Cat

Full Summary: There's a cat that lives in the Sawada house. Or rather, a ridiculously small brown kitten with equally as ludicrous large eyes that glow orange at night and an almost always puffed tail, courtesy of an easily-frightened personality. Strangely enough, it's quite clumsy, though it might just be the pre-adolescent period. It's a mysterious cat – just like all cats are – and it appears only from time to time, though that too is supposedly normal for cats. Sometimes, it disappears without a trace or appears from nowhere, leaving Reborn unable to find it which is, by itself, an impressive thing.

And the thing is, Reborn sometimes sees it in some... unexpected places. Usually, in the epicenter of all chaos – where Tsuna usually is. With time, he realizes that the kitten always comes by in the absence of a certain brunet who has a strained relationship with a neighborhood dog and loves to sleep curled up in a ball – the boy even stares at empty spaces and doesn't blink a lot. And why does Tsuna know the upcoming weather better than the forecasters?

Slowly, Sawada Tsunayoshi's life becomes a lot deeper than it seems at first glance - in many different perspectives.

Warnings: AU, canon-bending, mild language, possible OOCness and cats. Lots of cats. And lots of animals as well as animal talk. And cuteness for that matter. I'd even say too much of it, at times. And randomness too. There will also be some supernatural (naturally). Please discard of any expectations of a decent chronologically-logical order too.

Aside from that, there is also some twists in regards to Tsuna's fighting style and knowledge of certain things.

A/N: Wrote this while listening to 'Rouge no Dengon' Yumi Arai. Strongly suggest you turn it on while reading.

1.

Creeeak.

"Hm?"

Reborn looked down from the chair he was sitting on, as he enjoyed sipping his coffee and reading the latest mafia newspaper absently, savoring the moments of serene silence – the Bovino brat and the Chinese assassin along with the Ranking Prince were out with the girls and he'd told Yamamoto and Gokudera that he'd take care of Tsuna's marks tomorrow and that the process required no interference from their part.

And after all, the hitman's words were final so even if the bomber looked deeply disturbed by not being with his boss 24/7 and the baseball player frowned slightly because he wanted to be with the brunet, they both turned around and went to whatever other business they had. Bianchi was out for a change – probably searching for new ingredients and the key to the Ultimate Dish of Love, or how she called the most lethal dish ever to be created. Without them, no one else usually tagged along, so the house was void of people apart from Reborn, Nana and Tsuna.

So far, there was nothing interesting going on in the underworld but it was his duty to check it daily, as a hitman and the tutor of the Tenth Vongola heir who was, to say, in his room upstairs, finishing the homework he had to present tomorrow at class, perfectly of course, which was what Reborn had been ensuing for the past three hours in the most straightforward (brutal) way possible.

(The brat now sported a painful bump on his head and a bruise on his leg for opening his mouth to ask something but he had it coming anyway and any limp should be gone by tomorrow. Besides, who cared? The people in this house might not notice Tsuna having broken bones, not mentioning some measly swelling and really, he should get used to it – Reborn was being gentle unlike what most of the mafia world were eager to be.)

He'd left the boy – who had been almost ripping his hair off because Reborn promised him much unpleasantries if he didn't complete the five questions by the time Reborn came back – and asked Mamma for a cup of espresso, also deciding to settle down for a few minutes to read the newspaper. He had been doing so, until his gaze slid sideways, at the sound of a light creak of the wooden floor.

The baby's eyes were trained on the opening from where the noise came – much too light for a human's steps but noticeable enough to cause the floor to creak – the one that led to the kitchen, and then he saw it and his mouth twitched upwards in slight surprise and amusement.

A laughingly tiny brown creature poked it's head around the corner, stark orange eyes scanning the room with acute intensity, and then Reborn saw a small kitten walk out of the corridor and past the kitchen through the hallway – for some reason slightly limping on it's back right paw and having disheveled fur around the left ear – as it trotted up to the window. It stopped, surveying the distance between it and it's destination for a few moments, before crouching down to prepare, and jumped up onto the windowsill – almost falling off in the process and letting a barely audible mewl of surprise that could've almost been mistaken for a screech if the baby didn't know better. The hitman stared intently, onyx eyes squinting ever-so-slightly, and slowly he turned to a happily humming Nana who payed no heed to this.

