A bit OOC I think... rip

It was to the sound of the doorbell ringing that Tsuna woke up. His alarm clock was ringing too, but that one he could never wake up to, which meant that it was still an 'early' morning for him. Groaning, Tsuna rolled over onto his back and draped an arm over his eyes to shield them from the sunlight.

School. He should get up and prepare for school. Wash his face, brush his teeth, change into his uniform...maybe grab breakfast too. Yes. Breakfast sounded nice. Tsuna rolled over again, past the edge of the bed and fell to the floor. "Ow," he murmured, rubbing at a forming bump on his head. It wasn't the healthiest method, but this was something he always did to wake himself up in the mornings. It wasn't his fault school wasn't an appealing enough thought for him to get out of bed.

Still, Tsuna stumbled away to the bathroom to fix himself up. He didn't even bother trying to fix his hair, just grabbing his bag and heading down the stairs with a yawn after getting changed. He could hear his mom humming a happy tune as something sizzled. It seemed every time Tsuna woke up or came home, or nearly anything, really, his mom was in the kitchen cooking up a storm. He had no idea where most of the food went as he obviously didn't eat much, but he supposed that would be one of the world's greatest mysteries.

"Ciaossu," said a squeaky voice. Tsuna halted mid-yawn and frowned, checking the vicinity for whatever could have made the sound. Finding nothing, he decided he was just hearing things because he woke up so early and stepped down the rest of the way, only to be tripped at the last step. He goes flying, landing with a splat on the floor.

"Oh my," he heard his mother say. "Tsu-kun, are you okay?"

"Ergh." He pushed off the floor with a disgruntled look. Now what in the world had he tripped on?

Sawada Nana came to her son's aid with a soup ladle in one hand and a very concerned expression on her face. "Oh my," she said again, "whose child are you, dear?"

Tsuna was about to say something about not even recognizing her own son before he realized that there was a baby in a suit a few steps away from him and that his mom had been talking to the kid instead of him. Strangely enough, the baby was also wearing a fedora and standing on only two legs. Tsuna gaped at the baby for approximately twenty seconds before getting off the floor and approaching cautiously.

"Hey. What are you doing here? Are you lost?"

"Ciaossu. I'm Reborn, the home tutor."

"Home tutor?" Nana asks with wonder.

Tsuna gave him an incredulous look. "But you're a baby."

"So what? Are you looking down on my abilities just because I have the body of an infant?"

"Ah," Nana made a noise of understanding. "You must be the home tutor I called!"

Tsuna made a face at this. "You called a home tutor for me? I know my grades aren't that great but I don't need to be tutored by a baby."

Reborn gave Tsuna a hard stare with his beady black eyes. "Don't underestimate me, Dame-Tsuna. I know a lot more than you think. Also hurry up, school is starting in ten minutes."

"Ah that's right, Tsu-kun I packed you lunch, don't forget to bring it to school!"

"I got it, thanks mom!"

X

"Why have you been following me around all day?" Tsuna demanded while walking home as he turned to Reborn who was walking on top of the walls, finally fed up with the infant popping up everywhere the entire day. "And I was rushing this morning so I didn't ask, but how did you know about my nickname?"

Reborn ignored his blatant disrespect for the time being in favor of giving his tutee some well-deserved answers. "Gathering information is a basic skill, Dame-Tsuna."

Tsuna made a face. "What kind of information have you gathered exactly? I highly doubt you'd be able to teach me anything more than what I already know."

"That's offensive." Reborn said, although he doesn't sound offended at all. However, he does jump off the wall to give a well-placed kick to the boy's head. Tsuna yelps in pain and turns around to glare at the baby who doesn't look the least bit apologetic about what he did.

"You should learn to watch your words."

"What for?"

"For your information, saying the wrong things can lead to ruined social relationships and even death."

Tsuna just rolls his eyes and carries on walking. "I don't even know what you're on about. I don't need a tutor."

