November 15, 2016: This chapter is betaed by Pure Red Crane. *insert smiley here*
Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn so.. don't sue mee..!
Chapter 3
(An alarm rang and he could hear his mother footsteps as she made her way to his room, but he still couldn't comprehend why. She knocked on the door, yet he didn't pay it any attention because of his current drowsiness. Then the creaking sound of the door opening came.
"Wake up, Tsu-kun! You're going to be late." A cheerful voice disrupted his sleep but then he processed the words.
"Hieee!" he shrieked and with wide eyes, he bolted upright on his bed, and because of his hasty action, he stumbled upon empty air, making him hit his knee cap. He cried out in pain, but he still made his way to the bathroom to change his clothes and fix himself up. Upon opening the door to his room, the sweet aroma of breakfast assaulted his nose, making his stomach growl. He hastily ran down the stairs, only to trip and to stumble downward.
"Tsu-kun, come eat your breakfast already." His mother said across the kitchen and he immediately run to there after making sure he didn't get any bruise from his fall.
"I'm going to be late!" He yelled after he grabbed his packed lunch which his mother handed to him.
"Take care, Tsu-kun!" His mother waved at him cheerfully, lovingly and he tentatively waved back.
"I will." He paused and then suddenly, felt something was amiss, adding. "You take care too, Mom." he said with a worried frown. He couldn't explain why he said it, but he have a bad feeling about today and he felt that it involves his Mom. Hopefully, his weird feeling should be gone by tomorrow.)[1]
A soft sigh escaped his parted lips. Along with it, he cuddled closer against the warm blanket wrapped around him. Despite his current drowsiness, he slowly opened his amber eyes. That was when his awareness slowly came back to him. With blurry sight, he slowly took in his surroundings as he shifted his body in a more comfortable position while feeling his stiff right shoulder complain from sleeping on his side, even though he somewhat recalled not falling asleep in that position. Knowing he was a restless sleeper, he might have moved into an uncomfortable position to accommodate his sore limbs and bottom during his slumber.
A long drawn-out yawn left his lips, his eyes closing shut at the same time. He sighed blissfully after that and curled into himself, blissfully wanting to sleep more while ignoring his stiff broad shoulder. He just wanted to sleep some more, and maybe eat afterwards, but overall he felt like he could sleep for a whole day. He mumbled something incoherent under his breath as he pulled the blanket closer, wanting more of the blissful warmth. Yet an unfamiliar squeaky voice rang around his silent room, interrupting his peaceful morning.
"Get up." He couldn't identify any emotion in the voice, aside from the person's tone, which was as casual as stating the weather. There shouldn't be another voice aside from his. He was alone, after all. Filing the words as nothing, probably words at the back of his mind from a memory with a made-up voice, he continued lying blissfully. However, the voice repeated.
"Get up, Dame-Tsuna." The same squeaky voice drawled on, now with a deadpanned tone. He sluggishly shook his head in disagreement, his awareness slowly coming back to him in a slow prick.
He must be really tired to be hearing voices, and so early in the morning too. Not noticing that the voice got louder, he ignored the imaginary voice and went back to his sleep…only to get interrupted when a heavy metal thingy hit him on the head, making him jerk up.
"Gwahh!" With eyes wide open in panic, pain and sudden alertness, he sat upright on his bed, clutching his head. "W-W-What was that!?" he cried out as he rubbed his head gingerly to ease the pain, only to wince when he felt his nails accidentally brush the sore spot.
"A wake-up call, Dame-Tsuna." a squeaky voice drawled as an answer to his outburst. The imaginary voice's answer made him snap his head to the direction of the voice and his supposed imaginary voice was actually coming from an...infant, who suddenly hopped onto his knees, using it as a footstool and was holding on a green…mallet?
"W-W-Wha..?" He gaped at it in confusion. 'Why is a baby holding on a big mallet?! W-W-Wait! Why is there even an infant here in my room!?' he thought in alarm, panic and disbelief as he shut his mouth. His wide eyes looked at the infant on his kneecap, blinking once in apparent disbelief, and then stared at the mallet with apprehension as he tried to calm down.
'T-This...' He gulped rather loudly while he stared at the infant, who was looking at him as if peering through his soul. 'This situation doesn't make any sense!'
