Nectarine
RebirthDisclaimer: I don't own KHR
Warnings: Swearing, General Dumbass-ery
X X X X
The Rose That Grew From Concrete
Did you hear about the rose that grew
from a crack in the concrete?
Proving nature's law is wrong it
learned to walk without having feet.
Funny it seems, but by keeping its dreams,
it learned to breathe fresh air.
Long live the rose that grew from concrete
when no one else ever cared.
-Tupac Shakur
X X X X
When she was a little girl, Tsuna was well-liked. She was bright, and nice, and cute, so people liked her naturally. Then, when her Papa visited for the first time in many years, he brought an old man along with him. And so, when Tsuna was very young, she had half her soul locked away.
Tsuna looked up at her papa's face with wide eyes, still clutching the yellow ball in her hand. The toy, strangely enough, was not even singed by the tiny flames that erupted from her fingertips. Her gaze changed to the old man beside Papa, who moved a flaming finger toward her. It touched her forehead, and she knew no more.
There no longer rested the warmth in her belly that made her feel like she could breathe fire. So, her confidence dwindled to nothing. Her brain became muddled to mush. So, her smarts decayed. Slowly, her limbs grew heavier to the point where she barely knew how to use them anymore. So, her grace simply disappeared.
She was a shadow of her former self, and she felt like a corpse in her own body. Days dragged on, and her friend group slowly diminished until there was no one left. Tsuna was left alone. Eventually, she was deemed 'Dame-Tsuna' for her terrible reputation and substandard qualities. And eventually, she became used to it. She was simply an observer to her own life, and she felt as if she was watching from underneath water while the rest of the world continued on land. And damn, if that wasn't heavy.
Somehow, she needed her warmth back. She didn't care about her old friends, who all left her, or her grades or her grace. All she cared about was her poor mother, who now cried at night for her dame daughter as well as her absent husband. Tsuna was a Mama's Girl through and through.
She wasn't very aware of the warmth when she still had it, for it had been there from birth and she had never experienced life without it. Now, however, she could feel the block as vividly as a too-tight sports bra after a very sweaty workout. She was constantly uncomfortable, and she hypothesized that if she tugged on the block, it would eventually give, just like that sports bra.
So, that is what she did. Every day for years, she sat on her floor and fought with the blockage on her warmth. Sometimes, she would feel a small tear, and the old sensation of heat would grant her relief from her cold, emotionless world. She could finally hear without water in her ears, and her body was no longer caught in the riptide. Unfortunately, the reliefs were very brief and infrequent, but she craved them like a drug addict craves heroin.
It was two in the morning, and Tsuna had not slept at all. Instead, she remembered the feeling that warmth had given her hours prior. Her hands curled in her bedding, and a thin sheen of sweat covered her entire body. She wanted to scream, but she settled instead for crying silently into her pillow. Everything was so cold now.
It felt like centuries that she had waged her war, and with each night that she would creep out of her room and find her mother sobbing on the steps, her resolve would strengthen. She would do anything for her mother. So, as she was picturing the quiet crying, the lid on her warmth finally flipped open, and for the first time in eight years, Tsuna could finally feel content. Her metaphorical boobs were flying free in the wind, finally having escaped from that evil sports bra.
An orange flame barely touched her fingertips, but Tsuna didn't even notice her singed skin.
X X X X
The change was not noticed immediately, but slowly people realized that Dame-Tsuna no longer tripped on thin air, and that her grades were no longer dismal. The fourteen year-old was not the same person she was months ago. Some had approached her after a few months, to question her on the change. She, however, ignored them. It was not Tsuna's job to cater to sheeple.
In her prison, Tsuna had grown harsher. She let the cold take her and change her, and it didn't leave much left. She got a few (metaphorical) regrettable tattoos, and drank some suspicious wine that was brewed in the back of a toilet (metaphorically). She still cared more than others, and her heart was still abnormally large, but she no longer wore it on her sleeve in fear of getting hurt again. Instead, she preferred to remain alone and wanted nothing to do with the friends who abandoned her years prior. She didn't need them, so she didn't want them. The only person Tsuna could trust in this life was her mother, and no one else.
