Chapter 2: How's the Job Done
When class had started, Tsuna was still thinking about that eerily weird feeling he had of being watched and what his mother told him earlier. Were they connected, was he just being his normal dame paranoid, or was someone, in all actuality, watching him? It frightened him thinking it was any of those options. Then there was his intuition tipping off, quite loudly i might say, that the watcher meant harm, but a friendly harm, which made him confused. 'How harm can be friendly and helping when it's hurting you?' Tsuna thought in befuddlement. He just couldn't fathom what the feeling meant. Then, he felt something hit his forehead and the distinct sound of something subtly hitting his desk. Tsuna rubbed the spot on his head numbly where whatever odd projectile hit his forehead, slowly moving his gaze to look down at his desk and saw a not-so-innocent piece of chalk lying on the firm wood. Well, at least he now knew what had hit him.
"Dame-Tsuna, please pay attention to class after the first school bell rings." His teacher all but yelled at him. Tsuna shook his head absently, confirming to the teacher that he was listening. The teacher saw this and went on with what Tsuna believed he was talking about earlier, "I will now pass back the test you all took yesterday, starting with the people who scored the lowest. Dame-Tsuna, Yamamoto, you two score the lowest with 28 each. Now, come get your test."
Tsuna got up slowly and edged sluggishly, in embarrassment, over to his teacher's desk to grab his white paper with a bright red 28 scrawled near the top. What terrible handwriting the teacher had. Yamamoto, the star of the baseball team got up and sauntered over to the teacher casually, as if he was just passing by before departing to home. When they both had gotten to the teacher, he handed them their respected papers and they continued back to their seats. Tsuna still sluggish in embarrassment with a light dust of pink adorning his cheeks, and Yamamoto in comfort, like everything was just normal and he had not just failed a test with a score as low as the infamous 'Dame-Tsuna'.
When Tsuna sat down, the intercom made a *buzz* type noise, or more of a beep, and a person boomed in an almost monotone voice. Keyword; almost. There was a tad of annoyance evident, however, it was hardly noticeable, "Please send Sawada Tsunayoshi to the office, he's getting checked out. Repeat, please send Sawada Tsunayoshi to the office, he's getting checked out."* Their were quiet murmurs about the request, the students that had nothing to do with him unless they needed someone to tease, which they tended to do quite often. After all, Tsuna was the perfect target to relieve stress for them. Tsuna swiftly, but still fumbling a little, gathered his supplies and some-what staggered out of the room, almost tripping a few times. Once he got to the front office he saw his mother, along with Satou, Itou, and Watanabe, standing beside her in a protective manor. He also noticed that Nana was wearing more of a business outfit; skirt, shirt, and jacket rather than her usual house attire.
"Ne Tsu-kun, I'm going to show you what my job is like!" Nana exclaimed in her usual happy tone and bright grin, along with clapping her hands together. Tsuna had a small amount of hesitation before simply nodding, his mother was using almost a sickly sweet tone. Nana's smile became brighter as she quickly grabbed Tsuna arm and scurried towards the shopping district, leading her son along with her and plowing through the throngs of people. The streets were as busy as usual. Tsuna didn't mind that they were heading towards that area, but they only traveled using the dark alley ways, and that was getting to him. Quite a bit actually.
"Kaa-san, where are we going?" Tsuna finally asked wearily, getting a little terrified of what she meant by 'job'. Nana only smiled yet again and continually ignored him. Then, Nana suddenly stopped moving , ergo, making Tsuna accidentally bump into her pretty forcefully. However, the bump barely moved Nana an inch.
"We're here!" Nana practically sang the words as she did a weird victory jump. Just what got her so hyped up? Tsuna analyzed the area, yet saw not a thing. Not a spirit, nor a human being. Not an animal, nor an akuma. Just what did his mother mean?
"What are you talking about Kaa-san? There is nothing here..." Tsuna mumbled, a blush still adorning his cheeks and a expression of utter befuddlement was clearly seen on his face.
