If you know what Gokusen is, then you're good to go! ;D
Tsuna hated his life. Because of his grades and how badly the teachers had spoken of him, he had failed to even pass the required exams for Namimori High School. As a result he had to cast his net a bit farther away from home just to get into high school.
On the plus side, he never had to fear the demon prefect coming after his ass for being late again. It just sucked he had to live in a really crappy apartment and have to get a job to pay living expenses.
His mom covered the tuition fees, but other than that he was on his own.
To be honest, moving away from Namimori was kind of a relief. No one immediately equated him with "Dame-Tsuna" here, and he didn't have to worry about his things being taken or damaged by his bullies.
And the school didn't really care about whether he skipped out of class or not...Shiroken was more concerned about the hooligans that made up their students than they were about a 'fluffy bunny' like him.
He still found it funny that he was in a class with someone who had the same surname as him.
Shin was intense, but he was nice and stuck up for the weaker students. He didn't mind taking Tsuna under his wing, but he was still too skittish to ask for help in regards to homework.
This was his second-year in high school and he could only hope that things would be better since that jerk Kudou was finally expelled.
"So we're getting a female teacher?" asked Tsuna.
"Yeah. Hopefully it's that stacked babe I saw earlier!" said Kumai.
"I just hope she's nice," said Tsuna.
"Don't worry rabbit, we'll keep you safe."
"Why do you guys always call me rabbit?" asked Tsuna. It was a long-standing complaint, but it was still better than Dame-Tsuna. After all, here no one really made fun of his crappy grades or the fact he wasn't really physically inclined. The guys might look and talk rough, but in reality they were pretty nice overall.
"Because you're cute and fluffy like a little bunny," said Shin with a smirk. "But you still have the balls to stand up against Kudou in front of the cops."
Tsuna was one to insure Kudou would finally been expelled. He had been harassing the first years, and Tsuna had been a major part in why he was expelled. Then he spoke in front of the cops, even though it ran the risk of it getting back to him.
He might be a fluffy bunny, but he was still braver than a mouse.
Seeing the new teacher, Tsuna felt something inside him sit up and take notice.
She was not normal.
Still, it was best to keep his head down and hope to make it through high school. Sure, his grades sucked but he was sure he could find something he was good at.
Yamaguchi (called Yankumi by her students) looked at the lone piece of paper that someone had bothered to fill out correctly.
"I want to pass high school with high enough grades to at least get into a decent college and prove everyone wrong."
"Which one was Sawada Tsunayoshi?" she wondered.
Looking at the class roster, she found only two with the surname Sawada. Shin was easy enough to identify, as he had pretty much singled himself out early on. But she couldn't for the life of her remember which one was Tsunayoshi.
"Tsuna? Oh, you mean Rabbit," said another teacher.
"Rabbit?"
"The kid's like a fluffy bunny. I'm amazed he came back for a second year, considering what happened last year."
The other teacher pulled out a class roster with pictures attached and pointed him out.
"No way... how did a fluffy bunny like this survive a year here?" she asked amazed.
"Don't dismiss the Rabbit," said the principal. "Young Tsuna is the reason that ruffian Kudou was expelled last year. The boy was brave enough to press charges against that other boy even though it ran the risk of making him a target."
"Seriously?"
"The kid might be fluffy, but he's loyal and smart," agreed another teacher. "He's kept a few of the other boys out of trouble with the police, and because he doesn't look like he attends our school they tend to believe him when he acts as their alibi."
Yankumi looked at the picture. The kid was positively tiny, but he was clearly smarter than he looked...or had some strong survival instincts.
Considering what she had seen of the class dynamic, it was clear he had attached himself to Shin and was willing to act as their cover when it came to their less than legal activities in exchange for protection.
The only issue was his living situation and the fact he had a very low-paying job. She could tell right off the bat the kid was barely making ends meet.
She looked at the basic profile from when he applied to the school and had to blink.
"What the hell? What sort of teacher openly calls their own student 'Dame-Tsuna' in a report?" she said in disbelief.
