Disclaimer: I do not own KHR. If I did Tsuna would be a true super uke and smarter, sorry as much as I love and will write about the lovable idiot, Goku and Naruto have made it so too many main characters are idiots
Summary: What if Tsuna was smart, like genius hacker smart, but decided to hide it behind an average student exterior.
Chapter 10: Human or not, does it matter?
All of the windows in the room had been carefully blocked by thick curtains to prevent any sunlight from entering. In the center of the blackened room is a queen bed covered in white silk sheets and a warm feather comforter. It was the perfect place to pass out after going almost two straight days without any sleep.
Tsuna couldn't help but curse his own habits.
He was accustomed to waking up at 5:00 a.m. every morning and even the Night Quill induced nap he'd taken the morning before executing Project E. couldn't change that. So after just four and a half hours of sleep, Tsuna found himself lying in a sort of trance like state. At least until the fluffy black face and golden eyes of the fourth research subject fell into his field of vision.
Flashback
"WTF."
Tsuna knew that just about anything could be behind the cell door, but this was… kind of scary.
"Kufufu… Hahahaha." Mukuro's laughter was soon accompanied by Ken's and a small snicker from Chikusa.
The sound of Mukuro's laughter broke Tsuna out of his shock. He shook his head slightly and glared at Mukuro.
"I wasn't expecting a big ass cat, shut u-"Once again Tsuna found himself on the ground with a strong, heavy (about 130-150 lbs at this age) body on top of him.
It was suddenly very quiet.
I don't think he's from the original fifteen.
Tsuna was very still as the black muzzle and whiskers brushed against his face as the young Jaguar sniffed him. The knowledge that this was probably only six months old did little to comfort Tsuna, as Jaguars, being the third largest cats in the world, were very large as cubs.
Tsuna half expected Mukuro to step in, as he had with Ken, but he quickly noticed Mukuro wasn't moving.
"Muku-"
"Shhh… I've never seen him when he wasn't sedated."
Fuck. Why hadn't he said that before Tsuna unlocked the cell! Tsuna was still before, but now he was completely frozen, not even daring to breathe. Wait! Couldn't Mukuro-
*Purrr. Lick.*
It took Tsuna a few seconds to realize one of the most dangerous predators in the world wasn't killing him, but snuggling with him.
"He-hey there. What-what's your name?" Tsuna nervously lifted a hand to scratch behind the cubs' ear gently, before adding a little more pressure when the large cat purred and leaned into his hand.
"Don't know, they only brought him here a couple of days ago."
Mukuro reached over and tried to touch the black cat, key word being tried. As soon as Mukuro got close, the Jaguar cub began to growl and hiss at him. Mukuro decided it would be better to withdraw his hand, lest he draw back a nub.
"He-hey now. It's ok."Tsuna started petting the sleek black fur.
*Purrr*
End Flashback
Seeing the face of an animal big enough to rip you to shreds does a good job of waking someone up, even if it seems to love you.
Tsuna sighed and rubbed the cats behind his ear and enjoyed the soft purr he got in response. It didn't take him long to figure out that he was the only person the predator seemed to like, when he proceeded to hiss at anyone who came within three feet of him.
Why the cat like him so much, he didn't know and didn't care, it kept everyone else out of his room, including Kyoya who had similarly holed himself up in the other room of the same suite.
See the cat put a small, tired smile on his face. Even if the animal had scared him half to death initially, Tsuna couldn't help but feel comfortable around the beast, especially after he finally found the files on the living experiments, something the Estraneo famiglia was very careful not to put on a computer.
"I need to name you, don't I?"
*Purrr* The cat seemed to agree.
"Hmm, you're going to be a real killer when you're full grown, so maybe Kira?" As if the cub could understand, he softly shook his (already) large head. "No? I guess it sounds a little girly. How about Akira?" *Purrr* "Akira it is."
The large animal would only get bigger and more dangerous, but Tsuna wasn't worried, even if he'd openly called other people idiots for trying to keep big cats as pets in the past. No, Tsuna had decided to keep the young male within an hour after meeting him. Tsuna just couldn't stomach the thought of putting him in a zoo or animal sanctuary knowing what Estraneo had done to him.
The cat lay back down and proceeded to curl up and go back to sleep on the soft bed. Tsuna looked envious for a few minutes before resigning himself to get up. He took a moment to glare at the clock on the bed side table, red numbers proudly displaying the time, 5:23 a.m. A long hot shower did wonders to relieve some of the stress that had built up in his small body.
