Date Started: Friday, August 06, 2010
Title: The Journal of Memories
Author: Gin Nanashi
Creation Type: Fanfiction
Main Rating: K+
Main Genre: One-Shot Series; Fluff, Friendship
Disclaimer: Katekyo Hitman REBORN! belongs to Amano Akira; Sasaki Li, Sasaki Xue Fang, Sasaki Daisuke, Sasaki Kiyoshi and every other non-identifiable characters belongs to me (Gin Nanashi).
Summary: Sasaki Li came from a bloodline that allows her to gender-bend. Unfortunately, Li has yet to figure out how to control her ability. Fortunately, it leads to a whole bit of fun for the readers!
The Journal of Memories
Event 16: Leap-Year Baby
Two boys stood outside a simple yet cute store with "Amori's Boutique" written in pink script.
One had spiky light-brown hair while the other had messy red hair.
Both gulped nervously before jumping when the bell jingled upon the door's opening.
"You two coming in, or what?" A tall woman with long black hair asked with a raised eyebrow.
"H-Hai, Fang-san!"
Inside the store were plushes of varying sizes and appearances along with accessories and even some daily-used items.
The two boys huddled close to Fang as they whipped their head in many directions, trying to take note of everything around them.
Being so absorbed in their observation, the two didn't notice that their guardian stopped and bumped into her legs.
The brunette squeaked and cowered behind the red-head who froze up like a deer caught in the headlights.
The woman sweatdropped at the response as she gave them a flat look (though annoyance and amusement could be seen) before shaking her head and sighing, "Anyway, Tsunayoshi-kun, Shouichi-kun, go look around for it. I'll just be loitering around here."
The named duo blinked before nodding and scrambling off to one of the aisles.
Upon being hidden from Fang's view, the boys breathed a long sigh of relief.
"Mou… I don't think that I'll ever get used to Fang-san…" Tsuna exhaled as he placed a hand over his fast-paced heart, "Even if she's Li's mother."
"Yeah…" Shouichi agreed before musing aloud, "Fang-san always has this scary feeling to her. It's so… so…"
"Not like Li/-san!"
Both had exclaimed simultaneously before looking at each other in surprise.
"Pbbft-!"
Slowly, the soft bubbling of laughter came out though they kept it to themselves.
After a moment, the laughter began to quiet as the light brunette sighed with a smile, "Li's always so cheerful."
Shouichi nodded with a small grin, "Though she gets mad pretty easily."
At that comment, the image of a certain dark brunette scrimmaging with the boy at the daycare popped into mind along with the violent acts of affection thrown at the older Sasaki sibling.
A sweatdrop made itself known upon both reminiscing boys before they shook their head vigorously.
"A-Anyway!" Tsuna started, "We better take a look around!"
Shouichi nodded in agreement before sweatdropping at the items on sale around them, "Although, we should probably look in another aisle."
The sweatdrop doubled in size as both the brunette and the redhead caught sight of frilly aprons, silly pencils, flimsy wallets, decorative tissues and many other things of daily use.
"Yeah, we should definitely look elsewhere…"
With that, they slowly tip-toed over to the next walkway.
"For some reason, I can't really see Li wearing any of these…" The light brunette confessed as he held up a silver chain with a heart charm.
This corridor was filled with accessories ranging from charm bracelets to earrings to cellphone chains.
"Come to think of it," Tsuna continued as he looked over to the red-head, "Li never wears anything girly and she doesn't have piercings either."
Shouichi sweatdropped and carefully put the dangling earrings back onto the shelf as the light brunette continued.
"As far as I can think, Li's always done boy things."
The redhead hummed to himself as he thought back as well, "I think you're right."
"Li-san plays a lot of sports, like soccer and American football, and I've never seen her with girls."
"Not only that, Li's practically a boy. Even without her power, she's always talking and acting like a guy."
The two sweatdropped before looking dejectedly at each other with a heavy aura as the same thought crossed their mind.
(She was more manly than they were…)
They sighed loudly before noticing a shadow over them.
Looking up, their eyes widened as they yelped, "F-Fang-san!"
The woman raised an eyebrow at the obviously panicked expressions before crossing her arms, "You two done, yet?"
The boys gulped and glanced at each other before shaking their head, "No…"
This time, both eyebrows went up as Fang deadpanned, "Why not? It's not that hard to find a present for a girl, is it?"
"W-Well…" Tsuna started before shrinking back at the blank stare, "I-It's just… Um…"
His initial courage failed him as he eeped and hid behind Shouichi.
