A/N: We've reached a hundred favorites, thank you everyone! And it's great to see people like the drabbles at the end. Since Tsuna grew up with Shizuka, some of her Mist qualities rubbed off on him. So hopefully he'll have more of a backbone as the story goes on. Not that it will help much with Ryohei. *sweat drops* As for the cat army, let's just say that Shizuka will find an enabler that not even Kyoya can stand up to in the future. ;) Hope you all enjoy and feel free to leave a review, they always make my day.
Peer Pressured
"Hiee! Shizuka, why didn't you wake me up earlier? I'm going to be late!" Tsuna yelped, scrambling to get his uniform on. Shizuka glared at Reborn. "Mister Sunshine over there threatened to shoot me if I did. He actually shot me!" Tsuna's face went pale, his demon tutor could shoot ghosts?!
Shizuka swore that she saw a sadistic gleam in Reborn's eyes every time he hit her brother with a deathperation bullet. Once again she could feel herself become solid. "Alright, I have five minutes. Now what can I do in five minutes?" She wondered aloud. "Jyuudaime's sister!" Gokudera panted, clearly out of breath. "You just missed Tsuna. And it's Shizuka." Shizuka says bluntly.
They ran into Yamamoto as well, much to Gokudera's disdain. "Hey Gokudera!" He waved jovially. "Baseball idiot." Gokudera muttered, Shizuka sweat dropped. At least Gokudera wasn't attempting to murder the athlete, that was an improvement. "Hey, you kinda look like Tsuna. You a cousin of his or something?" Yamamoto asks.
One of Gokudera's eyes twitched. "Cousin? They're identical twins, you moron!" Gokudera exclaims, Shizuka sighed. "It's fine Gokudera, nothing to start a fight over. I'm Shizuka, it's nice to meet you." She says, extending her hand. It was already starting to go translucent, those five minutes had gone by quickly. Within seconds, she disappeared from their sight.
Yamamoto blinked in confusion. "Where did she go?" The baseball player wondered aloud, Gokudera smacked him upside the head and Shizuka sighed.
XoXoXoXoXo
By the time Shizuka returned to her brother, she noticed he looked torn over something. "What has you down this time?" Shizuka asks, Tsuna groaned. "It's Ryohei, Kyoko's brother. He wants me to join the boxing club." Shizuka deadpanned. "But you have a glass... everything. You bruise like a peach outside of dying will mode!" "I know, but Kyoko looked so happy to see her brother had a friend. What should I do?!"
"Just tell him no. You can still be friends with him, just be stern with your refusal to join the boxing team." Tsuna visibly flinched. "Can't you take over my body and do it for me?" Shizuka smacked the back of his head. "Reborn can tell the difference between our mannerisms. He'll probably double your training for not being able to stand your ground. You can't please everyone, you'll make yourself miserable. I'm sure Ryohei will be reasonable." Shizuka says in encouragement.
The minute Tsuna and Shizuka saw Reborn dressed as Master Pao Pao, they knew Tsuna no longer had any choice but to confront Ryohei. And knowing the hitman it would be in the most embarrassing and chaotic way possible. "This wouldn't have happened if you let me keep my cat army. They would have been a good distraction." Shizuka says, trying to stay as far away from Ryohei as possible. The teen was radiating Sun flames and she was not looking forward to another brush with the after life.
Yamamoto and Gokudera were there as well but their support wasn't that great. Shizuka face palmed, her brother was a sucker for peer pressure. She could see his determination beginning to waver. "I swear, Reborn does this all on purpose. He tells you that you need to stand your ground, only to crush your will with his own." Shizuka grumbled.
"Well Tsuna? Are you joining the boxing team?" Ryohei asks with a grin. "Just say no! Just say no!" Shizuka chanted, holding up a banner. Tsuna felt like crying, at least someone was actually taking into account what he wanted! But Ryohei was kind of intimidating and he didn't want to see Kyoko upset... Shizuka just threw up her hands in exasperation, this was a hopeless cause. "There's only so much I can do. I'm going to check out the archery team, I think Daichi has practice today."
No! Don't leave me! Tsuna mentally cried, finding himself being pushed into the ring against his will. Somehow Reborn had gotten him changed into his gym shorts without him noticing and he was now wearing boxing gloves.
XoXoXoXoXo
Daichi aimed at one of the wooden targets in the field and released an arrow. There was a heavy thunk as it sank into the center of the target, his teammates cheered. "That was awesome! There's no way we're going to lose regionals this year!" One of his juniors exclaimed, high fiving another member. "That doesn't give any of you an excuse to slack off." Daichi states, spotting Shizuka out of the corner of his eye. "Yes captain!" The teens shouted in unison.
