09

Reborn entered the underground bar.

It was small and dimly lit, with flickering lights that buzzed as if it was going to die any moment. The wooden floors were stained black and the green wall paper was peeling off.

Reborn signed silently. It was hard to get good information around Namimori. The town was simply too quiet and peaceful, which wasn't good for these kinds of businesses.

This was the problem when he wasn't operating on his home turf. If it was back in Italy, he wouldn't even have to come get the information in person.

lemitsu's files were garbage so far. In the man's reports, Sawada Tsunayoshi was a wimpy kid with no friends and no hope. He was spineless, clumsy, and shy. An near empty canvas waiting to be painted in the pastel of colors. Something that was soft and malleable enough to be made into a great don. Yet the boy he had been observing for the past week was none of those things. He might look detached and drifty on the outside but he had a sharp tongue and stubborn thoughts. And his eyes, the way Tsuna's eyes stared into the distance sometimes made Reborn anxious. Tsuna wasn't fully here. Or, at least, he wasn't fully just Sawada Tsunayoshi.

It was as if someone else had already made their mark on the boy, painted the white canvas in all sorts of viscous colors and claimed it as their masterpiece.

Not to mention that Reborn couldn't say that Tsuna didn't have a backbone. He just didn't care until someone actually crossed the line.

Children, it seems, was his taboo.

Was it projection? Did the teen see his younger self in all these children?

The owner of the bar was a retired yakuza man with enough brains left that he knew what to say and what not to. Reborn jumped onto the damaged counter, someone probably had smashed their heads or a knife into it too many times.

"What are you looking for?" asked the information dealer with a tattooed right arm. He was short and stubby but his eyes glistened with a kind of slyness that was hard to ignore.

"I want to know about a man with a scar on his mouth. He would probably be around his twenties to early thirties and be physically well built. Also, he has dark hair." Reborn guessed the age partly based on Nana's description. If there was someone else in Tsuna's life then there probably won't be that big of an age difference between them. They would be older. Five to ten years older, give or take. "A superhuman of some sort in physical prowess."

The man behind the counter placed a hand on his chin. His beady eyes scanned Reborn as the hitman slipped a few bills over.

"There is someone who matches the description but he is a drifter that mainly operates around Tokyo now," he said.

"Who is it?"

"People call him the 'Heavenly Tyrant'. He is a weapons master and a damn genius in martial arts. I heard he quit but then he got back in the business a while back."

Reborn slid him another deck of bills but the information dealer didn't take it. At least, not all of it.

"I don't know much about him. He is a formidable killer and he gets the job done. But he doesn't take a lot of requests just from any agent. You've got to know some real dang weird people for that. Some might even say the supernatural kind. I can't help you on this."

"Any thoughts on how he got his nickname?" People don't just randomly get assigned a codename. They were usually associated with a trait, maybe a weapon they favored even.

"Don't know."

Reborn sank into his thoughts. Heavenly Tyrant...it sounded like someone that was violent and full of themselves. A madman without any regards for rules, a free didn't sound like someone that would get involved with children purely out of the kindness in their hearts.

Before him, the information dealer leaned in close. Reborn could smell the stench of beer from his breath but the seriousness on the other's face prevented Reborn from backing off or putting a bullet through his skull.

"Only thing I know for sure is that I wouldn't get too involved with the likes of them if I were you. Bad things tend to happen with that mix." The man gave him a grin that was missing a few teeth, but his tone told Reborn this was no joking matter. "Like a curse."

Like a curse.

#

Life has never been more rowdy for Tsuna.

And he was finding it all hard to deal with. He didn't know what to do when Gokudera showed up at his front door every morning, yelling "Morning, Tenth!". He didn't know what to do when Sasagawa Kyoko started greeting him at school. And he sure as hell doesn't know what he was supposed to say when Yamamoto Takeshi decided Tsuna was a good emotional garbage can.

The baseball star was smiling, grinning even, but Tsuna didn't think that joy reached his eyes.

"What do you think I should do, Tsuna?" He was asking about baseball. From what Tsuna gathered, Yamamoto was worried that his performance was slacking.

