(v)
If asked, then Atsuko, Tsuna and Kyoko would shamelessly admit to being the loudest ones cheering on the day of the tournament, much to the chagrin of the rest of the audience.
They won. It had been a pretty close win, she had to admit, but in the end Tokyo Central was no match for Namimori Middle.
Obviously - her boys were clearly the best. And Atsuko and Tsuna were no pushovers on support either, running around grabbing towels and water bottles and patching up injuries like pros.
Tsuna, unsurprisingly, has first aid down to an art form - having mastered it due to his own countless injuries. He clearly never imagined that the talent would ever earn him any recognition, if the way his cheeks flushed red at the club members' praise was any indication.
Atsuko hadn't bothered biting back a fond smile as she watched Tsuna interact with the others, as he slowly blossomed into the confidence that she knew he would have gained even without their interference.
That was all he had really needed - appreciation, recognition. He needed to be told that he was worth something and that he wasn't useless or no-good. He needed someplace to belong, something that the boxing club has now given him before the mafia ever had a chance to interfere.
She wonders how this new, happier Tsuna would affect canon - would Gokudera still be a necessary addition? Would Reborn try to pull the rest of the club into Tsuna's family?
Atsuko snorted to herself. Over my dead body.
Probably literally. One does not simply stand up to Reborn and live to tell the tale, after all. He was probably scarier than Hibari!
And considering the fact that Hibari was her cowardice's worst nightmare incarnate, Atsuko was already kind of terrified.
It was funny how in all the stories original characters were hardly ever afraid of any one character here - stupid, really. These people are killers, or will be, at least. Piss them off and you die or get seriously injured.
Hibari, though he may have a soft side towards cute things, was already infamous for his short fuse and ability to kick literally anyone's ass.
Gokudera is a bomber. The dude has a temper and he can blow things up to high hell. In what world is it a good idea to be anything less than respectful and polite to that asshole?
Mukuro could probably have anyone down on their knees from his illusions within two minutes, tops. (Though, to be perfectly honest, this is probably the one that Atsuko will end up risking - she did not want to be alone in all this reincarnation shit, damnit.)
Hell, even Lambo was a force to be reckoned with - what with that seemingly endless collection of weapons in his hair (what the actual fuck, Hitman Reborn) and terrible lack of self control.
The bottom line is, these people aren't characters anymore. They're real. They aren't some 2-D ideas sitting on papers or moving across screens - they're people with their own personalities and talents beyond what was stated in a franchise.
And they are dangerous.
An arm wrapped around Atsuko's shoulders, familiar muscles brushing up against her bony frame. "See, I told you it was an extremely good idea to recruit Tsuna!"
Except for Ryohei, obviously; he's just her beloved ball of sunshine.
Atsuko rolled her eyes, having long since given up on Ryohei remembering to take a shower before hugging her. "I still stand by what I said before," she informed him. "But, I suppose it was kind of worth it."
"Don't be such a tsundere, Atsu."
"Excuse you. I am a strong and independent young woman who can be whatever she wants to be!"
"Except a tsundere," Ryohei shot back with a grin.
Atsuko huffed. "What if being a tsundere is my dream come true, Ryo? What if it's the life I want to live and die with? The tsundere always gets the hot guy, after all."
"What 'hot guy'?" Ryohei questioned in confusion. "You and Kyoko aren't allowed to date, ever. Men extremely suck and aren't good enough for either of you."
"Please," Atsuko snarked. "I can date whomever I want, whenever I want. Besides, what if I don't want to date a man?"
Ryohei's eyes widened momentarily. "You don't -"
"What if I want to date a shark? Or a pineapple? A skull? Or maybe even a marshmallow lord?"
Hey, he didn't know who any of those people were. She could use those lovely nicknames to tease him all she wanted for now, thank you very much.
She could see the images running through Ryohei's mind, horror dawning upon his face. "Atsu, you're extremely scaring me right now…"
"Oh, so you wouldn't support all of my romantic interests, no matter what they may be? Some best friend you are…"
Ryohei recovered from Atsuko's strange response fairly quickly, a teasing smile playing on his lips. This boy is way too used to Atsuko's strangeness at this point, honestly…
"Nope, I just mean that if you're going to date something weird then you may as well go ahead and become Queen of Namimori so that we can have an extreme unlimited budget."
