OpalescentGold: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn.
Foxtrot: a ballroom dance in 4/4 time, with alternation of two slow and two quick steps.
Sawada Tsunayoshi knew he was Dame. It was rather obvious, in fact.
He got terrible grades, he was horrible at sports, and he had zero friends. Even Nana, his mother, didn't believe he would ever be much of anything, and if that didn't say something, then what did?
Which was why he wasn't in the least surprised when, not two months into fifth grade, the bullying was so bad he was running through the halls at top speed, clinging desperately to his lunch.
"Get back here, Dame-Tsuna!" his current tormentor yelled, right behind him with a bunch of his lackeys. "Don't be a coward on top of being stupid, pathetic, and idiotic!"
"N-No!" Tsuna shouted back defiantly and promptly tripped. "Ow!" Sprawling hard on the ground, bento in hand, he rubbed at the large bump on his head and gulped when the bullies loomed over him with creepy smirks.
"We've got you now!" Fukao Shoda, the school bully, smirked wickedly, holding out a meaty hand. "Well, Dame-Tsuna? Give me your lunch now and maybe I'll go easy on you later."
Tsuna grimaced, scrambling backward until he hit a wall. Darn it, dead end. But this was the delicious lunch his mom had taken the time to prepare for him... "Go a-away, S-Shoda!"
A vein popped on the senior's forehead. "Huh? What was that?!" He cracked his knuckles threateningly, his friends crowding around Tsuna in a half circle. "Guys, I think Dame-Tsuna needs some reminders on who's in charge here!"
"Right!" they yelled enthusiastically, grinning toothily as fists raised. "You're not going to forget this, Dame-Tsuna!"
Tsuna could only wince and raise his arms over his head, fear a hard lump in his throat. He hoped this would be over quickly. There was still that science test he needed to study for—he'd only gotten ten percent on the last one—and he'd wanted to see Kyoko-chan today...!
"Excuse me," a soft voice cut in, right before the first blow would have landed. "Is there something wrong here?"
Shoda froze and spun on his heel. There was a small pause right before he and his friends collectively began panicking, arms waving wildly in the air. "A-Ah! M-Masami-san! I-I didn't see you there!" he exclaimed with a clear note of anxiety in his voice, rubbing the back of his head with a timid laugh.
Tsuna's eyes popped out, his heart skipping a beat. There was only one Masami he knew in the entire school who would make someone like Fukao Shada nervous, and that was...that was. Oh, God. Leaning his body to the side, he peered past Shoda and swallowed hard.
Long sable hair twisted into an elaborate hairstyle with delicate kanzashi, several strands left to brush over her pale skin, Hibari Masami cut an imposingly elegant figure with her unimpressed gray eyes and ornate white fan.
Speaking of... Tsuna furrowed his brow. Hadn't the one she'd been waving around last week black? He went out of his way to avoid Masami, but no one could ignore the folding fans that she casually brought out in class to cool herself with. None of the teachers ever called her out on it either.
"D-Don't worry! N-Nothing's w-wrong, Masami-san!" Shoda scrambled to reassure The Hibari Kyoya's sister, beads of sweat dripping down his face. "W-We just wanted to, uhh..."
"We w-wanted to e-eat lunch with Dame-Tsuna here!" Takiji, one of his friends, piped up, grabbing Tsuna by the shoulders and holding him in front of the bully as a human defense.
"Yeah! A-And give him a-advice from us upperclassmen, right, boys?" Shoda looked around frantically, glaring when his friends all froze up. "Right, boys?!"
"Urm..." Tsuna hung weakly from Takiji's hold and wondered how on Earth this was his life. His bento was still in his hands, too.
"Right!" his friends chorused, shying away from Masami to huddle together behind their fearless leader...who wouldn't actually be able to do anything if Masami seriously took offense and informed her fearsome brother. Tsuna had heard the rumors along with everything else, and he dearly hoped he would never have to meet Hibari Kyoya.
One slender black eyebrow rose with a hint of doubt, but Masami merely smiled and nodded in acceptance. "I see. Helping a fellow student is a gracious act, Fukao-san, but I'd like Sawada-san to eat with me today."
...HIIIIIIIEEEEEE!?
Tsuna's jaw dropped to the floor while Shoda nodded like a bobblehead toy, probably spraining his neck along the way. "O-Of course, M-Masami-san! I-I'll leave you t-two to it!" And with that, the crowd scattered, leaving behind trails of dust and panic.
Carelessly tossed away, Tsuna fell to the floor for the second time that day with a muffled cry.
"Oww..." Whimpering, Tsuna sat up and dared to look up at Masami. This didn't make sense at all! Disregarding why she knew their names in the first place, why would she want to eat with him?! They'd never even talked before!
Masami's face was utterly unreadable, the fan she held over the bottom half of it not helping matters. Those eyes, though...those eyes...
Tsuna drooped miserably. He was being judged. And found lacking, no doubt. He always was.
"Sawada-san." The sound of the fan being snapped shut was loud in the silence, the clack of her heeled shoes gentle on the floor. "Come with me please."
The words were coached in a very polite way, but Tsuna knew that he was being ordered. "H-Hai!" Fearing for his very life, he scurried up and tip-toed after his intimidating classmate. The worst thing, he thought to himself as the students they passed began to whisper and gossip, was that Masami didn't look or act scary at all. Her every move was ballerina graceful, her reputation spotless.
She just was frightening. Somehow.
Gliding up a staircase he'd never had the courage to investigate before, Masami pulled a door open and stepped out into the searing sunshine. Tsuna's eyes widened as he followed her. "T-This is the rooftop!" He'd heard that there was a way for students to get to the rooftop, but he spent most of his time running from bullies so he hadn't really paid any attention to the rumors.
That and people whispered it was where the Hibari siblings ate.
Well, Tsuna guessed there was some truth to that since Masami was the one who'd brought him here.
"Sawada-san."
"U-Uh, hai!" Head snapping up, Tsuna realized Masami had turned and was now looking at him. Hiiiieeee!
"If the other students are bothering you, you may eat lunch here," she allowed generously, seating herself on a nearby bench and removing a book from her bag. "They will not enter the rooftop."
'That's because you're here...' he thought with a sweatdrop. But, all things considered, Tsuna was pretty sure this was a good deal for him. At least Masami wasn't interested in bullying him.
Probably because since he was so weak, he wasn't at all a challenge for her.
"T-Thank you very much, H-Hibari-san!" Tsuna stuttered, bowing deeply.
"Please, call me Masami."
"H-Hai!"
And although Tsuna was tense the whole rest of lunch, waiting for a harsh strike or a scornful word, nothing happened really. He ate his lunch in silence and she read her book.
It was strange, but he found he didn't mind the quiet. It was nice, nicer than the normal jeers and taunts.
Masami had never truly bothered to pay attention in class before. There was no point; she got good grades and the teachers were happy to let her be while they focused on the numbskulls in the class.
But after yesterday's...encounter with Sawada Tsunayoshi, she reluctantly tuned into the world around her for three days. Reconnaissance was a vital element when observing a relatively unknown individual. What she learned was, quite frankly, pitiful, even by normal standards. Tetsuya had informed her once or twice that her own expectations could be, along with her brother's, sky-high and utterly impossible for anyone not superhuman.
In English:
"Sawada! What does this sentence say?"
"Er... the fire ran away...?"
