Here comes another KHR fanfiction! Longest chapter that I've ever written. A whooping 5500 words approx.
Note: A.U. where Namimori is a town that crime runs rampant and Tsuna trains to be an assassin under the care of his mother.
Vulgarity, slight mention of abuse, murder, psychotic children(?)
Well enjoy? Do drop a review!
Sawada Nana is a housewife.
Her husband is a construction worker.
He is constantly away for the many Oil Digging projects.
That's the cover of a story.
Sawada Nana is an assassin-turn-murderer.
Her husband works for the largest Mafia Organisation as their Outside Advisor.
He is always away, hiding his identity and protects his family from the shadows. He doesn't know that Namimori is actually a shithole in reality.
That's the truth of the story.
Sawada Nana is Tsunayoshi's mother.
Sawada Iemitsu is Tsunayoshi's father.
That's the start of another story
At 4, Tsuna saw his father for the last time in a few years. He came with an elderly man. Back then, Tsuna had been a little shy and clumsy. The old man was kind and he had strange fire. Nana then suddenly pulled him away from the man, as Iemitsu said something about playing with fake fire. Nana still would not give her child to be touched by the man.
That was what he knew.
But he would all soon come to forget about that.
At 5, Tsuna long knew that Nana was no ordinary mother. Even if she cooked the best meals. Even if she cleaned the house till it sparkled. Even if she talked to the neighbours about the latest issues in town. Even if she loved and longed for her husband's return dearly.
Even if she was just like any mother.
Because Nana loved taking walks at night. Walks at night in Namimori calls for something bad to happen.
She would tuck him to bed and kissed him on the forehead. Then Tsuna would hear the main door closing; its locks, clicking. It started from one night when he peeked from the stairs, waiting for his mother's return. After that, it became a sort of ritual for him to stay and watch, exactly from eleven to one. He always saw her dirty with an unnatural sweet smile gracing her features; she was not the Nana he knew.
It did not take long for him to figure the fresh red that covered his mother was.
At 6, he knew that Nana was also a criminal.
It started with a short stroll in the isolated park far away from the market street. Then, strange men approached them. Like the ones he always saw in the alleyways, kicking poor, homeless trumps and policemen standing behind to watch the scenes in great pleasure.
They were about to say something, but his mother was fast to react.
He watched her as she slit the throat of a man mercilessly, ignoring protests ignoring cries. She still had that sickening smile on her face. Then, she gave him a knife.
"Your turn, Tsu-kun." She said somewhat sweetly, as if expectant of him to do it. As if, it was completely natural for him to do it. As if, it was all just a child's game. Somewhere, a voice echoed within him, telling him.
"You better do it, or she'll kill you."
And with tears, red eyes, and a stifled nose, Sawada Tsunayoshi claimed his first kill at 6. The number didn't just stop there.
At 7, he met Yamamoto Takeshi.
It wasn't on the way back home from school or anything. It was that the boy was crying in front of his dead mother, and Tsuna had just killed the perpetuator. He watched as the big, garbled sobs softened to hiccups in the matter of seconds.
Yamamoto looked up, but he didn't say anything. His amber eyes were teary, but somehow was not terrified, nor was it contempt like the bullies at school, nor was it disappointment like the teachers, nor was it psychotic like his mother. It was something undefinable, a bond perhaps, as close as it might get.
"What's your name?" The boy begun. Tsuna turned to him in surprised, not expecting a conversation.
"T-Tsuna."
"I am Takeshi. Yamamoto Takeshi. You practice the hidden arts." The boy replied.
"You are not crying anymore? You are not scared? Of me?" Tsuna asked.
"I'm done with my tears. She never cared much about me anyway. I cried as a form of respect." Takeshi breathed, and then smiled. "I don't really care about Mom now. Anyway I like you. I too practice the hidden arts, so let's be friends."
Tsuna looked at the messy corpse- his skills weren't perfected yet. Nana would not be happy.
"Friend?" He rasped.
"He would be dead even if you didn't interfere. I would have killed him- and, and my dad would have killed my mom eventually." Takeshi quietly whispered. "You would understand. We're the same."
