Target № 0.2: "Until the World becomes One"
The sounds of birds outside his window and muffled talking downstairs were a pleasant difference for a wake-up call, mused Tsuna, as he lazily stretched out on his bed. Natsu next to him purred in silent agreement, his belly rising up and down with gentle breaths, as the lion cub continued his nap.
After a couple of last weeks, filled with frenzied last minute preparations for the exams and then the final exams themselves, Tsuna was ready to enjoy his well-deserved vacation. Since returning from his impromptu short trip and declaring Tsuna as the Neo Vongola Primo, Reborn was completely ruthless in his 'new training routine' (which was just the old routine doubled in mercilessness and tripled in insaneness) which coincided with preparation for the final exams of the school year and… let's just say that Tsuna didn't have time to relax after the Representative battles and the whole Checkerface ordeal. Probably the only positive outcome from those sessions was the fact that Tsuna was so tired and so worried about exams (or what Reborn will do to him if he –god forbid it- failed any of them) that he didn't have time to worry about anything mafia-related for a while (ignoring the fact that Reborn taunted him with his new 'title' every possible moment).
It was insane, but the return of his daily routine (that he maintained for almost one and a little over a half year now since Reborn's arrival) (1) , was… nice. It was familiar, in that nostalgic way, to be woken up by a mallet and fight for food during breakfast, run for school and be ridiculed by everyone, all the while being accompanied by explosions, laughs, screams of 'extreme' and the threats of being bitten to death. There was no death threat hanging over them (besides the usual), there was no insane people threatening the existence of the world order (besides the usual), and no out-of-this-world personas scheming their demise behind their backs (besides the usual).
(And wasn't it sad, that Tsuna has the 'usual' scale for such things?)
For Tsuna, the world returned back to its 'usual' craziness and there were no words to describe how happy it made the reluctant mafia boss-in-training.
He (more or less) successfully finished his second year in Namimori Middle School. His family and friends had (more or less) recovered from their fight with Vindice and were in relatively good health and happy. His father only recently returned back to Italy (and conveniently right before his exams), making it one of the longest he had stayed here in Namimori, which in turn made his mother very happy (Tsuna even managed a few half-hearted attempts to 'bond' with the man, enough to please his mother at least). Basil, Oregano and Tumeric returned back with their Boss, and Tsuna still wondered how such hard-working and reliable people (he got to know Tumeric and Oregano who both were very pleasant, despite being in Mafia) were so loyal to his no-good father.
Varia too, while still recovering from their injuries, returned back to Italy, but not without a few more death threats and destroyed buildings (Tsuna, along with the most populace of Namimori, were very surprised to suddenly find that the penthouse of the hotel was demolished in one night) (2). They disappeared the night before Iemitsu's departure, leaving behind mentally (and physically) scarred hotel and hospital personal and a bill addressed to Vongola for the caused destruction.
A newly re-organed Byakuran and Uni, along with their Guardians and Famiglia members, departed not too long after, saying something about 'unfinished businesses', with promises to drop by and visit as soon as possible. Tsuna, already buried under the last minute assignments and preparations to the exams, was silently apprehensive about whatever 'business' they had unfinished, but nevertheless bid them good luck and safe travel (and a silent prayer that Byakuran and his troublesome bunch won't visit anytime soon, while Uni was more than welcome).
Shimon Famiglia, on the other hand, was still in Namimori. As the luck would have it, they were released from the hospital right in time for the exam week (the fact that Enma mourned). As far as Tsuna knew, all of those who went to Namimori Middle, managed to pass the exams (thanks to Adelheid's relentless tutoring during their confinement in the hospital). Even Aoba Koyo managed to graduate his third year, along with Ryohei (though, both of them made it just barely) and Adelheid. (And Tsuna wasn't surprised that Shitt P managed to get the highest marks, along with Gokudera, while Enma and he scrambled with 'passable' marks.)
Dino too, was still in Namimori. While recovering from his injuries he decided to continue teaching in the school, which put great strain at Romario-san, who between worrying about Dino and their Famiglia, seemed to gain a few white hairs every other day. Tsuna met with his self-appointed older brother almost every day, in and out of school (for which he was almost glad of, because only Dino-san could understand him in crazy things regarding Reborn).
Speaking of Arcobaleno, now ex-Arcobaleno, they seemed to disappear for a time being too, like Uni. While Tsuna didn't have anything against them staying a bit longer, it was a relief to know that there are less dangerous people in Namimori now. All Arcobaleno were thankful for the help in lifting their curse, and (most) didn't hesitate to express their gratitude, and while it was nice, it got a little weird to the point (because Tsuna totally could have lived without seeing and experiencing Verde's attempts of being 'nice').
Collonelo and grown up Lal Mirch, with blessings from his father, departed to who knows where. After their canceled wedding (Tsuna still can't get images out of his head), the amount of arguments escalated (or it was a very weird way of flirting, but Tsuna tries really hard not to think about that too) both of them left, spiting curses and shooting bullets (mostly on Lal's part). Fon returned to China, to settle some business, as he said, while being all mysteriously serious about it. Mammon left with Varia, noticeably more happy (if their tolerance of others presence without demanding money was an indicator). (3) Before they left however, they paid a visit to Tsuna, stating that the Vongola Decimo ought to name the price by which Mammon can repay their debt to (because apparently Mammon can't stand owing to people, what a surprise). Skull with a declaration that he was going to go and take over the Carcassa Famiglia now, left too (Tsuna secretly thought Enma-kun was really sad to see the ex-Cloud Arcobaleno go). Verde disappeared without a proper goodbye, his mind fully into the data he received from the whole ordeal. Tsuna was sure he was lurking somewhere nearby, but for the time being he wasn't doing anything, so the brunet didn't pay attention to the scinetist.