"Wrong!"
"Dame-Tsuna..."
"He's such an idiot."
In Mathematics:
"Sawada! You failed again!"
"A-Ah! I'm sorry!"
"Haha, he got a twenty-two!"
"Dame-Tsuna failed!"
"That's no surprise."
In Physical Education:
"Tsuna, pass!"
"OOOF!"
"We lost again!"
"Dame-Tsuna, it's all your fault!"
"S-Sorry!"
At Lunch:
"Sawada-san." She had been somewhat surprised herself when Tsunayoshi scurried back onto the rooftop for the second time and continued returning. He acted so much like a mouse that she'd thought he would scamper away from the shadow of a potential predator at the first opportunity.
Perhaps he had more backbone than she'd assumed. Perhaps.
Regardless, this would be interesting. Although Masami had had no problems pushing herself to her limits in whatever she so chose, she had never tried to explore possibilities in someone else before. She wondered what she could make of this drowning boy once she pulled him out again and taught him how to swim.
Maybe she could fashion a pair of wings for him and see him soar.
"H-Hai?!" Though his stutter and nervousness were rather annoying. Admittedly, this was the first time she'd spoken up since this arrangement had fallen into place.
Masami crossed her legs and peered at her classmate over the edge of her fan. "...sit up please."
"Hiiiieee!" Tsunayoshi squeaked, staring at her with clear confusion even as he instinctively obeyed. Yes, that was better, she could almost see... "W-Why?"
"You slouch," she said, airing herself lightly. "Hiding won't accomplish anything."
Tsunayoshi blushed crimson, looking down in obvious embarrassment. "I know, b-but— "
"Please look people in the eye when you talk. If you don't respect yourself, no one will."
He scuffed his shoe on the ground, the darkness on his face a learned helplessness. "Masami-san, it's okay, really. I'm used to it."
Masami considered that for a moment. Low self-confidence, unwillingness to change, so very crushed by this cruel world. This might take longer than she had originally planned. Now the question was: would it be worth it?
Well. With Kyoya and Tetsuya gone, she had been bored lately. And she did enjoy a challenge.
"Then please become unused to it in my presence, Sawada-san," she demanded cordially. "I'm afraid I simply will not deal with anyone who is not the best of the best."
"But I'm not the best at anything!" he protested, waving his arms around like a headless chicken.
"You'll learn," Masami said, taking no notice of Tsunayoshi when he fell flat on his face onto the concrete in exasperation.
It was a lie, Tsuna felt like screaming to the sky a bare week later, running for his life wildly, tears falling down his face in streams. It was all a lie! Masami's goodness, her perfect reputation—everything was a lie! His world was a lie!
'God, where are you?!' he cried out, lifting his hands up in supplication. 'Save me, save me!' But there was no one here to rescue him from this torment as he slid into the finishing line, collapsing outright as his knees gave out.
"Fourteen minutes," recorded the being from hell, clicking her timer. "For one round around the school. It's a thirty-second improvement from yesterday. Well done, Sawada-san."
Tsuna knelt on the floor and prayed for deliverance, his sweat-soaked uniform sticking to his skin. Nana had been of the impression that he had been working out lately, and he had been too ashamed to tell her the truth:
He had been intimidated into working for a demon!
"Twenty push-ups, thirty sit-ups, forty squats, and fifty jumping jacks, please," Masami went right on entreating as if Tsuna wasn't already half dead from the running.
"B-B-B-But, Masami-san—!" he whimpered, barely able to get to his feet. "I can't do it!" She couldn't expect him to be able to perform a task just because she said "please," did she?!
"Thirty, forty, fifty, sixty." She did.
Tsuna cried harder. The worst thing about training—dying—under Masami's absolutely Spartan tutelage was that she never argued back. She just upped the ante on whatever exercise he was to perform next.
"Has there been any trouble with the bullies lately?" she inquired two minutes later while Tsuna was on his twentieth push up and close to collapsing. Masami, preoccupied with reading her newest book, acted like she didn't notice, even though he knew she was preternaturally aware of everything around her.
"N-No..." he trailed off, gasping for breath, arms shaking. He wasn't going to be able to make it! He was going to die! There could be no worse hell than this! "Y-You ch-chased t-them all a-aw-away."
In fact, Masami hadn't even needed to do anything really. All she'd done was show up one day, walk down the corridor with Tsuna, and that was it. No one tried to bother him anymore. It was like having a secret guardian angel that he couldn't see but others could.
Such was the power of Hibari Masami!
Except, of course, Masami was no angel. No matter what the teachers and administrators thought. Nu-uh. Tsuna knew the truth.
"An advantageous outcome indeed," she mused now, brushing a strand of hair from her eyes. "And your math scores?"
Up, down, up down—he was at fifteen sit ups! "U-Um, uhh, that is..."
"Sawada-san, please talk coherently." Hidden in the calm tones of her voice, Tsuna heard the threat of more torture and almost lost track of his sit ups.
"I got a forty-five on my last test!" he blurted out and followed up the confession with a wince. Nooo! He'd let the secret out! That meant even more running for him, no doubt!
There was a dangerous pause that Tsuna filled up with finishing his sit ups at hyper speed and moving on to squats. Ow, ow, ow. His muscles...but he could feel her stare boring into the back of his skull. Oh, he was totally dead!
"...and are you satisfied with your score?" Masami asked at last, nothing at all readable in her voice. Tsuna bit his lower lip, not daring to look up from his squats. Was this a trick question?
"No...?"
"Are you answering me or asking me, Sawada-san?"
Oh no, his danger sense was flaring up! "No!" he shouted firmly.
"Then, in that case, feel free to answer these math problems while you do your jumping jacks."
"Hiiiieeee—!?" While he did jumping jacks? His brain would explode!
Masami didn't bother to listen to his whining. "Let's get started immediately. The square root of sixty-four is...?"
"Nice outfit, Onii-san," Masami commented two months later. There was even a red armband. Sometimes it amused her to see her brother flaunt the very school rules he endorsed so strictly and violently.
"This is the Disciplinary Committee uniform," he explained. "Tetsuya came up with the idea last week."
"Do you like it?" The clean lines and cool formality actually looked quite befitting on him, the gakuran jacket giving off an appropriately frightening feel, not that her brother needed the help.
"It's suitable," Kyoya admitted grudgingly. He halted, giving Masami a searching look. "I hear you've been seen in the company of a herbivore by the name of Sawada Tsunayoshi."
"You would be right," Masami confirmed without missing a beat, stirring the pork stew with a wooden spoon.
"...why?" His tone made it obvious he saw no reason his sister should associate with such a boring, dull creature.
She hesitated and promptly berated herself for the slip. The smile she affected was serene. "Oh, I was bored."
"Hn." There was a beat while Kyoya pondered the answer and then evidently dismissed it as something not to be concerned with. It wasn't as if Masami went around trying to dictate who he talked to. "Fine."
"Onii-san, why was there a decrease in our funds yesterday?" She added some salt and pepper, not particularly worried but interested in the reason. Kyoya wasn't one to purchase unnecessarily expensive things.
"...I brought a motorcycle." Though items that interested him were game apparently.
Masami blinked and turned her head to look at him. "A motorcycle? Do you know how to drive one?"
Kyoya shrugged. "I'll learn."