He saw a knife glistening under Takeshi's shirt and another on the dead woman's belt. He did not want to learn the whole true story behind the murder.
"An affair, another affair. Adultery.", the same voice from back then whispered, though Tsuna barely understood what it said. The words were far too complicated for his liking.
He just knew that everyone from Namimori was fucked up in the head.
At 8, Tsuna met Hibari Kyoya.
The Hibaris just came into town like a hurricane smashing onto shore. Immediately, there was a reformation in the ranks of the yakuza. The entire local police department was replaced by their own people. Most power remained in the Hibaris
Not that anyone in Namimori cared anyway. Everything was corrupted from the beginning. It just appeared to peaceful, but the moment someone stayed, the contamination would poison quickly.
Sawada Nana met Hibari Kuroo. Somehow, they knew each other back in the days, and Kuroo covered her every time she murdered, sometimes even expressing some form of happiness.
It was also how Tsuna encountered Kyoya for the first time. And Kyoya became intrigued by him, who trained under Nana for 2 years and fixed his clumsiness. They fought for three consecutive days- Kyoya who forced the who fight to begin.
"Tonfas versus knives."
That led to Tsuna's first defeat, collapsing seconds before Kyoya.
"It's good… you're… carnivore-like, although you have a stupid herbivore face." Kyoya paused, then smiled.
The second friend since Takeshi and the start of school. Tsuna knew he would not be normal, with such dark eyes.
Kyoya then stuck to Tsuna, his first and last and the only person he would call a 'friend'.
At 9, Tsuna met Nagi.
It was winter in Namimori. Kyoya had just taken full control over Namimori High, after Namimori Elementary and Middle, with his ally Yakuza's son, Kusakabe Testuya. Tsuna and Takeshi had aided a little.
They were walking home when Tsuna saw her cowering among the trashes. She was shivering and clothes were too thin for the weather. Her arms and legs covered in bruises, and cuts. The straight belt-like marks, ugly purple patches and glass cuts revealed an entire story behind them. Tsuna knew what happened to her. It was often seen in Namimori's alleyways before the Hibaris came.
Abuse, abandonment ran rampant in this town, but all nicely covered up by the higher-ups. Either way, who would care about a small town far off at the end of Japan, where barely anybody knew them?
He did not ask, just ushered her to follow him home. And she did; not that she had a choice anyway. And the hand that was stretched out to her was the warmest thing she ever felt in her life.
Nagi stayed with Tsuna ever since then. Even if Nana had her occasional killing crazed spree, and training was ridiculously insane, it was much better compared to the drunkard of a mother and gambling addict of a father who did not even want to acknowledge her existence.
"By the way, Nagi, you don't seem to like to be called that?" Tsuna asked her one day. "You always jump when Mama calls you."
She paused. She should erase that past completely; it was not her anymore. She looked the book that Tsuna frequently read, currently in Tsuna's hands. "How about 'C-Chrome'?"
Tsuna blinked for a moment, then managed a small smile. "It sounds perfect."
Nagi then held his hands. "But you still can call me 'Nagi'-but only you, Nii-chan."
At 10, Tsuna met Sasagawa Ryohei and Sasagawa Kyoko.
Kyoko was always in his class, but he never took note of her. After all, he was required to be just a passing shadow in class by his mother. But when he helped Ryohei from a bunch of thugs (coincidence, once more as he was passing the riverbank), he saw her for the first time. It was also then Ryohei became somewhat obsessed with his strength. He said it was like their father, who fought in a wrestling ring.
"But Namimori has no wrestling centre?" At least, for now. Then he knew, that it was an illegal underground fight, but Ryohei and Kyoko were too dense to know better. Tsuna opted not to mention a thing.
The boy soon began rigorous training. He and Takeshi hit it off very well, having the same idea that exercising starting at four in the morning was good. Takeshi was currently on baseball, which he participated as often as sword-training, and mastered it as well.
(Though it all started when Tsuna said that Takeshi threw balls very nicely.)
