Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn for it belongs to Amano Akira.

Enjoy the story. R&R, plz!

Chapter 5: Resurface

5 p.m, Namimori supermarket

As he was pushing his cart along the aisle in the supermarket, Tsuna carefully took in the commodities displayed neatly on the shelves, searching for stuffs of his needs. So far, the young star had managed to gather enough necessary ingredients for his dinner and meals of the next 3 days. Now he only needed to find some fruits and yogurt for his dessert; after all, a star had to pay attention to a balanced diet in order to keep him fit and healthy.

Just when he was about to get to the dairy area, Tsuna's eyes involuntarily caught sight of two people that made his heart nearly stop.

Akihiko Mizushima and Satoshi Kimura.

The two bullies that directly started misery of his schooldays, and indirectly, his childhood. Mizushima was the very one that suggested the name "No-good Tsuna" after the exam result of his second grade was out, prompting everybody to call him that accursed name for their own amusement. Kimura, in an attempt to win the adults' affection, used every chance to bring him up in every conversation in order to glorify his achievement, by comparing himself to Tsuna. Furthermore, during Tsuna's day at Namimori Elemantary, they planted the thought that every game that involved brunette would always be ruined and the team that Tsuna was in would undoubtedly lose. While most bullies tortured him by physical means, both of them verbally and mentally abused the brunette, taking advantage of every opportunity to make fun of his academic failure and social awkwardness, for the so-called sake of lighting up the class's stressful atmosphere. To add more pain, those two often brought his deceased mother and his absent father into the mocking, fueling Tsuna's despair and belief that he was an unneeded child because of his no-goodness. The brunette still remembered as clearly as daylight that Mizushima and Kimura were the reason why his confession letter to Kyoko was posted on the school bulletin; they watched from the sideline, laughing cruelly at his misery when others made fun and abused him.

And yet, no matter what horrible things they had done to Tsuna, they were still popular and loved by everyone.

It was not fair. NOT FAIR.

Tsuna silently gritted his teeth as he hid behind the snack shelf, despite not knowing why his intuition was telling him to do so. Tsuna strained his ears, trying to pick up the conversation that his two ex-bullies were having.

"So, how is your sickness nowadays? Any progress these days, Aki?"

"What, that arrogant jerk is having some sickness?"

Mizushima sighed and ruffled his hair tiredly, "Not really, the doctor has just prescribed me another type of antidepressant, more powerful than the last one. It started to make me sick just to think about taking medicine every day."

"If the doctor knew you always forgot to take medicine during your time at school, he wouldn't have given you another medicine."

"Oh well, who knows, maybe the powerful one is more effective. I already stored a bottle of medicine at the Student Council office to remind me to take it daily. Just you see, after this month, I'll be on my way to become a healthy teenage boy."

"Hey, don't worry, I'll remind you to take your medicine, too. Oh, how about me helping you with some paperwork? Can't have my best buddy be sick forever, you know."

"Thank you, Satoshi", Akihiko smiled and swung his arm over his friend's shoulder, "How glad I am to have you as my best friend."

"That's what friends are for, dude. Let's change the topic, yesterday, me and my girlfriend, Chiyo, went to the cinema and watched this movie. Men, did that movie suck?"

With that, two friends slowly walked away, casually chatting and laughing blissfully, oblivious to the ominous presence that was secretly watching them from the shadow. When he was sure that those two had completely gone, Tsuna walked out of his hiding spot and sneered hatefully at that direction.

Everything about those two disgusted Tsuna: their attention-seeking tendency, their perfect family background, their perfect life, and their beautiful friendship.

"Let's see how long that beautiful friendship of yours will last, Mizushima-san, Kimura-san."

-o0o-

Next day, lunch break

"Hey, do you mind if I sit here with you?", Yamamoto smiled at Tsuna, who was currently sitting on the bench under the shade of the trees, opposite of the baseball field.

The young idol took a brief glance of the smiling black-haired teen and noticed the bento in his hand before nodding to give his approval. And the taller teen wasted no time to set down his weight on the seat and proceeded to open his bento.

"You look alone there. Where is the redhead that went with you yesterday?", Yamamoto asked curiously, taking notice of the other's solemn expression.

