Whoops, no updates for years. Ha ha. I should really try my best to finish these things. Also I tried to do my best to be serious with Yamamoto's character in this chapter, but I'm not sure if I got it quite right. Any complaints are welcome.
Disclaimer: I do not own KHR or its characters.
The next day Tsuna woke up.
And that was it, which was strange in itself. He just woke up. To nothing. No Reborn on his chest smacking him across the cheek to wake him up. No Reborn flying out of god knows where to kick him in the gut for maximum damage. No demonic baby in sight to drag his sleeping body into an upright position just to drop the ringing alarm clock down his back. Nothing.
For some reason, it worried him. Stretching his arms out and yawning, he took one glance at his alarm clock and froze, all the blood in his body going cold.
It was 7:50. School started at 8.
Faster than he had ever been in his life, Tsuna flipped the covers off of himself and catapulted himself out of bed. He reached for his uniform (the second of two uniforms now left in his closet after all those dying will bullets had forced him to rip his other ones to shreds), struggled out of his pajamas, and quickly pulled on his school uniform while running to the bathroom to brush his teeth. He splashed water on his face instead of using his usual face towel and ran downstairs.
"Tsunayoshi?" his mom called out when he dashed past the dining table. "I thought you left already with Reborn?"
"No!" Tsuna squeaked right before slamming the front door shut behind him. So Reborn had left without him? It felt a bit like a betrayal, but at the same time, he was relieved that there was nobody waiting to sock him in the gut for being late as he ran past the blocks separating his house from Namimori middle school. In fact, when he finally arrived at the courtyard of the middle school, Hibari was nowhere in sight.
He had been expecting to get his butt kicked like the last time he had been late, so this wasn't exactly unwelcome. Better not to question good things, he decided as he scurried over to his classroom and hurriedly slipped into his seat.
Expecting the teacher, in that dry voice of his, to comment on his tardiness and then mark him late, Tsuna was surprised when he was greeted by nothing.
He glanced up from his table and saw that the teacher was missing.
Huh, on top of Reborn and Hibari's absences, this was kind of...unbelievable. Maybe some benevolent deity had taken pity on him and decided that he deserved a day free of three of the most oppressive authority figures in his life. With a content sigh, he sat back in his seat and relaxed his stiff shoulders for what seemed to be the first time in forever.
Home used to be the only place he could relax, since school was an endless cycle of worrying. But now that Reborn had taken it upon himself to turn Tsuna into a rockstar or whatever, he had lost that safe haven.
The boy who sat behind him shook his shoulder, forcing him out of his peaceful thoughts.
"Oi, Tsuna, did you see Yamamoto when you were getting to class?" he asked.
"U-uh, no? He's not here?" Tsuna glanced around the room, noticing for the first time that the baseball player was absent as well. That was strange. It wasn't as if Yamamoto had been one of the multiple banes of his existence like Reborn, Hibari and his teacher were, aside from his insistence on joining that band that would never be formed, but that was mostly Reborn's fault! He didn't deserve to be spirited away like the rest.
"No," the other student continued, shifting back in his seat. "You were late so you didn't see, but Yamamoto came in with a broken arm."
Tsuna's insides froze. "A-a broken arm?" he inquired nervously, swallowing back the sickening feeling that was trying to claw its way up from his stomach.
"Yeah," a girl interjected. "He just said it happened during baseball practice when I asked about it, and then he went to sit down."
"Oh." It was all he could get out. Suddenly he didn't feel so relaxed. "So, uh, where is he now?"
"The captain of the baseball team came and yelled at him for not being careful? It's understandable because he's their ace, but it was pretty intense. For a moment there, it looked like Yamamoto was going to yell back, but then he just got up and stormed out. The teacher went after him." The student jabbed a thumb towards the door. "It's been a few minutes, but oh well. At least we don't have cla-hey! Where are you going, Tsuna?"
Tsuna, whose feet had acted against his will, stopped by the door and looked back, fidgeting with the hem of his shirt. "Uh, out. Yeah. O-out."
And with that, he took off running, though he had no real idea where to go. All he knew was that he was probably partially responsible for this mess.
...or was he? His running slowed to a walking pace until he stopped completely. Now that he thought of it, Yamamoto didn't really need to take him seriously when he advised him to practice more. After all, he was still useless little Tsuna, with below average grades and below average athletic ability. His singing performances, as impressive as they seemed, weren't even entirely his. Just tricks added by Reborn's dying will bullet.