"...Practice harder?" He wasn't sure what else he could say. Tsuna wasn't exactly close with Yamamoto. They couldn't be more different in terms of popularity. "But rest is important too. Give it some time then try again."

"Haha, I thought so too! I knew you would get it!" The taller teen patted Tsuna on the back. He was back to his happy-go-lucky and carefree self but Tsuna couldn't help but feel a little worried.

Still, when he saw the light on Yamamoto's face when he talked about baseball, Tsuna couldn't bring him to say anything else.

It will be fine. He told himself.

It will be fine.

The next day Gokudera didn't accompany Tsuna to school. The silver haired teen had said something about the need to get more dynamites before he apologized profusely for not being able to walk Tsuna to school.

"I'll be back real soon, Tenth!" He waved as he dashed off towards an unknown destination. Tsuna thought briefly if he should get the name of Gokudera's supplier but he decided against it. Toji-san wasn't big on bombs. Too flashy and too loud. They would need to get someone to put up barriers if they want to use that.

Tsuna appreciated the quiet. It was nice and he was used to being alone on his trips to school but a small part of him was a little disappointed.

Wait, disappointed?

He scratched the back of his head, confused. By the time he got to school, he still couldn't figure it out so he decided to drop it.

"Yamamoto is going to jump from the roof!" someone yelled from outside their class.

"What? Why?"

"Apparently he stayed behind to practice yesterday and he broke his arm!"

Oh.

Tsuna felt the muscles in his body stopped working for a moment. Was it his fault? Because he told Yamamoto to put in more effort?

People scampered out into the hall, all rushing to the roof. Within seconds, the whole class was emptied out.

Sasagawa Kyoko looked back at Tsuna as she stood by the door.

"Tsuna-kun—" she started and there was worry in her voice.

Tsuna stopped her. If Yamamoto was really going to jump, they wouldn't have much time. "Sasagawa-san, please go notify the teachers."

Reborn appeared around the corner. When did he come back? Tsuna hadn't noticed anyone watching him for the whole he was losing his touch or maybe things had just been too hectic lately for him to keep caring.

"Aren't you going to help Yamamoto?" Reborn asked with genuine curiosity in his voice.

"What do you think I'm doing?" Tsuna grabbed the rope from the closet and headed up the roof. He tied one end of it to the thickest pole he could find on the roof and the other to his left wrist. Then he marched towards Yamamoto.

"What's Sawada doing?"

The crowd was murmuring behind him. And their voices slithered into Tsua's brain. His fingers felt cold and his muscles suddenly felt weak. He looked up and his eyes found Yamamoto.

The dark haired teen had his right arm wrapped in bandages and he was standing right on the edge of the roof. Too close to the skyline, too close to air.

One step. Death. Another life lost.

Tsuna saw it again at that moment. The first person he couldn't save. An accident. An innocent who got trapped inside a barrier.

He saw long locks of hair flipping through the air.

The body of a girl, lifeless and broken as the crimson flowers blossomed beneath her. What had pushed her? The cursed spirits? The shaman? Or did she just lost balance?

He wasn't sure. He doesn't remember.

Did he scream then? He probably did. Noises, noises...his world was filled with nothing but static noises.

"Listen to my heart beat," Toji-san had said as he pushed Tsuna's head into his chest. "Tune out everything else. There's nothing else, Tsuna. Just focus on that."

"Are you here to stop me, Tsuna?"

Yamamoto's voice pulled him back to reality.

"Yamamoto..." he opened his mouth but he didn't really know what to say. His head still pounded, his voice still cut off from his brain.

"Baseball was everything to me and now I can't do it anymore. You'd probably be able to understand, don't you?" Yamamoto turned his head slightly to face him. The wind had picked up. "You have been called 'No good Tsuna' all this time, you can understand the desire to die over failing don't you?"

"I don't," Tsuna managed to answer despite how dry his mouth was. He could see Yamamoto narrow his eyes at the answer but Tsuna didn't care.

He couldn't lie about this.

