Hi! I hope you're all happy and healthy! This is the first and probably one of the few notes I will write. It serves as a disclaimer, because obviously I'm not the owner of KHT, this is a fanfiction, if you hadn't noticed. I don't have a beta and English isn't my first language, so sorry for the mistakes you'll probably find. I'm human and inexperienced, so deal with it. This story is completely self-indulgent, the romance part will be slow-paced, and I'm not completely sure how it will develop yet, but this is an AU and a lot of facts in both the anime and manga will be different. Hope you enjoy it, and also, I'm very inexperienced with FanFiction, so sorry in advance if I post something wrong or stuff.
Very little is known about Dying Will Flame, despite the fact they existed long before humans were born. Knowledge about them is highly valued and very few individuals know anything more than the basics. It is undeniably something all living beings have and can use with the right circumstances. And yet, there are less than a couple of thousands of people who can readily access them. Having a desire to live or a strong will just isn't enough for humans to use them, or else in times or war there would've been more active flame users. It isn't a genetic trait either, even if it is more likely to manifest in some families. And the types that exist are far from few. Although most only know about the existence of seven, the most commonly manifested, the Dying Will Flames of the Sky.
Some have made the mistake to think they only come to those who are desperate and in dire circumstances where their desire to live is at their strongest. And that hat humans were the first to manifest them. That they come from inside the bodies and souls of the living, when in truth, flames came long before life was created.
At the very beginning of things, after a great event, different energies raged in disharmony to create and destroy and rage in an endless cycle of chaos. All the energies were powerful and different, beautiful but without purpose. Then, a miracle occurred. Something similar to them, but not quite, was created as a result of their endless clash of forces. From it, harmony and life was formed, who in exchange for its birth gave them all a purpose. Construction, gravity, propagation, realization, activation and so many more.
Countless magnificent worlds and universes were formed as a result, and life finally had the opportunity to manifest. As life cannot exist without energy to sustain it, they borrowed it from their environment until the day they died and it was once again released into the universe. But with life also came evolution, intelligence and emotions that led to living beings actively trying to use those energies in a more active manner. It began in simple ways, to restart a beating heart, to destroy, to build something new… and then they began to want more. Suddenly life wasn't enough, and countless methods were created to go well and above its limits until every being in the universe demanded more than the energies were willing to give.
Harmony lost the battle of wills, and all life was eradicated. Or would have been, was it not for a precious gift that was offered to those few who remained. Again, worlds began to rise from the debris of fallen civilization, but by then all the energies knew better than to give life anything. All but harmony, that gave and gave and gave, until one day, it simply ceased to exist as an entity and simply became.
– Excerpt from the diary of Dr. Kuro Hermo
7 December 1999, somewhere near the shores of the Nile, Egypt (moments after the near death of Sawada Tsunade)
A woman whose name had long ago been erased from history awoke mere minutes before midnight on the other side of the planet. Her body came back to life in a small underground temple, where the sun had been worshiped centuries ago. Hidden under meters of sand and powerful illusions, she rose from her unnatural slumber in a decayed body of blurred features.
She rose from her grave with powerful red flames surrounding her and giving her the force to crawl away and up to a tall wall where barely visible symbols, not Hieroglyphs, were stained with a crimson color. It disintegrated even before the skeleton hand touched it, as did many layers of ruins and sand all around the ancient structure.
In the space of minutes, what had once been unsuspecting dunes turned into something resembling an opening to hell itself. Crimson flames hot enough to evaporate its surrounding sand appeared from nowhere encasing an area of the hidden structure, creating an impressive cascade of burning sand that eventually became a pit similar to that of a volcano.
From it, the burning corpse of what had once been a priest floated out, pulled by an invisible force. Once above the surface, the destruction of the ancient site intensified until nothing was left to indicate any Egyptian ruins. Meanwhile, the corpse of the past woman left in search of life, guided by the manifestation of her will on earth.
Somewhere else, kilometers above the previous temple and floating on the Nile, a family of five, four teenage girls on vacation, a couple and their guide were sharing a late dinner on a felucca. Completely unaware of the tragic fate that awaited them.
Almost none of them would be remembered in the following years. The couple and guide were all old and without any strong connection to any friends or family. The girls would be mourned for a longer time, but eventually they would be forgotten, too. The end of the family, on the other hand, would greatly impact the world in the years to come.
It happened too fast for any of them to react in time in any meaningful way.