It wasn't him. It wasn't his fault. And even if it was, he didn't have the ability to fix any of it. With that in mind, he turned on his heel and started walking back to the classroom.
Or he would have if not for the solid weight hitting his back with the force of a cannon. The crash made Tsuna's knees buckle and he landed facedown with an audible thunk. Through the pain, he only formed one name in his mind, for he could never mistake those tiny little feet on his back for any other.
"Re-Reborn?" he groaned, bringing himself up on his elbows before Reborn jumped once, flattening him out once more.
"Loser," Reborn replied, as if he was simply exchanging names. "Are you really leaving your friend in his time of need?"
A tiny spark of rage flared up in Tsuna as he shot back, "Wh-what am I supposed to do? I don't know where he is! A-and I don't even know what I would do if I even found him. Say I'm sorry, I said something half-hearted and now you've lost your baseball career? Say that it was just me being stupid little useless Tsuna all over again?"
"Yes," was Reborn's reply. Simple and straightforward.
Tsuna groaned, burying his face in his hands. "No, you don't understand! He actually likes me, as a friend! And he doesn't call me useless like everyone else does. If I tell him the truth, he'll hate me. I won't have friends again for the rest of my life! I'll be that one guy at the middle school reunion who gets jealous because everyone else is having fun with their old middle school friends and I'll be there nodding my head and silently crying on the inside because I never made any friends in middle school because I went and broke my only friend's arm!"
There was a slight pressure on his back as Reborn hopped off, and the muffled sound of footfalls as the infant walked around to stand in front of his face. Two tiny hands cupped his face and tilted it up, forcing him to stare wide-eyed into his tutor's angry, black eyes.
"If you abandon him now," Reborn said, each syllable pronounced with deliberation. "You will truly be useless Tsuna. He confided his weakness in you. Now show him your own."
With a trembling intake of breath, Tsuna steeled his nerves and slowly nodded, wondering how this baby was giving him such wise words of advice.
"I-I'll do my best," he mumbled, getting to his feet. "N-now where is he?"
"Rooftop. I had a bad feeling when I woke up this morning, and a hitman's gut feeling is never wrong," Reborn explained. "Just be glad that I followed him to school."
"Of course. Thank you, Reborn," Tsuna said, before running to the rooftop. He had never really gone there often, only once or twice when bullies brought him up there to steal his lunch money. It had never really been a place of good memories for him, even though it was a place for friends to eat together on sunny days. For him, he still felt uneasy whenever he thought about it.
This time was no exception. There was a queasy feeling in his stomach when he opened the door to the rooftop and found a small crowd of teachers combined with members of the disciplinary committee, including Hibari.
Ah, so that's why he wasn't guarding the entrance to school, Tsuna thought before shaking his head and looking around for Yamamoto.
The usually cheery baseball player was there, sitting on the edge of the roof and looking down at the drop with a tilted smile on his face. The sight gave Tsuna chills and he walked forward carefully, hoping that he hadn't made up his mind to jump yet. He could feel Hibari's cold gaze on him as he wriggled his way through the crowd, and a few teachers looked at him questioningly before turning their attention back to Yamamoto.
"Y-Yamamoto?" Tsuna called hesitantly. The other boy visibly stiffened, glancing back with raised eyebrows.
"Ah, Tsuna!" he called back, his voice surprisingly normal, like they were just greeting each other in the morning like usual. "What brings you here?"
"I-I-I-"
"Ha ha, just kidding! You came because you were worried about me right?" the baseball player asked, laughing lightly. "Stupid of me, isn't it? I worked so hard and this is what I get for not being careful. I'm just...I'm so useless. No wonder the baseball gods have thrown me away."
Useless. The word he heard so often. It had embedded itself deeply into his everyday life, had become somewhat of a nickname for himself. He heard it almost every day, but never directed at someone else.
"You're not useless," he managed to say, choosing not to comment on the bit about baseball gods.
Yamamoto gave a harsh laugh, which made him flinch because of how hurt the baseball player looked. "Tsuna, I thought you of all people would understand? Preferring death over being a failure."
Now that he thought of it, Tsuna had never felt that way before. Even when he was beaten up by Hibari and other bullies, even when the giant red F on his report card started to look accusing, even when he did something embarrassing that made Kyoko avert her eyes and turn red, he had never looked for a way out, and that was the difference between him and Yamamoto.
