(iii)

Ironic, isn't it, that a person that has been spat out by death into life once more would be born into a family that did nothing but care for the dead?

But, if Atsuko had to be completely honest, it was as if death had never truly let go of her in the first place.

It was there, looming, a finger upon her shoulder that she couldn't quite shake off. It crept into her thoughts when she was alone- when Ryohei wasn't there to chase away the darkness.

She often wondered why, why she was given this second chance. Why her? Why not someone else? Why not someone more deserving?

It was morbid, certainly, to wonder such things when she should probably just be thankful.

There were probably so many things that she should be doing with this new life and the knowledge she had of it.

She could be changing the plot- saving Tsuna from bullies or going to Italy and searching out the Italian characters and making their lives better. Kami knows that's what who knows how many people would have done had they been in her place.

But truthfully?

It was all so unrealistic.

She didn't have a perfect memory of the plotline- she had only watched the anime and read the manga three years before her death. The rest of that life had been spent reading fanfiction, which she had a much better memory of. It's been fifteen years, who in hell's name could possibly remember every last bit of a story that hadn't even been all that important the time?

Atsuko had the bare basics, but that was it. And even those were beginning to fade.

She didn't know what she was doing in this world. She didn't want to interfere or anything, honest.

Morishiba Atsuko wasn't anything remarkable. She was too thin, too pale, with plain black hair and large bags under her eyes. She was weak and frail- unskilled in combat or any sport at all. In fact, she would be the first to say that she was more like a walking corpse- a zombie of some kind, than a human being.

Perhaps that was why she found herself relating to the funeral home's corpses so much, why she found herself visiting them so often.

It had started as morbid curiosity.

She knew that she had left family behind, friends (why that word in that context made her shudder, she didn't know) and she wanted to know what exactly she had left them with.

Would her body look like it was sleeping, like in the movies?

Or would she be a decayed husk, oozing with liquids and purpled skin?

That was a sad thought- if people were going to cry over something, then it should at least be presentable-looking, not that she had ever really been presentable-looking.

She recalls herself as having been a bit overweight, with heavily tanned skin and messy curly hair- the antithesis of the person she is now. She recalls looking into the mirror with tears in her eyes, staring at each picture as though she were looking at a stranger.

She recalls being sad and insecure and staring at her friends in envy, she recalls wondering if there was ever truly a pain worse than that of feeling isolated- of feeling alone in the world simply because she was not as good as the rest.

Perhaps that is why she is so devoted to Ryohei- because he has never let her be alone. Perhaps it is because he was the first to ever reach out to her and give her a place in this world, at his side, that she would do anything in the world to defend that position, to defend him.

That's why she cannot avoid the events of Katekyo Hitman Reborn- where Ryohei and Kyoko went, so did she. She could never let them face anything alone, especially not the mafia.

Atsuko sighed, shaking her head. Never, she thought. I'll never leave them alone to this.

She looked over at the morgue's newest occupant.

It wasn't uncommon for her to be here, at night, creepy though it may be. Atsuko wasn't afraid of ghosts and besides, it was comforting. Being here, that is.

Atsuko felt that the dead understood her best- or was it the other way around? She wasn't quite sure.

They had a lot of common ground- she and them.

Losing their lives- succumbing to the darkness. Leaving people behind, mourners and criers.

Or was she even mourned? Did anyone cry for her? She didn't know.

This girl though, Namie Subari, had people who cried for her.

Namie-san was a girl in Atsuko's class. She was small and quiet with big glasses and brilliant green eyes. She was sweet and gentle and had a few, close friends. The top student, Atsuko had once worked on a project with her. If Atsuko had been very interested in making friends with anyone that wasn't Ryohei or one of her other dorky muscle-heads, then she may have befriended her.

Perhaps, if she had cared, then she might have said something about the dark, prominent bruises she had once seen under the girl's skirt on accident, while bending over to grab a pencil.

But she hadn't. And no one else had noticed, it seems.

Namie Subari committed suicide two days ago- her body was still fresh, rigor mortis only just setting in.

A thorough, post-mortem investigation revealed that she had been brutally abused by her father, her mother unknowing of the transgressions.

Poor girl. She hadn't deserved this.

"You probably deserve this life more than I do," Atsuko informed the body idly. "You were a nice person. I'm not, really. I'm selfish."

Her words resonated within the room. There was nothing but silence to receive them, but Atsuko felt that that was response enough.

"I'd tell you that I'm sorry, but that would be a lie, I guess," she continued idly. "I don't really care about anyone other than Ryohei and Kyoko, they're my light, even though I don't spend as much time with Kyo. I have some other friends that I care about, but not as much. I didn't care about you."

Atsuko paused.

