Precious

Tsuna never told Yamamoto, but a few members of the baseball team had a tendency to take out their anger on him. Not physically, never physically, not when people could see bruises and Hibari could sniff them out like a bloodhound, but they knew that words could hurt just as much as punches. Maybe even more.

It had already been four years and Tsuna still felt hurt by their acidic words. However, he'd never let Yamamoto know. Yamamoto loved baseball and he loved being on the field with his friends; Tsuna couldn't suddenly reveal this to him. There were only two possible scenarios, Yamamoto leaving the baseball team or Yamamoto leaving Hamagure. Both would be painful choices for the cheerful boy and hence Tsuna wouldn't force him to choose.

"There's a big game coming up, so you'd better stay out of Yamamoto's way, Dame-Tsuna." They had this conversation every year; and every year, Tsuna's reply was the same.

"Yamamoto-kun is his own person. He is fully capable of deciding his own actions." Anxiously, Tsuna tightened his grip on the book in his hands. This time he had been ambushed while he was on the way to the school library to return a book he had borrowed. He hoped that he would be able to make it before the break ended. His level nineteen bond with Hibari didn't mean that he could be late for class and get off scott free. If anything, the beating would probably be a few times harder.

Another one of the boys sneer at Tsuna, and something in Tsuna comments that he had never seen this boy's face before. He obviously wasn't one of the usual people who would come to 'threaten' Tsuna.

"Everyone knows that you're just hanging around Yamamoto for popularity," he said. Tsuna's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open in shock. It wasn't because he was hurt – no, he had endured worse – but because of the sheer audacity of the boy's words. Did he even know what he was saying? Tsuna had been hanging out with Yamamoto for four years and he was still Dame-Tsuna. If he only wanted popularity, he would've left Yamamoto by now. Judging by the incredulous looks on the faces of the other boys, they obviously thought the same.

"You. I. Wow." Tsuna took a moment to compose himself. "Wow. I do not hang out with Yamamoto-kun for popularity! He is my friend, one of my most important people! I don't care if he's popular or not, if he's an ace or a dropout or anything! I like Yamamoto-kun for who he is and not for his achievements! I've been telling you guys for years that Yamamoto-kun is very precious to me, I have no reason to lie!" By the end of his rant, he was breathing hard and clutching the book tightly in his arms as if it could shield him from the other boys. They seemed rather annoyed by his rant. The new boy stepped forward and gripped Tsuna's arm tightly, jerking it up into the air. The book fell to the floor with a thud. The other boys looked a little uncomfortable now.

"Oi, Shou, that's enough. Let him go," one said. The boy – Shou – only rolled his eyes as he stared at Tsuna as if Tsuna was a particularly annoying mosquito he was about to kill. Tsuna couldn't help but try to pull back but the painful grip Shou had on his arm didn't allow him to leave.

"No. It's time that Dame-Tsuna learnt his place." he smirked cruelly and Tsuna flinched back, all but curling into himself as he went on the defensive. He closed his eyes and braced himself. In the background, he could hear the nervous buzz of the other boys trying to get Shou to leave Tsuna alone. However, one voice rang out loud and clear, and Tsuna jerked in surprise.

"What are you doing?" Tsuna's eyes snapped open to see Yamamoto's fingers curled around Shou's wrist, gradually applying pressure until Shou dropped Tsuna's arm and hissed in pain. Yamamoto's eyes were unusually dark, and the sharp expression in them made him think of Reborn when he was being scary and serious. It made Yamamoto look… like a hitman. Tsuna shuddered at the thought.

"Ya-Yamamoto!" Shou seemed shocked and a little scared. Tsuna couldn't blame him.

"I'll only repeat this once. What were you doing, Shou-senpai?" Tsuna could see Yamamoto's grip tighten and immediately intervened.

"Yamamoto-kun, please stop. Shou-san didn't do anything bad to me." Tsuna had to suppress a squeak when Yamamoto turned at same sharp, calculating gaze at him. However, he let go of Shou's hand and the boy quickly took the chance to scramble away.

"Did you mean that, Tsuna?" he asked. Tsuna tilted his head to the side in confusion and Yamamoto clarified. "When you said that you liked me, that I was… precious to you."