Vendice… Tsuna shuddered slightly. He hadn't heard about them since they vowed to keep watch on the pacifiers and disappeared. While Tsuna knew that they were more of victims in the whole picture of things, he was still worried and preferred not to deal with them anytime soon (or preferably ever again in his life). Kawahira –no, Checkerface- wasn't seen or heard about either (a fact that all of the Arcobaleno were glad about), but there was no guarantee that the man wasn't still watching. Tsuna had conflicted opinion about Kawa- Checkerface. While he believed in his sincerity when the… man had stated that he really did thought there was no other options other than using hosts for the pacifiers, he was still apprehensive and unsure about his story about the 'people' from another world and their mission of protection Earth and Dying Will Flames. If you ask Tsuna, it all was a little bit far-stretched… But surprisingly, no one had questioned (except maybe him) the story too much, because in its way it explained many things (but gave a lot more questions too). (4)
His impromptu reminiscing session was interrupted by a soft yawn and a fluffy head poking into his room. Large brown eyes blinked sleepily at him, as their owner clad in pajama shuffled through the door and to Tsuna's bed.
"Good morning Tsuna-nii." Fuuta mumbled as he fell next to Tsuna into the bed, jostling Natsu from his nap.
"Good morning Fuuta. How have you slept?" Tsuna asked in a soft voice, not willing to destroy the still sleepy air of the morning.
The younger boy murmured something incomprehensible into Tsuna's side as he pressed closer to the teen. Tsuna chuckled at the adorable sight of sleepy, cuddly Fuuta in the morning, and the boy, hearing his amusement, unstuck his face from Tsuna's blanket and pouted at him.
"I forgot that Tsuna-nii have finished all his exams and woke up early today to see you off."
"Eh, early?" Tsuna glanced at his bedside clock, his eyes widening when he saw that it was past 6 in the morning. 'Did I get so used to waking up in this hour that my body automatically woke up without Reborn's help?!'
"Mhm." Hummed Fuuta with a smile, "I am so happy that Tsuna-nii finished with the school! I missed you." Little arms wrapped clumsily around Tsuna, and the teen couldn't help but blush in embarrassment at such open affection from the younger boy.
"Yeah, I missed you too Fuuta. We all…had a busy half a year, huh?" Tsuna sighed, putting his hand on Fuuta's head, patting his hair lightly.
Fuuta's arms tightened a little around Tsuna, and the teen instantly felt bad for reminding him about it. Ever since Fuuta stayed to live with them permanently after Kokuyo Incident, the boy was a lot more sensitive to the things concerning Mafia (at least more sensitive for a kid born into the mafia). After his kidnapping, Fuuta was more depressed and practically stopped taking out his ranking book and talk about rankings at all. As the boy had confessed it was not his first time being kidnapped (which led to one of Tsuna's horrified looks and worried ramblings), but what Mukuro did to Fuuta was… traumatizing. (5) Tsuna understood that Fuuta didn't want to talk about it and despite all his hesitations, he allowed the boy to keep his silence. The Sawada family knew what they were doing when they took him in, but neither he nor his mother were quite ready for the onslaught of nightmares that plagued the boy in the following weeks. To deal with them, Fuuta made a habit of sleeping with someone in the bed. Usually he shared with Lambo and I-Pin, but if the nightmare was particularly nasty, he tended to slip into Nana's or Tsuna's beds in the middle of the night. Gradually the amount of nightmares decreased, but after a particularly stressful event they tend to return with a vengeance (and in these moments, even Tsuna, for all his cowardice and non-violent nature, cannot stop the feeling of cold fury in his chest, directed at Rokudo). That happened after the Rings Conflicts and the Inheritance Ceremony, and after the Representatives Battles, Fuuta spent practically all week in Tsuna's bed (along with both I-Pin and Lambo, who were likewise unsettled after all incidents).
The silence that settled over them was shuttered by a banged open door, as Lambo tumbled into the room with his usual boisterous laughter. The boy's cow-printed jumpsuit only half-zipped, his horns askew, and with a smear of toothpaste over his little chin. The noise woke Natsu up (again) with a start, and the lion cube swirled in the mass of flames with a squeal, returning back into the ring.
"Nyahahaha, I-Pin overslept!" The boy shrieked, running circles over the room, as I-Pin shot inside and after the Bovino assassin, screaming something in Chinese. Still clad in a pajama and what little of girl's hair, that was usually tied into a neat braid, flapping behind her, confirming that I-Pin probably just left the bed.
'You are the one who gets up too early Lambo!' silently groaned Tsuna, as Fuuta next to him amusedly watched the younger kids run around, all his previous worries mostly forgotten.
As they both looked, Lambo tripped over one of Tsuna's stray notebooks, sending himself flying into the wall, which resulted into a burst of tears and laughing I-Pin. Fuuta hurried to the boy, an expression of amused exasperation on his face.
"Come on, Lambo. I'm sure Mama already prepared breakfast, don't you want to be the first one to get to the table?"
"L-lambo-san will be the first!" All tears forgotten, Lambo stomped out of the room and downstairs, with a gleeful 'Lambo-san came down for breakfast!'. Fuuta went to change out of his pajamas, but not before advising I-Pin and Tsuna to hurry up too.
Tsuna stared after them with a sort of resigned expression (thinking about his breakfast that will be probably be eaten by Reborn, or Lambo, or even Bianchi, if she felt particularly mean today), when a small hand tugged at his sleeve and a familiar word on Chinese was addressed to him. He glanced down at I-Pin, who was squinting inquiringly at him from under the strands of her unkempt hair, and blinked when she offered him a hairbrush and a tie band, before plopping next to him on the bed.
He absent-mindedly wondered when I-Pin got the brush, while automatically combing the little tuft on girl's head and then braiding it. It was one of the things he learned to do when he was little and Nana still had long hair. His mother often allowed him to play with it, and even taught him how to make pigtails and braids (she was so patient, despite how many times he got her hair tangled or pulled), saying something about doing it for his own daughter if he will have one. Well, he snorted, at least some of his meager skills were useful. With a final snap of the tie band, he patted the girl on the head, signaling him done.
