Another Path part 1 : That didn't start so well

This fiction is inspired by what I remember of a story I read a while ago, but that I can't find anywhere anymore. It is however, only inspired by it. Some small points are similar, but I can assure you it will not go the same way, especially in a few chapters.

Also, for those of you who don't like OC, don't worry, there are only a few and they aren't very developed, just necessary for the plot to move on. Ienobu might stick a while, but he will disappear once Tsuna goes to Italy (in a few chapters).

Finally, I'd like to point that I have no idea how old a child is supposed to be when he starts walking or talking, so please, bear with me and just pretend what I write makes sense while you read. Don't hesitate to leave a review if you want to comment or correct.

()()()()()()

It was a rainy night. A taxi was racing through the streets of Namimori, a small and peaceful Japanese city, urged by the pained screams of a pregnant woman and the pseudo-comforting voice of a burly man. It was impossible to grasp the relief of the taxi driver when they finally reached the hospital and the couple were ushered inside : the father-to-be kept encouraging his wife with cliché sentences such as 'it will be worth it in the end' or 'the pain is mostly in your head', to which the future mother started cursing him like a sailor between gasps of pain. Truly his worse ride. Ever.

While the driver was sobbing in relief in his car, labor had only just begun for Mrs Sawada. The delivery lasted four hours, but at sunrise, the woman could finally rest. But before that, she asked to hold her children with her husband.

The hospital staff handed her a small infant with a turf of blond hair, and Iemitsu received another toddler, the older one, with brown hair this time.

"He looks just like you, dear" cooed Nana watching her younger son. "Let's call him Ienobu."

"It's a beautiful name. Sawada Ienobu. Nobu or No-kun for short. It has a nice ringing to it. And what about this little one?" inquired the man, pointing to his older child.

"Oh, call him what you want, he doesn't look like you at all" answered the mother without looking. "I've got my little No-kun right now". She smiled.

Iemitsu frowned slightly at that comment, but didn't think too much of it. Giving birth to the twins had obviously exhausted Nana, and she most likely wasn't thinking straight at the moment. That, and she was understandably captivated by the son she was holding, and hadn't yet built the same attachment to the one she hadn't seen clearly.

"Well, how about Tsunayoshi? Sawada Tsunayoshi? Like a cute little Tuna-fishy?"

"Yes dear, if you want" Nana replied absently, but the blond was too bushy fussing over his sons to notice.

That was the first time Sawada Tsunayoshi was put aside in favor of his younger brother Sawada Ienobu. Unfortunately for the infant, it wouldn't be the last.

()()()()()()

Iemitsu stayed a month after that before he was called away for his job. He and Nana had taken care together of their sons before that, and the man hadn't noted that his wife tended to spend more time with No-kun than with Tsu-kun, as they called them. Or maybe he had noticed and didn't want to think about it too much.

Anyway, Iemitsu was now standing on the doorstep and saying goodbye to his wife who was holding both their sleeping children in each arm. She was upset to see her husband leave, but understood his job was important.

"I'm sorry Nana, I really hoped I could stay longer with you and the kids, but you know how important my work is."

"Yes, dear I know, and I understand your co-workers depend on you a lot. Don't worry, I'm not alone here. I have little No-kun to remind me of you!" she smiled.

"And Tuna-fishy is here as well, I'm sure you three will be just fine" he kissed Nana on the lips and his sons on their foreheads. It wasn't the first time he had to remind her of Tsunayoshi's presence, but he figured that with him gone, she will spend more time with their eldest and develop the same bonds as with Ienobu. Nana was an extremely nice woman if a bit air-headed. She was incapable of mistreating one of her children.

And so Iemitsu left Namimori and his family for his job as head of CEDEF and external advisor to the powerful Vongola Nono (even though he told his wife he was going to build highways for fishes underwater in the Pacific Ocean, and his gullible Nana believed his word).

