AN- Wow, I've finally finished my first fanfic. I love KHR, and I love the idea of Tsuna's classmates finding out the truth about him - there's so much material to work with! Anyway, this will be a series of one shots centred around various people discovering the mafia. I don't actually know the names of Tsuna's classmates so I've just made some up. Most of the time it will be individual people, not the whole class, and I've tried to keep away from the 'class reunion' situation and be as imaginative as possible. Having said that, this first story is still pretty generic - don't worry, I've got a ton of really interesting ideas. Unless they directly influence the plot, I won't put in any pairings, as I don't want to get too OOC.

So, this scenario takes place sometime in their third year of Middle School. Let's say that Tsuna hasn't taken over as Decimo yet, but that he's been pressured into accepting a bit more responsibility. I hope you enjoy the story!

It's Always the Quiet Ones

I stormed out of the classroom, ignoring Nezu-sensei's outraged shout behind me. It wasn't like he'd do anything. After all, hadn't Dame-Tsuna done the same thing ten minutes ago? He'd just pushed himself up, shut his stuff, and run off without so much as a by your leave. Now, I never was a fan of Nezu - too obsequious - but I've always thought you should respect teachers.

To start with, I put it down to the fact that Physics was one of the few classes Tsuna had without any of his odd friends. The kid was probably so dumb he couldn't manage without copying one of them; I reckoned it was Gokudera, the genius delinquent who, despite being both moody and quite hot, still idolised the class idiot like a lost puppy.

I tried not to let Tsuna bother me - I never cared about working in school, so I could hardly blame others for feeling the same. But I was always smart enough to pass, and so I always knew that I'd do alright. Tsuna just irritated me because the moron wasn't bright yet still spent all his time dreaming. What was he planning to do in life? I guess I thought he didn't take things seriously enough.

Tsuna - Sawada-kun, I called him then - was actually often in my mind. Really, he just got under my skin. And although I never bullied him, I certainly never stopped it. I didn't have much sympathy for weakness. I had noticed his gradual accumulation of a rather bizarre friendship group, consisting of Yamamoto Takeshi and both Sasagawas, but I never investigated. As far as I was concerned, the kid was useless and would always be useless.

So there I was, in the dullest Physics lesson known to mankind, with the knowledge that the student who needed the lesson the most was galavanting off somewhere, doing nothing (or so I thought). And my temper is short. So, seeing as Sawada seemed to not get in trouble, I followed suit. Nezu nearly dropped in surprise when I, the quiet and biddable Sera-chan, also slapped my stuff on my desk and stalked out the room.

My intentions were clear in my mind - I was going to find that Dame-Tsuna and give him a piece of my mind. I reckoned that he was probably on the roof with the delinquents, and I sighed. He was such a wannabe. Seriously, I remember thinking that the brat was so scrawny that he couldn't hurt a fly.

Moving quickly, I marched down the corridor. Everyone was in lessons, so I expected it to be pretty quiet, but I could hear noises from above. Was a class doing a play? Suddenly there were thumps from the stairwell further back up the corridor, and I ducked into an alcove in case it was a teacher. Or worse, Hibari Kyoya, the demon prefect. A teacher might have not questioned the fact I was out of class - Hibari-senpai most certainly would have. The thumps grew louder as the person reached the top of the stairs and ran along the corridor in my direction. There were two sets of stairs, one at either end. One set - the one that my mystery friend had come up, went from the ground to third floors. The other set, which, by the sounds of it, both they and I were headed for, was smaller and went from this (the third floor), to the roof, stopping off at a few fourth floor classes along the way. So, I mused, was this guy (I assumed it was a man) headed for the roof or the fourth floor?

However, before he could run past me and allow me to see him, the door of the classroom opposite opened, prompting me to drop to the floor, where I was (fortunately) concealed by some boxes. The running guy squealed to a halt as another person swung out the door right into his path, virtually on a collision course. Then, as they both realised who the other was, there was a surprised, 'Gokudera?'

'Tch, baseball idiot,' was the reply. And sure enough, as I peeked tentatively round my protective crates, there were Yamamoto Takeshi and Gokudera Hayato, two of Dame-Tsuna's friends.

'So you got Jyuudaime's message then?' Gokudera said, as the two moved towards the stairwell. I thought it was weird that there wasn't more arguing - I could have sworn those two virtually despised each other. 'Hai,' said Yamamoto, his face lacking the cheerful grin that normally illuminated his face. This time, his eyes were set and harsh. An involuntary shiver ran down my back.

'It's the Piagarmi, right?' He asked. 'Mmm,' was the laconic Gokudera's only response. Seems he wasn't all that talkative when he didn't have his beloved 'Jyuudaime' (what?) with him.

'So they finally made good on their threat, hnn? Man, Tsuna won't be happy.'

This confused me, and they were moving out of earshot, so I crept quietly behind them. I needn't have worried. They were both so intent on moving forward they were oblivious, and so their incomprehensible conversation continued.

'They took advantage of the Tenth's leniency!'