"谢谢 , 哥哥!" I-Pin smiled brightly at him, before scurrying off, presumably to the kitchen to save her share from Lambo. (6)
Tsuna smiled after her, wondering what 'gēgē' that I-Pin sometimes calls him means. While he understands some words of I-Pin's day to day vocabulary (like 'Xièxiè' which means 'Thank you'), he struggled with the meaning of some words that he doesn't hear often. He asked Reborn what it meant once, when I-Pin called him that in the presence of his tutor. The hitman just looked at him with a blank expression, before saying with a smirk that Tsuna will study Chinese as soon as he finishes with Italian. Well, Tsuna stood up; he hopes it is not a Chinese variation of 'No-good'. Lambo already calls him 'Dame-Tsuna', no need for I-Pin to have the same habit.
When Tsuna stumbled down the stairs, freshly cleaned up and dressed, the kitchen was already a chaos of food and talk. Nana, while simultaneously serving breakfast, talking with Fuuta and Bianchi, and attending to messy Lambo, sent Tsuna a bright smile and bid him a good morning. Tsuna couldn't help but smile brightly back at his mother.
Despite her a little airheaded and oblivious character, his mother was such a wonderful person. He doesn't know any other who will tolerate his no-good father and a hoard of freeloaders, accept children into their family without a question, and love such a no-good son as him. But he knows that his mother was not without a fault too, her air headedness was a source of worries for him very often, and sometimes he seriously worried how his mother could blatantly ignore all the craziness around them, but he loved her very much nevertheless. (7)
Greeting other occupants of the table, Tsuna sat in front of his miraculously intact breakfast, before noticing the absence of one person in the room.
"Bianchi, where is Reborn?"
"He had some business to attend to." Tsuna looked with surprise at the calmness displayed by Bianchi. The rose-haired woman was very clingy and overprotective of Reborn after the Representatives Battles, and it wasn't unusual to see her distressed if Reborn was not in her sight in the last weeks. However, right now, she was calmly eating, even sending a smile (just a slight quirk of her lips) at him.
Tsuna shrugged, deciding that if Bianchi was calm, then nothing was wrong with Reborn attending to this 'business'. And the suspicious tugging in his guts was probably the result of hunger. Yes, that was it.
He blinked down at his plate.
"Hey! Stop stealing my food Bianchi!"
Reborn was doing one of the things that he was best at; he was scheming.
The thrill of building plans, predicting actions and catalysts, making people do the things he wanted them to and Oh! It was one of the most satisfying feelings, when everything goes according to plan and the outcomes are everything he predicted, leaving everyone around him in awe of him. Don't get him wrong, he was not overconfident, just confident enough to know what he is very good at. And he wasn't ashamed to utilize every talent of his to reach his ultimate goal at the moment.
And that was to make Sawada Tsunayoshi the best Mafia Boss the Vongola Famiglia ever had since Primo. It was no longer a matter of favor asked by Nono such a long time ago, or even a matter of his own pride at never failing any assignment taken by him. No, for quite some time already (since Mukuro? Reborn himself wasn't even sure, when that scrawny little brunet wormed so deep into his heart.), it become his personal goal to make Tsuna the best damn Mafia Boss ever. Because Reborn wanted to. And very rarely there were things Reborn genuinely wanted to do (the first to become the best hitman in the world, the second to lift the curse of the Arcobaleno), so it would be unacceptable to not give it his everything. (8)
Though it didn't mean that he can't have some fun while doing it.
Og, it was nothing too horrible, like his students love to claim. Like many of his other plans, this one was a thought through, fool proof, entertaining- cough- plan. And very useful and educational for his no-good student. Yes, in the end it will be, indeed, a good experience for Dame-Tsuna, who seemed to get a little bit more lax in his training. Especially considering that he needs to train even more, to live up to his new title of 'Neo Vongola Primo' and his promise. The folder with information, that Nono sent him just two days before Tsuna's last exam, was a good excuse to notch up Tsuna's development into the best Mafia Boss.
Reborn deliberately ignored all the stick-it notes warning (courtesy of Nono's right-hand man, no doubt) on the folder, swiping them off irritatingly, before bringing out a single paper out of it and handing it to the person in front of him.
The baby hitman didn't stop smirking while the person skimmed over the page, before letting it fall on the table.
"And why should I agree to this?"
Reborn's smirk didn't waver.
"Think about it as a new blood to liven up the place. You also do not have to worry about the possible expenses, everything is covered. And if there will be any disturbances…" his smirk took a sadistic edge, "… you can deal with them in your own way, without the involvement of either from the city or outsiders. We will handle them."
He could feel the glare intensify, but the person didn't answer. Reborn pulled out another folder.
"And-" He threw it on the table, "We also offer our help with this project. I understand that you lack some necessary… funding." The hint of amusement was barely noticeable in his voice, but the person heard it loud and clear, if the intensified glare was any indicator.
"…hm."
Reborn just tipped his fedora and turned to leave, but before he left the baby glanced back.
"By the way, if you change your mind about today…"
The glare returned. Reborn just shrugged with a smirk and left.
Well, it won't be long now, before things will start to get into motion.
"Lambo! Not fair, you are right in front of the screen!" Fuuta yelled, while trying to dislodge the younger boy from the TV screen with a well-aimed pillow.
"Gyahaha! Lambo-san is not going to lose this one!" In a moment of agility, Lambo jumped, letting the pillow sail under him and hit the screen. However, he didn't calculate his landing point, which ended up in collision with I-Pin, who accidently let go of her controller, letting her character on the screen whir off the path and die.
"傻西兰花怪物!" with a scream I-Pin tackled Lambo and both of them start to roll around the room, the video game forgotten. (9)
Fuuta paused the game and with a huff flopped on his back on the bed where he and Tsuna were sitting.
"Nyuu- this game is boring Tsuuuna!" Lambo whined from under the I-Pin, who pinned him down and was sitting on his back with a look of triumph.
"You were the one who asked to play in the first place!" And Tsuna decided to just go along with it, seeing as he was on vacation and (miraculously) had nothing to do, and that he actually missed simply playing with them.
