Chapter 6
Tsuna bites his tongue; the words get out threatening. There is something violent inside of him at the clear threat against someone he loves, something that makes his previous expression twist into a thin-veiled glare but there is an understanding that this baby might actually follow through with the threat, with how they stood, how they acted. Their Japanese was clear and fluent, some sort of hidden stress on some of their letters., but it is strong enough for Tsuna to hesitate, fingers gripping the doorknob, his nose scrunching up at the absurdity of it all.
“Why should I listen to you?”
“Your Father sent me.”
Anger surges up his spine, his fingers coming to rest on Kage’s shoulders. “Haven’t seen him in years – good to know he’s still alive. Tell him if you see him to maybe visit? Send a card? Maybe even –” Tsuna pauses, and shakes his head, a sharp sense of regret wounding around his body, his finger slipping from the doorknob to peel away at his fingernails, looking away in embarrassment at his outburst. “Sorry…that was, that was wrong of me. Kage,” Kage’s lips immediately lower, looking up at him expectantly, “Please let him in.”
Tsuna thinks that this may be the first time Kage may directly obey him, but after a prolonged second of them staring at each other, Kage finally stood up, looking disgruntled at the toddler before turning, walking further back inside the house. He couldn’t help the sigh, feeling his heart pound too loudly in his chest with his now clear view of the child, still looking at him with a hardened look that made him want to scurry away. “Please don’t threaten my dog,” Tsuna reprimands, “I don’t know you and frankly, I don’t really want you here, but please be respectful.”
The child looks at him and for some odd reason, smiles. It isn’t a kind smile but it’s almost respectful, like a tip of the hat in his direction. It still makes Tsuna’s skin crawl, stepping back and letting the child step into the house, though not taking off their shoes once they step into the foyer leaves Tsuna swallowing a spike of annoyance but unwilling to say anything. Just where did this baby come from? Tsuna hysterically thinks, leading the way towards the kitchen. He hopes his tea isn’t cold now.
Kage is still glaring at the strange yellow pacifier around their neck, standing guard beside Kaa-san and Tsuna glances at the clock. He should start getting ready to go to school soon – Kyoko would be waiting for him on the way there but, letting this strange…baby thing out of his sight is also a terrible idea. So, he inches carefully around Kaa-san, stretching out an arm to grab his still warm cup of tea, now a little bit too cold, but warm enough that Tsuna doesn’t feel like reheating it, looking at the intruder with thinly veiled annoyance.
“Oh! Who are you little fella?” Kaa-san pokes her head out from behind Kage, her hand coming to lightly push their head away.
“My name is Reborn, and I am the Great Home Tutor,” Reborn says, his voice on the side of two high-pitched. Tsuna can taste the awful sweetness that comes from saccharine words with a grimace, hiding his face behind his well-loved mug. They reach into their pocket, pulling out some folded piece of paper and holding it up in front of them.
What, Tsuna’s eye twitches. This was getting stranger by the minute.
Behind him, Kaa-san is stifling her laugh, small snorts escaping past her hand. She looks amused, almost incredulous and catches his eye staring at her. “Oh! I remember seeing a flier in the mail about a week ago,” she begins, “I called and see if we could work out the details since I know you are studying already with Kyoko-chan and Hana-chan, but more help wouldn’t hurt with English and Math.”
She shuffles, “I just wasn’t expecting a child.”
“I don’t think anybody was,” Tsuna mutters. It’s not that he was hurt, Tsuna had a feeling that she just genuinely forgot all about it. If it wasn’t written down in a calendar, embedded in their routine, or on some piece of paper taped around the house, then chances were, his mom would forget it. He could already picture what happened. “What I want to know,” Tsuna squinted, jabbing a finger at them, “Is why you are here instead of a call?”
“Simple,” Reborn brings their hands together, “I tutor you, free of charge of course, and all you supply is a room and board.”
Kage makes an audible noise, like nails against chalkboard at the suggestion. Tsuna picks his next words carefully to prevent someone who Tsuna was absolutely sure did not have the best intentions. “That, that sounds like a scam. Are you sure you’re not one of those?”
“No,” is the short-clipped response, eyeing Kage with a mean glint, “Just here with well intentions.”
Kaa-san hums, “Can we think about it?”
