Growing up, Tsuna had always thought his sister was strange. Even as a small child, she would smirk at the most unusual things, such as the mention of sparkles or random words their peers would say. She also seemed to feel nothing but utter contempt for her peers, smiling in a way that seemed amicable to the children but to Tsuna was an expression saying just how inferior they were to her. At first he thought it was because his sister was child genius, a little smarter than the average adult and therefore feeling no respect for her peers who weren't as educated. This assumption was quickly corrected when one day their mother took them to a family gathering a few towns away.
During the time their relatives were cooing over how cute the two of them were, she just stood there with her default 'adorable little child' expression. Her smile was filled to the brim with fake innocence, but Tsuna could see the indulgent curl to her lips. His sister seemed to have absolutely no respect for anyone.
One day, Tsuna's curiosity got the better of him, and he asked her why she seemed to look at people as if they were little insignificant beings that didn't deserve the attention that she deigned to give them. Of course, being only five at the time, he didn't use those words. Instead, the query went like this:
"Ne, Nee-tan?"
"Yes, Tsu-kun?" His sister looked up from where she had been frowning at a thick book that she had swiped from their parents' room. Tsuna had tried to read it alongside her on the coffee table, but it had no pictures and he quickly got bored, deciding to play with the cars his mother bought him the other day instead. "Do you need something?"
"Um..." Tsuna hesitated, going over his sentence in his mind. "Why do you look at people like that?"
"Why do I look at people like what?"
"Like, like, um," He frowned, searching for the right words in his five year old vocabulary. "Like that god in the story Mummy read to us."
His sister stared at him for a moment, trying to recall exactly which story that had been, then her frown smoothened out as she remembered.
"You mean that mean god who called the brave hero and his friends ants?"
"Yes," Tsuna nodded vigorously. "That one."
"So you're saying I look at people like they're ants?"
"Um..." Tsuna frowned again. "No, you look at them like you don't..." He tried to remember the word their teacher had taught them the other day, "R...re...respect them?"
"Hm..." His sister looked at him thoughtfully, as if seeing him in a new light. "I guess you're right."
She then turned back to her book, muttering something to herself. Tsuna only caught a few words, such as "observation skills" "sealed his flames" and "hand-eye coordination". He had absolutely no idea what most of them meant. He tried to get her attention again.
"Nee-chan."
"Yes, Tsu-kun?" His sister's eyes flicked up from the boring text-filled page to him.
"I don't like it."
"You don't like what?" She tilted her head slightly so she was almost facing him. "You don't like the way I look at people?"
"Yes." Tsuna nodded firmly. "I don't like it. Stop doing it."
"And why don't you like it?"
"I just don't. Stop doing it." he said stubbornly, then, remembering what his mother had taught them, tacked a "please" onto the end. His sister smiled at that.
She bit her lip thoughtfully, then stopped, lip biting being a habit she was trying to break. "I can... try, I guess?"
"Pinky promise?" Tsuna held his little finger out.
"Pinky promise." His sister hooked her finger around his. They pulled at eachother's fingers, then broke it and fist bumped. Tsuna nodded, satisfied, and went back to his toys, and his sister went back to her boring text-filled book with no pictures.
True to her word, his sister no longer looked at people condescendingly. She would slip up sometimes, such as when one of their classmates said something even he thought was stupid or if their relatives fawned over her too long, but he could tell she was trying. And that in itself was enough.
Then one day, he wasn't able to read her or others as acutely. That night, he lay in bed, wide awake and wondering where that warm, pulsing orb he had come to associate with his sister had gone. She seemed to feel it too, and they spent that night sleeping in the same bed, clutching the other tightly as if to reassure themselves that their twin was still there.
Another incident that stuck in his mind was when his mother decided to tie her hair differently. Before, when she did housework, she had always tied the long brown strands behind her in a low ponytail. That day, she had opted for a loosely tied ponytail on her shoulder. Tsuna thought it was very pretty, but when his sister entered the kitchen for breakfast and spotted their mother's new hairstyle, all the colour rushed from her face.
Their mother beckoned her to sit at the table, and she did so, still staring warily at the side ponytail as it was going to spring to life and eat their mother. Tsuna didn't want his mother to be eaten. Still, the idea of a rampaging ponytail sounded pretty cool.
His sister then did something completely out of character: she refused to eat. Tsuna and their mother stared at her in bewilderment. Usually the girl inhaled the food like how he thought a rampaging ponytail would eat up people. When their mother asked why, she told them it was the hair. The hair was banishing her appetite to the furthest ring. Tsuna wasn't quite sure what she meant by furthest ring, but it also sounded pretty cool, especially since she said it in what sounded like English.
Their mother smiled, amused, and patted her on the head, saying that she didn't see how it did that, but put her hair back to its usual style anyway. His sister breathed a quiet sigh of relief, and started eating. From then on, if their mother ever decided to tie her hair like that, his sister would say something equally ridiculous to get her to change it. His mother actually did it sometimes on purpose just to see what reason his sister would come up with this time. Then one day, she cropped it, and the issue never came up again.
If you can spot the reference to a webcomic, you're pretty cool. I have not updated for a whole week. I blame writer's block, and this is why you get an interlude. I still have no idea what to do for the next chapter. The hairstyle is dead anime mum hairstyle, and the idea was taken from exocara.
Not-Gonna-Update: Yes, she can. It's a very useful skill. And you're very welcome.
Akayuki Novak: Why thank you. I worry sometimes that my humour writing is just bleh.
Reaper Senpai: The next chapter has been delivered. It's probably not the chapter you were expecting though.
HikariNoTenshi-San: Of course. I've always imagined Alfred as that sort of person.
turtlehoffmann2251: I personally like Canada better, but Alfred is pretty cool too.
Guest: Ohohohohoho~ you can't miss something that was never there to begin with.
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