"Ah." She turned off the flame and ladled the soup into bowls. "Not near the school please; there might be damage." And that would only anger him.
His look, though she didn't see it, asked why the hell she was telling him the obvious.
"...and after you've mastered driving, teach me," she added casually.
"Hamburger steak for Sunday."
Masami shrugged, drinking her tea. "Fine."
"Fine," Kyoya echoed, more interested in his soup.
Before school:
"Three laps around the school please, Sawada-san."
"Bu-But, Masami-san—!"
"Four."
Tsuna cried buckets of tears as he forced himself to run around the school, Masami observing from the rooftop, fanning herself with practiced flicks of her wrist. "MASAMI-SAAAN!"
At lunch:
"Questions six, eight, nine, twelve, and sixteen are wrong. Fix it, please." She handed him back his math homework.
"I don't know how, Masami-san! I'm sorry, I can't do this! It's impossible!" Tsuna's shoulders fell, eyes lowering.
Whack! Getting hit by a war fan tended to hurt.
"Hiiiieeee!" Laid flat on the rooftop, he got up sluggishly, hands over the developing lump on his head. "Masami-san!"
"If you don't know how," Masami said from where she was sitting on the bench with her legs crossed, chin braced on her palm and furled fan twirling in the air, "then learn. Nothing is impossible."
Tsuna sniffed, rubbing away the tears in his eyes. "Y-You think I can?"
Her look was blatantly exasperated. "Haven't you understood yet, Sawada-san? I do not waste my time. Now, review your math textbook if you would and revise your answers."
"HIIEEE!"
After school:
"Ahh!" A swift kick sent Tsuna flopping back onto the rooftop. "Ow, ow, ow..."
"You need to work on your footwork," Masami noted, not even slightly winded.
Groaning, he got back up, wincing at the twinge of pain that said he would have yet another bruise. "Is this really necessary, Masami-san!?"
"Of course. It's undignified to fight another's battle, so you must learn how to defend yourself," she lectured, waving her fan. "As you have no combat ability whatsoever, it falls on me to teach you."
"But I don't even want to fight!" Tsuna argued, rubbing half-heartedly at his abdomen. It didn't help that Masami was kicking his ass without her fans, which he knew to be her primary weapons.
"That matters not. Willingly or not, there will be times in life when you must fight, and it certainly would not do for you to be defenseless then, now would it?"
He grumbled and sighed and whined but knew she was right and charged again. He was back in the dirt half a minute later.
"Please concentrate, Sawada-san."
"Neh, Masami-san?" Tsuna panted breathlessly, splayed out on the rooftop like a little kid trying to make a snow angel. His leg muscles burned from the running he'd done, and his heart was still pounding. He had a cramp, too. Maybe five, now that he thought about it.
As always, Masami looked vexingly polished and relaxed on her bench, book in her lap and fan in hand. Tsuna was starting to think about bringing a miniature electric fan to school; it was so hot this month. Somehow, he was still pretty sure he would never look as put-together as she was.
"Yes, Sawada-san?" she answered without looking up, turning a page in her book.
"What are you reading?" he asked curiously. His classmate was always reading something while she "trained" him.
"Today?" Masami adjusted her reading glasses absently. Tsuna found it totally unfair that glasses only made her look more intelligent while it would probably make him look even more like a dork. "A book on Japanese history."
"History?" He didn't know she liked history. Actually, he didn't know much about her at all, now that he thought about it.
"That's correct. I find it a fascinating subject." A small, delighted smile curved her lips, for once not innocently sadistic or distantly polite.
Tsuna turned and propped himself up on his elbows, suddenly interested. This was the first time he had actually heard anything personal about Masami, even though he had been talking to her for months. "Really?"
"Mm-hm. Did you know how many people died in the Nanjing Massacre?" she asked, casual as could be.
"Urg..." Tsuna winced, turning a little green. "No...?
Masami was all too happy to enlighten him.
On a perfectly normal Sunday morning, while Masami was making some omelets for breakfast, a boy crashed through the ranma in a shatter of glass and landed behind her, creating a crater in the floor and destroying several tatami mats. It was a testament to the composure that Okaa-san had beaten into her that she didn't shriek outright.
Rather, Masami went very, very still, retrieving her tessen fan swiftly before turning and analyzing the situation with calm detachment. She shifted subtly into a combat position, stepping back a bit. With the amount of noise, Onii-san would be here in three to five minutes—he was a light sleeper.
"Whoo! This is Hibari's house, huh? How extreme!" A loud, male voice shouted from the bottom of the depression, the smoke clearing to reveal a boy with white hair around Kyoya's age in a jogging suit, beaming brightly despite the lump on his head.
"...Greetings," Masami said delicately with a bow, determinedly thrusting away her surprise, wariness, and pure outrage for silky aplomb. Her window. Her floor. Her kitchen. Her foot tapped on the ground. "Who might you be?"
The stranger looked up at her in surprise before getting to his feet and bowing back, his grin widening even further if at all possible. "Hello! I am Sasagawa Ryohei! Who are you?!"
"My name is Hibari Masami. I suppose you're here for my older brother, Hibari Kyoya?" She had certainly never seen this boy before though she knew of him as Kyoko's older brother and a boxing fanatic. He was certainly very...enthusiastic.
"That's right! I'm here to defeat him to the extreme!" Ryohei climbed out of the hole to pause and look Masami over, appearing a bit puzzled. "Wow, I never knew Hibari had a younger sister!"
"Well, now you do," she replied with an icy smile. "Would you like some tea?" It was only polite. She might even slip some poison into the drink in the meantime for destroying her house.
"That's not necessary, Masami," a familiar voice interrupted from the doorway. "Herbivore, what are you doing here?"
Ryohei perked up, spinning around to face Kyoya with a friendly grin. "Hibari! There you are! Oi, why haven't you told me you had a sister? We could have bonded over being older brothers!"
"There was no need," Onii-san said coolly, leaning against the wall in a black jinbei. "And I have no wish to associate with herbivores."
The boxer twitched, flames flaring in his eyes as he fell into a boxing stance. "What was that!? Come on, let's fight...to the extreme!"
A tonfa emerged in Kyoya's hand with a flicker of silver light. "That's fine with me. Trespassers will be bitten to death."
"Not in the kitchen please," Masami cut in sleekly, smoldering her anger into mere embers. "Also, please refrain from causing property damage to my house the next time you come to visit, Sasagawa-san."
Ryohei just threw back his head and laughed. "Don't be mad, Hibari! It's for the purpose of an extreme fight!" His teeth sparkled. Actually sparkled.
Masami considered that. "You know, I have lunch with your sister sometimes."
It was rather satisfying, actually, to watch Ryohei's face go a few shades paler and his smile waver. "How extreme!" he shouted nonetheless, if a bit less exuberantly. "In that case, I'll make sure to knock on the door the next time I challenge Hibari to an extreme fight! Will that be okay with you, Hibari?"
"Please call me Masami," she said placidly, turning back to her omelets. "And that will be fine, should the 'door' turn out to be the front door. As for sparring, we do have a training room for a reason, Onii-san."
Kyoya narrowed his eyes, but turned sharply on his heel before his sister's wrath could be directed his way. "Come, herbivore. We have a biting to get to."
"Got it!" Ryohei gave Masami a thumbs-up, previous irritation disappearing. "See you later, Masami!"