It was the youngest who saw it first. The small boy, held in the arms of his oldest sibling, pointed his chubby fingers to the horizon with excited sounds, attracting the attention of the family. There, barely seen at the beginning, was an ever growing light that grew exponentially every second. Its odd coloring of bright red caused nothing but awe in the hearts of its observers, and everyone on the boat quickly took notice of it soon after.
It worried no one, for what was there to worry about? One of the teenage girls even took out her camera to film it, enamored by the color that painted the waters of the Nil in blood.
It wasn't until a figure became recognizable that the guide and parents began to suspect something might be amiss. How could it be possible for a person to be floating above the water? And where was the light coming from?
The worry increased tenfold when the humanoid figure came even closer and its decaying became obvious.
The toddler who had first identified the light as something pretty and attention catching began to cry. The cold air of the December night began to turn smoldering hot and the light emitting from the corpse became too bright to look at. The mother took her youngest son to comfort him while the guide ordered everyone to step away from the edge of the felucca.
It was all in vain. As soon as they all converged together as far from the source as they could, it materialized on the deck of the boat. The air became too hot to breathe in and the light blinded all its outlookers.
By the time the mother regained her sight, she and the body in her arms were the only two people left alive in miles.
All around her, nothing remained of the people who had once been there, including her two oldest sons and husband. Nothing but piles of ashes. It wasn't until she saw the barely held together burning body of a stranger that the look of confusion in her eyes turned into one of understanding, and then horror, grief and finally settled into one of unadulterated fear.
Had the temperature not made it impossible for her to take air in, the woman would've probably tried to at least pray for the life of her remaining child. But as it was, she could do nothing but watch in horror as the corpse advanced until it stood in front of her.
At that moment, as the mother who had lost almost everything she loved was convinced she was going to die, along with her youngest son, something awoke in her. Burning with the intensity of a thousand suns and the desperation of someone who knew with certainty they were going to die, a red deeper than the crimson flames in front of her exploded from her body. It burned magnificently, and the boat stood no chance of surviving.
An apt example that if there was one thing to be said about Dying Will Flames, it was that they were far from harmless and even more difficult to control.
The small boy the mother tried to protect stood no chance at surviving. Neither did the mother, whose body wasn't prepared to release such powerful flames.
And as they died in agony, the corpse of the past priest began to feed itself with the flames of the dying mother, regaining vitality. The decomposed body changed grotesquely, going from a mummy to a body with bones, organs, and muscles followed by more tissue and blood that eventually turned into the beautiful figure of a middle aged redhead with crimson eyes.
All in the sparse minutes it took for the fire that disintegrated all it could find to die out, along with the last remains of the boat and its occupants.
By the time the infamous Vindice made an appearance, there was nothing left for them to find. All traces of a boat, temple and inhuman corpse of a priest were completely gone.
All around the world, in China, Thailand, Chile, Alaska, Russia, Indonesia and several others, similar cases of unexplained disappearances and large scale destruction would begin to pop up. But no one would be any wiser to its cause, and thus no one would be prepared for what the future had in hold for them. The only proof anyone could have found would remain lost for years under meters of sand and water, somewhere in the largest river on Earth.
18 June 2004 (5 years later), Namimori, Japan
Sawada Tsunade looked around her scarcely decorated room with mild annoyance, sweating profusely and already wishing summer could stop existing altogether. Two weeks from now was the official beginning of the hottest season of the year and Tsuna was already dreading it. She was already a damn oven twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, so summer was particularly unpleasant for her. She couldn't even sleep a full night without waking up to shower with cold water at least twice so she could fall asleep for a couple of hours.
To say Tsuna hated summer with a passion didn't begin to cover it. From a complete turnaround from her childhood where Tsuna always felt on the verge of hipotermia, she was now always running on a mild fever. She must have tempted fate too much as a kid, she decided, because how else could her wish of feeling less cold could have turned into this nightmare. At least when she was cold and Tsuna felt numb and tired, she could sleep and forget about it for the night, even with the nightmares she used to have. Now, however, even while sleeping she felt like she was boiling.
Thankfully, her mother received monthly paychecks from her good for nothing father that made it possible for Tsuna to take showers half a dozen times a day without being a bother to Nana. But there were some days where even that wasn't enough for her.
Sighing, Tsuna began to pack her school bag and another one with a pair of clothes and some essentials. Middle school didn't start until 8.30 a.m., so she had ample time to swim and cool down before she had to spend some hellish hours at school.
Most of her wardrobe outside of school uniforms consisted of light summer dresses of various colors and comfortable clothes of thin fabrics to make the heat more bearable. Unfortunately, the school uniform she was forced to wear in fear of being punished by the Disciplinary Committee was thick and uncomfortable. The long socks were especially scratchy when she sweated. The only upside was that there was no rule in the book that said one had to wear the summer uniform in summer only.