"I still don't really care about you- to be perfectly honest. In shows and stuff they say that people only start to care once there's nothing left to care about, but I think that's a lie. I hardly even care for my own parents, you see. They work too hard and they're gone too much."

It was sad, but true. She cared for them enough, she supposed, enough to take on some of their paperwork and assist in the family business, but no more.

"So really, I can hardly be expected to care about you if I can't even care about them."

Atsuko nodded to herself. "You must think I'm pretty cold. You'd be right, I guess. But that doesn't matter."

She sighed, turning away. It was getting late and she still needed to text Ryohei goodnight- she had left her phone back in her adjacent house.

"But still, you deserved better. I hope you succeed in the next life, like I have. Goodbye, Namie Subari-san."

Atsuko left the morgue.

"Ryo, no!"

"Rhyming isn't going to stop me, Atsu!"

"B-but, don't you see?! He's a," Atsuko took a deep breath, still trying and failing to pull Ryohei back (it was more like she was getting dragged through the ground- she probably looked pretty pathetic doing so).

"He's a what?" Ryohei questioned curiously, pausing a moment to look at her.

Yes, progress!

"A main character," Atsuko hissed. "We are side characters, Ryo! We stay the fuck away from main characters if we want to survive!"

Atsuko had nothing against Sawada Tsunayoshi. She kinda liked him, to be honest.

However, that did not mean that she cared for him. At all. Whatsoever.

Sawada was a walking trouble-magnet and almost everyone knew it. Except for most of the upperclassmen, such as Ryohei, as they did not really care to know what was going on with their kouhais.

Bullies, accidents, you name it, Sawada suffers from it. It was pathetic, honestly.

A good person would have gone over and helped him the moment they saw that sad, pathetic little bundle of fluff, as Ryohei was attempting to, but Atsuko?

Oh, hell no.

This kid is, again, a trouble magnet. What if his mere presence caused them to be attacked by the yakuza? Or worse, what if they weren't about a few months from canon as Atsuko thought they were and ended up getting themselves involved with Reborn?!

This was Sawada Tsunayoshi they were talking about. As in, time-traveling, human flamethrower, mafia boss Sawada Tsunayoshi. Anything was possible with him around!

Atsuko wasn't the type of best friend that wanted to keep her bestie all to herself like a total yandere. She was creepy and all, but not in that way. Atsuko wanted anything and everything that could make Ryohei happy to make Ryohei happy. If that meant new friends then yeah, sure, okay, she could get used to that.

But this?

Sure, she had resigned herself to being involved in canon. But that's it. Why put themselves in any more danger than they had to, before they were even prepared to face it?

Atsuko didn't remember if anything happened to Sawada before canon. And quite frankly? He wasn't worth the risk.

Ryohei was unimpressed. "Stop being so weird, Atsu. He looks extremely sad and alone and hurt and what if he-"

Ryohei cut himself off with a guilty look. Ah, so that's what this is about.

Namie Subari's suicide must still be weighing on his mind. He probably thinks that he could have done something to prevent it, something to have saved her.

Atsuko wonders what he would think if he knew that she could have done something. She resolves not to tell him- she didn't want to ruin the best thing that had ever happened to her, after all.

This is how he is expressing his guilt, she figures. By helping every stray he could in hopes that they don't fall to the same fate as Namie-san once did.

Atsuko didn't relent. "Side characters, Ryo! This is risky business here, dude! Very risky!"

Ryohei dragged her along anyways.

Atsuko paused in her hissing for a moment. "You know, this is probably why we don't have any friends."

"We have lots of extreme friends! And each other," Ryohei responded, an amused grin on his lips. He was probably trying to hide that he was still upset - crying was for later, on the couch at Atsuko's house with ice cream and warm blankets, they both knew.

Smiles made the best masks, after all.

"Sane friends," Atsuko corrected. "We only have crazy ones."

"Sanity's boring," Ryohei dismissed. "Yo! Sawada, right?"

Sawada looked up from his spot sitting beneath a tree on the school grounds, a bruise forming near his collarbone. He had enchanting brown eyes, Atsuko noted. She could see why so many people were so obsessed with him- she could almost feel herself being drawn to him, as though there was something so desirable about him that she absolutely needed.

But whatever it was, she couldn't have it.

Atsuko vaguely recalls something about Sky Flames drawing others in easily. Freaky.

Whatever it was, Atsuko wills herself not to care. She was not meant to be a Guardian of his, that was a Ryo thing - not an Atsu thing. No thank you.

Sawada nods hesitantly. "You're Sasagawa-san and Morishiba-san…?"

In canon Sawada had an understandably huge crush on Kyoko, so it was perfectly natural for him to know who the two people who were around her so often were. Not stalker-ish at all.