"Yeah, I meant it. Why wouldn't I?" At Tsuna's answer, Yamamoto turned his head to the side and covered the bottom of his face with one hand. Tsuna saw that his ears were turning red and took a step forward in concern.

"…Thanks Tsuna. You're precious to me too."

"You feel closer to Yamamoto Takeshi. Your Yamamoto Takeshi bond has gained a level! You have chosen the Romance Route answer. Yamamoto Takeshi Romance Route has been activated!"

Tsuna froze awkwardly at the Voice's words, but decided to disregard them. There wasn't any difference in Nagi's behaviour towards him when he 'activated' her 'Romance Route' – and wow, did it feel wrong to talk about his friends that way – so he hoped that this 'Romance Route' thing was something that would go away if he ignored it.

Well, even if it didn't, he could always ignore it harder.


Fatal Blow

It was a rather normal day, hanging out with Gokudera after school while waiting for Yamamoto so that the three of them could walk to Kokuyo Land together, and Tsuna and Gokudera were conversing. Talking. Normal stuff. And all of a sudden…

"You feel closer to Gokudera Hayato. Your Gokudera Hayato bond has gained a level! Your Gokudera Hayato bond is now level twenty; your companion will now take a fatal blow for you."

And then the world carried on as if a mysterious Voice hadn't told Tsuna that his friend would die for him.

Understandably, Gokudera was alarmed when Tsuna suddenly burst into tears.


To his distress, Tsuna soon found out that no matter the person, they would, quite literally, die for you once you reached a level twenty bond with them.


First Child

Tsuna knew that Haru had a certain fondness for children. It was a fact that could not be changed. The sky was blue, the grass was green, and Haru loved children. Even Hana had to adapt to it, and miraculously built up a tolerance towards young kids. However…

"Haru." Hana looked torn between her urge to run far, far away and her urge to maintain the general sanity of the group. Hana was a really good friend, Tsuna realised. If he were her, he would've ran for the hills a long time ago.

"Aww! He's so cute!" Kyoko cooed. Haru grinned at her, unconsciously tightening her grip on the struggling boy in her arms.

"I know right! Haru found him wandering about and when I heard that his parents left him in Japan, I just had to take him here!"

"Um." Tsuna decided to speak up when he realised how blue the boy's face was becoming. "Haru-chan, you're suffocating him."

"Hahi!" Haru immediately loosened her grip on the boy and he fell to the floor, gasping for breath. She kneeled down in front of him, tears gathering in her eyes as she apologised profusely. Hana slowly edged towards Tsuna.

"Please tell me that Haru didn't just kidnap a child," Hana whispered. Wisely, Tsuna didn't say anything. Hana groaned and buried her face in her hands.

Then Reborn entered the room and everything went to hell.


Somehow, Tsuna was the one to bring Lambo home, considering Lambo had some strange attachment to him. Tsuna was sure there was a reason for it, but when Lambo started babbling about pink bazookas and the future, Tsuna's mind automatically shut down. It didn't change the fact, though, that Tsuna was the one who carried Lambo back to his house.

Tsuna wasn't really surprised; he always got pushed into doing things he didn't want to, after all. At least his mum was happy with having someone to spoil.

("You have established a bond with Lambo Bovino. Your Lambo Bovino bond is level one!")


Power of Love

Tsuna's cooking skill was reaching level ninety-nine soon. He wondered if it was going to stop there or keep on going. He soon got his answer when he bit into a popsicle and a familiar orange screen popped up in front of him.

[Cooking has gained a level! Congratulations, Cooking is now Level 99! Cooking has been maxed out, Cooking (Small Heal) has been learnt.]

Well, that was interesting. But wait, did it mean that if someone ate the food he cooked, they would recover from their wounds? That was a weird concept; he just hoped that no one would question it.

"And with that, Sawada Tsunayoshi activated his first healing skill – and just in time too! For…"

Alright, what the hell was that? A narration?


The less said about his first meeting with Bianchi, the better. To be honest, he didn't remember much; just Gokudera convulsing and then vomiting, lots of pink and purple and horrid acrid smells, an electric bicycle, and love. Something about the power of love.