()()()()()()

Many months passed before Iemitsu returned to Namimori. Tsuna and Nobu were now 14 months old and were starting to walk. Well Nobu was using tables to stand and was trying to walk while Tsuna seemed satisfied with sitting or crawling on the safer ground.

"You'll never guess how talented our No-kun is" gushed Nana. "He almost managed to cross the room". She had begun ranting about her youngest while Iemitsu was still at the door. He even still had his boots and hadn't seen his sons yet. "And he can speak really well! He said 'Mama' for the first time 4 months and three days ago and has made impressive progress since! He's really so smart!"

Iemitsu laughed and held his wife closer. He did notice that Nana only talked about one of their children and interrupted her speech after 15 minutes. "And what about Tsuna?" Nana's face scrunched up slightly. Not really in disgust, more like when you have to talk about something uninteresting when you want to talk about your passion.

"Oh, he's not nearly as smart as No-kun, you know. He only managed to talk recently and his first word was something along the lines of 'hug' or 'up' or something. Still can't walk. But I'm sure with you home, No-kun will learn to say 'Papa' in no time at all. He's such a little genius..."

Nana quickly returned the topic on No-kun, but this time, Iemitsu didn't tick. The idea of being called Papa for the first time was way too distracting.

When Nana finished praising Ienobu's achievements, they finally headed for the living room to see the boys. Ienobu was in the process of standing up with the help of the coffee table. Nana ran up to him and cheered him on. Tsuna was the only one to notice the big scary blond man entering and fearfully curled up in a ball in a corner.

Iemitsu noticed his eldest's behavior and walked up to him with big strides and a goofy grin plastered on his face. Tsuna just tried to disappear in the wall even more.

"Hello there, little Tuna-fish. I'm your Papa! I was gone for a while but I'm now back for some time. Now come here in my arms so that I can hug you".

Tsunayoshi reacted to the word 'hug' and raised his head to look his father in the eyes, but kept a fearful and distrustful stare while he considered crawling to the man. He did want to be hugged like Mama always did with No-kun, but the man was too scary and overbearing. After thinking about it for a while, he shook his head to signify his refusal.

Iemitsu was still about to lift his son and squeeze the life out of him for his cuteness, when he was called by an ecstatic Nana. "Dear, come look! No-kun is walking! No-kun, sweety, go to your Papa there, your Papa" Nana stressed the word in hope of Ienobu repeating it.

Iemitsu could have sworn the child behind him in a corner muttered the words 'scary man', but dismissed those thoughts quickly. Nana told him Tsu-kun had only just managed to utter a word, so it was impossible for him to speak that much. He didn't know that Tsunayoshi could speak months before Ienobu and had a much better handle on the Japanese language that most two or three-year-olds. His mother just didn't care about him enough to notice before he actually told her directly 'a hug or a lift up, please'.

Unfortunately, his mother still hadn't paid much attention to him and barely noticed that he could speak. While Nana understood that Iemitsu had to leave for his job, she still missed him very much. Ienobu already looked a lot like his father, and she was sure their resemblance would only increase with time. Her youngest reminded her so much of the older blond and she couldn't help but spend all her time and attention on him, leaving Tsuna to fend for himself. She still fed, bathed and put both children to sleep, but minded much more about Ienobu's situation than Tsunayoshi's. He just didn't look at all like her dear husband.

Encouraged by his mother, Ienobu staggered carefully towards the stranger. Following his mother's prompt, despite not knowing why, he even started to babble "Da... Da... Dada" and both Iemitsu and Nana completely forgot about Tsunayoshi's existence until dinner in favor of spoiling No-kun.

Tsunayoshi might have only barely been older than one, but he understood perfectly well that his Mama and the man that she called 'Papa' preferred No-kun. Tsuna could talk earlier and better, but Mama hadn't noticed or cared for some reason. He didn't really see the point of walking and found crawling better, especially since he didn't have Mama helping him, holding him up and making sure he wouldn't hurt himself when he eventually fell. He scratched his knee the few times he had tried and started bawling his eyes out, and Mama had only put a plain bandage on it and left to help No-kun again.

