(iv)
(Interlude)
Sawada Tsunayoshi had a hard time remembering the last time he had a friend.
(Perhaps it was when he was five? Six?)
For that matter, he also had a hard time remembering the last day he had made it home from school without any new bruises, self-inflicted or not.
This day was no different, either. Or, well, it shouldn't have been, at least.
Go to school, get beat up by someone or fail in gym or even fall down the stairs - if his luck was feeling particularly cruel that day - then go home with a few failing grades.
Wash, rinse, repeat. It was the same thing every day.
Tsuna had been just about finished with the second part of the cycle - about to go onto the third - when he spotted two people heading towards him.
He recognized them, Sasagawa Ryohei and Morishiba Atsuko from the senior class. He didn't know them personally, but he knew that Kyoko-chan, his crush (how could one not love the only person to smile for them?) loved them both more than anything in the world. She had said as much, not to him, but he had definitely heard it said more than once.
They were like night and day, he thought. Sasagawa's sun-kissed skin contrasted greatly against the pale, near-white shade of Morishiba's. Her hair was like ebony, his was so blonde it was nearly silver. Even their builds and eyes were exact opposites - she was thinner than any person had a right to be with dark, almost-black brown eyes whereas he was fit and muscular with light, shining grey ones.
Tsuna almost wondered how such different people could be so close. It was obvious, from the way that they seemed so comfortable with each other's touch and the way that they always acted as though they were each other's other halves. Thirds, really, when Kyoko-chan was around.
It was obvious that he was their target. He wondered what they wanted with him; maybe Sasagawa-senpai had heard someone talking about his crush on Kyoko-chan and has come to set him straight?
That would make sense - who would want someone like him anywhere near someone like her?
Morishiba-senpai was yelling at Sasagawa about something, though Tsuna couldn't hear what it was exactly. It was probably about not approaching Tsuna, about him not being worth their time or something of the sort.
He heard that a lot.
Kyoko's older brother was denying whatever it was (was that guilt on his face?) and dragging his companion onwards until she seemed to have given up.
Tsuna thought about getting up, about getting away before he could trouble them, but he remained rooted in place under the tree. He was so tired, too tired, from everything.
Something in his mind, a little voice at the back of his head, told him not to move away from them. They won't hurt you, it said.
Tsuna remembers the voice being louder, when he was hardly over a meter tall, instead of its current gentle whisper. Sometimes he couldn't even understand what it was telling him anymore, it was too warped, too garbled, as though it sounded from behind a locked door.
Either way, it hardly ever failed him. How else did he avoid anything that could get him into a hospital nowadays?
They were here now, in front of him. Tsuna had to keep himself from flinching at Sasagawa's loud, boisterous words.
Mid-conversation, Tsuna realized that the blonde was trying to be friendly.
Tsuna panicked. On the inside, that is. He probably seemed so anti-social, so unfriendly in his quiet and unsure replies. What if they thought that he didn't appreciate that they were coming to talk to him?
Tsuna panicked even more when Sasagawa-senpai invited him to join the boxing club. The upperclassman didn't actually want him, wouldn't want him. This was pity at its finest and Tsuna knew that he couldn't accept it - he would only be a burden if he did.
(No matter how much he wanted to take it, to be a part of something and to not simply be the lonely child standing at the edge of something special that he could never be included in.)
Morishiba-senpai broke her silence then. Tsuna had thought that she was opposed to this, to speaking with him, and hadn't been surprised when the pale girl had simply stood just beside her best friend throughout the exchange.
He hadn't expected her to speak to him and he certainly hadn't expected her to clarify the offer, to offer a place as her personal assistant.
Accept, accept, the voice in his mind, his intuition, chanted. They want you!
Tsuna hesitated.
They want you. Don't you want to be wanted?
Yes, he did.
Tsuna's first meeting with the boxing club began only a scarce fifteen minutes after his acceptance.
Atsu-senpai and Onii-chan (as they had told him to call them and he couldn't help but accept - few had ever allowed him to refer to them so affectionately) had assured him that there was nothing to be concerned about in regards to the club.
"They're just a bunch of dorky jocks," Atsu-senpai explained. "It's alright to be nervous and all but I wouldn't be surprised if you ended up buried in hugs by the end of the day, dude."
Tsuna highly doubted it.
He introduced himself to the club members nervously, fully expecting the usual chorus of jeers and the like.
He didn't expect the grins and thumbs up, the welcoming words and introductions in return.
And he most certainly didn't expect for them to start trying to teach him to defend himself.
He didn't expect to be embroiled in a game of tag to learn to dodge and he had never thought that he'd ever find himself laughing so hard that he cried.
They didn't get any real practice done that day and Tsuna had a feeling that no one really cared.
And as they all lay on the floor, grinning and panting and teasing the two managers for their abysmal athletic skills -
(It was nice not being the only one that could hardly do anything and it was great to be teased affectionately instead of being made fun of to no end.)
"Thank you," Tsuna breathed, though he wasn't sure anyone heard. "For everything."
Someone ruffled his hair in response - he wasn't sure who it was, he was too tired to turn his head - and said, "no problem, Tsuna. Just remember that tomorrow isn't going to be all play like this, 'kay?"
"'Kay, Atsu-senpai."
The next week, Tsuna decided, was definitely the best of his life.