"Mamma?"

"Ara, what is it, Reborn-kun?"

"I didn't know you have a cat."

Nana put down the plate she'd been washing and glanced over her shoulder at the minute feline that was standing on its rear paws and methodically opening the window by scratching it open with it's little claws until a paw was able to slip through. After successfully making a small gap, the kitten slipped through it, the oddly fluffy tail slightly narrowing as it squeezed through, but puffing right back as the animal came out. It stopped for a second, craning its neck and seemingly staring at something outside the house with slitted neon orange eyes, and after a moment's notice, jumped down and out of sight, though not before momentarily turning to look back at the room. Reborn watched as the kitten slightly inclined its head and looked at Nana with plate-wide eyes who had smiled at it and went back to cleaning the dishes soon afterwards.

When the cat disappeared, the hitman continued to look at Nana unblinking. She was humming just as nonchalantly as before, and Reborn could almost convince himself that the slightly wistful look that passed in her eyes at seeing the little feline jump out of the window was a trick of light.

Instead, the woman had chuckled, chocolate brown eyes sparkling playfully at Reborn.

"Now you know."

Later, when Reborn was about to put down the newspaper and go up to check on the idiot student of his, he stopped to see the kitten from before hop onto the outer side of the windowsill and slip back through the gap it made earlier, jumping off and swiftly dashing up the stairs right in front of the hitman, a couple of small leafs sticking to it's neck fur – it must've ran through the bushes. Reborn watched with entertainment as the kitten almost slipped off several of the steps, displaying a clumsiness that reminded Reborn of someone he couldn't exactly remember, and the feline looked frantic to get upstairs as soon as possible for some reason, and when it disappeared around the corner, Reborn followed up.

Upon arriving, he didn't see it in the corridor, though the Arcobaleno noticed the door to Tsuna's room slightly ajar.

When Reborn marched inside, he saw his student sitting in front of his desk with a pencil in hand and still ripping off his hair as he appeared oblivious of Reborn's arrival and was utterly devastated by his inability to properly think and already solve the simple questions.

Reborn didn't notice a small green color stuck in the brunet's neck hair that was a leaf of uncertain origin.

Instead, as the hitman pounded Tsuna with Leon, listening to the screeches, he wondered where the kitten had gone.

2.

"Hiiiieee!"

"Dame-Tsuna, stop screeching, it's annoying and getting awfully boring. Besides, it's just a chihuahua - a mafia boss should be able to intimidate lions, not speaking of such puny creatures as this."

"HIIIEEE!"

"Shut up, Dame-Tsuna. You should man up. Or would you rather me shooting you?"

"Hissss!"

Reborn stopped and turned around at the strange sound. He rose an eyebrow at the baffling sight.

His idiot student by the name of Sawada Tsunayoshi, the future Vongola Decimo in training, was completely ignoring the tutor as he glared unblinkingly at the hilariously short dog – who stared back, growling oh-so-menacingly – and Reborn watched with hidden bemusement as the boy's gravity-screwed hair bristled.

Like, literally bristled.

As in, despite the already odd angles they stuck at, the strands seemed to stick up even more, puffing around the boy's head more than before which was saying something considering Tsuna's naturally strange hair.

Meanwhile, the boy slowly rose up on his toes and started goddamn hissing, with all his appearance showing that he was bigger, scarier and not worth going against and also creeping out all the poor passer byes who must've thought the boy was frankly crazy.

Reborn watched him with entertainment and he could swear he saw sparks fly from the brutal stare down of life and death.

...Hesitantly, the dog let out a questioning bark.

There was a sound of claws scraping against the pavement and Tsuna's heels flashed faster than lightning as he ran down the street with a terrified screech, rounding the corner at the far end with flailing hands, much to the dog's delight who chased after the brunet with a victorious howl and a tongue stuck out, salivating all the way.

When the hitman, shaking his head at his student's astounding cowardice, walked down the street and looked around the corner, fully expecting his student to sit on the ground, quite possibly wailing and maybe sporting a bite mark, or several, he was slightly startled when he didn't find anyone – not a single person.

Though upon further notice, he saw a familiar brown-fur kitten sitting on a quite high wall as the chihuahua barked and stomped angrily on the ground, sometimes jumping up in an attempt to get up only to fall back down, sometimes painfully, evidently frustrated at not being able to climb the wall and chase the minute creature.

