"You're up early today, how unexpected,"
Tsuna looked up from what he was doing and noticed the man - demon leaning against the kitchen doorframe. Reborn was dressed in his pristine black suit as usual, albeit his typical fedora was missing, giving Tsuna a better look at his spiky black hair. The curls of his sideburns bounced now and then with every move he made, making Tsuna want to reach out and play with it but he knew better not to.
Grinning, Tsuna took the cup of espresso he had just finished preparing for the man and placed it on the dining table before returning to the counter to retrieve the food he had made for the two of them: a simple omelet and fragrant rice.
Although Tsuna was aware that demons lacked the need for human foods for sustenance, he was still certain that Reborn had acquired a fancy for his cooking, and in particular, the espresso he brewed him.
"Good morning to you too, Reborn," He greeted, waving for the other to take a seat, prompting Reborn to huff nevertheless comply. "I made a promise with Kyoko-chan and Hana to help them bake something for Ryohei-san since it's his birthday tomorrow."
Reborn hummed, simply raising his cup of espresso to his nose, enjoying the rich aroma, and smirked in delight.
Tsuna, at nineteen, had matured and developed a lot under the demon's tutelage. Though still a little timid, he was more strong-willed and no longer let anyone push him around. It was amusing to see how people were taken aback when his personality abruptly shifted 180 degrees.
If Reborn remembers correctly - which he must because he's never wrong - the change occurred when the boy was twelve years old. It was when the brunet came across his mother's journal and several letters from an unidentified sender while cleaning his parents' room, which was no longer used given that he had his own room and Reborn had shamelessly occupied the spare bedroom beside his.
Tsuna started going through it, assuming it was simply an ordinary journal containing records of his mother's life with him when she was still alive. But the contents were not what he had anticipated. The journal entries started completely normal; they described Nana's day with her one and only son and how much she was missing Iemitsu, but understood the importance of his work as well.
But as he flipped the pages of the journal until he reached the middle page, he began to feel dread and anxiety from the words penned on the paper. Tsuna also noticed tear stains on various portions of the paper.
He could feel his mother's sorrow.
He discovered there that his father was a member of the world's largest mafia organization. It turns out that Iemitsu has been duping Nana while putting both her and Tsuna in peril.
He could feel the betrayal.
It didn't take Tsuna long to put two and two together; the letters hidden alongside Nana's journal revealed Iemitsu's private information, which he had kept hidden from her for so long, as well as evidence of his lies. It was unknown who sent it; Nana might have known, but she was gone.
Iemitsu's dishonesty and imprudence killed his mother.
He felt rage.
The incident that took place five years ago wasn't a simple break-in as he had mistakenly and naively assumed; it was plain to him now that they had gotten caught in Iemitsu's mafia dispute and were the ones who ended up shouldering the brunt of the consequences.
Reborn smirked viciously to himself, wetting his lips and relishing the pungent and bitter flavor of his drink as he recalled how wonderful Tsuna's rage smelt at the time. It was the first in a long time since they'd formed a contractual relationship that he smelt it again, and exquisite was an understatement; oh how he wanted to devour it whole.
"Will you please wipe that nasty smile off your face, Mister Devil? It's creepy," Tsuna interjected, cutting off Reborn's flow of thoughts as he took a seat opposite of him.
"You seem to be growing a backbone now, I see," Reborn remarked, causing the brunet to snort, trying to appear unfazed, which he failed miserably considering the tiny drop of sweat dripping from his brow. "And it appears that extra training is in order."
Swallowing the lump in his throat, Tsuna chuckled nervously. "Spare me, I like living,"
Reborn, satisfied with his easy triumph, placed his cup of espresso on the table and took his chopsticks elegantly - how he always makes himself seem elegant just by holding an ordinary chopstick continues to be a mystery to Tsuna, because honestly, why is a demon like him this perfect?
"I appreciate the compliment but I'd melt with how you keep on staring at me like that, dame-Tsuna,"
Tsuna averted his gaze, feigning a cough before ducking his head to stare at his food instead; cheeks as red as a baboon's bottom as he mentally scolded himself, entirely forgetting that Reborn was able to hear his thoughts. He heard the demon laugh low and deep (his face reddening even more as a result) at his reaction but didn't say anything, which he much appreciated.
"You really should stop reading my mind, meanie Reborn," The brunet grumbled as he plucked small grains of rice from his bowl and stuffed them into his mouth.
"I don't even need to make use of my mind-reading ability to know what you're thinking, idiot. You're like an open book," Reborn rolled his eyes, standing to take his empty bowl and plate to the sink.
Tsuna could never get used to how quickly Reborn ate while maintaining proper table etiquette, no matter the amount of time he'd been staying under the same roof with his demon. Perhaps it's in a demon's nature? "Wrong, you're just too slow," And there goes Reborn's smartass remark again, prompting Tsuna to glare at him, which the demon simply perceived as a pout.
"Open book my ass, you're just taking advantage of your abilities, no fair!"
Reborn snorted, "Want to be a demon then?" He teased, clearly not expecting the brunet's delay as if he was actually considering it.
"I can?"
"No. The underworld would be doomed to have such clumsy demon like you," And, to conclude the conversation, Reborn turned and began walking out of the dining area without waiting for Tsuna's response, but Tsuna isn't Tsuna unless he makes an additional remark if only to annoy the demon.