Nana ignored her son once again, and instead chose to grad his hand, pulling him along with her while replying to him an answer of, "Entering the spirit combat barrier." After the last word left her mouth, a strangely designed circle, perhaps of magic, formed around the two of them and the sky changed color from a hue of sky blue to a night-like purplish black, the buildings to a striking neon blue, and there was two creatures hovering effortlessly above the ground.
One was short, stalk-like even, and wearing a clown uniform. On one half of his face was very detailed and realistic skull, most likely his own, and the other half was completely covered in strange make-up. And, where his eyes were naturally meant to be were, instead, replaced by the odd shapes of black were most definitely disturbing. However, what happened to creep him out the most, was that where the skin met the skull, the crack between the two slightly bleeding a ugly, vomit enticing crimson.
The other floating thing was in the shape of a gorilla, and had navy blue fur, a lion's mane, a pure white skull, a lion's navy blue tail swinging around airily, and, instead of nails at the end of his bony fingers, knife-sharp claws. Both were eyeing at them with what looked liked smirks. Predatory ones at that. It was managing to freak him out. A lot. "Wh-What's going on? What are those things? What is this place?" Tsuna kept babbling out questions very hurriedly. He was scared, but once he saw his mom's sweet smile he calmed down a bit, attempting to precept things clearly. Once he was got somewhat settled, he asked a question that he was pretty sure that he had the answer to, "Are these things the akuma that you were talking about Kaa-san?"
Nana giggled a little and nodded her head, taking what looked like a gun out of her jackets inside pocket. "Yes Tsu-kun, these are akuma. They exist to kill and become 'complete' again. The more they kill, the more their face become's complete." she explained this in her serious tone while expertly cocking her gun in ease. She sure did this a lot. She then went on with what she was saying, "The only way to stop them is by destroying them. We aren't sure what happens to them afterwards, but all we can do is hope that they move on. It's sad, but I would rather save the spirits of many instead of just one." She finished her sentence by pointing her gun at the akuma that looked like a clown.
"I'm Nana, member of the organization Redemption. Go to hell now or I will be forced to use violence." Nana announced, her platinum silver pistol changing into more of a slight bluish color every passing second. The akuma glanced at each other, passing secret messages almost, and firmly nodded. After the movement, they launched themselves at Nana with incredible, inhuman speed. Nana side stepped quickly to the right, turning swiftly to keep her eyes dead on them. She aimed her now fully blue pistol at the gorilla looking akuma and fired. The gorilla akuma pivoted himself around, trying to spot the woman that he was currently hunting, only to catch a glimpse of a blue glob hitting him precisely in the dead-center of his chest. The glob then expanded to completely engulf him into it's clutches and, after a few seconds of a pregnant silence, the blue splattered everywhere, along with a strange shade of blood. The akuma had exploded. Tsuna was still mesmerized by the previous scene whilst absently watching his mother attend to her gun, preparing to take out the other akuma in their presence.
The left over akuma, who was clad in the outfit of a clown, was frowning at the sight of his fellow akuma being obliterated by the young looking woman. He then saw the even younger boy and went to gain some more power, assuming that it would be easier prey. That is, until a wolf slammed him into the ground very forcefully, knocking whatever air he had out of him. He then looked up to a man holding sword to his neck and a woman pointing needles dangerously threatening at him. The other woman, that had destroyed his fellow akuma, was now stepping towards him slowly. Her gun no where in sight, resulting in the akuma to lower his guard down a few notches, even with the spirits pinning him down.
The woman then spoke out loud, breaking the tense atmosphere, "Satou, you know what I want, so please take that form." The wolf spirit nodded a confirmation. His body glowed brilliantly for a few seconds and then morphed into katana, a wolf pelt at the handle. The newly formed sword fell perfectly into her hands. She stalked threateningly next to the clown and lifted the katana with a slow grace. The akuma, not being able to move thanks to Itou and Watanabe, wasn't aware of his approaching doom. Nana closed her eyes and swung Satou down as fast as she could, yet still as graceful as when she had lifted it. Once Satou connected the blade with the clown, the said akuma gave a shriek and exploded, just like the other had. Satou then crafted himself back into his wolf form and landed gracefully next to Nana, who was lifting herself off of the ground at a slow set pace.
