Disclaimer: I do not own KHR.

Chapter 6: Delusional Reborn

Tumors were like a disease; they spread like airborne plagues and showed no sign of ending. She was now proudly labeled as part of the Italian mafia and daughter of a filthy rich yakuza boss. She had hundreds, even thousands of men (both foreign and Japanese) that would attack and defend on command. She was even seen together with Hibari; they were lovers. It was funny how there was such a fine line between fabrications and the truth.

It didn't really matter. Her life was normal; the only good thing was that Nezu was gone. Gokudera was just as annoying (and sometimes cute) as ever, and Hibari didn't stop wanting to fight her or Reborn. He was starting to turn out to be a pest… (Perhaps that was how he was different than Xan-niichan. He didn't yell or kick people randomly, and all he seemed to care about was the school and rules. In fact, it was so repetitive he was becoming boring. Did he ever think of anything more complex than just fighting? If not, he would be no different than all the other teens in the world.)

She was alienated from the rest of the school. And that was never good when the only ones who would approach her were an overenthusiastic subordinate, a bloodthirsty prefect and a crazy baby hitman. The rest of the sane (and stupid) population distanced themselves at least 3 meters away from her. Even Kyoko, the naïve loving was girl kept away. (Courtesy of her friends that dragged her away whenever she wanted to talk to Tsuna)

Gym class was all the same. They were playing baseball and Tsuna, who was in the less popular section of the class, was the last standing to be chosen for several vital reasons. One: She was part of the mafia. Two: She was still considered 'Dame' and weak. Even if she was part of the mafia, she was still rumored to be useless. Three: Gokudera went to restock his dynamite and so could not choose her for his team.

The first ones to go were those that were at least partially good. Then the others, and soon it was only her left. The two teams were pensive and worried about which side she would be forced upon. Tsuna couldn't care less. It was finally when some boy stood up and announced, "Tsuna-chan you can come with us!"

He had the average; black hair and brown eyes of any Japanese boy, but he stood out from the others. He was tall—taller than the rest, standing calmly a head above the rest, almost dwarfing her. A relaxing aura permeated around him.

A whiny voice complained loudly, unseen by the wall of humans that stood around the boy. "Ehhh? Why her? Dame-Tsuna can't do anything!"

It was a domino effect. His words made every other student pale, which made the teacher pale, which made the foolish girl who yelled that out pale at the instant effect. The thing was; the only ones who weren't affected were the fangirls. It was weird how they stood out from the sides and cheered the black haired guy on.

"Go Takeshi!"

"Kyaaa~ Yamamoto-san!"

"He's so kind~"

The boy took his crazy fangirls' crazy shouts stride by stride and smiled. "Aww, what do you mean? It means I'll just have to work harder right?" and smiled again. The boys looked at him with an admiration close to Gokudera's, and the female population cheered him on.

Tsuna yawned and stood by the side. 'Hmmm. Isn't he the popular one" she commented. It was amazing how much the man's smiles attracted the others to him like bees to honey. Well, it was none of her business she supposed.

Yamamato's superb skills kept them from losing too badly, but her team had lost—not like they would win when all she did was stand there and swing the bat at any random time.

The students sighing in disappointment and left whispering to each other how 'Dame-Tsuna' was so useless. What she didn't understand was how they didn't realize how loud they were whispering. It was like they wanted her to hear. She also didn't know why how even with them fearing her, she was still the only one left on the field, thus forcing her to clean up for them.

"Don't worry! Help is on the way."

Correction. The sporty guy stayed behind and wanted to help her clean up. Lovely. Now she would be forced to clean up while listening to the rabbles of some sports freak.

Indeed, as she started to take up the broom and sweep, the boy laughed and sighed. "Hey, partner in studies." Yes, that was what he called her. It was sad, but her horrible grades could be rivaled with Yamamoto's. (But his nickname for her was even sadder.)

Uncharacteristically, Yamamoto sighed once more before talking aloud. "I don't know why, but I'm slacking. My hits are getting worse…" Tsuna raised an eyebrow. Now, she could tell he had hid something darker than just an easygoing personality with those smiles, but why in the world did he confide this with her of all people?

"Why are you telling me this?" she asked. He gave a sheepish smile and answered, "I—I dunno, I mean, I feel like you won't judge me you know?" His smile darkened and his head hung low. "What do you think I should do?" His eyes stared appraisingly at Tsuna, hopeful for some help.