To be honest, Tsuna soon found out that the less he thought of it, the better it would be. At least he didn't need to suffer through migraines and his subconscious panickingly trying to rebuild mental blocks on suppressed memories.


The second time he met Bianchi, things were a lot tamer. Of course, it did help that Reborn there as well and took the brunt of Bianchi's attention. When Bianchi turned her eyes to him, however, fifteen pop-ups notified him of a dangerous threat that was coming, and another ten informed him of massive killing intent that was directed at him. He tried his best to keep the bland, neutral look on his face as Bianchi set down a plate of… something in front of him.

"To apologise for before," she said sweetly. It was the type of sweet that Tsuna associated with dangerous chemicals that could kill you in an instant. He tried to shove down the little whispers of the time he spent in Italy, and how he should run, run before you die—!

Tsuna stared at the plate for a while. He knew that he had at least two buffs: Optimum Sleep and Mother's Lunch, which would reduce his damage by about forty-six percent. Which was good, because that meant he'd only be fifty-four percent dead instead of, well, a hundred percent dead.

Silently cursing Reborn and his tendency to attract strange people – not that Tsuna was one to talk – he took a bite out of Bianchi's… 'cooking'. What happened next was sheer dumb luck and Tsuna would never again gripe about the game mechanics for as long as he lived. Okay, maybe he'd stop for about two weeks or so, but still.

An orange window flickered in front of him, bearing the words: [Resist Poison has been activated!] It was followed by around fifty to sixty pop-ups talking about how his Resist Poison skill had gained a level – fifty to sixty, to be accurate, but who's counting – and wow. He wasn't dead. Both Bianchi and Reborn were staring at him with something akin to shock and extreme confusion.

"B-but how?" Bianchi managed to ask. Tsuna thought about a suitable way to explain it and make it believable, but he decided that annoying Reborn was much more important.

"Why, the power of love of course!" Tsuna said with absolute sarcasm. He probably shouldn't have done so, however, because Bianchi believed every word he said.

"Finally!" she breathed, eyes sparkling as she held Tsuna's hands tightly in her own. "Someone who understands!"

"Um," Tsuna replied eloquently, ignoring the Voice yelling about new bonds and whatnot. Even though he couldn't see Reborn, he knew the little devil was laughing. Before he could tell Bianchi that he was joking, however, she bustled out of the room in order to create a 'grand feast fit for the start of a beautiful friendship' and Tsuna had to quickly intervene. Surprisingly, the food they made together turned out somewhat edible. Apparently, his Cooking (Small Heal) skill had managed to cancel out Bianchi's poison cooking ability.

Not by much, though, Tsuna mused as he saw Ryohei and Yamamoto run to the toilet to throw up after eating one of the more dubious looking dishes, but at least no one was dying.


He never did clear up that misunderstanding.


Featherman

"Dame-Tsuna, wake up," an unfamiliar voice said. Its tone was familiar, though, and Tsuna automatically opened his eyes out of pure self-preservation alone. He saw a familiar, yet foreign, face looking down at him with a smirk. Slowly, Tsuna took in obsidian eyes, a black fedora, and curly sideburns. Somewhat hesitant, and a little bit terrified, he became aware that the man was literally above him, with his hands on either side of Tsuna's head and a knee in between Tsuna's legs.

Very, very reluctantly, Tsuna slowly dragged his eyes up to the space above the man's head.

[Reborn, Level 350]

"Hieeee!"


Tsuna's eyes snapped open and he was relieved to see the darkened ceiling of his bedroom. Reborn was on the other side of the room, still in his hammock, and still a baby. Tsuna couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Wow, that dream was uncomfortable on so many levels. But now that it was in his head… it was strange that Reborn was just a baby. Tsuna knew the world was weird, especially to him, but it definitely couldn't be that weird. Hopefully.

But that meant that Reborn used to be an adult. That was now a child. It wasn't too weird of a concept to wrap his head around, it actually made more sense than some of the other things that happened in Tsuna's life.