That was going to become annoying, she noted to herself as she turned her attention back to her omelets, particularly since she was fairly certain Ryohei wasn't the type of give up on something. Anything. Especially when it came to combat and...boxing.
Sadly, since he wasn't at Onii-san's level—close, closer than anyone but Masami, but not there—Ryohei would be defeated and the cycle would repeat. Shaking her head, she dialed the construction workers for the broken window.
Ten minutes later, just as Masami was setting the plates, Kyoya strolled into the dining room, unruffled and uninjured. Ryohei wasn't with him.
"Sasagawa-san?" she questioned.
"Gone. He's a herbivore."
"He'll be back, won't he?"
"He's a stubborn herbivore."
Masami sighed and ate her omelet.
Six months after they met, Masami brought a radio to the rooftop, completely out of the blue.
Tsuna blinked and stared blankly at the little black box. "...Masami-san?"
"Yes?" Clearly unconcerned, Masami sat down and began to eat her bento.
"Why did you bring a radio to school?" he asked, feeling a little slow. Not that that was unusual.
"I thought it would be nice," she said, leaning down and turning the machine on.
Tsuna wasn't at all caught up with the recent popular songs, but even he recognized the upbeat song that began blaring before Masami grimaced and turned the volume down a bit. But—"You like pop music, Masami-san?" He had never expected that; it just didn't seem to fit with his friend's personality.
If anything, he would have thought classical music would be her type. She seemed like the really old-fashioned, traditional kind of person...not that there was anything bad about that, of course!
"Not really," she revealed idly. "I enjoy music in general. But Sawada-san, I do believe you have an English quiz today?"
He gulped, sweating bullets. "Errm...yes?"
"Speak with conviction please."
"Yes!" He all but tore his bag open to get out the study materials.
She smiled. "How about I test you now? Each wrong answer will result in twenty push-ups, I think."
Even as Tsuna moaned and pleaded for mercy, his muscles straining and trembling, he noticed the way Masami's foot tapped to the beat of the music and the way she hummed along softly.
Maybe she played an instrument? He was too afraid to ask.
That year passed rapidly in-between training, tutoring, and torturing Tsunayoshi. Then it was onto the final year of elementary school.
Masami was rather glad of that. Perchance middle school would be more interesting? All Onii-san would say of Namimori Middle was that there were a lot of herbivores to bite to death.
Four months in, Tsunayoshi was improving adequately. His scores were still far too close to failing, but he could at least block a blow or two from Masami, and his instincts were better than expected. A summer spent beating those reflexes into him probably helped. She could almost say that she was pleased with his progress. He was doing well, he was trying his best (mostly), and that was all she really cared for.
And then, two weeks before December, her phone rang.
Masami froze in the middle of her first class of the day. Her phone was on vibrate, so no one else had noticed, but the problem was that only five people had this number: Kyoya, Tetsuya, Kyoko, Hana, and Tsunayoshi.
Her brother and his subordinate wouldn't call but for an emergency. The two girls were right there in class with her. That left a particular charge who hadn't come to school today, the one she had been planning on tracking down as soon as school let out.
...oh dear.
Masami raised her hand. "May I go to the restroom, Sensei?" she questioned when the teacher called on her.
The man looked somewhat baffled—she usually went during lunch, if at all—but nodded. "O-Of course, Hibari-san."
She nodded in acknowledgment and calmly walked out the door. Upon closing it behind her, Masami broke out into a sprint, flipping open her phone at the same time. "Sawada-san? Is something wrong?"
"M-Masami-san!" As she had expected, his voice was high with anxiety and fear, breathless from what appeared to be exertion. "There's a bunch of yakuza guys chasing me!"
...yakuza? What on Earth had Tsunayoshi, still about as hopelessly dangerous as a baby calf, done to get the yakuza on his back? Masami kept her voice calm, soothing. "Where are you at the moment?"
"Uhh...n-near the supermarket! A block to the left!"
"Alright, stay put please." That would take her...around three minutes if she pushed it. "How many of them are there?"
"I c-counted eight!"
He might have improved, but against eight yakuza, Tsunayoshi stood no real chance. He would be crushed like a bug. "Hide and wait for me to find you."
"W-Wait—!"
Click.
Tsuna huddled against the wall and closed his eyes, trying out some of the calming breathing exercises that Masami had taught him a few weeks ago. Even after all this time, he could hardly believe that Hibari Masami had befriended someone like him.
From all the whispers flying around the school when Masami occasionally walked with him through the hallways, no one else could either. But then, she never cared about that and he had learned not to either.
It wasn't the most stereotypical relationship, he knew. In fact, most people probably wouldn't even call it that. From what he had gathered, Masami, well... he didn't know. She never really spoke of why she had interfered that fateful day.
All Tsuna understood was that she had, and because, Masami, as she had said, did not tolerate idiots—"herbivores," he had heard her mutter sometimes—she had taken it upon herself to correct some (all) of his perceived faults through whatever method worked.
Granted, it wasn't easy. Being sorta-friends with Masami was difficult, all on its own. Most of the time, it didn't even feel like a friendship to Tsuna, more like she was his senpai and he was her kohai, even though they were the same age, or even a mentor and a student.
(Occasionally, when he was tired out and the wind was blowing and she was sitting nearby, the comfortable silence ringing in his ears, he regretted that terrible distance between them quietly. She might know almost everything about him, but he didn't even know her favorite book.)
It was slow-going and painful, and Tsuna ended up going home with bruises and sore muscles more often than not, though never anything serious, but he didn't regret not leaving that rooftop when he had the chance. Things were...things were better now.
His grades were rising gradually, his ingrained reflexes kept him from getting hit by the ball as often, and the bullies didn't dare bother him by virtue of Hibari wrath. The one time Shoda had, Tsuna had managed, miracles of miracles, to trip him and run for it.
That had been a good day. Masami had even treated him to ice cream to celebrate, albeit with Tsuna eventually footing the bill.
"Do you see him?!"
"He couldn't have gone far!"
"Get that little brat!"
Tsuna suppressed the urge to blubber and curled in on himself even more, shivering slightly. How long had it been since Masami had disconnected the call? She was unbelievably fast, so hopefully she would get here before...
A shadow fell into the back alley. "Well, well, well. What do we have here? A little mouse, trying to hide." Nope, course not. Cause his luck just wasn't that good, was it?
Nope. No, hahahaha, of course not, his luck just couldn't be that good. Prying his eyes open, he found one of the yakuza standing before him with an ugly sneer, a gun held in hand. Tsuna trembled, fear seizing his heart. Was this how he was going to die?! From a bullet in the cold...?
Tsuna... he... he didn't want to die. Not like this.
"Say goodbye!" The yakuza smirked and raised his gun, pointing it directly at Tsuna. His finger tightened on the trigger, and Tsuna closed his eyes. If he was going to die, he didn't want his last memory to be of this man.
He thought of Mom, with her warm laughter and delicious dinners. He thought of Kyoko-chan, with her shining beauty and enduring kindness. He thought of Masami-san, with her enigmatic smiles and unyielding will—
BANG!
Tsuna waited for the impact, waited to die, but it never came. Instead, a gentle wind blew past him and a familiar voice purred, "Now, now. That's no way to start a dance. Perhaps you'd like to try again?"
Tsuna's eyes flew open, and he was met with the flutter of a warm cashmere coat and the swaying flowers that dangled from expensive kanzashi. "M-Masami-san!" Oh, thank God! He was saved after all!