So, she went to school, took notes, ate lunch in her usual secluded spot, and left. When she arrived home, she filled her time with homework and meaningless hobbies and helped her mother with dinner. Absently, Tsuna realized that she was as much an active member of life as she was when she was still underwater; she just had better grades.
"Shit."
And so, Tsuna went on a quest for passion, and started by looking at the people from her school. Yamamoto Takeshi-kun, Sasagawa Ryohei, and Hibari Kyoya all had passion - the most passion she had ever seen. So, she asked them. She started with the least crazy of the bunch. She'd work her way up.
"Excuse me, Yamamoto-san, may I speak to you for a second?" She said after class, after tapping him on the shoulder. Yamamoto looked startled, but nodded hesitantly. "Where do you get your passion?" She asked, her face bright and eyes wide; a strand of hair fell in front of her face, but she ignored it. A hue of red reached Yamamoto's cheeks, she noted, but she wasn't sure why.
"Um…" He seemed at a loss, as he scratched the back of his neck. "I just really love baseball, I guess!" He grinned brightly, but it seemed off somehow. It was almost like someone tried to replicate a very handsome painting, but they couldn't quite capture the feeling of the original. Perhaps he was underwater too. Tsuna nodded understandingly, and gently patted his shoulder in what she hoped was a comforting way.
"That's fantastic," she said, while smiling slightly. "I wish I could love something so greatly. Thank you for your help." Then, she bowed and exited the room, oblivious to Yamamoto's blush or the murmurings of the class she left behind. She had to talk to Sasagawa-senpai.
The boxing club's designated room was not as messy as she imagined, but it certainly was as loud as she thought it would be. That wasn't surprising, because Sasagawa-senpai was objectively the loudest person in their school. She wasn't kidding; there was a survey. She knocked before entering.
Luckily, Sasagawa was the only person in the room at the time. Unfortunately, he seemed preoccupied with the punching bag in front of him. Tsuna didn't have anywhere to be, however, so she watched for a while. He was certainly something to look at, and Tsuna wasn't talking about his rugged good looks (for the most part), or anything. Instead, she observed his form, and the way he knew exactly when to hit and where. He never faltered, and never hesitated. At this point, though, Tsuna thought she was acting borderline creepy and really stalker-ish, and cleared her throat loudly to get his attention.
"Excuse me, Sasagawa-senpai. Sorry to interrupt," she said clearly. "but I have a question to ask." Sasagawa looked up, and Tsuna could see his eyes go wide in surprise. He removed his gloves and approached her slowly. She took this as his consent for her to continue speaking. "So, I was wondering...how are you so passionate?" Sasagawa's brow furrowed for a second, before he replied.
"I'm EXTREMELY passionate about boxing because I love all aspects of boxing!" he exclaimed. "Boxing is the most EXTREME sport around, and when I box I get pumped up with a feeling I don't get from anything else! Boxing is my passion!" Sasagawa's eyes lit up, and Tsuna had to smile with him. He did seem pretty fucking extreme.
"So you're passionate about boxing because of the way you feel?" He nodded. "I get that. You seemed really into it when I came in; I think you looked beautiful." She smiled genuinely while Sasagawa's face went red. Maybe there was a virus going around. "Have a nice day, Senpai!"
Tsuna exited while Sasagawa yelled one final "EXTREME!"
Finally, Tsuna knocked on the door that led to Hibari-senpai's office. Internally, she admitted that she was slightly afraid, and honestly thought about backing out right now. Her resolve won over, however, just as the was door opened by Kusakabe Tetsuya.
"Excuse me, Kusakabe-senpai, is Hibari-senpai in?" she asked pleasantly, and before Kusakabe-senpai could answer, a heavy hand landed on the doorway.
"What do you want, herbivore." Hibari-senpai stood at the doorway, his form taller than hers and intimidating as hell. Tsuna stilled her nerves however, and straightened her shoulders: her first mistake. In front of an animalistic superior, always show submission.