The gaze shifted over to said redhead as he gulped audibly and tried to explain, "L-Li-san isn't really a girl, right…?"
Realizing that the comment was a bit insulting, Shouichi quickly added in, "S-Since she can, you know, transform!"
Fang stayed silent for a moment as a small frown graced her lips before she sighed, "You're right."
The boys relaxed a bit.
"But, you're also wrong."
They jumped at that and glanced at each other before giving a confused look.
Fang ran her fingers through her hair before fixing her low ponytail and crouching down to their level, "Listen closely 'cause I won't repeat myself, y'hear?"
The boys nodded vigorously.
Dark-brown eyes softened a bit at their enthusiasm before the woman continued.
"Kyuu-chan…" She paused before smiling a bit, "All of us (with the exception of Daisuke) didn't always have our power."
Fang closed her eyes as her memories flashed back to the past.
A small, bony child with long black hair stared at the image reflected in the clear water with wide dark-brown eyes. Her - no - his naked body had changed abruptly in a burst of white smoke.
"In fact, we were all born a certain gender."
That gaunt child from before eventually grew to a tall, and proud, woman who held in her arms a babe with the same, though much shorter, black hair bundled in a blue blanket - a baby boy.
"But, when we hit a certain age, our powers are awakened."
"Mama, mama!" The child born from the woman shouted, running from the bathroom while still bare, "Look! I went POOF!"
"For myself and Kiyoshi, it was at the age of seven years. But, for Li…"
The dark brunette pulled at the waistband and stared before blinking at the woman and saying with wide eyes, "I think that I have a birdie now."
Fang's lips twitched before she chuckled to herself, "Li's first transformation was only a few months prior to meeting you, Tsunayoshi-kun."
The light brunette startled and blinked incredulously at the woman, "B-But, Li acted like she's always had that power!"
"Yeah…" The woman sighed as she stood up with a small smile, "She's always been… unique, going at her own pace."
Her expression then turned a bit exasperated.
(Maybe it's 'cause she's a Leap-Year Baby…?)
A moment of silence passed between the trio as the boys looked at Fang, wondering about her expression, but the woman snapped out of it and ruffled their hair.
"Any who!" She continued, "What I'm trying to say is that Li's a girl before a gender-bender, capiche?"
Shouichi gave a slow nod as Tsuna thought for a moment longer before light-brown eyes wandered over to a large yellow object.
He mused before giving a firm nod.
"Hai!"
The store's bell jingled lightly as the trio left the building with a satisfied look on their face.
In Fang's hands was a large white bag with the store's name on it in rosy cursive as Tsuna and Shouichi walked in front, rather enthusiastically.
"Ara? Are you all done?"
The question came from the Yamato Nadeshiko, Sawada Nana, as she smiled at the three. In her hands were several bags filled with ingredients.
"Okaa-san!" Tsuna greeted as he ran up to her and gave her a hug.
"Hello, Tsu-kun. Have you been good?" The brunette returned the embrace with closed eyes and a smile.
"Don't worry. He wasn't a hassle." Fang replied in place of the boy as she dropped her bag on top of Tsuna (earning a worried squeak from Shouichi) and grabbed Nana's baggage, "Here. Let me take them."
"Thank you, Fang-chan." Nana chirped with a hand placed on her blushing cheek (oblivious to her son's struggle), "But, I can carry at least one."
The Sasaki woman nonchalantly waved off the comment (meanwhile, the redhead was valiantly trying to pull off the suffocating bag), "Don't worry about it. I want to help."
"If you say so, then." The brunette allowed the issue to slide before finally turning to her son (who was breathing a sigh a relief as he sat on the sidewalk with Shouichi near him and the bag in between them), "Ne, Tsu-kun, Shouichi-kun? Will you be going to Fang-chan's house now?"
"A-Ah, hai!" The light brunette responded before glancing over at the black-haired woman warily, "Th-That is, if we can…?"
Fang shifted the weight in her arms and casted a sharp glance at the questioner before looking away and shrugging, "Go right ahead. Kyuu-chan's probably waiting for you two, anyway."
Shouichi stumbled to his feet as he held onto the present, "I-In that case…"
"We'll be going now!" Tsuna finished as he tugged the redhead with him, nearly tripping.
Nana laughed softly at how eager the two were at leaving, "My, my. It's almost like they're in love."
Fang smirked though the bags hid it as she chuckled lowly, "Or, that they're terrified (of me)."
"…?"
The gentle housewife continued to smile obliviously.
"I think that we're far enough." Shouichi pointed out as he tried to not drop their gift.
