Born For You
by ilYamaTsuna7227li
Chapter 11
The next day…
Sawada Tsunayoshi looked terrible.
That was the first thing that came into Lambo's mind when they sat in for breakfast. He and Gokudera had kept a watchful eye on the cook, making him test all of the ingredients of the food just to be safe that no one was poisoning the new Tenth heir of the Vongola. Though, the brunet did have hyper intuition, it was still better safe than sorry. And judging from how he looked right now, Tsuna didn't seem to be in the state of mind to properly judged if whatever he was eating was safe for him or not.
Lambo and Gokudera both exchanged looks when the lean brunet stumbled towards his chair and sat down quietly. Out of all the guardians, the two of them were the only ones that knew about the Vongola UA unit 08, although Mukuro seemed to be having speculations himself, so they really couldn't ask him out loud about what he thought about Reborn's pronouncement yesterday.
Lambo took another peek at the new boss. Tsuna's shoulders were slumped from exhaustion, his face pale, and eyes red-rimmed (Reborn would be annoyed at the obvious signs that he had been crying). He looked at his fellow guardians. Hibari, as always, seemed not to care, Mukuro was looking on with interest (the sadistic bastard), Takeshi didn't seem to acknowledge anything different, Chrome actually seemed a little worried, and Ryohei was frowning- so not everyone in this table was as heartless as he thought.
Everyone waited for Tsuna to sit down before they sat down themselves. Gokudera made his way to the boss' side, in his hand were the two small blue pills Reborn had advised the brunet to take constantly now, to test his limits and heighten them.
"Tenth," Gokudera gave it respectfully to the brunet who accepted it with a nod of thanks. Takeshi looked up in slight interest at this part as the young boss took the pills, eyes blazing with sunset orange when he next opened his eyes.
Throughout the breakfast affair, the young Vongola did not talk. Lambo directed questions at him now and then, because the room was deathly quiet but Tsuna would only answer with a jerk of his head, yes or no, so eventually he sighed at the lack of enthusiasm and stopped asking at all.
Eventually breakfast ended the way it started, in silence. The first one to excuse himself was Hibari who stood up without a word and left, as per usual. Chrome and Mukuro were next, the girl excusing them with a lingering glance to Tsuna.
Ryohei was the fourth one to finish, subdued mostly because of the boss' mood but he made up for it by shouting, "IF YOU HAVE AN EXTREME PROBLEM WE CAN EXTREMELY TAKE CARE OF IT THROUGH EXTREME BOXING!" Lambo winced at the loud tone while Gokudera shot the other a glare but Tsuna blinked up and his expression seems to lighten so the bomber let it go.
"I'LL BE IN THE EXTREME TRAINING ROOM IF YOU NEED ME!" The boxer ran out.
Lambo sighed, "Yare, yare…"
Gokudera was frowning heavily before he turned to Tsuna, clearing his throat, "Pardon his behavior, Tenth, as you know he's an idiot."
"I think Sasagawa's alright." Takeshi spoke up and automatically, Tsuna's shoulders tensed. Lambo noticed this and he frowned as Gokudera snapped his attention to the swordsman who gritted his teeth.
"No one asked your opinion, idiot number two." The Italian said in a carefully controlled voice, "Now, why don't you finish eating and leave?"
Takeshi accepted this, pushing away from the table but to everyone's surprise, Tsuna turned to the Italian and said, "It's not nice to say that, Gokudera-kun." Orange eyes reluctantly met amber ones which were looking at him in remote interest. The brunet looked away at once.
Gokudera's mouth opened and then closed before he said, "S-Sorry, tenth."
"Thank you very much, boss." The swordsman said with a slight tilt of his head, "But I'm done eating anyway and I have training to go to."
"You just got home from your mission." Lambo frowned at his fellow guardian.
The tallest guardian raised an eyebrow at the other's somewhat concerned inquiry. Usually Lambo didn't care if he was covered in injuries and was still training, his eyes took a quick look at the brunet. Was this sudden concern because of the new boss? "I need to be in top condition, especially with the upcoming clash with Varia."
At the word 'Varia', Tsuna's hands closed into a fist and Gokudera hissed at the hitman, eyes narrowed as though trying to say, Be more insensitive, why don't you?
Takeshi took this as his sign to exit and he stood up a respectable bow on the brunet's direction. "Anyway, I'll get going then, Gokudera, Bovino, boss." Not waiting for their responses, he turned and left the dining room.