"It was just so Fuuta played with us too! Stinky Bianchi won't let him play with I-Pin and Lambo-san all week, and Fuuta likes this game!" Lambo grumbled, while trying to claw his way out from under I-Pin who nodded in confirmation.
Tsuna blinked at Lambo's statement. He knew that while he, Reborn and Bianchi was busy with exams, Bianchi (who decided to become Fuuta's tutor, too, since both of them were staying here and didn't have anything to do much during the day) decided to make a sort-of 'exam week' for Fuuta too. What he didn't know is that she didn't allow Fuuta to play with Lambo and I-Pin, and apparently they both missed Fuuta that much, to the point where they decided to do such a selfless (for Lambo at least) thing. Glancing at Fuuta, Tsuna saw that the boy was even touched by it.
"Thanks Lambo… but we really don't have to do it, if not everyone like it. Why won't we do something that we all want?" Fuuta smiled at the younger kids, who gleefully jumped up to decide what to do.
Tsuna just rolled his eyes at them with a smile. He bent down to turn off the console when a small foot suddenly collided with his back, making him faceplant rather painfully into the floor.
"You don't have time to play anymore, why aren't you dressed?"
"R-reborn?!" Tsuna sat up, holding his red face. "What are you talking about?!"
He just received a painful jab from Leon-ruler and a 'tsk' from the baby hitman.
"You have such terrible manners Dame-Tsuna. You didn't even greet your dearest tutor properly."
"Ouch-stop hitting me! Ah! And what did you mean 'get dressed'?" the brunet tried to evade the jabs from the hitman, but ended up tripping over his own legs and crushing into a moaning mass on the floor.
"Oh, Reborn-san! I almost forgot!" Fuuta on the other hand seemed to know what the hitman was talking about, judging by his brightened face. "I will go remind Mama! Let's go I-Pin, Lambo!"
As they left, Tsuna picked himself up to squint at his tutor, who was already leveling a transformed Leon-gun on him.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Get dressed, now."
With a 'Hieeeee' Tsuna quickly complied, while mentally crying tears. And everything was going so well today!
Tsuna couldn't help but fidget in his place next to Nana, while holding the enthusiastically babbling Lambo. What Reborn had planned? He didn't get a feeling that it was anything particularly bad, but when things concerned Reborn, anything could happen. Adding to the fact that the ex-Arcobaleno had a goal of making his life as complicated as possible… Tsuna continued to shoot Reborn looks, while the hitman cheerfully ignored him from his perch in Bianchi's hands. The young Mafia Boss-in-training was so concentrated on figuring out what Reborn's plan was, that he didn't notice when their little procession stopped in front of a familiar building. But he definitely noticed when Lambo launched out from his arms and slammed the door open.
"Lambo-san has arrived!"
"Lambo!" Tsuna hissed automatically, reacting to Lambo's obnoxiously loud voice.
But he didn't have to worry, since they were answered by a familiar laugh.
"Yo Lambo! You guys took your time, almost everybody are here already!" Takeshi appeared in the doorway of TakeSushi, hauling Lambo and sweeping I-Pin into his arms too. "Good afternoon Sawada-san!" he smiled brightly at Tsuna's mother, who beamed back at him.
"Oh, hello to you too, Takeshi-kun! It was such a nice of your father to invite everyone into his restaurant to celebrate!" Nana patted the youngest Yamamoto on the shoulder, entering after Bianchi, Reborn and Fuuta. "I planned to make something at home, but-"
"Well, I know you are an amazing cook Sawada-san, but even you have to take some time off!" Tsuyoshi, clad in his working attire, appeared from behind the counter, beaming at Nana.
"Tsuyoshi-san! How many times do I have to tell you, just call me Nana! Since our boys are such good friends~"
The two adults wandered away talking, while Tsuna continued to blink confusedly next to Takeshi, who was acting as a climbing tree for laughing Lambo and I-Pin.
"Celebrate? Celebrate what?"
"What? Hahaha~ Our successfully finished school year of course, Tsuna!" Takeshi slinked his arm around Tsuna's shoulders, dragging the smaller teen and the kids on himself inside. Tsuna looked around, finally noticing familiar people inside the restaurant.
Some of the central tables were moved close to each other, creating a big table that practically sagged under the amount of food on it. Around it and all over the room were scattered his chattering friends and classmates. Furthest from the entrance stood Kaoru, Ryohei and Koyo, the two latter obviously arguing (in loud voices of course) and simultaneously trying to sway Kaoru's opinion. A little closer to the table gathered Kyoko, Haru and (Tsuna noted with surprise) Kurokawa Hana (10); all three seemed to be in a deep discussion about something, though they were smiling. Adelheid stood on the other side of the table, closer to the counter, with a plate of sushi in her hand. Enma sat at the counter, his back to the door, because he turned to say something to Adelheid. Hayato was in an argument (rather one-sided) with Shitt P. on the other side of the restaurant. He could see a frustrated rant building up, but otherwise Gokudera and Shitt P. looked quite happy to talk in their strange language of U.M.A.-s. The future Mafia Boss was surprised to see a few adults chatting behind one of the tables near the furthest wall; recognizing Haru's father as one of them. The other two were women; one looking a lot like Hana but with long straight jet black hair, the other with short silver hair in a bob cut.
While he made his observations, Takeshi dragged him closer to the tables and the others finally noticed who arrived and hurried to exchange greetings.
"Juudaim- ACK! Big sister!" Hayato's happy greeting was violently interrupted by Bianchi who planted herself right in front of her brother with a plate of sushi.
"Ahh, Hayato always so happy to see me." The Poisonous Scorpion hummed, pleased. Shitt P. laughed a strange clacking laughter, her whole body seemed to contort with it.
"Gokudera-kun is so amusing to watch."
"Isn't he, hm? Good to see you, Shittopi-chan." Bianchi inclined her head to the girl with a smile, to which she received a sort-of-dance with a finger wiggle that probably interpreted as greeting.
Tsuna wondered when they got to know each other.
