Disclaimer: I do not own KHR.

Chapter 10: Riceballs

The heat was sweltering. It was blistering. It was…

"Too hot…." Tsuna lamented softly. That giant, flaming, ball of gas had triggered even Tsuna to get out of her house and travel the dragging, dry, arid minutes to the corner shop for some nice, cold, smooth ice cream. Only to find that they had somehow run out; some random old woman had bought the last packet right before her eyes… She now confirmed that the God above hated her.

Now she was trudging back home, hoping to arrive back before she melted into nothing but a pool of acrid blood. She didn't exactly like the calidity; she was more in tune with the cold. Which was ironic considering she was supposed to have a bit of the sun flame in her. Perhaps it had died out one day as she was growing up?

Either way, it was still too hot. "If only… I had some water…" she moaned, too hot to even talk straight. The heat was getting to her, she was sure of it.

Then, miraculously, a woman riding a mommy bike had stopped right next to her and thrown her a can of soda. "Please have it, if you would like" she smiled, giving a celebrity wink, before biking off. That woman looked suspiciously like someone she had read about before….

Now, if Tsuna had been some weak-willed, foolish idiot, she would've opened the can and drank to her heart's content. But she wasn't. She wasn't exactly the most trusting of teens, especially when having some sort of food given freely to her by a pretty woman who had conveniently arrived when she needed the drink, so she tested the can.

Flicking the can open, she poured a bit of the liquid onto the paved sidewalk. It didn't do the desired 'splash', but more of the 'sizzle'. And that wasn't because of the heat. The liquid had melted into the cement, drizzling down, similar to the effect of her acid guns. If she wasn't who she was, she would have died. Tsuna also had the not so sneaky suspicion that it had something to do with the Vongola. It always did.

She sighed and threw the can behind her shoulder and headed home. She was tired.

And she learned something: God didn't hate her. God wanted her dead.

So exhausted, she hadn't even noticed the crow that—due to the toxic gas excreted from the acidic poison—dropped dead onto the sidewalk.

Arriving back home, back where it wasn't sweltering hot— well, not as hot as outside (They had no air conditioner), Tsuna went up to her room. Reborn would most likely have answers to her question related to that woman. If that lady was going to be a danger to her, which she had already shown full well, then she would need to exterminate the woman before she became another thorn in her life. Tsuna wanted to live a stress-less life, thank you very much.

As soon as she had opened the doors, she came face to face with Reborn, covered with a large amount of beetles.

"Why are there Xylotrupes ulysseses on your body Reborn?" she asked with a deadpan face. She didn't really want to know why such… harmless beetles were his minions.

Reborn replied with his own deadpan face.

She rebounded with, "Xylotrupes ulysseses, common rhinoceros beetles. Why would you have them?"

The infant gave a small, snort-like sound before rebutting, "Only someone as Dame as you would know something like that."

Before she could reply to that statement, the bell rang, and someone downstairs was waiting outside. Nana wasn't there, evident by the continuous knocking of the door. So Tsuna was forced to go down and open the doors to somebody, who had better not be one of those door to door salesmen. God were they annoying.

Once the door was opened, the same woman from before appeared and gave that same celebrity smirk and a box of (poisonous) pizza. "Thanks for waiting. A delivery of Vongola pizza" she said.

Tsuna was not amused. The woman had made it painfully obvious which family she was from, and it seemed she was part of the Vongola. 'Part of the family who wants to make sure I don't become the boss?' Tsuna wondered morbidly, before slamming the door (though that wouldn't help much) at the woman's face.

WHAM!

Just like she had predicted, the door could not withstand the kick that was made as it broke open. The woman, once again, stepped in. The only change would be the gas mask she had on as she flipped open the pizza box cover, letting the poisoned air slip out.

With no way to actually reach and kick the box away, Tsuna quickly began to run back to the safety of her room and jump down from the window.

It turns out; she would not have to go through such lengths. Reborn had effectively kicked the box away (letting another three crows sink to the ground), though she had no idea how he had braved the poison. Probably because he was Reborn.

"Ciaossu, Bianchi" Reborn said in a both childish, yet somehow suave voice. Bianchi, immediately enamored by his presence, took of her mask and asked in a slightly nostalgic voice, "Reborn?"

'Possibly a past lover?' Tsuna thought curiously with a slight hint of disgust.

Then with trembling hands, she pulled off her hat and pleaded, "I came here to bring you back. Let's do another big job together, Reborn."

Although Tsuna didn't like seeing females in tears, this woman was really grating on her nerves.