A few days later, Kyoko and Ryohei was seen dragging an unwilling Tsuna out of the house with Takeshi, and a worried Chrome trailed behind.
Somehow within the year, they were all roped into Kyoya's 'disciplinary committee', a new group form to manage the well-being of students. Although Tsuna reckoned that it mainly was to terrify the crap out of those wannabe delinquents. He met Kurokawa Hana there, being Kyoko's bestie.
Somehow Hana knew a little of his eyes, and they became quite the good friends. He later then learnt that her family was in charge of illegal weapons distribution, somewhat a business partner with the Hibaris.
The little 'Disciplinary Committee' soon grew to be one of the controlling forces, after Kyoya's parents went somewhere sink their fangs in again.
At 11, Tsuna met Rokudo Mukuro.
He started diving more into this Mafia business, trying to relief curiosity on suspecting on his father's rare communications and strange letters with his mother. This would only have been derived from either that his father being estranged from his mother, which was near impossible; or that he could have been in a dangerous situation, making contact impossible.
He had seen how Kyoya was just suddenly left with no presence of his parents occasionally, when they went to deal with so-call 'adult things'.
Nana seemed to know, but Tsuna could not question her, as Nana hated Mafia to the core. She would throw a fit whenever the slightest bit was questioned. And throwing a fit was similar as to attacking her own son. Tsuna found out the very hard way- twice.
It soon came to light as to who exactly she had been murdering so far, other than Yakuza leaders and thugs, because Tsuna knew that Nana had more pride than to kill innocent civilians. Although, no one in Namimori could be said to be exactly innocent.
He came to know of this hacker called 'Irie Shouichi', whom Kyoya helped track down. He was a brilliant boy of the same age, but slightly introvert and had great passion for music. Tsuna bribed him on board with musical instruments Shouichi couldn't afford (funded by Kyoya).
And that was how he had information on his father, and the biggest Mafia Organization known as the 'Vongola'. He collected various information pieces, and came to have one on the Estraneo. Hana had wanted their copy.
"My parents were yelling about them, said they hadn't paid up, nor answer their calls." She sighed.
"Rokudo Mukuro?" He picked up a file which Shouichi sent over.
"Yeah, said that he eliminated the entire family here. You don't even need to go back to check on the Estraneo, they're all gone- reduced to nothing. Anyway, they weren't even good in the first place, doing illegal experiments on children and stuff." Shouichi then continued. "As for payment, I want the limited edition Band Plays- not easy hacking into the Vongola, you know?"
"Kay' I'll inform Hana on it. And Kyoya will send you that in a few days. Thanks a lot, Shouichi."
The voice then came again, telling him to look for the boy. Though, he passed in it on as an excuse to investigate the missing Estraneo Famiglia.
He booked flights to Italy the next day, telling Nana that it was school camp; though, he suspected that she somewhat knew. School honestly didn't matter anymore, with Kyoya ruling over all of them.
Tsuna then went along with Kyoya and Takeshi. The Hibari name once again worked its magic on the underage flight issues.
Kyoya held a grim face throughout.
"What's wrong?"
"Hate the Mafia bitches. Hardest to deal with. Sniffing around like herbivores makes me sick." Kyoya snorted.
"I don't mind as long as it's fun. I can't wait to test my new technique!" Takeshi chirped.
"Hmph. I upgraded my tonfas for them."
"I should have brought Chrome along. She's quite efficient in sharp-shooting." Tsuna sighed.
"Community funds only allow for three, Tetsuya said that. And not even for return tickets. We'll be stuck here until we have enough to go back." Kyoya settled into deep sleep.
They reached Italy by early morning, and headed straight to Verona where Rokudo Mukuro was last seen. The three spilt up, but Tsuna soon spotted him across the street. A sense had led him there, perhaps the same power as to where the voice stemmed from.
He looked an awful similar to Chrome and he briefly wondered if she ever had a brother. Then again, this was Italy, worlds apart from Japan.
Mukuro noticed the small boy with brown hair and eyes across the street. Though face young, body petite, he bore the same eyes yet different as himself. The eyes of a killer. The eyes who had seen death. The eyes who knew suffering. But there was purity and innocence in them as well.
