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

Enjoy the story. R&R, plz!

Chapter 7: Gift

"I will always be with you Tsuna and you will never be alone again. I'll be your protector. Shield you from the loneliness when everyone leaves you. Make your enemies mine when they harm you. My only purpose of existence now is to guard you and to love you. Come, let's become one and be with each other for eternity."

Having subjected to betrayal countless times, the young brunette found it hard to accept the other's words. Fear of betrayal overwhelmed him as he stared at the outstretched hand signifying for permission of a hand shake and the bright orange eyes holding nothing but sincerity. Tsuna knew, even with his burning desire for revenge, Tsuna was only one man, and without help, he would never survive in this cruel world long enough to pursue his vengeance. After weighing the pros and cons, the lonesome desperate child hesitantly accepted the handshake, implying his acceptance of the other's offer.

Nevertheless, deep inside his heart, he was fully aware that he had signed his name to the contract with a devil, but he had no other options.

For darkness was the only path that allowed him to go on.

-o0o-

"BOSS"

Tsuna shuddered for the third time of the day when that accursed word was shouted loudly in the hall. The brunette tiredly turned around and came to face the entire Judo Club bowing politely in front of him. Just when he had forgotten about the ordeal with the Judo Club, he just had to be reminded in the most embarrassing way: upon his arrival to the school, he was greeted by the Judo Club waiting for him, kneeling on the ground in neat lines and had his names shouted in such a passionate way that crept him out. What was worse, since his heroic act yesterday, his fans, particularly the fangirls, had changed from pure admiration to downright creepy reverence, some even declaring him to be perfect husband material. Newspaper just added fuel to fire, with news of him beating bullies to rescue a student making the headline and picture of him standing triumphantly in front of the Judo ex-Boss on the front page.

With the coldest and most ruthless glare he mustered, he shot his attention to troublesome group and spoke.

"All of you. On the count of three, if you don't get the fuck out of my sight, the cafeteria will have minced meat on today's menu."

Instead of having Tsuna's desired effect, the severe warning somehow turned on a switch inside the Judo practitioners as all of them began to have hearts in their eyes and their breathing pace quickened to the point that they looked like a pack of dogs waiting for their master to throw a bone at them.

"Oh god, those noble ruthless eyes~! That enrapturing cold glare! I'm in love! Aaaaaah, please glare us more, Tsuna-sama!"

The ex-leader, along with his followers, swooned, blood gushing out of their noses due to impure thoughts, much to Tsuna's horror and embarrassment. This is the third time in the day they approached him, told him to accept the position as the Judo Boss and embarrassed the heck out of him. The first time was before school and Tsuna neatly sent them away with a glare. The second time was during class with them barging in the middle of his favorite subject English and Tsuna successfully chased them away with a combination of a scowl and a dictionary thrown at the ex-leader's face, and yet, they still hadn't learned their lesson, only to approach Tsuna with kicked-puppy expression on their faces while proclaiming their undying loyalty to the idol. A child with puppy eyes was cute; ten bulky-built guys with puppy eyes was totally not. It was downright creepy.

It was then that Tsuna resigned himself to the fact that Judo Club was nothing more than a bunch of masochists that were too eager to be punished by him.

"Fine, I'll be your Boss. There, happy now?", Tsuna gritted his teeth in frustration, completely giving up his futile struggle with Fate.

As if getting a beckoning call from God, the entire Judo club snapped out of reverence stupor and bowed deeply on the ground, their forehead touching the floor.

"It is our great honor to have you as our Boss, Tsuna-sama. And it will also be our great honor if you agree to have lunch with us at our training place this afternoon break. We'll be waiting for your arrival, Boss."

With that, they stood up, gave a quick bow and left as suddenly as they arrived, leaving behind one dumbfounded Tsuna and a giggling Irie.

"Tsuna-kun, I think you've acquired yourself a bunch of fanatic followers", Irie tried to comment between his uncontrollable giggle, "Well, look on the bright side, maybe they'll develop a religion, something like Tsuna-ic cult, that can help expand your fanbase."

One "enrapturing cold glare" from the "noble ruthless eyes" of Tsuna shut Irie up nicely.

-o0o-

Namimori School, lunch break

"Oi, do you remember that Tanako girl, the one with glasses and huge breasts? Yesterday I saw her walking to the Heavenly hotel, arm in arm with some old geezer."

"Fuck, don't tell me that is her rumored boyfriend. Men, that's just sick!"

"Who cares? That geezer must be filthy rich, judging by the hotel they went to."

"Hey hey hey, don't tell me you want some old rich geezer to take you to some fancy hotel?"

Tsuna sighed for an umpteenth time as he watched his supposed "subordinates" gossiping like a bunch of high school girls. Who would have known scary muscular delinquent-looking jocks could also be a bunch gossipmongers who loved to gossip on everything, including fashion?