"I have a question to ask, if you'll allow me." She paused for approval, and was awarded with stone cold silence. Regardless, she continued: her second mistake. "Where does your passion come from?" she asked, and Hibari-senpai glared.
"I have no use for pointless questions from herbivores. For your idiocy, I will bite you to death." Apparently, she picked a bad day to bother him. Or maybe Hibari-senpai was very irritated every day. Caught up in her thoughts, she reflexively dodged the tonfa heading straight toward her: her third mistake. Black, harsh eyes widened slightly, before glinting madly with bloodlust.
'Shit.'
More and more blows followed, and each time she dodged instinctively. Apparently, the return of the warmth had lowered her body's self-preservation instincts. When getting beaten by Hibari-senpai, just get it over with quick. As she jumped over a low swipe, she started to have second thoughts on her excursion. Upon further contemplation, Tsuna came to the conclusion that her whole idea of interacting with Hibari-senpai was a mistake.
'SHIT.' A tonfa grazed her ribs, and she tried to tell her body to STOP, JUST LET HIM HIT YOU AND GET IT OVER WITH. Obviously, though, both she and her body were idiots. Why would she voluntarily seek out Hibari-senpai? Who fucking cared if she lived without passion, at least she lived. How would her mother respond to finding out her daughter died because of sheer stupidity? Oh shit, how would her mother handle her death? It wasn't like her father was there for comfort. FUCK.
Tsuna really was an idiot, though. So because of her idiocy and her love for her mother, she let her instincts take over and actually fought back. Against Hibari fucking Kyoya. Shit.
"Fan-tucking-fastic, Tsuna. You did it now." When Tsuna panicked (which hadn't happened since she got her flames back), she got a little funny in the head...and she swore a lot, now that she thought about it. Hibari didn't so much as blink at her mutterings, which would've been commendable if she wasn't about to die by his hand.
At one point, Tsuna lost use of one arm in exchange for Hibari losing one tonfa, which managed to impress him but hurt like a bitch. At least it wasn't broken, just bruised. So they were both handicapped, but not equally because Tsuna didn't have any tonfas and now she only had one hand. Naturally, like any insane person would say, Tsuna's body took control once again and actually started kicking HIBARI.
'AaaaaAAAAGH!' was Tsuna's internal monologue at the moment, as she prayed to the only deity she knew (young Heath Ledger in Ten Things I Hate About You because honestly...honestly) that this fight would end soon.
At this point, Tsuna was certain that this "warmth" thing might just be a curse in order to make her act like an insane person. Well, whatever, it was better than acting like the nervous, sweaty blob of clay that was her former self. Now that she thought about it, Hibari-senpai did seem really passionate right now. Connecting the dots, she realized that maybe in order to be passionate, she just had to become a really hot guy!
"Eureka, bitch! Call me Archimedes and have me run naked down the streets, cuz I just had a breakthrough!" Tsuna hadn't really slept in a while…
But, that caused Hibari to pause at least, and Tsuna took this time to ask him a very important question.
"Hibari-senpai, how do I become a hot guy like you?" At least she got to see that blush on his face before she was knocked out by a tonfa. Sweet relief…
X X X X
Tsuna woke up in the nurse's office, with a vague memory of how she ended up there and an ache on the back of her head that was totally wrecking her vibe. On the bright side, however, Tsuna felt super rested compared to what she's felt like before, so that was a plus.
She checked her watch, and when she realized that she wasn't smart enough to carry a watch, she checked the clock hanging above the doorway. With her fading elementary knowledge of clock reading, she could make out that it was ten minutes before school was dismissed. So, she skedaddled out faster than you could say 'Shoop!' because she was leaving this hellhole as soon as she could and she still needed to collect her things, which were three floors away. If she was lucky, she would not run into Hibari-senpai again.
Of course, luck was not on her side.
"What are you doing out of class without a hall pass, herbivore." came a voice from behind. As if she were in a horror movie, she turned slowly toward what was likely an axe-murderer instead of RUNNING. Seriously, was she born without self-preservation instincts?