"Impressive..." the yakuza said, eyeing the hole in the wall to his right and the tessen she held in her hand ever so nonchalantly. "For such a little brat, to deflect a bullet...you must be trained in combat."
Masami smiled serenely, spreading her fan open to cover the bottom half of her face. "Greetings," she said, dipping into a graceful bow. "Who might you be?"
Tsuna wanted to groan; decorum at a time like this?!
The yakuza scoffed, raising his gun once more to aim directly at her head. "It doesn't matter, now does it? I don't tell my name to dead little girls!"
Tsuna's breath caught, blood turning to ice in his veins as he finally comprehended the true danger. What had he been thinking!? How could he be so selfish!? Masami might seem like smoke to him, ethereal and untouchable, but she was human, too, made of flesh and bones. A gun, a bullet, could seriously kill her!
"M-Masami-san, please, r-run away!" he shouted, lurching forward on his knees. "You could get h-hurt!"
"Yeah, listen to your boy toy over there." The yakuza chortled. "You could get hurt."
"Shush now, Sawada-san," Masami murmured, ignoring the man. "It'll be all right. I'm not a newbie to this ball, you know. I won't step on my partner's feet." There was a snap! that signaled she had closed her fan again.
"Tch, what the hell are you talking about!?" the yakuza scoffed, finger tightening and teeth gritted. He was going to fire! Tsuna shook his head—nononono!—and ran forward, thinking to push Masami out of the way...
...but she wasn't there anymore.
The gun in the yakuza's hands never fired, though its owner let out a cry. Masami landed lightly on her feet behind the falling man, the quick blow to his head that Tsuna had only just caught clearly having knocked the attacker unconscious.
Tsuna's mouth dropped open. No way...he hadn't even been able to see her move...
"I heard a gunshot!"
"What happened?"
"Aww, did Shinji get the brat already?"
"I wanted some fun!"
"Shut up, you morons, there's someone ahead!"
"Hiee! Masami-san, n-now what?!" Tsuna leaned against the wall, his knees rubbery. He didn't know what to do and everything was so confusing! It had seemed like a normal day when he woke up, but now...
"Stay there, Sawada-san," she said, calm as ever, as if there weren't another seven yakuza looking to blow their heads off. "This dance will be over quickly."
Before Tsuna could ask what the hell his one and only friend was talking about, one of the yakuza stepped out from the shadows, a scowl on his scarred face and a bokken held tightly in his hands. "Oi! What did you do to Shinji?!"
Masami seemed to think about it for a moment before shrugging fluidly and smiling like a saint. "Who knows?"
"Why you—!" The man's face went apocalyptic, but she was moving before he had finished, striking him down effortlessly with a blow to the throat. He went down with a gurgled scream and his friends were felled in much the same way.
Not five minutes later, Masami was turning to a shell-shocked Tsuna, surrounded by unconscious bodies, that smile unchanged. "I do believe the problem has been resolved for now. Sawada-san, would you like to accompany me to my home?"
He could only nod dumbly and was gently led out of the alley by his classmate, who brought him to a fancy traditional Japanese house he'd never seen before, all gently slanted roofs and elegant pagodas. Tsuna didn't even know that houses were made so big nowadays.
Was Masami rich? Sometimes, with the way she acted...
Tsuna eventually ended up snuggling under the warmth of a kotatsu, a cup of hot tea in his hands. "T-Thank you, Masami-san," he said, smiling tentatively at his classmate.
Said girl had changed into a flowing violet kimono as soon as she had arrived home and he was settled. Nodding in recognition, she walked forward to sit in seiza next to him and respond, "You're very welcome. Now, explain things to me please."
"Oh, urm, right." He shouldn't have expected anything less from Masami. She always liked to know the complete facts of a situation before acting. There had been that one time when Tsuna came to the rooftop with a sprained ankle...
That hadn't been pretty.
"It started a street from my house," Tsuna explained, looking down into the steaming, swirling liquid. "I had a bad feeling about today, so I was on the lookout and I caught the yakuza staring at me around the corners."
"A bad feeling?"
"Yeah, it's stupid, I know, but still..." He shrugged, feeling oddly defensive even though there had been no skepticism in Masami's voice.
"That's fine. Please continue."
"Right, so," Tsuna took a big gulp of tea for courage, found himself at the end of a vaguely disapproving look, "one of them made a comment about how if they killed me, they would get a reward or something. I ran and then, well..."
"You called me." Masami blinked slowly and rose to her feet, the white calla flowers dramatic against the violet fabric in the bright sunlight. "Sawada-san, perhaps we should take a field trip today. I'm sure our teachers will understand."
"A-Ah, where to?" Hastily getting to his feet, Tsuna finished off his tea and placed the cup back on the kotatsu. He was pretty sure his hands should be free for this "field trip."
"The edges of Namimori." She smiled cryptically, a strange frosty edge to her voice, and retrieved a small black cylinder from a nearby cabinet. "Here, please take this, Sawada-san. You may need it."
"What is it?" He turned the cylinder over in his hands as he hurried after Masami, the difference between her silent steps and his noisy ones glaring.
"A taser," Masami said coolly from the doorway, turning to look at Tsuna over her shoulder. "A good hit should give you enough time to run."
"Hiiee!?" Tsuna stared disbelievingly at Masami, clutching at his head in a panic. "You brought me to the yakuza hideout!?"
She probably wouldn't even have told him if the rusty gate they stood in front of didn't have a huge sign:
STAY OUT OR DIE!
"Please stop shouting before you draw unnecessary attention," she requested, ignoring his crisis. "Sawada-san, if you would hide behind that wall over there until this dance is over. You're still a bit clumsy yet."
Tsuna didn't waste a second in diving for the crumbling wall that Masami had pointed out, crying tears of despair at the path his life had led him towards. He was going to die today after all! It was what he deserved for making such a crazy friend!
Then again, Tsuna was near certain that no one and nothing stopped Hibari Masami when she wanted something, certainly not the weak protests of the school loser.
Meanwhile, Masami frowned and tapped her closed fan against her lips for a moment. A light bulb lit up above her head half a second later. "Aha. I knew I'd forgotten something."
Something as inane as forgetting could befall Masami?
Tsuna didn't believe it.
She pulled out her phone and dialed a number, expanding her black fan to cool herself absently...despite the fact that her breath was visible in the winter air. No, he didn't get her at all. "Greetings, Onii-san," she said.
Tsuna went as still as possible. It couldn't be. It was. Masami was talking to Hibari. The Hibari Kyoya. Well, Masami was a Hibari, too, but she was Masami and Kyoya was Hibari. Oh my God, it was true, today was the day he would die! And he hadn't even written his will! Or confessed to Kyoko-chan!
"Outside the local yakuza hideout... They persist in being bothersome... I see. When you arrive, would you mind picking up my classmate? He'll be hiding out of sight... Thank you, Onii-san. I'll see you soon."
After putting her phone away, Masami gestured fleetingly towards Tsuna with her fan. "Please keep out of sight, Sawada-san. My brother will be here to supervise shortly."
"O-Oh." He breathed a sigh of relief, tense shoulders relaxing. Doubtlessly, Hibari would be able to take out the yakuza gang without blinking. "Don't worry, I'll just wait here with you until he gets here to take care of these guys—"
"If I may, what are you referring to?" She raised an eyebrow at him, turning back to face the fence resolutely. "Onii-san will be performing clean up. I will be the one dancing."