"Death isn't always the easy way to go." His shoulders trembled as he remembered how the corpse of the girl climbed back up. With blood dripping down her chin as she begged for death, for peace. "Besides, I can't die yet. There's still someone waiting for me. I know that even if I am gone, it probably won't mean much to the majority of people. Yeah, maybe they'd talk about me for a day or two, then I'd be forgotten. I would be old news. Yeah, life sucks as 'No good Tsuna' but so long as there's still one person in this world that would face misery if I die, I can't do that to them."

He made a promise and a promise is a bond.

"I'm not like you Yamamoto," Tsuna looked down to the ground, his voice was oddly calm despite the feelings swirling inside his guts. "I have never poured all my heart into something so passionately. I don't know what it feels like to be hot for something, some kind of hot blooded dream that I want so badly to come true."

Surviving was hard enough as it was. Not just for himself, but also for the Fushiguros.

There simply wasn't space in his life for him to consider the likes of friendship and burning youth, racing towards the sun while shouting encouraging words along with their friends that shared the same aspiration.

He knew that comrades were important. He knew that people's lives centered around forming connections. Each of them was a piece in the network, like the stars within constellations. Shining bright and only when all of them are connected they become the bigger picture.

But Tsuna knew that wasn't the whole truth for everyone.

What was that saying going around all the jujutsu sorcerers? Oh yes…

"No matter how many allies you have around you, when you die you shall always be alone."

So the only thing he could do was make a promise to the ones he loves. He said he would stay, that he would always be there. And he meant it. He wasn't going to break a bond.

Love was a curse.

A bond was a curse.

If it meant he could prevent everything from falling apart, then he would gladly take on the burden of that curse.

"I'm sorry, Yamamoto. I can't die yet so I don't understand what you are feeling right now." Tsuna wasn't sure if the other teen could understand his words. He wasn't sure what he was saying himself. "You might think I'm arrogant or selfish but I can't let you die today either. So please, come down from there."

"Tsuna—" Yamamoto reached for him but just before their hands touched, the fence fell apart and Yamamoto fell backwards into the air.

"Yamamoto!"

Tsuna raced after his falling form while still holding one end of the rope. He leaped into the air and grabbed the black haired boy's shirt then swung both of them towards the building.

Yamamoto smashed through the window. He landed onto the hallway with a few minor scratches while Tsuna dangled from the rope.

A heavy rope burn engraved itself into Tsuna's wrist. It had buried deep into his flesh thanks to gravity and force. The skin was raw and he could see purple on the rough edges of the wound. It throbbed. There was blood seeping from his skin. Both his and Yamamoto's weight combined was too much for Tsuna's body to handle.

Toji-san would have gotten out of that unscratched.

"Tsuna! Your hand..." Yamamoto came up to him as Tsuna climbed through the shattered window. His eyebrows were tied into a deep twisted knot when he saw the wound.

"I don't know your pain, Yamamoto." Tsuna knew that playing this card was kind of low but he couldn't think of anything else at the moment. "I might never be able to but at least for today, even if it's just for the sake of this wound, don't die."

"...Alright, that's a promise."

Yamamoto nodded sternly. His eyes never left the wound on Tsuna's wrist as he did so.

Tsuna smiled.

He turned around to head towards the nurse's office. He would need to get himself patched up. On his way there, he remembered that he told Lambo he would get him grape flavoured candies.

The kid wasn't much older than Megumi or Tsumiki. Maybe they would like some of the candies too so he should probably get a larger quantity. Tsuna thought of Fushiguro kids as he walked. He hadn't heard anything from Toji-san but that might have just meant the man just didn't go home.

He would need to find a time to sneak over to the Fushiguros and check up on them soon.

#

Tsuna sighed as he pressed his head into Toji's chest. They were lying on the sofa at the Fushiguro's household. The body beneath him was warm as always, with thick muscles that were finely trained to deliver the most efficient kill possible in all situations.

The television was on, reporting the latest in horse racing but neither of them was paying it much attention. Toji-san had never won any of those gambles anyways.

