"What do you want to drink, Reborn-kun?" Nana asks, bustling about in the kitchen. She is in her element; cooking always had been her forte.
And her godly sugar cookies. It's universally acknowledged that Sawada Nana makes the best damn sugar cookies and if anybody disagrees, they must have a ten-foot pole up their-
Anyways.
Reborn is sitting in their living room, as serene as can be. His feet are splayed out wildly, unlike Tsuna's whose feet are tucked neatly under him. Maybe a foreigner, Tsuna thinks. A foreigner from another planet where pointing guns at strangers is socially acceptable. He fidgets nervously as he plays with a loose thread hanging out from the yukata that his dad had shipped him from God knows where. Off to be a samurai, yeah right. He's interrupted from his rapidly darkening thoughts when Reborn calls out, "Espresso, please."
What the heck is an 'espresso?' Nana's face looks confused as well. "I'm afraid I don't know what that is. I have some tea, or milk if you would prefer."
"Tea's fine," Reborn replies. "Espresso is a drink native to Italy, where I come from."
"Eeee." Eevee nudges Tsuna's side and plops himself right on his lap. He lets out a sigh of contentment while Tsuna just sighs for...for the sake of sighing.
"Eevee are notoriously rare," Reborn says.
"Oh, um, well. I just kind of ran into Eevee when I was a little kid. I wasn't trying to look for him or anything, I just kind of found him."
For some reason, Reborn nods approvingly. "Having a rare Pokemon can boost your public image as a warlord." He pets the pink blob besides him with a satisfied look.
"...I'm not a warlord." If he was, Aurora would be in shambles. Tsuna shudders as he imagines the kingdom of Aurora falling into a state of poverty. Looks like Dame-Tsuna screwed everything up again, the citizens would say darkly. Thank God he's not, Lord Nono does his job perfectly fine and doesn't need a boy fresh out of school messing it up.
"Oh, I haven't said why I came here, right? I'm here to make you a proper warlord as decreed by Iemitsu."
Tsuna can feel his ordinary lifestyle cracking into bits and scattering away in the wind.
I take everything I thought earlier back. Apparently, Lord Nono wants to hand his job off to a boy fresh out of school who'll mess everything up.
"Can you believe that? A baby said I'm supposed to rule Aurora! I can't- that's an awful prank if it is one."
"Is there something wrong with being a baby?"
"Of course not, but what kind of person trusts a baby with a Pokemon that can turn into guns that can shoot bullets!"
"Watch that plate, Tsuna. If you drop it…."
"Alright, got it. So, what do you think?"
"I do believe that I know who you're talking about. Is this baby named Reborn, by any chance?"
"Yeah, how did you know?"
"Just someone I know through unusual circumstances."
"You're not just a prodigy child, are you. If you were, you wouldn't know a self-proclaimed hitman."
"Tsuna…"
"Have you been lying to me ever since I started working here? I guess the 'uncle' that runs this restaurant doesn't exist either, does he? Well?"
"Tsuna-"
The door slams shut as the brown-haired boy storms out, eyes on the verge of tears and cheeks flushed. A boy who looked no older than six sits on the counter, legs swinging back and forth. He sighs and says ruefully, "Ah, looks like I screwed up again." The boy leans back, eyes taking in the Chinese lantern dangling from the ceiling. "I wonder why."
"Rua, zor," a Zorua barks, pushing comfortingly at his side. His button nose presses against the red pacifier for a fleeting second. The boy's image flickers suddenly until it settles on a baby dressed in red, looking very, very, small.
"I wonder why," he repeats.
Tsuna knows that he's being unfair to Fon. He had lashed out suddenly with no rhyme or reason. Everybody has secrets that should always stay behind lock and key. But all the pressure from today is weighing on his shoulders and crushing him to the ground. Usually, he would talk it out with Fon, but Tsuna's pretty sure that's not a good idea after running out on him. (And isn't that sad, that his only friend is a six-year-old child.)
"I feel really bad, though," he says miserably into Eevee's fluffy collar. Eevee turns around and gives him a reprimanding look. Then apologize! he seems to be saying.
"But I can't! Fon-kun probably hates me now," he protests weakly. Tsuna knows that he's just making up excuses at this point; the Fon he knows is practically a saint and abounds in kindness.
But still.
"Eevee, vee vee!" Eevee says with narrowed eyes.
"Why do you choose now of all times to grow a spine?" Tsuna wonders out loud.
Eevee looks mortally offended as he responds with more barking. Tsuna sinks back into his bed with a whump. If Reborn hadn't been wandering around (doesn't he have a home?), he would've started screaming into his pillow. Instead, he opts for staring at the ceiling dotted with glow-in-the-dark stars. After about five minutes, Tsuna says, "Why me?" because deep inside, he knows Reborn wasn't lying when he said that Tsuna, Dame-Tsuna, is going to be a warlord. He isn't too surprised when he doesn't get an answer (because that would mean Pokemon can talk, which is impossible.)
Sunday night, Sawada Tsunayoshi falls asleep with one friend lost temporarily, one tutor gained by force, and one companion that will always stay by his side, through hell and back.