"How's it going, sweetness?" Apparently so. Hibari-senpai glared and Tsuna suddenly felt a little less brave and a lot more stupid. "Not so good, then?" she said weakly, then bolted. 'Fuck this shit; I'm out~' she thought. Unfortunately, her future killer thought otherwise, and shit he was fast. Tsuna turned, and whoop-dee-doo, fuckers, dead end.
She walked backwards slowly, until her body gently bumped into a wall. 'Yep, this is the end. Shit, man, what's Mama gonna think? Eh, she'll get over it,' Mama could go on without her, probably. Tsuna was pretty useless in everyday life, warmth or no warmth. It's pretty depressing, really.
"Yo." She threw up a peace sign nonchalantly and put on her best poker face. 'If this guy is gonna kill me, he's not gonna enjoy it.' In all honesty, Tsuna was pretty casual about this. Her only regret was the fact that Mama had made dinner for two tonight, and it was Tsuna's favorite. It was gonna go to waste…
That was when Tsuna was shot.
"Reborn! Defeat Hibari-senpai with my Dying Will!" That cheesy-ass line was all she remembered before she was facing Hibari-senpai's shocked and slightly amazed face, in only her undies and bra, while her skin had gained a few rough-looking bruises.
"Y'know, when I said that Archimedes' bit earlier, I didn't really mean it literally. It was just sorta for comedic purposes…" She trailed off. "Now I'm all nakey and the bell's about the ring. Oh the horror." In truth, Tsuna didn't really mind if people saw her naked, and she was basically just wearing a bikini made out of different material, so it didn't really matter. That was all just societal standards, and Tsuna hated standards. Fuck The Man and fuck The System.
Just as she was about to rant about Wickard v. Filburn(1) and other evils of the government, a long, heavy coat was dropped on her shoulders. She looked up, and was met unexpectedly with the sight of Hibari-senpai's face suspiciously close to hers. She looked to the side, and found his Disciplinary Committee uniform hanging off her shoulders.
"Return it tomorrow, omnivore." He left as she was buttoning the buttons, so she soon followed after. Best be gone before the bell rings!
Tsuna was lucky the coat was so long on her, so it looked like she was simply wearing a strangely styled dress if no one got too close. On her way home, no one bothered her for looking indecent or anything like that, so she counted that as a win.
When she returned to her house, she was mildly surprised to find a weirdo in a fedora at her dining table drinking coffee pleasantly with her mother. She ignored the duo, and chose instead to collapse in her bedroom where the world made sense. Sadly, the man followed.
"Chaos, I'm Reborn" he announced, in a stupidly smooth voice. Annoyingly, she liked her voices smooth, like Alan Rickman. Maybe she should watch Die Hard again...She drifted off. "I'm here to train you to become a mafia boss."
"Whaaaaaaaa?" That certainly woke her up. "Mafia boss? Fuck that." She nodded along with her words, and Reborn pistol-whipped her. "Owwww, what was that for?" she whined, clutching her sore spot. She was already covered in bruises from that fight with Hibari, she didn't need more pain to deal with.
"That was not the correct response, Dame-Tsuna," he scolded. Man, who shoved a stick up this guy's ass? Reborn hit her again. "I heard that, idiot."
"You can read minds?" she asked, her tone awed, while Reborn looked at her blankly. "That's SOOOO COOL! We can both become detectives, and you'd be like, my trusty sidekick. You'd be the Hooch to my Turner!" She grinned. "Although, we can't become detectives if you have a previous record as a hitman…" She put her finger to her lip and thought hard for a solution.
"You're gonna make a terrible mafia boss."
"Thanks~"
So Reborn filled Tsuna in on the Dying Will bullet, how he shot her, flames, sky flames, the Vongola famiglia and the deaths of all the legitimate heirs except her. She wasn't even the first choice, and they were asking her to be some crazy murderer? Nuh-uh.
"How much money does the Vongola have?" she asked, in an effort to find some sort of good side to this job.