As Tsuna got dressed and exited his room he contemplated getting a massage from the spa, when there was a knock at the door. A quick glance at Kyoya's door informed him the volatile boy wasn't in his room or the suite, so Tsuna deemed it safe to open the door without risk of making Kyoya irate. So he trotted over and checked the peak hole.
He was not amused, but grudgingly opened the door anyway.
"Why are you here, Asami-san?"
Standing in his door way was none other than the king of Japanese night life, Asami Ryuuichi, and his two body guards. Tsuna was well acquainted with all three, having broken the blonde body guards' nose and the glasses wearing ones arm two years prior.
"Not very courteous to your benefactor, are you brat." The tall bastard had the audacity to smirk at him.
Asami Ryuuichi was a well known name in both the business world and the underworld. On the surface, he was just a regular business man and club owner with too much time and money on his hands, but underneath it he controlled a vast drug and smuggling network. At just 33-years-old, he was one of the youngest Mafioso to gain so much influence over an entire country and keep most other big players out.
He was tall, muscular, and handsome; the kind of man women through themselves at. His neatly cut black hair, piercing golden eyes, and sculpt face could be seen many dreams, but featured in even more nightmares.
"Benefactor? Need I remind you, you need me more than I need you!"
The first time Tsuna met Asami was about two-years-ago, when he, Kyoya, and Tetsuya started getting more aggressive about kicking all the local gangs and yakuza's out of Namimori. Asami had a small operation in Namimori and had not been pleased when he got wind that a group of children were interfering with his business and promptly sent some of his men to punish the upstarts, or at least tried to.
"Really now, are you sure about that Yoshie?" Asami's smirk didn't go anywhere, instead, he proceeded to blow smoke from his cigarette into Tsuna's face.
After a few months of tense confrontations and Asami being completely incapable of getting rid of the budding Disciplinary Committee, he settled on striking a deal with them. Normally Tsuna and Kyoya wouldn't have bothered, but Asami somehow got a hold of proof that Tsuna was Yoshie, so they had no choice but form a truce.
"What do you want?"
Tsuna knew it would be pointless to respond to the barb, so he settled on trying to get an answer to his original question. Until he could locate what Asami had on him (bastard was smart enough to not store any information he had on Tsuna on a computer), Tsuna had to be semi civil with the man (who he held a grudging respect for, but would never admit it).
"I'm still curious about your new pet."
"You shouldn't be. He's living, so he falls under my protection." This was quickly turning into the phone conversation from the night before. "We never specified whether or not the subject had to be human."
"No, we didn't, but the fact he killed is a cause for concern."
Tsuna's eyes widened a little bit. Asami believed Akira was responsible for the deaths of the scientists in the Human Experiments division, meaning the other scientists (who were the only ones that could have told Asami about the Jaguar) didn't know much about the experiments going on in that division. Tsuna decided this could work in his favor.
"Artificially enhancing a Jaguars strength can do if you don't watch sedative levels." He felt bad about letting Asami assume Akira killed the scientists, but it was safer than letting him know the truth. "He's actually quite tame, so you don't have to worry about anything."
"Then show him to me."
A short staring match ensued until Tsuna was forced to concede. The sooner he got Asami out of the suite the better. Kyoya would take too kindly to the man being there and Tsuna didn't even want to think of how Mukuro, Ken, or Chikusa may react. A quick glance over Asami's shoulder went unnoticed as he gestured for them to come in.
Tsuna lead his three (unwanted) guests over to his room and motioned for them to stay in the door way before he turned on the lights. Akira lifted his head from the bed to see what was going on and growled lightly at Asami and his body guards. All three tensed, but Tsuna just walked over and got on the bed and started scratching Akira behind the ear. They just stared at him as if he were crazy, at least until Akira started to purr.
"See, tame." Seeing Asami raise an eyebrow, Tsuna sighed. "I'm the only one he seems to like, its better if I take care of him."
"You're going to… keep a Panther as a pet?"
"Jaguar."
"What?"
Tsuna looked the Yakuza in the eye, his amusement clearly visible.
"He's a black Jaguar; they're native to North America. Panther is a term for-"
"I know that, you damn brat." Asami rubbed the bridge of his nose, as if nursing a head ache, before sighing. "Where's his file?"
"I destroyed it." Tsuna's was carefully blank.
Once again, a starring match ensued. This time, Tsuna was victorious when Asami just nodded, not finding any trace of a lie in Tsuna's eyes. He was confident in his ability to read anyone, including this over confident brat, so he didn't even consider the possibility of the boy being able to fool him.