"Tsuna-kun!" Enma whirled on his stool, nearly falling off, but somehow maintaining his balance and smiled sheepishly at the brunet.
"Hello Tsuna-kun." Kyoko smiled at him happily, still pretty as ever, in her simple red dress and white leggings, and Tsuna couldn't help his stutter and blush when he greeted her and Enma back.
"Ah! You are finally here Tsuna-san!" Haru, as usual was smiling brightly, her eyes sparkling with delight. "Guess what? Haru had aced all her exams, desu~"
"Ah, that's great Haru! Congratulations." He smiled at the girl, while trying not to cringe, remembering his own exam results.
"Thank you! Tsuna-san must have done great too?"
"As if." Hana cocked her eyebrow with a smirk and gestured at Tsuna and Enma. "Those two have much to work on, to even reach the top 100. Even Yamamoto managed to not do as bad as them."
Here Tsuna cringed and Enma grimaced too, while shooting careful looks at frowning Adelheid. Takeshi just laughed, shrugging.
"Well, I just got lucky! And Enma and Tsuna worked hard too, Kurokawa."
"I suppose they indeed done better than anyone expected them to." Hana shrugged with a smirk that for a second seemed like a genuine smile. Tsuna had to blink at the unexpected 'almost' compliment from the one of the smartest girls in their year.
"But Enma can do much better." Adelheid shot a look to the future Tenth Shimon Boss. "We will need to revise our tutoring program to make it more effective." She completely ignored Enma's pale face and mouthed 'no, please'. Hana on the other hand seemed to be interested.
"Oh, you have a program? Based on preparation to the college?"
"More on the University. I fully intend Enma and others to finish both middle and high school with highest grades, to be accepted into university." Adelheid, seemed almost civilized and friendly as she and Hana moved from them to discuss educational-tutoring programs (and Tsuna tried really hard to ignore the words 'flame thrower' and 'punishment system', coupled with an all-too familiar glint in the girls' eyes).
"Oh gods, I am soooo dead." Enma whined quietly, letting his head fall on the counter. However he forgot that he had a full plate before him and ended up with his face full of sushi.
Yamamoto snorted at his misfortune, while Kyoko and Haru hurried to offer Enma paper towels to remove the food. Tsuna just sweatdropped at his friends' antics, but didn't manage to make a comment, when someone barreled into him from behind, wrapping their arm around his neck. Kyoko's reprimanding 'Onii-chan!' identified the assaulter.
"Sawada! Tell me, am I an extremely good boxing captain?!"
"Uh, what?" Tsuna flailed, taken aback by the question. What had brought this on? The answer came in the form of Aoba Koyo, who stood next to the cleaning himself Enma and slapped his Boss on the back, causing him to faceplant into the plate again.
"Hah! As if you are qualified enough to be anymore! Give up idiot, I will be the new boxing captain of the Namimori High School! I am challenging you for this position!" the bespectacled teen cried out.
"I accept! Let's extremely settle this with our fists!"
"Onii-chan! School hasn't even started yet and you are already picking up fights!" Kyoko's cheeks were red from the embarrassment, as she scolded her brother. However, when she turned to Koyo, her eyes were sterner. "And you shouldn't encourage him Aoba-senpai!"
Both teens flashed in embarrassment and stuttered excuses, but the big, moist, accusing look from Kyoko's eyes, silenced them. Yamamoto and Haru were openly laughing at them, while Tsuna sent a somewhat disbelieving look at Kyoko.
'Wow, Kyoko-chan managed to calm them down better than I ever did.'
"That's why you need more training Dame-Tsuna." Reborn flicked a chopstick into Tsuna's forehead as he landed on Takeshi's head with a full plate in his hands. "Compliments to your father, Yamamoto. Tuna turned out particularly nice this time."
"Haha, thanks. But he had some help with that dish."
As if on cue, the doors to the kitchen opened, and Tsuna (while rubbing a bruise from the chopstick) was surprised to see Chrome and Rauji walking out, the petite girl looking even smaller to the mountain of the man on her right.
"Boss, hello." A shy, hesitant smile graced Chrome's lips when she saw Tsuna.
"Chrome, hi! Uh, wait, you mean?-"
"Yep, Chrome came pretty early and my old man somehow roped her in to help." Takeshi smiled embarrassed and apologetic at the girl.
"Uh… it was nothing. Mountain-san helped out too." Chrome mumbled, blushing lightly and pointed her finger at Ooyama, who was immediately assaulted by Lambo and I-Pin, as soon as they saw him.
"I like to help in the kitchen." Was all explanation Rauji gave, before he turned his attention to the kids, who demanded him to play with them.
"Wow, I didn't know you can cook, Chrome!" Tsuna looked at his Mist Guardian, who fidgeted on her place at the attention.
"Chrome-chan is a great cook!" Haru was nodding vigorously, while Takeshi and Kyoko voiced their own agreements, making the purple-haired girl's face as bright as a tomato.
"And if she wants to learn more, I can happily tutor her." Bianchi appeared, as usual, unexpectedly, draping her arms over Kyoko's and Haru's shoulders. On her nose perched a pair of peculiar aquamarine-coloured glasses with neon lightning on the brim that Tsuna saw on Shitt P. just a moment ago. Apparently, the rose-haired woman borrowed them from Shimon Swamp Guardian, for the sake of Gokudera, who already was hurriedly limping towards Tsuna.
"J-juudaime! I apologize for not greeting you first and allowing my shameful w-weakness to render me useless!" Hayato bowed in the waist, appearance ruffled and his face still a little green.
"That's okay, G-gokudera-kun! Uh, are you all right? You are still looking unwell. Maybe you should sit? And, no Bianchi, don't teach Chrome your Poison Cooking!" Tsuna paled at the thought of another Poison Cooking user. It was enough that Gokudera seem to have at least as much luck with cooking as his sister.
He didn't notice Chrome tilting her head thoughtfully. (11)
"Juudaime is so k-kind, but you shouldn't worry! I trained really hard to overcome my inability to see my sister's face." Hayato straightened and smiled a pained grimace.