"Too much for you to comprehend," Reborn answered. Oooooooo, she could could buy her own apartment and decorate it like a beauty guru. She could work with that. Although, she would probably have to live in the Vongola mansion if she was to become the next boss. Eh, Spontaneous was Tsuna's middle name, even if Japanese people don't have middle names. They don't have the US government system and they probably don't love Die Hard, but no one's complained yet.
She was still only wearing Hibari's jacket.
"So, Reborn…" she said, her voice all trailing and shit. "Are all guy's clothes comfy like this? Cuz I'm about to go out and make a few purchases. Goddamn,"
A bullet was fired and whizzed passed her right earlobe, right into her poster of young Patrick Swayze.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Why would you do that, Reborn? How could you kill my fiance? We were going to get married in the Spring. I still love you, Patrick Swayze. I still love you." She flopped onto her mattress in uncontrollable grief. "Why have the Gods forsaken me?"
"Dame-Tsuna, Patrick Swayze died years ago." He sighed. His dark eyes were filled with frustration, which was a normal look that most got when they were around Tsuna. Truthfully, she was impressed that he was that great at hiding it. "And why haven't you put on clothes yet. You have a strange older man in your bedroom and you're doing nothing about it, all the while dressed provocatively." He said, his voice deepening suggestively at his words.
"You know, that fedora makes you look like an asshole." This time, it was her beloved poster of Rob Lowe that met its untimely end. "You MONSTER! That was one of my favorite mistresses that I cheated on Patrick Swayze with! Also, Rob Lowe is still alive and still super hot! What's your damage?"
Ultimately, that gained her a hole in her beautiful Angelina Jolie poster.
"No! Not another of my mistresses!" By then, Tsuna had learned her lesson about challenging Reborn and instead chose to walk out of the room and change into her jam-jams, even if it was still the afternoon. After that, she washed Hibari's jacket with her least womanly detergent. Hibari seemed like a crazy ass boy, and you never knew what could set those types off. Even if detergent wasn't actually a thing people can gender, they sure liked to try. So, with hesitation, Tsuna added her manliest soap to the mix, which happened to be vanilla-scented. It was a dark vanilla, though, so it should be good. Coincidentally, that was also the detergent Tsuna used on her clothes most of the time.
She came back to her room a few hours later, after completing her homework, only to be met with a series of complicated and worrisome traps arranged in increasingly complicated and worrisome ways. Tsuna took one look at this mess, and immediately backtracked to the hallway.
"I'm sleeping in your room tonight, Reborn," she informed, and then retreated into the warm sheets of the guest bed for a nice night of sleep, ignoring the gunshots that came after her exit.
X X X X
When she awoke, it was to a cold floor and an aching back. She looked up with bleary eyes to the sight of Reborn in his nightcap looking entirely too smug in the bed.
"You're such a piece of shit. Fuck you." In the morning, Tsuna was a little too blunt and a little too rude. Often, this behavior did not produce pleasant results. This morning, however, Tsuna was too out of it to care. Surprisingly, she was not beaten for her conduct, but she blamed that on the fact that her mouth was too tired to produce actual words, and what Reborn had actually heard was probably just indiscernible gibberish. "Move," she said tiredly, and surprisingly, Reborn did. This was crazy OOC, but everyone is OOC in this work so Tsuna didn't really care. What she did care about was the bed in front of her and how it was mostly empty. Besides, nobody ever said this story was well-written.
When she awoke again, it was to a bullet whizzing by her ear, once again. This time, it didn't hit a poster of a hot motherfucker, so she was not as angry as she should have been. Instead, it hit the pillow below her head, and feathers got everywhere. Feathers. It looked like a bunch of goddamn chickens had a two-hour long orgy in the guest bedroom. Tsuna would have to add cleaning this shit up to her list of morning to-do's. Reborn, that fucker.
"Reborn, you fucker."
"You know, skies are supposed to be all warm and kind, but you're just a crabby mess whenever I talk to you," Reborn said in reply, his eyes twinkling in murderous rage and amusement simultaneously. Well, at least she knew that the hatred was mutual.