Drowning out the current chattering, Tsuna let his gaze drift to his lunchbox and continued putting food into his mouth in a robotic manner, his mind replaying the scene that just transpired in the morning.

Carrying a huge stack of paper on his hands, Tsuna carefully maneuvered his way down the hall to his destination, the staff room. Today was the day Tsuna was on duty, but his duty partner was absent due to sickness; therefore, he had to perform class duty alone. Despite having been offered help by many of his fangirls, the brunette still rejected their offer, partly for the sake of his gentleman image, and partly due to the fact that Tsuna would rather not hear their incessant fawning over him.

Before he reached the stair leading to the floor of the staff office, Tsuna felt his shoulders bump into something hard, and before he could balance himself, the teen was shoved to the floor, making the paper stack he was carrying scatter across the hall. Rubbing his shoulder to alleviate the pain, Tsuna glanced up and immediately realized that his fall was no accident.

Standing in front of was none other than the esteemed Head of the Discipline Committee, Satoshi Kimura with his signature glory of "The Ice King", called by his fangirls.

However, what Kimura was currently projecting to Tsuna was not his usual cold disinterested looks, but instead raw emotions was displayed in every of his facial expression, which Tsuna couldn't help but find both strange and amusing.

One word was enough to sum up Kimura's emotion.

Disgust.

And he lowered down to Tsuna's eyes and opened his mouth to speak.

"Let me tell you something, Dame-Tsuna", Kimura's black eyes bore straight into Tsuna's brown ones as if to intimidate the brunette, "Your existence disgusts me."

Kimura's voice was drifted with venom as he directed his hateful glare at Tsuna. If it had not been for his being subjected to that kind of glare for many years, he would have flinched from the sheer hatred emanating from the other. To Tsuna's surprise, his hand shot out and grabbed a fistful of Tsuna's hair, tilting his head up to the raven's gaze. Nevertheless, the young idol remained expressionless and unfazed by the assault, if not, bored, which served to infuriate the bully more.

"You're a coward for never standing up to protect yourself. You ran away from Namimori to become some bloody hot-shot celebrity, and now you pretended to return, claiming to have interest in becoming a normal teenager. You think you could fool me with that supposed acting of yours? You're dead wrong."

To be honest, what Kimura said did hold some truth in it. Tsuna returning to Namimori was certainly not to take some break from the stressful life of a celebrity, but more to take revenge on those who had trampled on him years ago. And what could be of more benefit to him than being near his enemies and observing their life?

When Tsuna failed to give Kimura the reaction he wanted, the raven tugged the brunette's hair harder and smirked once he saw pain, albeit brief, flashing in Tsuna's blank eyes.

"Life is unfair, right? Why is a man like me not popular and loved, but you, a useless worthless piece of shit that couldn't score more than 30 in a Math test? What do you have but I don't? I'm talented, handsome, charismatic and hard-working, a much better candidate to become an idol than you. Trash like you should know your place", Kimura spat out hatefully, baring his teeth like a predator preparing to devour his prey. "What an ugly sight", Tsuna thought.

"Don't you ever think your fans can't help protect you from me and Aki. In fact, your fans don't truly admire you. After all, everybody in Namimori is already aware that you're Dame-Tsuna; they're just getting close to you for your fame and money. Unlike me, you little shit have no friend. Everybody will leave you once your No-good-germ is revealed, just like how your parent abandon you."

A surge of scorching rage suddenly blinded Tsuna as he tried to suppress the unwanted memories as well as Yoshi's explosive yet expected outrage.

"You asshole! Tsuna, let me out so I can slaughter this son of a bitch!", Yoshi screamed at the back of his mind.

"Tell me, how many people did you whore yourself to get where you are today, huh? It seems the title Dame-Tsuna doesn't suit you anymore. Maybe I should start calling Slut-Tsuna. So disgusting… "

Before the bastard could finish his sentence, an uppercut was delivered to his chin, sending him across the hall. Kimura, after regaining his bearings, prepared to shoot a glare and strike at his attacker, only to find himself stricken with fear as he looked at Tsuna's face.

Orange orbs locked themselves with black ones to convey its message.

"Kimura Satoshi, I would appreciate it more if you could prevent that filthy mouth from spouting such nonsense things about my dignity and my reputation. I suggest you actually look at yourself before judging someone else. Seriously, what is the last time you check yourself in the mirror and reflect on your behavior?". Tsuna absent-mindedly traced at his ring and narrowed his as he laughed mockingly at his tormentor. "You, handsome, charismatic and hard-working? Please, don't make me laugh. In my eyes, you're nothing more than an attention-whore, like that dumb shit Mizushima, a pathetic bully that picks on someone weaker just to feel good about himself, a piece of dirt that doesn't deserve to lick my boot."