"W-What?!" Aghast, Tsuna gaped openly at her, wondering dimly if his ears were working right. Maybe he had misheard? "I'm s-sorry, but I could have sworn you just said you were going to take this gang on all by yourself."
"You did not misunderstand anything, Sawada-san." And though her words remained perfectly polite, for the first time ever, he saw a hint of bloodlust enter those steel gray eyes. It made him shiver. "This will be...a lovely promenade."
Then, before Tsuna could argue or stop her, Masami vaulted easily over the gate and landed on the other side. A shot instantly rang through the air, breezing past her with only a few millimetres to spare.
"Oi! Who the hell are you!?" came the shout, followed in seconds by stamping feet as the yakuza on watch raised the alarm.
Masami just stepped forward fearlessly, swaying this way and that as more bullets flew at her. Watching, Tsuna was petrified even though he wasn't the one being shot at, but none of the bullets came close to hitting her. She didn't move with any impatience, but she was out of his line of sight all too quickly.
And although his fingers were shaking and his breath was coming in rapid bursts, Tsuna forced himself to peek up over the wall to see what was going on. "Hieee!" Masami stood in the middle of the clearing in front of the abandoned building, surrounded on all sides by yakuza.
This wasn't good! Where was Hibari!? What was Tsuna going to do!?
"Little girls aren't allowed here," the probable leader of the group called out, stepping forward. "Get out and maybe we won't give you a lesson on wondering where you shouldn't fucking be!"
As Tsuna watched apprehensively, Masami merely withdrew her second fan from the sleeves of her kimono with a bow, holding one spread across her neck, partially obscuring her face, and the other parallel to the ground. She smiled. "Greetings. Shall we dance?"
In some dark corner of his mind, Tsuna admired how his friend's voice could come out so airy and pure, not a tremor to be heard. That didn't stop the rest of him from panicking on her behalf though. What was she doing? Was she trying to get herself killed!?
"Che, damn brats. Don't even have any common sense nowadays." The leader turned his back on Masami with that disgusted comment, waving a hand dismissively. "Well, I gave you the choice. Boys, fire!"
"W-Wait, Boss, I think that's—" One of his subordinates tried to cut in, but it was too late, the order had been given. About a dozen shots blasted out, and Tsuna opened his mouth to call out in a panic, despite knowing he could do nothing—
But Masami was already moving.
"I-It's that damn Skylark's little sister, damn it!" the poor subordinate called out in a panic right before he was sent flying through the air by a blur of white and purple to land hard on the concrete, frothing at the mouth.
"I apologize. Normally, I let my brother take care of things which is why you lot only know me by reputation..." Masami spared the time to inform the yakuza with faux sorrow. "But today will be an exception, I suppose."
And with that, she spun in a circle and flung back six men easily, sending them flying through the air in beautiful parabolic curves.
'...I was an idiot,' Tsuna thought, feeling a little faint as he tracked the course of the battle, 'to think Masami-san would be scared of seven opponents.' For now, she was faring against a good three dozen with ease.
Dancing, she had always referred to battle as dancing. And now, Tsuna could understand why. Every move that Masami executed was with such grace and poise that it was as if she was dancing with her opponents, a lethal, refined dance like none he'd ever seen before.
In comparison, the men that she fought were clumsy, inexperienced: boys who had stumbled onto the dance floor for the first time in their lives, tripping over their own feet. None of them ever seemed to be able to so much as touch her, their efforts in pained vain.
One second, the fans in her hands acted as clubs, hitting the yakuza with enough force that some collapsed on the spot, probably with a few broken bones. The next, they cut like blades, spilling crimson blood everywhere.
There was just no winning with her.
Masami danced her way through the opening number and right on into the hideout, leaving behind her a pile of limp bodies, red speckled on the gray concrete. Not long after that, loud screams and cries were audible again.
It was official, Tsuna decided. He was never, ever, ever going to make Masami mad again.
"Herbivore."
Tsuna squeaked and dropped from the wall to land hard on his butt, fumbling with his taser only to end up staring wide-eyed at the prefect that he hadn't heard arrive but who was now staring coldly at him.
Hibari Kyoya looked just as frightening as the rumors made him out to be, his eyes the same shade as his sister's but so much more unforgiving. The uniform he wore was unfamiliar, but the pair of tonfa he held were all too much so from the various stories told by hospital patients.
"H-H-Hi-Hibari-san!" Tsuna croaked out at last, his heart having dropped into his stomach. There had been far too many surprises today; he would end up having a heart attack at this rate!
Hibari eyeballed him disdainfully, plainly unimpressed. "So this is the herbivore my sister's been devoting her attention to for the past year? I should bite you to death right here, right now for giving her so much trouble."
Tsuna almost choked on his own spit, waving his arms frantically in front of him as a means of detergent. "P-Please don't!" When the prefect didn't look convinced, he added, "M-Masami-san wouldn't be h-happy!" Or, at least, he hoped so.
She wouldn't have wasted that much time on him if she wasn't somewhat emotionally invested, right? Tsuna didn't know; Masami was indecipherable on a good day and never really talked about her feelings. Tsuna had never really had the courage to ask either.
"Hn." Hibari was interrupted of his contemplation on whether or not his sister would be too badly heartbroken if Tsuna died by a long, drawn-out scream of pain from the hideout. That seemed to decide him. "We will continue this later, herbivore."
Spinning on his heel with the patent understanding that Tsuna would follow, Hibari stalked to the gate and destroyed it with a single swing of his tonfa. He strolled casually through the wrecked courtyard, perfectly relaxed in sharp contrast to Tsuna, who was, by now, near ghostly pale.
While Tsuna anxiously tried to go around the corp—bodies, bodies, they were still alive, they had to be alive—Hibari pointedly walked in a straight line with no regard to whatever, or whoever, he crushed under foot. Meaning a lot of stepping on broken, bloodied yakuza with no regard to their wounds.
Tsuna winced at the sobs the men let out at the further abuse to their bodies, but Hibari didn't even seem to notice, much less care. Heading into the building also filled with defeated men, they were first ambushed when they turned a corner.
Tsuna didn't have the time to warn Hibari before a brutal strike from a tonfa brought the man to his knees and a kick sent him flying into the wall. Tsuna decided from there on out to wisely keep his mouth shut.
Hibari certainly didn't need his help...or want it.
As they progressed, Tsuna began to notice how...differently Hibari moved in comparison to Masami. It was weird; they were siblings, and thus, similar in the strangest of ways, but very, very different, too, all at the same time.
"You understand how various students have varied handwriting? Dancing is the same. People have different dance patterns. Some are clumsy, some are smooth. Others like fast melodies or slow lullabies. It depends on the individual."
Words Masami had spoken before when lecturing Tsuna on combat. Now, as he watched Hibari take down enemy after enemy, Tsuna suddenly found himself getting it.
Hibari was all savage ferocity and wild strength, easily striking down enemies and allies alike. He fought direct and efficient, not a single movement wasted. The battlefield was where he excelled, where he belonged. He reveled in the violence, was brutal, nearly fascinating in his intensity.