Shizuka was attempting to sneak up on Daichi and let out a pained yelp as she became solid, landing face first on the ground. "Darn that trigger happy toddler." She grumbled, dusting herself off. It wasn't like she could predict when Reborn would shoot her brother and it was starting to happen at inappropriate times. Thankfully no one noticed a teenager suddenly materializing out of thin air.
"Shizuka, what are you doing here?" Shizuka smiled sheepishly. "Well I wanted to see what you were doing since my brother is busy." She says with a shrug. "Hey, Miyamoto! That your girlfriend or something?" One of the members asked. Shizuka rolled her eyes. "Nope, just friends." Shizuka looked to Daichi, wondering why he was looking so intently at her. "Daichi?" She yelped as Daichi dragged her away.
"Ouch! What is up with you?" Shizuka hissed, rubbing her wrist. "Shizuka, be serious for a minute." Daichi snapped, making Shizuka flinch. He pressed his fingers to her palm, feeling a faint pulse. Her illusions could be very detailed, but she never added any "human" touches when she made herself solid. The more detailed, the bigger the drain on her energy. "Shizuka, at the moment you're pretty much alive." Her eyes widened, that sort of thing shouldn't be possible!
"Oh my kami, Reborn might be a necromancer!" Shizuka yelped, for once she wasn't being overly dramatic.
XoXoXoXoXo
Tsuna was worried when his sister hadn't returned after his match with Ryohei. Kyoko's brother somehow decided to take him under his wing as his "little brother." "Hey big brother." Shizuka says in a subdued tone, looking like she'd been told the world was about to end. "Where were you? Were you causing trouble again?" Tsuna asks, she shook her head. "Just... thinking. What do you think would happen if I could come back, to life I mean."
He was stunned, where had that thought come from? From what he'd seen, his sister loved being a ghost. She wasn't weighed down by inconveniences of the living, like being forced to go to school or get a job. She could read all day and mess with the living to her heart's content. "That would be great! Then I could introduce you to everyone and we could hang out!" Shizuka seemed to decide something at that moment, giving Tsuna a soft smile. "Alright." "Huh?" Tsuna was lost. "I'll look into it." Shizuka says bluntly. "Shizuka, there aren't any books with instructions to resurrect the dead!" He protests.
"Tsuna, you limit yourself too much. If there's a way, I'll find it somehow." Tsuna just decided to let the subject drop. He already had a baby tutor that could shoot ghosts. Why not bring back ghosts from the dead? But then she would be a zombie... What if she tried to eat his brain? "No Shizuka! Don't eat my brain!" Shizuka snickered.
Bonus: Why Having Athlete Friends is the Worst and Reborn is the Devil
At six in the morning on a weekend, any reasonable person would be asleep. "Hey Tsuna! Wake up! It's time for a morning run!" Ryohei yells, Tsuna groaned and placed a pillow over his head. Since he refused to join the boxing club, they came to a compromise. If Ryohei stopped asking, Tsuna would join him on his morning run.
He walked out of the house in baggy workout clothes and sneakers, rubbing his eyes. He had a sandwich and water in his bag, last time he ran on an empty stomach it felt like he was dying from the inside. "Extremely good morning!" Ryohei exclaimed, Tsuna was sure that the entire neighborhood could hear the teen. In fact, several neighbors opened their windows and glared at Tsuna. It wasn't like Ryohei had a volume control!
Yamamoto would also join them on their morning runs but, like Tsuna, he wasn't a morning person. In Tsuna's opinion he looked like he was ready to murder someone for disturbing his sleep. He would be back to his usual smiling face and jovial self after a minute or two of running. Still, he kept his distance for those minutes. And who brought a baseball bat with them for a run?!
Sometimes they would have a normal run, others Reborn would decide to throw in some extra "incentives." One time Reborn had put meat necklaces around them and released a truck of dogs, watching in smug satisfaction as the teens ran for their lives. Other times he and Lambo would shoot weapons at them from a distance, watching them dodge one bullet after another. Reborn patted Leon on the head, fedora tilted as he smirked. It was times like these that he loved being a tutor.
XoXoXoXoXo
"So you have to clean the temple grounds in the morning and do exercises? And what does weight lifting have anything to do with using a bow?" Shizuka asks grumpily. Daichi resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "If you feel left out, just take over someone's body." He says bluntly. Shizuka's eyes teared up. "But that isn't any fun!" She complains.
Suddenly she fell to the ground, now completely solid. "I hate Reborn. I really, really do." She grumbled, yelping when Daichi threw a spare broom at her. "Since you're already solid, make yourself useful and help me out." Daichi says bluntly. "Fine, but only because I'm really bored." As much as Shizuka complained about it, Daichi swore he heard her humming a pop song as she worked. "Daichi, can I keep my cat army here?" "NO."