"I hate whoever it was that came up with that shitty-ass joke," she muttered.
Dating Hibari sounded horrible. What if 'biting people to death' was actually a kink of his? What if she actually had to learn how to use makeup because of that kink?
"Love you too, Atsu!"
"Sasagawa Ryohei, you little piece of -"
"Atsu-senpai…"
"Yes, cute and fluffy thing?"
"Why am I coming with you to go see Hibari-san?" Tsuna asked nervously, clearly already counting down his last minutes amongst the living before the monster scared the life out of him.
"Because if I have to suffer through this then so do you, Assistant-chan," Atsuko replied cheerfully. "It's okay, death isn't so bad anyways. It must be nice and relaxing and free of all things Hibari and -"
Tsuna sprayed Atsuko in the face. Where did that squirt bottle even come from?!
Tsuna shrugged. "Onii-chan said to spray you with that whenever you started ranting about death."
Oh that motherfucking son of a bitch. He turned Atsuko's own assistant against her! Her assistant! "I'm going to kill him. Then myself, because screw paperwork."
Tsuna sprayed her again.
Atsuko stared at him.
"You were talking about death again," Tsuna explained awkwardly. "...and that was kinda fun?"
"I'm feeling significantly less bad about using you as a sacrificial lamb against his royal highness now."
"Sacrificial lamb?!"
Atsuko nodded gravely. "His majesty happens to just love cute things and you're fucking adorable. I will sacrifice you to him for a few minutes in order to ensure that negotiations go more smoothly."
"S-sacrifice me to him?" Oh poor, poor little tuna-fish.
Atsuko wasn't actually going to do anything of the sort - what if Hibari tried to steal her assistant? Hell no.
Hibari is a canon Guardian. In other words - he must be especially susceptible to that Sky Attraction thingy that has everyone begging to be near Tsuna but then pushes them all back - probably because of whatever it is that Atsuko vaguely recalled the current Vongola boss doing to Tsuna as a child.
However, whatever it is seems to have no effect on canon Guardians as Atsuko has yet to see that weird recoil reaction that everyone seemed to have upon first meeting Tsuna on Ryohei. Perhaps it's because their Flames naturally fit well together?
Sky Flames had something to do with harmony, specifically between all the other elements, so it would make sense if they naturally attracted what fit best to their harmonies far more than any others.
Perhaps that meant that his attraction to these 'best fits' overcame the seal in some way?
Regardless, this made Tsuna a very good way to butter Hibari up.
She just had to be careful that Hibari didn't somehow whisk their Tsuna away to his Disciplinary Committee with his mysterious drifting-Cloud-whatever charm thing and pretty eyes.
"Don't worry, I'll be sure to steal you back at the very last second," Atsuko reassured him. "Unless he decides to kill me for trying, that is. Then tough luck."
"B-but, senpai!" Tsuna protested, before he seemed to have a sudden epiphany.
Tsuna held up the spray bottle. "If you leave me to Hibari-san's mercy, then instead of only spraying you when you rant about death, I'll spray you every time you say the word."
Atsuko gasped. "You wouldn't!"
Tsuna merely laughed at her. "Well, if you wouldn't use me as a Hibari-shield, then I guess I wouldn't spray you that often either."
When Atsuko had still been living her first life, she had often thought that Tsuna would make the perfect Hufflepuff in any sort of Harry Potter crossover.
She was wrong.
Dead wrong.
This, this cute, fluffy little thing was clearly a snake in disguise!
No wonder he managed to ensnare both Mukuro and Hibari…
"Tsuna, your inner mafia boss is showing," Atsuko informed him. "If you're going to act like a total Slytherin, then you may as well go take over a yakuza group while you're at it."
Fuck spoilers. Again, he didn't know anything of what she knew, so it was perfectly fine to make little jokes like these, right?
Right.
Tsuna shook his head. "Running a yakuza group sounds like an awful lot of paperwork. I think I'm fine being the club's assistant manager, senpai."
Atsuko laughed.
The rest of the walk to the Disciplinary Committee's office went by similarly, filled with banter and laughter that Atsuko couldn't help but appreciate more and more.
She wonders how her first life would have gone if someone had done for her what she and Ryohei had done for Tsuna.
Perhaps she would have had better friends; perhaps she would have still been alive today.