Tsuna sighed. She then suggested, "Whenever I'm doing worse, I keep on practicing. When I've reached my limit, I-"

"YEAH! I see. Me too. I should just keep on practicing and working hard!" Yamamoto shouted and thanked the girl with a nod before running away. Tsuna's brow twitched in irritation and she muttered, "The guy doesn't even let me finish… And he didn't even help with the cleaning. Useless."

Then Reborn popped up. With a small swish, he landed on Tsuna's head and spoke, "Yamamoto Takeshi's popularity and athleticism is needed in the mafia. Dame-Tsuna, convince him to join your family."

Tsuna twitched before answering. "… I'll ask, but I'm telling you, don't be too hopeful." She murmured before finishing the clean up and heading home. The rest of the school day would be useless anyway, so better yet just skip it. It was Hibari's lunch period: he would be either in his office, or on the roof sleeping. Either way, he wouldn't notice her gone.

Nowadays, the extreme tutoring was held in the attic, so not to disturb Tsuna's room. Not to mention how long it took to fully organize her room back into order. Reborn didn't bother helping, and Nana was buy with the usual household chores.

So in order to prevent her room from being blown into smithereens, Reborn brought the lessons up where there would be no balance poles to break and no walls that would tumble down on them if any unfortunate accident occurred.

But it was needless, as Tsuna had answered each question correctly. Reborn shook his head and questioned, "Too easy?"

Tsuna snorted. "Are you saying I'd be as idiotic as the others in the school? Those simpletons barely learn anything, useless. And it doesn't matter. There is no point in actually trying if I know the material, so tests are worthless." It was insulting.

Reborn's eyes narrowed and Tsuna twitched. 'Damn' she thought, regretting her words. Reborn smirked sadistically and said, "Then I should give you harder problems correct? Would college level be good enough?"

And so, the day was filled with explosions: mostly. Tsuna had gotten a rare question or two right from the either the combination of her culmination of book smarts or pure guessing, but most of her answers were fatally wrong. She didn't mind so much as long as her room—no, her books were safe. And really, this was similar to the training she had received from her adoptive brothers back in Italy. Just a bit more... wild.

Wild enough that the marks and scratches were clearly visible on her pale (she didn't go a lot) skin and a few dark bruises here and there, spotted over her legs and arms if they banged into something hard during the explosion or vice versa.

The next day she had arrived to school with more wounds than she had ever had before. She was faintly reminded of the stinging feeling she had back as a child, during her first run around the mansion. Her body stung and her muscles stretched painfully.

She managed to avoid Reborn and Nana by leaving early for school (remembering to write a note), but now she was too early. Waiting two hours in front of the school building, especially with the possibility of the discipline leader around, wasn't the greatest idea.

At least she had brought a book. A big fat one; all about the Wonders of Italy. She just didn't have anything else to read. This encyclopedia of Italy had already been read at least five times, but she had nothing else. All the others were read more than eight times.

With a tired and irritable yawn, she plumped herself down on the ground near the school gate and started scanning, noting and memorizing each section of the book. An hour and a half passed slowly by while she almost fell asleep. Her breathes grew softer and her head dropped slightly, signaling her dozy state.

It was unfortunate for her that she had such a devoted subordinate. "JUUDAIME!" a worried, loud noise snapped her up from her doze. She groaned and lifted her head up at the yell.

"JUUDAIME!" Again, the annoying voice resounded through the air. Down the sidewalk came a running silver haired boy, shouting her name frantically around the neighborhood. She whimpered. The shouts were starting to ring in her ears.

"Gokudera" she groaned, wishing for the guy to shut up. Once Gokudera's eyes came in contact with her, they brightened, and like a true puppy, he ran up to her with a wagging tail. "Juudaime? Your mother said you left early toda—JUUDAIME! Where did those wounds come from? Who was it? I will hunt them down and-"

Tsuna quickly corrected the misunderstanding before anything else bad happened. "No, no one hurt me Gokudera. These came from… training. Intense training." She let out a sigh and winced a bit; a particularly painful bruise had brushed against Gokudera's arm.

Realizing what he had done, Gokudera gasped and bowed down, begging for forgiveness. "I'm sorry Juudaime! If you always train yourself so hard, I must do the same!" He clenched his fist in determination and Tsuna paled. "N-no, it's okay Gokudera. Really." Could this day get any worse?

Yes, it could.

Attracted by the noise, a kind, peaceful prefect had wandered in the area asking for some quietness.

Not.

"Herbivores, what are you doing loitering around?" the teen demanded, tonfas already out and ready to strike. Gokudera also looked about ready to take out his dynamite. Tsuna sighed at the disastrous combo and slinked backwards, hoping not to get hurt in the fight.