"Kufufu… Buongiorno." He greeted as he crossed the street.
"B-Buongiorno." Tsuna said.
"He's going to kill." The voice said.
"chi è quello? Who is that?" Tsuna pointed to the man across the street.
"Il mio tutore, Lancia. My guardian, Lancia." Mukuro replied.
"Non ne vale la pena. It is not worth it." Tsuna said, his heart raced madly as he said those words. Mukuro widened his eyes and then grinned, somewhat deviously. Tsuna felt his breath hitched for a moment.
"Come si chiama? What is your name?" Mukuro inquired.
There was a prominent pause.
"S-Sawada Tsunayoshi."
Mukuro met them the next day at an abandoned old building, along with his companions Ken, a rough looking kid and Chikusa, a bespectacled slim boy.
"Si sta per combattere contro di me? You are going to fight me?" Tsuna asked, but his voice came out as somewhat like a whimper.
"No, 'uccidere'. No, 'kill'." Mukuro corrected. He released a strange wispy purple flare. Orange flames burst to life on Tsuna's palm for the first time. The knives remained in their positions. He barely defeated the illusionist after a two-day fight, marking that as his second 'tough' battle after Hibari.
"Spero che non mi dispiacerebbe la mia compagnia. I hope that you would not mind my companionship." Mukuro came to them the next day, even more intrigued, obsessed and mystified by Tsuna, whom had seen through his red eye which he thought was once invincible. Mukuro never bore any connection to that famiglia he was in anyway. He hated Mafia. So it was possible to leave as quickly as he had come.
Though he told Tsuna that he had informed his guardian of his departure.
"Piacere di averti ... Nice to have you…" Tsuna pulled the hem of his shirt. Mukuro could be quite charming at times if he wished to be.
Kyoya rolled his eyes. "Still sounding like an herbivore even after all those fights."
It marked the start of the fights that often broke out, as both Kyoya and Mukuro hated each other's guts. The fights only came to a close when restrained by Tsuna and Takeshi who each had to put a knife down their throats.
At 11, Tsuna also met Gokudera Hayato.
"We should leave to Namimori since we found Rokudo Mukuro and got a few tips on the local Mafia. As well as taking their stash." Takeshi said, a thick wad of notes in his hands. "But almost nothing on the Vongola- other than the Vongola Company stationed in Milan."
Tsuna got the nauseating feeling that his father was there.
"I think Hana has an extra room in the apartment her family rents out. Mukuro and the others can stay there." Tsuna stated. The boy nodded.
"Non i tuoi genitori in discussione il vostro dove? Don't your parents question your whereabouts?"
Tsuna shook his head.
"You'll understand once you arrived in Namimori." Takeshi chuckled, having understood a little of Italian.
But something told him to stay. That same voice.
"But I don't think I am leaving yet." Tsuna announced when they were at the airport.
"Our tickets are due today. Plus, we've already stayed here for a two months." Takeshi retorted, but then, he looked upset as if he just regretted what he had said earlier. "It's okay. I'll follow wherever you go, Tsuna."
Mukuro chuckled. "Kufufu… Tu sai che io sono qui per te, giusto? You do know I am here because of you, right?"
"Shouichi a-actually gave me a lead. But the person is said to be incredibly flighty-" Suddenly Kyoya interrupted him. "Cheh, we can extend it. Although spending another fucking day with that bastard herbivore makes me want to kill a man."
He then walked quickly ahead, but not before dragging Tsuna along with him- which was technically how most fights were avoided.
"Tsunayoshi, why are you smiling?" Tsuna was the only person, other than Kusakabe to be called by name from Kyoya, which was a feat of miracle.
"I have a good feeling that we might find him this time." They then travelled to the Province of Salerno, which was in Southern Italy, to a small town called Amalfi.
"How do you know when to travel to specific places?" Kyoya asked.
"Sooo cool!" Takeshi shouted when he saw the scenery. Olden bridges and structures, and the town faced the sea.