"Didn't you just say this morning that your grades aren't that great? You definitely need a tutor." Reborn informs him smugly. "And I happen to be the best of the best. You should be grateful that I even considered tutoring a student as hopeless as you."

"Whatever." Tsuna grumbled. "And I'm not hopeless, I-"

Reborn thrust a piece of paper in front of his face. "Year 1 Basic Algebra. Midterms score: 0. Year 1 Geography. Pop-quiz score: 12. Year 1 Science. 1st term finals score: 8."

"Okay, fine!" Tsuna burst irritatedly. "I get it! I have low grades and I need to study more, now can you leave me alone? If I'm going to be studying, then I can't have any distractions."

Reborn stared at him with beady eyes. "Unfortunately for you, I've already agreed to tutoring you. I'm not backing out no matter how hopeless you are."

Tsuna sighed. Fine. Suit yourself. Whatever. Not like he's going to actually start putting more effort into his studies. Not like he's really going to learn anything from this stupid baby, right? Right. So there isn't any reason to even pay attention to what he's saying.

X

In hindsight, maybe it would have been wise to pay attention to the baby after all. It's after dinner (Nana had graciously fed Reborn a second serving when he asked) and Tsuna's struggling with problem solving and stupid Reborn is just watching him suffer.

"I would help you," Reborn tells him, twenty minutes into the first problem, "but you insisted you didn't need my help."

Tsuna glared at the stupid baby. "Then why are you here?" He plucked at the corners of the problem sheets restlessly. These were problems he'd encountered before during lessons and on quizzes. Not that he'd been able to answer any of them, but that was besides the point. "You could stop distracting me by standing there and I'd be able to answer."

"I'm here because your mother hired me, and I take my job seriously." Reborn heaved a long-suffering sigh. "I can't do anything if the person I'm supposed to be tutoring doesn't want my help."

"Wow, could you be any more dramatic?" Rolling his eyes, Tsuna gave up on the problem and let his head drop on the desk with a loud thunk! "If you really wanted to teach me, you'd force formulas on me whether I wanted you to or not."

Reborn smirked at him. "Is that so?" He hopped onto the desk and stared at Tsuna with unreadable eyes. The boy shivered. How creepy. It was like the baby was staring right into his soul. "Well you see, I don't just give my services for free." Reborn says nonchalantly as he steps all over the papers. "I am a teacher, but I'm making my living too, and I don't plan on teaching you for free."

"My mom is paying you."

"Ah yes, free food and lodging for the entire duration. But is that enough?"

Tsuna narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the baby. What did he want? "What are you trying to say?"

"You catch on fast don't you? If only the same could be said about your lessons." Tsuna huffed and glared at the baby.

"Just say it."

"Since you asked for it..." Reborn grinned at him with intent, and Tsuna regretted asking. "I have a reputation to uphold both as a teacher and as a person. I would be a pushover if I still teach you after you refused, but I am a tutor with credibility and you and I both don't want your mother to feel like she's wasted her money and effort calling me for help." His eyes glinted sadistically, and Tsuna felt cold sweat roll down his forehead. "Therefore, there is only one way this will end: you will have to beg me to teach you."

A/N: sorry this took so long! i think it's been like over a year? o.o i'm so sorry T.T I couldn't find much inspiration to write tbh, so I've been writing this in extremely tiny increments every time. Also added to the fact that I haven't read any KHR stories in a while, so i'm kind of having a dry spell...

I was working on something fun (a chatfic) at the side but doing that made me realize how much my humor sucks and how much ffn sucks for no longer being able to use special characters such as those used on kaomojis so i'm not sure if i'll be posting/continuing that other than for my own amusement when i'm having a block.
edit: did ffn revert that? can we use kaomojis in fics now?

Hopefully the next chapter doesn't take as long as this one, but honestly don't count on it orz i tend to come up with plots as i write because i suck at planning and following plans so xD

Comments and suggestions are much appreciated!