It was a good thing for her that Reborn had came, preventing the battle. The baby landed atop her head and commented, "Dame-Tsuna, I see your injuries have healed." Tsuna twitched in frustration. 'Yeah. The ones you've made…' It almost wanted to make her kill the child: the one responsible for the sting she was feeling. Almost.

Hibari's attention was diverted from the hot headed subordinate to the sadistic baby. "Infant. Fight me" he demanded, eyes gleaming in anticipation.

"Not now. I will be training Dame-Tsuna." Now Tsuna paled even more. A regular Reborn was something she could handle. However, she just could not deal with the baby hitman in 'tutor' mode, where he 'taught' her whatever he wanted to teach her. He was too uncontrollably wild and stubborn to follow.

Ding~

Dong~

Thank god. She was saved by the bell; the beautiful, godly bell she now christened her salvation.

Breathing out in relief, she smiled and tugged Gokudera into the school gates, leaving Hibari and Reborn (who had left her hair) back at the entrance. "Gokudera and I wouldn't want to be late for class, right Hibari-san?" she called out, before quickly walking to her class.

By the time Hibari had growled and turned to face his other prey, Reborn had left the scene.

…

Classes were boring as usual, and by lunchtime Tsuna contemplated skipping. The choice was hard. Should she try to leave the premises unnoticed and risk being found by Hibari? Or should she just stay and bear the monotonous lectures.

She cringed at the prospect of staying any longer. Hibari should be prowling along the yards, and Gokudera went to refill his dynamite stock again, so it should be okay… With slow movements she crept straight for the doors of the classroom.

Only to be stopped by a large mass of kids who were shouting and running all over the place.

"Yamamoto's going to jump from the top of the roof!"

"We need to save him!"

It was a large commotion, and apparently Yamamoto was going to commit suicide for some unknown reason. He had always looked happy and smiled as often as he talked. Well, except for that time he talked with her.

It was really none of her business. And the commotion would be a great distraction… So she once again, tried to break through the crowd (who had not yet noticed her) and run.

Whack.

A hard stick-like object sprung from nowhere and smashed upon her head. The pain was enormous, and Tsuna clenched her throbbing head while trying to find the source of her pain. It would no doubt be either Hibari or…

Reborn.

Tutting, the baby frowned and spoke. "Dame-Tsuna, Yamamoto will be one of your guardians. He is a natural hitman." Gritting her teeth to keep from yelling, Tsuna sighed slowly and finally nodded her head in acceptance.

After recovering from the kick, she walked up the numerous stairs to the crowded rooftop. About half the space was filled with kids yelling out to the boy standing near the railing. Yamamoto was staring at the sky, ignoring the desperate shouts of,

"Don't do it Yamamoto!"

"Don't jump!"

"Yamamoto-sama, I love you! Please don't jump!"

The only problem was that Tsuna couldn't even see the boy; everyone was blocking her view. She cursed her height and tried to find some opening in which she could crawl through. This was useless. They were packed so tightly it was almost suffocating.

She tried to push her way through. That didn't work. She was either rebounded back, or harshly shoved aside from some random student. Then she tried calling out to the school of children, being polite enough to ask them to move aside, rather than yelling obscenities at them. Her words, regardless of how loud they sounded out, were ignored and overcome by the mass of murmurs that came from the large crowd.

She had enough.

Taking out two of her more realistic looking guns from her pockets, she raised it up and barked on the top of her lungs, "Move." Those near her turned to shout rudely at whatever was yelling so loudly, only to choke on their saliva.

They quickly pushed each other aside to get away from the dangerous yakuza girl. The ordinarily plain looking yakuza girl with guns. She didn't look as weak and ordinary when two sleek black pistols hung from her hands.

It was the parting of the red sea again.

Smirking in satisfaction, Tsuna walked up, ignoring the gasps of, "It's Dame-Tsuna! What's she doing here? Is she going to kill Yamamoto?" It slightly irked her how they spread random rumors like that, but oh well.

Yamamoto heard her name, and turned to see if it was really her. He came face to face with a girl who was calmly putting her guns away with a raised eyebrow. Silence passed before she questioned, "Should I ask why you're trying to kill yourself? Unless you're just 'relaxing' right next to those poorly constructed gates so that you could accidently lean on them and fall to your death?"

She pointed at the clearly rusty, broken fences. Yamamoto smiled crookedly and replied, "Oh, yeah! How did you know? Everyone seems to thi-" It took a while for him to process the fact that he was close to accidental death and quickly jumped away from the fence, landing on his bottom in front of Tsuna.