Masami, on the other hand, was motionless fluidity and shocking speed, quiet and sly. She struck fast and hard when needed, impossibly agile and nimble. Her precision was effortless, her grace stunning. She had turned fighting into a lovely art form, an expression of beauty and style.
They were both combat, both melee, but they were so very different.
Tsuna almost bumped into Hibari, distracted from his thoughts, and gulped at the death glare the prefect shot him in retaliation. He hastily redirected his attention to the building in the hopes of living a while longer.
There were cracks running down the walls, a whole bunch of graffiti on them, too. 'You fucker!' one proclaimed in violent red, 'Piss off!' another defied, 'You're all shit!' the last one scolded. The floors were dusty and bloody, what little furniture there was old and creaky.
These yakuza were pretty sad, in Tsuna's humble opinion.
"Masami."
Oh. Tsuna looked up, realizing that while he had been lost in his thoughts, Hibari had defeated three more lackeys and reached the center of the base. Tentatively, Tsuna leaned to the side to peer beyond the prefect.
His eyes widened.
Masami sat daintily on a desk that must have been positively ancient, the room that they occupied completely destroyed. A man, the leader, was lying unconscious on the rug, blood dripping out of his mouth and eyes rolled back into his head.
Tsuna dearly hoped that he wasn't dead.
Masami's calm eyes came to rest on her brother after a searching glance at her classmate. She slid off the desk, kimono blood-free, to smile sweetly and bow shallowly, poise intact. "Greetings, Onii-san, Sawada-san."
Even in the midst of blood and ruin, Tsuna marveled at how she could somehow still manage to appear both composed and untouchable, like a heavenly harbinger of doom. He could see her contentedly reigning over the world after the apocalypse hit.
He found that equally, if not more, terrifying than the fact that she'd effectively taken down an entire yakuza base on her own. There was no telling how dangerous she could be at any given time...because this was the way she always acted.
Yup. Never, ever, ever, ever upsetting Masami again.
"Are you satisfied?" Hibari asked, stepping forward. What a strange question. Wait, what was Tsuna thinking? This was The Hibari Kyoya. There was no common set of earthly rules he was willing to operate by.
"I did," Masami replied, that dangerous smile widening. Only one fan in sight—the white tessen that was mysteriously somehow still white—she waved it vaguely at the fallen yakuza boss. "Kusakabe-san will be informed?"
"Yes." Hibari put away his tonfa, retrieving a phone that looked identical to the one that his sister used. "Tetsuya. The raid is over... We are not injured... Yes, an ambulance will be needed...Don't you dare crowd..."
While the scary prefect was distracted, Tsuna crept over to Masami's side. "A-Are you alright, Masami-san?" He hadn't seen any injuries, but she was good at hiding things like that.
She directed a reassuring smile at him. "I'm fine, Sawada-san. Thank you for your concern. I assume there were no problems before Onii-san arrived?"
"Y-Yeah. Are the yakuza...are they—" He couldn't say it.
"They're alive. All of them."
"Oh." Tsuna breathed a sigh of relief. It was over, it was really over. Now that the fighting was gone and done with, he almost felt his legs give. This had been an awful, awful day. He leaned against the desk so he wouldn't collapse.
God knew that Hibari's impression of him would hit rock bottom if he did something like that. If that was even possible anymore.
Masami looked thoughtfully at him for a moment before smiling. Her voice was gentle. "You need to get some rest, Sawada-san. Come with me, it's been a long day, hasn't it?" She began to glide out of the room, leaving things to her brother.
Tsuna nodded, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly as he followed her. "Yeah, sorry about that. It was all because of me that this happened, right?"
"Please don't fool yourself, Sawada-san," she disagreed without a hitch in her voice or stride. "This had nothing to do with you."
He froze, staring at her back in bewilderment. "Masami-san...?"
"This yakuza group has been a nuisance to the peace of Namimori for a very long time but never before have they dared to attack a student. They would have been disposed of sooner or later. I simply chose sooner," she elaborated without turning.
"O-Oh." Tsuna drooped, combined exhaustion and disappointment combining into a heavy weight that threatened to crush him into the ground. He'd known that cool, sophisticated Masami didn't consider him a close friend, but it still hurt.
He heard her sigh and then light fingers touched his chin, lifting his head up until their eyes locked. "Don't misunderstand me, Sawada-san," she said evenly. "Your training from before will look like a walk in the park after today. Should an incident like this repeat, I will not be so gracious."
Tsuna's eyes widened, torn helplessly between giddy happiness and cold terror. It was the first time, the first time ever that Masami had ever insinuated, however subtly, that he was more than just an nuisance she had picked up off the street. He settled for grousing, "At least give me a day to rest, Masami-san."
She raised her eyebrows. "Absolutely not." Letting him go, Masami continued to navigate the twisted corridors with a confidence that he couldn't mirror. "As your defense is now satisfactory, we will move on to offense."
Tsuna shivered. Maybe he would have been better off if the yakuza had gotten to him.
Later that day, Masami rested her elbows on the chabudai, resting her chin on her interlaced fingers. Two hours ago, she had escorted Tsunayoshi home, where his mother, Sawada Nana, had fussed over him and thanked her.
At the very least, she thought to herself, Nana obviously loved Tsunayoshi, even if her comments on her no-good son having such a wonderful friend were aggravating. His missing father...well. That was an issue. A more important one than she'd realized.
And here she'd thought this little side project of hers was going to be straightforward and simple.
"Masami." Kyoya padded into the room on silent feet, exacting eyes quickly finding his sister. He sat down across from her in seiza, his silence, that in itself, an order. He wanted to know what was wrong.
"I persuaded an interesting piece of information from the yakuza leader," she said at last. "Regarding Sawada-san." It had shocked her though the time it had taken for the boys to arrive had her composure reassembling flawlessly.
He grunted. "I do not see why you would associate with a herbivore like him, much less go on a rampage as you did. He is weak, not worth your time."
...a rampage, hmm? An applicable word for the ice that had flown through her veins, that freezing, ruthless state she had lived in not long ago, she decided. There had been very little mercy in her then. No one touched what was hers, a view shared by her brother.
Though, for Kyoya, there were only three things that he considered his. Himself—his person, his clothes, his belongings—his family, and his home—Namimori. Masami was more fluid on that matter, even if she was also far less possessive as a whole.
She sighed. "We've been through this more than once, Onii-san. I enjoy his potential."
Kyoya hummed noncommittally and drank from the cup of tea she'd poured for him. "Continue."
"...do you remember Otou-san telling us about the CEDEF of Vongola?" The External Advisers of the Family of what was widely regarded as the most powerful Mafia family in Italy.
He nodded and gave her a brisk look that said she should get to the point.
"Sawada Tsunayoshi's father is the current leader of the CEDEF, Sawada Iemitsu." The one who had once, according to Tsunayoshi, sent home a postcard depicting penguins while claiming he was looking for oil. That one.
This time, there was blatant disbelief in Kyoya's eyes. "That cowering herbivore has connections to the Vongola?"
"It seems so. Although...I don't believe Sawada-san knows himself." He considered himself ordinary, entirely ordinary.
Which was totally ridiculous, seeing as Masami would pay not an iota of attention to someone ordinary.
"Hn." Kyoya gave her an assessing look. "In that case, perhaps your decision is not as outrageous as I initially thought. Keep an eye on him."
Masami smiled pleasantly and took a sip of tea. "Of course, Onii-san." And if his heritage was true, then Tsunayoshi was in quite a good amount of danger. More training.