Tsuna's original plan was to drag Irie out to this place to have lunch with him, but before the brunette could do so, a member of the Science Club of which Irie was a member had come to take the redhead to the club's meeting. The nervous redhead gave Tsuna an apologetic look, which Tsuna accepted with an encouraging wave of his hand, and left the class for the club. And that was how Tsuna ended up eating alone in a place that he thought he would be alone to think up a plan for his next revenge. Well, that was until this guy came.

"Irie-kun had a meeting with his clubmates" was Tsuna's blunt answer before he continued with his lunch. Yamamoto sweatdropped at the bluntness, bordering rudeness, of his companion.

And awkwardness soon engulfed the atmosphere, which made Yamamoto even more nervous.

Last night, for the first time in his school life, Yamamoto had actually finished his homework and due to having nothing better to do, the black-haired decided to while away his free time by going only and looking for some good songs to hear. Remembering about the recently transferred idol, Yamamoto searched for some of Tsuna's songs to listen to with the initial purpose of killing the boredom. And that was the moment when a new Tsuna's fan was born.

Yamamoto was completely hooked to Tsuna's music, to say the least. By midnight, when his father had told him to go to sleep, he had listened to 10 songs of Tsuna, and saved them all to his laptop and Ipod. Despite not being a keep music listener, Yamamoto could say with a degree of certainty that Tsuna truly lived up to his reputation as the Angel of J-pop. Tsuna's lyrics were honest, heartfelt and easy to relate to; Yamamoto often caught himself immersed in the songs and felt as if the emotions of singer had become one with his.

Therefore, today, he had come to the school with one single purpose in his mind: making acquaintance with Shirosaki Tsunayoshi. He wouldn't dream that far to become friends with Shirosaki, but it would be nice to get closer to the one he admired. However, so far…

Tsuna continued eating his lunch in silence, occasionally looking up to glance at the baseball field before resuming to his bento. It seemed the idol didn't have any wish to strike up a conversation, judging from his passive face and awkward silence. Nevertheless, Yamamoto was not one to give up so easily.

"Maa maa, where's my manner? My name is Yamamoto Takeshi, class 3-B. Nice to meet you", the black-haired teen flashed his usual bright grin and offered his hand for a handshake.

Tsuna stared passively at the offered hand before reaching out his hand for the handshake.

"My name is Shirosaki Tsunayoshi, class 2-B. Nice to meet you, too, Yamamoto-senpai", the brunette slightly bowed, making Yamamoto chuckle at the younger's politeness.

"Ma ma, there's no need to be polite, Shirosaki", Come one, Takeshi, think up something to talk before this gets awkward, "Erm, that's a delicious bento you have there. Your mother must be very good at cooking, right?"

Again, Tsuna stared blankly at Yamamoto before he returned his attention to his lunch.

"My mother passed away 15 years ago." The brunette's brown eyes glinted in sorrow.

The black-haired teen mentally facepalmed at his blunder.

"Erm, then, is your father the one who made that?"

"No, my father… I have never met him, but I don't have any intention of meeting him." The sad expression was quickly replaced by a hard severe scowl, though his gaze was blank and distant.

And Yamamoto just dug his grave deeper. Internally berating himself for his insensitiveness, the baseball fan made a mental note of checking Tsuna's personal profile once he got home, for fear of mentioning any touchy topics when talking to the young idol.

"Ah, sorry for bringing up those subjects. I swear I didn't know anything about that until now", Yamamoto scratched the back of his head nervously, feeling slightly. When his eyes landed on his lunchbox, an idea immediately popped up in his head, "Maa maa, how about tasting some of my sushi? My pops made them and I can assure you that there is no sushi that tastes more delicious than this."

After that, the baseball fan used his chopsticks to pick up a roll of sushi, dipping it into the soy sauce and presented to Tsuna, who was eyeing the piece of food with mild interest and surprise. After a short moment of pondering, the brunette nodded his head with a small "Thank you" and took the sushi from the chopsticks, examining the food more closely before putting it to his mouth.

Yamamoto observed the Tsuna's expression attentively and expectantly to see the other's opinion about his father's sushi, although he was very sure that the response would be positive. After all, his pops made the best sushi in the world.

"So, is it good?"

"Hmm… how should I say this?", Tsuna replied, his face scrunching up in thought, "It is certainly delicious, but the taste… it seems familiar… but I cannot remember when I have eaten it. What is the name of your father's shop, Yamamoto-senpai?"