'I wouldn't say you have much progress G-gokudera-kun…' Tsuna cringed mentally at the silver-haired teen's ill face.
"That just means he, like his Boss, needs to train more, Dame-Tsuna." Another chopstick met his forehead and Bianchi handed Reborn a new pair. Gokudera upon this statement, immediately burst into a monologue of how he will train harder from now on, eliciting an amused comment from Yamamoto and enthusiastic one from Haru and Ryohei. Somehow it evolved into one of their usual arguments, but Tsuna could practically sense the feeling of relieved familiarity and fond amusement from everyone, and he couldn't help but smile at his friends.
In this pleasant atmosphere they moved towards the food, Ryohei and Koyo picking up another argument with Takeshi playing the peacekeeper and Gokudera throwing in comments with Shitt P., while Kyoko and Haru tried to assure Chrome that she absolutely deserved their compliments about food. Somehow Tsuna ended up next to Enma and silent Kaoru. The scary-looking teen didn't even look at him when Tsuna tried to greet him, instead resolutely glaring into the plate in his hands. While Tsuna was nervous next to him, he saw Kaoru looking at Takeshi and others with a fleeting pained expression on his face, before shuffling a little further from them. Tsuna understood that Kaoru was still hurting from the knowledge of being played by Daemon, like all Shimon Famiglia members, but apparently he felt like he didn't deserve to be near them after that. Well, Tsuna couldn't help but smile, when Takeshi tugged Kaoru to help him separate Koyo and Ryohei, Takeshi was pretty resilient to prove Kaoru that he was forgiven.
"Ah, we haven't introduced you yet, right Sawada?" Hana appeared next to him, Kyoko not far behind. Tsuna blinked at them, finally noticing that Adelheid moved in to discipline Aoba and Takeshi somehow ended up calming down Haru who was ranting at Gokudera and Ooyama, while clutching sobbing Lambo. Tsuna hesitated when both girls led him to the table where sat the three adults.
"Tsuna-kun, this is our mothers: Sasagawa Reiko and Kurokawa Yume-san. And Haru-chan's father, Miura Tamoe-san." Kyoko gestured at each adult. Tsuna bowed, gulping, suddenly feeling intimidated. 'I see Kyoko-chan's and Onii-san's mother for the first time!' (12)
"I-it is nice to meet you Sasagawa-san, Kurokawa-san. Nice to see you again, Miura-san."
"My-my, this is 'Tsuna-kun' that my children talk about so much. It is nice to finally meet you, instead of hearing about you." Sasagawa Reiko's eyes were the same shade of brown as her daughter, an interesting contrast to her silver hair, obviously inherited by Ryohei. They twinkled when the woman looked at him with an amused and somewhat knowing smile. Tsuna's cheek flamed from the mere thought of Kyoko-chan talking about him, of all people, to her parents.
"My Ryohei tends to get overly enthusiastic when he starts talking about the 'extremely extreme Sawada'!" Reiko grinned, while Koyko giggled at her mother's imitation of her brother.
Tsuna's face fell and he blushed. "I-I see. Onii-san does..."
Kurokawa Yume rolled her eyes under the black fringe, shooting a look at her friend. "Ryohei-kun tends to get overenthusiastic over everything, Reiko." The silver-haired woman hummed in reply, but didn't deny the statement. Yume turned her head to look over Tsuna critically, and the brunet straightened unconsciously at the observation. "Though, I do not really see what could have caused such enthusiasm."
Tsuna couldn't help but cringe at the blunt statement, barely noticing Hana huff an exasperated 'Mom' under her breath.
"Ho-ho-ho, well, Tsuna-kun is a good boy. Haru have nothing but praises for him too." Miura Tomoe laughed easily-going, his cheeks a little pink from the sake they were obviously drinking, and winked at Tsuna and the girls.
Tsuna felt his cheeks flame again, this time from embarrassment, wondering what kind of things Haru told her parents about him.
"Ara? Tsu-kun, making impressions on girls, I see."
"Kaa-san!" Tsuna whirled around, bright as tomato and clutching at his shirt in mortification. "No, it is nothing like that!"
But his mother was already bowing. "Nice to meet you, I am Sawada Nana! Good to see you, Tomoe-san."
"Nana-san!" Haru's father cried out gleefully, shifting to give space for Nana. "It is good to see you too. Sit, sit, and let me introduce you to Reiko-san and Yume-san…"
The adults started to talk, forgetting about the kids. Hana tugged both smiling Kyoko and still red-faced Tsuna from them. "Sorry about my mother Sawada. She tends to be blunt in the most unsuitable moments." Hana said.
"It's okay." Tsuna shrugged. And it really was. After all Tsuna was not exactly something special.
Hana shot him a look, which he couldn't quite distinguish, before shrugging and moving towards the others. However, before they reached the table, someone stumbled into the restaurant, crashing down on the floor in front of everyone.
"Ouch, that stings-" a mass of blonde hair shook itself, as their owner sat up on the floor. "Sorry, I'm late!"
"Dino-san!" Tsuna hurried forward with Yamamoto to help Dino up. "You came too?"
"I couldn't have missed the celebration, could I?" Dino grinned.
"The English teacher? You know Dino-sensei, Sawada?" Hana furrowed her brow, eyeing the blonde Cavallone Boss.
"Ah, Kurokawa-san." Dino nodded to her in greetings. "Yeah, these guys know me. I am Tsuna's older brother." He grinned brightly at her, notching up the charming Boss attitude. But Hana was not moved; she just narrowed her eyes suspiciously at them.
"Ah, related to the teacher, Sawada?" Tsuna stammered, trying to explain that they were not really brothers, but Hana ignored him and Dino just smiled awkwardly.
"Well… Actually I am not teaching in Namimori anymore." Dino laughed with embarrassment.
"Really? Why?" Takeshi tilted his head in question.
"Uh… I kind of got fired when I accidently destroyed the principle's important paperwork, set the teacher's lounge into fire with the microwave machine, flooded the gym after the graduation ceremony and uhhh kind of offended the school secretary?"