Once she was ready, Tsuna made her way to the kitchen and took the bento her mother had made her the previous day. She also ate some yogurt before she left the house to go to her favorite place in Namimori, the natatorium. Normally it would take her at least twenty minutes on foot to reach it, but Tsuna had a bike and she was quite good at riding it. It was a gift from her mother from her eleventh birthday, and she absurdly loved it, even if the customized pink hearts weren't really her style anymore. She made her way to the indoor swimming pool at top speed and arrived in less than five minutes.
Tsuna was lucky that the building opened so soon in the mornings and that there were at least some people who routinely went to the natatorium each morning. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to spend almost an hour before school there every day. After making sure her bike was secured by her chain in a cycle stand, Tsuna entered the building and saluted the worker who recognized her and let her pass without even having to show her membership card.
The woman's changing room was completely empty, so Tsuna chose her usual spot without much preamble and changed into a dark blue swimsuit that complimented her orange eyes and put her black silicon cap on. She also took another cold shower before entering the enormous room where two pools were placed.
Tsuna wasn't the first to arrive that morning, already two men of different ages were swimming in the 25 meters long pool, where the water was colder and the pool was deeper. Both were swimming laps at different lanes, and Tsuna soon joined them, excited to spend one hour swimming. Not only did it cool her down, but it always made her muscles relax pleasantly and took her mind off her worries. Additionally, even with the company of the other swimmers, her workout was rarely intruded upon in such an early hour.
The change of temperatures and the shock of diving always invigorated Tsuna in the mornings. It almost made the thoughts of school less unappealing. She loved moving her legs and arms in synchrony in order to remain afloat. Her body had long since become used to the daily exercise, and it was the only times of the day she didn't feel like melting on the floor.
Unlike any other morning however, as she swam, a prickling sensation in the back of her mind kept her from fully relaxing. It wasn't the feeling of someone spying on her or of an incoming danger approaching. Rather, Tsuna felt like she was standing on the verge of a precipice and soon, something was going to come and change her life drastically. Her intuition was a marvelous gift she's had since she was a kid but only reacquired again after an incident when she was eight. It had never veered her wrong, but like many things in Tsuna's life, it was prone to do strange things.
She distracted herself by swimming almost an hour nonstop until she saw the time on her phone as she paused to catch her breath. Tsuna made a last lap into the pool before finally climbing up the small stairs to where her towel and phone was. As she began to swipe up from around the middle of her screen to access her notifications, she sent a quick message to her mother who was probably waking up.
Carefully so as to not slip on the wet floor, she made her way to the changing rooms. There, she took her time getting ready, because she was always lazy after her morning exercise. Tsuna took another cold shower, dressed in her school's uniform and took care of her unruly hair. She also ignored the hairdresser in the bathroom, because in her experience, wet hair equaled colder Tsuna. And colder Tsuna always equaled happier Tsuna.
Her way to school was also a quiet affair. The natatorium wasn't near the middle of the town, but with her bike she had ample time to go to a cafe to drink a cold drink and eat a sandwich. It was also the only cafe in town that had air conditioning, so the small extra she paid for her order was nothing in comparison to Tsuna's comfort. Once she was done, she pretended to be busy reading some articles on her phone to spend more time inside until ten minutes before the start of middle school. Technically she could have even spent some minutes more inside her second favorite place in the world, but she was too afraid of being late to ever risk it.
Tsuna had never been late before or even broken any rules for as long as she had been in Namimori Middle. In part thanks to her intuition, but mostly because of a healthy dose of fear of being bitten to death by the leader of her school's Disciplinary Committee.
She had been witness to the consequences of several students breaking the rules before, and Tsuna had no wish to end up like them. No one had yet told her exactly how a teenager had so many liberties to forgo the law and how exactly he had gained a following of delinquents even before she started her schooling outside her home, but she was curious. And afraid. Very much so.
Because of that, Tsuna arrived almost ten minutes before the bell was supposed to ring, and decided to go inside the classroom to avoid any of her more enthusiastic classmates or worse, a Hibari in a bad mood.
She wasn't the least surprised to find that evidently, Tsuna hadn't been the only one with that idea.
"Sawada", greeted her with a pained smile Kurokawa Hana, a girl with long, wavy black hair and keen eyes that was usually seen around her best friend, Sasagawa Kyoko.
Surprised by the lack of the other girl, Tsuna paused on her way to the back of the class.