These differences in the way they were treated made his tummy hurt and he didn't know why. It just seemed unfair. Sure, No-kun was friendlier to strangers, but that was only because Tsuna was more careful and knew that unknown people could harm them, even if they didn't do it on purpose. Like that weird blond man. He didn't seem evil or mean, but the way he threw No-kun in the air and caught him was terrifying and Tsuna was glad for once that his existence was forgotten. Although he still felt a pinch of envy for the attention and the smile on No-kun's face.

After some observing, Tsuna concluded that the strange man was his father and the person Mama talked about to Ienobu at bedtime, telling stories of the blond's exploits. Tsunayoshi had seen that the children of their neighbors all has a Mama like him, but also a man called a 'Father' or 'Dad' or even 'Daddy', and had understood that the stranger was supposed to be the same thing for their family. That was another thing that Nana hadn't seen in her eldest. He was pretty smart (not a genius, but smarter than Ienobu, at least, despite her claims) and was really good at observing others and coming to conclusions (which explained his speaking ability).

Tsuna also had a strong Hyper-Intuition (though he would only learn of the name years in the future) which saved his life many times. It deterred him from putting the pretty bottles (of cleaning liquid) in his mouth and told him to stay away from the stairs when Nana left him alone on the second floor. It stopped him from crawling outside in the street when Mama left the door open and kept him still when she forgot him on the baby changing table.

Dinner came and everyone was seated at the table (Tsuna and Nobu in special baby chairs). Nana was happily feeding Ienobu while Iemitsu was taking care of Tsunayoshi. The man felt at first a bit guilty when he remembered about his eldest, but his goofiness quickly evaporated that feeling and he was back to his cheerful attitude.

The following days passed pretty much in the same way. Nana spent her entire time spoiling Ienobu, who looked so much like his father with his blond hair. Had Nana not spent so much time neglected by Iemitsu, she wouldn't have tried so hard to find relief in his look-alike. Had Nana only had one child, she would have spent all her attention on him (or her) because he/her would have been her only link with her husband, her only proof of their love. But unfortunately, she had had twins and Iemitsu spent almost all of his time abroad for his work. She wasn't a bad person, but was so depressed by her missing husband that she sought solace from what she could and focused entirely on it. Her obliviousness also increased her neglect of her other son : she honestly didn't notice his existence and need of love.

On the other hand, every day Iemitsu tried to build bonds with Tsunayoshi in the morning (who was still distrustful of him, but at least allowed him close. The man was still too rough for his liking), but was pretty quickly distracted by Nana or Ienobu and forgot Tsuna for the rest of the day, until he had to be fed or bathed (which he was always the one to do, Nana stayed with No-kun). He always felt bad about it when he realized how much he favored his youngest, but got over it fast.

Ienobu didn't notice anything wrong. He was used to his Mama focusing on him since he was born, and never saw a problem with that. In fact, he was a bit annoyed by the attempts of his 'Dada' (after several days, he still couldn't pronounce it correctly. His parents found that absolutely cute) to talk with Tsunayoshi. He was better than him, his Mama was always with him, so it was obviously true. It was an subconscious thought, but he still felt better than his older brother. So why was the blond man trying to bond with him? He should focus his attention on No-kun, instead. So he unconsciously drew his attention. And it worked like a charm! Both his parents' focus was on him.

Tsunayoshi didn't know what to feel. He was still a bit scared of the blond man (and refused to call him 'Papa'), but he had easily seen that he was the only one willing to pay attention to him. Even if said attention consisted in crushing hugs and getting thrown in the air (thank god it only happened to him once, he cried like crazy in fear. He didn't like standing up because it was too high, imagine what grazing the ceiling felt like...). Tsuna still craved care and love, but his caution, fear and being unused to attention meant he couldn't accept Iemitsu's clumsy attempts to get close.

