.:Chapter Four: Red Hands:.

Tsuna's teacher was an insufferable jackass, who got a kick out of mocking his students. She couldn't help but wonder why this jerk became a teacher in the first place since he clearly loathed children with a passion.

For most of the morning, Tsuna had been ignored (which was a good thing since she had to sort through the chaotic storm of foreign emotions building up inside her). But, eventually, the man decided it was "Dame-Tsuna's" turn for public humiliation. Unfortunately, she had been so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn't even hear the man calling her.

Not until the very loud, very annoyed shout of "SAWADA TSUNAYOSHI!" anyways.

She nearly jumped right out of her skin, earning more than a few snickers around the classroom, and desperately tried to figure out what the teacher had just said (to no avail). The man in question just sighed dramatically; "Don't know again Sawada?" Cue more snickers. "And I suppose it would be too much to ask for a verbal answer?"

Tsuna merely continued to stare at the board silently, unable to fathom how he'd managed to butcher so many simple phrases. Aren't teachers supposed to understand the subject they're teaching? At least, that's how it was in her previous life… Maybe they did things differently in Japan?

The teacher, mistaking the meaning of her silence, directed his attention to some other unfortunate child. The rest of her classes went pretty much the same way; most of the time she would be ignored, and occasionally called up for another round of insults.

All in all, class was downright dull, and she spent most her time quietly plotting revenge, or studying kanji (which she hadn't quite gotten a grasp on yet).

Lunch had proved to be far more exciting, though not in a good way...

"Dame-Tsuna," a boy said, his shadow looming over her desk as she packed away her books. "You're a murderer."

Of the many things Tsuna had expected to be taunted with, that had not been one of them. She looked up at the rather unremarkable child, head tilted to the side, "Oh?" She replied in a voice of genuine curiosity.

It seemed to throw off the child and the little gang forming behind him, but he soon regained himself. "You Kaa-san's a murderer. She killed and then she… uh, b-bragged police to get away with it!"

It's 'bribed' nitwit. Tsuna thought dully. And Nana wasn't the one who did the bribing…

Another kid joined in, "Yeah! Your Kaa-chan's a monster! And you're a monster too!" More kids joined in, quietly jeering words like 'monster', 'killer', and 'evil'.

Tsuna stared blankly at the accusations, secretly marveling at the how their childish minds worked. Judging from the looks in their eyes, none of them understood death the way she did. None of them understood the effect death had on people. It's funny how easily they had been manipulated by their parent's gossip.

From the corner of her eye, she could see the teacher watching the whole scene fold out from a distance. She resisted the urge to snort in disgust at the way the bastard seemed amused, as if he were watching some kind of sick reality show.

Now Tsuna could defend Nana, point out that she'd killed as an act of protection. But that explanation required words that contained more than two syllables, evidently far too complicated for these brat's tiny minds to understand. Besides, they would no doubt stick to the notion of "killing is bad" even if they neither understood nor truly believed those words.

It's a basic "I'm right, you're wrong and nothing you say will change that fact!" mindset.

So, what reaction were they seeking from Tsunayoshi? Did they want to keep pushing him until he cried? Or perhaps they just wanted to watch him struggle in vain to defend Nana's innocence.

But more importantly, what was the reaction they least expected from him?

Tsuna looked up at the sneering children and smirked, a bit too widely and a bit too evilly than she first intended. "Well, he deserved it didn't he." She stated pleased by the way the smiles fell from their faces, "One less criminal in the world."

Slowly she stood up and turned to face the first boy that had spoken to her. He gaped, much like a goldfish, as he tried to find some kind of retort. But Tsuna was not done yet, "It's a simple case of Karma." She raised her finger and poked him square in the chest, lowering her voice dangerously, "Bad things happen to bad little boys~."

The boy whimpered in sheer terror and scrambled backwards, knocking into several other kids in the process and sending them all sprawling onto the floor.

Tsuna merely watched the display in undisguised mirth before picking up her bag and walking calmly out of the classroom. She spent the rest of the lunch break hiding in the library, and avoiding people like the plaque. Naturally some idiots still found it funny to shove or try to trip her up in the hallways.