The toddler straightens up, dipping his head politely in her direction. Apparently, they had manners towards women but nobody else. “Of course! I expect a response by the end of today.”
Is Kage up for murdering a child? Tsuna wonders, tapping his finger idly against the ceramic and the English words of DOG MOM etched into the side. But well, he shouldn’t condone murder and despite the rapid appeal of it, Kage could get put down for any signs of aggression on someone else. That was unacceptable and for now, Tsuna inhales the rest of his tea, walking over to the sink to place the mug down and grabbing his toothbrush still there, noting the lack of an empty eggshell that had found its resting place in a potted soul.
“I’m going to get ready mom.”
Tsuna casts one last look at them before walking out of the kitchen and up the stairs, making sure to deposit his toothbrush back in the cup holder. In the air, there is a feeling of something unknown, foreboding him that something is going to change, that something is happening, and it isn’t a comforting feeling to have or acknowledge. His stomach twists, curling, folding itself into knots on top of itself at the thought that comes from it. Greed perpetuates, rapidly spawning under his skin. The urge to keep everyone safe, to wrap his arms around Kyoko and Kaa-san, to pull Kage behind him and let them cower behind his safety net. It is something nauseating, controlling, whispering with dragon claws that from the warmth in his chest screams loudly at danger, at every little perceived motion of a threat that bequeaths his family.
Protect! Forgive him, his heart is a terrible war cry shaking at the bars of his ribs. Tsuna’s eyes travel over his room, the picture frames on the walls and the slanted light of morning. The curtains billowing softly, fluttering against the breeze and it is a calm image that makes him curl his fingers into a fist, biting his lip to prevent himself from rushing back down and kicking out the intruder, the person who dared enter his home with false intentions. He doesn’t like the idea that he can tell there are lies along their tongue, that in his body something has been changing for the past few months, growing in intensity from the feelings of possessiveness to the bone-aching feeling that he is missing something so detrimental, missing it is turning him mad.
He is noticing things he never noticed before, his mind – previously slow, drudged anchors being pulled underwater from the wrapping of seaweed and rusty chains – is sharper. Change, trapping, clawing. Something inside of him is trying to escape. Something inside of him is aching to be free and he doesn’t know if he should let it, or let it be snuffed out.
Reborn is going to hurt him. Tsuna will not let him. He can open him up: raw and candy floss pink on the inside and swallow the hidden shards of fiberglass along the thin strands. Reborn is going to make it hurt, his instincts tell him that he is not a tutor. He is not who he says he is.
Kage growled, dipped close to the ground. Teeth on display. A threat and a warning all in one, a dare for them to cross the threshold in place. Tsuna trusts Kage to tell him what is wrong and,
something is wrong.
–
“Alright Kaa-san,” Tsuna calls into the house, fixing his shoes in the foyer. Kage patiently waits beside him, carrying his backpack in his mouth with a wag of his tail. "I’m off!”
“Have a good day, Tsuna!”
He gives a halfhearted wave, closing the door and making his trek towards the school down the road. Stuffing his hands into his pockets, Tsuna mulls over the strange toddler.
The yellow pacifier around their neck was odd, but only some two foot kid just walking around in a suit was bound to raise any eyes? There was also the matter that Tsuna didn’t think they were just a child because what child could speak so eloquently? They could even walk with a grace Tsuna didn’t possess. Strange, this whole thing was strange.
A matter that was also very puzzling was why would his Lemitsu send them? Couldn’t he send a card and not a messenger? A phone call would suffice too, but there was also the matter that Tsuna wasn’t sure where he worked. Did that mean Reborn was going to tell him his father was dead? Wasn’t that something strangers do if they show up unannounced on your doorstep? Maybe disguising as a kid for the information to be easier to digest? Though, Tsuna thinks he is overthinking it.
“What was with him?” Tsuna huffs, looking at Kage. “Surely a two-year old can’t be a tutor?”
“Actually, I’m a hitman,” a voice sounds above him. Tsuna can’t help but laugh at that softly, waving his hand in front of him.
