!Strawberry Kisses!
Word Count: 1,667
Fleshy.
I bounced forwards and got right into Tsuna's line of vision, blocking the screen of his computer and making him whine as I persisted to collect his focus.
You've yet to actually make a friend in your new school, even after my arduous efforts to get that Yamamoto boy to talk to you. The only thing you have to show for your half a term of Middle school is - I skipped over to his textbook and forced it open to show a terribly scribbled homage to some 'Sasagawa Kyoko' girl (probably) and a rather prominent absence of any learning materials - a rather unnerving fixation.
"Strawberry!" Tsuna yelped, slamming the book shut and crossing his arms over the top of it, using his human weight to keep it closed. "Stop looking through my stuff!"
Someone needs to make sure you're doing work!
I hissed and flung his eraser at him, effectively thunking the fleshy on the forehead and making him whine as he protected against small projectiles.
"Strawberry! Stop it!"
Stop watching mecha anime - I hopped onto his computer and hit the sleep button for the screen - and do your homework!
The young teen complained and blocked the roll of sticky tape that was bowled at him from across the table and hunched over as I dragged his maths book, jumping up to perch on the pole of his desk lamp to loom over the little fleshy and instil fear as a motivating factor.
Tsuna pouted and started scratching answers before yelping as I charged forward and yanked on a lock of his hair.
Show your working!
He held his aching scalp and quickly scrawled out the steps to his leaps of logic, moaning at me to be more gentle with his fragile being and getting a huff out of me as I nibbled on the tips of my wings.
"I'm trying to make friends," he sighed after a while, making me pause my grooming to listen to his human words. "But there are kids from my elementary school so the whole 'fresh start' idea that I had going on hasn't exactly worked out."
I shifted a bit on the lamp as I watched him depreciate himself, feathered puffing up as I grumbled and hopped off to bounce up to his hand, settling down beside it.
Tsuna blinked, my fluff drawing him out of his thoughts and he smiled a bit as I prodded his fleshy hand with my talons like one would something dead with a stick. He gave a warm laugh and urged me to climb up onto his wrist before he leant back and hugged me to his chest, letting out a long breath as I hooked my chin over his shoulder in a rather human embrace.
"Days like this," Tsuna began, "I'm glad I managed to convince Mama to adopt you, Strawberry."
I paused for a moment before cawing quietly, giving a huff as I yanked on his hair a bit. Don't you be getting all mushy.
"Love you too," he hummed and whistled at me. "Strawberry~!"
I scoffed but submitted to his pestering and pressed my beak to his puckered lips with a loud tweet.
"Strawberry~! Strawberry~!"
I hung from the clothesline with a sigh of boredom, swinging absently as Tori bounced about and pushed the clothespegs up and down the ropes. I ground my beak and stared off before blinking as a squawk of surprise was spluttered out and the 'thwump' of the blackbird hitting the ground rung out.
Black eyes stared down at him for a moment before I pulled myself up and began to sort out my colours without care for the male ave.
"You didn't ask if I was okay!" Tori whined, peering up at me with a side on head.
"Well, are you injured?" I grunted, unwavering in my preening, a feather finally settling right after I pulled at it for a moment.
"Well, no but-"
"Then there's no need to ask," came the easy twitter, "When you're actually injured, then I'll ask if you're alright."
"But if I'm that bad then it's obvious I'm not okay!"
"And I will ask to know that, but until then," I hummed, flapping away from the clothesline dismissively as he squawked after me in indignation and complaint.
Nana giggled as I swooped over her head and into the house the matron holding her arm out for me to circle back and perch upon with a huff.
"Oh, you're teasing your boyfriend again aren't you?"
He's not my boyfriend. He's my henchman - and a lacking one at that.
The woman snorted as if she could hear my words before letting me flutter over to the dinner table and hop around, looking through all the mail and junk that the postman had brought today.
Tsuna was already gone for school again, and that left me with- Tori crash-landed on the table in his frenzy for all the papers, his beak in a constant gape as he cawed in bliss and delight.
"Strawberry! Look at all these human words! There are hundreds! We could build a nest with this!"