He lamented the fact that he was sporting another bruise and a slowly budding headache from all the absurdity, and so early in the morning too. However, the fact that a baby was holding a green mallet and had apparently hit him with it - and no, he wasn't going to think about that - was physically impossible unless… 'The mallet must be made of plastic!' He glance back to the mallet to confirm that it was really made of plastic, but instead, witnessed another absurdly. The green mallet started to transform into…a chameleon?
"Hieeee!?" He let out a startled shriek at what he witnessed, mind blanking for a moment as he immediately backed away from the infant and his antics in alarm, making the said baby hop onto the bed instead.
'What kind of messed up situation is this!?' he moaned to himself in frustration as he experienced another induced headache from the traumatic incident he just witnessed. 'How the heck is it possible for a mallet to turned into a chameleon?!' Tsuna was becoming very pale at what he was seeing.
"W-W-Who are you?" he stuttered with wide, fearful and disbelieving eyes as he took another glance at the green chameleon resting on the baby's hand. The infant pulled something from under his black suit… 'A suit…? Why is a baby wearing a suit?!' he thought distractedly as he let out another 'hie,' but this time, a bit lower after he confirmed that the infant was really wearing an expensive looking suit. The suit made the baby look smart, and by the look of the suit alone, this infant seemed rich, like filthy rich.[2] 'Wait! This is no time thinking about a suit!' Tsuna refocused on the main problem and that was the how, why, and what was a baby doing in his room? Why was he seeing some delusion of a mallet turning into chameleon and why was a baby wearing an expensive suit?
He blinked once, twice, and then forced himself to stop panicking any more than he currently was. 'I must have hit my head when I woke up. I'm seeing things, I must be going mad.'
"I am the home tutor, Reborn." The infant answered his question as he showed him an envelope. "Now read this letter from your father, Sawada Iemitsu." Tsuna numbly registered that it must have been the thing the baby took from his suit. 'The home tutor, Reborn?' His eyes widened.
"But you're an infant!" he outwardly cried, yet he still reached for the envelope, albeit reluctantly. 'Iemitsu must have been lying! He just wanted me to babysit.' he concluded. There was no way this baby was that home tutor, Reborn. Or if he was Reborn, there was no way he is a tutor. He slowly opened the envelope, and then a new thought entered his mind. His eyes widened, making his heart beat faster than normal and he licked his lower lips nervously. 'What if...?'
He nervously looked up at the infant in front of him as he opened his mouth, "Are you my...?" He didn't want to complete the sentence, so he left it hanging. He thought Reborn would answer his incomplete question, but Reborn merely looked at him in amusement – why he was amused is currently lost to him – and dipped his head to point at the letter.
"Read to find it out, Dame-Tsuna." Reborn's answer made him pout impatiently. Reborn could have said yes or no, but the kid chose to be cruel. Deciding that he should get this over with, he read the letter while wishing that this Reborn wasn't family.
As he read the short letter, he expected something unpleasant, like learning that Iemitsu had a new family or he have a love child and this infant – Reborn – was his biological step-brother, but instead, it wasn't at all like he thought. He felt relieved that this Reborn wasn't his step-brother and he wouldn't be babysitting him. The other part of his mind was thinking that Reborn was mean for not telling him earlier, but he could slightly sympathize with Reborn and wasn't that weird.
Tsuna,
I have decided to hire Reborn as a home tutor to help your studies and to train you into becoming a great Mafia Boss. Take care, my Tuna-fish!
PS: If you are reading this, that means you cut off the telephone line again, so I wasn't able to explain about Mafia or Vongola. Anyway, just ask Reborn.
Dad
He stared at the letter and his relief was short lived because another bomb was dropped on him, via letter.
"Mafia?! Wait, what does he mean by me being a Mafia Boss?!" he cried out in shock as he turned to Reborn in the instant he processed the words written on the letter with wide fearful eyes. However, something immediately clicked in his mind despite his all-over-the-counter emotions.
Those people – who was following, observing him - weren't spies that Iemitsu hired. They were in the Mafia. But if his father was in the Mafia, then that meant his mother…died because of it?