"It wasn't just the teachers. Apparently a good portion of his classmates called him that, and his own mother had given up on him. She was surprised he had applied to a different high school when he failed to get into the one in town," said another teacher.
Yankumi couldn't quite keep the look of offended disgust off her face. No wonder Tsuna wanted to 'prove everyone wrong'. Even a fluffy bunny like him had some pride as a man. Though considering his grades...
A few days later...
Tsuna blinked at the odd note on the bottom of his test.
'If you are really serious about pulling up your grades, stay after class today. Yankumi'
Was this for real?
Still, Yankumi didn't feel like any of the other teachers. She wasn't afraid of them for starters, and she had already caught Shin's attention to the point he actually came to class for a change.
There wasn't any harm in going, if only because none of the third years were likely to be there. Besides, today was his day off.
"Um... hello?" he asked carefully.
"Ah, Sawada-kun. Come on in. I was just getting things ready," said Yankumi.
Tsuna cautiously came in. He had a knife in his back pocket, which was a gift from Shin. He couldn't really do much damage, but he had learned a lot about dirty fighting from his friends so he could get away enough to escape. He was pretty fast when he had to be.
"So were you serious about wanting to improve your grades enough to get into college?" asked Yankumi.
"Yeah. I couldn't really do anything about it before because the teachers back home kept saying I was cheating every time I tried to make it higher than a D average," replied Tsuna sourly. "And no one wanted to bother with 'Dame-Tsuna'...my inability to do anything right might be contagious you know."
Yankumi felt like growling hearing that, but kept her temper.
"Well I'm not going to immediately assume you're hopeless. But if you really want to improve your grades then I expect some actual effort. So I'm going to give you a basic competency test to see how much we need to work on before we do anything else, okay?" she replied.
Tsuna winced at the idea. He had been relieved when he first got accepted into Shiroken high, despite his grade point average...at least until he found out more about it.
Sure it was scary, and the other students were really rough around the edges, but anything had to be better than being constantly reminded of his failures like he was back home.
And the teachers here at least didn't mock him in public for his bad grades. They were just happy that he was at least trying to learn something from him and wasn't inclined to cause trouble. It was more than most of the other guys tried.
Yankumi said nothing, and let him fill out the test as best he could, which took about twenty minutes. It was more than just math on there, which surprised him for a moment.
Her expression when he handed it back said volumes.
"Let me guess... Dame-Tsuna couldn't even scrape a barely passing mark, right?" he said tiredly. He was so sick of that name haunting him.
"Actually you got thirty-five points. But it's pretty clear you've been struggling for a long time with the way some of these answers are worded," she replied. "Especially in the maths and English. Did none of the teachers bother to help you?"
"Why would they help Dame-Tsuna?" said Tsuna bitterly. "After all, everyone knows I'm no-good and that I'll never amount to nothing. Especially with a delusional mother and nonexistent father. My own mother gave up on me and was openly shocked I applied to more than just Namimori High school when I failed to get in. She would tell me all the time that she didn't care if I couldn't do anything right so long as I was 'happy' about my lot in life."
Yankumi had to fight her temper. This poor kid had been struggling for years and no one had cared. And unlike the rest of the class, he wanted to do better, but no one cared enough to encourage him or even help when he needed it.
"Tell you what. I'll help tutor you until you're properly caught up with the where you should be, and in exchange you try to get those idiots to actually pay attention in class. You're one of the few they'll listen to and unlike Shin you don't go out of your way to cause trouble for the teachers."
"Yeah, sorry about that, but I had no idea what he was planning since I was at work that day," said Tsuna apologetically.
"You don't need to apologize. Shin's a pain but I can handle his little pranks," said Yankumi.
"Would it be okay if I brought a friend with me to these? Once he's off suspension?"
"Who's your friend?" asked Yankumi.
"His name's Tsuruta and he's supposed to be a third year. Everyone's afraid of him because he's a big and a little slow, but he's actually really nice once you get to know him. Kudou used him as muscle and Tsuruta let him because Kudou used a dirty trick to beat him. He's more of a follower than a leader," said Tsuna.