So that meant that Reborn was cursed to be in the form of a baby. What kind of curse was that? And just who cursed him? There was a niggling feeling at the back of his head as he tried to fix a puzzle that he only had a few pieces of. Suddenly, a face flashed in Tsuna's mind and he paused. He remembered who that person was, even though he had only seen him once.

[Kawahira/Checker Face, Level 9000+]

Was his brain trying to tell him that the shopkeeper had something to do with Reborn's curse?

[Hyper Intuition has gained a level!]

Tsuna took that as a yes. However, this information didn't help him all that much. Usually, in video games, the players had to defeat the person who cast the curse in order to break the curse. If that was the case, then Tsuna needed to defeat the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper with a level that was over nine thousand. God, that was impossible! Even Daemon, who had been on this earth for over four hundred years, was nowhere near the shopkeeper's level.

But…

But Reborn was his tutor and, if Tsuna was brave enough, some sort of friend. Sure, Reborn dragged him into many things that Tsuna was reluctant to do, but he had come out stronger because of it. He became more useful because of it. Tsuna honestly liked Reborn, was grateful to him, and saw him as someone important, who gave him the opportunity to protect the people precious to him. And Tsuna would like to think that Reborn kind of liked him too, if only a little.

Tsuna decided then and there that he would try to break the curse Reborn had on him, even if he had to fight an overpowered shopkeeper to do so.

But first, he had to get stronger. While he wasn't against risking his life in a gamble to protect those he loved, it didn't mean that he wanted to get himself killed. What was that quote from the television program he used to watch again? Ah yes, "Death must not be needlessly feared. But it must not be needlessly desired as well." That pretty much summed up his feelings of the situation, although he was still pretty terrified of death and…

"You have established a bond with Reborn. Your Reborn bond is now level one!"

And just how did he establish a bond with a sleeping person?!


Party Member

When Gokudera levelled up to level thirty, Tsuna finally got the notice that Gokudera had joined his party. Puzzled, he wondered why Gokudera had been unable to join his party before. Perhaps it was due to the massive level gap? It made sense, but Hibari's level had been way higher than his when Hibari joined the party.

Maybe… Hibari was so frightening that even the mysterious game mechanisms were afraid of him!

… Yeah, that was a weird thought. Oh well, this was a mystery Tsuna would never solve. And he didn't want to either.

Some stones were just better left unturned.


Disguise

When Tsuna cut in between Bianchi and some sleazy-looking guy in a white coat that was hitting on her, it wasn't to protect Bianchi. Okay, maybe it was, but it was to protect Bianchi from the police instead of the man. Tsuna really didn't want a murder to take place in front of his house.

Then the man groped him, thinking he was a girl, and suddenly Tsuna didn't mind a bit of murder in the morning.


"But how did Shamal-san mistake me for a girl? I'm sure I don't look even the slightest bit feminine!" Tsuna ranted. Daemon snickered from a corner of the room but quickly donned a neutral face when Tsuna turned around to glare at him.

"And you!" Tsuna began. Daemon managed to phase away before he got hit in the face with a flame covered fist.


The worst thing about ideas was that once it took root in your head, you couldn't get rid of it. Tsuna agonized over his thoughts for a full two and a half days before he caved and went to ask Kyoko for help. And what were his thoughts?

How he'd look like if he wore stereotypically feminine clothes.


"Wow," Tsuna said, a bit uncomfortable as he looked in the mirror. "I look… nice." Orange really was his colour. Kyoko was only a little shorter than him, so her clothes fit him just fine, which were why he was at her house. Haru did his makeup eagerly, although she didn't put on much. Something about powders being bad for the skin and whatnot, so she only used non-powder makeup. Not that Tsuna could tell the difference, considering his ignorance towards such matters. It was interesting, though. Maybe he could…

No, no. He didn't have time to create and grind a new skill, not if he wanted to focus on his academics.

[Active skill: Disguise has been created!]

Oh, of course that meant a new skill must be created. Ah well, who cared about grinding skills anyway?

And then, because the universe hated him so much, the door opened and Ryohei popped his head in. And stared. And squinted. "Huh," he commented. "You look familiar."