Please note the sarcasm. It wasn't like the kid had any other reason to know them, honestly.

"That's right!" Ryohei confirmed, holding out his free arm. "Want some help up?"

"T-thank you," the brunette said, shakily taking Ryohei's hand and allowing himself to be pulled up. It was clear that he had just suffered a beating at the hands of his tormentors and Atsuko knew that it was probably taking all of the patience Ryohei had in him not to go after the bastards and get revenge for Sawada right now.

He really was too precious for this world, she noted fondly.

"You look extremely lonely over here, Sawada!"

"No, I'm fine, really," Sawada said frantically, something dawning in his eyes as though he knew exactly where this was going.

Atsuko bit back a snort. Too little, too late.

Ryohei glanced back at her with a look before turning back to Sawada, undeterred. "You should join the boxing club! It's extremely fun and we're always looking for new members!"

Sawada looked mildly alarmed. "Um, no, I don't really think that boxing's my type of thing…"

Atsuko sighed. Ryohei really wanted to do this, didn't he? He was so good, too good. Who was she to stop him from doing what he thought was right, even if she thought that it was a huge risk?

She didn't control him and as his friend it was her sworn duty to support him in whatever he did, no matter how stupid. If he wanted to play hero with Sawada, then so be it…

"He doesn't mean as a boxer," Atsuko cut in. "Actually, I'm in need of an assistant- to deal with the paperwork and stuff. I don't have a lot of free time for it nowadays, what with school work and the family business."

It was a believable excuse, probably. Sure, she was talking to a human lie detector and all, but even if he didn't believe her then he couldn't exactly prove anything.

Ryohei looked surprised for a moment, but recovered quickly. "Exactly! Atsu's extremely tired all the time so she needs all the help she can get!"

"Oi, you make me sound like an invalid," Atsuko complained, swatting at him playfully, "So, what do you say, kid?"

Sawada bit his lip nervously, looking down. "Well…"

"Idiots, meet my new assistant, Tsuna," Atsuko announced to the members of the boxing club. "Tsuna, meet our idiots."

The boxing club was composed of five other members aside from Ryohei and Atsuko. They did have a coach, Satsuki-sensei, but she rarely had to make any appearances as the club was mostly self-sufficient.

Tsuna stood at the front of their small gym nervously, dipping his head. "Um, I'm Sawada Tsunayoshi and I'll try to do my best as the new assistant?" he said unsurely, looking at Ryohei and Atsuko for reassurance.

Ryohei gave him a thumbs up and a blinding grin while Atsuko flashed her own small smile.

The reassurance clearly gave him a boost in confidence, for he then added, "Please call me Tsuna!"

Kami, he really was too cute.

Someone whistled towards the back, Kozaki Yusuke, a relatively newer member of theirs. "Is it just me or is he sparkling?"

"I think all the adorable's making you hallucinate, Yu," said Hanaru Rin, the resident midget boxer. Yusuke elbowed him in the ribs. "Ow…"

"Sawada, Sawada," said another thoughtfully. "That sounds really familiar…"

"Gee, I wonder why Mozumo." Atsuko rolled her eyes. It wasn't as though his name was practically infamous throughout their school or anything.

"Aren't you that kid who's always getting bullied?" questioned the tallest club member, Sukizo Kazu, putting a finger to his chin. "That's not a very good thing to be known for."

"It's extremely not!" Ryohei declared passionately. "Our first order of business today is to teach Sawada how to fight back!"

"Well, we can't just teach him how to fight right off the bat," added the club's final member, Tanida Kamui. "That wouldn't make much sense since he's too small."

"True, true," Kazu agreed. "We should teach him how to dodge first!"

"How to…dodge?" Tsuna stammered, taking a step back. Clearly, the poor boy was expecting the worst.

All the club members exchanged looks.

Rin stepped forward. "Yeah, dodging. So like… we try to tap you and you avoid us, like…" he trailed off, tapping Tsuna's shoulder. "This!"

Tsuna looked taken aback for a moment. "I just… avoid getting tapped?"

Mozumo nodded energetically. "Yup! Feel free to tap us back at anytime!"

Ryohei pumped his fist into the air. "Sounds like an extreme plan! We begin in three, two, one, GO!"

And so began the boxing club's game of extreme tag. That Atsuko so did not let Ryohei drag her into, thank you very much (not).

(And if anyone noticed Tsuna's eyes shining just a bit by the end of it, no one said a word.)

A/N

So… did I handle that well? Yes, no, maybe so?

Hm. We already have votes on who Atsuko should end up with, though I've already thought up my own ideas for two- one of which no one's mentioned yet.

Still, I don't have anything solid yet so feel free to suggest pairings!

Ciao!

P.S. Dear reviewers, followers and favoriters, I love you all very much.