"A voice in my head. Intuition, was that a good word…? Like how I learn Italian quickly." Tsuna smiled.
Kyoya looked at him a little strangely, before shrugging his shoulders. His ears were slightly red as he moved away from the brunette.
Tsuna walked into an alleyway when they settled at a shop to have lunch, and he saw a silver head coughing out some smoke, his hand holding a cigarette. The boy didn't look older too much.
"There he is." Says the voice.
"H-Hello." Tsuna started.
"Cosa vuoi? Non c'è posto per uno straniero qui. What do you want? There is no place for a foreigner here." The boy snarled. He then switched to English when Tsuna drew nearer. "Do you understand me? I said to go away."
"Potremmo parlare? Could we talk?" Tsuna replied, as he leaned beside the boy. The silver head remained stunned for a moment, before turning to face him, turquoise pupils flashing dangerously.
"Seriously, what do you want?" The boy suddenly switched to Japanese.
"You k-knew I'm Japanese?"
"Accent. Now, skip the nice talk. What are you actually here for?"
"Hurricane Bomb Hayato." The said boy quickly took a defensive stance, fingers hanging above his pockets. Tsuna mentally slapped himself for letting that term slipped. "I am just here to t-talk…!"
"To know my name and that. I doubt you are here to just talk." The boy termed Hayato growled. Hayato then briefly turned to eye the lurking presence behind Tsuna, who apparently was Takeshi. Shigure Kintoki was out in the open, ready to strike.
"It's ok, Takeshi." Tsuna whispered, and Gokudera made a face of annoyance. Takeshi looked shocked for a moment, but he pulled back.
The brunette pulled out knives from under his sleeves. Hayato looked shocked, but then narrowed his eyes.
"A practitioner of Anki, thought I'd never see them."
Tsuna just moved to attack the moment Hayato released his dynamites.
Hayato was a prodigy, somehow Tsuna knew that the boy was actually calculating his movements inside his head. The bombs were getting harder to avoid. So Tsuna charged in front of Hayato when he threw his bombs and cut them, denoting on both of their faces.
But Tsuna managed to stir clear of the attack and pushed Hayato away in time.
"S-Sorry about that." Tsuna panted.
"You saved me." Came a mumble.
"Because you were going to get blown up in the face and get hurt! Plus, it was I who did that." Was Tsuna's immediate reply. Hayato then looked at him with the most awe-struck eyes ever since Ryohei.
"Enemies don't save enemies… Well, what do you want to talk then?"
"I just want to know about the Vongola, I guess?" Tsuna, in truth, actually did not have a reason to look for him, acting on his instincts alone. But it was these instincts that kept him going all this while.
"I know limited stuff about it. I can tell you but-" Hayato was already standing up and helping Tsuna up, much to the brunette's surprise.
"But?" Tsuna and Takeshi echoed.
"Let me join you!" Hayato said, his eyes sparkling. "I'll be your right hand man to the future!"
"W-We are n-not M-Mafia, nor a gang or anything…!" Tsuna squeaked.
"We're not? I thought we were a yakuza gang!" Takeshi said.
"Eh?"
Somewhere in the shadows, Mukuro watched the commotion. "Kufufu... Interest me more, Sawada Tsunayoshi."
Kyoya who stood behind heard the illusionist, in which the other spun around and walked away. The raven head growled, his lips curling into a feral snarl. "Should have known you, herbivore, is not mindless like I thought. You along knew our language. Hurt Tsunayoshi and I'll kill you."
"Wow. That was longest sentence you've ever said to me. You usually come to me, more barbaric." Mukuro chuckled.
Another fight erupted again.
At 12, Tsuna met Bovino Lambo.
He had returned to Namimori last year end and back then, Nana waved a postcard excitedly in front of her son's face. Nana did not even acknowledge him even after Tsuna had disappeared for a few months. It didn't matter anyway, she stopped training him and Nagi when they were 10.
"Look at your Papa! Such a wonderful Oil Digger!" She exclaimed.
"That's the Artic. You don't find oil in the artic." Chrome whispered silently. Tsuna grimaced, his mother would never accept the truth about his father.