Lambo sighed as he turned to the two remaining teens. Gokudera gave the brunet a worried frown, "Are you okay, Tenth? I'm sorry if his presence made you uncomfortable."
"It's not your fault." Tsuna said in a soft voice and Lambo's eyes widened when he just noticed the subtle shaking of the other's shoulders, although this hyper mode brunet's face was trying to keep neutral, "It's not his fault either. Does he-" He cleared his throat trying to gain a semblance of calm, "Does he- Take- uhm, the one who looks like Y-" Tsuna took a deep breath, "Does he know about his mother and father? Does he know about Ya-" He seemed to choke on the word.
"That he has a twin?" Gokudera said kindly and the brunet just gave him a sharp nod. "The truth about UA- I mean, Yamamoto has been kept Top Secret in the Vongola. What happened in Japan is only known by handful of people, those who were directly involved in securing him, Verde, and a few of the top Vongola officials." He explained, "Moron number two, Takeshi Vongola, was in Italy this whole time. The guardians who were left behind only know that we went to Japan to take back the UA unit and that we failed. Personal details, even pictures of the unit- sorry," The guardian said, "-Of Yamamoto were destroyed so no one can put two and two together."
Tsuna seemed to have been expecting this as he nodded blankly, feelings conflicted. He opened his mouth, tone monotone as it always is when he's in the hyper mode, "Shouldn't- Doesn't he have the right to know?"
"And tell him what?" Lambo was the one to speak this time and the two looked at him, "Tell him that the strongest Vongola weapon ever made looked like him? About being mistaken for it at birth and taken to Italy and abandoned? About the normal life he was supposed to have in Japan? And what difference would that make?"
"He would know, that would be the difference." The brunet argued softly, "He'd know about- about Namimori, about his dad and maybe he'd go see him and he would-"
"He wouldn't care." Gokudera said softly to the surprise of Tsuna whose brown eyes snapped to him. The bomber gave him an apologetic look, "I'm sorry, Tenth but like we said before, Takeshi Vongola isn't Takeshi Yamamoto. He wouldn't care." He said again, "To him, Tsuyoshi Yamamoto is nothing but a stranger despite being his biological father. He'd hear this story and think that what happened has happened, there's no point in changing it now. His loyalty is with the Family, not with this father he'd never met."
Sunset colored eyes were wide, "Why would he think that?"
"Because…" Lambo sighed, "As much as he has the right to that normal, Japanese life, this is his life now. It's all his ever known and having a father all of a sudden won't change that. It's too late to change that."
"How do you-"
"We've known each other for years." Gokudera said patiently, "We know him as much as he knows us. Just as he knows that Lambo's lazy and I am, sometimes, brash-" Lambo snorted and he glared at the Italian in retaliation, "-we know that he doesn't care for anything aside from the Vongola Family that raised him. He's loyal, unwavering, emotionless when the need arises, and he has the 'no strings attached' policy. The perfect hitman, Reborn's prodigy."
"And besides, if Reborn would think it's better that Takeshi knows about UA- I mean, Yamamoto, he would've said something to him yesterday." Lambo inserted, "But Reborn knows, just like us, that telling him won't change a thing."
Wide and slightly desperate sunset colored eyes looked at them and Gokudera realized that unconsciously Tsuna was looking for similarities between Takeshi Vongola and Takeshi Yamamoto. Something to hold on to, a small hope that Yamamoto was alive in his human counterpart.
Soon, he'll see the final proof that Takeshi and the UA unit are very different. Gokudera thought bitterly, Once he sees him kill, he'll know just like us… the type of person Takeshi is.
Tsuna nodded numbly as he stood up. Gokudera stood up with him, "What's wrong Tenth? Are you done eating?"
"Yeah. I have to go and finish the training regime Reborn drew up for me." The hyper Tsuna took in a deep breath, "You should be training too right? I'm sorry for taking up your time."
"Training isn't all that exciting." Lambo shrugged as he stood up, "But it's necessary especially with the war brewing. I'll go ahead." He made his way to the door before pausing, "Oh, and don't push yourself too hard Vongola."
The brunet nodded as he looked at Gokudera who nodded in acquiescence, "I'll escort you to your training grounds before I start training myself."
The young Vonogla boss thanked him as the two of them left the dining room together.
Takeshi Vongola had lost count of how many hours had passed since breakfast, mind trained only in his current training. He had just finished using the Vongola simulation and was pleased to find that the number of enemies he had managed to bring down in a minute had gone up again. He came back to his personal training room to see how he could possibly improve his movements and what type of foot movement he could apply so that he'd be faster in confronting the enemy.