Who knows, it's not as though she even knew how any of it went down.
They passed by a few members of the baseball team on their way there. Atsuko made sure to place herself between Tsuna and Yamamoto as a physical barrier, not that she thought it would help anything.
Poor, suicidal, lonely soul he may be, Atsuko didn't see any reason to put Tsuna at risk of starting canon events earlier than he has to. Yamamoto was irreversibly tied to Tsuna's life, but again, Atsuko didn't know too much about canon.
Yamamoto hadn't been one of Atsuko's favorite characters to begin with either, so she hadn't cared enough to know much about him.
What if he was secretly a psychopathic murderer? If he was involved with the yakuza? Atsuko's mind distinctly linked the words "Yamamoto" and "assassin" for some reason - she didn't like that at all.
"Come along Tsuna," she said, steering him away with a bony arm around his small frame. "It's best to stay away from baseball idiots."
Tsuna looked unsure. "That's kinda mean, Atsu-senpai," he said, his eyes locked onto his future Rain's form.
No, no, no. Bad Tsuna.
"Mean or not," she began, making sure to capture Tsuna's eyes once more, "- they are our competition. Most of us are graduating this year so we have to beat the baseball team's record for most awards won in one year, yeah?"
"Oh," Tsuna said, looking down.
Oh, shit.
Atsuko just reminded him of the fact that most of the friends that he had made in the past two weeks weren't even going to be there for much longer than a single school year. Of course he was going to be upset!
Okay, good, at least they were past the baseball idiots.
(Had that been jealousy in Yamamoto's eyes just now, as we were passing by?)
Whatever, he didn't matter right now. Tsuna did. She just had to fix this mistake of hers…
She wasn't Ryohei, who could make anyone smile in a matter of seconds, but…
"But hey, that doesn't mean that we'll be leaving you or anything!" Atsuko reassured him, trying to bend her lips into the grin that usually came naturally with her friends. Sadly that very same smile just loved failing her when she actually wanted to smile.
Tsuna looked up at her. "But…"
"Shhh," Atsuko commanded. "We already all have guaranteed spots in the high school's boxing club, so that just means that you'll be switching to being my assistant over there!"
Tsuna still looked unsure. "Is that even allowed?"
"'Course it is," Atsuko decided. "I'll even fight the king if I have to! And die for your happiness trying," she added as an afterthought.
Tsuna sprayed her. "Thanks, senpai."
That smile could probably end wars, honestly.
"Some thank you that is," she muttered and the little Sky laughed.
"So that's that, senpai," Atsuko said as she finished recounting the events of the tournament to the royal pain in her butt.
Tsuna, as promised, stood a step or two behind her, nervously bouncing on his heels. He was staring at Hibari and if one wasn't looking as carefully as Atsuko was, then she highly doubted they would be able to see that subtle look in his eyes, that strange magnetism that she knew Hibari was experiencing.
Atsuko would be lying if she said that she didn't have an ulterior motive to bringing Tsuna here.
The simple fact of the matter was that in the short time that she had known him, Tsuna had managed to weasel his way into Atsuko's small group of loved ones and was now glued in there.
She couldn't have gotten him out of her circle even if she tried.
In other words, Tsuna is now under her protection. And while that didn't mean much physically, it did mean that she would be doing whatever she could to help keep him safe.
Atsuko was ruthless when it came to keeping her loved ones safe. Who do you think was the one who anonymously gathered all the evidence to send those high school students off to juvie all those years ago when they attacked Kyoko and Ryohei?
Her, obviously.
The best way to protect Tsuna, she knew, was to introduce him to people that could easily grow to care for him enough to keep him safe. She didn't trust Yamamoto enough to allow him near Tsuna yet, but Hibari?
Hibari was a whole other story.
Hibari, canonically, does not give a shit about anyone beyond those that he declares to be his. Even if Atsuko wasn't going to allow him to steal Tsuna away, there was no harm in making the introduction that led to Tsuna being claimed.
By gaining another canon Guardian - especially one of the strongest and most ruthless of the bunch - early on, Tsuna was essentially already being set up for success once canon comes along in about a month or so - perhaps less.
"I see," Hibari said. "I was unaware that you had picked up your own little herbivore, Morishiba. I suppose it's only natural for people like you to crowd together, however."