The new year started, after a crash course on the stuff they had missed out earlier in the last few months. Mukuro and his gang, as decided, moved to a room in Hana's rental apartment. Hayato stayed in a building not far from Tsuna. Apparently, there was no need for rental. The Hibaris owned that anyway, and Kyoya had only been there once- when they bought it.
"I can't believe Sawada-sama is such a wonderful person!" Hayato exclaimed whenever they did work on eradicating local thugs.
It was around a few weeks later when Shouichi sent in a strange case file. Everyone was called, except the Sasagawa siblings.
"Have you heard of the Bovino Famiglia?" The bespectacled redhead, brushed his bangs away constantly.
"Yes." Mukuro smiled, and Shouichi flinched. He was still not used to the enigmatic boy.
"They make strange equipment, but some are ground breaking science technology. Only their own people owns them." Chikusa said.
"Yes. There is a hitman named Bovino Lambo. And he is coming here." Shouichi stuttered nervously.
"And for what reason?" Hana looked upset.
"The Bovino seems to suspect something goes on in this town. They were allies with the previous men- the ones who were claiming the riverbanks as a base. We eliminated in the earlier months… They were apparently Mafiaso."
"Good riddance!" Ken laughed.
"I doubt the suspicion." Hayato said. "Because if they did, they would send someone more experience and less unknown. Plus, the Bovino is not well known for standing on the front lines to fight. It's probably some political thing to appease the other side."
"Should we get rid of him?" Takeshi asked.
"He's two years younger than us!" Shouichi exclaimed.
"We'll try talking this out." Tsuna nodded.
Bovino Lambo joined them in less than a week when he arrived. Tsuna was amazed by the instantaneous reply, and the first person he met (with combat experience) without ever to experience a fight, other than Nagi.
"Did you even think? Stupid cow!" Hayato snapped. The silver head was quite apprehensive when the hitman joined without second thought. He had insisted, with such fickle-mindedness, Lambo would betray them one day.
"You don't understand. I am not connected to the family at all. They say to station me here, but in truth, I know they just want me out of their affairs."
Immediately Hayato knew those eyes, the ones who reflected being casted out and isolated from society. Just like him, until he met Tsuna that was.
He was silent. And the final consent that Lambo could participate in their activities.
At 13, Tsuna met Cozart Enma.
This one was a peculiar incident. It began as a school trip to Sicily, quite a big event for his first year at Namimori Middle. The mystery as to how Sicily became an itinerary for a school trip remained so, but it was definite that Kyoya didn't threaten the principal, because he loved Namimori more than anything else.
The group who went consisted of Tsuna, Takeshi, Hayato, Chrome, Kyoko and Hana. Kyoya said he had affairs to tend to, and was looking quite grumpy at that. Mukuro, Ken and Chikusa were enrolled in Kokuyo Middle, a rundown school mainly for delinquents, but Mukuro soon took over it. Lambo was two years younger so he did not have a chance as well. As for Shouichi, he never liked outing trips and there was a band concert to catch this weekend.
Sicily was big, and in the crowds, Tsuna lost sight of everyone, just because he was looking at a pair of mittens at the shop windows.
Tsuna really disliked his bad sense of direction. He should hurry, Chrome must be worried sick by now. Hayato must have been tearing the place apart. Takeshi would run the streets all over.
It was then he bumped into someone, and the first thing he noticed was an entire colour of red. Fiery burning red. He looked up and saw the person he bumped into. They were of the same built, just that he was slightly taller. There were also band aids which framed his facial features.
"Oww…"
"Sorry about that! I wasn't looking." Tsuna did a bow. Suddenly there were the screeching of tires on the road. The boy got up, shoved him aside and started running into an alley. Tsuna then saw several men in black suits running after as well.
There were gunshots and all. And although the civilians seemed terrified, it was not as panicked as Tsuna thought it would be.
He frowned and took chase behind. The alleys were narrow, and many but somehow once again, Tsuna was able to navigate his way through. He saw the redhead dashing, and then with his strength grabbed his arm and pulled him into a narrow alley way, only the width of their shoulders.
