Daily Life Arc: 1st Year in Middle School, First Term (April)

Ages:

Tsuna - 12

Mia - 12

Kyoya - 15 (2nd Year Middle School)

Disclaimer: I don't own KHR. I'm just a fan who has a very special place in her heart for this anime.

When lunch break rolled around, Mia immediately dragged him out the room by the sleeve of his uniform while holding a small bag. They were out of the school and at the field before she let him go. The field was mostly empty, save for a few people but it was just them at the moment under a tree. There were no windows nearby that anyone would use to spy on them and it was nicely shaded from the sun, Tsuna wondered if Mia intentionally brought him here for privacy.

"What's up with class?" she asked, frowning. "What does 'dame' mean and why do they call you that?"

"Er… um…" he looked away, his cheeks flaming.

"Spill." She commanded.

"Dame means… useless. Around here I'm called useless," he said lowly,unable to look her in the eye.

He couldn't see it, bit her stare was felt heavy. "How can you be useless?" she said, disbelief evident on her expression.

That was a little bit harder to explain. He felt his face growing steadily hotter as he told her of his – quote, unquote – reputation to be a failure. As he went on, he caught a glimpse of her face. It was an increasing mix between disbelief, exasperation and laughter. When he was done, after giving a detailed explanation of how hazardous his clumsiness is to others and himself, he risked sneaking another glance at her and found she was shaking her head at him.

"Mi stai prendendo in giro," she said, looking like in all the word that it was the stupidest thing she ever heard ("You've got to be kidding me"). Tsuna wished he understood Italian.

But she didn't seem deterred by his reputation and that threw him off guard. Didn't she realize that he would cause nothing but trouble for her? Why didn't she understand? Why was he trying so hard to convince her of that? He didn't understand it himself. It was so backwards that it made his head hurt.

"Do you get it?" he asked her.

She frowned at him, clearly displeased. "I get it but that doesn't mean I agree with it."

"But what they say is true!" he argued.

She walked up to him, firmly placed her hands on his shoulders and looked straight into his eyes. She hadn't said anything het but Tsuna could practically feel her disapproval radiating from her. Her gaze unnerved him and despite being the same height, Mia felt taller than he was.

"Listen to me Tsuna. You're not useless. You may be bad at some things but your not useless. What they say is called an opinion. Not the truth," she said.

There was a stone lodged into his throat when he tried to swallow. "What happens then?" he asked, voice thick. "What if I really am what they say?"

One of her eyebrows rose. "So what? There are tons of people who suck at studying. That's why tutoring and summer classes were invented."

"I'm bad at physical classes too!"

"Obviously you're just not the sporty type."

Frustrated, Tsuna blurted out "I'm clumsy!"

The corner of her mouth twitched upwards. "So am I." He gaped.

"You? Clumsy?" he could hardly believe it. She smiled this time.

"Very." She assured him. The lilt in her voice sounded like there must have been a story behind that. He suddenly felt like knowing. Mia's facial expressions were very expressive – whatever it was that happened, it must have been pretty bad.

"How bad?" he found himself casually asking. Her smile turned into a full-blown grin.

She let go of him and laughed uncertainly. "Like forever-shamed-in-your-family bad."

He cringed good-naturedly. "What did you do?" he wondered.

"I set fire to the living room at my uncle's house during a family reunion," she said, a humorous expression crossing her face. "Uncle Murray never invited us ever again but Pa said it was alright – he didn't like Uncle all that much because he cooked the worst meals ever. When I was a kid I thought that his Spezzatino di Cinghiale tasted more like rat than wild boar. It was… stringy." She made a show of gagging and Tsuna laughed. It was amazing at how easily she made him feel at ease.

Satisfied that she had accomplished her goal, Mia sat down on the ground. She patted to the spot beside her. He sat down and she offered him a sandwich she brought with her in her bag. Tsuna suddenly realized that he didn't even bring lunch with him since he couldn't cook. He was planning on buying something from the campus store but when she offered him that sandwich, grinning widely, he didn't refuse. It was a good thing too, because the sandwich was really good.