"Good morning, Hana. How are you today? And where is Kyoko?"
"She isn't coming. Apparently she is ill or something. So now I'm forced to endure all these monkeys by myself. So no, I'm really not fine."
"I'm sorry for you," Tsuna said amusedly, only to receive a mild scowl from Hana.
"I'm serious, everyone is going to ask me where she is all day, I won't have even a minute of freedom." She complained loudly, huffing in exasperation.
"I think you're greatly underestimating the power of your glare. Plus I doubt people will really care that much." She said as she took the empty seat next to Hana usually reserved for Kyoko. A perfect seat near a window, which she opened promptly.
"I wish. You should have seen them when we were in elementary school. They were always following us around. We're lucky that the bastard is always biting everyone to death for crowding or else things would've been worse these last two years."
Tsuna couldn't really see how things could've been bad enough for Hana to think Hibari was the lesser of two evils, but she made a sound of agreement all the same. Best to not anger the girl when she was all worked up.
"We can spend the break together if you want," she offered.
"That would be nice," Hana returned her smile with a tired one. "I had planned to go to the library so I wouldn't be disrupted. Is that alright with you?"
"Sure. I needed to look some books up anyway."
They continued to talk quietly between themselves as more and more classmates began to fill in. Tsuna was surprised to see that Hana was completely right. They were interrupted five times before the start of their first class by worried classmates asking about Kyoko. Even their English teacher asked Hana to know about the location of said girl.
While it was amusing at first, it soon began to turn worrisome when they were again interrupted for the seventh time while they were walking to the library. Tsuna let out a breath of relief when they finally arrived at their destination.
"I swear if some monkey asks me where Kyoko is again, I will be the one biting everyone to death!"
Tsuna snorted at the ridiculous image. "Try not to, I don't want to earn my first detention for you."
Because it was a Monday and there weren't any exams this week, the library was practically empty. There was only a young lady sitting quietly at the entrance who glanced once at them before returning to her work.
"What did you need to find anyways?" Hana asked as she sat unceremoniously on an empty chair, far away from the only other person in the room.
"A book to finish our project in History. I've no idea where mine is and I really don't care enough to buy a new one."
"You can borrow mine if you want," Hanna offered. "I finished it last weekend so I would have more time to help Kyoko pass our next math exam."
"That would be nice, but I only need to take some pictures, I don't want to carry more books in my bag. It's heavy enough as it is."
Hana grimaced in agreement and fished her schoolbook from her bag. It was a worn copy that had seen better days, so Tsuna guessed the girl had decided to buy the books second-handed to save some pocket money.
True, her intuition whispered in her mind.
While Tsuna began to take photos, Hana decided to message her best friend to see how she was doing.
"She says she ate something spoiled yesterday," read Hana aloud. "She also says it's nothing to worry about and that she should be back tomorrow. Thank goodness for that, I don't think I can take another day of this shit."
Tsuna had half the mind to berate her for swearing, but considering how far they were from any Disciplinary Committee member, she refrained.
"Wish her a fast recovery from me, please. I still haven't messaged her anything."
"Sure thing." Hanna said.
They spend the rest of the day together, and while it was a bit weird for Tsuna to spend so much time with Hana alone, she was greatly amused by her distaste for practically anyone. It was almost enough to distract her from the incessant feeling of anticipation in the back of her mind and the smoldering heat under her skin.
"Hi, mom! I'm home!" Greeted Tsunade as she entered her house, eager to take a shower and more importantly, change clothes.
"Hi, Tsuna-chan! How was school today?"
"Fine," she grumbled unhappily when she noticed the delicious smell emitting from the kitchen. How was Tsuna supposed to change and shower when she was presented with the delicious cooking of her mother?
Nana giggled happily when she noticed the familiar expression on her face.
"Don't worry Tsuna-chan, it's not ready yet, so you can take a shower first."
Happy again now that she wasn't forced to decide between two of her favorite things, Tsuna rushed to her bathroom and took a longer than strictly necessary shower before changing into a short sleeved jumpsuit. She delighted in imagining burning her school socks for a couple of minutes before her mother's voice led her to the kitchen again.
"I've made you your favorites today."
Well, in truth Tsuna always loved anything her mother made her, so she had difficulties picking one above the other. However, she had a huge weakness for Salisbury steak. Especially when it was accompanied by mushroom gravy and beans.
"I love it, you're the best!" Tsuna sang praises to her mother until she was too busy stuffing her mouth with the delicious food.
Nana, of course, couldn't be happier, even if she blushed to the tips of her ears after her daughter called her the goddess of cooking.