“A hitman? Yeah really…”
Tsuna freezes his next step frozen in the air, his eyes flicking upward and looking at Reborn who was perched on top of his head. Simply just lounging amongst the fluffy strands without a care in the world. “When did you…”
“You’re even worse than I heard.” Reborn jumped off his hair and onto the ground. Neatly brushing off his clothes once he was on the paved roads. Kage pressed next to him, the bag in his mouth keeping him from growling, but Tsuna could tell that maybe, just maybe — he was a bit calmer, or it was a weird sort of placebo when the support dog vest was securely wrapped around their body. “You even have a support dog too.”
Oh my God, Tsuna thinks, praying to the Gods above to avoid killing somebody before his school day even starts. Maybe, if he winds up Hibari-san enough, he’ll kill Reborn for him. There were too many revelations happening, and it was nauseating — Tsuna couldn’t even believe that the next words in his mind were asking to be at school to avoid all this nonsense.
“Tsuna-kun!” Kyoko calls, waving her arm and trotting towards them. Tsuna gives a sigh of relief at the sight of her, walking forward to get a clearer look at her. She always did look better in the morning than he did, even holding a thermos of what he guesses is tea in her hands, a free arm stretching to scratch a bit behind Kage’s ears once he came up, nosing at her mug before pulling away. “Good morning!”
“Good morning, Kyoko-chan.” Tsuna grabbed one of her pinkies, giving it a light squeeze before pulling away. He carefully tries to hide the baby by his feet with his body. Out of sight, out of mind was the new motto of today.
Sadly, she was much more observant than Tsuna gave her credit for, and he had to swallow his defeated groan when she angled down, dropping to her knees to look at Reborn head-on. “Oh? And who's this little guy? Why are you wearing a suit?”
A shit-eating grin spreads across the terrorizers face. “Cause’ I’m with the mafia and Tsuna is the next boss.”
Kyoko blinks, staying silent as she works slowly to digest the information. “That’s silly,” she laughs, a bit forced, looking at Tsuna who swallows, angling his head away, avoiding the question indirectly aimed at him. “Right?”
“At this point?” Tsuna sighs, “I don’t think so.”
Reborn hums and Tsuna can’t resist the stink eye he shoots their way, “I didn’t think you would be on good terms with anybody…I stand corrected.”
“No one is forcing you to be here!” Tsuna yells, throwing his arms up in the air, “You can just go! I don’t even remember hiring you.”
“No can do. You, Dame-Tsuna, are to be the tenth.”
Tsuna groans. “Then leave me alone with all this nonsense!” He grabs a hold of Kyoko’s hand, “We need to get going! You can just stop following, okay? Thank you and goodbye.”
He’s careful not to tug too forcefully and offers an apologetic squeeze at his sudden manhandling as he walks away.
“I’m sorry,” Tsuna begins, still tugging her along but slowing his pace down once he believes they are a far enough distance away, “It’s just, I don’t know why he's here and he keeps saying all these things — and I honestly would really like for him to leave since he doesn’t shut up. It’s also a child. Like…a baby that can speak. And he threatened Kage, and I am considering beating up a child which, weird moral dilemma here?” A groan slips through, “I can’t beat up children, I'll go to jail.”
“You would not last in jail,” Kyoko says kindly, and doing the obvious up and down look that means she is judging him. Just yesterday he had bowled an old lady over and earlier this week Tsuna had broken one of the wooden posts on his bed frame. He couldn’t blame her opinion when Tsuna knew he would also, not last in jail at all. “I get it.”
He takes it as his sign to keep going. “And this kid — mentioned the mafia? Do two-year-olds even know that word? And he sounded completely serious? But why would the mafia come? Here? Too me? I’m just the no-good-Tsuna, Kyoko-chan, I don’t even want the mafia on my doorstep.”
Kage’s head dips, mother mode activating when his arm is forcibly lifted with their snout, being draped over their neck. “Tsuna! You are good,” Kyoko reprimands, pulling him to a stop and staring him straight on, “You are good.”
It’s one thing being told it and believing it, yet Tsuna has heard the positive spiel shoved down his throat many times, having to look her in the eye and nod before she took charge on the walk. The lecture wasn’t anything else, but it did help. Not that he was going to tell her that, that would mean they would increase in quantity and once every few days was pushing his bounds on the number of self-help he could accept in a small-time frame. It just…it didn’t feel real. Some part of him was still waiting, bated breaths and all for the shoe to drop. Some part of him was sown together, strung insults like fairy lights and he was already so used to the decorations, it would be so much work to take them down when people insisted, they liked them enough.