The light brunette soon slowed to a stop and gave a nervous glance behind the redhead before nearly collapsing in relief, "Waa~ I thought that she was going to kill me…"
Green eyes gazed sympathetically at the boy, "It does seem like she's harder on you…"
"Huu…" Two waterfalls streamed down from Tsuna's closed eyes as a depressed aura hung over him, "Why me~?"
"… Anyway!" Shouichi interrupted while sweatdropping with a nervous smile, "We better get over to Li-san."
The light brunette continued to cry though he did nod and follow.
Meanwhile, the redhead sighed somewhat exaggeratedly.
Inside the Sasaki household, a certain dark brunette scowled at the bustling man in front of her.
Sasaki Daisuke smiled happily as he stirred the cake batter with one hand while flipping to the next page of the novel Densha Otoko (by Hitori Nakano) with his other.
Finally, Li threw up her arms and whined, "Come on~ Let me have a shot at it!"
"Iyada~" The man with the same hair as the girl replied in a sing-song tone.
"Why not?" The gender-bender huffed as she crossed her arms across her chest, "You let me help out yesterday! And the day before yesterday! And the day before the day before yester-"
Li was cut off as Daisuke flicked the chocolate batter at her, causing the sweet substance to stick to her face.
"Because~" The man continued as his daughter tried to lick the splatter off, "Those days were not your birthday."
Li managed to get to the chocolate closest to her lips before pouting (partly at missing the other spots and partly at her father), "Still~! I like helping you!"
Grey eyes softened as Daisuke placed the bowl and whisk onto the countertop, "Kyuu-chan…"
Dark-brown eyes blinked widely at the man, confused at the sudden lack of motion, "…?"
"Mmph!"
"You're so cute when you pout like that!" Daisuke cooed as he hugged his daughter tightly to his chest.
Li waved her arms frantically as she was smothered and her air supply began vanishing.
Thankfully, Lady Luck was on her side for the doorbell rang clearly.
The door opened to reveal Daisuke with a friendly smile before his eyes lit up with a mysterious sparkle, "Tsunayoshi-kun! Shouichi-kun! Welcome! Kyuu-chan's in the kitchen."
"G-Good afternoon, Daisuke-san." The two greeted as they were ushered in.
The man turned to close and lock the door as the two boys dropped the bag near the living room and poked their head into the kitchen.
A sweatdrop made itself known.
The dark brunette was huddled in the corner mumbling to herself.
"L-Li…?" Tsuna squeaked in worry as he tip-toed closer, "What's wrong?"
A dark and depressing aura hovered over the gender-bender as she thought back.
Shouichi fixed his glasses as he observed the girl before speaking slowly, "Does it have anything to do with chocolate?"
The dismal air seemed to have gotten heavier before the girl robotically turned towards the boys.
Her lips twitched and pursed a bit as large and watery dark-brown eyes stared widely at them.
Both boys sweatdropped again before Tsuna tugged on the girl's shirt, "Come on, Li."
The result?
Li scrunched into a tighter ball and shook her head as metaphoric black cat ears drooped and the tail made small circles on the floor.
Shouichi sighed as Tsuna looked on in worry.
His light-brown eyes then trailed across the room before catching sight of Daisuke with a red and white soccer ball in hand.
The man gave a sly wink and placed the object into Tsuna's hands before returning to his work on the cake batter.
Light-brown and green eyes glanced at one another in confusion before returning to the ball.
Tsuna thought to himself for a second before bouncing the ball once.
Almost immediately, the boys could see that Li had perked up and tensed.
They glanced at one another again, this time in amusement.
The light brunette dropped the ball again and caught it before grinning shyly when his eyes met with dark-brown ones before the latter shifted the gaze over to the soccer ball.
Tsuna moved the ball to the left.
Fixated dark-brown eyes stayed on target as the once-anguished atmosphere dissipated.
He moved it to the right.
If possible, the metaphoric cat tail would be erect and quivering in excitement right about now.
The light brunette pulled back a bit before gently tossing it out of the kitchen door.
A blur swished pass the boys as Li immediately bounded after it (though she nearly collided with a wall).
Tsuna and Shouichi laughed to themselves at how kittenish the gender-bender could be.
CRASH!
The boys jumped at the sound of a collision before their eyes widened and they ran after the gender-bender.
"L-LI/-SAN?"
"H-Hoi..."
Li commented with her eyes swirling slowly as she laid upside-down against the clear glass door to the backyard.
"Everything's spinning…"
The two boys came running to her aid and skidded near her when-
"WHOA!"
FWUMP!
They tripped and landed right on top of her instead.
POOF!