All of them stared at Dino incredulously.
"Huh. Definitely related to Sawada then." Hana blinked. Gokudera after hearing that, went onto the rant on how Tsuna is much better than Dino, and Tsuna once more tried to explain that they were not really brothers, but Reborn interfered their blubbering.
"Dino is his long lost cousin from father's side." The baby hitman stated as he jumped on Dino's head, his eyes blank as Hana stared at him, before nodding and allowing Kyoko and Haru sweep her into another talk.
"Why are you late Pipsqueak Dino? I told you to be here twenty minutes ago." Heel of Reborn's shoe dug into Dino's head, making the blonde cringe.
"Ah- ouch, Reborn – I was trying to convince Kyoya to come and celebrate his graduation with everyone."
"Ah, I completely forgot Hibari has finished his third year." Yamamoto laughed, while Hayato stopped his rant to scowl at him.
"Of course he did, you baseball idiot. He couldn't have stayed in middle school forever, could he?" (13)
"I didn't even know Hibari-san was a third-year." Tsuna paled, wondering if it really mattered. It is not like anyone in school, neither in middle nor high, would dare to order Hibari to leave or to stay. The statement, however, earned him another kick from Reborn ("Be more attentive, Dame-Tsuna.").
"Yeah, I wouldn't put it past that bastard to stay in the middle school if he wanted to." Hayato reluctantly admitted, not willing to recognize the prefect's power over the Namimori town.
"Hah, either way, he refused to come, saying that he had to patrol, because of the increased amount of 'crowding' in Namimori." Dino shrugged.
'In other words, he will go around the town, biting to death the students who are celebrating the end of the year. Hiiieeee! I hope Hibari-san won't come here and bite us all to death! It will result into an all-out fight between everyone! And the first one to start will probably be Adelheid, Gokudera-kun, Onii-san and Aoba!' Tsuna panicked in his mind.
"Hm. So this is how an authentic sushi-bar looks." The unexpected voice shifted their attention from the thoughts about the school prefect.
'Adult Lambo?! But wait, I didn't hear the bazooka going off.' Tsuna peered behind Dino at the entrance of the restaurant.
"Uhh, haven't you already been to a sushi-bar?"
"This one is different." Two figures entered the building and all eyes immediately fell on them.
"Shoichi-kun, Spanner!" Tsuna brightened at the sight of the duo. "I thought you already were on the airplane to England!"
"Tsuna-san, hello everyone." Shoichi waved at them, his cheeks a little red. "We decided to stay behind for some time, and to stop by, if you don't mind us joining you, of course-"
"Of course not, Irie-san!" Haru and Kyoko giggled at the red-faced boy.
"Shoichi was so worried we would be intruding." Spanner droned out in his usual voice, though he regarded his red-headed friend with amusement in his eyes. "See Shoichi, people are happy to see us. Now, I wanted to taste those famous sushi made by Yamamoto Takeshi's father for a long time already." (14)
"You did?" Takeshi snickered at the eager look on Spanner's face when he saw the table. "Well, than we have no right to deny you that! Come on, I will serve you our best!"
As they moved to the others, Tsuna introduced Shoichi (and Spanner, despite his attention being stolen by the food) to everyone who didn't know them. As soon as all introductions were made, Tsuna turned to Shoichi with a smile.
"I am glad you came, Shoichi-kun. These few weeks were so busy; we hadn't time to see each other at all."
"Yeah, but the results paid off." Irie smiled back, and Tsuna couldn't help but laugh. Shoichi was talking about the fact that his marks put his mother into such a good mood that she allowed Shoichi to visit England. The red-headed genius was invited by Spanner, who wanted to show him his workshop back in England, in his grandfather's garage.
Enma and Gokudera joined them, and somehow the two red-heads and his self-proclaimed right-hand man ended up discussing Enma's ability to manipulate gravity and the physics behind it. When talk touched the flames of earth, Tsuna decided that he didn't really want to hear anything Mafia-related right now and wandered off to help Dino. Somehow, Dino was intercepted by Nana, who eagerly introduced him to her fellow parents, and Dino was forced to stay with them while the adults asked him about his experience in Namimori Middle School as a teacher. Tsuna tried to pry his self-proclaimed brother away from them, but was thwarted by Haru and Fuuta, who dragged him back to the table and declared that they needed to make a toast.
"Toast?"
"To Ryohei-san's, Suzuki-san's, Aoba-san's and Hibari-san's graduation from middle school, of course!" Haru looked really proud of her idea, and others readily proclaimed their agreement. They made the three out of four present stand in front of the counter, halted all talks and called out Dino, the adults and Yamamoto-san from the kitchen, before lifting their glasses.
"Congratulations with graduation!"
"TO THE EXTREME!"
Everybody laughed at Ryohei's enthusiastic exclamation, even Hayato, Spanner, Kaoru and Adelheid cracked a smile. Reborn interrupted the chatter to announce out of blue that they should hold a singing competition and somehow everyone agreed (while Tsuna tried to frantically determine if there will be consequences if one refused to participate) and were surprised when Ryohei volunteered and started to hoarsely sing the song that surprisingly enough, was stuck in his head since the graduation ceremony.
"The dazzling sun calls out your name~"
Kyoko and Haru immediately joined in:
"We can look at the sky with the same feelings!"
All three of them smiled as they sung.
"When things are tough, don't let your tears fall all alone,
Until the world becomes one, Extreme!" Ryohei ended the line with an enthusiastic fist-pump. (15)
And somehow everybody ended up singing and laughing. It was all hectic and crazy, as the celebration progressed, but it was their brand type of crazy. Tsuna couldn't help but smile, almost unconsciously, at those dear to him people. Deep, swelling emotions overwhelmed his heart as he listened to them, becoming almost too much that he needed to blink out an unwanted wetness in his eyes at the sight of them.
Tsuna wasn't aware, but Reborn watched his student closely, surrounded by his family members and friends. The self-satisfied smirk on the baby hitman's face went unnoticed, as he glimpsed the glowing with happiness face of his charge.