But then the senses at the back of his neck tingled and he turned abruptly, weapon raised at the intruder who'd stumbled in his Japanese-dojo styled training room. He put it down and bowed respectfully when he saw who it was. Tsuna cringed at the show of formality.
"Uhm, you- you don't have to do that." The young boss raised his hands as Takeshi straightened. The shorter teen's eyes were back to being brown which meant that he wasn't in hyper mode right now. Brown eyes looked at his face and looked away every few seconds as though it didn't know whether it should stay staring at his features or couldn't bear looking in his face.
"Boss, is there something you need?" The guardian asked, giving his full attention to the soon-to-be boss of the Vongola Family. The younger teen jumped at the formal address before fidgeting with the hem of his hoodie.
"No, I just-" The brunet let out a tired breath and his brown eyes slid to the floor, "I uhm, finished my training early and I got lost because the- this castle is huge you know and before- before I knew it… I- I ended up here."
Takeshi tilted his head, his instincts were telling him that the Vongola heir wasn't being entirely truthful but then again, he didn't care what the other was doing here, unless he was a traitor to the Vongola family, then he'd be forced to eliminate this new face, which would be quite unfortunate.
"Oh, I see. Well, would you like to watch me train for awhile?" The rain guardian suggested. Usually the other guardians kept away from him when he was training, not that he could blame them. Reborn had told him once that watching him train and swing his sword with precision while his eyes took on a predatory glance was enough to put anyone off and to stamp in their minds to keep away from him. Hibari, at first, had challenged him to a match and they were pretty evenly matched, but even the prefect had gotten bored of him eventually, saying he lacked 'blood lust'. Mukuro, meanwhile, disliked him from the moment they met, saying that he was a whole different kind of 'heartless'.
If he wasn't raised to be a hitman with a perfect control of his emotions, maybe once upon a time he would have cared.
But he didn't.
Tsuna seemed surprised by his suggestion, eyes meeting his before looking away again and saying, "Uhm, yeah, Reborn did tell me to watch everyone's training because maybe I'll learn something."
Takeshi nodded and gestured the brunet to one of the cushions on the side, where he could sit and observe. Once the young boss was seated and his eyes were trained on him, the guardian closed his eyes and allowed his senses to close off the surroundings around him, visualizing instead the enemies around him.
The swordsman allowed his instincts to take over, the sharp blade of his sword cutting through the air delicately but with precision and accuracy that would make many tremble to his feet. He stepped forward with speed and turn and twisted, blade slicing the air and the straw dolls he set up with satisfaction. In the face of his carefully sharpened weapon, the straw dolls were almost like cutting bread with a butcher knife.
In a few seconds he let out a breath, stance straightening as he opened his eyes. The welcomed sight of the straw dolls in pieces greeted him, along with their wooden stands. He wondered if he went a little too far. He turned his sight to the brunet sitting there with wide eyes. He gave the young boss a patient look to where Tsuna sat up straighter, closing his gaping mouth.
"T-That was really amazing!" Tsuna said, brown eyes wide with surprise but also a little wary, "And uh, has anyone told you you're a little scary?"
Amber eyes blinked in surprise and Takeshi let out a startled laugh, shaking his head. He didn't see the even more surprised look on the brunet's face at his short laugh.
"You are… strange." The guardian cleared his throat, regaining himself. He expected the surprise and the fear, but he didn't expect the slight honesty or the compliment given to him by his new boss. "Sure, some who would have seen me will compliment my skills, but no one has ever admitted to being scared before."
Usually, they just run away and avoid me,
He looked at his boss, raising an eyebrow when he saw the other teen looking at him, face pale. "Boss, is there something wrong?"
The formal address seemed to help and Tsuna shook his head, knuckles white as he gripped at the cushions, "I'm, fine… Maybe a l-little tired because of the, you know, hyper pills."
The guardian nodded in understanding, face going back to a neutral expression. "Of course, it was selfish of me to invite you to watch me train. You should go and rest, wait for the others to call you to lunch." He gave a stiff bow, "I'm sorry for the disturbance."
Tsuna stood up, wobbling slightly, "Uh, no, I should be the one apologizing for disturbing you while you were training." He said and his brown eyes weren't looking at Takeshi again. Truth to be told, it was getting a little annoying. "I should- I should go."
"Yes." The guardian said as he turned to the task of picking up the pieces of the straw doll and replacing them with new ones. He sensed the younger teen pause by the door hesitating, so he turned to the other, eyebrows raised in inquiry.