"Let me ask around first. If he's been suspended then we might have to change the meeting place so he doesn't get into any more trouble. But if he's willing to put in the effort I'll see what I can do," said Yankumi honestly.
"Um... Yamaguchi-sensei? Are you part of the Yakuza?"
Yankumi froze... and was slightly surprised Tsuna actually bothered to use her correct name, rather than the nickname the students had given her.
"What makes you ask that?" she asked.
"You mean it's not obvious? I mean you've been faking being scared of the students with their pranks, you're too calm about their rough behavior...but mostly it's the way you talk," admitted Tsuna. "Either you're a major Yakuza otaku, or you're from a yakuza family."
Yankumi winced at being busted...by the class rabbit no less.
"Are you going to tell anyone?"
"Why would I?" asked Tsuna baffled. "You're likely the only teacher who will give my friends a fair chance without seeing them as complete hooligans and possibly help them graduate properly without being biased against them."
Yankumi blinked, before she gently ruffled his head.
"You're a good kid Tsuna."
"Besides, it would really look bad for a yakuza to rough up a harmless bunny just because one of their women was tutoring me in normal subjects," he continued. "So it should be safe enough."
Yankumi sweatdropped. He wasn't wrong.
"In any case I'll see about your friend and why he was suspended, but I don't see why I can't help you two get your grades up."
Her assessment of the little rabbit went up when she learned more about his friend...and got a good look at the kid.
It didn't take much to make Tsuruta fall in line properly. He was big and tough, but when it came down to it he was more of a follower. He wouldn't bother with leading unless it was as a puppet for someone much smarter.
A few days later...
"If you don't mind my asking, how did you get this big guy on your side?" asked Yankumi.
Tsuna winced. They were in Yankumi's house (he was glad to have his suspicions of her being yakuza confirmed, though he wasn't expecting her to be the heiress) and he was listening attentively to the extra lessons.
"It's nothing special. I just gave him some bread."
"You just gave him some bread?" said Yankumi incredulous.
From the way Tsuruta acted, you would think Tsuna had taken a nasty hit for him or something.
"I was heading out to get some snacks for the others and spotted Tsuruta looking for his lunch. See he had lost his bento and couldn't figure out where he put it. So when I returned and realized he must have forgotten his lunch, I decided to give him some of the extra bread I bought for myself. Shin and the others know I hate charity, so whenever they send me out to get snacks and stuff they usually give me 'extra' so I can get some for me. I just tapped his shoulder and gave him the bread before heading back to class without saying anything."
Yankumi listened with interest, but she could see the mildly upset look on Tsuruta's face as she heard the story. Clearly there was more to it than that.
She wasn't the only one listening.
"A few days later Kudou decides to single me out for whatever reason, and has his groupies beat the ever living shit out of me. Tsuruta somehow recognized me, or something, because when he came in and saw me he picked me up and took me to the nurse's office. I was pretty bad off...they had to send me to the hospital for three days because Kudou's stunt punctured my appendix," said Tsuna. He scowled. "It was pretty clear he was going to keep this up unless someone did something, so instead of keeping my mouth shut I told the cops exactly what happened and that Tsuruta was the one who saved my life. However since he acted as Kudou's main enforcer simply by being around, they suspended him for two months."
Yankumi felt disgusted, but was glad the little rabbit stood up to that creep.
"So Tsuruta-kun... why did you save him?"
"He was nice to me, and doesn't treat me like I'm stupid. Besides, a martial artist should protect the weak, and Tsuna's a bunny. He wouldn't hurt anyone without a good reason for it," said Tsuruta. "Tsuna is the only to ask me what I wanted to do, rather than assume I wanted to act as muscle."
Tsuruta had realized pretty quick that when Tsuna had given him that bread, that he had given up the majority of his food for the day. The slight rumble from his stomach made that clear, as was the fact he was so small and tiny.
The fact Tsuna cared about someone he didn't even know to go hungry for a day impacted him a great deal. Especially when he realized Kudou was the sort of person to laugh at others rather than help them without wanting something in return.