"What time is it?" she asked, ignoring his stupid comment, and when Reborn took too long to answer (re: more than two seconds), she looked at the clock on the bedside table instead. "FUCK! I'm late! Hibari-senpai's gonna kill me." She sprang from the bed, skipped her morning shower, got undressed and dressed in less than three minutes, and booked it out the door, with a piece of toast hanging out of her mouth like a stupid, typical anime girl. Whatever, Tsuna never said she was "original."
'Shit, shit, shit,' was her exact thought process, which eventually transformed itself into spoken word when Hibari came into view near the front gates. "Fucking shit. Why do all the hot ones have to be batshit insane?" Unfortunately, it seemed like Hibari heard her. Shit, man. 'Strike me down, Lord. Strike me down.' It would probably be less painful than what was actually happening.
"Reborn, don't you dare shoot me again!" she shouted to the heavens. Who even knew if Reborn was there, but she was not going to get arrested for indecent exposure at eight in the goddamn morning. "Oh, wait! Hibari-senpai, before you brutally murder me, I have something to return!" And so, she met up with Hibari at the gates and pulled his jacket from her bag. Thank Heath Ledger that she didn't forget it at home.
Then, she took her chance while he was distracted to run. It was a good thing that she'd been running from bullies from years, and that her clumsiness had disappeared with the return of her warmth. In her haste, she did not notice that Hibari wasn't even running after her, and was instead clutching his jacket with an inscrutable look in his steely eyes. He turned to look at Tsuna's retreating figure before slipping into the garment. With no one to witness it, he breathed in the scent of the Herbivore that lingered on his clothes.
She smelled like vanilla and Christmas.
Meanwhile, Tsuna was still running for her life toward the open door of her classroom. In the last remaining feet it took to get there, she sprinted inside and ended up crashing into what felt like a steel beam, real skinny and stupidly hard. Ow, her head hurt.
"Dear Alec Baldwin, what the hell was that?" She looked up, only to meet a pair of seriously angry eyes that she would very much like to get away from. "Shit, man. Why are hot guys so fucking angry all the time?" she asked to the Powers That Be. Predictably, they didn't answer. But this guy did, unfortunately.
"Who the fuck are you?" he asked, his tone harsh and belligerent. Ugh, she really wasn't going to like this guy.
"Who the fuck am I?" Her voice was disbelieving. "Who the fuck are you?" Before they could get into too much of an argument, that tall glass of water, Yamamoto, was walking up to them and placing a calming hand on her shoulder.
"Hey, calm down, Tsuna-chan," he said, placatingly. "I'm sure he didn't mean any harm." Apparently, now that Yamamoto had done the work of calming the screaming psychos, the rest of the class had snapped out of their swearing-induced shock. The Japanese were very polite, after all.
"Sawada, Gokudera, principal's office now." The teacher said in halting, harsh words. Tsuna was tempted to say something snarky back, but at Yamamoto's pleading look, she stopped herself. Instead, she simply patted Yamamoto's cheek gently and left the room. After a bit of thought, she grabbed the new student's elbow and dragged him along with her. For some reason, the guy seemed like he was frozen in shock. For what, she didn't know. Perhaps it was about getting sent to the principal's office within ten minutes of arriving?
By the time they were halfway down the hallway, he had snapped out of it and was flailing wildly in her grasp. She let go easily, cuz she wasn't about to deal with that shit, and he stumbled for a second before righting himself. The picture of menacing.
"You're the Vongola Tenth Candidate!" He said dramatically, as if she was the villain to his southern damsel in a Nicholas Sparks novel (2). He did seem like a real Drama Queen.
"Yeah, sure," she responded, ignoring him and continuing to walk. She would have just skipped, but she wasn't risking another run-in with that weirdo Hibari. However, when she sensed a projectile was being thrown at her, she had to turn around. She was met with the sight of a stick of dynamite soaring through the air, right at her head. In her panic, she spontaneously caught it and put out the flame with her fingers. "Ow, ow, ow! That hurt like a bitch! How do they do it on TV?" She turned to look at her opponent with tearing eyes. "Why are you trying to kill me now? I thought we were getting along fine!" The boy's face turned red, and he folded his arms petulantly.
