Throw bricks at me, I don't care! I must edit this thing again! For the last time in forever! (It's actually not that different from the last one)
Chapter 2: The Cheery Kid From Canada
Timoteo was preparing to go back to Italy the second week, even though the Sawada family insisted he stayed.
"You should stay here for a while longer with your family." He had said to Iemitsu.
"Don't you think you deserve a break too?" Iemitsu replied.
Timoteo noticed a slight tug at his sleeves.
"P-please stay?" Tsuna begged. He liked how is grandpa paid attention to him when he was explaining anime stuff.
Nana was hardly free since Iemitsu came back.
"Sorry, Tsunayoshi. It's an emergency."
The child's face was washed over by dissapointment.
Timoteo quickly added, "But I would try to come back soon, okay?" Tsuna smiled and nodded.
Occasionally, Tsuna would popped out in the middle of his parents' date and ask, "Where's grandpa?"
Iemitsu gave a sad smile, "He's been feeling unwell lately. But don't worry; he's a strong man like your tou-san!"
Tsuna pouted in front of the television, since he did not feel like studying. While studying would distract him from loneliness, watching anime always cheer him up.
But he was still upset. Iemitsu, who noticed his foul mood thought for a while then smiled.
"We'll go to the beach tomorrow!" Iemitsu declared.
Nana cheered. "Wonderful idea! Oh, Tsu-kun has never gone to the beach before!"
"B-beach?" Tsuna thought that might be the sandy place where the main character would always go with his friends.
"Yeah! And we'll go shop for the stuff now! Get ready, Tuna fish!" Iemitsu grinned when Tsuna immediately ran upstairs to get change. He froze when he heard a 'thud' but was soon followed by a squeak of, "I-I'm okay!"
They went to the nearest shopping mall.
Nana bought a pink swimming ring, a life jacket, and a pair of goggles for Tsuna.
"Are you sure you want a pink one?" Iemitsu asked.
Nana replied, "It's adorable, so why not?" She bent down to Tsuna's eye level.
"Do you like it?" Tsuna was not sure what it was, but he nodded anyway.
Then they went to the supermarket, since Nana wanted to pack up a picnic for tomorrow.
"Dear, do you think I should buy mayonnaise or nutella?" Nana asked.
"Why don't we ask Tuna fish?" Iemitsu turned back but to his horror, he did not see the short boy behind him.
"Tsuna? Tsuna, where are you?!" After looking around him and seeing no sign of the brunette, he said to Nana, "Stay here if he comes here!" Iemitsu ran off to look for his son.
Many thoughts of his son being kidnapped worried him and made him pale.
Iemitsu continued looking for his son. He was immediately relieved when he saw Tsuna's messy hair poked up from the shelves behind.
He went to Tsuna and found him staring at the watermelons. He decided to wait for a while to see what the child would do.
Tsuna huffed and tried to pick up a watermelon. He would had fallen and get injured by one of the heavy watermelons if it were not for Iemitsu's fast instincts to save both his boy and the watermelon.
"T-tou-san?"
"Geez, Tsuna, what did you think you're doing? You scared both me and your kaa-chan!" Iemitsu immediately felt guilty when his son shot him the puppy-dog eyes look.
"Do you want the watermelon?"
To Iemitsu's surprise, Tsuna replied, "I-I wanted to smash it at the beach tomorrow with a bat..." Iemitsu was confused about it, but said he could not do that, since it was expensive.
"But we could have it for tomorrow! So cheer up!"
The next day, the Sawada family packed up their stuff into their car. It was a long drive, and Tsuna was determined to stay awake. But soon enough, Tsuna doze off. Iemitsu squealed at how cute his son was.
"Quick, Nana! Take a picture!"
"Shh, you're going to wake him up!"
Nana snapped a few photos. She mentally noted to buy a new album after this.
One or two hours later, they arrived to the beach. Nana went to Tsuna while Iemitsu carried out their stuff. "Tsu-kun, time to wake up!" Tsuna immediately snapped his eyes opened.
"H-huh?" He looked around and concluded they were at the beach. Though he was disappointed he fell asleep, rush of excitement covered it up in a matter of seconds.
"Yay!" He jumped out of the car and plopped down next to his father, who just finished laying the mat.
"Tou-san, why are you only in pants?" Tsuna asked.
"We're going swimming! Speaking of which, why haven't you switch to yours? Go on!"