As he ate, Mia immediately began telling a more detailed version of her story. Her Japanese wasn't perfect and she sometimes slipped into English or Italian but he understood what she meant, especially with her animated gestures and exaggerated dialogue had him laughing sick to his stomach, to the point that his throat hurt from laughing so much.

"Okay," he choked out as she munched on her own lunch. "You win."

She gave him a very smug I-told-you-so look and offered him another sandwich. He took it this time without hesitation.

He had never felt as content as he did at that moment, eating a sandwich and just talking. Actually, he couldn't remember when he had a decent conversation that wasn't with his Mother. It wasn't long when he started talking about anything he could think of. Mia was a gracious listener as she listened to him ramble about his grades and basically his middle-school life. She didn't interrupt him though her face did say a lot on what she thought about the matter. In turn, Mia rambled about her first impressions on her classmates. She was just in the middle of calling Takeda an attention-douchebag – after she got a proper translation from Tsuna in Japanese – when she stilled, staring wide eyed at something behind him. Tsuna turned and let out an effeminate squeak.

Hibari Kyoya stood there, his arms hanging on his sides with tonfas in grip and eyes narrowed under the sun.

"Herbivores," he said.

"Hieeeee! Hibari-san!" Tsuna quickly stood up. Mia followed, although she was much slower. She was staring at the tonfas that he held.

"Lunch break is almost over." If it was even more possible – which it was – his eyes narrowed even more. "Get back to class or I'll bite you to death."

"H-H-Hai!" Tsuna said and quickly left, taking Mia back with him. They went back to class in a slower pace now that they were very far from Hibari.

"Who was that?" Mia asked.

"That's Hibari-san, the head prefect and leader of the disciplinary committee here at Namimori-middle." He sighed in relief. "Thank god he didn't bite us to death!"

"Did you really just say 'bite us to death' or did I get that wrong?"

He shook his head. "You're not wrong," he frowned, then quickly added, "But he won't hurt you if you follow the school rules!" She nodded, uncertain. She muttered something again in Italian that he couldn't understand then straightened herself up. Tsuna decided to do her a favor and told her how things worked in Namimori-Middle. He jumped across the topic of everyone calling and treating him as Dame-Tsuna and dived head-first into what not to do to get on the disciplinary committee or Hibari's, bad side. His crash course helped her understand that yes, Hibari did beat the living crap out of people who broke the peace, yes people were afraid of him, and yes, Hibari carried a pair of steel tonfas everywhere with him that he used for said beatings.

They stood in front of the classroom when Mia suddenly grabbed his arm, looking a little overwhelmed.

"Mia?" he worriedly looked her over. She seemed alright. "If you want, I can go ahead then you can come after me so they won't see us together."

She glared at him. Her hand that was holding on to him suddenly latched off and smacked his shoulder. He yelped. "What was that for?"

"Stop that," she said. "I don't like it."

He decided to drop it and rubbed his shoulder. "What's wrong then?"

She sighed. "It's just… when I came to Japan I didn't think I was going to meet a prefect that uses violence to keep the peace. Talk about irony. Just this morning a guy was running around the neighborhood shouting 'extreme'."

Tsuna coughed a bit. He decided to not mention that the guy she was talking about was studying here in this school as well. When she finds out for herself, the look on her face would be hilarious. It was a small form of payback that he would find totally worth it. But she was right, and Tsuna suddenly felt sympathy for her. She was still new here too and must have felt more than a little left out.

"Is it bad though?" he asked.

She shook her head. "Nope, just… strange." She smiled. "Nothing I can't handle!" She nudged him, a conspiratorial gleam in her eye. "Besides, I got you don't I?"

While he was flattered by her words, he did not like the double meaning that came with it and he huffed to show it. She bit her lip – still smiling – and opened the door.