(1)If you looked closely to the timeline in KHR then you know its fucked up. Jk, but seriously, let's break it apart: During the Daily Arc, Tsuna had his birthday quite early in the Arc (he turned 13), and after Kokuyo/Mukuro Arc and in the beginning of Varia Arc (Vol.10 Chap.85) Reborn said to Iemitsu that he was here for a year and a half. Considering that Amano pretty much ignored any time-passing-related things after that, (was there a winter? A birthday? What even happened wtf), we can probably break timeline from Reborn's arrival and matching it with their school year (Japanese school year goes like this April – July, September – December, January – March then final exams):
Daily Arc started somewhere around the beginning of April? (1 year 2+ months) – Kokuyo Arc in the middle of July? (1 year 3+ months) – A month-long break, during which Tsuna recovered – Varia Arc in September (1 year 5+ months) – somewhere after Tsuna's 14th birthday? – start of Future Arc either in November or December? (? Indecisive because Amano never explained clearly how much time went while they were in the future? At least a day/week?) – weeks/month-long 'break'? – Inheritance Ceremony Arc somewhere in January/February? (1 year 7-8 months? Again not given any clear timeline) takes at least 1-2 weeks with the ceremony itself and trials with Shimon? – unknown amount of time for recovery (I'm guessing a week or two?) – Arcobaleno Arc is in February (1 year 10+ months ?), lasts at least a week+, end closer to March. So it is enough time for a school year to come to an end and for the final exams.
If someone has an opinion about this, please do share. I would love to discuss the technicalities of KHR world.
(2) Because they demolished the whole frigging penthouse during the Representatives fight. I think during the fights no one would have time to fix it up. And Varia just doesn't give a flying duck.
(3) I have the firmest belief that Mammon/Viper does not identify as any sex. So, the neutral pronoun 'they'. If you have a problem or argument against my decision, please share. I would love to hear them, even if I probably won't change my own opinion.
(4) I still think it was a fucked up decision on Amano's part to end things like this. But WTH I am not the mangaka, so I'm gonna work with what I was given.
(5) The funniest thing is that when I wrote this I had no idea that it is actually canon, as Fuuta's trauma and crippled abilities were mentioned in Light Novels, Hidden Bullet: Meeting a Dangerous Boy. (info from KHR wikia) So I made a perfect blend of canon and my own headcanons.
(6) "谢谢 , 哥哥!" Xièxiè gēgē' – or 'Thank you, older brother' in Chinese. I have a headcanon that both I-Pin and Lambo call Tsuna 'older brother' but only when they are alone/or in some specific situation.
(7) Okay, it is pretty obvious that Nana is NOT an ideal mother, far from it. But Tsuna is not a perfect son too. And he obviously loves his mother very much, no matter what people may say. And while sometimes I strongly disprove of Nana character, there would be absolutely NO character bashing (and I love both Nana-bashing and BAMF!Nana fics). Though I won't be blind to Nana's fault, that's for sure.
(8) Because, let's admit it. Reborn pretty much behaved like either overconfident / suicidal idiot sometimes, and it was obvious why. So I think a person like him, after getting a curse, pretty much didn't want anything. He did it either because he just can or just because.
(9) 傻西兰花怪物! Shǎ xī lánhuā guàiwù – stupid broccoli monster. BTW if you are still wondering why I use Chinese: I am keeping the traditional for manga I-Pin, the one who doesn't speak much Japanese and still mostly talks in Chinese/Mandarin.
(10) I fucking love Hana. She ought to be used more in fanfics.
(11) I love Chrome to bits, and honestly like every fic where she learned poisoned cooking from Bianchi. However, here there is another canon part that Anime had forgotten. Chrome knows how and can cook. It was also mentioned in one of the Hidden Bullet novels.
(12) Because honestly? There is a lack of parental figures in this manga. We obviously know that Sasagawas have a family. Hibari too, Chrome has her (horrible) parents and Gokudera/Yamamoto their dads. So, first of many OCs I planned. Maybe I should make a profile for them later, hm? And Miura Tamoe is Haru's father who tried to help them solve that math problem, remember?
(13) Because Hibari is the oldest out of the Guardians, being 16, it is actually not right to place him into the first year of High School. But he is Hibari, and I'm pretty sure he can be whenever he wants for how long he wants. So, in this case the explanation is this: During his last year in Nami Middle, Hibari got the biggest disturbance on his school Tsuna and his company, so he decided to stay to keep an eye on them. For that reason he stayed for one more year in Nami Middle, and later for reasons known only to him, he finally decided to transfer Nami High.
(14) Just a friendly reminder that Spanner is a huge Japanese fan from England. He is adorable.
(15) The song and the title is Sekai ga Hitotsu ni Naru Made (Until the World Becomes One) by Ya-Ya-yah. It popped out when I googled 'Japanese songs for closing ceremonies at school'. It was written to be quite popular for many years in school, so I decided to use it in KHR timeline year: 2004 – year of release, + almost 2 years according to plot – 2006? I even suggest to listen to it on youtube. It is sung by a bunch of cute Japanese kids. Used lyrics:
The dazzling sun calls out your name - Mabushii hizashi ga kimi no namae wo yobu
We can look at the sky with the same feelings - Onnaji kimochi de sora wo mieru yo
When things are tough, don't let your tears fall all alone - Tsurai toki hitori kiri de namida wo koraenaide
Until the world becomes one - Sekai ga hitotsu ni naru made
Author's note: Welp, here is the second part of the prologue. This fic was written with the intentions of enjoying each and every character, explore some loose ends of the canon, and just an idea to keep up the spirit of KHR original.
Thank you-s for follows and favs to Lecfan, Ming028, QueenVongola, treavellergirl, x'Hyste'x, Alluka HK Mustang, colourful lioness.
x'Hyste'x: Thank you for the compliment! Got to say that it's most likely because I re-checked this fic for who knows how many times during all these years. So much time for self beta-ing.