The cat watched the dog growl and yap with an obviously relieved expression, and then craned its neck over the drop and stuck its small pink tongue out, settling down with its paws tucked under the stomach, closing its eyes and clearly enjoying the position, in which the dog was down, on the ground, barking relentlessly albeit uselessly, and the cat was just out of reach and without bite marks.

Reborn hadn't known that the cat was allowed outside, though he supposed it was logical since sometimes the cat just literally disappeared – it wouldn't be so strange if it had the whole outer world to explore.

As the hitman proceeded to walk past the two animals to search for the idiot student who must've managed to run quite a distance with his pathetically short legs, he noticed how the kitten opened one orange eye and followed him until he rounded the corner with a carefully watchful gaze.

Reborn found himself thinking that cats can be positively amusing, even when he saw the dog manage to swing a clawed paw at the unsuspecting kitten that sent the feline scampering quite gracelessly with a long, almost childish, shriek.

3.

It was seven in the evening and Reborn had been walking down the street, returning from his research on the skylark – blackmail always helped and a few photos of him snuggling with Hibird might be enough to get him to cooperate at least a bit more willingly – when he spotted a certain tiny feline walking along the sidewalk in the opposite direction than Reborn, weaving its way through the walking people with ease, thanks to the small size and skinny body. The hitman halted and lifted his gaze, slightly holding down his fedora to prevent sunlight from exposing his face, as the kitten finally noticed him, slowing down and finally stopping a few meters away. Clearly, the animal had recognized him, if the narrowing of the irises was anything to go by, and the baby – for the laugh of it – gestured at it to come closer with a finger.

At first, the cat seemed to regard him intensely, eyes slitting even further as he stood still as a statue, observing. Slowly, its tail twitched slightly and Reborn thought that the kitten had gulped uncertainly, though why a cat would act like that remained a mystery.

They stared at each other, both unblinking and poker-faced (in Reborn's case). Though in a match of a stare down Reborn was always victorious so when the kitten slowly blinked, it didn't come as a surprise, although the hitman suspected it could become a worthy opponent when it grew up.

The cat continued to watch him carefully, not even so much as twitching now, and finally, Reborn decided to walk up to it, to get a closer look at the feline.

The cat had seemed to sigh resignedly(?) and sit down, curling the oddly fluffy but, nevertheless, very beautiful tail around its carefully placed paws, as the very tip twitched and fluttered from time to time. The fur seemed a golden brown in the sunlight and the long white whiskers stretched far – as if too long for a kitten, just like the ears seemed to stick out. Reborn couldn't put his finger on what breed it was – actually, he wasn't certain that he'd ever seen one like this. It must be in it's growth spurts, judging by the overly long legs and head that was a bit bigger than the proportion would suggest, just like all normal growing kittens had.

Now that he thought of it, the kitten was certain to grow up into a beautiful feline, even despite the easily-unnerved attitude.

Reborn observed it from under the fedora and the silence thickened between them.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...What's your name at least?"

Honestly, this was an annoying (though admittedly fascinating) specialty about cats – Reborn couldn't read their minds. Dogs, he could. Bugs and insects were almost his native language. Dolphin and amphibian too; talking to Leon could be a pleasant change from talking to people – and many other languages, human or not.

But not cats. Cats were mysterious and prideful beings that had their own society and way of thinking that couldn't be comprehended so easily. Their minds were closed off from others and only seemed to open up when they wanted it to.

The cat watched him silently, lightly inclining its head as the sunset orange eyes only seemed to gleam brighter in the evening light.

...Its ears constantly twitched.

They twitched towards the sounds of birds chirping and cars passing in the distance and despite the blank face that the creature (attempted to) dutifully maintain, it looked so...

It looked so goddamn adorable that Reborn couldn't prevent himself from stretching a hand to pet it. The cat startled and jerked slightly back, regarding the hand with mild exasperation as if it didn't deign a pet worthy of a creature like itself but was fairly accustomed to being a target for one.