"No. I've never felt that way before," Tsuna admitted, looking down at his feet instead of at Yamamoto's crestfallen expression.
"I see," the other boy said quietly, before adding in a bitter tone, "I guess now that you're so great, you're just going to leave me behind like that, huh? All good days for you now."
"Th-that's not what I meant!" Tsuna exclaimed, stepping forward with a hand on his chest. "I mean, I've never really felt like that because I'm a coward. I've never looked for a way to stop being a failure, even such a drastic one. Even when I think I'm about to die, I always think about my regrets, that I should've given my all to do something if I'm just going to die like that. I-I don't really know what to say Yamamoto, but I'm sorry for giving you such half-hearted advice. It's my fault you're not going to be a regular on the baseball team."
There was a chorus of gasps from behind him, and when Tsuna looked up, Yamamoto was standing up on the edge of the roof.
At the horrified expression on Tsuna's face, Yamamoto laughed and said, "Now now, don't look so scared. I'm not going to jump after all." The fence rattled a bit as Yamamoto clambered over it and dropped gracefully to his feet. He glanced up at the crowd behind Tsuna and gave another one of his easygoing laughs. "Ah, sorry about that everyone! I really panicked there when the baseball gods abandoned me!"
In the end, it was dismissed as one of Yamamoto's pranks, but even the inept Tsuna knew better. He had been closer to Yamamoto the moment that the baseball player had resigned himself to the three story drop. As the crowd dispersed, Tsuna nervously sidled up to the baseball player's side as he was soundly lectured by Hibari to talk to a family member or a friend after this all was over. It was a surprisingly kind thing of the prefect to do, even though he went about it with a blunt manner and a few knocks of his tonfa against Yamamoto's head.
Tsuna hesitantly placed a hand on the baseball player's back, looking up at him with a forced smile. The baseball player looked back down at him and returned the smile before wrapping an arm around the brunette's shoulders. "Hey, Hibari! How about saying a thanks to my hero?" he said jokingly.
Tsuna felt himself stiffen under Hibari's prying gaze as it swept over him. The corner of the prefect's mouth tilted up in a small smirk. "What a surprisingly interesting herbivore," Hibari commented. Tsuna had no time to breathe a sigh of relief before Hibari added, "Too bad about the tardiness though."
There was a squeak of fright from Tsuna as Hibari turned around and swept past the waiting disciplinary committee members.
"H-how did he know that?" he croaked out, half to himself.
"Ha ha! He really does have spies everywhere!" Yamamoto exclaimed, grinning like he was on top of the world. Tsuna studied the baseball player's face, as if close scrutiny would reveal his thoughts, but they remained hidden.
"H-hey, you don't have to force yourself to smile, you know?" Tsuna mumbled.
Yamamoto quirked one eyebrow up, and smiled a half-smile down at the other boy. "Honestly, I'm still sad about baseball, but I have such a good friend right here with me, that I'm not as worried as I was before. Thanks, Tsuna. And besides, I'm going to be the drummer in your band! I have that to look forward to."
"Ha ha, yeah that's ri-WHAT?"
"I'm going to be the drummer! Isn't that what you told me a second ago?"
"No I di-" Something thumped him on his back, and the brunette found all the breath in his lungs being driven out in that one blow. Before he could regain his bearings, Reborn flew out of nowhere, kicking him out of the way and standing on top of his prone body in the same spot that he had been standing just moments before. The pressure the infant was exerting on him was inhuman, and all Tsuna could do was gawk in horror.
Donning suspiciously familiar spikey brown hair and a miniature version of the Namimori middle school uniform, Reborn nodded his head, piping up in a pale imitation of Tsuna's voice, "Yes, Yamamoto Takeshi, I, Sawada Tsunayoshi, definitely said that you could join my band as a drummer."
"Wow, Tsuna! What an honor! Though you look shorter than you did a moment ago...?"
"Wait! Did that really fool you? Come on-" Reborn stamped one foot, right in the same spot where his spleen was, effectively silencing Tsuna's complaints.
His hitman baby demon tutor nodded his head, slightly too large for the proportions of his body, looked on with his all-knowing eyes, and simply said, "Of course, Yamamoto Takeshi, for I, Sawada Tsunayoshi, am still, after all, a growing boy."
Maybe it was the beaming smile on the baseball player's face or how fastly familiar the floor was becoming to Tsuna's face, but he didn't find this situation as terrible as he thought he might. He sighed and silently conceded defeat.
Starting a band might not be that bad after all.