The cycle, the one that he couldn't remember even a single day without, was broken.
Each day he found a club member or two waiting outside his classroom door, greeting him with a smile; telling him that they were here to "spend some time with our new member, duh!"
Tsuna knew that they were there to make sure he didn't get bothered by bullies. They were nice people, too nice.
He didn't deserve this.
But he couldn't bring himself to say no, to say that he was fine walking alone everyday.
(Somehow, he doubts that they would have listened anyways, but it was the thought that counted.)
Tsuna had never had a reason to be selfish before, nothing to be selfish about. Was it really so wrong for him to take this opportunity, to enjoy the company and finally, truly, smile?
Probably - he was burdening these people to no end, he knew. He didn't do much aside from holding Atsu-senpai's calculator and typing in expressions while she balanced the budget and running around to get water for everyone when the mini-cooler ran out ("his majesty the asshole of Namimori can be very cheap, Tsuna. We can't even afford a proper fridge!" "He wouldn't be like that if you tried harder to become the queen, Atsu!" "My hatred for you burns brighter than a thousand suns, Ryo.")
He isn't irreplaceable or important or anything. But for some reason, they treated him as though he was.
They thanked him and told him that he was appreciated. They helped him with homework on breaks (who knew that things could be so easy to understand when someone actually took the time to really explain it?) and laughed and joked with him.
Tsuna had never been so happy in his life.
And today, he even got to spend time with Kyoko-chan.
Of whom is apparently an incredibly skilled fighter and a regular here. Tsuna wonders why the entirety of Nami Middle's male population is so convinced that she's some kind of delicate flower - she really, really isn't.
(Actually Tsuna's kind of scared now, she nearly kicked Onii-chan's face in!)
"I just wish that someone hadn't been so rough with the equipment or there wouldn't be such pressure on us for this tournament," Atsuko complained, glaring at Onii-chan without any real malice.
They were the only ones in the gym now, the four of them. Everyone else had already gone home to get some rest for tomorrow's tournament and they had been left to lock up the gym.
Kyoko giggled. "I think that might be asking for a bit too much, Atsu-nee."
"I'm not that bad," Onii-chan protested. "I just got extremely carried away that one time."
"You always get extremely carried away!"
"Um, at least his intentions are good?" Tsuna felt the need to add. Ryohei didn't mean to be so crazy about his training…
"See, Tsuna's on my side!"
"You really shouldn't encourage him, Tsuna-kun," the resident strawberry blonde chided. "That'll only make it worse."
"Sometimes it feels as if you're the only one that truly gets me, Kyo," Atsuko sighed over-dramatically, putting a hand to her heart. "The love of my life."
Kyoko shook her head ruefully. "Onii-chan, she's saying weird things to the wrong Kyo again."
"I think she's just eternally confused, Kyoko," Onii-chan laughed boisterously. He was so full of life, it was nearly impossible to keep up with him.
"I am not!" Atsuko protested hotly. "There is only one Kyo in my heart, right Tsuna?"
Tsuna nodded, though he couldn't help but add a jab of his own. "His majesty, duh."
The joke was kinda infectious, though he couldn't really imagine anyone dating Hibari, much less the boxing club's manager. Tsuna hasn't seen much of the older boy, but from what he did know Hibari seemed much too cold and unapproachable for any kind of relationship.
Kyoko gasped at Tsuna's words before pulling a brave face and marching towards the door.
"Kyoko! Where are you going? We aren't done yet!" Ryohei shouted at his sister.
You get used to the loudness, after a while. Tsuna found it to be kind of comforting at this point, to be honest.
"To fight Hibari-senpai for Atsu-nee's heart!" Kyoko declared passionately.
"Fluff ball number one say what now?!"
Kyoko nodded. "As much as I support the royal courtship, I can't take the thought of him being the only Kyo to receive Atsu-nee's love! The only solution now is to fight him and take her love back by force!"
"An extreme resolve! I'll support you as best as I can, sis!"
"I don't think fighting Hibari's the best idea, Kyoko-chan," Tsuna snickered. "His fanclub might come after you!"
It was strange how just a few days ago she had seemed so out of reach and yet now he was conversing with Kyoko as though they had been friends for years.
Kyoko considered that. "Worth it."
Atsuko buried her face in the club captain's side. "I'm surrounded by psychos."
"Hey!" Tsuna protested. He was still sane, thank you very much!
"You're being corrupted already," the manager groaned. "Poor, poor innocent soul."
"It's okay to come over to the dark side," Ryohei said, patting him on the back consolingly. "We have extreme cookies!"
"They're double chocolate chip ones too!" Kyoko added, a grin lighting up her face and warming Tsuna's heart.
Yeah, Tsuna thought, I really am the luckiest person in the world.
A/N
I thought it might be a good idea to occasionally write chapters from the point of view of other characters, to fully show the effects of the changes Atsuko makes and such.
(That and I'm trash for Tsuna he's like my fourth favorite character honestly he needs all the love in the world).
It's pretty interesting to see who you guys all want Atsuko to end up with and I gotta admit, I could probably see all of them? But I need to have a definite pairing by the time we get to TYL so sadly I can't just write alternate endings for all of them…
Anyhow, thank you all for your reviews and I'm so glad people are enjoying this story! Like seriously, you people make my day. I love hearing about how people feel about my writing and feedback means the world to me.
Ciao!