The mood turned fully nostalgic as Bianchi urged, "A peaceful place doesn't suit you. The place you should be is in the dark world, where it's more dangerous and thrilling." Her smirk transformed into a soft smile and her tears stopped flowing, letting them subside onto her long eyelashes.

"I told you Bianchi. I have a job to raise Tsuna, so I can't." Reborn replied in an emotionless tone. The girl started shaking, and her head hung low. At least Tsuna was happy.

'With Reborn's statement, this Bianchi will leave me, and hopefully stay away' Tsuna thought, satisfied. She was not going to let another cause of distress into her life like that.

But to her displeasure, the woman began talking again. "…Poor Reborn. Unless the tenth dies due to an accident or something, Reborn won't be free again" she cried, wiping the tears from her eyes. To Tsuna, that was a direct threat. Her hands fled to her pockets, in case Bianchi would have something else under her sleeve.

Luckily for Tsuna, Bianchi merely left through the door with a final word. "I'll go home for now. When the tenth is mur—When the tenth is dead, I'll come to bring you back again" she concluded, before leaving.

"She's a freelance hitman called Poison Scorpion." Reborn informed her, as Tsuna realized where she read the woman from. It was a long record book listing the various freelance hitmen out there for hire. And according to their sources, wasn't Bianchi… Gokudera's sister? Strange, considering he never mentioned her.

"Bianchi was my lover. The fourth one." Reborn announced loudly, disturbing her out of her thoughts. Tsuna raised an eyebrow and inferred, "So you're a playboy?"

Reborn smirked, and with a smug tone asserted, "You're jealous?"

Tsuna raised another eyebrow and retorted, "In your nightmares."

Reborn frowned, and kicked her on the head with a sweeping impact.

"UGH. Reborn…"

She was ignored, as the hitman left the room.

"…Whatever."

…

"Good Morning, Tsuna-chan!" Kyoko waved brightly, greeting her on the sidewalk. Once in a while, the two would meet up coincidentally walking to school. Whenever that did happen, and the girl was by herself, Kyoko would start clinging to her and talk along the way as if to repent for the numerous times she had been dragged away by her friends. Tsuna didn't mind too much; she wouldn't need to contribute to the conversation with whole stories of her days and other nonsense, and the glittering area surrounding the other calmed her to an extent.

"Today's home economics class is going to be riceballs. I'm so excited!" Kyoko exclaimed brightly. Tsuna answered with a nod of her head.

But before Kyoko could say anything more, the ringing of a small bell was heard and Bianchi, the poison woman came biking beside them shouting, "Those who bother someone's love life should die covered in poison!"

She biked quickly past them whilst throwing two poisoned cans of soda at the two. Tsuna quickly caught them and flung them to the sides, behind some fence. Even if Kyoko was an extremely naïve girl, she didn't want any ideas to sprout out from the female's mind.

The innocent school girl was shocked for certain, and asked with a worried expression, "Was that someone you know?" Tsuna reassured the girl with a shake of her head.

"No, she's no one important."

Kyoko, relieved, nodded her head with a smile.

…

Home economics was okay, she supposed. Unlike other classes the food she made she could eat, so it wouldn't exactly be a waste of effort.

And despite what the boys thought, Tsuna was a good cook. It wasn't like she couldn't be, with Nana as her mother. Since childhood, she had watched her mother cook, and sometimes Nana would invite her. Her mother called it the only form of 'mother daughter bonding' they had together. She had felt guilty then…

Making riceballs had been a cinch, and while Tsuna was still 'Dame-Tsuna', females were considerably nicer to her than the boys. Seeing her skill, they had all decreased her 'dame' level, and crowded around her, asking her for help, advice and such. She didn't find it too irritating; the girls in her class were more demure, rather than those of the upper classmen. Now they were truly annoying. But that wasn't the point. If the girls were kept away from handsome boys, they were fine.

Tsuna supposed she should blame herself for her idiotic nickname. Back then, she had skipped half the school days, so no one really knew about her cooking skills…

"Tsuna-chan, how do you get it in such a nice shape?"

"Tsuna-chan, do you think this looks good enough?"

"Wow! Yours look so perfect Tsuna-chan!"

Then again, they were aggravating with their insistent chattering.

When they had finally received enough information to quell their desires, they shifted back to their original areas, determined to make their own, 'as lovely as hers' to the boy they desired to hand them to. Tch.