Tsuna guided him to run, his hands tightly gripped on the other. They ran into a random shop and Tsuna quickly headed for the restrooms.
"What…What…were…you trying to…pull?" He panted- Japanese, Tsuna noted.
"I just thought I should help." Tsuna said as he kept a lookout. "Do you know who they were."
The boy shook his head and muttered something along of the lines of "Probably some bounty hunters or small Famiglias off to hunt our heads. Anyway, I should get back soon. Adelheid's going to kill me…"
"Wait, what's your name?"
"We're not going to meet again. So it's not needed." The boy left abruptly.
They met again the next day, when Tsuna saw a seagull pecking on him and stealing his bread. The brunette was lost during the excursion at a historical site and somehow ended up in an isolated park.
"You can have this." Tsuna offered his donut.
"Oh." The boy looked appalled for the moment, before taking the hot bun from Tsuna's slowly.
"Thanks." He mumbled.
"Tsuna." Tsuna said.
"Enma." The red head replied. They both smiled, until the men from yesterday turned up.
"You should run." Enma said. Tsuna blinked, after all, he was never taught to run.
"Run? Well, I was scolded for running… I think it's better to help in this case." Tsuna mumbled. He drew out his weapons, in which Enma was momentarily appalled.
"No wonder why I thought I knew those eyes." Enma commented as they started to fight.
Enma said that he couldn't move away from Sicily- at least, not yet. But they exchange contacts. There were no questions exchanged about family background whatnot. Enma thought that Tsuna would be curious, but the brunette never asked about him once.
After all, he didn't know that Namimori was once a shithole that covered small stains with even bigger stains.
At 14, Sawada Nana told him to kill Reborn.
The woman smiled somewhat unnaturally as she sat on the sofa. Tsuna knew that she was tensed, on edge, from the way she fidgeted and not leaning back on the cushions.
"Mom?" Tsuna called out weakly.
"Something troublesome had made its stance here. That's also why we had to send Chrome to live with the Sasagawas." One part, Tsuna wondered when his mother made connections with them. The other, Tsuna felt himself at a loss of words. Because Namimori was the exact meaning of 'trouble', it would not make sense for something to be of bigger trouble. It would be possible, but that meant that the consequences of this 'trouble' was to expose the truth of Namimori.
Nana wouldn't want that.
She continued playing with her fingers. Her smile became increasingly strained. Tsuna caught hold of a single flyer on the table which spelt out 'Tution Teacher' in bold. It was a definite scam no doubt about that.
"Tsu-kun, that's no tuition teacher. He's a hitman. From Vongola." Nana spat the last few words as if it was acid on her tongue.
Reborn stepped out from the train onto the grounds of Namimori town. He narrowed his eyes, knowing that smell anywhere.
The smell of death. The smell of lies. The smell of something rotten underneath a peaceful exterior. Years of experience told him that. It wasn't gut feeling or anything unpleasant to the eye.
It was experience. Experience told him that such peacefulness was a complete impossibility to achieve and merely a fake blanket. Iemitsu would not have known this. Only those who went to the battlefield before would have known.
It made sense actually. The sudden disappearance of Mukuro Rokudo. The sudden absence of Hurricane Bomb Hayato. The fact that the Bovino kid who had been dispatched here seemed too peaceful. The higher-ups Bovinos were happy for that, but Reborn knew better.
He dropped a flyer at a certain household, and sat at a nearby café to wait for a call. Occassionally, some girls would walk by and coo at his suit and the gentlemanly aura, or that just because he was a handsome foreigner. This was normal, but he still felt it was so unreal.
His phone rang.
He came to tutor the future Vongola Decimo and he would dig out the secrets of Namimori.
Tsuna stared blankly at his mother.
"Tsu-kun, I know you have been helping everyone you meet, that's alright, Mama doesn't mind at all. But you have to get rid of this man. He'll be coming, whether you like it or not. And he's going to uproot the town, whether we like it or not. He will not suspect you, hence making you the best candidate to-"
The doorbell rang once.
"-Kill him."