Mia had adjusted well to Japan, Tsuna thought proudly as she managed to bargain against a stall owner for their vegetables. Even Mom couldn't do that. He was grinning when she made her way back to him, holding a bag of fresh vegetables and a cocky smirk on her face. It was probably a week that passed since they've met and Mia had done more than Tsuna asked her to.

For one, she dragged him off on studying sessions to the community library after she saw that he wasn't really kidding about his grades. He found to his surprise – Mia was really good at surprising him – that her Father used to be an archaeologist but now taught in prestigious universities as a History professor. Despite her tomboyish nature, she was smart and did her best helping him in all his subjects.

Even though she sucked at Japanese history and just Japanese in general for reasons that are glaringly obvious, she tried. They ended up helping each other.

He had to admit, she was a very good teacher. He caught on better than he ever learned at school. Probably because she taught in a way that he could understand. It did wonders to some of his tests as they steadily grew in score – to the surprise of his teachers. They started doing homework together at his house too, much to the delight of his mother.

She gushed at Mia, complimenting her that she was 'cute'. Mia flushed and took the compliment awkwardly. Tsuna learned that Mia wasn't comfortable with being complimented and decided to save her from his Mother.

As much as she was a big help in his studies, Mia couldn't do anything for his athletic ability though she did declare earlier before they left to go shopping that she'll figure out how to get him out of what she jokingly called his room, 'his man-cave'. She relentlessly teased him when he first showed her his room that he was such a boy in that aspect and began to embarrassingly point out his underwear peeking out from under a manga. Her shameless teasing mortified him more than he cared to admit but it seemed to have the intended reaction she wanted as he cleaned himself up more than he used to.

It was during one weekend that Mia decided to hang out just as his mother asked him to go shopping. She didn't mind, saying that she might as well do her shopping as well. Her skills for bargaining were literally tear-jerking as the stall owner was left to cry at his loss. Mia said that fresh vegetables were the best and that it was better than supermarkets.

"Figo," he said and she beamed at him ("Cool or awesome"). Her usage of Italian slang was infectious as her smiles were. He took the bag away from her and sent the store owner a look of sympathy.

Mia snorted. "I've haggled with tougher people in Italy than he was."

"Still..." Tsuna trailed away. "Anyway, I think we have everything. We're good to go." He peered into the bags he held. They walked in comfortable silence on the way back, just stopping by Mia's apartment complex to drop off her things before rejoining him outside.

Honestly, he never thought he could have a friend like Mia or at least, have a girl as a friend at all. He was awkward with them at best but Mia seemed to act more like a boy than she did as a girl except for a few things, like cooking – he found out that she made that sandwich – shopping, and normal daily feminine hygiene. She didn't do cute clothes and opted to wear jeans, shirts and boots, she didn't even wear jewelry and liked to get down and dirty. She once said to him, while walking home from school together, that she didn't like Japan's uniforms as it was too breezy down there. Needless to say he spluttered out a response and she laughed at him. Despite that, he was very comfortable around her even going as far as to make jokes with her in class. Well, she did the joking – using terrible, terrible, shameless puns – all he did was shook on his desk with laughter, trying not to make any noise as she slipped him occasionally notes of pun drawings.

He was waiting for her to come down when he heard a cry and a painful thud. He instantly ran up the stairs to see Mia sprawled against the ground. He dropped everything he held and knelt by her side, not caring if some of the eggs were cracked.

She grimaced in pain as she rubbed her head. "Where does it hurt?" Tsuna asked, worried. She brushed him off with a "I'm fine," and stood up. Mia inspected her left arm, which Tsuna presumed as what she used to land on, and hissed when a large bruise seemed to blossom from her elbow to half-way through her forearm. He stood up as well, still worried. She didn't sustain any other injuries except for her arm. It wasn't bad – he had worse after all – but he didn't like the way it marred her skin.