It then breathed out of its nose curtly, making a sort of irritated whistling sound that felines tend to make when they are not please, and it's tail twitched much more prominently and impatiently. It shifted a few steps away, staying just millimeters away from the hitman's fingers and showing that it did not want to be pet. Reborn lowered his hand, frankly disappointed because the kitten's fur looked to be outmost pleasant to touch.

He sighed but didn't persist.

"Honestly though, are you male or female?"

The cat stared at the hitman for a long, long time, as if not believing what it heard, and the hitman would bet that it was dismay that passed in its features. Then it almost sighed and looked away, a gloomy black air of depression descending around it.

"...Meow?"

...Do I look like a girl that much to you?

Reborn chuckled at that, smirking teasingly.

"A boy it is."

...

An hour later, at the Sawada house, he caught Tsuna standing idiotically in front of a mirror with a highly displeased expression as he muttered something continuously and turned around, at times trying to pat down his hair, failing epically as it just sprang back to their usual places much to the boy's frustration.

Reborn was curious and walked soundlessly a bit closer just in time to hear a low mutter.

"Drat. I really do look like a girl."

Reborn paused and then smirked, as a sudden realization dawned him.

...The brat's starting to understand the need to get manlier and more badass.

Reborn walked out of the room with a feeling that his training was paying off and the boy finally started thinking of becoming a man he's supposed to be.

He closed the door to the bedroom as a passing cloud momentarily blocked the sun and once the light returned, Reborn didn't see a small fluffy kitten sitting in front of the mirror in the otherwise empty room, looking just as disgruntled as it had been before and staring at the reflection critically.

It sighed and tried to pat down the fluffy tail with its adorably tiny paw but didn't succeed in making it even slightly less puffy.

"Meooow..."

Draaat...

4.

"Dame-Tsuna, do you ever feed the cat?"

"H-huh? What?"

"The cat. I never saw you feed him. Or Mamma, for that case either."

"The cat?"

"Yes, the cat. You know, the ridiculously little creature with a super fluffy tail and an affinity to clumsiness and falling, despite being a feline? The one that lives in your house and constantly hides somewhere so that even I can't find him? You do know about him, right?"

"Oh, the cat? Um... Well, he's usually full. Most of the time."

Reborn wondered what the boy murmured after that. Something along the lines 'when no one snatches the food from under his nose'. Reborn shrugged mentally, assuming the boy meant crows and pigeons who snatched food away. That does happen in nature sometimes. That was precisely what Reborn was teaching the boy through taking away his food at meals – mafia is a lot like nature, with the natural selection and survival of the fittest.

"Hm. Well, I guess he is. If he's allowed outside, he must hunt, like all proper carnivores should."

"...Right. Yeah, that must be it."

Reborn glanced at Tsuna during this uncharacteristically awkward exchange where the boy hadn't once shrieked and had looked away with thinned lips as he glanced out of the window of his room absently. The hitman hit him for that which earned him a shriek of pain from the boy and a tirade of self-pity that was cut short by Leon's baseball bat form. Reborn could still hear the brunet complaining mentally. (Finally, a normal response from the useless teen).

After a little while, he caught a slight mutter and looked up to see Tsuna tinted slightly red and looking flustered for some reason.

"Dame-Tsuna?"

"...He's clumsy, huh?"

"What? Who?"

"The cat. He's clumsy, is he?"

Reborn snorted and waved a hand dismissively. "Yes, he is. A real klutz. Really, he reminds me of you at times – like you having such powerful blood running in you but always acting like a total wimp and the cat being a feline and felines are supposed to be graceful from their very birth, though personally I'd say that's an exaggeration. And the way you're both such scaredy cats about dogs-"

As the hitman continued, he noted how the boy's back tensed slightly. Well, he thought, the boy must have took offense off this since it's his cat they're talking about. Not that Reborn cared enough to make anything of it.

"-though I suppose, like master, like pet."

"..."

"What was that, Baka-Tsuna?"

"Cats aren't pets, Reborn."

"...I suppose so."

They both sat in silence, Reborn examining the boy's back and Tsuna scribbling down on the homework paper, once again in an unusually awkward silence, though that was mostly on Tsuna's part – Reborn was never awkward in the worst of situations.