"Tsuna is a very cute little herbivore," Atsuko agreed. Ugh, kami, his crazy-language was starting to rub off on her and she only saw the guy what, once or twice a month? "He's also a wonderful assistant."
This piqued Hibari's interest. "He's competent?"
Atsuko nodded proudly. "Yup! He patches up injuries like a pro and he's a total godsend when I'm doing our paperwork."
Good, good, come on Atsuko, catch his interest! Get Tsuna his Cloud!
"Interesting," Hibari said, more to himself than to them. "Stop cowering behind Morishiba, herbivore. Competence is nothing in the face of cowardice."
Tsuna flinched at the direct address and Atsuko nearly forgot about their mutual fear of the person before them in the face of her triumph.
Atsuko gave Tsuna a reassuring glance, but made no further moves. Tsuna had to do this for himself, after all.
Tsuna took a deep breath and stepped forward. "Um, Hibari-san. I'm sorry but, aren't we getting a bit off track here? We're supposed to be discussing budget plans, right?"
A bold move, Atsuko thought. Perfect. Now all she had to do was sit back and watch the show…
"We are," Hibari responded. "Perhaps you aren't so herbivorous after all."
It seems that Tsuna's direct address impressed Hibari and for good reason - Atsuko could never have pulled such a thing without having first known him for at least a year. And even then it was a pretty big maybe.
"Umm, y-yeah?" Tsuna stuttered. "A-anyways, so you said that we could get that expansion if we won this tournament?"
"I said that I would consider it," the resident prefect corrected. "I gave no guarantees."
"But, everyone worked really hard for that equipment!" Tsuna protested hotly. He had seen them training and doing their best just as she did and he was very stubborn when he wanted to be. She knew that Tsuna wouldn't stand for his friends getting cheated out of their reward - terrified or not.
"They did it not just for themselves, but to prove to you that they deserve this! It may just be a few new punching bags to you, but to us? That kind of thing means the world!"
If she wasn't at risk of death via tonfa, then Atsuko would've whistled lowly. Talk about passion… Ryohei would be very, very proud if he were to see this.
"It's a chance to do better and to become stronger for the sake of the school, and for the club that everyone loves. Please, Hibari-san."
Hibari looked Tsuna over, silver boring into chocolatey brown. Atsuko held her breath in anticipation.
After what seemed like an eternity, Hibari finally opened his mouth. "Fine."
Atsuko and Tsuna both let out the breaths they had been holding, relief filling the room.
"However."
There always was a but, wasn't there?
"I will also be taking Sawada. I'm in need of a new secretary anyhow."
"Hiiieeee?"
Ah Tsuna and his cute little squealing…
Atsuko laughed nervously, taking Tsuna by the hand. "Sorry senpai, but unfortunately we have already thoroughly claimed him. Bye!"
And with that the two managers of the boxing club ran out of the room like the devil himself was at their heels, leaving an amused Hibari in their wake.
"Atsu-senpai?"
"Yes, Tsuna?"
"Can we please never do that again? I thought we were going to die! He just… he has that aura… like he would kill us if we made a mistake in there!"
"Ah well, too bad, so sad. You're stuck risking death via the king of Namimori with me every month now, Assistant-chan."
...
"Oh my Kami, stop spraying me with that thing already!"
A/N
I had wayyyy too much fun writing this. Anyhow, this chapter goes out to my platonic soulmate and fellow lover of Tsuna, Natripper.
I've seen a lot of suggestions for pairings and the problem is that they're all so… plausible? Except for Ryohei, sorry but that one's strictly platonic.
So the candidates so far are:
Tsuna: 2 (hmmmm I dunno about this one)
Squalo: 1 (yes yes I love this idea so much)
Hibari: 3 (royal courtship ftw)
Mukuro: 2 (soooo many ideas for this one)
Yamamoto: 2 (perhaps, perhaps, this would be entertaining)
Chrome: 1 (all the love to the fluffle)
Hayato: 1 (now THIS would be hilarious)
Dino: 1 (Nat and I were just discussing this one, hehe)
Shoichi: 1 (this one's just asking for angst. Lots and lots of angst)
Enma: 1 (actually… intriguing idea)
We shall see. Keep sending in suggestions! Oh, and my own personal addition to the list because I'm an indecisive bitch -
Belphegor: 1
Ciao!