"Could I-?" Tsuna cleared his throat, seemingly embarrassed. "If it's not too much trouble, can I come again and watch you… train?" The last word came out nervously high pitched and for the second time that hour, the guardian found himself blinking in shock at the shorter teen.
None of the guardians had ever asked to watch him train twice, seeing as they were all busy with their own trainings and lives. Surely, the new boss didn't have that much free time? Takeshi frowned and the brunet looked ta him for a second before looking away, gulping nervously.
"Sorry, I guess I shouldn't-"
"Fine." Tsuna's head snapped up in surprise and Takeshi was the one to look away this time, expression nonchalant. "If the boss wants to watch me train again then I'm in no position to refuse, of course. I hope my exercises will benefit you in defeating the Varia."
Just like before, the guardian felt the tension in the air at the mention of their current enemy. He walked to the trash bin, depositing the remainders of his practice dummies before looking at the young boss whose eyes were shadowed by his bangs.
"Thank you." Takeshi blinked in surprise at the monotone voice. Tsuna's lips were pursed and his eyes were looking sideways, "I'll do everything I can to bring Xanxus down." He said before turning to leave.
The guardian merely watched his boss leave with a mildly curious expression. He wondered what could that have been about before pushing the thought out of his head resolutely. It was none of his business, his job was merely to protect the current boss. That was it.
And with that goal clear in his head, Takeshi went back to training.
Takeshi exited the training room, two hours later when a helper came to remind him of lunch. His blue collared shirt's sleeves were rolled up and his necktie loosened as he came out, the reverse side of his sword, casually slung over his shoulder. He was headed to his room to change when he saw a certain storm guardian leaning by the door arms crossed and expression unhappy. He wondered what his short-tempered counterpart wanted now.
"Gokudera." He greeted and at his call, the silver-haired Italian glanced at him with a scowl.
"What did you do?" He accused just as Yamamoto opened the door to his room. Thankfully the other teen stayed by door, not that it surprised Takeshi since the guardians were always wary around him. The rain guardian hanged his sword by the wall, looking at his collection of blades, behind him he could feel the wary aura Gokudera exhibited and he sighed.
"I don't understand what you mean." He walked towards the Italian bomber who was seething and whose hackles were raised defensively since he, most probably, did not feel safe near the natural hitman or his weapon-designed room.
"The Tenth came back looking all pale and tense and I know he only ever looks like that when he deals with you." The bomber accused him, "Didn't Reborn-san tell you to stay away from him?"
"He also said that if the boss comes looking for me on his own that I hear him out." Takeshi said in a patient tone, arms crossed as he leaned on the other side of the door frame. Gokudera immediately jumped away from him. "So I did."
"The Tenth looked for you?"
"Well, he accidentally wandered into my training room and struck up a conversation when he saw me." Takeshi clarified and green eyes hardened. "I wasn't disrespectful and I was straight to the point like a well-mannered hitman."
"Then why did he look like that?"
"I don't know, why don't you ask him?" Takeshi said in a cool tone that made Gokudera angrier.
"If I find out that you've-"
"That I've what?" The rain guardian sighed, "Harmed him? You know I would never do that unless it's a direct order from the ninth or Reborn. He is the up and coming Tenth Vongola boss, you know that I would treat him with nothing less than respect, that's my job as his guardian."
His storm counterpart frowned at him, "You're loyalty is to the Family not to the boss and if you've somehow convinced yourself that the Tenth is-"
Tired of this conversation, Takeshi took out a blade hidden underneath his shirt and swiftly held it against the bomber's neck, just as Gokudera shoved a lit dynamite to his face. Amber eyes narrowed dangerously as he looked at the scowling guardian.
"I will assure you now that I have no intentions of harming the Vongola Decimo," Takeshi spoke calmly despite the shortening wick of the dynamite near his face telling of an impending explosion if he didn't put it out soon, "I will do as my duty states and I will protect him and fight for him in this war with the Varia." He turned his sharp eyes at the bomber who flinched at the look, "But if you so threaten me again…"
There was another fast movement and green eyes widened when the lit end of the dynamite was slashed and put out with another small blade Takeshi had in his right hand. The dynamite stick was cut to pieces as the rain guardian pointed his second blade to the surprised bomber's chest.
"Comrades or not Gokudera, I believe I'm entitled to self-defense." Takeshi stated in a warning tone before he retrieved his hands and weapons, making Gokudera slump against the door frame from sheer relief. He placed his blades on the dresser, taking with him a change of clothes before heading to his personal bathroom.