"You… how dare you insult…"

"I'm actually feeling generous today, so I'll give you and your best friend an advice, completely free of charge: you can never hide from fate no matter how hard you try. The consequences of your action will eventually catch up to you, and I swear, it's gonna be ten-fold the pain you have caused to others". And Tsuna's expression reversed back to his cheerful smiling mask. "Until that time, enjoy your life!"

Kimura's face was a mix between fear and fury, which was sort of funny to Tsuna, as he spat out his comment.

"Just you wait, Dame-Tsuna. I'll show you and everyone just how pathetic and worthless you truly are! And you'll regret ever insulting us."

Tsuna absent-mindedly brought his hand to rub his still sore shoulder, internally cursing at his offender's stupidity. Then, his memory reeled back to Kimura's reaction at Tsuna's warning, and to be honest, that was very entertaining. Hard as he tried, a chuckle still managed to escape his lips, catching the attention of the Judo Club.

"Is there anything we discussed that caught your interest, Boss?", the ex-Judo leader, whom Tsuna now identified as Tamotsu Inagaki, asked excitedly, strangely reminding the brunette of a golden retriever.

"I've just remembered something funny from my class. Nothing important. You may carry on with your discussion", Tsuna dismissed the matter with a hand wave and the gossiping resumed.

"You won't believe it but last night, I heard something juicy from my little sister. She was suspected that our ever prim and proper Head of Discipline Committee is having an illicit affair with our esteemed Student Council President."

"What, don't tell me my guess is actually correct."

"Only suspicion, dude. But serious, with all the blatant display of "affection" to each other, I seriously doubt that there is nothing between those two."

Okay, now the Judo club got Tsuna's complete attention and interest!

"Are you your sister is a reliable source? What if she was lying to you"

"Hey, don't you dare question my Aya-chan's honesty; she's a part of Student Council, too, for your information. Anyway, she said that a few certain tasks are entrusted to only Kimura and only Mizushima is allowed to come close to Kimura."

"More specific, please."

"Like, Mizushima only accepted tea brewed by Kimura- don't you know that Student Council Office also adjoins to a kitchen, men, I want our dojo to adjoin to a kitchen, too- and tea leaves are only bought by Kimura. She said one time Kimura was sick, Mizushima decided to ditch school to come to Kimura's house and nurse that guy. Sometimes they even exchange lunchbox. And there is another time she caught Mizushima sitting on Kimura's lap and hugging him and…"

"Okay okay we get it. They are very close, close enough for people to misunderstand the nature of their relationship."

"This Kimura bastard seems to be playing around, to me. I heard that although he had a fiancée, he was still secretly seeing someone else. Well I guess Mizushima is the most likely candidate for the position as Kimura's mistress."

And then the Judo club laughed that joke.

Unknown to them, Tsuna's lips curled into a feral grin, foreboding an incoming evil scheme that would later destroy the life of his ex-bullies.

-o0o-

Namimori School, 10:30 pm

Night-the time when darkness prevailed light and devoured the sky, swallowing the world down to its stomach.

At Namimori school, inside his booth, the school guard was trying his best to fight the drowsiness that threatened to lull him to the ever tempting dreamland. Much as he tried, in the end, he eventually fell prey to the sandman and let himself indulge in a short nap with the intention of waking up after a few minutes of rest.

Little did he know that he had been under the effect of the tranquilizer gas or that a brunette was smirking delightedly in the shadow, pleased that everything had gone according to his plan.

Stepping out of his hiding spot, Tsuna took a brief glance of the sleeping form of the guard and then proceeded to search for a wall that he could use to infiltrate into the school. Once having found the perfect place, Tsuna took out a hook gun and shot it to the upper part of the wall. When he was sure that the hook was firmly attached to the top, he scaled the wall along the rope, with the help of the specialized boots that had suction cups on their bottom to prevent the owner from falling to the ground.

Tsuna had done this kind of thing many times in order to eliminate competition from his co-stars and colleagues. Destroying music sheets of their works, drugging the actors so that they would be late for the next day's audition, poisoning his rivals to get rid of them, or finding blackmail materials to halt their progress, Tsuna had gone through all of them, for the sake of retaining his position as the top idol of Japan.

And he couldn't have done it if it hadn't been for, surprisingly, Byakuran.

After all, all of his equipment necessary for his deeds was provided by none other than the mischievous albino.

Byakuran's words still rung in Tsuna's head til this day.

"I will always be on your side, Tsunayoshi-kun. Your friends are my friends, and your enemies are also my enemies. Whenever you need help, just come to me and I'll gladly assist you to the best of my ability. And have no doubt, I would never ever betray your trust."