Later, when Reborn went downstairs for dinner – though not before threatening Tsuna to 'finish the homework or no dinner' – he heard something incredibly light descend down the stairs carefully, though a quiet screech of claws against wood as it must've tumbled down betrayed its position and soon, he saw a certain kitten walk past his chair, glancing up at the hitman momentarily, and trotting soundlessly over to Nana who was cutting the vegetables.

The cat sat patiently next to the woman's feet, head slightly inclined to the left and tail curled against the tiny body, looking up at her with large orange eyes and as soon as Nana noticed, she was quick to crouch down to his level and scratch behind an ear, much to the kitten's joy considering the purring that Reborn could hear even from the other side of the room. After a couple of minutes, the delighted feline opened his eyes and meowed very quietly. Nana had clasped her hands, exclaiming, "Of course, dear!" as she reached over the kitchen counter and took out a small package of crackers that she handed down to the kitten who without any hesitation or second thought took it into his small mouth and dashed through the room and back to the staircase, dragging the small box all the way in an endearingly cute way.

Though right before going upstairs, he put down the package down for a moment and looked back at Nana with shining kitten eyes, the orange flickering softly as sky flames would, be the eyes lit with them.

"Meow!"

The woman smiled brightly.

"You're welcome, sweetheart!"

Reborn watched the whole scene silently, amusement curling his lips upwards, though if one were to look more carefully, they'd notice the slight puzzlement in the hitman's onyx eyes.

He wondered how a cat could display gratitude so sincerely.

Though later, when he absently questioned why Tsuna wasn't hungry despite not having dinner for failing to complete his homework on time, he didn't notice an empty cracker package tucked carefully under the bed where no one would see.

5.

"Gyahahahaha! The cookies are Lambo-san's!"

"No! Bad Lambo! Cookies for everyone!"

"Lambo, I-Pin, let's calm down and share them, ne?"

"Stupid Fuuta, Lambo-san won't share cookies! Cookies are only Lambo-san's!"

"Now now, I have cookies enough for everybody. Cookies filled with love and care! Eat them with enjoyment, please."

"B-Bianchi! Don't feed the kids with those! That's just too cruel!"

"Then you eat them, Tsuna."

"N-no! They're- they're- Bianchi, n- I'm not going to s-survive-"

"She's right, Dame-Tsuna. If you refuse to share Bianchi's cookies with others, then you must very eager to try them, right?"

"No! No, Reborn! You got it absolutely wrong! I- UGH!"

"Are you enjoying them, Tsuna? Do you feel the love I put into them? Do you?"

"Dame-Tsuna, don't turn so green. It's rude to Bianchi. A proper gentlemen knows when to suck it up and act politely to a lady, especially since you're a future mafia boss."

Tsuna, face full of weirdly purple cookies with a visible green stench and creepy creatures wiggling in the dough, blanched as he ran for the bathroom to wash it off before he inhaled any of the obviously poisonous gas, and Reborn smiled contentedly. His student was learning to be fast in situations where every second counted – like when he had to force himself to not breathe or else he'd die. He heard the sound of water turned on and a groan resounded through the Sawada house as someone gasped for air desperately.

The hitman watched the kids chase around for Nana's cookies without care – who'd care that Tsuna might pass out from some poison? – and Bianchi huffed, returning to the pot she was working on - pink steam? that ought to be thrice as poisonous as usual – and he waited as any second now the whiny brunet would stomp into the room, complaining to Reborn for smashing the plate into his face and of course being ignored by everybody. Strangely though, the water stopped running a good minute ago and there was still no sound of the brunet. Did he go upstairs to sulk? Might be it.

When Reborn headed to the stairs, he saw something brown flash past him and into the room. He turned around to see the same blur climb up the armchair with tiny but sharp claws, the chair the baby usually sat in, and everyone in the room paused to look at the small brown kitten sitting indignantly on top of the chair, gazing at all of them with wide sunset-colored eyes.

It glared accusingly at Reborn, for some reason, and then turned to Nana, who'd been sitting on the couch and knitting.

"Meow? Meooow? Mew."

The woman had sprang up, swiftly walked over to the sink, and poured some water into a glass. She put it on the table and petted the kitten lightly above the neckline who looked up at her with utterly grateful eyes and jumped onto a chair, putting his little paws on the table to stand up and started drinking up the water as the pink tongue flashing rapidly. All the other occupants in the room had been silent as they watched the yet unknown to them small feline who already finished and walked back up the armchair and sat on it, putting the paws under it's body and measuring the watching people with an unblinking soft orange gaze.