Iemitsu jokingly shooed Tsuna away to his mother. Tsuna soon came back in a pair of uncomfortable but silky pants with a ring around his waist. "Why do I need this?" He tried taking the ring off. It was a bit uncomfortable
"So you can stay afloat, silly!" Iemitsu ruffled up his son's hair roughly and pulled Tsuna's hands away from the ring.
Tsuna was nervous about going to the water that was not the bathtub, but his dad's presence reassured him. Besides, his dad was right; the ring was keeping him safe.
"H-hiee!" He freaked out when he saw little fishes in the water and almost cried, but Iemitsu said, "They're harmless! See?" He scooped out a few fishes and showed his palm to Tsuna.
"I-I wanna try!" Tsuna tried getting his chubby hands into the water, but the ring restricted his movements.
Iemitsu hummed for a while to think of something.
"Oh, I know! Stay here, tuna fish!" Iemitsu quickly ran off before Tsuna could say anything.
Without Iemitsu's strong hold on Tsuna, he was washed further from the shore.
"W-WAHH! KAA-CHAN! TOU-SAN!" He cried his lungs out.
The lifeguard had luckily noticed the cry. He blew his whistle for warning and ran past through the bystanders.
"Hang in there, kid!"
He dived into the water.
A bit further from there, Iemitsu heard the whistle. He looked and saw the lifeguard jumping into the water and a kid waving his arms in panic.
He mentally laughed; what sort of parents could be idiotic enough to leave their child there alone in the sea?
"Iemitsu, here's the lifejacket for Tsu-kun." Nana said.
"Oh, what's wrong?" She wondered why Iemitsu looked pale before he ran to the water.
Tsuna was still a bit upset about the incident. He did not dislike his dad for it, since Iemitsu actually let him smash the watermelon with a stick at home. Albeit it was barely cracked, but he was satisfied.
So the next day, Iemitsu decided to bring Tsuna to the zoo to make it up to him. Iemitsu insisted that it was a father-to-son time, so Nana was worried, since she did not think he had much knowledge about children.
It was already past dinner, Nana was worried sick and fidgety. She could not even watch her soap operas peacefully; Iemitsu had left his phone home when he ran out to the zoo.
Creak...
Nana immediately brightened up when she heard the door opened quitely - which was quite weird, since her husband would usually just barge in - she immediately went to the door to greet Iemitsu and Tsuna.
Iemitsu came back with Tsuna on his back sound asleep. The blond man shushed Nana gently and gestured to the sleeping boy. Nana nodded and held out her arms for Tsuna. She whispered, "You must be exhausted. Go take a bath, I'll take care of him. How was the zoo?"
The man eagerly handed Tsuna to Nana. "Great! Couldn't be any -" worse "- better!"
Everything fell apart as soon as Iemitsu got to the zoo. It was filled with happy little children like Tsuna, teens, adults, normal stuff. But then paranoia struck him when he realized he left his phone. He would go back and get it, but Tsuna's innocent eyes made him stay.
But Iemitsu was still anxious; what if Nana picked up a phone call that was not meant for ears of the innocent? What if she had found out something that she could not know and got killed? What if one of his female coworkers called and Nana misunderstood?
"T-tou-san, I wanna see the penguins!" Tsuna tugged Iemitsu's sleeves.
The man replied energetically, "Okay!" Perhaps watching animals doing silly things would get his mind off troubling matters that would not happen.
Even while watching the penguin performing tricks - making Tsuna "Ooh..." or "Wow..." now and then - Iemitsu's mind was actually still clouded by his forgotten phone. Too clouded to notice something important.
"Oi! A kid just fell into the pool!"
"Waah! Tou-san!"
Iemitsu snapped out of his thoughts.
"Tsuna!"
He quickly jumped off onto the iced floor and slipped. He saw Tsuna getting up on surface. But before he could sigh in relief, the penguins started pecking and attacking Tsuna.
"WAAHHH!"
It was incredible how Iemitsu managed to traumatize Tsuna that much in just two days.
Iemitsu did not want Nana to find out and hoped that she was dense enough to not notice the injuries Tsuna had. She was a lovable and understanding wife; surely she would not give Iemitsu a hard slap or a lashing out? He mentally praised himseld and thank his wonderful-
"... Why is he all scratched up, dear?"
"Uh..."
School was starting tomorrow, but Tsuna was depressed about it. Earlier that day, he had gone downstairs and noticed something odd.
"Kaa-chan? Where's tou-san?" Tsuna asked. He was confused, his parents were inseparable since Iemitsu came back. But now Nana was alone in the living room with slightly red eyes.