That was Gokudera, and he sounded annoyed. I scoffed, doubting the seriousness of the situation. I couldn't imagine Dame-Tsuna to ever be in a position where he could be 'lenient'. They were well up the stairs now - damn they moved fast - and I couldn't risk being spotted on the stairwell. That was the last I heard before they shoved open the door and headed outside to the roof, which was, I realized, where the banging was coming from. At the time I reckoned it was Hibari chewing Tsuna out for missing lessons. In which case, Yamamoto and Gokudera would hardly be much use. No one was, not against Mister 'bite you to death'. Slowly, I made my way up the stairs, careful not to make too much noise. Something about the unlikely friends' brief exchange earlier had piqued my interest; for starters, what (or who) was the Piagarmi?

Finally reaching the top of the stairs, which the boys seemed to have managed extraordinarily quickly, I paused with my hands on the roof door. It really was very noisy out there. Something deep within me, a sort of pull, told me not to open that door, that more was happening behind it than I wanted to know. Naturally, as a rational person, I instantly dismissed the feeling. I know better than that now, and I often wonder just how different I'd be had I not, ever so surreptitiously, pushed that door open.

Stepping out, it got a little noisier. OK, a lot noisier. I briefly registered some guns, some black suited men, and a freaking helicopter before I was unceremoniously pushed to the side. And by the ominous cracking above me, which I knew instinctively to be gunfire, I also realised that the person currently on top of me had just saved my life.

I stared, shell shocked and on the verge of hyperventilating, at the kid who'd protected me. Dame-Tuna's honest brown eyes stared widely back. But before I could move, or even register what the hell was going on, he'd pushed himself up and turned, empty handed and weaponless, into a line of gunmen. Bizarrely, I managed to notice that he was wearing a pair of woollen mittens, though I didn't consider why.

Then he spoke. I'd expected a plea. Possibly a squeal. Even tears. What I'd never expected was him to say, calmly, as if he dealt with these issues daily, 'Stop'.

And then, 'That's enough. I've given fair warning. You do not hurt civilians.'

Dimly, I took in the fact that, apparently, I was a civilian while he was not, though I was far more taken with the way he said it. His voice was low, smooth, and his whole body was completely focused - not tensed - on the situation in front. He really didn't look like Tsuna at all.

And then (I saw it as if in slow motion, sprawled on the floor where I couldn't seem to move), he burst into flame.

Well, not all of him.

His eyes had been narrowed already, but suddenly, they became half-lidded and turned an unnatural orange. A ferocious orange flame burst to life on his forehead, yet somehow didn't set his hair on fire. And his gloves changed, becoming darker, before they, too, started sporting the same incandescent fire that sparked and danced on his fringe.

It was beautiful, but also strangely scary. Even more strangely scary was his sudden push forward, as he moved towards the gunmen at incredible speed. I saw a blur, a darting orange blur, dancing between the black suited men, and the next thing I knew, 13 men collapsed in various artistic positions. And Sawada Tsunayoshi, the kid who truly couldn't do anything, stood, burning, in the centre of a circle of unconscious hitmen.

I'm pretty sure I didn't do anything as stupid as pinching myself, but I damn near came close to it, as Tsuna looked back at me through eyes with a colour that roughly matched your average satsuma. Then he moved across to where I lay, still, like some pathetic idiot. I remember thinking, wryly, that I'd never before thought that I could be considered the pathetic idiot of the two of us.

'Sera-chan, are you alright?' he asked, and I shivered. I noticed that his flames had gone, and that his eyes had faded back to brown. He still wasn't talking like normal Tsuna though - his eyes were deadly serious and, as I dumbly took his extended hand, I could feel the anger thrumming in his body, though it wasn't directed at me. 'I'm sorry,' he said, before my poor scrambled brain could sort out any of the things that I wanted - no, needed - to ask him.

I gaped a little; was he implying this was his fault? How? But before I could ask, Yamamoto and Gokudera came through the roof door. Wait a second, I thought, I followed them though! How did they get there again? But before I could fully consider this, Tsuna spoke. 'Have they been dealt with?' His tone was authoritative, and he did look, I thought, like a boss.

'Tch,' said Gokudera, his hair sticking up a bit, 'they were small fry. The Piagarmi always was petty.'

'Where are they now?'

'In the Disciplinary Committee Office,' said Yamamoto. 'Hibari's 'watching' them.'

'You mean scaring the living day lights out of them.' Tsuna sighed, then reached for his pocket, pulling out a mobile. 'I suppose we'd better clean up then.' He quickly dialled a number, while I continued to puzzle over what I was fondly referring to as the Teleporting Duo.

'Buongiorno, Basil-kun,' he said, speaking confidently. 'There's been a situation at school. Can you get a cleanup organised?... No, there's no real damage. We'll also need some cells for a bit, is that OK?... Yes, it was the Piagarmi… As we thought, not up to much…. Yes, I'm calling them now. That's fine. Grazie.' Tsuna hung up, then dialled another number. He held the phone to his ear, then, as it rang, appeared to think better of it, and moved it about a foot and a half away from his ear. I soon found out why.