She'd have to fix that…

The teacher ignored her for the rest of class that day. But the kids didn't even bother to hide their looks of fear, or morbid curiosity. She'd managed to avoid any major conflict today, but no doubt the bullying would start up again tomorrow with a vengeance. At least the words "No good", "useless", or "loser" weren't on their minds anymore…

When school finally ended she saw her mother at the front gates, attempting to hide from the prying eyes of teachers and parents alike. Nana seized her hand the moment she approached her, without so much as a "how was your day?", and began marching swiftly back home.

Tsuna had to scramble to keep up, lest her arm be yanked out of its socket.

….

Tsuna always thought of herself as more of a thinker than a fighter. Real Tsuna too, was severely lacking in physical capabilities.

This wouldn't have bothered her much, if not for the fact her father was in the mafia and she was a legitimate heir to a bona-fide Mafia Throne… Whether she liked it or not, she was involved; that much had already been proven to be true. Therefore, learning self-defence would be a highly recommended activity.

That being said, it was not something she had placed high on her list of priorities. Well, she was technically only an eight year old… she had plenty of time to train herself (an estimated five years).

Anyway, the point is; Tsuna pretty much had no means of defending herself, and she generally avoided conflicts like that altogether. She made use of her quick wit and sharp tongue to get out of trouble. And right now, trouble was the last thing she needed…

She was in the middle of reinventing Dame-Tsuna's image, attracting unnecessary attention by getting in a fight would be counter-productive. She garnered enough unwanted attention from gossip-hungry fools, dying to get something on Nana and the murder case. And if Tsuna has to deal with this kind of bullshit, she can only imagine what poor Nana has to deal with every time she leaves the house…

It's no wonder her mother never wants to leave her room…

But apparently, Nana has quite an over-protective streak and still insists on accompanying Tsuna to and from school (she won't even leave Tsuna home alone when she has to go out grocery shopping and the like).

So, Tsuna does her best to avoid adding fuel to the fire (as the saying goes). Though, her best may not quite be good enough, if the three very large lumps of meat hovering over her are any indication…

One minute she'd been casually making her way back to class from lunch, the next she was shoved aside and pushed up against the wall, a plump hand tightly gripping the front of her shirt. Well, how was she to know this was a hallway were a lot of fifth and sixth graders hang out, collecting "tolls" from younger, weaker looking kids?

But, Tsuna had to admit, she may have had her priorities a little mixed up when it came to "people to avoid unless you want to get beaten up"… She was used to avoiding girls, not boys when it came to physical bullying.

While she had lived as Vanessa, she'd known that boys were less likely to harm her physically, otherwise they'd be known as "girl bashers" and usually that meant they'd become rather unpopular. Girls however, were much crueler when it came to physical abuse… and much, much more vicious…

There was this one time she'd had to hide in the bathroom for over four hours, while the girls outside stalked around like vultures waiting for her to emerge… She'd been saved from a terrible beating by a grumpy janitor, who was not impressed at finding kids still on school grounds so late in the day…

Tsuna was a naturally observant person, and she had quite the knack for identifying the people who were more likely to attempt physical harm on her. So she was able to avoid letting their paths cross, and hence avoiding predicaments like the one she's in now…

Of course, she had forgotten she was actually a boy now and simply wasn't looking at the right people… Boys seemed to have to qualms in pulverising other boys…

Consequently here she was, held firmly against the wall, racking her brains in trying to figure out a way to dodge the fist flying at her face. Fortunately, it seemed, Lady Luck had not yet abandoned her as a teacher came strolling down the hallway with the most exceptional timing. "What are you kids doing!" she screeched, marching over in an angry huff.

One look at the scene before her and she just sighed in exasperation, as if it happened so often she just didn't care anymore. She shooed the older kids away with a simple "Get back to class!" and gave Tsuna a single reprimanding look that said "can't you just stay out of trouble for one day?" before continuing on her way.

Tsuna had the sudden urge to maim some small insignificant creature… Those brats weren't even freaking scolded for their behaviour! What kind of shitty school are they running here!?

Maybe it was time to start thinking about those self-defence lessons…

…..

"I didn't cheat Sensei." Tsuna repeated herself for what must have been the hundredth damn time.