"Told ya it's delicious", Yamamoto broke into a bright grin, "My pop's sushi is pretty famous, you know. Many come to Namimori only to eat my pop's sushi, so I guess maybe someone had bought the sushi from my father and then delivered it to you. Oh, and my father's shop is Takesushi; it's not very far from here."

Seeing the other's reason as logic enough, Tsuna shrugged off the matter and nodded his head in affirmative. Just when the brunette was about to say something, the conversation was interrupted by someone calling Yamamoto's name.

"Oi, Yamamoto. What a surprise seeing you here!"

A tall teen-though not as tall as Yamamoto- with black hair waved his hand while approaching the duo. Yamamoto turned his head around to see who just called his name, and then, his grin faltered a bit, body tensing up, although the change in his posture was small and subtle, Tsuna observed.

"Hi there, captain. What's up?", the black-haired senpai kept up his smiling façade, albeit a bit forced.

"Nothing. Just surprised seeing you alone outside at lunch break. Normally, you would have lunch in the cafeteria with the team or your fans."

"Maa maa, but I'm not alone. Shirosaki-kun was with me the whole time."

Upon hearing that, the baseball captain's eyes widened for a second, his lips curving down into a small frown. He turned his gaze away from Yamamoto and landed his black eyes on Tsuna, displease evident on his facial expression. The captain stared at Tsuna with those cold pair of eyes, as if judging him from head to toes, which made Tsuna feel rather queasy.

However, Tsuna, out of courtesy, bowed slightly at the taller teen, "Good afternoon, senpai", and received a non-committal grumble "Hello" from the other. Tsuna swore, for a split second, the raven scrunched his nose in something akin to disgust, gaze flashing cold and dark.

"By the way, Yamamoto, don't forget that the tournament is coming. We're counting on you this time, our ace", the captain put his hand on Yamamoto's shoulder, smiling encouragingly.

However, instead of elated and proud looks, the baseball idol's smile became brighter-so bright that it became so fake in Tsuna's opinion- and his gaze turned lifeless and painful, as if he just received news of someone just passing away. Gone was the good-natured smile that Tsuna saw when he first encountered the raven, and what was present was a remnant of a hollow shell.

"Of course, just count on me, captain. I won't let you and the team down", again with the fake smile, which started to get on Tsuna's nerve.

"I know I can trust you, Yamamoto. Don't forget to show up at today's practice; we're gonna go through some very important strategies this evening", the captain patted the other's shoulder and turned his heels, ready to leave, "See you at the practice, Yamamoto". He shot a glare at Tsuna's direction, which the star "retaliated" with a sarcastic smile, "And good bye to you too, Dame-Tsuna."

"I haven't heard that name in such a long time." Tsuna mentally smirked at the other's obvious attempt of provoking him.

And so, the baseball captain was officially registered into Tsuna's Intriguing List.

-o0o-

School had ended and Tsuna was currently walking out of the school building with Irie by his side, both engaging in a light-hearted discussion about what Tsuna should so for his upcoming album. Suddenly, the brunette's hearing caught on to a cacophony of noise ahead of him, which he at first dismissed as some students gathering somewhere after school. When he diverted his gaze from the redhead and looked ahead, Tsuna saw some white-clad students with big stature laughing while gathering around something and students crowding around whispering and pointing at that direction.

Initially, Tsuna had no intention of finding out what was going on, but his annoying intuition didn't leave him alone with that thought; therefore, ignoring Irie's call, the young idol came closer to the crowd that was expanding by the minutes. It turned out those white-clad students were members of Judo club and it wasn't something that they circled around, but rather someone, a small teenager with red hair that was cowering in the middle of them.

"Ha ha ha, so pathetic. Where is that gut of yours when you bumped into our Boss, huh? Hey, speak up; don't tell me that you're a mute", a bulky guy mocked while keeping stomping on the other.

"Please…sstop. I…I'm…so-sorry", the redhead whimpered, "I…I didn'… Ahh!"

His words were cut short as another Judo member kicked him at the side, "Excuses, excuses! What are those eyes of yours for, huh? You piece of shit!"

Tsuna watched with horror as the Judo members kept raining the attack on the poor redhead, but nobody around was willing to stop them. In fact, all students that were gathering around the scene were rudely pointing at the poor redhead and giving their own comments.

"Poor kid! Look at his uniform; he must be from another school."

"What is he doing here in our school?"

"To run into the Judo club, men, his luck sucks."

"Should we stop them?"