She saw his expression and sighed. "Really Tsuna, don't worry about it. Did we not establish that I am a clumsy person too? So I slipped, not a big deal."

He nodded and took her arm to examine it for himself. She let him do it, seeing as there wasn't anything else she could do about his constant worrying. Tsuna realized very early on that Mia had nothing against being touchy. She was an affectionate person if gotten to know better. One time, Mia came out of nowhere to give him a surprise tackle from behind – as in tackle him to the ground like some professional wrestler. If it was any girl, they probably would have slapped him regardless who did the tackling.

He prodded it gently to gauge her reaction and flexed her arm. From his own experience of bruises, he deducted that it would take a week for it to fade. Satisfied, he let go. Mia was pouting or at least, tried not to.

"Don't look at me like that," he admonished her.

"Yes Mom." All sarcasm and no bite. He rolled his eyes and went to pick up the bags he left. He checked one of them and was pleased that the eggs weren't broken. They went back to his house, helped his mom sort out the food and went up to his room. Mia instantly went to his bed and flopped down on it, snuggling into his pillow like a cat. He shook his head and went to go play video games. After a while of playing, Mia spoke up. "Hey Tsuna?"

"Hmnn?" he said, eyes still on the TV.

"Why is it you got a gaming console but you don't have a cell phone?"

His character stood too long out of the open and got shot down. "Why are you asking?" he said, annoyed that he died although he wondered it himself.

"Because!" She rolled to lie on her stomach. She pulled out her own phone – customized black with a trident on it from one of her favorite book series – and waved it. "It's a necessity! Besides, don't you want to text me in case of emergencies or anyone else for that matter?"

"I..." what was he supposed to say? That he didn't have anyone other than his mother to text with? "I didn't think it could be used for other stuff like that," he lied.

Mia let out a long-suffering groan.

"Zitto!" Tsuna said, ears flushing ("Shut up!").

"No need to be so upset. Let's go get you one later, I think your mom wouldn't mind if you wanted a phone." She said as she crawled down from the bed to pick up the second controller to join him. He eyed her for a moment then back at the screen. He felt comforted at least that she wasn't as good as he was in video games and grinned when Mia died eight times in a row without him dying once. She tossed the controller aside in frustration, muttering some not nice things in Italian about the game from the sound of it.

"Let's go ask mom for my phone," Tsuna said while grinning. Her expression was sour but he brushed it off. He knew she didn't really mean it. She nudged his shoulder; he nudged back a bit more strongly to tip her of balance. Mia returned it by shoving him to the ground and running out the room before he could recover. He chased her through his house, hot on her heels while she shrilled, "Mrs. Sawada your son is trying to kill me!"

"Am not!" he shouted back and laughed.

"Ara! You kids are having so much fun!" Nana said, happy to see her son playing.

Mia was down the stairs when Tsuna decided to skip the last few steps and leaped down. He felt great and glorious when he managed to pull her down to the ground. They stayed there on the floor, giggling like two kids before Mia raised her head. Her hair was messier than ever with strands curtaining her face. She blew those away and he laughed from his spot on the floor. He turned his neck around to see his mother covering her mouth, fighting a laugh of her own.

"Hey mom?" he called.

"Yes Tsu-kun?"

"Can I have a phone?"

Author's Note:

For this chapter, chapter 4 and half of chapter 5, is just me glazing over their 1st Year in Middle School. When I started writing this story, I wanted the characters to age and reach a point that was suitable for more mature themes that I'll be tackling later on. When the anime aired originally, it divided the first Arc, the Daily Life Arc, into three portions in between other major Arcs. It wasn't a bad move on Artland's part, it was actually very clever and provided enough content to carry the series to the next arc.

What happened however was that a few things got mixed around and so the viewers including me got confused over the timeline and overall just made it feel like everything happened in during their Middle School years.

What I hope to do with this story is to take it all the way until adulthood and just make it seem like everything fit at the time. Big dream, I know but I really want to get there :)