The teacher, foot tapping impatiently, merely sighed irritably, "Tsunayoshi, it's very bad to lie to teachers."

It's worse for adults to lie to kids. She thought inwardly rolling her eyes. "I'm not lying." She stated simply.

The man clenched his fist, a motion that spoke of how he was resisting the urge to backhand the child before him. Yep, this bastard seriously needs to reconsider his career choice. The Principal, however, remained with his head down, fully concentrated on finishing his paperwork, never noticing the actions of the man beside him.

A few moments later, there was an almost inaudible, timid knock on the door. The Principal stifled a tired groan, obviously just wanting to deal with the problem quickly, rather than listening to what Tsuna had to say… (That doesn't forebode well…) "Come in." He called finally lifting his head up from his paperwork.

Nana's hands trembled on the door; she looked pale and rather dishevelled, her shoulders slumped in defeat. Her eyes darted around the room and she fumbled her handbag. "G-good afternoon." She stammered in a slightly hoarse voice, "What's wrong with Tsuna?"

The principal folded his hands on his desk and offered a warm smile to Nana (well, it's nice to see that not everyone in this Godforsaken town is so simpleminded), "Take a seat please, Sawada-san."

Nana shakily dropped into the chair next Tsuna's, her hand unconsciously reaching out for her son's arm.

"Tsunayoshi," The principal started bluntly, not bothering with pleasantries anymore, "He's always been a below average student, hasn't he?"

Hello, I'm right here. Tsuna resisted the urge to huff aloud.

"Yes." Nana agreed quickly, sounding very disappointed. The way she slumped resignedly in her seat showed how this was an old conversation for her.

The principal provided her with a sympathetic smile, "It's alright; he's still young." which was a lie, especially considering how everyone had it in their heads that Tsuna was a lost cause. But he was only trying to comfort Nana. "We have here his last few tests, and a recent one from just this morning. Sensei."

He nodded to Tsuna's teacher, who promptly held up the papers for everyone to see. All, save one, had bright red scores around thirty or less in the top corners and had so much red on them, it looked like someone had splattered them with red paint, or used them to stop a bloody nose.

(Tsuna was slowly beginning to hate the colour red. For various different reasons…)

"As you can see, he failed all his subjects with scores below forty, his worst being mathematics." Nana was silent as the teacher spoke.

Tsuna wondered if anyone else noticed the underlying smugness in the bastard's voice or the sadistic gleam in his eyes. She thinks not.

He then showed them the only test not smothered in blood red, "As for his most recent test, he got an almost perfect score. The top score in the class, in fact." Tsuna felt slightly cheated at not getting full marks, but she could live with a ninety-six. "We think he cheated." He said plainly (although Tsuna thought he looked rather giddy).

Nana neither denied nor complained.

Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence Mother dearest. Tsuna thought dryly.

"We hope this kind of bad behaviour doesn't continue. For now we're going to allow you to handle this. But if it happens again…" The balding principal trailed off, leaving the hanging threat unsaid.

"I under—" Nana began.

"I did not cheat." Tsuna enunciated each word slowly and firmly, feeling very much like a broken record player.

The three adults looked at the child in the room (probably having forgotten she was there in the first place) with very different expressions marring their faces. The principal with withering patience, the teacher with pure annoyance, and Nana with… well… distress, sorrow, resentment even… She looked on the verge of tears.

"Tsuna!" The abrupt outburst made her jump and stare wide-eyed at her mother, "Please stop lying! It's bad to lie! It's bad to cheat! Please… even if it's hard for you… You mustn't take away the hard work of another child!"

So… That was it. That was all her mother thought of her. A liar. A cheater. A no good, useless son.

(Mothers are such disgusting creatures. Tsuna was glad she'd never have to be one now.)

Real Tsuna's hurt, loneliness and sadness bubbled to the surface, causing tears to prick the corners of her eyes. But Tsuna's fury at Nana's betrayal overpowered these emotions.

The sound of flesh hitting flesh echoed loudly around the room. All three adults froze at the sight of Tsuna violently slapping Nana's hand from her arm. Nana herself flinched as though her son had full on punched her in the face.

