A/N: I'm sorry for rushing in my first chapter. Yes, this is set in AU. The characters are in their first/second years of Namimori High. Unlike the real KHR, the girls go to a different school which is an all girls. The arcobalenos will be in their adult form to suit the story line.
Author: YuMto
Disclaimer: KHR does not belong to me.
Beta reader: Chocolate and caramel
A storm was coming. Hayato could feel it but he just couldn't think of what was the threat in that fine day where they were going to try the rehearsal chorus.
"Gokudera-kun, you look so pale," Tsuna stopped playing his guitar.
Hayato turned to Tsuna, giving him his brightest smile as usual, "Don't worry, Tsuna-sama! We can practice anytime!" Tsuna was the song composer and guitarist of the band. Hayato had always respected Tsuna ever since the day Tsuna tried to convince their teachers that Hayato was not guilty of vandalistic acts around their school. Tsuna was also the first person that did not laugh at his ambition, in fact encourage him and would be happy to listen. He vowed to be useful for Tsuna and never leave his side. "You don't need to force yourself-" Before Tsuna could finish his sentence, Tsuna felt something thumped on his back. "Ow, ow, ow!" he turned around to see a rubber mallet on the floor.
"Tsuna, don't be selfish. You don't have much time to slack," A man with black suit appeared and sat on their basement couch. I even didn't notice him entering, Hayato thought.
"R-Reborn! Did you j-" The man took a toy pistol and shot some kind of bullets to Tsuna's stomach.
"Tsuna-sama!" Hayato checked Tsuna's stomach to find four small pinballs. His expression became horrified. To think their manager was someone abusive. He couldn't complain though. He knew they could never change manager. Back then, he hated other people before he transferred to Japan. Hayato remembered how he received the opportunity to fly off from Italy to Namimori with Reborn's request. Even now, he still couldn't find out how Reborn found and managed to coerce him into coming.
"Has it started yet?" A black haired boy wearing baseball uniform entered. The boy grinned around happily as he moved toward the sofa. But before he could sit next to Reborn, something was shot near his toe. It was the same pinball like the ones that hit Tsuna. Everyone in the room stared at Reborn in mix of horror and terrified amusement.
"A guy who is late because he can't quit his club has no right to relax with this time limit," Reborn glared while showing the three of them his silver toy pistol. A talented baseball player, Yamamoto Takeshi was naïve idiot who seemed quite fond of pissing him off. But as much Hayato hated to admit it, he couldn't ignore Takeshi's talent for bass. That was one of the reasons he was in the band; Reborn made (more like force) him enter.
"Eek! Reborn! You need to stop doing that!" Tsuna covered his stomach as he said that. "We haven't found our lead singer and drummer yet!"
"Hmph. Didn't I tell you, Dame-Tsuna last week? You're singing." Hayato quickly congratulate the brunet, who dramatically pale in horror.
Hearing the news, Tsuna didn't know whether if he should faint or curse the man. To add more salt to his wounds, Reborn slyly added, "You have five days to tune up your voice, Dame-Tsuna. It can't be help with a week left for the real thing."
Takeshi chuckled, "it's okay, Tsuna. If it's a small crowd, there's nothing to worry about."
Reborn turned, "Who said anything with a small crowd?"
"BEAT TO THE EXTREME!" A boy with white hair burst the door of the basement open and his fist uppercut an empty space air. The grand entrance surprised the rest of the boys, excluding Reborn.
"Who-"
"Aren't you-?"
"What the heck are you doing to Tsuna-sama's door?"
"Hahaha!"
Reborn shot Tsuna out of the blue to silent everyone in the room. He then turned to the white haired boy and introduced him, "This is our new member. With this, we can enter a real stage with real crowd and real performance." Takeshi was smiling in delight while Tsuna gapped his mouth open.
"Reborn! We're not ready yet!"
"How long will you keep practicing the same thing, Tsuna? We have our drummer now. You, as the boss, should be ready for anything. Do you think these guys still lack practice? It's only your vocal now." Tsuna looked at Gokudera and Takeshi. Takeshi was waiting for Tsuna's response while Gokudera was staring suspiciously at the white-haired boy.