Nana smiled sadly. "He became a star, Tsu-kun. Now he'll watch over us every day." Tsuna frowned. He watched all those anime, and knew that 'becoming a star' meant his father was dead.
Tsuna was boiling mad. Just as Tsuna was about to feel comfortable with Iemitsu, the man just disappeared.
Something felt wrong; how could anybody just diappear without any trace? But he did not question his mother.
He felt a bit betrayed; even if his dad was dead.
The child's hatred for Iemitsu was fueled by Nana's occasional longing look for her husband.
The boy realized that he had to do; for the sake of Nana and himself.
So while Nana was taking a nap in her room, Tsuna tip-toed downstairs and opened the cabinet where Nana kept the photo albums. He picked out the pictures with Iemitsu in it - there were not many, anyway - . It was mostly pictures of Nana and Iemitsu before they got married. Some of them were recent, like when they went to the beach.
Tsuna went to look for a case and thought of the sewing box. He could not find another one, so he emptied its contents on the kitchen table and placed the pictures in it. He got the garden spade and started digging a small hole enough for his box.
'That should be deep enough...' Tsuna shoved the box into the hole and filled it with dirt. He placed some potted plants on it to cover up the marks. Satisfied with his work, he went back into the house.
Few days later, Nana decided to check out the album since she felt like it. Tsuna internally panicked but kept a calm look and tried distracting himself with the television.
"Huh? Some of the pictures are gone..." Nana muttered to herself. She was sure the album was full, so why does it have some blanks? "Tsu-kun."
"Hm?" Tsuna bit his lips nervously.
'What was I thinking? Tsu-kun couldn't have possibly anything to do with this!' "Nothing, dear." Nana smiled.
Two years later
Tsuna had mostly forgotten about his father after drowing himself in another anime marathon - for a ridiculous long time that was unspeakable for children his age - for the first few days of his father's disappearance. He was excited when it was the start of the new semester for grade 3 for him, since that meant the sakura trees were blooming. He always liked them, since they were pretty.
When Tsuna went to class, he decided to take the seat at the back instead of the front like usual, since it was where the main characters of anime and manga sit every time. He wondered why. He heard it was so that the mangaka would have an easier time drawing, but eh.
Most of the students were glad if Tsuna was out of their viewing range most of the time. Having to see Tsuna at the front when they knew he could turn around any minute with something sharp was nerve-wrecking. But they soon realized they were in an even more danger with the brunette behind them; watching their every move.
And so, most of the students tried taking the seat furthest away from Tsuna. The brunette did not notice since he was reading his mathematics text book; he was confused why there were things such as 'improper fractions' and 'proper fractions'. Mathematics may be confusing, but that was Tsuna's favourtie subject. That was why he had the highest score in his grade last year for it.
"Sawada Tsunayoshi."
Tsuna's head shot upwards and was surprised to see the teacher in front of the class. He looked at the clock and noticed it was time for school. Huh, time does fly in a blink of an eye.
"Is Sawada Tsunayoshi here?" The teacher repeated. "H-here!" Tsuna felt embarrassed at the stares he was getting. The teacher nodded and tick his name off the list. The brunette then went back to his book.
"Alright, before I start class, I'm going to introduce to you all a new student. Come in, kid."
The door opened before whispers could broke out. A young boy with black hair walked in with a cheery smile plastered on his face. The students all stared at him in curiosity.
Everyone held in their breath as the boy opened his mouth to speak.
"Hey, I'm Yamamoto Takeshi! I love sushi!"
Tsuna looked up at the sudden cheery voice and was almost blinded by the brightness and purity of that smile.
"Eek! Cuutee!" Most of the girls squealed.
"He looks strong and friendly!" The boys whispered.
Tsuna was a bit envious at how the new boy somehow made everyone like him in matter of seconds.
"Where did you come from?" A boy asked, raising his hand out of manners.
Yamamoto's smile drooped a little bit, but it was not noticeable.
"I'm Japanese, but I was raised in Canada. I moved here some weeks ago."
The students were amazed that they had a 'foreigner' inside their classroom.
"Speak some English!"
"Hahaha, okay!" Yamamoto thought for a while for what to say. "Come by to Takesuhi and get some awesome sushi, eh?" His Canadian accent made the girls fawn. The boys and even the teacher were impressed.
"Awesome!"
Tsuna rolled his eyes. 'They don't even know what he said. Not like I do, anyway.' Tsuna remembered there was one unsaid rules in almost every anime; the transfer student is either the protagonist or the protagonist's friend. He wondered which one was it.