As she'd promised, the day after that, Tsunayoshi had to drag himself home, crying silently all the way. 'What did I do to deserve this!?'
Luckily for Tsunayoshi, the months that followed were less strenuous, mostly because Masami became distracted by the budding changes of puberty.
She had noticed before, of course, but had shelved the knowledge away in the hopes that things would stay the same. Sadly, simply because she had ignored puberty did not mean puberty had ignored her.
A month before her twelfth birthday, Masami observed the blood in her underwear with a scowl. How irksome. Thankfully, her brother had already left for patrol—she only occasionally joined in now, rather than constantly following him as before—so she wouldn't have to explain this to him.
Shaking her head, she went downstairs to call her mother. Rika would know what to do.
Unfortunately, Masami discovered that her period was a troublesome thing. The abdominal cramps were aggravating, the headaches and cravings were irritating, and her temper was on a fine edge.
Tsunayoshi was the first victim to go.
"Is there something wrong, Masami-san?" he asked one day during lunch, peering at her with caution.
She went motionless. "Twenty laps around the school please."
"Hiiee!?" Poor Tsunayoshi looked half-alarmed and half-concerned.
"Now. Please." The snap of her fan made consequences evident.
"Why is it always meeeeee!?" he screamed as he dashed off, leaving a trail of dust behind him.
Kyoko and Hana understood as only other girls could, keeping out of her way when she was particularly irked.
Tetsuya didn't. He was number two.
"Masami-san, there's been some trouble with the delinquents."
"And my brother, Kusakabe-san?" This was his self-appointed job. She had no interest in managing a territory.
Tetsuya inched away, evidently sensing something was wrong. "He did not want to perform the task..."
Masami smiled sharply, too restless to pretend civility. "I do not either."
He winced, taking a step towards the door. "Masami-san, please."
"Kusakabe-san?"
"...yes?"
"Please leave."
"H-Hai."
Tetsuya hastily retreated, swallowing hard. Even he had limits to his bravery.
The third and inevitable victim was Kyoya.
"Onii-san." Masami leaned against the wall outside of his office.
Kyoya looked up at that tone of voice, meeting gleaming predatory eyes. "What?"
"Deal with your delinquents."
He examined the current level of danger. "...or?"
"And buy me a box of chocolate." Turning on her heel, Masami glided out.
By night, there was a box of chocolate on the dinner table and a group of delinquents in the hospital.
Masami smiled beatifically and didn't poison her brother's ramen.
After her time of the month had passed, leaving the males in her life to breath a silent sigh of relief, even if they weren't quite sure what had been wrong, she stood before the bathroom mirror and stared at her reflection. Breasts. She was growing breasts.
...time to call Okaa-san again.
Needless to say, Kyoya did not agree to go shopping with her that week. Not that he normally did, but there was an extra dot of vehemence this week. He didn't know what she was looking for, but male intuition said he should keep out of it.
Masami narrowed her eyes and brought Kyoko and Hana along. They consented cheerfully and made several stylish suggestions.
She knew there was a reason she kept them around.
Thankfully for Kyoya, Masami found the boys in her class, in her entire school really, to be uninteresting and unworthy of a crush. That would have been disastrous on so many levels, especially for the poor, undeserving boy involved.
Unfortunately for Masami, this particular effect was not replicated for her, and she had to deal with hormone-ridden boys making eyes at her. Her retaliation came in the form of conduct colder than the ninth layer of hell. They were lucky Kyoya was in middle school.
Eventually, after his sister's fifth period and the subsequent mine-filled week, said brother sighed and gave in. "Do not wreck my motorcycle, Masami," he warned sternly.
Masami looked over the sleek, black machine and smiled smugly. "No worries, Onii-san. I'll make sure to take good care of your baby."
Kyoya shot a comparatively mild glare at her before stalking away, throwing the keys in the air. Masami caught it with ease and began fiddling with the motorcycle.
Oh, this would be fun.
Three weeks before graduation, Tsuna was walking to school when a faint zoom caught his attention. He frowned, turning slightly to the side. "Eeh? It...sounds like...a car...?" Except cars normally didn't come onto this small road.
In the distance, a cloud of dust rose into the air, a figure coming closer...coming closer at a very high speed. "Hiiieee!" Throwing himself to the side in hopes of not getting rolled over, Tsuna put his bag on the ground and hoped he wouldn't have to fight.
If he lost, Masami would flat-out kill him this time. Literally, there was no chance he would come out with his heart still beating.
As the gap between him and the approaching silhouette was eaten up, Tsuna managed to make out some details. Lingering dark tresses flying in the air, a elementary school uniform, two spinning wheels...
Tsuna's eyes popped out as the motorcycle sped past him and turned sharply, shrieking to a halt. A heeled boot came down to steady the rider, dove gray eyes bright with exhilaration.
"M-M-Masami-san?!" Tsuna shouted incredulously, feeling like running back to bed and diving under the covers. What was going on?!
His classmate glanced at him with a peaceful smile, as if she hadn't just come flying in on a motorcycle—a motorcycle!—saying, "Greetings, Sawada-san," complete with a tasteful bow.
"G-Good morning!" Tsuna managed to spit out, echoing the bow because to do otherwise was to cause even more trouble. "Er, uh, what's with the motorcycle—!?"
"Oh, this?" Tone as casual as if they were talking about the weather, Masami laid a tender hand on the gleaming flank of the vehicle. "It's Onii-san's. I'm borrowing it until graduation."
All color leached out of Tsuna's face. "Y-You mean you're going to come to school every day...like this?! And where's your helmet!?" How was this legal? What had he done in his past life to deserve this? H-Had he been a yakuza or something!?
Unbeknownst to Tsuna, he wasn't that far off the mark.
"That is correct. Helmets are uncomfortable and unnecessary, and I'm sure you'll agree with me when I say I don't need them." Masami paused to smile kindly at a horrified Tsuna. "Would you like a ride, Sawada-san?"
Tsuna ran off into the sunrise, crying loudly, arms flailing. "HIIIIIEEEEEE!"
And thus, in no time at all, they graduated from Namimori Elementary and entered Namimori Middle.
Then, things started to get interesting.
OpalescentGold: Masami meets Tsuna and promptly decides to adopt him. Turning a herbivore into a carnivore - or at least an omnivore - is a hard and arduous job, especially when you find out that your new charge has very suspicious parents with very suspicious connections to the mafia.
Good thing the old, ancient, traditional, very violent and equally as suspicious Hibari family also has connections to the mafia! And various other criminal organizations!
(Fon, I'm looking at you.)
Thanks for all of the support from everyone and a shout out to my betas! I'm on tumblr, if you'd like to find me there! Please leave a review!~
Chabudai: tables with short legs.
Gunsen: lightweight but strong folding fans.
Kanzashi: hair ornaments used in traditional Japanese hairstyles.
Kimono: Japanese traditional robes worn so that the hem falls to the ankle, with attached collars and long, wide sleeves.
Ranma: panels found above shoji or fusuma that are designed to let light into the room.
Seiza: formal way of sitting, kneeling with legs folded underneath.
Tatami: mat floors traditionally made of rice straw.
Tessen: heavy folding fans with outer spokes made of heavy plates of iron.
Zabuton: thin pillows used as cushions to sit on.