His emotion immediately soured when he realized that. It was because of Iemitsu's involvement in the Mafia that his mother passed away and for his father not to tell him that… 'Why?' He also realized that Iemitsu was lying to his mother all this time. He kept telling her about his work in a construction company and his mother died without even knowing the truth. 'Mom...'
He took another look at the letter again, his eyes shining with emotion. To know that Nana was being lied to until death, his loving mother who always smiled and was so obliviously happy during the very rare times Iemitsu was home, his mother who died because someone hated his father...He shook off his train of thought. Being bitter about it all wouldn't help.
He took another look at the infant still in front of him, who remained silent, letting him sort out his emotions – or it was just him justifying something - and merely observed him. Now that he thought about it, this situation felt like a joke. His father hired a tutor, a baby tutor, to help and train him? 'What can a baby teach me?' he mused.
"This must be some kind of joke." he said mirthlessly, yet a hint of pain could be heard in his tone while his lips were curled into a smile. Mafia? And a baby going to tutor him? Don't make him laugh.
"This is no joke. I am here to train you into becoming a Mafia Boss." The infant responded. Tsuna chuckled softly.
"What could a baby teach me?" His lips pulled into an amused smirk. He must be really crazy. He was panicking like a headless banshee appeared earlier, but now he just found everything funny.
The infant raised his arm and a gun appeared in his hand – no, he didn't see the chameleon transforming into a gun, he did not. He didn't! His eyes widened momentarily as he stared at the gun nervously. It looked like a real gun, but that was impossible. There was no way a baby could even have a gun! The situation took quite deadly turn, even more so when the baby flashed him a sweet, angelic smile that screamed dangerous. He gulped at the image this baby is making, and tried to back away when the single answer left the infant's lips.
"Everything." He could hear the implication quite loud and clear. I will teach you everything you need to become a Mafia Boss. All he could think amidst the feeling of dread – and secretly pain - crawling at his body was: 'What kind of trouble did you get me into, Iemitsu?'
"You're crazy." He voiced after a heartbeat and, next thing he knew, Reborn's leather boots hit the side of his head, sending him sprawling and kissing the floor, leaving him in a twitching and groaning mess.
"Why did you kick me!?" he protested in a loud voice as he moaned pathetically at the pain he was suffering from a crazy baby.
"Felt like it." At the back of his mind, Tsuna noticed that Reborn didn't deny his accusation, but he forgot about it altogether because of the pain.
"What kind of reason is that?!" Tsuna cried out his complaint as he got off the floor. He sat there while eyeing the baby standing on his bed incredulously. He slightly noticed that the gun was nowhere to be found and the chameleon was sitting at the edge of the baby's fedora. "Are you trying to kill me?"
"I'm a hitman." was the smug answer he received. Tsuna smack his face with his palm because of it. He inwardly cried. He didn't know what to think about all the absurd things Reborn was doing and there was no way Reborn was a baby hitman – this wasn't a cartoon where a baby had super powers to kill off enemies and conquer the world – but Reborn just implied something along the lines of him dying. He felt like sobbing in a corner. Reborn was violent and would hurt him like there was no tomorrow. Reborn had hit him twice already and it was only morning too!
He hadn't eaten any breakfast yet and here he was dealing with a crazy Mafia baby. He could already feel his stress skyrocketing. Tokyo was supposed to be stress free because no one would bother him. No one knew him. No one knew he was here too...
"Just how the heck did this baby find me?" he mumbled under his breath. It was a whisper. Even he could barely hear it himself.
"Information gathering is one of the basic skills in the Mafia." Reborn answered. The brunet stared at this baby with shock, mouth agape, because there was no way this baby could have heard him. The baby looked at him with that annoying smug smile again.
"Now, Dame-Tsuna, care to tell me why you're in Tokyo?" the baby asked him conversationally.
"It's none of your business." he answered with a huff, crossing his arms on his chest and tilting his head sideways as if dismissing the baby's words, but his gaze was still on the baby.
"I am your home tutor. I must know everything." Reborn answered as he hopped to land between Tsuna's crossed legs. Reborn looked up at him and Tsuna stared at Reborn's beady onyx eyes. "Or is there something you're trying to hide, Dame-Tsuna?" Reborn asked. The way Reborn stared at him was unnerving, making him fidget on his position.