Beside her, Kyoko was still working hard on hers, though to no avail…

But Tsuna couldn't stand the sight of the girl, biting her lip while trying to form the triangular shape with tears ready to fall. She sighed before asking, "Would you like some help?"

Immediately, Kyoko brightened before replying, "Yes Please!" accompanied by a cheerful nod.

Tsuna, already finished with her riceballs, began coaching the other, step by step for the duration of the class period.

…

The girls stood in formation as they all screamed out, "We'll give the riceballs we made in home economics class to you boys!"

They were echoed back a triumphant whoop of felicity. And so, riceballs were given out to the boys, who were nothing but pleased.

Back in class, Gokudera and Yamamoto stuck themselves close to her side as soon as she had entered the room. "What a weird event." Gokudera snorted, yet looking at her with begging eyes before shifting back, then moving them back at her again, repeatedly.

At least Yamamoto was more direct. "Hey Tsuna, can I have one of your riceballs?" he asked with no hesitation along with a grin.

"Like Juudaime would ever give one of her beautiful riceballs to you!" Gokudera snarled quickly. Tsuna was undisturbed and nodded as Yamamoto gratefully took a riceball.

"Sure, I have three." She wasn't a glutton, and riceballs weren't her favored dish anyway. It was too bad Gokudera didn't see it that way, as he directed her a kicked puppy dog look, along with the miserable-looking eyes. Tsuna wordlessly handed him another one of her riceballs, and his look brightened quickly.

Kyoko then appeared in front of him with a bashful expression. "Do you want them, Tsuna-chan?" She held in front of her riceballs… that weren't the ones they made together? It was purple, and had small insects mixed into them. Bianchi's ploy no doubt.

"What~ That's not fair, Dame-Tsuna's a girl!" the male percentage of the class whined aloud. Apparently they hadn't noticed the riceballs at all.

'Idiots' Tsuna mentally berated, disgusted at their actions, before raising an eyebrow at the girl standing in front of her. Did Kyoko really not notice the difference?

Normally, Gokudera would have noticed it and refute the 'gift' for her. But he was busy, surrounded by the multitude of girls trying to get him to eat their riceballs. It seems he was dragged by the female horde into the far corner on the other side of the room. Useless.

Interpreting Tsuna's silence as a rejection, Kyoko gave a saddened face and said, "Oh, I didn't do well, did I?"

Tsuna clicked her tongue, annoyed, and with the happiest expression she could muster, said, "Oh no! They're lovely, I feel bad for all the other men who're vying for your attention. I'll bring them home and share them with my mom!"

Kyoko's expression lifted, though she still looked a little depressed; Tsuna didn't know why… But it was becoming very bothersome.

Holding back her exasperation, Tsuna lifted her lips into another half grin and asked, "Well, do you want mine? I have one more left, and you deserve it anyway. You… worked hard today." She encouraged the wide eyed girl in front of her to take her remaining riceball, even if it was the only one left… Well, at least she still had her lovely lunch right? Right. She sighed again.

Her benevolent act had made Kyoko happy at least, as the girl agreed with sparkling eyes. All was well.

…

Two lone shadows stood in frustration. One on the school roof, another behind the classroom doors.

…

Bianchi's plan had failed, and she angrily stomped away, already plotting the next assassination attempt.

…

Putting down his large gun, Reborn glared at the innocent Kyoko with annoyed eyes before continuing to watch Tsuna from afar. Dame-Tsuna was too nice to innocent girls; he needed to change that a bit. Hiding a smirk, Reborn planned out their next few 'training sessions' together. Then frowned as his stomach grumbled.

He really had a craving for riceballs right now.

A/N: IMPORTANT!

Firstly, hope you like the chapter, and review and criticize (nicely)!

Secondly, I'll probably be updating biweekly, (once every two weeks) maybe sooner... depends.

Thirdly,

I (right after I post this up) will post up a poll! For who Tsuna should be with more. Of course, I will have most pairings, just these are the more flexible ones that can have an either weaker or stronger bond, depending on this poll. The ones (Hibari) who are not on the poll are basically the ones whose chapters relationship I have already set, or I just won't be putting them in.

ALSO- I have made a decision. I will use either Xanxus OR Squalo as a romantic partner. So I am asking you to pick either Xanxus or Squalo, with multiple choices for other characters. I ask you not to choose both- that just wastes your choices. If there are no votes for either (which I doubt) then I will choose myself.

The poll will be up for a while. I will tell you when I will be taking it off. If a person has no votes, I will decide. You cannot see the current votes, but I will occasionally post the rankings when I find a substantial change.