The three coughed at Li's sudden transformation before simultaneously sighing in relief when the white smoke cleared.
Three pairs of eyes met before their respective owner's face flushed.
Suddenly, the dark brunette turned away as his body shook.
"Pbbft-!"
Li attempted to hide his laughter at their disheveled appearance by clamping a hand over his mouth.
The other two blinked owlishly at the trembling boy below them.
Slowly, the chuckling began to leak out as small tears clung to the corner of the dark brunette's eyes as he pounded a fist onto the hardwood floor before it was released without restraint.
A baffled (and slightly indignant) look came over the other two before Li attempted to calm down.
He waved a hand, as if to say "Wait!" in response to their silent question, before grinning widely with flushed cheeks, "Sorry, sorry!"
"It's just that we all tripped over the same spot!" Li snickered as he pointed to the slightly raised floor.
Tsuna flushed red in embarrassment and smacked a hand over his face as Shouichi sweatdropped and wondered with a weirded out expression, "Why is there…?"
The dark brunette shrugged as nonchalantly as he could, "Oh, you know. Mama's weird when it comes to decorating…"
He paused and thought for a moment before his face turned slightly blue and he gasped, "By the way, mind getting off?"
Silence passed between the two before they yelped in surprise and jumped off.
Li breathed deeply, restoring the oxygen to his lungs, before exhaling in relief, "I can breathe…"
"A-Are you okay?" Tsuna fussed over the gender-bender as Shouichi bowed many times in apology, "W-We're sorry! We forgot!"
As his face returned to its normal color, Li merely smiled and waved it off before chirping happily, "Putting that aside, where'd you guys go with Mama?"
The two paused in their actions before slowly turning red as heat crept up on their cheeks.
"…?" Li tilted his head to the side with an oblivious smile.
Tsuna and Shouichi scrambled to the hallway near the living room that they were in and simultaneously grabbed the large white bag, heaving it into the room.
They bustled towards the gender-bender, but forgot about one minor detail.
THUMP!
The two smaller boys tripped over the raised ground and landed on the bag, causing the content to fly out and crash into the dark brunette.
Tsuna and Shouichi paled as they looked at the twitching boy who was being smothered by the large plush.
"L-Li…?"
"Are you okay, Li-san?"
"…"
The gender-bender didn't say anything as he sat up and rubbed at the red mark on his face before looking curiously at the object.
He held it up.
It was almost completely circular and about 91.4 centimeters in height.
It's soft body was of a bright yellow color while its short wide beak and small stubby talons were a firm orange.
Two small black bead made up its eyes.
All in all, it was a very cute and very huggable jumbo chick plush.
Li blinked slowly as he brought it down onto his lap.
His face was hidden by the giant stuffed toy.
Tsuna glanced nervously and worriedly at Shouichi.
Did he not like it?
Was it too girly for him?
Maybe they should've gone with the flashy yo-yo, after all?
These questions (and others like them) raced through both boys' mind.
"SQUEE~!"
They jumped at the high-pitched squeal and clung onto each other in fear and shock before looking at the source.
The dark brunette hugged the plush close to his body as sparkles were emitted into the air.
Shouichi sweatdropped with a flat expression as Tsuna shaded his eyes and mumbled, "So bright…"
Having cuddled the bird long enough, Li grinned widely at his best friends, "Thank you so much, Tsuna! Shou!"
The boys couldn't help but blush bashfully at the gratitude, "You're welcome."
The dark brunette smiled as she closed her eyes with a faint blush.
"I love it."
Blood rushed to the boys' head as steam whistled from their ears.
They stammered out some words, but made no sense whatsoever.
Meanwhile, Li continued to admire his gift with metaphorical flowers floating around him.
Author's Note:
TA DA!
Li's birthday is finally revealed along with some of the Sasaki member's past.
As mentioned, Li is a Leap-Year Baby, meaning that she was born on February 29.
You may ignore my rant but... I can't believe that there are actually people who want to take out February 29! To me, it's the most awesome date in the entire year because people born on that date are about as unique as they can come since it only comes once every four years and the day has a nine in it! (Sorry, I just love the number nine.) Anyway, moving along...!
There isn't an extended ending for this chapter since I'm planning on posting an omake for the next chapter as an add-on for this one.
Also, check out my newest picture! (It's not the best, but I wanted to try my hand at drawing chibis...)
Lastly, I put up a poll on my profile regarding my pictures and would greatly appreciate it if you voted.
Thank you to those who reviewed!
Much love to you for taking the time of to do so and kudos to kimkakashi; there is a reason for that.