This situation kept going on for four months with no evolution. In Iemitsu's defense, he never stopped trying to create bonds with Tsunayoshi, but wasn't helped by his wife and younger son. And he really didn't have much in common with quiet, calm Tsu-kun. No-kun enjoyed playing ball in the garden (throwing it back and forth), being thrown in the air and caught, being hugged and tickled, and generally demanded attention while Tsuna avoided it most of the time (Iemitsu's rough attention at least). But of course, Iemitsu's stay had to come to an end when CEDEF called him back for an emergency.

Once again, the external advisor was on his house's threshold with his wife holding Ienobu and Tsunayoshi sitting a bit farther in the entrance, watching intently. Once again he exchanged goodbyes with Nana and promised her to be back as soon as he could. Once again he kissed her on the lips, and his sons on their foreheads (Tsuna had backed away a bit, but Iemitsu didn't notice and just walked closer with his perpetual grin). Once again he turned his back on his house and left for his job in Italy (and not to build a shopping mall on the Moon...).

Once again he left Tsunayoshi to be purposefully neglected in favor of Iemitsu because he didn't look like his father.

()()()()()()

Over time, Tsunayoshi's situation got worse.

Nana stopped helping him with essentials once she considered him grown enough to do it himself, despite her still helping Ienobu with a smile. Soon after Iemitsu left, he was to dress without any help. If he got it wrong and wore something backwards or couldn't close it correctly, he was mocked by his mother and compared to No-kun who 'has his clothes on perfectly'. Of course, since Nana had been the one to dress him. And Tsuna was left to correct his attire by himself or to wear it wrong for the rest of the day. He also had to eat by himself and got scolded for making a mess while Ienobu was fed by mouth by his mother.

At two, Tsuna was left to bath by himself without surveillance. Or at least that's what he assumed after three days of not being cleaned by Nana who still bathed Nobu. He came close to dying a few times by drowning and only his instinct got him to stop panicking and get his head out of the water when he lost in footing.

Nana still made him food and bought him clothes, but she mostly left him to his own devices, so Tsuna grew up to be pretty independent. He still craved the love of his mother, but quickly realized he would never have it. Also, the few times Iemitsu got home, he assumed Nana was just leaving him in charge of Tsuna for the duration of his stay and took care of him herself when he was away, so he never made too much effort to mend Tsunayoshi's relationship with him or with his mother.

And when the two children turned three, they got sent to kindergarten and things turned even worse for Tsuna.

He eventually had to learn to walk by himself, and as such was much more clumsy and tripped often. Being made fun of quickly forced him to correct his walking and within a year he was about as adept at moving as his classmates, but the nickname 'Dame-Tsuna' created by his sempai stayed in the minds of the children. Ienobu took to calling him that in the blink of an eye. As Nobu had become the class's leader, the other kids followed and everyone knew Tsuna as 'Dame-Tsuna'. Even his own mother only referred to him that way and Iemitsu thought it was an endearment nickname and called him either that or 'Tuna-fishy'. He would stay 'Dame-Tsuna' for his classmates for his whole school life, despite his average athletic abilities.

When Tsuna and Nobu started going to kindergarten, the youngest figured out that not only did he dislike his parents taking care of his brother, he actually disliked anyone paying positive attention to his sibling. Thankfully for him, Nobu was a bright cheery child who liked to befriend strangers whereas Tsuna was shy, stayed in the corner and had a hard time making friends. It was easy for him to turn the other kids against the brunet, excluding him, and making sure he never actually had an opportunity to make friends.

He began hurting Tsunayoshi at home, sometimes hidden from his Mama, sometimes right in front of her. Claiming that Tsuna had wronged him always got his mother to side with him, despite the brunet crying that it wasn't true. Nana let Ienobu do anything and didn't care for Tsuna enough to stop him. She almost never beat him herself, unless she saw Tsunayoshi 'harm' her precious No-kun in some distorted way. Not that her usual neglect of her eldest was doing him any good either.