"What did it say?"
"Nothing much. He was pretty new, so they only got the chance to work on enhancing his strength." Tsuna lied.
"Really?"
"Really."
"And the others?"
"All human."
Yet another starring contest.
KHRKHRKHR
Mukuro was quietly spying on the group, hidden by his illusions.
He had been curious when he noticed the men on their floor and had decided to follow them. Their mafia like appearance served to put him on edge, so he had to be sure they weren't a threat. He was only half surprised when they made a b-line for Tsuna's door.
The conversation quickly informed him that this was the Mafioso Tsuna had told him about, but that didn't alleviate the anxiety he felt. He had a feeling this encounter would reveal something important.
KHRKHRKHR
Asami sighed; it was hard to get one over the brat. When he stumbled over the smallest bit of a computer trace that lead him to the hacker Yoshie two-year-ago, he couldn't believe his luck. As far as Asami knew; it was the one and only slip up Yoshie ever made, so of course he was quick to print and store the trace data in a hidden vault. It was the only advantage he had in these meetings, but he knew better than to over use it.
Kid or not, (and what a surprise that had been) Yoshie could destroy him with a cell phone, so it was best to keep to a mutually beneficial agreement for now.
"Fine, I am a man of my word." Yoshie wasn't the type to look or act smug, but Asami swore he saw a bit of a smirk on the brats face. "But that's not the only reason I came here today."
"What is it?"
"Federico's bones were found, right here in Japan, a couple of hours ago."
"Shit."
Asami felt a bit of satisfaction at being one of the only people who could make the stone faced boy show enough emotion to swear, but this was serious. Ever since finding out the true identity of Yoshie, Asami had made sure to learn everything about the boy; where he lived, where he went to school, who his friends were, and who his family was. He paid special interest to the boys' family, particularly his ancestry.
"With what you told me about Xanxus, that makes you-"
Tsuna quickly held up his hand. It was better if Asami didn't say anything about that right now, not with Mukuro spying on them.
"How long do you think it'll be before they send someone?"
"A couple years, you're still pretty young." Too young.
Asami couldn't help but curse in his head. He was starting to become fond of the brat.
(A.N. Okay, quick Black Panther lesson. Black Panther is a generic name given to members of the Panthera genus (not to be confused with other, smaller members of the Pantherinae subfamily, like clouded leopard or the snow leopard) who possess a semi rare mutation that turns their fur black. There are only four members of the Panthera genus (marked by their distinct size and ability to roar); Lions, Tigers, Jaguars, and Leopards (in order of largest to smallest of the genus); and they are the largest members of the cat family. Of these four, only the spotted members, Jaguars and Leopards, have a chance to develop a black coat (spots can still be visible if you look closely, but most people don't) and these large black cats are predominantly found in either Southern India or Southern North America (occasionally a black leopard can be found in Africa, but they're more rare). The cats found in India are the smaller black Leopards and are more aggressive do to a more volatile mutation associated with the black coat, but not too much more so than your typical big cat. The cats found in North America are Jaguars and are extremely rare do to the common spotted Jaguars place on the endangered species list, so of course the more rare variety of Jaguar is incredibly elusive. I'm telling you this because some people have confused both species with being one in the same and call them panthers, not realizing they are in fact Leopards and Jaguars. Now Akira likes Tsuna because of his sky attribute, which holds the harmony factor, and feels comforted by his presence. Akira will be noticeable more friendly around other sky element holders (Nono, Dino, Aria, Yuni, and Xanxus, but not Iemitsu) and be kind of tolerant with some rain element holders (Takeshi, Colonello, and Squalo). Akira's presence in the Estraneo bunker has not been explained and will not be explained for some time, leaving Tsuna as the only one with knowledge of the files on Akira, Mukuro, Ken, and Chikusa. Now, just to clarify, Jaguars are wild animals, not pets! Akira qualifies as Tsuna's pet and companion in this story only because he is fictional. I'm not trying to sound condescending, but there are people that treat big cats as pets and buy them as cubs (lions, tigers, mountain lions, bob cats, and yes jaguars), only to be surprised when said cats kill them a few years later, it's happened before! Jaguars alone can get up to about 350lbs when full grown and are about ten times stronger than your biggest muscle man. I myself love big cats and am especially fond of White Tigers and Black Jaguars, but would I keep one as a pet? Hell no! If you love big cats and want to help out this endangered species, please donate to a conservation group, or even a zoo, so that we can keep these beautiful animals alive.)