To prove her point even further, she whipped her guns out once more and shot a few rounds at the fence. With only two shots, the thing went dropping down, hopefully hitting no passerby. Not like it mattered.

Yamamoto's eyes shot wide at what could have happened, and he laughed nervously. "Geez. Thanks Tsuna-chan. I don't know what would've happened if I had…"

She replied flippantly, "It's fine." Then her eyes narrowed by a small margin. "But let me ask you one more time. You sure you weren't even thinking about jumping?"

He chuckled softly, staring down at the edge of the building. "Well, I-I might've thought about it once or twice…" She stared down at him with uncaring eyes.

"I see."

He smiled.

She smiled.

Then took her gun out.

He smiled.

And she shot.

BANG

He dodged just in time. The bullets left holes in the ground.

She was still smiling eerily.

His eyes widened even more and he laughed nervously. "U-Um, did you just try to shoot me?" He inched back away from crazy girl.

Tsuna's smile twisted into a glare. "People who even think of killing themselves are not trash. THEY ARE WORSE THAN FUCKING TRASH. Got that?" she spoke with a condescending tone that sent shivers down others' backs.

The boy was too shocked to respond, and Tsuna walked away. The students parted away from the girl's path, too terrified to even whisper amongst one another about what she had just done.

Once she was inside the stairwells, she growled and her fingers itched for her guns. Just when she was about to take them out, the wall was peeled off, and out came Reborn.

"Family acquired."

She raised her eyebrow in curiosity. "Hm? What do you mean 'family acquired'?" Reborn smirked. "Yamamoto isn't a masochist, and considering the way I threatened him, he would most likely not want to join my family. Unless of course, you're so desperate and delusional that you believe he's going to join." Tsuna informed the clearly idiotic baby.

Reborn frowned at her and brought out his guns, pointing them straight at her. Tsuna scowled at herself. Sometimes, sometimes she was really stupid.

"Training time." Reborn muttered and started shooting at her. Tsuna sighed, and rushed out of the school building home. In such a state of panic, she had hoped that Hibari hadn't noticed her, too focused on the crowd in the rooftop.

That didn't work well, as just when she approached the school gateway, a figure slathered in black with tonfas ablaze stood there with a smirk.

"And what are you doing, Herbivore?"

A/N: Hope all of you liked it. Please review, critique, do whatever. The next chapter will be a bit different then the manga. Not by much. Thanks to all those who took their time and reviewed! And thanks to those who took their time to read!

*I've edited it, and I think I made Tsuna's impression of Hibari worse... It's just that I always read about him like the "You've ... die." So mechanical. Which is why, sometime later, I'll make it so that Hibari actually had emotions.

*Second edit. Commenting on what I last wrote, I now think of Hibari as a cool character, but I just don't see the two together. Jan. 4. 2012

First Lady Lestat- I agree, why should guys get all the fun! Also, i should say that my friend complained. The guy said, "I NEED MORE HAREMS!" So I told him, "NO I NEED MORE REVERSE HAREMS!" And he called 'Reverse Harems' weird. A bunch of guys having sex with one girl is like a whore. I retorted, "most reverse harems don't include sex, since RH are for girls. Harems are for guys, who are perverted enough to watch sex, idiot.' That shut him up, HAH! (Even if I'm perverted and would want to read about the sex scenes too, but he doesn't need to know that.) Anyways... The romance in this fic will all be of different levels. Tsuna may like some people more or in different ways, but she'll still love most of them... Though Dino will most likely be the 'I love her' type while she would be, 'He's weak, but I still love him' deep in her heart. I might write a lemon about the two. Dino will finally be 'suave'!

xXxEminaxXx- I suppose I made her this way because, like many others, I find Tsuna too weak (willed). (Though he is adorable). Fanfiction acting like a daydream to me. 'YES! She's awesome now!' Sadistic is good, but yeah, I'm trying to make her less sadistic. That's all I'm saying. I'm trying.

pheonixlady7- I agree with you. I don't really like Naruto (the characters like Naru, Sasu, Sakura, Kakashi, etc. The Akatsuki is good, Iruka, Anko, Itachi and lots others are good. But the main characters annoy me too much.) but yeah I know what you mean. Hopefully, I've incorperated that in this chapter.

Halloween's Phantom- Good question. I'm not sure, but I don't quite like her character anyway. Do you want her in? Becuase right now her absence really won't conflict with anything in the future. Adding her in might be fun though.

Mukuro, Bel, Hayato, Hibari will all be included. Xan-niichan... I just don't know anymore. I will reread the part where Spanner and Irie comes in. If I like it, they will be added. I'm gunna change it somehow, so I don't add in the TYL arc though.