Tsuna was so shocked at the whole situation, and he was just gaping at his mom like a fish, awe obviously gleaming in his eyes. He never thought she was able to do such a deed. Not one such as killing, even if it was a demon of sorts. She then beamed her normal smile at his direction, as if nothing had happened and merely stated, as if to console him, "It's alright, they're gone now." Then, a spirit, in a shape of a cat, came bursting out of a box and floated to Nana playfully, twirling happily. Nana started to gently pet the cat, whispering softly in it's ear "It okay to leave now, we'll watch over this area from now on." The cat then purred joyfully as it started illuminating lightly. Whilst it was glowing, it started to fade into a transparent shape, moving on to the next world, wherever that was.
"That is what I do on a normal base. My daily life. It's tiring, but the feedback of doing something like this is great. So, Tsu-kun, will you please join Redemption as a new member? New employees work in groups of four, so you won't be alone with just Satou, Itou, and Watanabe. To top it off, we have three other new recruits that are looking for their last member, so will you please join?" Nana pleaded with all her might. She even added in more puppy eyes. She NEEDED Tsuna to join her.
Tsuna averted his eyes to the ground, his hair hiding his face entirely. He glanced up and Nana could've sworn that she saw Tsuna's eyes turn into an entrancing sunset orange as he asked in a hushed tone, "When do I start?"
Reborn was still observing (he hasn't been called to tutor the next boss yet) Soraka living his daily, mundane life, but was curious as to why the brother was suddenly checked out by his mom. He memorized their schedules and saw no reason for Nana to check either of the boys out of school, and when his student returned home, Tsuna and Nana were already preparing dinner in a comfortable silence. As if they were content on something. And that something was a thing he knew nothing of, and when he knew nothing, it irked him. A lot actually. So, when Nana left to do something, he watched Tsuna, like a hawk eyeing it's prey, to see anything odd. Unfortunately, the only thing that got his attention was the dirt on his jeans which could have easily gotten there because of a trip or a push, and since he was the well known Dame-Tsuna, the most bullied and klutzy person in Namimori, it's a high possibility that it was all that happened. When Reborn felt his Phone vibrate, he kept his sight glued on the figure of an ignorant Tsuna whilst answering his phone with his very often used, "Ciaoussu, Reborn speaking."
"Yes, is this the tutoring company, Vongola?" The female voice asked uncertainly, concern lacing her voice a little.
Reborn smirked, already knowing that it was Sawada Nana. "Yes ma'am. We are here to make your child a future leader in this world."
"That's great! Could you tutor my son, Tsuna? He in real need of help." Nana asked quietly, almost as if she wanted to prevent someone other than them from hearing the conversation. 'Probably hasn't told Tsuna or Sora about the flyer yet. PERFECT.' Reborn thought, his smirk only expanding even wider.
"I'm sorry, but I was told about about Sawada Soraka was in need of tutoring. However, I guess I could check up on Tsuna every now and then, but my main student will be Soraka." Reborn replied calmly.
"O-ok. I guess that's fine, thank you. Good bye." Nana spoke politely, slightly disappointed and worried. Oh, why did both her boys have to be so clueless in academics? She then hung up. Reborn sighed, he really wanted to tortur-TUTOR Sawada Tsunayoshi, however, he had his mission, so he didn't mind. He did owe Nono quite a bit. On the plus side, he could also party TUTOR (haha, he FINALLY got it right...for now) Tsuna too, just one student can get boring at times. 'I'll see you tomorrow Sorbaka, Dame-Tsuna.' he snickered to himself with something akin to evil, he was planning on what to do for their 'tutoring'. Oh, those poor, poor twins...let's hope they make it.
Here's another chapter that was Beta read by otaku908. Please vote on my new poll please. There's a One Piece, Final Fantasy, Dragon Ball Z, and a Fairy Tail story, so please vote! I'll appreciate all votes.