"I. Don't. Cheat." Tsuna didn't bother to hide the venom in her voice. She glared icily at the shock, guilt and slight shame swimming in Nana's eyes. Yeah she was pissed, and she had every fucking right to be pissed!

She was not the forgiving, timid child Real Tsuna had been. Ok, she'll admit it: she's a vindictive bitch. And she probably has a heck of a lot more pride than he did.

Ignoring the more logical voice that said to simply let it go, devise a new plan, work your way up slowly instead (screw that, she's not gonna let this go so easily), she stood up and stomped over to her jackass of a teacher. The man was still frozen in place and didn't offer any resistance when she snatched the test out of his hands.

"If Sensei here had taken but a moment to make use of the seventeen muscles in his hand to simply flip the page over, he would not have wasted our precious time here on nothing!" She spat out in barely controlled rage and thrust the test in front of the principal's face. "This is an hour of my life I'll never have back now you know!"

The saying "Old habits die hard." is apparently quite true. Despite having literally died, many of Tsuna's old habits from her previous life remained. One of which was to write down all her working out.

The principal (being the most sensible adult in the room) took the test from her, and blinked in mild surprise.

Lo and behold, the back of Tsuna's test was covered in the formulas and equations showing how she had found her answers. She'd even written out an attempt at deciphering some of the more difficult kanji (which had been slightly unsuccessful given she got a couple of questions wrong). Heck, there was even a few rather bad looking Hibirds scribbled in the corners when she'd gotten bored.

There was no way Tsuna could have written all this on the test beforehand. And the handwriting (although quite a bit neater than the almost illegible chicken scratch on the previous tests) was definitely his. If this wasn't proof enough she hadn't cheated, she didn't know what is.

(Tsuna originally had very neat handwriting, but for some reason her hands refused to co-operate. So her writing came out quite legible, but still a bit messy. It was probably better this way though, since it would be bad if Tsuna's writing suddenly changed too much...)

The principal examined the test closely for a time, before looking directly at Tsuna. She had her arms folded, her posture tight with anger, was glaring off to the side, frustrated tears visible in the corners of her eyes. Though most of her frustration and anger was real, she knew how to manipulate it.

She added a quiver to her lip, heavy breathing that looked like she was covering up a sob, she blinked repeatedly in a way that said she was trying to get rid of the tears forming in her eyes. And, oh, how she knew adults were weak to the tears of children.

A single defeated (and slightly embarrassed) sigh from the man was enough to know she had him, hook, line and sinker~.

"I can see you've worked hard this time Tsunayoshi-kun." He said somewhat sheepishly, handing the test back to her. "See that you don't fall behind again."

Tsuna took the test and nodded mutely, lest a retort chockfull of sass slipped out. It wouldn't do here any good to insult the man after all.

"B-but principal—" Her teacher started to protest, clearly quite enraged.

The principal merely raised a hand tiredly to silence him and turned to Nana, who was still in a state of shock. "You and your son may leave now Sawada-san." He smiled apologetically.

Nana jumped, snapping back to reality, and stammered something unintelligible. A very awkward mood descended upon the room as she stumbled out the door, bowing politely as she went. It took all of Tsuna's self-restraint not to smirk smugly in victory.

She did, however, allow herself a small smile at the muffled sound of that bastard teacher arguing with principal. It felt damn good to ruin that guy's fun~.

Her smile dissipated when Nana reached out to take her hand.

Tsuna felt she had been very lenient, very patient, with Nana these past few weeks. Okay, she was still very distressed about everything and needed to catch a break. She understood that. And hey, she wasn't exactly "mother of the year" material, but she wasn't that bad. She could do better, but Tsuna has known worse. A lot worse…

But fuck, this was the last straw!

She could feel the hurt and guilt practically radiating off her mother as she shook off her hand, refusing to look at her. Well suck it up princess! Nana has to learn there were some things that simply would not be tolerated! Sure, she'll forgive her eventually, Tsuna wasn't the type perpetually hold on to grudges. But she won't forget.

And she sure as heck wasn't gonna let Nana forget this betrayal so easily either!

Shout out to all those who favourited and/or followed the story so far! Also a thank you to ACasualPotato and .Hag for reviewing :)

Query: What is your opinion on our girl, Tsuna, so far?

Until then, NyanNyan-suru