"Like Tsuna-kun, right, onii-san?" Kyoko, the Traitor, said. Haru giggled at his expense. He knew that if Ryohei wasn't there, she'd be letting out full blown laughter.

Ryohei was frowning as he stared at Tsuna, eyes still narrowed. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he spoke.

"Tsuna's still cuter."

And then he left.

Tsuna didn't know what to think.


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Loading Outtake001


Iemitsu knew he was a good leader, a great employee, and a pretty respectable CEDEF head.

However, he also knew that he was a shit husband, and an even shittier father.

He wanted to be better though, but he couldn't. Or at least, that's what he told himself. There was just no possible way to interact with his family without drawing suspicion to them, and the last thing he wanted was his precious wife and son to die just because he couldn't contain his desire to see them. He'd rather them hate him and be alive than be dead.

There was no possible way to interact with his family as Iemitsu without drawing suspicion to them.


Tsuna's only male babysitter was really weird. He had black hair and brown eyes, but Tsuna kept thinking that the man's hair was supposed to be blond. He cried a lot, too, and kept calling him 'Tsu-kun' like his mum did.

For some reason, it didn't bother him as much as when other people called him that.


Nana wasn't stupid. She knew that her husband, her Iemitsu was involved in some really sketchy things and that was why he was gone so often. She couldn't help but feel a bit bitter. Then again, Iemitsu had his job long before he met Nana that fateful day at the restaurant, but he chose to be with her. Shouldn't that count for something?

Someone thrusts a bouquet of flowers at her and she glances up, startled, to see a brown haired man wearing a hat that overshadowed most of his face.

"Beautiful flowers for a beautiful lady," he said quickly, and ran off before Nana could catch a good look at his face. She didn't have to, though. She might not have the scarily good intuition that her son did, but she was pretty good at figuring things out.

Smiling, she glanced down at the flowers in her hands. Lavenders and yellow camellias. Faithfulness and longing. Nana had taught Iemitsu the meaning of flowers once, a long time ago before they got married, when they were still in the early stages of dating.

It was nice to see that he hadn't forgotten what she had said.


Tsuna felt like he was going insane. Sure, he was just five years old, but even he could differentiate between faces and people with different faces had been stopping by the house almost every day! They had different faces, even different genders and ages, but he kept thinking that they were the same person!

What was wrong with him?!

His mother seemed calm and accepting enough, so perhaps he should be the same. Still…

He really wanted to know why he kept associating those strangers with the image of a tall man with blond hair and brown eyes though.


Iemitsu wanted to keep his family safe, so he couldn't visit them as Iemitsu. However, it didn't mean that he couldn't visit them disguised as other people.

And then there was the Cradle Affair and suddenly Iemitsu couldn't visit them at all.


Author's note

Hey, I don't like Iemitsu but I don't dislike him either. He reminds me of my dad, tbh. And Tsuna's like my younger brother, resentment towards father, cuteness, and all. Although I might be biased considering people keep telling me I have a brother complex. Eh. Btw, the cradle incident happened when Tsuna was six, according to the wiki and my mathematics skills. I'm good at math. It's also late at night. I'm on a

Anyway, you know how certain skills only get activated due to chance? Like 2% chance of happening an' stuff? Yeah, that's what happened to Tsuna with the poison. World's luckiest person, probably. I'm pretty lucky with video games in that sort of manner.

The quote: "Death must not be needlessly feared. But it must not needlessly be desired as well. Face it and fight, Featherman!" is from Phoenix Ranger Featherman R. A fictional show in a game called Persona. I like Persona, but I don't have a playstation. You can see many things in this story influenced by Persona. I am very tired. Why is this chapter so short.

Reviews

Guests I'm sorry I don't know who's who I'm sorry – thank you so much for reviewing! Hana will work with Hayato for a while in right hand man training or something, but she won't be the right hand man. She has 'much better things to do than to help Tsuna run this monkey show'. She wants to be a lawyer. Also, Tsuna has been hit by vehicles approximately three times.

meh – I think Nagi grows catnip around Kokuyo Land in hopes of attracting more cats. And the Vindice will be dealt with, somehow. Probably anticlimactically. Tsuna and co.'s way too underlevelled to fight them.