'VOOOOIII!', came the incredibly loud shout from the phone, then, 'WHAT'S UP, BRAT?!' That was all I heard from the mystery voice (ah, Squalo, how you amuse me, even now), as Tsuna apparently deemed it safe enough to hold the phone to his ear. 'Hello, Squalo,' he said, admirably calm, 'still stealing Xanxus' phone, I see. Can you pass a message?... Good. Tell him the Piagarmi need a visit…. Yes, you were right, for once. There was no talking to them. I need you to deliver them some goods they tried to push off on us… Yes, delivered alive. And no, no - don't kill! I just want to take down the family.… Mm, scaring is absolutely fine. Ok? Arigatou, Squalo…. Ciao!'

I've heard so many conversations like that now (heck, I've made a few myself), that it seems a ridiculous thing to get het up over. But at the time….. My classmate had the power to kill people with a phone call. To kill. Even if he didn't use it, that was still terrifying.

Even as I thought this, Tsuna was phoning someone else. This person obviously was aware of what was going on, as Tsuna, after listening, went straight in with, 'Hai, they've been taken care of….. Look, Hibari, there's a team coming to collect them, so please hand them over without biting anybody… Don't worry, they're not getting mercy.' He rang off. I suppose, after discovering that Sawada was some sort of criminal leader (what else could he be?), finding out that he obviously garnered respect from the demon that is Hibari Kyoya shouldn't have made the impact that it did. But I guess it was the straw that broke the camel's back, because my brain suddenly remembered how to move my tongue and I yelled, 'Who the hell are you people?!'

The three of them looked at me, Gokudera and Tamamoto obviously seeing me for the first time. I decided that they must have, for some reason, jumped off the roof earlier. As it turned out, they had (to chase some other small fry). 'Sera?' asked Yamamoto. I crossed my arms to hide my sudden nerves and frowned at them. 'Are you yakuza?' I inquired. Gokudera seemed to have a mini seizure. 'Of course not, baka-onna! What sort of low-lifes do you think we are?'

'Calm down, Hayato,' instructed Tsuna, and the angsty teen did so. 'Sera-chan, we're not yakuza, but you're on the right lines. We're mafia.' I'm quite proud of the fact that I managed to keep my composure and remain as calm as he seemed to be while saying that, while inside I was being ripped apart by a mass of confusion and awe. I knew about the mafia. They were big. I cast about for something vaguely dignified to say.

'OK,' I finally settled on, 'so why were you fighting in school?' Tsuna sighed and ran a hand through his rather unkempt hair. 'The Piagarmi Famiglia is a rival of ours,' he explained. Gokudera snorted at this, and Tsuna frowned at him. 'Ok, not a very big rival, but….. Anyway, they've been pretending to negotiate with us in order to find and assassinate me. This,' he said, gesturing with a hand to the general carnage around us, 'was their attempt.'

Yet another information overload. My unfortunate brain struggled to reconcile so many different ideas. I stayed quiet for such a long time that Yamamoto said, 'you're probably in shock. You should come inside and sit down.' So in I went, and, let me tell you, none of us made it back to classes that day. We sat in an empty office, and they answered one question of mine after another. Once I had my head around the idea (which took a while - I kept saying stupid things like 'but huh?!' ),I wanted to know everything. And while they wouldn't tell me everything, I did learn some amazing stuff. Like the fact that the Vongola's the most influential family. That Tsuna spoke, at the time, virtually fluent Italian. That his tutor was a baby hitman. That Hibari, Chrome, Kyoko, Ryohei, and Dino-sensei were all in on it. The list goes on, although now I confuse it with things I learned gradually afterwards.

I didn't immediately jump into the mafia of anything like that. In fact, I didn't even speak to them that much afterwards, I just promised I wouldn't say anything. But I used my words. I've always been good with them, so every time anyone in their group came under scrutiny, I'd talk them out of it. I defended Tsuna, verbally, in class, while he wasn't around. And I realised that I loved using words to change people's minds, so I became a lawyer. And really, after graduation, I heard nothing of the young Vongola Tenth Generation for a long time

Then, when I was in my mid twenties, struggling slightly as a lawyer, I received a call. It was Tsuna, for the first time in about ten years. He had a job offer. A member of his Famiglia had got into a spot of bother, and I saw the chance to repay my debt to him, though why he called me I'm still not sure. He once put it down to his hyper intuition. So I took the case, expecting it to be easy. It wasn't. But I've never enjoyed a legal battle more. And after my hard won victory, when I was offered an official position as a Vongola attorney, I took it, and I haven't looked back since. I've made a good life for myself, though even now, when I say, 'I'm in the mafia', to myself, I can't quite believe it, though it's the place where I eventually met my husband and settled down. I owe one Sawada Tsunayoshi a heck of a lot, and nobody will ever convince me otherwise.

AN- Well? What did you think? Please let me know! I'll try and post weekly or so, but reviews would really inspire me. I won't do every story in first person, and I'll try and vary the timescale- there will be some TYL and beyond. Thanks for reading!