“I just still — don't get it? This whole situation doesn’t make any sense. Is it bad I'm even wanting to stay late at school instead of the usual running back home?”
And why did Lemitsu send them? A man he hasn’t seen in years, almost a decade. Why? I hate him, Tsuna thinks, curling his fingers into Kage’s fur. Leaving his mom alone to raise him, a few postcards far in-between – what was the point if he didn’t ever bother showing up? What was the point of being a father if he didn’t even care?
Her fingers are wrapped around his wrist, the pads of her hands lingering on his pulse. He can hear his heartbeat in his ears, feel the unwillingness of tears threatening to burst. He feels worn – tired, some unexplainable angst lounging like a sun-bathed cat, paws batting at his ribcage, body heavy along the curves of his lungs, the gentle slopes of his heart. Too many things today – too many things whirring in his mind that it’s hard to breathe, feeling anxiety bursting along the seams, uncaring about the company in his vicinity.
“What – what if,” Tsuna gasps. The world is starting to spin, and his heart is too loud it's nauseating. He doesn’t notice the look of alarm passing in Kyoko’s eyes, the way he is breathing too little and not enough, not enough oxygen entering his lungs.
“Ts–” her voice is distant, “Na!”
Are they after Mom? Did he do something? Loan sharks? Tsuna thinks, distantly and clouded that he’s on the ground. His fingers fisted into his shirt. There’s pressure on his stomach and the muffled garbled of words. Is he underwater? No – it’s sunny. It’s sunny – is it the bullies?
That would be cruel, but he wouldn’t put it past them. It’s just a new low to also include his Kaa-san too. He doesn’t want to be in the mafia, or stuck with strange baby tutors that make him feel like he is being dissected, who threaten his family with a bullet through the head on a Saturday morning. He doesn’t want to be connected to Lemitsu and he doesn’t want this.
Distantly, there’s voices, pressure on his skull, a digging force on his stomach. His stomach lurches, cornflakes ready to become bile on the concrete. He’s afraid – but not in the usual sense, butas in terrified of being dragged into something he wants no part in. To be dragged into mafia, and even the word makes his vision swim, saliva leaking into his mouth at the thought of crime and seedy underworld dealings, the way those movies are full of bullet holes and the sound of gunfire. Betrayal ripe in each scene. Coy smiles, harsh hands. This must all be some sort of crazy dream.
Yet, what if he is overacting? What if this is just him blowing things out of proportion? But then what is this feeling in his chest, harsh against his mind that tells him there is some truth here? This locked force keeps slipping past the enclosure it is trapped in to warn him. Keep running Tsuna, it is coming for you too.
I don’t want it, Tsuna begs, it’s getting harder to think. Grab a crowbar – pry out the lid, some part of him is aware he hurts. His eyes are closed, slammed shut. There are arms around him pulling him close. Asphalt digs into his legs and Tsuna barely opens his eyes, the ringing in his ears drowning out every noise, looking into the eyes of Reborn who stands only a few feet away. His hands are curled into Kage’s fur, into Kyoko’s shirt, his head in the crook of her neck, in the burning pyre that has an extra seat for him to be at. This mafia nonsense.
Their mouth is twisted into something cruel, a nod in his direction. They stand tall, imposing and he can make out the shadow that stretches behind them, writhing with some nightmarish hellion that plays in the darkness, that thrives underneath shined oxford shoes. You can’t escape your fate. It will come crawling back to you.
This feeling in his chest is unquantifiable. It feels like words he has never heard the meaning of; of sayings that are not clear. Kindly, it brushes against its cage. Unkindly it barrels into it like a battering ram, chipping at the iron, the poisonous paint to keep it contained by toxic fumes. Softly, it burns and harshly it rages, clawing, scratching. Head tilted up; mouth split open to howl. Blearily, Tsuna feels it stretch impossibly thin, brushing up against something, twining, tangling itself in it and Reborn's eyes widen, something filling them.
The feeling in his chest bares its teeth in a nasty smile at the expression.
–
Something has changed.
(Let’s say there is a hairpin turn up ahead and the feeling in his chest is racing towards it.)
He comes back to it, blinking slowly, breathing heavy in his ears. There’s a stillness in his bones. A restlessness that has ceased.