Building Tsuna a bad reputation as an clumsy, idiotic loser was just as easy for Ienobu.

You'd think Tsuna would have disproved the 'idiotic' part the first time he and Nobu took a test. It was a simple Japanese test, to see if they had the characters memorized. Tsuna easily completed his paper : he had an affinity with language in general, both his own and foreign tongues, and loved initiation to English. He even started to study the language by himself with a beginner's book found in the school's small library.

Nobu had a harder time answering the questions. The next day, the teacher returned their tests and Nobu had a 71 out of 100. Hardly a bad grade, but not enough for the boy who was used to everything going his way. Even worse : Tsuna had a 100. This was unacceptable. During break time, he waited for his brother to head to the library and talked to the teacher.

"Sensei, No-kun saw Tsu-kun cheat at the test the other day" he said, looking as though he didn't know if he should have said that, with small tears at the corner of his eyes. It was a face that always worked to keep his father away from Tsuna. It worked like a charm on the young inexperienced teacher. The woman looked surprised and asked him what he saw exactly, already completely believing the child.

"Tsu-kun had paper under his desk and was looking at it. At home, Tsu-kun even said that it was easy to not be seen" he lied.

"I see. I'll talk to him after this. Cheating is a very bad thing to do. You were right to report this to me Ienobu-kun, I'll take care of this. You don't have to blame yourself, you did what you had to" the teacher reassured the 'unsure' child. Nobu just nodded with a happy smile and went to play outside with his friends.

When every child returned to the classroom, the teacher called Tsuna in front of everyone and proceeded to lecture him sternly on how cheating was a very naughty thing to do.

Tsuna was quick to guess what happened and whose fault it was : Nobu's satisfied grin behind the teacher's back was telling.

"Tsu-kun didn't cheat" he tried to defend himself.

"You should really stop lying or I'll call your parents, Tsunayoshi-kun. I know you cheated to have full marks on your test yesterday, you should just admit it".

"But Tsu-kun did not cheat for the tes..." he started.

"Stop it you loser" snorted another child "everybody knows that you're Dame-Tsuna, you couldn't have a good score without cheating."

"Yeah, you're stupid, and you wanted to be better than Nobu. But Dame-Tsuna can't do anything so you had to cheat. So pathetic..." mocked another.

"B-But" Tsuna was about to cry. He was used to being ignored, not slandered unfairly by a whole class.

"That's it Tsunayoshi-kun" interrupted the teacher, sounding annoyed. She obviously believed that Tsuna's reputation as an idiot was true, just because the child never answered questions due to shyness. "I'll tell your parents about your behavior when they come pick you and Ienobu-kun. You should be ashamed" she ended and sent poor Tsuna back to his desk.

When Nana and Iemitsu arrived, the teacher told them about Tsunayoshi cheating, without mentioning that it was Ienobu who saw him, she didn't want to put her 'honest and kind' student in a bad spot with his parents.

Tsuna got scolded by both his parents. Iemitsu telling him that cheating was bad, and Nana saying that he should stop misbehaving and that it was obvious that he wouldn't have a better grade than her No-kun. Her husband didn't hear that last part as he was busy apologizing to their teacher for their bad child. All the while, Ienobu was behind his Mama's legs and grinning to Tsuna.

'This is what you deserve, Dame-Tsuna' his eyes seemed to say.

After that, each time Tsuna got a good grade, the same thing would occur. Sometimes, the teachers, seeing that he got all his answers right, just gave him a zero, saying he should really learn that cheating was wrong and that it was obvious that a bad student like him could never ace a test honestly. He should just start studying seriously, like his bright younger brother. How had Tsunayoshi been born before Ienobu when he was the one acting like a responsible older sibling and setting his brother in the right path.

Eventually (after just two months actually), Tsuna realized that it was useless to show his smarts at school and began failing tests purposefully. His classmates still mocked him and his teachers still looked at him with slight disgust, but at least he didn't get automatic zeros and wasn't kept after school to talk with his disappointed parents anymore.