"And don't forget to shut the door when you leave." Takeshi said as he closed the door of the bathroom behind him. A few seconds later he heard the door to his bedroom closing and the rain guardian sighed.
If they were afraid of him, they should just learn to keep away.
Takeshi was lying down on his bed, reading the files about the Varia and allowing his muscles to relax from his recently finished training. He decided not to eat lunch with the other guardians knowing that he would be subjected to the look of shame and hatred in Gokudera's face when they saw each other. The bomber had that bad habit of hating anyone who managed to outwit him in attacks.
The guardian flipped to the report on Squalo next, the so-called swordsman who defeated the Sword Emperor. He felt an itch beneath his skin telling him that he would very much like to test his skill on such a worthy opponent. He scanned the pages, looking through the other wll-named swordsman the Varia had defeated.
That's when a knock on the door made him look up. "I'm not hungry, please excuse my presence for this lunch." He called out, thinking that a servant had come to ask him why he wasn't dining with the other guardians.
But then a familiar meek voice said, "Uh, uhm, I know, that's why I brought you some food."
The voice had the guardian standing up from his bed and approaching his door, opening it with curiosity. He blinked in surprised when he saw the familiar form of the soon-to-be Vongola Decimo shifting from one foot to another in nervousness, eyes looking resolutely at the ground, his hands carrying a tray of food.
"Boss." Takeshi said in a tone of surprise because he really wasn't expecting this at all. His eyebrows crinkled in confusion and he was so surprised he forgot to inject a tone of formality as he asked, "What are you doing here?"
The brunet looked up at him for a second before looking away again, "I, uh, noticed that you didn't join us for lunch and I thought-" He inhaled sharply, "I thought I did something wrong so I wanted to apologize about disturbing you earlier and asking to watch you train again and-" He let out a slow breath, "I also got worried because you trained so hard and you haven't eaten so I thought of bringing you some lunch and-" Realizing he was babbling he shut his mouth and said in a small tone, "Sorry."
The guardian stared at the younger teen. He'd never been faced with this situation before, where someone cared enough about his disappearance during a meal that they decided to bring him something. What was he supposed to do? Tell his boss that he shouldn't have? Make him leave the food by the floor? Invite him into the room?
Takeshi opened his mouth but the words that came out weren't the ones he were expecting, "Thank you."
Tsuna looked up at him at those words, surprise evident in both of their faces. The guardian shifted his expression into a neutral one and cleared his throat, "You didn't have to do this, one of the helpers would have brought me food later anyway…" The young boss' expression fell at that and there was red tinting his cheeks as though embarrassed by his behavior. The swordsman hurried along, "But thank you, I appreciate… this."
The young boss nodded hurriedly, "So, uh, here…" He extended the tray to the surprised guardian who immediately took it. "I'll just, uhm, go now."
Right, he probably had other things to do, the rain guardian thought as he gave a sharp nod. "Of course, boss, good luck." And because Tsuna was still looking away he injected firmness in his tone as he said, "And I really appreciate you bringing me lunch." He tried not to make it sound awkward, but that wasn't easy when he was faced with this situation for the first time. He also barely knew his boss and he was pretty sure that Tsuna barely knew him but was doing these things for him anyway.
His change in tone made the younger teen look up at him searchingly. Takeshi was subjected to a long, searching stare. People seemed to be doing that to him a lot lately. First Reborn and now the soon-to-be Decimo.
But then Tsuna seemed to find whatever it was he was looking in his face because he suddenly gave the other a bright smile that took him aback, "You're welcome." The brunet said before he turned and ran away, the tips of his ears red as though he was embarrassed by what he just said and by his expression.
Takeshi stared at the other's retreating figure for a long while before finally looking down at the tray of food in his hands. His mouth formed an involuntary smile and when he realized this, he squashed it back with a sigh. He should just eat this and get back to reading and resting.
When he sat down on his bed and started thoughtfully eating the veggie rolls, he thought back to the involuntary smile on his face and decided that the reason he had been smiling back was because he was amused.
It looks like the new Vongola boss was an interesting person.
Author's notes: And here goes another chapter, we have the ball rolling for this pairing now. Next chapter focuses on how they get closer to each other and then the chapter after that will be on the fight with Varia and guys be prepared for another villain approaching their midst.
Badass!Yamamoto. Man the character is writing itself :3 I'm not used to this formal Yamamoto though D: I miss writing the usual Yamamoto.