"Stop it, Tsuna-chan! You're making me blush!"
Now that Tsuna was suitably full and happy, she told her mother all about her school day.
"—Kyoko didn't come today, so everyone was worried. A bit too much in my opinion, "continued to rant Tsuna. "It's not like she was dying of something. Poor Hana had to scare the students away, or else she wouldn't have managed to have a second of silence. There was a guy, his name is Mochida I think, that kept asking us all day if we had any news on Kyoko. It was a bit creepy to be honest."
"Oh, Tsuna." Sight dreamily Nana. "He's probably just in love with her. It was so sweet of him to ask about her so many times. How romantic!"
"Yeah," she said unconvinced. "Anyways, they also gave us our English tests today and I received a 96."
"I'm so proud of you!" Nana embraced her daughter happily. Even if she knew English was her best class and she had probably barely studied for it.
"Thanks," Tsuna gave a peck to her mother and began to gather the dishes to the sink. "So I was thinking that maybe I could take another foreign language, you know? Hana told me she also knows some Chinese from her mother, and I had such an easy time learning English. What do you think?"
But her mother, who was now looking through the letters she had received that morning, only hummed distractedly in agreement.
Tsuna turned to look at her and deduced by her positively beaming expression that a letter from her father had arrived via post. She was curious despite herself.
Her absent father, Iemitsu, who was working abroad, hardly ever wrote to them, much less twice in the same month. Something important must have happened for him to reach out twice in so few weeks.
Nervous about receiving unpleasant news, Tsuna made her way behind her mother and began to read over her shoulder.
Dear lovely Nana,
How have both my favorite girls in the world been? I hope nothing bad has happened since we last talked to each other. Tsuna hasn't yet answered any of my letters, but since I know how stressful high school can be, I hope you will tell her how much I love her. And you, of course, my beloved Nana.
Nothing very exciting has occurred in my workplace, but I'm still very busy, so I'm not sure when I will be able to visit. Hopefully soon. I miss you both very much. Don't forget to pass my love to our Tsuna-fish!
On that note, due to how stressed Tsuna-fish is, I made some calls and decided to hire the best tutor I could find. His name is Reborn and he has an unfortunate condition that makes him look a bit younger than he is. But don't worry, I assure you he is very qualified. Everything is already paid for, so don't worry about anything. However, he will need a place to stay while in Namimori. Would you mind taking him in? I'm sure he would be very grateful.
I love you both, don't forget to pass my love and write to me if you need anything.
Your beloved husband,
Sawada Iemitsu
Tsuna stared at the letter in silence for several minutes, unable to react due to the sheer rage she felt for the audacity of that man. Why did he think he had any right to barge into her life like this and do what he pleased when she hadn't seen him since she was a kid?
"I refuse." She muttered darkly, clenching her fists together.
"But Tsuna-chan!" Exclaimed her oblivious mother. "He already paid for it and this letter was sent a week ago. He must have already arrived in Japan by now! Oh how dreadful, I haven't prepared one of the guest rooms yet!"
Unsurprisingly, Nana missed her point completely.
"Mom, I don't need a tutor! Can we just tell him he isn't needed? I don't care if Iemitsu paid for it, he had no right to hire him."
Tsuna fumed silently, already knowing it was in vain.
"Tsuna-chan, don't be like this! I'm sure he will help you raise your marks in math and physics a bit. And who knows? Maybe he also knows a foreign language he can teach you."
The teenager suddenly wished she had never brought it up in the first place. Fuck the gods of irony! Why was it always her?
And anyways, her low marks in math were only due to the unreasonable assignments and exams her teacher assigned them. He was an old and petty thing that enjoyed tormenting his students.
Before she could bring all those good points to try to convince her mother, the bell chimed, interrupting her mental list of arguments.
Tsuna groaned when she realized it must be the tutor his father had just written them about. Her mother happily beamed with excitement, ignoring her daughter's obvious disappointment.
As she went to open the entrance door, Tsuna followed her dejectedly, already starting to think of all the ways she could get rid of him. Perhaps she could show everyone how unnecessary his presence was? Pretend to not learn anything under him? Pretend to do even worse at school and put all the blame on him? No, that was too cruel.
While she distracted herself with various plans to defeat the, in her mind, 'enemy', Nana opened the door to find absolutely no one there. Confused, but also hopeful she would have more time to convince her mother to fire the tutor, Tsuna completely missed the baby on her doorstep until he spoke in a squeaky voice.
"Ciaossu! I'm Reborn, the home tutor."
