Tattoos
Tattoos have a power and magic all their own. They decorate the body but they also enhance the soul.
-Michelle Delio
Tsuna first started noticing them not long after Leora gave him one of his first official gymnastics lessons. The two of them were balancing on the edge of the sandbox. She was facing him with her hands outstretched to catch him when he spotted the delicate ink of a flock of birds peeking out from under the over-sized watch and thick rope bracelet she always wore.
They curved in an arc, stopping just before they reached the palm of her hand near her thumb, like they could keep spiraling up and off her fingers until they were free.
They had captivated him, the way such simple little drawings looked so free, and at the same time, they confused him.
What nine year old had tattoos? How did she get them?
But Leora didn't mention them, and he quickly forgot as he lost his balance again.
The next time he noticed, they were doing their homework.
Leora had flopped over on the floor, mumbling under her breath how stupid everything was, and occasionally nudging him in the leg with a foot as he laughed. It was then his eyes zeroed in on the collection of tiny dots spreading across the top of her foot and over her ankle.
They weren't much – easily dismissed as moles – but they seemed a little too round, too dark, too similar. Leora either didn't notice, or didn't care, that he spent the rest of their homework time staring at her foot and trying to find the patterns.
It had taken him nearly a week and a trip to the library to realize the dots were supposed to represent stars.
When he had raised the courage to ask, she had told him they were constellations, and had happily pointed out which one was which on her feet before moving on to the ones on her legs that he hadn't even noticed. When she realized he was having trouble seeing the designs the dots made up, she had grabbed a pen and connected them for him.
Her favorite was the lyra just above her left knee.
The next time he saw one, they were practicing cartwheels.
Well…they were supposed to be practicing cartwheels. They had been teasing each other back and forth, Leora snapping out sarcastic encouragements here and there – with how she was smirking the words would've hurt if her eyes hadn't been so warm – before one thing led to another, and he had challenged her to a cartwheel race around the park.
Oh, he knew he had no chance in hell of winning and Leora knew it too, but he did his best before he ended up in a dizzy, laughing heap on the ground.
As Leora had tumbled past him for another lap her shirt had fallen down – or up, it was hard to tell when she was upside down half the time – and he saw a flash of color on her lower back.
He didn't get a good look at it until a few days later when she decided she would ignore her feet for the day and walk on her hands the entire time she was visiting.
Two fish – koi fish he found out after another trip to the library – one a dark blue and the other burnt orange. They reminded him more of ribbons than fish with the way their tails curled after them in a circle no bigger than his fist.
When he had asked her about that one, she gave him one of her small smiles and said: A reminder to stay balanced, Tsuna. I'd be shit out of luck if I ever forgot.
He could understand that. He forgot things a lot too, and reminders always helped.
The next – and last – tattoo he noticed was a few days before his birthday.
Leora was once again sprawled across his bedroom floor when he noticed the lines across the back of her neck.
It was hardly noticeable, and he had to squint to properly see it, but it was there. This one was made up of white, almost silvery thin lines that looked like scars against her tanned skin, twisted together to look like a real candle flame.
It looked like a fancier version of the design she had on her locket.
Tsuna regretted asking about that one almost immediately after the words left his mouth, because she had frozen, tensing like he still being tormented by bullies, before brushing her fingers over the design like she was afraid it wouldn't be there.
This one is the most important, she told him, hand clenched around the locket as her eyes got that unfocused look, making his skin practically crawl with anxiety, this one… means home. It reminds me of home.
They had stayed like that for almost an hour, Leora staring off into space. He stared at his feet before he blurted out the question that had been floating around his head for a few weeks now.
"Can I get a tattoo?"
Leora had blinked at him, startled, and the emotion he couldn't name disappeared from her eyes as her eyebrows rose towards her hairline.
"They don't come off. You know that, right?"
"I know."
She stared at him for a moment, head tilted, before nodding.
"Alright. It shouldn't be that hard to find a parlor that won't care about your age. We can get it for your birthday this weekend." She sent him a pointed glare when he started smiling. "I get veto rights. You're not getting a robot."
He ended up just letting Leora put together a few choices so he could pick which one he liked the best. She had looked at him with exasperation when he chose the symbol for harmony - which he didn't really understand, what was wrong with it? - but he still got the curving symbol tattooed on his left wrist, like where Leora had the birds on hers.
Staring down at the bandage in satisfaction, Tsuna decided he liked this. The pain was annoying, but he'd had worse, and the black design more than made up for it. He had also really liked the watercolor flaming out in the shape of a feather he saw in the design book. He would have to be careful so no one found out he had them, but if he wore long sleeves, he could get another on his forearm.
He would have to wait a while before he could get another one – maybe a year, tattoos were expensive and he needed to start saving up – but he was definitely going to do this again.
I know this is a little early to be posting them, this wouldn't happen for a few more months yet in the main story, but I figured I'd give you guys something since it'll still be a while before I can update Star of the Circus. I posted the link for Tsuna's tattoo on my profile for anyone who's interested. Thank you to the beta-reader Pure Red Crane for proofreading this chapter.