The silence stretched between them. It was unnerving. It was suffocating him. And during it all, Reborn never left his gaze off him and he did the same. Though, Tsuna knew he was looking uncomfortable, Reborn still looked the same impeccable self, never letting any emotion on his eyes or facial expression show, remaining still like a stone statue and it unnerved the brunet.
'He isn't normal.' he thought, and that conclusion made his gut feeling hum. He unconsciously blinked his eyes after that thought, but he remained tense.
"It's none of your business." he repeated with a hint of annoyance and voice was raised higher with his temper. It was really none of Reborn's business.
Reborn regarded him in contemplative silence. The way he stared seemed…adult-like. But it was worse than those looks he received all his life. Reborn looked at him, really looked at him, and it was unnerving. It was suffocating. He could see the calculations flash on that gaze and he wondered why he wasn't freaking out. Maybe the adrenaline from before was gone and now he was accepting all the weirdness?
Reborn then reached towards him. His shoulder tensed even more because the Mafia baby was going to touch him, but Reborn was an infant, it should be fine. 'He's an infant, there's nothing to worry about.' he repeated in his mind as a false assurance. During his dilemma, he didn't notice that Reborn saw his anxiety.
Reborn got a hold of his arm during his inner distress. Then the Mafia baby gripped his arm hard, twisting it in an uncomfortable angle. His previous thoughts were gone and he could only complain aloud.
"Ow, ow, ow! Let go! Let go!" he cried out in pain, distressed as he tried to squirm from Reborn's deadly child-size grip. 'How is it possible that he has an inhuman strength? Is he a mutant?!' he thought in panic as he inwardly cried from the bruise he was receiving.
"Lesson One, don't raise your voice at me." Reborn drawled on. He sounded flippant, as if he wasn't hurting someone because of his impossible strength.
"What kind of lesson is that?!" he yelled out in answer and the response he received was the tightening of Reborn's grip. It made him inwardly cry out imaginary river of tears.
"Ow, ow, ow! I will! I will!" he hurriedly said in a high-pitched voice as an acceptance to Reborn's lesson number one – more like torture number one.
Reborn let go after those words left his lips and he immediately cradled his bruised arm, massaging it soothingly to ease the pain.
Why the heck was this happening to him? He moaned miserably in his position like a kicked puppy.
"Let's go, Dame-Tsuna. It's time for breakfast."
"I haven't changed my clothes yet." he said as he peered at Reborn. The Mafia baby took in his attire.
"I'll give you two minutes."
"Ehh?!" With that answer, he looked at Reborn with wide shocked eyes, "Why should I obey you?"
"I'm your home tutor." Reborn stated as if the answer was as simple as that. The Mafia baby promptly kicked him in the face, sending him flying and soaring towards the bathroom door, making him let out a startled shriek.
"What was that for?!"
Instead of an answer, he heard a click. He slowly and fearfully stood up. From Reborn's position, he could see that the Mafia baby was pointing the same gun from earlier in his direction, making him scramble on his feet. "Move already, Dame-Tsuna."
He let out a shriek and inwardly thought on why he was panicking again. Before he could dwell on it, a gun shot rang out in the room and he heard a cracking sound next to him. He slowly looked to his right and there he saw a gunshot hole on the wall. It was an inch away from his right cheek. With wide fearful eyes, he slowly and carefully looked back at Reborn's position. "What if you accidently hit me?"
"I won't." was the smug answer he received from the crazy baby. Tsuna fearfully gulped down. "Now move already or I'll shoot you again, Dame-Tsuna." Reborn smiled, sending shivers down the brunet's spine. He immediately scrambled to his feet and hid inside the bathroom after letting out a girlish scream.
'I don't wanna die!' he thought in growing panic. He just wished the bathroom door could forever protect him from the crazy baby, Reborn.
Of course, if what he observes of Reborn's personality then he is most likely doomed to failure.
To be continued…
A/N: Kindly leave a review. And thanks for all the reviews/favourite/follows for this story.
[1] The infamous hyper intuition is never wrong. Flashback is set on the day Nana died.
[2] Of course Tsuna would know how about those.