"Reborn called me down here to fight the candidate. If I kill you, I automatically take your place!" he yelled. What was his name?
"Really? What a crazy loophole! Reborn!" she yelled, and the hitman appeared as if he were summoned. Speak o' the Devil. "Why didn't you tell me that before? You were going on about how the candidate had to be related by blood and shit, but this is the perfect solution! Strike me down, pretty boy! I'm into it!" Sorry to all the puppies who wouldn't be getting homes, but she never really wanted to be a mafia boss anyway. Reborn sighed, exasperated, before shooting her in the face. Again. That fucker.
"Reborn! Get a new Patrick Swayze poster with my Dying Will!" Her flaming form attempted to bypass the boy in front of her, as he really had nothing to do with her goal, but he would not budge. Interestingly, his face was even redder than it had been when she last looked at it. Perhaps he was getting sick? No matter! She would defeat him as he was in the way of her reunion with her beautiful fiance!
The next few minutes were pretty much a blur, but she did remember pushing the dramatic kid down when he fucked up his own trick. Honestly, did he have any redeemable qualities? Of course, that was before he bowed down in front of her, crying and pledging his eternal loyalty. Fuck, that blow to the back hurt.
"I'll serve you for life, Tenth!" he cried, sparkles appearing around his face. Tsuna could almost see the puppy ears sprouting from his head.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold your horses, kiddo." She said, her hands raised in a gesture of goodwill and calm. Distantly, she realized that she was still mostly naked. "I'm not really into having, like, servants or anything? If that's okay with you." She said, uncertainty overtaking her usual confidence.
"You don't...want me?" he asked, his voice filled with sadness. Agh, now she felt like she kicked a small dog. Guilt was eating at her now, as she stared into his tear-filled eyes. Just kill her now.
"Nonononono! I want you! I want you very much!" Her hands flailed as she tried to think of soothing words. "I - just -" she struggled. "Can we be friends instead?" she said desperately.
"F-friends?" he asked. Holy Ryan Gosling, this kid was cute!
"Yes, Gokudera, friends."
Suddenly, she was tackled into a hug by an overly-excited puppy boy.
"Forgive me for my affection, Tenth!" he cried, but his grip only got tighter. "Of course, this occurrence will never happen again! I'm just a little overwhelmed with happiness right now!" Tsuna patted him on the back in comfort, while he buzzed like a kid on a sugar high. She nodded along with everything he was saying. Suddenly, though, he leaped back like a man possessed, covering his eyes and red cheeks.
"You're naked!" He shouted, as if he had just noticed even though she had been in this state for little less than half an hour. He panicked slightly, very similar to how she was acting earlier, and frantically discarded his jacket to drape it over her shoulders. Was this going to happen every time she was shot?
"Thank God it wore off before you could actually buy that poster." In her frenzied state, she had completely forgotten that Reborn was there. "I should've expected that your dying regret would be something stupid." His drawl was slow and smug, and his black eyes twinkled with annoyance and laughter.
"Christ, you psychopath, give me some warning next time," she said as she buttoned Gokudera's jacket. It began lower than she would've liked, so a good portion of her chest was exposed. It would have to do, though. She slowly rose to her feet. "Well, I've abandoned this 'Principal's Office' idea entirely, so I'm gonna go home and change clothes. You can come along if you want, Gokudera."
X X X X
When he arrived in Namimori, Reborn was expecting Dame-Tsuna, a useless girl with sealed sky flames. What he got, however, was Sawada Tsunami, a lone wolf with a strong aura of flames and a harsh tongue.
Obviously, his information was out of date, and he was going into this mission like a fool. He was going to kill Sawada Iemitsu.
1- A Supreme Court case that allowed the government to control the public's goods with more power than before.
2- I have never read a Nicholas Sparks novel, if you could not tell.
A/N: So, that was the first chapter. I'm sorry if it's a bit boring in places, and if the characters are too OOC for your liking. This fic is simply a fun exercise for me, and I haven't really watched KHR in a very long time, so I'm a little rusty. No flames, please, but constructive criticism is always welcome!