From that day on, whenever he needed something for his evil deeds, he would just ask Byakuran for it.

One might wonder why Tsuna didn't ask Byakuran for direct help for his revenge plan. Simple, it was his revenge, so he should be the one to exercise it. Nothing beat the utter satisfaction of seeing his targets writhing under his mercy.

With the key that could open any door obtained from Byakuran, Tsuna easily passed through many doors and eventually arrived his destination- the Student Council President office. Carefully shutting the door behind him, he turned on his flashlight to get a better look of the room. With the guard now asleep for at least an hour, Tsuna had plenty of time of look around the room so as to search for anything that he could use to turn against that bastard Akihiko.

After half an hour of intense examination, Tsuna was able to confirm the accuracy of the Judo club's gossip.

There was a kitchen connected to the office, where he was able to find jars of tea leaves in a cupboard, which was definitely for Akihiko due to the name written on it. The little spy took his time to take notice of the layout of the office, taking pictures of any objects that could be useful later.

When the brunette opened the drawer of the working desk, he caught sight of two suspicious medicine bottles inside it.

"What's this?" Tsuna picked up both bottles and examined them. However, all he could see was the drug name and a bunch of drug properties that made no sense to him."

"If I remember correctly, Akihiko once mentioned that he was under treatment for his depression. Well, I can take photos and look at them later at home."

After he had finished taking photos of the drug and locked the door, Tsuna hastily made his escape for fear of the guard waking up any moment. Fortunately for him, the man was still fast asleep, so the brunette was able to get out of school without any notice.

-o0o-

Tsuna's apartment, Friday

One day after the spying night, Tsuna was still trying to come up with a plan that would only humiliate his enemies but also permanent destroyed their perfect life. At first, the brunette planned to spike their drinks with rat poison but later dismissed it due to it being too simple and anti-climax. Tsuna wanted to see both of his ex-tormentors suffer and writhe in agony, like two worms being crushed under his feet and to let them have a taste of living hell, unable to die but unable to live a life that was worth living.

His once clean bedroom was now having its floor littered with paper scrap containing his discarded schemes. And after a while of racking his mind, Tsuna decided to call it a day and logged into his computer for some relaxing entertainment.

Surfing through the news website to check any disturbing news about himself or some juicy scandals of his rivals, Tsuna stifled out a yawn and continued clicking at random links, looking for any worthwhile news.

That was when he stumbled over one certain article.

The knowledge provided by the article intrigued Tsuna greatly and immediately reminded him of a fact he could take great advantage of.

One hour later, insane cackle could be heard resonating inside the young star's bedroom. A feral grin spread across the handsome face and he suddenly erupted into full laughter.

Written on paper was the draft of Tsuna's revenge scheme, an elaborate plan that would certainly achieve his goal.

Pulling out his cell phone, Tsuna quickly dialed Byakuran's number and was soon greeted by an annoyingly cheerful voice.

"Hello, Tsunayoshi-kun, what do I owe you for this once-in-a-blue-moon phone call?"

"Oh, nothing much, Byakuran. Just some of your assistance over some business."

"Ooooh, sounds fuuuun~! What can I help you?"

"I want you to help me prepare a special gift for someone. I want to help them overcome their depression."

Like Byakuran said, this was gonna be very fun~!

-o0o-

Tsuna's apartment, Sunday

It was a lovely evening when Tsuna was calmly sipping his tea while revising his scheme.

"Ah… this tea is truly delicious", Tsuna sighed contentedly and put down his draft.

On the coffee desk, aside from the plan draft, were a worn notebook and a file addressed to Tsuna.

Picking up the file, the young idol slowly pulled out a few papers and started reading them with rapt attention. Those papers contained result of investigation into Mori's misuse of fund conducted by Detective Kurokawa. True to the idol's prediction, after receiving Tsuna's donation, the man didn't spend even a penny on the children but on gambles and expensive shopping.

Tsuna wondered what would happen if the public knew this.

Then, the teen opened the worn notebook and looked at the writing with a forlorn face. In the notebook wrote:

Target of revenge:

Akihiko Mizushima

Satoshi Kimura

Mori

The list continued but these three particular names were written in angry color red and highlighted with orange, making them stand out the most.

"Soon, very soon, I'll have my revenge. And I swear you will pay for every pain you caused me years ago."

"That's right, Tsuna. Drown yourself in the pleasure of their pain."

For the next weeks, pandemonium broke out in the ever peaceful Namimori, signaling Prince of Lucifer's revenge.

TBC

Gift === present (English)

Gift === poison (German)

A few words for my readers: everything is not what it seems.

Before heading out, please leave a comment for me please. I love comment!

Til next time