(Let’s also state this: Tsuna is afraid, and he is behind the flames. Tsuna is terrified and he is staring at a hairpin turn, a wrench in hand.)
“Tsuna,” Kyoko’s voice is quiet. Her arms are around him, fingers drawing circles in his back. Her head is in his hair, eyes closed. She is so kind – so unworthy of his presence, of his friendship that never feels like enough. “Are you okay?”
“Y…Y – yeah,” Tsuna croaks, his eyes blinking slowly. His head is buried in the crook of her neck. He looks down, past her white shirt at the unmistakable sign of tears and buries his wince before traveling down, looking at Kage’s head, the way his body is perched on top of his, laying down, eyes closed. “I…I think so.”
(Tsuna has always been afraid but there is now a wrench in his hand. That must offer some safety.)
He doesn’t feel like warbling his scratched voice, instead, he buries deeper. She smells of the fog of early mornings, the flowers whispering in the breeze. Worried, worried, relieved, joy brushes against his mind and the feelings are foreign but not unnatural, he can’t help it but reach out, trying to convey something. The feeling in his chest rises, warm fingertips spreading – there is a ball of warmth in his chest, a contained sun with flickering flames that tries to reassure – he doesn’t even know what he is doing, but it comes forward like a half-buried instinct. Like something he forgot but found again.
“We’re skipping school,” Kyoko says firmly.
“Really?” Tsuna can’t help but cry, overjoyed and worried. The great honors student Sasagawa Kyoko skipping school? It sounded unbelievable, preposterous in a way.
She pulls back and immediately Tsuna misses the comfort offered unconditionally, that wraps him in a warm embrace, cooing softly in a songbird's greeting that it will be okay. “Really.”
(His flames are unburdened, on the wind. In the sky and Tsuna is envious. The wrench is heavy. He urges to put it down, familiarity breeds contempt. He has forgotten how to uncurl his fingers from the weapon.)
“Are you sure? Really sure?” Tsuna repeats himself. He feels okay and wrong at the same time, as if something in him has slipped, a poorly made crutch holding up has fallen. His body is stiff – his mind turning. What happened? One moment, Tsuna couldn't breathe, the next. There is a bird in his chest, content amongst his sinew, a lovingly made nest that unfurls softly, whispering it will be okay. Your family is here. Your family is here.
“Oh, shut your worrying.” Kyoko taps her fingers against his skull, the press of safe, safe, love brushes against his skin. She stands up, extending her arms forward for him to reach. “Let’s go get some cake.”
“I would hate to interrupt this touching moment," Reborn says it like it’s something hard to swallow. Tsuna can’t help but jump, forgetting they were there for a few hot minutes. “But something has happened that well, this information may be pretty nice to have.”
Kage picks his head up carefully, brushing a nose against his skin. The whisper of protection, mine, mine - swallows him whole in its possessiveness before it is gone as soon as it came, their body turning towards the mafia-toddler. Eyes a mixture of annoyance before they dip down and with a slow-opened maw, moves telegraphed in slow motion, Kage picks them up in his mouth, holding the suit baby up.
Huh, it seemed that maybe, Kage’s anger earlier was misplaced? Or was there a detail he was missing here?
“Kage!” Tsuna squeaks, watching the hitman's emotions flip through deathly annoyance and rage all at once, hand twitching at their side before they go slack, looking at him head-on. Kage looks too proud, tail happily wagging back and forth before they eventually turn their head around, dropping Reborn onto the back of his vest.
“Be thankful your mutt has a little bit of common sense,” Reborn huffs, but Tsuna catches a hand reaching out anyway to scratch at their fur, so well, he takes the threat with a grain of salt.
Kyoko brushes her hands against her knees, getting off any stray asphalt that may have found its way into her skin once she pulls him up. Eventually, she turns to Reborn scrutinizing him. “Over a piece of cake…” she begins slowly, “Can you please tell us what’s going on? Because Tsuna had a flame on his head for a few seconds there.”
What, Tsuna’s head snaps over to her, “When did that happen?”
“In your episode.”
He sighs, feeling more tired than ever. “Let’s eat cake.”
(He throws the wrench, waiting for it to drop back down, but it spins. It stays in the air like a star – and consider that hairpin turn. It waits.)