"Okay, you take a seat over... there." The teacher pointed to the seat beside Tsuna, to everyone's horror. Well, it was expected, since the only empty spaces were in front of beside Tsuna. "I'm going to get something for a while, so be quiet!" The adult left.
"Sure!" Yamamoto wondered why the other students were gaping in shock. 'It must be what Japanese do!' He took the seat beside Tsuna. He noticed the brunette seemed a little... 'frowny', which was a no-no for him.
"Hey, I'm Yamamoto Takeshi, nice to meet you!" Yamamoto waved energetically. He heard some dramatic gasps behind him but he ignore them.
Tsuna jumped in surprise, where others thought he was about to murder the new student. Before he could gather courage to answer Yamamoto, the student sitting at Yamamoto's other side grabbed his arm away.
"Hey, Yamamoto, be careful!"
Confused, Yamamoto said, "Huh, why?"
Another male student cut in. "He's dangerous! Seriously!" Tsuna sighed through his nose; he had seen this many times. People warning others about him, how he would stab somebody if he was angry and all that nonsense. But it never bothered him that much so he just ignored them.
"Uh, okay...?" Although a bit unsure, Yamamoto thought it was either the students were overreacting or that his Japanese was that bad and he misunderstood something. He looked at Tsuna, who was looking at a text book with a troubled expression. 'I doubt he's dangerous.'
Yamamoto was always amused by his friends' panicky expressions and reaction when he tried to make any forms of contact with Tsuna, that was why he liked doing it so much. Like when he tried borrowing a pencil from Tsuna; others quickly shoved theirs onto Yamamoto's desk.
"Tsuna will use his pencil to stab you!" They said.
"Hahaha, sure." Yamamoto laughed the warning off.
Yamamoto saw Tsuna putting back the pencil back into the pencil case, probably because probably will not need it anymore.
When Yamamoto and his new friends were walking in the hall, chatting about random subjects, Yamamoto did not notice somebody walking in front of him. Before his friends could warn him, Yamamoto accidentally bumped into the boy, causing the latter to fall on his bottom.
Yamamoto looked at the boy.
"Woah, sorry, Tsuna!"
Yamamoto grabbed the shorter boy's arm and hoisted him up effortlessly.
"I-it's okay..." Yamamoto paused; it might had been the first time he heard the brunette talking. It was a bit raspy for a child, maybe he should drink some milk.
"Sorry again! Didn't see you coming; you were too short!" Yamamoto joked.
"... Oh..." Tsuna looked down in embarrassment; others thought he was going to explode out of anger so they quickly retreated further away while apologizing and praying for Yamamoto's safety.
Yamamoto laughed in a friendly manner and patted Tsuna's back.
"Don't feel sad! All your problems can be solved by one thing; milk! Tou-san says it has caelum or something!"
Caelum? "Y-you mean 'calcium'...?" Tsuna corrected.
Yamamoto's eyes widened for a moment before another sunny smile made way to his face. "Wow, you're smart!" Yamamoto praised.
Tsuna flushed; it was the first time somebody around his age said that to him.
"T-thanks..."
Tsuna was surprised to find himself actually making effort to socialize, even though they were only short replies or head nodding. Of course, their friendship did not last long.
One of Yamamoto's friend was a member from the baseball club. "Hey, Yamamoto, wanna join the baseball club? We're seriously lacking members!" Yamamoto, being the friendly kid he was, agreed to it immediately.
"Sure, how do I apply?"
"Meet me at the field after school!"
Yamamoto invited Tsuna to see him play, but the latter refused. He did not want to ruin everyone's mood. "N-no thanks, I'm busy." He added after seeing Yamamoto's disappointed look.
"B-but I'm sure you'd be great at it!" You seem like the athelic type, after all.
"Hahaha, thanks, Tsuna!"
Every time there was baseball practice, Yamamoto would invite Tsuna and the latter would refuse. But in actuality, the brunette was always secretly watching his friend at the field from the classroom.
As expected, Yamamoto did excel in baseball and sometimes even winning over some of the upper graders. His popularity boomed after he won the first match.
With baseball as Yamamoto's new hobby, he did not have much time. And so, his conversations with Tsuna decreased and eventually none.
Thus, Tsuna found himself alone again, but he felt okay, seeing his friend so happy. Even if he might had forgotten about his existence.
"Friends come and go, but anime and manga will stay with your forever." Tsuna said, and he really believed it.
But what was that hollow feeling inside Tsuna that kept bothering him for years?
