didn't get the basics and needed someone to walk him through them before he really got what a question was asking. When they were done, Tsuna introduced her to his games, they played a little Mario Cart while the girl tried to get used to the controls. Once she did, Tsuna found himself getting soundly beaten and then having to work for his victories. They were having a lot of fun with the game, even going so far as to try and sabotage each other by reaching over and pushing buttons on each other's controllers.
Dinner was surprisingly relaxed even if Aya categorically refused to call Nana 'mama' as she kept requesting, stonily pointing out that she had a mother and she didn't feel comfortable replacing her, even in name. That eventually got the woman to stop but she did keep plying more food onto the girl's plate, and quite noticeably didn't call her son 'no good' the whole meal.
Then they went back upstairs where Tsuna introduced her to another game called Monster Hunter, that one, after she went through the tutorial section, she took to like a duck to water. It was one of those games where there was no levelling system, but rather your ability as a player was improved the more you did it. You had to find a weapon that suited your fighting style, and then go gathering materials in order to make items like health potions and antidotes, as well as make stronger weapons that were less likely to blunt with prolonged use, and stronger armour.
By that point though, it was quite late and Reborn pointed out that they still had school the next morning, so Aya had best be getting home.
She bid them both goodnight and left the house with Tsuna waving to her from his bedroom window as she went down the road towards the Ryokan where she was staying until she found her own flat.
"That went well," Reborn commented from his hammock.
Tsuna nodded happily, feeling a warm glow in his chest, he had a friend!
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Chapter finished.
Yeah, fluff – all the fluff (THROWS FLUFF IN THE AIR) fluuuuuuuuff.