"What kind of instrument can you play? I won't forgive you if you ruin Tsuna-sama's debut!" Tsuna couldn't help but sweatdropped as Gokudera dramatically gesticulated at the boy, who was staring in interest.
"I am Sasagawa Ryohei and I played the DRUM TO THE EXTREME!" Pulling a pair of beaten drumstick, Ryohei quickly bang away on the drum, Tsuna and Gokudera winced at the extreme lack of tune.
"Hahaha," Takeshi laughed it off, "Sasagawa senpai, you're pretty good at that." Takeshi took his bass and stood next to Ryohei and played along with the random tune that Ryohei started.
As they keep on playing and ignoring the two boys, Gokudera became furious. "That's not the boss's music! I'll show you the greatness and power in the boss's song!" Hayato started to play his keyboard, getting off tune from what we would call music. The three played all evening to nighttime. By the end of the practice, Reborn shot everyone using his toy gun.
Tsuna mumbled upon hearing the horrible teamwork play, "How can everyone be so carefree with our performance coming soon?"
"I'm surprised you getting all laid-back now, Dame Tsuna," the boy paled when he remembered Reborn was still in the room. He turned to find Reborn swinging his rubber mallet. "Time for your extra vocal lesson, Dame-Tsuna."
"HIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
After bidding his goodbye to Tsuna and his mother that night, Hayato stopped by a bookstore. The bookstore was a second home to Hayato. He met the old couple who owned the store and during middle school, he would come by every day to see the couple or buy books. The couple has always welcomed him, even after he pierced his ears. Tonight, he felt checking the couple after feeling slight uneasy in Tsuna's house. When he entered the bookstore, he overheard a girl's shriek. He became agitated and ran over to third bookshelf on the right where he heard the scream. There, he saw a girl with a brown pony tailed girl with her butt on the floor, showing her white panties. In front of her was a book and there was a spider on top of the book.
"What happened?" Hayato asked. The girl suddenly realized that a guy saw her disastrous state. Pulling her skirt uniform down to cover her revealed panty, she screamed, "Pervert! Pedo! Brute!"
"WH-WHAT?"
"Oh my, oh my," an old man came into the scene. He was holding his back and looking around the area. He took noticed of the girl's position and teary eyes, and turned to Hayato. "Hayato-chan, you can't harass a girl like that."
"What! Why would I harass this ugly stupid girl?" Hayato pointed at the girl who was still on the floor. "Hahi! Haru is not stupid nor ugly!" "And it's her own fault, grandpa. She was the one who fall on her own. Why did I get insults?" The girl gritted her teeth towards Gokudera.
"Sometimes, a man needs to quiet down if a woman insults," the old man smiled slyly as he blew his pipe. "I myself wouldn't go against your grandma."
"Ohoho, right you are, dear," an old woman entered, leaning against a cane to support her. "Hayato-chan, please help the young lady up and bring her to the counter. I made tea for you two."
Hayato complained and mumbled for being ordered to help the girl who was rude. Although he wanted to ignore it, he couldn't ignore the grandmother. She was the second who stood up for him when he got expelled from his first year of high school. That's why he didn't want to cause any more problems for the strange couple.
The girl was reluctant to receive his help to stand up at first. Upon watching the spider moving, she jumped, screaming "Hahi!" and unconsciously accepted Gokudera's help. So it was the spider, Hayato snickered. It was understandable that girls would freak out like that. Though, he disliked to be blamed on.
The old lady motioned the girl to sit down beside her in front of the counter. The old man sat down in a nearby chair while Hayato stood beside the old man, telling the couple that he wanted to leave soon. The more he stayed at the bookstore, the more he became aware of the pain in his stomach. Hayato wondered if seeing Tsuna's pain caused him to empathize with the pain as well. When he was leaving the store, he could hear the grandpa calling out his name, probably asking a favor from him to walk the girl home. However, he quickened his pace, Much rather not spend more time with the weird girl.
Home. Where he was supposed to be safe from anything.
He was already away from those stupid people from the band, excluding Tsuna-sama. He was already away from problems. No one was there to blame him for anything. Yet, he felt his stomach twisted.
In the silence of his apartment room, a woman's voice invaded his inner thoughts.
"Hayato?"