"You're a goddamn idiot," Toji mocked as he narrowed his eyes at the white bandages around Tsuna's wrist.

"But he's alive," Tsuna whined.

"Doesn't make you less of an idiot." The man flicked Tsuna on the forehead, leaving a pale pink mark. "If someone wants to die, you let them. So long as they don't turn into a cursed spirit, who gives a damn about what they want to throw away?"

Tsuna mumbled some complaints. He thought it was worth it. He would feel bad if Yamamoto had really died. If he really did jump because Tsuna told him to train harder.

They heard a sob came from the other room.

"Pa-pa, Tsuna!" Megumi's voice echoed down the hall. "Look!"

Immediately, Tsuna felt Toji's body tense. He was like a bow string that had been pulled far too tight, ready to snap at any moment. The sudden change in atmosphere made Tsuna wary. He pushed himself up slightly and he made the mistake of looking up.

Oh.

Dogs.

A white dog and a black dog with a strange mark on their forehead was right beside Megumi. They stood beside the young boy like guardians, alert and ready to pounce. The boy with spiky black hair and green eyes just like his fathers petted the dogs on their heads.

"They came out of my shadow." he said and there was a hint of hesitation. "But Tsumiki can't see them! Is something wrong with us?"

The boy looked at them expectedly, trying to mask his worry but failing miserably. Tsuna could see it in the way Megumi's glance was casted slightly lower and how his lips were quivering.

Tsuna opened his mouth.

"There's nothing wrong with you or her." The voice was Toji's.

Only, Tsuna could tell the man's voice was strained, as if it had been grinded through a crushed pipe filled with pebbles.

So he covered the man's eyes with his hands.

"Megumi, tell the doggies to go back ok?" Tsuna cooed softly. "And go apologize to Tsumiki. You shouldn't have yelled at her, it's not her fault she can't see them."

"Why?"

"I will explain later."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

The child stared at him for a long silent moment before nodding. "Ok."

Tsuna watched him run off and the dogs melted back into his shadow. He felt a pull on his good wrist that caused him to look down.

Something dark swirled within Toji's narrow green eyes. He pushed himself up on his elbow, which caused Tsuna to sit up.

"An inherited technique," the man hissed as he wiped his face. "A damn inherited technique and a good one too. Fucking hell. Out of all things, it just had to be the ten shadows?"

He was fussing. Tsuna knew that look. He knew that tension in the other man's neck too well.

"Toji-san," Tsuna held Toji's face in his hands as he forced the man to face him. "Look at me."

"Fuck it," Toji cursed under his breath. "I told you we should have given him to the old bastards. It's still not too late—"

Tsuna forced the man's head down.

"Listen to my heart beat." His own eyes found the clock on the wall. "There's nothing else. Nothing else."

He wasn't sure if he was trying to convince himself or Toji.

"The Zenins don't have to know. As long as they don't know they won't care. Megumi can learn from books first. He's still young and the basics are the same. We will find someone else to teach Megumi when he gets older. A shaman, a jujutsu sorcerer...we will find someone else and we will get rid of them after they are done if we must."

Tsuna didn't like the words that were coming out of his mouth. But he thought about what would happen to Megumi and he couldn't stop himself. "Megumi doesn't have to be a sorcerer. Having talent or not shouldn't define what someone should or can do. Even if he is going to be one, he can't be a Zenin."

Toji did so much. He struggled so hard just to get free from the Zenin name. Tsuna couldn't let Megumi fall into the same hell. He wouldn't let it happen in a million years.

"There's no jujutsu here. No cursed spirits or blood heirs. Megumi doesn't have to live that life. You don't have to live that life."

Tsuna knew those were just pretty words. Toji-san was strong but he was just one man. One man without cursed power.

They need something else, something stronger if they want to protect the boy from that horrible fate. That was when a small part of Tsuna wondered if power and status within the non-jujutsu sorcerer's society would do the trick. Sorcerer...they still have to live and eat, they still function within normal society and they still deal with non-sorcerers in business and in love.

If that was so, then will the Mafia's name be enough?

Will Vongola be enough?