"It's not that-" I paused and swung my head around to him. "What what do you mean 'we could build a nest'?"
The crow disregarded my grunt of annoyance to continue rubbing himself all over the papers, tweeting in euphoria as he rolled about on the random assortments of advertisement.
"I see you found today's mail," Nana laughed, pulling a chair out to sit with us as she placed down some sweet water for me.
I tweeted a huff at the woman before taking part in the sugar water happily, my sweet beak demanding satisfaction as the mother leafed through the papers in search of something eye-catching. Tori cawed loudly as she plucked a sheet from under him, making the crow roll about and then flap back onto his feet as he made insistent noises for her to return the page.
"Oh, look at this!" Nana called and I flew up to perch on her shoulder to investigate her surprise. "It's a personal tutor! Tsu-kun could use one, now that he's in Middle School. Those grades just aren't going to fly this year!"
I grunted and tugged on her earring, making the woman laugh as she waved me off and covered her ear to protect it.
"Okay, sorry for the pun, Strawberry!"
I hissed and puffed myself. No, she wasn't.
"Strawberry!" Tori whined, bouncing on the table when she continued to read the flyer. "Strawberry I want my letters back!"
"Hush, my fleshy is reading."
"But Strawberry! My letteeeeeers!"
I lamented and rolled my eyes before I began grooming myself, attacking a feather that hadn't settled right after the flight and pulled at the dust on my wings.
"Strawberry! Hey! Strawberry!"
Nana put her chin in her palm as she pondered the note, making me tweet an encouragement before returning to my precise practice.
"What do you think, hun?" she asked, showing me the paper.
I sighed and abandoned my work to peer down at the script, more than a bit disgruntled by the 'live-in tutor's decision to be paid with free food and accommodation. Alarms were trilling in my head as I nestled down on the woman's delicate shoulder, my displeasure obvious to her.
"Tsu-kun really needs a tutor, Strawberry," Nana explained gently, reaching to the painted vase in the centre of the table and pulling out a rolled-up sheet of paper - one of the fleshy's tests he tried to hide no doubt. "These D's and C- just aren't going to be able to get him through Middle School, let alone get into a High School."
I cawed lowly and flexed my clutches, careful not to do more than lightly graze the mother's skin since the Sawada's weren't ones to clip my talons.
But she was right. As always.
Tsuna's performance was doing more than damaging his already pulverised reputation, it was affecting his results in the long run. It was better to tackle the issue while there was still time to recuperate and while he was still being taught the basics in school since there would be less to catch up on. I know, school and grades aren't all that matters, but they don't not matter either, especially in the competitive society that is Japanese academia.
But does it have to be a 'live in'? God, I'm not going to get any sleep, am I?
Nana must have seen the begrudging acceptance in my eye because she cooed sweetly in thanks and called for me to jump onto her hand.
"Strawberry~! Strawberry~!" she hummed, and I sighed before whistling the usual tune in echo.
"Strawberry~! Mwah~! Strawberry~! Mwah~!"
"Oh, my feathers!" Tori gaped as I hopped down onto the table with a 'thunk', no longer so very distraught over his stolen letters. "Strawberry! Do the pecky thing with me too!" he squawked before bouncing toward me and making me flutter back with a disgruntled tweet.
"Back! Back, ye demon!" I hissed, flapping my wings at him and watching as he deflated in disappointment.
"Okay!" Nana announced, getting to her feet and taking the sheet with her, "I'm going to call them."
I turned to look at her as she bounced over to the phone, a faint grunt of annoyance coming from me as Tori all but smacked into my side and settled down for one of his huddling sessions. Shaking my head and snapping at the male when he tried to groom me, I returned my focus on the mother as she checked the numbers twice as she dialled in on the landline's wall-mounted phone.
"Oh, what's his name?" she tutted, phone squeezed between her shoulder and ear as she re-read the page. "Oh, Reborn-san! What an exotic name, he must be European!"
I huffed and tucked my legs in as I allowed Tori to croon into vibration, my displeasure still adamant in remaining.
Honestly, what kind of name is 'Reborn'?