The silence was, however, cut short when Lambo had decided sneak up at the animal from behind and tug the cat's tail that had been hanging off the armchair. The kitten let out a long mewl that sounded almost like a scream, and to the cow child's glee, the feline jumped off the chair, said tail sticking upwards pridefully, the slight twitching of the fluffy brown tip betraying annoyance as he walked out of the room and upstairs. I-Pin and Fuuta watched after it with curiosity, hands painfully itching to pet it, especially after the irresistibly adorable eyes the kitten gave Nana while Bianchi smiled into her palm and asked the brunette woman about it.

Reborn snorted.

Oddly enough, Lambo was the one to ask the smart question.

"Mamma, what's its name?"

Which was something that seemed to catch Nana off guard. She looked thoughtful as she put a finger to her lips and looked up to the ceiling, apprehensive.

"Ara? Hm... Well... I don't-"

"Lambo-sama will call it Baka-Neko! Baka-Neko!"

"No! Is Mamma's cat! No calling Baka-Neko! Is bad manners!"

"Yeah, Lambo, that's just rude. Besides, Mamma didn't tell us its name yet."

"But I can call Dame-Tsuna Baka-Tsuna! So I can call Baka-Neko Baka-Neko too!"

"Yes, well, it's just-"

"Ara, why don't you just call him Koneko? I usually call him that!"

Everyone stared at Nana who smiled brightly with her index finger pointed up as if she just stated a brilliant idea. Everyone exchanged looks and nodded.

I-Pin raised her hands and cheered. "I go find Koneko-chan! Want pet!" And with that she shot through the room and up the stairs, Lambo following soon after with Fuuta trailing behind and once again there was laughter in the house, loud footsteps and yelps.

And then there a shrieking sound that echoed through the house.

"MEOOOOOOOOOW!"

...Ah. That'd be I-Pin petting the animal. And Fuuta. And Lambo was...

"MeeeaaaOOOOW! OOOW!"

...probably ripping off the poor creature's tail. He could hear paws banging on the floor in desperation as another howl of pain rolled through the house, followed by a cry for mercy.

Absently, Reborn wondered if Tsuna passed out after all or something because it would be strange for him not to come back. Everyone knows Tsuna is always the epicenter of all chaos and universal screw ups, whether it's intentional or not.

Why Reborn felt as if Tsuna was always there remained a question shoved into the very back of his mind.

The kids had found a new plaything besides Tsuna and that counted for something.

A/N: Um... Yeah. New story.

...Really, it was just a plot bunny. It started with me thinking why Tsuna doesn't get along with dogs, water and rising early. Honestly, the way he acts around dogs and couldn't swim before Reborn's training led me to a whole new... thought.

I don't want to outright state it, but I think you all know who the kitten is ^^

The fic's really random, though. I just wrote down pieces from my head that I just couldn't not write and today, after cleaning it up a bit, I found that it might be a plausible read. (I hope it was).

Er, and I think that the very first snippet takes place before the Kokuyo arc. The ones with Lambo and Fuuta are the ones slightly after Fuuta already joined in. You know, I'm basing the scene times on the fact that Reborn isn't around Tsuna 24/7 and sometimes leaves for *cough* spying *cough*.

And what is this canon timeline you speak of? (*smacks myself* Bad River. Must do proper research. *smacks some more*)

I'm very sorry if the scenes don't seem logically tied. And the ending way lame... It's just that I had these images in my head and I had to get them out and this is what came of it...

There are going to be more characters! There'll be lots of Reborn ones too 'cause it's fun screwing around with him. (PleasedonotreadthatRebornit'sjustajokereallydon'ttakeitseriouslyhahaI'mscrewed).

And I apologize for the lack of Guardians here. The scenes here mostly happen when no one aside from Reborn and the ones living (permanently) in the Sawada house are around which is when most of the funny stuff happens in my head. I promise there are going to be some of the Guardians later on!

On a side note, I hope you did enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it ^^ I'm sorry if you didn't!

Love, peace and cookies

River Melody

P.S. Ah, of course! Cookies for absolutely lovely readers! :3 *hands over cookies*