"Neh, I don't want to make an enemy of the Judo club. And besides, that's the Discipline Committee's job, not ours."

Words could not describe the scorching fury that Tsuna was currently experiencing, on hearing such cold cruel words of those that regarded themselves as humans, as beings with thoughts and feelings. How come they blatantly ignored such an outrageous ridiculous scene before them and pushed the responsibility onto others? Out of the blue, fragments of memories from the past that he had buried deep down in his consciousness resurfaced, to Tsuna's displeasure.

"What, don't tell me cat got your tongue, Dame-Tsuna."

Tsuna just stayed quiet on the ground as the bullies kept kicking and punching him. The brunette gritted his teeth and tried his best to endure the pain, refraining from letting out any sound that would bring satisfaction to those jerks.

"Hey, I read somewhere that if one doesn't complain when he is being hurt, then he must be a masochist."

"What, really, Dame-Tsuna, I didn't know you're that sick. Eww, disgusting!"

Despite the disgust on their faces, those bullies didn't relent on their physical abuse, but instead, it got stronger. And the onlookers…Tsuna hated them because from the corner of his eyes, he could see the sickening glee of seeing someone supposed to be lowly like him being beaten reflected in their eyes, accompanied by the yelling of encouragement for the bullies to beat him harder and laughing at his stupidity.

Nobody came to help him.

He was all alone.

And like many other times he was beaten, he cursed his wretched fate for being born alone in this world and above all, all those disgusting humans that claimed to be compassionate beings.

As always, he also cursed himself for being so weak and useless.

Years of him being bullied had made Tsuna develop an intense hatred for every type of bullying, for anyone that abused their power to hurt the weaker and for the ignorant people that were all big words but no actions. That was why watching a small redhead being attacked by a bunch of brainless bastards that dared proclaim themselves as righteous Judo members brought fourth not only his hated past memories but also his anger, which he always tried to suppress for his sake.

"Calm down, Tsuna. It won't do you good if you let your emotion run wild like this."

The idol closed his eyes, took a deep breath and made his way through the crowd, advancing the circle of those despicable bastards. To everyone's shock, the small brunette punched one of the bullies square on his back, causing him to let out a scream and drop down into a twitching heap. The other bullies quickly noticed this and shot their furious glare at the smirking Tsuna.

"How dare you attack a respectable member of the Judo club! Do you wanna die?"

"Oh please, gimme a break. Respectable? Then, tell me, why are the so-called respectable Judo members gang up on an innocent person for something so trivial as accidentally bumping into the other? You are nothing more than a bunch of cancer-infested old lions that are too pathetic to hunt alone, but instead preying on a young deer, and too blind to pick a prey their own size?"

Tsuna's taunting insult-but-truth immediately triggered the anger fuse of the Judo members. The brunette was more than ready to defend himself, but another voice spoke up, calling them to stop, and coming forward to stand in front of Tsuna was an even bulkier man with a frown that seemed to permanently etch on his face and a scar on his left eyebrow that served to make him more intimidating. The teen idol immediately knew he was facing with the Boss.

"You must be the new transfer student that is also the star, right? Well then, let me tell you one thing: Don't think yourself so high that nobody will dare harm you. Well, you're fucking wrong. And that's why I'm gonna beat you half-dead in no time and teach you a lesson that you wouldn't soon forget. Let's see if that pretty face of yours still keeps that smirk on once I'm done with you, shortie."

SNAP

A tick mark appeared on Tsuna's forehead when he heard the added nickname. Nearby, Irie facepalmed at the bully's stupidity, "Oh no, he didn't just mention that word. Of all words to insult Tsuna-kun, he had to choose that one." The bully would be extremely lucky if he managed to stay in one piece after Tsuna had done with him.

Contrary to the leader's expectation, Tsuna smiled warmly at the bully- a not-good-sign to Irie- and calmly brought his left hand, particularly the middle finger with ring, to his chin in a gesture of thinking.

"I wonder… should I use this ring on him?"

The leader charged at Tsuna, but Tsuna just stood there, not shifting into an defense stance.

"Nah, if I use it on him, it will be too cruel."

And Tsuna's eyes turned orange.

TBC

I have gone back to fix a few errors I made in the previous chapters. About the armband, I was wrong, what I meant was a wristband, but somehow my vocabulary decided to go wrong that time. Those few changes also included grammar and spelling fixing and small detail alteration. Not so much.