"Stingy Reborn! Meanie Reborn! Devil Reborn!" The last one though was totally unnecessary since it's already a given.
"I've made some curry for dinner just in case I get home late, it's in the fridge so make sure to heat it up, alright? I'm off now, see you later, Reborn!" Tsuna grinned from the gateway, waving at Reborn who was simply watching him by the porch.
Reborn nodded and watched until Tsuna was out of sight before returning inside and permitting his chameleon familiar to come out. The creature was originally enormous, but considering they were in the human realm, as a middle-ranking demon, Leon - the name of Reborn's familiar - had adopted the form of a regular chameleon to preserve magic and energy.
Leon traversed up from his master's hand to his shoulder, greeting Reborn with a lick on his chin, prompting the high-ranking demon to lightly stroke the creature with his finger. "Any news about the thing I've asked Colonnello to investigate?" The devil queried as he walked over to the sofa in the living area and settled down, watching Leon jump to his palm and shapeshift into a piece of paper.
Reborn mumbled a small 'thank you' to his familiar, prompting it to quiver in delight, causing the paper to sway for a moment before eventually settling down and allowing his master to properly read what was written in it.
The words were written in demonic alphabets, and the paper Leon shapeshifted to was originally produced from the underworld, so ordinary humans wouldn't be able to read, let alone touch it unless they wanted their souls burned into mere ashes.
The letter, if it can even be considered a letter with only three words in it, making it appear more like a secret code, contained information Reborn forced his fellow high-ranking demon to look into due to certain suspicions he'd been having. And, as expected, he was correct; that guy does have someone of their kind by his side, someone really troublesome.
"This is more complicated than I've thought. Leon, go back and inform the idiot Emperor about this," Reborn sighed, his brows furrowed as he took out his mobile device, fiddling with it for a bit until he ultimately dialed a certain number.
Standing up and marching to the window, Reborn waited for a while before the call was picked up and he immediately greeted. "Chaos, Vongola Nono,"
"Thanks a lot for your help, Tsuna-kun, I hope you can come tomorrow for Onii-chan's party. Haru-chan and Yamamoto-kun will also be there,"
Tsuna smiled at the maidens who were seeing him off.
These two were Sasagawa Kyoko and Kurokawa Hana, two of the people he befriended in middle school. He was a withdrawn youngster, as he had always been, but the two ladies, alongside Yamamoto Takeshi, the baseball ace of Namimori Middle School years before, gradually influenced him to open up.
Sasagawa Kyoko was a lovely girl who had captivated the adoration of many people both in the past and in the present, so it surprised some that Tsuna hadn't succumbed to her allure yet. If he genuinely swung in that manner, he most likely would have.
In comparison to Sasagawa Kyoko, his eyes seemed to be drawn more to her brother. Not he had any intention of making a move on Ryohei though; before anything else, that boxing maniac had been Hana's boyfriend for three years now, and he just wasn't his type. Tsuna only saw him as a visual treat, nevertheless, he was still lacking substantially if compared to the demon in his home.
"Ryohei would appreciate your presence too. He has been repeatedly asking Kyoko and me to request you to spar with him, and it's becoming bothersome," Hana groaned, shaking her head and crossing her arms over her chest, but there was no mistaking the fond smile that danced across her face, unable to conceal her affection for the older Sasagawa.
Tsuna nodded, chuckling. "Okay, but no promises, alright? As you may already know, I have a strict guardian back at home so I have to ask him for permission first," he said. "But, I'll try, so don't look too dejected, Kyoko-chan."
"Okay, but if it's really not possible..." The sullen look Kyoko had on made Tsuna feel a bit awful, but he really couldn't risk it, especially with how excessively protective Reborn seemed to have become these past few months.
"Or you can also bring your guardian with you. Another person on the list wouldn't matter as much if it meant we could spend more time with you,"
Tsuna shifted his gaze to Hana, falling into deep thought as he considered her suggestion. It was a good idea; although he'd had been with Reborn since he was a child, he hadn't had the chance to show him off to other people due to the demon's inability to age. People would have thought it was strange if they had noticed it, which may have caused his demon harm, so he never took chances.
"Alright, I'll tell him," he finally acquiesced before waving to the girls, bidding them farewell before heading down the street and to the direction of their house.
Shivering at the cold breeze brushing his skin, Tsuna mentally scolded himself for forgetting to at least bring a cardigan despite already having an inkling of going home late.
He smiled to himself as he strolled through the alleyway while being basked under the illumination of the moonlight. 'I suppose this much is fine. In any case, I had a lot of fun with them,' he assured himself mentally.
Despite his joy, he found himself feeling a little hollow as if his day wasn't complete just yet.
Sighing, he shrugged off the thoughts and merely sped, only to come to a halt when he heard something from behind. He was being followed.
It wasn't anything new; he constantly had someone stalking him as soon as he got past adolescence, and it only got worse when he entered college. Tsuna attracts both men and women like a magnet, but this does not make him pleased one bit. It was more of a nuisance in his otherwise peaceful life.
Despite this, Tsuna wasn't alarmed; with Reborn's ludicrous and deadly training, he was far more capable of defending himself if necessary.
Tsuna remained strutting along the street, disregarding the footsteps that came from behind, until a huge hand abruptly pulled him to the side.